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Join TSS for our WWDC 2020 Keynote Reactions  →

Update: You can read our Keynote Summary here and watch the replay of our reaction webstream event here.

WWDC 2020 is in a few days, and it’s fixing to be a doozy.

Will Apple be announcing new iMacs? What updates will there be to iPadOS now that it’s been a full year? What one more thing might there be?

Apple’s main keynote presentation will be broadcast live at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern.

After the main keynote is over, me and the TSS crew will be hosting a live, WWDC Reactions webstream for anyone to join in and watch.

We’ll be talking through the announcements from Apple, what things are exciting to us, and what it might mean for us all. There will also be a live chat room so you can interact, share, and ask questions if you’d like.

Join TSS for our WWDC 2020 Keynote Reactions

Magic Keyboard: Turning the iPad Into Something New  →

Over on The Sweet Setup, Josh Ginter just published a fantastic review (with photos!) of the new Magic Keyboard for iPad.

A lot of the early-access units and first reviews that came out were of the 12.9-inch model. Josh, like myself, has an 11-inch iPad and his review is of the smaller size.

There were two points that stood out to me most in Josh’s review.

First of all is just how great the hardware connection is between the iPad and the Magic Keyboard. You attach them and you are good to go. You detach them and you are good to go. There is no pairing or unpairing required.

This lack of friction is such a massive advantage that — even for me — I will often just use the attached keyboard even though I have a fussy, clickey bluetooth keyboard already on my desk and ready to pair with the iPad. (More on that another time.)

Secondly, I love how Josh highlights the “philosophical” positioning / signaling of what the iPad Magic Keyboard means for the iPad as a whole:

If ever there was a sign that Apple was working on the iPad’s perceived shortcomings, it’s this: The Magic Keyboard dramatically improves — I’d venture to say “flips on its head” — the notion that the iPad has poor keyboard and trackpad support.

As John Gruber commented regarding Jason Snell’s review of the Magic Keyboard:

Apple has made iPad better in new ways without making it worse in any existing way.

Magic Keyboard: Turning the iPad Into Something New

Half-Price Access to Our Time Management Course  →

For anyone and everyone who is working from home, schooling their kids from home, and just generally feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment…

We are offering our flagship Time Management Course for half price.

This course has several lessons that are specifically relevant to work-from-home creative folks as well as full-time, stay-at-home parents.

Right now the entire course is available for anyone to sign up at no charge. It will remain 50% off at least through the middle of April.

Here is a blog post with more details as well as direct, public links to some of the video lessons.

Or, you can sign up here and use the coupon code WFH to get your 50% discount.

Half-Price Access to Our Time Management Course

How to Take Great Holiday Photos  →

Erin Brooks is one of my favorite photographers.

She is constantly capturing amazing, candid shots of her two daughters. Her iPhone photos have been featured by Apple. And she has a style to her photos that is really unique.

The reason Erin has been an inspiration to me is because of how well she tells stories and stays vulnerable in her photography. Not to mention the fact that she is constantly finding new and creative ways to make amazing photos right in her own home.

Last year, Erin wrote a guide for The Sweet Setup on how to take great holiday photos. I have definitely been taking her advice and finding inspiration in the photos that she shares.

Here are a few of my own holiday photos from the past couple of years…

(Looks like my photo skills still have a long ways to go!)

As we head into Thanksgiving, I asked Erin if she would update her guide for 2019. She added some new ideas and tactics, plus new photos as well.

Here are a few tips and tricks for how you can take better photos of your family. Happy holidays, and happy shooting!

How to Take Great Holiday Photos

Isaac Smith’s List of Books Worth Reading  →

Speaking of book lists, my production manager, Isaac Smith, put together a short list of excellent historical stories over on The Focus Course blog:

With the overwhelming noise we’re faced with on a daily basis, I’ve found more than ever the need for high quality content.

And by “high quality” I mean content that has been thoroughly and thoughtfully constructed. (Usually not found on Twitter.)

While there are a few mediums that would qualify, physical books are my preferred format. The ideas presented in a book must stand the test of rigorous rounds of scrutiny and editing, whereas the waterfall of commotion found on Twitter could be anything from angry rants of some poor soul stuck in rush hour traffic or an original idea whilst sitting on the throne of glory.

The bottom line is social feeds most generally present fast food ideas, while books offer well-prepared meals.

