The May edition of the ScreenCastsOnline monthly magazine is out. A lot of really smart contribute to this magazine, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to join them. This issue features an article about the productivity benefits of plain text by yours truly. To check it out, click here.
Bookworm #46: Busy
I was pleasantly surprised by this listener recommendation. This book is a great blend of entertainment, science, and story. If you want a fresh take on the “I’m too busy” theme, click here.
ScreenCastsOnline: Day One Video Module
My latest module for ScreenCastsOnline is live, and this one is all about Day One. I share many of my personal journaling workflows in this one, including me journaling template. If you’re a Day One user and want to elevate your journaling game, click here.
Bookworm #45: What’s Best Next
A book about Gospel-driven productivity? Sounds right in my wheelhouse. Unfortunately, I had a couple of major issues with this book. If you want to hear my rants, click here.
Mac Power Users #424: Workflows with Mike Schmitz
I was a guest on the latest episode of Mac Power Users! This was a really fun discussion about my reading workflows, how I nerd out about sleep, and much more. I have often referred to David Sparks and Katie Floyd as two of my internet heroes, and it was a thrill to join them for this episode. To give it a listen, click here.
ScreenCastsOnline: April 2018 Magazine
The April edition of the ScreenCastsOnline monthly magazine is out. A lot of really smart contribute to this magazine, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to join them. This issue features an article about how I take digital notes while reading physical books and an in-depth MindNode tutorial by yours truly. To check it out, click here.
Bookworm #44: Man’s Search for Meaning
This book impacted me deeply. It’s not an easy book to read, but some books are worth the struggle. This is one of those. I highly encourage you to read it yourself, but if you want the cliffnotes version, click here.
Bookworm #43: Flow
I’ve lost count of the number of times the books I’ve read have referred to Flow. This is a landmark book in the productivity space, and it’s about time we covered it for Bookworm. If you want to learn more about how to “get in the zone,” click here.
Bookworm #42: How to Read a Book
Don’t be fooled by the title, this book is deep. It was written a long time ago, but there’s a lot of practical information here on how to get the most out of the time you spend reading. For the full shownotes, click here.
Thoughts on TextExpander 6
Today, Smile announced a new version of TextExpander, the popular text expansion tool for Mac. This version of TextExpander though I’m afraid will be met with resistance and potentially alienate current customers as it embraces the popular software-as-a-service model and has gone from a one-time purchase of $34.95 to a monthly subscription of $4.95/month (discounts available for yearly billing).
TextExpander has long been one of my favorite applications (I even made a video guide for it over at Asian Efficiency), and I can’t imagine using a Mac without it anymore. As a long-time user of TextExpander and a huge fan of Smile Software I’m happy to give them more money for quality software, but I’m afraid the SaaS model isn’t a great fit here. IMHO, syncing my TE snippets via Dropbox is different than syncing financial (YNAB) or even personal (DayOne) data because those services need to be secure, whereas my TE snippets being synced is a matter of convenience. I’m not sure of the value of a stand-alone sync service in this case.
That being said, I do get it. TextExpander has launched a team component to make sure that your snippets are always in sync, and they even have a Windows beta now. This could be the saving grace for this model as I know many people who love their Macs for personal use but are stuck using a PC at work and being able to use TextExpander in both places would be a huge benefit for them. I get asked frequently if there is a Window’s equivalent for TextExpander, and I’m thrilled that they are launching one.
I do wish they had chosen to do something similar to 1Password though and allowed users the option of using the paid service in a team environment or continuing to use the Dropbox/iCloud sync for personal use. I don’t have a need for the cloud service myself, and I’m afraid of what will happen to my stand-alone TE installation. Smile has said that they’ll support version 5 for now, which is usually code for “until we can figure out a way to turn it off without making people upset.”
Will be interesting to see how this all shakes out, but I’m reserving judgment for now. As a TextExpander super-fan though I’m also not upgrading yet, which I think is very telling.