Your iPhone and iPad are full of useful knowledge. You've downloaded tons of audio books, podcasts, and iTunesU content. The problem is that there just aren't enough hours in the day to download all of it to your brain. Here's a tip that might help... [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]
iOS Productivity: Downloading Knowledge Faster
2012.08.06 By
Mac Productivity: Scheduling AppleScripts
2012.07.31 By
If you're an Automator user, you probably know how to create iCal Alarm workflows, which can be set to run at scheduled times, allowing processing to occur during downtime. If you're not familiar with Automator or iCal Alarm workflows, check out some of my other tips to get acquainted...
Using Automator: Scheduling Workflows
Mac Automation Made Simple: Scheduling Automator Workflows (video)
What about AppleScripts? Can't they be run on a schedule too? You bet. There are actually a couple of primary ways this can be done. [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]
iOS Productivity: 5 Tips for Locating and Launching Apps Faster
2012.07.24 By
Last week, I shared some useful tips for locating and launching apps faster on your Mac. But what about your iOS devices? They're full of apps too. And, with pages and pages of apps, it can be a real pain in the neck to find the one you want. Here are some tips to help you wade through them. [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]
Mac Productivity: 5 Tips for Locating and Launching Apps Faster
2012.07.16 By
How often do you find yourself digging through your Dock, Launchpad, or Applications folder to find a certain app? You've got other stuff to do. How about making things a little easier, so you can get back to work. Here are some tips to help you locate that elusive app and launch it a little more quickly. [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]
Mac Productivity: Quick Scripts and Workflows – Set Desktop to Astronomy Picture of the Day
2012.07.09 By
Each day, our good friends at NASA are kind enough to share a breathtaking photo of our wonderful universe. Sometimes of the Earth, sometimes of the heavens, these photos showcase natural beauty that is surely Desktop-background worthy. Here's how you can create an Automator workflow that runs each night to set your Desktop to the latest photo... [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]
Mac Productivity: Quick Scripts and Workflows – Implementing a Spoken Dictionary
2012.05.29 By
A handy feature in Mac OS X is the ability to quickly and easily define words. In most applications, just Control+click the desired word, and choose Look Up "TheSelectedWord" from the contextual menu to bring up the system-wide dictionary. Even easier, if you've got a trackpad, just double-tap the word with three fingers to display its definition. Automator lets you get even more creative. You can expand these useful dictionary services with one that will read the definition to you. Here's how you do it... [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]
Mac Productivity: Quick Scripts and Workflows – Creating Quick Notes
2012.05.07 By
It's 9AM and your boss is on the phone. She's rattling off important info you need for your 9:30AM conference call. Quick! You need somewhere to take notes. Sure, you could use your email client - Mail and Outlbook both include note features. Or, you could use on of the 50,000 note taking apps you've downloaded. Better yet, why not use that handy Automator Service workflow you created? You know, the one that automatically creates RTF notes into a Quick Notes folder, names them with the current date and time, and opens them in TextEdit so you can quickly begin typing? You recall how easy it was to create. Here's how you did it... [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]
Mac Productivity: Quick Scripts and Workflows – Print PDF to FTP Server
2012.04.30 By
In Mac OS X, it’s a snap to convert almost any document to PDF. From the print dialog, simply choose Save as PDF... from the PDF popup button. If you’ve done this before, then you may have noticed there are some other options in this popup, as well, such as Mail PDF. These are print plugins, and, using Automator, it’s possible to create your own and add them to the list. Suppose you upload PDFs to your FTP server on a regular basis, so you can share them with your family, coworkers, or whoever. Every time you do this, you have to save your document somewhere as a PDF, launch the popular FTP client Transmit, connect to the server, and upload the PDF. This is a perfect time to create a custom print plugin to do this for you. Here’s how... [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]
Mac Productivity: Quick Scripts and Workflows – Convert Rich Text to Image
2012.04.24 By
Your wife’s surprise birthday party is tomorrow. You’ve prepared a top notch slideshow on your Mac using Keynote, and transferred it to your iPad. Great! Now you can present directly from the iPad. There’s only one problem. The fonts in your presentation are no longer appearing properly because the iPad doesn’t have all the same fonts your Mac does. It looks like you might have to lug your Mac along too. No, with Automator’s help, you can just replace the problem text with images. Here’s how... [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]
Mac Productivity: Quick Scripts and Workflows – Clean Up Your Desktop with Your Voice
2012.04.13 By
I tend to keep a pretty uncluttered Desktop. I typically have only a handful of active files there at any given time, which I promptly remove when I'm done working with them. I strongly suspect, however, that I'm in the minority. Often, I see people with hundreds or even thousands of files on their Desktop. They truly work off of their Desktop, and this simply isn’t efficient. Locating files on a cluttered Desktop requires scrolling through tons of irrelevant files, moving icons around, searching, and more. Perhaps if Siri was on the Mac, she could help. Wouldn’t it be great if you could verbally instruct your Mac to clean things up for you? Well, with Speakable Items and AppleScript, you can. Here's how. [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]
