Too Nerdy for Words

Ulysses for iPad Now Has Split-Screen Editing  →

On Monday I officially ran out of feature ideas and improvements for Ulysses. Because the iPad app now offers split-screen editing, and it’s fantastic.

I mostly use Ulysses from my iPad, and this was the last remaining feature request for me.

I don’t need a split screen editor all the time, but it is something that I often incorporate as part of my writing workflow. Usually I will have an outline on one side and my working draft on the other.

Before Ulysses offered split-screen edition on the Mac version, I had a Keyboard Maestro macro that would open up a new editing window and re-size. On the iPad, if I wanted to do side-by-side document work, I would usually copy all the text from my outline out of ULysses and put it into Bear so I could work with those two apps in split view (since iOS supports it, but Ulysses did not).

The way that they’ve implemented split view in Ulysses is just perfect. There are lots of little nuances in it to make it delightful, and it feels just perfect on the iPad. It’s an excellent example of an iOS app feature done right.

And it’s power-user friendly, too, of course. You can use the keyboard to enable the second editor and switch between which document is in focus. Or you can drag a document out of your library and over to the “side” to open that document in the second editor.

(This is one feature that now makes me wish ever-so-slightly that I would have held on to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro instead of trading it in for the 11-inch.)

On the Sweet Setup, we put together a review of this newest version of Ulysses that also walks you through exactly how the new split-screen editor works and how you can use it.

(And, of course, if you’re a Ulysses user — or want to be — we have a pretty fantastic series of training videos for you.)

Ulysses for iPad Now Has Split-Screen Editing

Noise Cancelling Headphone Review Showdown: Sony XM3 vs B&O H9i

A few months ago I bought two pairs of noise-cancelling headphones:

  1. Sony XM3
  2. B&O H9i

First of all, noise-cancelling headphones are amazing! Where have these things been all my life?

Secondly, it’s safe to say that both of these headphones are fantastic.

These are arguably the two best pairs of noise cancelling headphones on the planet right now.

When I set out to get a pair of headphones, all I wanted was:

  1. Incredible sound.
  2. Something that would be comfortable to wear for several hours in a row.
  3. Something that could cancel out annoying background noise of people talking and kids running around in the next room.

I read tons of reviews. Watched all sorts of comparison videos. Asked around to different friends who already had headphones of their own. Even spoke directly with my friend Marius who wrote our own comparison review of these same headphones for an article on The Sweet Setup.

Now, what I should have done was simply pick one of the above two pairs of headphones and move on with my life.

But no. for whatever reason, I couldn’t just take other people’s words for it. I couldn’t just pick one and trust that it’d be great. I had to compare them for myself… Whatchagonnado?

I spent 29 days comparing them both and using them both. And to be honest, these two headphones are pretty much neck and neck.

There are subtle differences between the two. But the differences are so small that no normal person should bother themselves taking the time to obsessing over the small details between these two sets of headphones.

But, let’s be honest. We’re not here because we’re normal.

No, we’re here because we’re nerds who have been known to obsess over the details that nobody else may notice.

So, okay then. Let’s dive in.

Sound

I like a clear sound profile with full bass. And this is pretty much what the B&O headphones sound like out of the box, though I like the bass turned up a bit more.

After listening back and forth between a bunch of my favorite albums with both the B&Os and the Sonys, I think the sound quality is just about equal between the two. And by that, what I mean is that both of these headphones sound amazing and you will be able to EQ either of them to sound exactly how you prefer.

Both headphones come with an iOS app that allows you to adjust the EQ and sound profile. The Sony app has much more control and lets you really fine-tune the EQ to get exactly the sound profile you want.

The B&O app leaves much to be desired in terms of setting your EQ. They call it “ToneTouch” and basically all you can do is move an orb around inside a bigger orb to find a balance between “Warm”, “Excited”, “Relaxed”, and “Bright”. Which I’m honestly not even sure what those mean.

However, between the iOS Music EQ presets and the B&O Sound Profile settings, I’m able to get a pretty great EQ mix for the H9i.

Above screenshots: I have my iOS Music App EQ set to “Classical” and the B&O app’s ToneTouch set to the “Bass” preset, which puts the orb between pretty warm and excited. (Don’t look at me; I didn’t choose those labels.)

To adjust your EQ presets in the iOS Music app, go to the Settings app → Music → EQ.

