Shawn Blanc

This week’s Sweet Setup interview is with Joe Caiati. I like his story about why, when upgrading, he chose to go with the 5c.

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A huge thanks to Backblaze for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. I’ve been using them as my off-site backup service for years. You should definitely have an off-site backup of your data, and I think Backblaze is the best option.

This week I’m joined by my pal, Ben Brooks, to talk about the Amazon Fire phone and Amazon compared to Apple as two different manifestations of companies that have “obsessive attention to detail”.

Sponsored by:

• Jet Pens: Unique Writing Instruments and Desk Toys from Around the World. Use this link to get a free Signo 0.38 pen for all orders over $25.

• The awesome members of shawnblanc.net: Their support makes the work I do a sustainable possibility.

Ben Thompson has an excellent article regarding the Amazon Fire phone:

What we expected from Amazon was along the lines of Jeff Bezos’s promise for the Fire tablet line: “Premium products at non-premium prices.”

Instead the Fire Phone is right up there with an iPhone 5S when it comes to price, and it’s sold with the exact same contract you would get with that iPhone. There is no margin compression, no subsidized data. There’s nothing different at all. Unlike the Fire tablets, which most assume are sold at near cost in order to drive usage of Amazon’s services — especially Prime video and Kindle books — the Fire phone seems unlikely to attract any new customers to the Amazon ecosystem. And perhaps, that is what makes it so different: the Fire Phone seems to be not only a different strategy for Amazon, but a new kind of smartphone strategy full-stop.

Stephen Hackett regarding the Amazon Fire phone:

Since the Fire Phone isn’t going to burn down (sorry) any existing market leaders, it’s only fair to assume that Amazon’s main push here is to make it easier to buy things.

Yes. I’d say absolutely Amazon’s main push with this phone is to make it easier to buy things. You have to look no further than the dedicated hardware button that if you hold down for a second will launch Firefly. But why not? Why not make a device that’s targeted at your most loyal customers?

My question is if Firefly will make its way to other smartphones via an update to the Amazon app, or perhaps a new Amazon Firefly app altogether? Because what about folks like me who use Prime all the time but who won’t be buying a Fire phone?

The Verge’s short hands-on video from the Amazon Fire Phone event

Yesterday I again had the privilege of being a guest on the Quit podcast with Dan Benjamin and Haddie Cook. We talked a lot about doing awesome work for the work’s sake, building an audience, the importance of consistency (when trying to build a successful blog, podcast, etc.), and more.

DropVox is one of those apps that does one thing and does it very well. You launch the app, hit the big red record button to start, hit it again to stop, and then your voice memo is uploaded to a folder in your Dropbox.

I’ve been using DropVox for years as my go-to voice memo app for years. I even have a super nerdy Hazel workflow that can take my DropVox recordings and upload them to my Amazon S3 account and then text message me the URL so I can literally record and publish a podcast from my iPhone (assuming my Mac is on and connected somewhere in the world).

I love how simple it is, and it’s also quite reliable — it’s never lost a recording. And just today, version 2.0 shipped. It’s universal, (finally) updated for iOS 7, lets you pause a recording, and it now records in mp3 instead of m4a. As far as simple, do one thing well, voice memo apps go, DropVox is one of the best.

Just 2 bucks in the App Store.

Justin Lancy has a slew of useful scripts for taking those bazillion Safari or Chrome tabs you have open and tossing them into your app of choice. I’ve been using the Safari to OmniFocus script for a few years now — it’s great for the times when I want to clean up or call it quits for the day, yet I still have several (mostly unrelated) tabs open in Safari.

Related: I save a Pinboard tab set (using the Pinboard Safari extension) when I have a list of tabs that are related (such as when I’m doing research on a particular subject).

In short, if you’re using OmniFocus 2 for Mac and you want to link email messages, files on your computer, or other things to an OmniFocus to-do item, then install this new Clip-o-Tron. I was having trouble with the Send to OmniFocus Inbox action, and so I wrote an AppleScript that did something similar. But my script was acting buggy for me, and before I had time to work out the kinks the folks at OmniGroup posted this. Much better.

You can now get an iMac for $1,099. And just a few months ago Apple dropped the price of the Airs as well — you can get one for $899. These are prices that used to be found only in the refurbished section.

And these computers are more future proof than ever. My 3-year old MacBook Air still feels ultra snappy thanks to its SSD, and it still gets 4+ hours of battery life (though 4 hours is a fraction of what today’s laptop’s get, it’s still pretty darn good for a 36-month old machine). Though the fans do kick in to overdrive whenever I open up Lightroom to do a bunch of photo processing, we’ve not yet turned the corner into unbearable beachball city.

We just published our latest review over on The Sweet Setup, and it’s for simple list making apps. Our pick is Clear because it has Mac, iPhone, and iPad versions that sync, it’s simple yet extremely flexible.

Yours truly, writing for Macworld:

I’ve used LaunchBar long enough that its actions have become second nature: When I want to launch an app, open a particular file, or perform one of the countless other actions and tasks LaunchBar can handle, it’s a matter of muscle memory—I rarely have to stop my train of thought to think about navigating my computer. And as someone who does creative work with pixels and words every day, preserving my mental energy is just as important as, if not more important than, saving time (though the reality is that LaunchBar does both). In short, LaunchBar helps me to stay focused on doing my best creative work.

Not a lot new in my Macworld review of LaunchBar that I didn’t write about in the review I posted here last week. But I’m linking it up because it’s my first published work for Macworld and frankly I’m pretty proud about it. Crazy to see my LaunchBar article featured on the home page right next to the inimitable Jason Snell.

JetPens is a web store that offers unique, high-quality writing instruments and office toys. Some of their latest and greatest include:

• An innovative auto-lead-rotating mechanical pencil that always stays sharp as you write

• Gel ink pens using thermo-sensitive ink that erases by friction
  Multi pens that not only contain 4 different color refills, but a mechanical pencil component as well

• A pencil sharpener that utilizes a ratcheting mechanism

• A pen-like gadget that uncaps to reveal portable, spring-loaded scissors
  Durable, metal-bodied pens containing pressurized ink cartridge to add to your everyday carry

Special offer for readers: make any $25+ JetPens purchase through this link, and you’ll receive a free Uni-ball Signo 0.38 gel ink pen with your order!

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A huge thanks to JetPens for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. By far and away my favorite pen is the above-mentioned Signo 0.38 which I first got from JetPens. The JetPens folks set up a deal so that if you spend $25 ordering cool gear from their site, they’ll add one of the best pens in the world to your order for free.