Isaac Smith’s List of Books Worth Reading

Austin Mann on Tools and Creativity  →

In his fantastic review of the iPhone 11 Pro camera, Austin dropped in this nugget:

We MUST understand our tools in order to successfully move through the creative process. If we don’t know about our cameras’ strengths and weaknesses and why they’re there, it’s really hard to solve problems and achieve our vision.

The more you understand your tools and how they work, then more capable those tools become in your hands as you use them to solve creative problems and do your best work.

Think about this beyond just cameras. Think about the apps you use; the team workflows you all rely on; the physical gear you employ. Do you understand them? Are they helping you solve problems and achieve the vision you have for your work?

Austin Mann on Tools and Creativity

The Best Photo-Editing App for iPad  →

I can’t remember the last time I used my iMac to edit a photo. All my photo editing happens on the iPad Pro.

The iPad is an ideal tool for perusing and editingyour photos. So, in a sense, picking the best photo editing app for the iPad is actually picking the best photo editing app, period.

Two other personal side-notes about Lightroom:

  • If you are using Lightroom, you should check out the presets that Rebecca Lily has to offer — they are fantastic. I have sets IV, V, and VI. As a long-time VSCO user, there are several bold and moody presets in Rebecca’s Pro Sets V and VI that I think are great.

  • Paying a few bucks a month for Lightroom cloud storage syncing and backup is worth the price alone to have a second layer of cloud backup for my entire Lightroom catalog.

The Best Photo-Editing App for iPad

iOS Shortcuts: The Ultimate Guide  →

This morning, over on The Sweet Setup, I published a pretty hefty guide to iOS Shortcuts.

Basically, there is so much you can do with the Shortcuts app on your iPhone and iPad — especially so with iOS 13 and iPadOS. And so I wanted to create a central spot for folks to grasp the the why behind why Shortcuts is so awesome, and then also have some clear next steps for how to start building shortcuts and automations of their own.

There are links to all sorts of incredible Shortcuts resources, including examples, Shortcuts libraries, and even stuff around home automation.

I’ve found that as people start to get familiar with how Shortcuts can help them, then they start having all sorts of light-bulb moments. (And no, that’s not a HomeKit joke, but it should have been.)

For example: The gym I go to makes its members keep and scan one of those small, plastic barcode keychain things whenever you check in at the front desk. And if you forget to bring yours then they charge you $1.

But… if you have a photo of the barcode card on your phone, then that works, too.

So I snapped a photo of the barcode card, dropped that photo into its own photo album on my iPhone, and then created a location-based automation Shortcut that gets the most recent photo from that album whenever I arrive at the gym.

Which means that now, when I am walking in the door of my gym, Shortcuts has automatically pulled up the photo I need for me. So simple, but also so handy.

Anyway, you should check out the iOS Shortcuts Guide here.

iOS Shortcuts: The Ultimate Guide

The Focus Course: Fall Registration Now Open  →

Today is a Tuesday in September, and September is the new January, and we’ve just opened up registration for The Focus Course.

This is the best stuff I’ve got for those of you who want to improve how you spend your time. Perhaps you’re just feeling overwhelmed. Or maybe you’re in the midst of a big life transition. Or, maybe you’ve got some creative work and ideas inside you and it’s a struggle to show up every day and do your best creative work.

The Focus Course is for you. Registration is open for just a few days. So if you want to get in and get access, this is your chance. On to the day!

The Focus Course: Fall Registration Now Open

Custom Productivity Templates and Video Training for GoodNotes  →

If you want to use your iPad more, GoodNotes is a tool you will want in your iPad tool belt.

As I’ve been sharing lately, I am using this app more and more — even as a full-on replacement for my physical notebook.

We just opened up doors for our brand-new GoodNotes course that also includes a slew of custom templates that I’ve designed. I think you might really enjoy using these, and even get a spark of inspiration for how you can use GoodNotes — and your iPad — more often.

Custom Productivity Templates and Video Training for GoodNotes

Trade-Offs in Real Life  →

My good friend Havilah Cunnington recently shared on her Instagram about the pain of choosing to turn down a huge opportunity because it conflicted with her boys’ first days back in school.

I so appreciated Havilah’s transparency on this. Especially sharing about how sometimes, when you say no to an opportunity, it doesn’t come back around.

The truth is, we can’t do everything. Sometimes we can’t do everything because we literally don’t have the time and energy.

But sometimes we can’t do everything because something that’s great has to give way to something that is essential.

Living into our values means there will be trade-offs. And sometimes those trade-offs are not easy to accept.

Trade-Offs in Real Life