I was curious what the actual Classical preset was doing. So, I went to Apple Music app on my Mac, where you can select a preset but then also adjust the individual levels. This is what the Classical preset levels look like on Mac:

Above: I like the Classical preset on iOS because (assuming it’s the same as on the Mac) it boosts both the bass and the treble. I wish I could push the highs up a bit more, but this is good enough.

 

Noise Cancelling

Neither of the headphones eliminate all noise. I had heard such crazy reviews and testimonials (especially regarding the Sonys) that I somewhat expected them to eliminate the sound in a room down to nothing at all. And, sadly, while they do work well they don’t work that well.

When comparing them side by side the Sonys were somewhat better for noise cancelling. Both sets of headphones cancelled out the same types of sounds — but the Sonys seemed to reduce ambient sounds by a few more decibels than the B&Os.

An example of a real-world use: About a month ago we had a late-season snow storm, and around 10 in the morning my neighbor got his snow blower out in order to clear his driveway. My office window is about 30 feet from my neighbor’s driveway. His gas-powered snow blower sounds like a lawn mower. I put my headphones on and I could still hear the engine gurgling. But then, I turned on the noise cancelling and I literally could not hear the snow blower at all. Pretty amazing.

Lastly, one thing that is important for me is that neither of the headphones cause any sense of pressure on the ear-drum (like the Bose Quiet Comfort headphones do).

Comfort

For me, the comfort issue ultimately comes down to the headband padding.

Alas, I don’t have much hair left on the top of my head, and what is left I keep pretty short. So whatever headphones I wear, it helps if there is extra padding on the headphone band.

In this regard, the Sony headband is just a bit softer than that of the B&O, thus making the Sonys a bit more comfortable. But for long-term usage, it didn’t really seem to matter.

After 3-4 hours of wearing either pair of headphones, I will get a bit of discomfort at the crown of my head where the headband rests. And so, alas, if I had more hair then I think maybe this wouldn’t be an issue for me.

Build and Style

No comparison here. The B&O are gorgeous, high-quality, and built to last.

The Sonys look nice and have some cool brass accents, but they also look more generic; they don’t have the quality feel that the B&Os do.

I also can speak to the overall quality of B&O in general.

I have a different, 4-year-old pair of B&O H7 headphones that I have used constantly since I bought them in 2015. I have traveled with them all over the country — never once putting them in a case — and they still look and sound brand new. The only reason I am “upgrading” to a new pair of headphones is because I wanted to get active noise cancelling.

Bluetooth Pairing

Look. If your headphones don’t support multi-device pairing then they’re doing it wrong.

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

  • You sit down at your Mac or iPad to do some work.
  • You put on your headphones or AirPods.
  • But they pair with your iPhone that’s in your pocket.
  • So you go to the settings app on your aforementioned Mac or iPad and get your headhones to pair with the device you’re actually in front of.
  • Repeat every day.

Imagine instead a scenario where you sit down to do some work, you put on your headphones, and they are automatically paired with the device you’re using. Because they can pair with multiple devices at once! I can tell you: it’s wonderful.

The B&O H9i headphones can be paired with multiple devices at the same time. When I turn them on, they simultaneously pair and connect with my iPad and my iPhone. Then, whatever device I play music from, or watch a video from, etc. They just work.

I didn’t realize how incredibly helpful and frictionless this was until experiencing it. In fact, after having this “always connected / it just works” experience with the B&O headphones it has made my AirPods feel outdated. (I can’t believe Apple didn’t include multi-device pairing in the recent AirPod update.)

In contrast, the Sony headphones can only be actively paired with one device at a time. Like an animal.

Other Tidbits

  • The B&Os have an accelerometer feature where they can pause your music if you take the headphones off, and then they un-pause the music when you put your headphones back on. However, in my usage, it was always getting false positives and it was super annoying. Fortunately you can disable the feature — though it’s an incredibly obscure process that you would never know without reading the manual or searching for a solution. I’m not sure why this isn’t at least a toggle within the iOS app.
  • The stated battery life on the Sony is 30 hours compared to 18 hours for the B&Os. I never really did an in-depth test of the batter usage. But since February I can only recall one or two times that I’ve charged the B&O headphones, and I wear them for a few hours every workday. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that they get plenty amazing battery life for me.
  • USB-C! Yay. One less cable that I have to carry around and use. And it means my iPad can charge them.
  • The Sony headphones fold up and collapse better than the B&O headphones which, well, don’t really fold up at all. The Sonys also come with a nice, hard-shell carrying case. The B&Os come with a cloth bag.

My Pick: The B&O H9i

After all my comparing and side-by-side usage, I went with the B&Os.

To sum it all up for my preference as to why:

The B&Os sound better to me. They are full, with lots of clear bass while also having a natural and clean sound.

The B&O headphones have a much better build quality than the Sonys. Plus, they look cooler.

While I do think the Sonys had better noise cancelling, it wasn’t enough to tip the scales.

And, of course, there is the fact that the B&Os can be paired with multiple devices at the same time! As I said in this section above, multi-device pairing removes a huge point of daily friction which ended up being one of the big things that pushed these headphones to get the win.

If you’re on the hunt for the best pair of noise cancelling headphones you can buy, then my suggestion is that you get the B&O H9i and enjoy.

Noise Cancelling Headphone Review Showdown: Sony XM3 vs B&O H9i

How to Customize the Look of Ulysses  →

This is what my Ulysses writing interface looks like on my iPad (which is where I spend about 90% of my writing time):

I’m currently using a modified and simplified version of the default Freestraction theme along with the custom font, iA Writer Duospace.

What I like about Ulysses’ ability to let you adjust your own theme is that you can design the look and feel of your writing app to suit your own writing needs and preferences.

It sounds kinda obvious, but I actually think it’s a big deal.

You and I have have different writing styles, goals, and preferences. And having the ability to create a writing environment that you actually like is important.

For me, I want my text formatting to be nearly invisible.

Because, when writing, you want to focus on the feel of the text not the think of it (which is the entire point behind why John Gruber created Markdown in the first place).

Anyway…

With all that said, today we just posted a quick-start guide that shows you how to find, download, install, and customize your own themes within Ulysses.

When you are writing, what is the feel of the text that best helps you to focus and do your best work? If you don’t love the feel of Ulysses, here’s how to change it to suit your mood. Heck, you could even set up a Day Theme and a Night Theme.

How to Customize the Look of Ulysses

The Ultimate Guide to Quick Capture in Ulysses  →

Matthew Cassinelli put together this fantastic guide for quick capture in Ulysses on iOS. He goes over the built-in share sheet (which is what I use about 5 times a day). And he also gives several examples of custom Shortcuts (with download links) for automating the capture of ideas, notes, and more.

Side note: On this Tuesday 26 March, we are shipping a huge update our Learn Ulysses course over on The Sweet Setup. This article on Quick Capture is taken from one of the lessons in the new course.

The Ultimate Guide to Quick Capture in Ulysses

My iPad Writing Setup  →

Over the past two years, my usage between Mac and iPad has flip-flopped. And these days I use my 11-inch iPad Pro for just about everything. Especially all writing. So over on The Sweet Setup I just posted an article that gives a look at what I’m using these days to do all my writing.

(Side note: If you’re looking for the wallpaper I’m currently using on my iPad, it’s from my Blurry Kansas City photos which you can find along with the the high-res versions here.)

My iPad Writing Setup

The Best Apps for Thinkers  →

Over on The Sweet Setup we put together this list of great apps for thinkers.

If you’ve got ideas to wrangle, brainstorming to do, and thinking is part of your normal day, then you’re going to want to use some of these apps.

I quipped on Twitter that this list is like my app love language. These are the apps I live and work in every single day.

Two brief, personal side notes:

  • While we recommend Notability as the best app for taking handwritten notes on the iPad, I personally use and prefer Goodnotes. However… I use Goodnotes differently than as a note taking app. Goodnotes is the app I use to mark-up PDF documents. And, something new I’ve just begun fiddling with is the idea of having certain PDF templates stored within Goodnotes and then using those PDFs when working on certain types of projects or doing planning.

    So, for example, having a project planning outline template. Or a decision-making framework template. Or a marketing editorial calendar template. Etc. I could create these as PDFs and store them as blanks within Goodnotes, and then when I need to fill one out I can just duplicate the blank one and use it within Goodnotes.

  • A few months ago I was introduced to infinite canvas whiteboard apps, and it’s apps like Concepts that make the iPad plus Apple Pencil make perfect sense.
The Best Apps for Thinkers

“If you care about your thoughts, keep them.”

I got a lot of inspiration from this brief article by Derek Sivers on the benefits of a daily diary and topic journals.

I’m already a fan of regular (if not daily) journaling. I’ve been logging stuff into Day One for years. And something I began doing at the beginning of this year is to keep a daily “highlight” journal along with my daily habit tracking.

Over the past couple years I have been continually interested in improving my note taking and learning skills (especially as related to books), maturing my system for idea capture, and just trying to get better at doing more writing.

But the “Thoughts On” journal that Derek wrote about in his article was a new idea to me. It’s so simple and it makes so much sense.

Derek writes:

For each subject that you might have ongoing thoughts about, start a separate “Thoughts On” journal. Whenever you have some thoughts on this subject, open up that file, write today’s date, then start writing.

Since reading Derek’s article last month I’ve already spent some time setting up my own “Thoughts On” inside of a new group in Ulysses. My topics so far include 8-Week Work Cycles, Finances, Delegation, and Leadership.

There are two awesome things about using Ulysses for these “Thoughts On” groups. For one, you can easily set up a specific group to place your own ideas, notes, and thoughts into.

Secondly, if you’re using Ulysses to store book notes, quotes, and other tidbits of information, then you can also create a Smart Filter that will aggregate any and all of those notes you have which are tagged with a keyword and/or which contain other words.

For more reading on this, see also André Chaperon’s weekend article on his knowledge processing system for creators.

There is a ton of nerdiness in André’s article, and I love it. One big takeaway for me was this piece of advice:

Don’t make the decision of what app to use when the moment arrises. Decided on the app now, and position it on your first screen where your thumb can click it easily.

I currently use Bear for all my quick-capturing of ideas right in the moment. And then I will move those ideas into Ulysses.

“If you care about your thoughts, keep them.”

A Brief Review of the Keychron Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard for iPad

bluetooth mechanical keyboard for iPad

Last fall I helped Kickstart a new mechanical, bluetooth keyboard for my iPad: The Keychron. A few weeks ago it arrived at my house.

I’ve been a mechanical keyboard nerd for the better part of a decade now, using one clickety keyboard or another with my Mac since 2012. Now that I use the iPad for a significant amount of my work — especially my daily writing and editing — I’ve been considering a more fancy external keyboard for it as well. Because why not?

For about two years now I have simply been using the Smart Keyboard Cover (both with the 9.7” iPad Pro, then the 10.5”, and now the 11”). It is not a great keyboard by any means; but it’s been fine for me and I love the simplicity of just having it right there ready to go anytime I grab my iPad.

But when I saw the Keychron on Kickstarter, I thought it would be worth backing. While I don’t want to carry a keyboard with me when I’m out and about or traveling with the iPad. But I do like the idea of having a nicer keyboard at my home for the times when I’m using the iPad for writing while at my desk (such as at this very moment).

bluetooth mechanical keyboard for iPad

And so, what initially piqued my interest with the Keychron keyboard was that:

  • It has mechanical switches
  • It has LED backlighting for the keys
  • It’s Bluetooth
  • It has a dedicated Siri button.

In a moment I’ll share more about each of the above items.

Overall the Keychron looks beautiful. It’s a very clean, sleek, well designed keyboard.

Mechanical Switches

The Keychron uses low-profile blue switches. They are nice. While they are a bit less tactile they are also much quieter than my Filco Ninja with it’s Cherry MX blues, that’s for sure.

Typing on the keyboard feels like something right in the middle between my Cherry MX switches (which are big and bold) and the current bluetooth keyboards that Apple sells (which are thin and quiet).

bluetooth mechanical keyboard for iPad

LED Backlit Keys

Another delightful feature of the Keychron is that each key is individually backlit. I opted for the simple blueish-white LEDs you see above, but there was also an option for full RGB colors which I did not get. I don’t want my keyboard to be a disco holiday light show, I just want it to be backlit.

Anything which hinders the writing process is no good. Anything which aids is most welcome.

There is an LED “Light mode” toggle button. But, oddly and nonsensically, it sits just to the left of the arrow keys.

This keyboard takes it’s light modes a bit too seriously.

The first few days I had this keyboard I accidentally toggled the light mode about every 100 words. Which is not great.

There are 10 different LED settings. Nine of which are some sort of fancy, wildly-distracting, party trick of light dancing around underneath the keys.

Which means that if you accidentally hit the light switch on the keyboard, suddenly the LEDs are bouncing around and flickering. And since there are about 10 different settings, you have to hit the button 10 more times to get back to where you were.

Bluetooth

Another selling point for me with the Keychron is that it’s bluetooth. Moreover, you can pair it with up to 3 differnet computers / devices. And you can then switch between those devices using the keyboard. Pretty clever.

It also has a USB-C connection that it uses for charging and connecting directly to a computer if you don’t want to use Bluetooth.

But for some reason, the USB-C to USB-C cable I use to charge my iPad doesn’t work as a way to wire the Keyboard to the iPad. I can connect the Keychron using my USB-C to USB-A adapter that I bought from Apple.

So, to reiterate the awkward and nerdy wired configuration: Even though the iPad and the Keyboard both have USB-C ports, I have to use a USB-C to USB-A cable and then plug that in to with a USB-A to USC-C adapter. And the adapter has to be plugged into the iPad. If it’s the other way around, it doesn’t work.

Also worth noting is that the iPad will charge the keyboard’s battery when the two are connected via USB.

Siri

On my iPad I use both Spotlight and “Text to Siri” as a sort of quick-action, keyboard shortcut workflow.

Having the ability to bring up the Text to Siri interface without having to press and hold the power button on the side of the iPad makes things much nicer.

Alas, on the Keychron, the Siri button is Mac-only. This is a huge bummer and I wish they would have been more clear / upfront about it on their Kickstarter page as I thought the Siri button would be able to bring up Siri on iOS as well.

A Brief Aside About Propping Up the iPad In Order to See the Screen While Typing on an External Keyboard

Sigh.

Apple’s Smart Keyboard cover (which I use and have attached to my iPad 90% of the time) will only prop up the iPad when it’s in the keyboard orientation. You cannot prop up the new iPads Pro in “media mode” the way you could with the previous generations and their Keyboard Cover.

Thus, for me to use an external keyboard like the Keychron along with the iPad means I have to have the keyboard portion of the keyboard cover sprawled out, sitting in front of the iPad and just behind the bluetooth keyboard. Ugh.

Now, I’m not a victim here; there are some workarounds for this. I could buy an iPad stand (the Twelve South Compass is awesome). Or I could also buy another case that lets you prop up the iPad, and then use that case when I’m using the external keyboard.

There’s also a partial workaround using the keyboard case I already have, but it only works if the iPad is on a rough-ish surface. You can flip the keyboard cover around like an “A Frame” and prop the iPad up that way. But on my desk, it just wants to slide open.
As you may have noticed from the photograph at the top of this article, my current solution has been to put the iPad on top of a used Baron Fig notebook. It’s not ideal, but it works for now I suppose. Shrug emoji.

bluetooth mechanical keyboard for iPad

Other Miscellany

  • The function and media keys all work as expected. So I can adjust the iPad’s volume and screen brightness, as well as control audio playback all from the keyboard.

  • There is also a screen grab button and a dictation button. The Screen Grab button works just like pressing the hardware Volume Up and Power buttons on the iPad, or hitting SHIFT + CMD = 4 on iOS: it takes a full screenshot and the puts you into the screenshot editing interface.

The dictation button, alas, is like the Siri button: it does not work on iOS. It just brings up the on-screen emoji keyboard.

Coda

I’m sad to say that after using the keyboard for a couple weeks my current feeling is that it is less than the sum of its parts. It’s a beautiful and well-made keyboard, and the more I use it the more it’s been growing on me. But for whatever the reason, it’s not delightful to use. And if you’re going to have a big, noisy keyboard, it ought to be nothing if not delightful.

Now the question remains: Do I keep using it because I’ve got it; bust out the Apple Extended Keyboard II that I’ve had in my office for 7 years; go back to using the Keyboard Cover that I’ve been using for a few years; or…. start further down this rabbit hole of bluetooth mechanical keyboards for the iPad?

A Brief Review of the Keychron Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard for iPad

My Travel Packing List Shortcut

Having a pre-populated packing list is one of the greatest “travel hacks” I’ve ever done.

It takes all the guesswork out of packing. And it saves me quite a bit of time as well. I just follow the list and when I’m done I don’t have to worry if I forgot about anything.

I used to keep my packing list in the Apple Notes app. It was easy to use because you could toggle the to-do state of the whole list by selecting all items and then tapping the “checkbox icon” in order to uncheck them in one fell swoop so you can start over with the list.

But with iOS 12, I thought it’d be nice to set up a Shortcut for this instead.

So I built a very simple Shortcut that will create a new note for me with my packing list ready to go.

The way the Shortcut works is very simple: It takes a block of pre-written text (my packing list that I wrote) and then passes it into Bear as a new note filled with check-box items.

The reason I prefer to have the list created in Bear is because then, once I’m done packing, I can just delete the note.

One important thing to note when building this shortcut is that you want to write your list text in Bear’s flavor of Markdown so that it will create your packing list as to-do items so you can check them off as you pack them.

That syntax looks like this:

- [ ] ITEM A

- [ ] ITEM B

- [ ] ITEM C

Download the Shortcut Here.

My Travel Packing List Shortcut

A Review of the Clear Habit Journal

Clear Habit Journal

A few days ago I received my pre-ordered copy of the new Clear Habit Journal.

This notebook is a collaboration between some good friends of mine: Joey and Adam at Baron Fig and James Clear.

I have used a Baron Fig notebook just about every single day for the past five years — it’s a central tool in my Hybrid Productivity Method.

So needless to say, I was wildly excited to check out this new notebook. I may or may not have completely geeked out last Saturday when my copy arrived.

The design of this new notebook is absolutely fantastic! I love the feel, the colors, the type, the layout, the gold foil stamp on the front. Everything about this notebook just screams quality and attention to detail.

What I also love about the Habit Journal is how simple it is. For me, as a hard and fast notebook user, the Clear Habit Journal is exactly the right mix of useful templates with open, blank pages.

In the front of the Journal is an “Index” spread followed by a “daily log” section where you write down one line per day.

The Index is where you build your own table of contents as you go, writing down any important sections and the page number(s) they’re on. I do this in all my journals, so it’s great to have it pre-templated already.

The One Line Per Day section is absolutely brilliant. You choose your own writing prompt, and then have one line to answer that prompt each day. There are 31 lines per page, and 12 pages. So you get a section of your journal that has an easy-to-read summary of your entire year.

Clear Habit Journal

Your daily prompt can be whatever you want it to be. For January my prompt is “Highlight of the Day”. But you could do anything. Such as your Most Important Task, or Something You’re Grateful For, or Something You Learned, etc.

In the back of the Journal are two more sections. A “Habit Tracker” and a “Toolkit” section.

The Habit Tracker is nice and simple. You simply write down the habit / routine that you are workin on and then you check the box that corresponds with the day of the month.

Having clarity about your goals for the year is critical. And then tracking your progress on your goals is what turns them into reality.

As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, there are two new routines I’m focusing on this year: more time reading and learning and more time writing and editing. So I have my normal routines that I already track, which include my workouts and personal prayer times, and now I also am tracking time spent reading, writing, and editing.

Clear Habit Journal

Then there is the Toolkit section which has some ideas and instructions for how to use the 167 dot-grid pages that comprise the bulk of the journal.

James wrote out several suggestions for how to make better decisions, how to think more clearly, how to prioritize things, how to be productive, how to log your workouts and/or your diet, etc.

One of the pages is on how to make smarter decisions by writing out your prediction, the decision, and then reviewing it again at a later date. That is a brand-new approach for me and look forward to implementing it.

There are other helpful little details as well. Every page is numbered, there is a pocket in the very back cover, there are two bookmark ribbons, and the Habit Tracking pages are perforated so you can remove them if you want.

All in all, the Clear Habit Journal is a great mix of helpful templates and then blank space. It’s useful and adaptable. And it fits exactly how I do and want to use a notebook. I really love this notebook.

But… (and this is a very big but)

There is one — ahem — large problem: The size of notebook itself.

My singular frustration is that the Journal comes in only one size: the normal-sized, “Flagship” Baron Fig.

I have used many of this sized notebooks over the years. And so I know from my years of experience that this sized Baron Fig will last me about 6-9 months at most. However, the way that the Clear Habit Journal is set up, you would ideally use it for a full year because it has 12 months worth of daily prompts in the front and 12 months worth of habit tracking in the back.

In early 2017 I began using the new “jumbo” size Baron Fig and I absolutely love it. Not only do I love the largest pages because they give more room to write and draw and just spread out my ideas. The bigger size pages also make it so that a Jumbo notebook lasts me more than a full year.

I decided to throw my gripe out the window, and began using the Clear Habit Journal for a few days. But I just couldn’t do it. I kept thinking about how once August got here I’d be out of the dot-grid pages and would have to start a new notebook, and my year’s worth of one-line prompts and habit tracking would have to either be migrated or split up.

But then, also, the smaller pages just felt too crowded. I really missed the extra real estate to let my writing and ideas breath and spread out.

So, alas, I ended up switching back to my Jumbo size notebook. But I brought with me some of the ideas and design elements from the Clear Habit Journal (thanks, James!) and I am incorporating those elements into my own notebook to improve the way I use the jumbo Baron Fig.

Basically what I’m doing is combining the daily prompts and the habit tracker into a single spread that looks like this:

Bullet Journal Daily Habit Tracking

Thanks to the larger size of the Jumbo Baron Fig, I have space to fit the “one line per day” prompt and also track up to 5 or 6 daily habits… all in one spot. I reserved 12 pages toward the front of my Jumbo Baron Fig notebook to accommodate a page like this for each of the 12 months of the year.

Clear Habit Journal

One huge advantage of a notebook like the Clear Habit Journal is that a lot of the template design work is done for you. This can save a lot of time and mental energy. (I, for instance, spent about 90 minutes last night manually creating the new index page, monthly habit tracking page, and hand writing in the page numbers for my Jumbo notebook.)

I am sad that I won’t be using the Clear Habit Journal, because it is such an excellent product. But at the end of the day the size turned out to be a deal breaker for me.

But I am probably more the exception here. I know that there are many people who prefer Baron Fig’s traditionally-sized flagship notebooks. And then I heartily recommend the Clear Habit Journal. It’s fantastic. And if they ever make this notebook in the Jumbo size then I’ll be the first in line to get one.

If you want to order a notebook from the folks at Baron Fig, use this link.

A Review of the Clear Habit Journal

Apple Watch Series 4

Apple Watch Series 4

Last Friday, an Apple Watch Series 4 was delivered to my house around 8:45 in the evening.

I’ve been wearing an Apple Watch every day since the spring of 2015 when they first came out. My first watch was an original, Series 0. Then, after holding out for a while, I upgraded to a Series 3 with LTE and was totally blown away by both the huge speed increases and the usefulness of cellular service and being able to leave my iPhone at home.

The Series 4 is, without a doubt, the nicest Apple Watch to date.

Apple Watch Series 4

I went with the larger, 44mm size so I could keep using all of my watch bands that were from my previous 42mm Watches. The larger screen is wonderful — it has a higher pixel density and (at least to me) seems noticeably brighter. The slightly larger casing compared to the previous generations fits me just fine.

There are so many things about using an Apple Watch that I love. It has helped me tremendously in my personal health and fitness goals as I track my workouts (the gamification of closing the rings is a gimmicky yet real motivator).

But perhaps what I love most is how Watch has allowed me to decouple from my iPhone far more often.

My Apple Watch is, more or less, my “dumb phone”…

It allows me to leave my smartphone at home but still be reachable by text or phone (and I can still stream music to my bluetooth AirPods if I’m at the gym or driving the CJ), but I don’t have the entire Internet in my pocket. And there is just something liberating about being out and about without having email, Twitter, Instagram, and the like at my fingertips.

Apple Watch Series 4

Unlock 1Password — New Course on The Sweet Setup  →

Unlock 1Password Course on The Sweet Setup

Today is Tuesday, and we just launched a brand-new course over on The Sweet Setup!

It’s called Unlock 1Password. This is a deep dive into everything you can do with this app and how to really make the most of it.

As I mentioned in the post from last week, I have been using this app for a decade now! It is one of the few apps I consider to be a truly “must-have app”.

So check out the course and let us help you discover some new ways to use this app.

Unlock 1Password — New Course on The Sweet Setup

Lake at Sunrise (Wallpaper Image)

If you’ve been following me on Instagram the past few weeks then you probably know my family and I were in Colorado for the month of July.

While I was there I made a commitment to take my Leica Q everywhere I went and to shoot at least a couple of photos each day. I’ve only had the Q for a month now, and I’m still getting comfortable with it. And the only way I know to get confident and familiar with it is to just keep shooting. So that’s what I’ve been doing. And, I have to say, the more I use it — and the more accustomed I get with the wide, 28mm lens — the more I like the camera. But now I am getting ahead of myself.

Every evening I would import the day’s photos onto my iPad, pick out my favorites, edit them in either Priime or VSCO (which is another story for another day), and then post one of them to Instagram.

I’ll be sharing more of those images over the coming days here on the site.

To kick things off, one of my favorite photos so far is the lake photo above. This image was taken around six in the morning at Arapaho Reservoir while my brothers and I were fishing.

The Leica Q shoots images at 6000×4000 resolution — which is big enough even for the Retina 5k iMac.

Thus, this image is my current iMac wallpaper, and I thought you might like it as well. And, of course, you can also put it on your phone, iPad, et al.

Download the full-size version here. »

Lake at Sunrise (Wallpaper Image)

My iPad Home Screen

Gosh, it’s been about a year now since the 10.5” iPad Pro came out. I bought one right away, and it has become one of my favorite gadgets of all time.

I’ve had an iPad since the very beginning. I stood in line on that Saturday morning in April 2010 to buy the original iPad. And since then I’ve also owned an iPad 2, iPad 3, a 2nd-gen iPad mini, a 9.7” iPad Pro, and now, of course, the 10.5” iPad Pro.

The iPad Pro (with iOS 11) is not like the other iPads. In fact, it feels to me like what the iPad was meant to be all along: Fun, powerful, versatile, and not annoying.

It’s the “not annoying” part that has finally come around. The iPads of the past have always been fun and versatile and powerful to an extent. But they also have always had certain limitations that brought about frustrations at times.

Thanks mostly to iOS 11, the iPad is fun, powerful, and versatile. Full stop.

Shawn Blanc iPad Pro

As you may know, on Monday Apple is kicking off their annual conference: WWDC.

I’ll be out there in San Jose for a few days going to live podcast events and meeting up with my fellow Apple nerd friends. And, needless to say, I’m excited about what Apple will announce on Monday at their big keynote event.

In conjunction with the jumbo-sized Baron Fig notebook, my iPad has become a regular part of my every day creativity and productivity.

Even though I have an iMac with a fun and clicky keyboard at my desk, I find myself doing nearly as much work from the iPad as from my Mac. This is thanks entirely to a few things that, up until last year, really didn’t exist on the iPad.

Obviously, there is iOS 11 (“The iPad Release”) with its side-by-side app views, drag and drop, and, of course, the Files app itself with its system-wide integration which has been a huge game changer. (I’ve got a whole other story about how Dropbox has basically become obsolete for me, but we’ll save that for another time.)

And then, there are the apps I use most: Ulysses and Things. Both of which are world-class on the iPad (especially so with the most recent updates to Things 3.6 and Ulysses 13.)

All that said, today I wanted to share a bit about my current iPad setup so that if anything changes next week, there’d be a benchmark to compare against.

Shawn Blanc iPad Pro Home screen

Hardware-wise, I use one of Apple’s smart keyboard covers with my iPad. It’s a pretty great keyboard — it’s just fine to use for typing, and I love that it can also fold back behind itself to prop up the iPad, and it easily pops off the side if I want to use the iPad strictly as a tablet.

As for apps, here’s a list of all the apps I use on my iPad the most (not including Ulysses or Things which I already mentioned above).

  • Basecamp: This has become command central for the whole Blanc Media team. We run everything in and through Basecamp. (No more Dropbox, Slack, or email.)
  • Bear: Some day I’ll write more in depth about the differences of how I use Bear versus Ulysses. But, in short, Bear is for all the simple and temporary stuff like shopping lists, travel plans, or research for buying and installing Jeep parts, etc.
  • Day One: My biggest use for Day One on the iPad is when I do my weekly reviews on Sunday afternoons.
  • Music: For listening to jams when writing and working.
  • Paper: For doing the occasional sketch to accompany an article (like this one).
  • Safari: My web browser of choice. It’s fast, native, and I use iCloud tabs quite a bit as I love the ability to get to any web pages I have open on my other devices.
  • 1Password: Despite the prevalence of iCloud Keychain, 1Password is still a must-have app. I use it constantly, and even keep it in my iPad’s dock for quick access.
  • Mail: While it certainly leaves a lot to be desired in terms of search and integrating with 3rd-party apps, I still appreciate its simple clean design.
  • CropSize: This is an iOS app that lets you crop and resize images and export them for the web. You can even save particular “workflows” and simply apply that saved process to one or multiple photos with just a few taps.

I can’t wait to see what Apple has up their sleeve on Monday for iOS 12. One thing I’d love to see would be keyboard shortcuts for the share sheet (which is something that Michael Rockwell mentioned about a week ago). It’d mean being able to save a web page to Instapaper or add a URL to Things through a keyboard shortcut rather than through a few taps.

At some point the thought does become: why not just use a laptop?

There are a few things here and there that would be awesome on an iPad. But what is also so great about the iPad is how you can pop off the keyboard and use the device like a tablet. Rotate it into portrait mode and read from it. Draw on the screen. Drag and drop things. Build-in internet connection anywhere.

It’s all of those touch-screen-tablet-specific-abilities that make the iPad so great and versatile. It’s not about making the iPad more Mac-like, rather it’s about making the iPad easier to use.

My iPad Home Screen