Mike Zornek

31 Days, 31 Products: Skitch

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 21:16:17 +0000

Day 31: Skitch

Skitch is a screenshot and notation tool from Evernote. With Skitch you can take screenshots using various options and then annotate them with vibrant pink arrows, shapes and text. Like this:

I really enjoying using Skitch during app audits where I can take a bunch of screenshots on device and then import them for annotations. Having the visual evidence to help back up your argument is really handy. The software itself is fairly strait forward and focused. With an Evernote account it will sync all your files though I usually import and export them as I need.

Skitch is a free download on the Mac App Store or directly from the Evernote website. Enjoy!

31 Days, 31 Products: OmniDiskSweeper

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 02:40:39 +0000

Day 30: OmniDiskSweeper

When choosing software for this series I particularly get a kick out of linking to products I suspect many might not know about. With that in mind, tonight I present OmniDiskSweeper!

OmniDiskSweeper is a little app from the OmniGroup they’ve been distributing for years that let’s you scan a hard drive and sort every folder by the size its taking up. OmniDiskSweeper is a great tool to use when you are trying to figure out how to trim down your hard disk usage.

I currently have an iMac whose main system drive is a 256 GB SSD and between my Dropbox, video games and video editing work it’s very easy to fill up. Using OmniDiskSweeper I quickly figure out what needs to get deleted or migrated to my external media drive when free space gets too small.

OmniDiskSweeper is a free download. Enjoy.

31 Days, 31 Products: iOctocat, GitHub on your iPhone and iPad

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 23:11:29 +0000

Day 29: iOctocat, GitHub on your iPhone and iPad

For mobile GitHub management nothing beats iOctocat. If you find yourself on the road and needing to check in with GitHub this is a must have app. I use it mostly for keeping track of pull requests and getting push notification of status changes.

iOctocat is a free download on the App Store with in-app purchased to unlock a Pro feature set for $14.

31 Days, 31 Products: Reeder

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 03:05:02 +0000

Day 28: Reeder

I had a bit of an RSS resurgence when I got my iPad Pro last year and my reading app of choice is Reeder.

Simple and consistent can sounds kind of boring but I think that it can also make for the best iOS apps. Apps that get out of the way and let their content be king work best — and for Reeder this is no exception.

Using Reeder you can import your feeds from a large list of “feed hosts” (I use Feed Wrangler). Like similar reading apps Reeder provides a nice sanitized version of the articles as well as quick links to their original HTML version. When you are done reading or skimming, Reeder has actions for Instapaper saving or otherwise sharing what you’d found on Twitter or other social platforms.

While I enjoy Reeder primarily for the iPad, it works for iPhone devices as well. Reeder costs $5 and can be purchased from the App Store.

31 Days, 31 Products: Flixster

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 01:52:03 +0000

Day 27: Flixster

We just had a great year of movies and 2016 keeps them coming. The app I use to keep on top of trailers and showtimes is Flixster.

I feel like I installed Flixster when I first got my iPhone. It’s a great app to launch when you have some time to kill. I love watching trailers and looking at the release calendar.

A free download and simple UI. If you don’t have Flixster, give it a shot.

31 Days, 31 Products: Dash

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 18:58:12 +0000

Day 26: Dash

Dash is a super nice and clean API Documentation Browser.

I use Dash with Xcode and iOS/Mac API primarily but you can in fact integrate Dash with a long list of other third party code editors and download over 150 language/API document sets too.

Having the API docs available at the click of a mouse (or key command) from your favorite text editor is a must have for any serious developer. If you been limited yourself you Xcode’s default experience I highly encourage you to try out Dash.

Dash does have a free trial available with an in-app purchase to unlock the full version for $25. It is available from the App Store as well as direct.

31 Days, 31 Products: Sketch

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 18:19:08 +0000

Day 25: Sketch

Sketch is a vector-based design tool for the Mac that is very good for people designing user interfaces.

I’ve owned Sketch for a while now. I’ve used it to mock up some UI and icons in the past but I’m not really an expert. I know enough to say I do like it and if you are interested in using it for interface design I highly recommend it.

I have a goal for the new year to become more proficient in Sketch. I’m signed up and really looking forward to attending the Big Nerd Ranch class on UI design in April. It includes teaching Sketch along side higher level UI concepts. I’ve also bought an online video course that I hope to start working through soon.

If you are at all curious I encourage you to download the free trial of Sketch and give it a go. If you like it, a license can be purchased for $99 from their online store.

31 Days, 31 Products: SuperDuper!

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 19:47:44 +0000

Day 24: SuperDuper!

This is a timely recommendation as just yesterday I had a bit of a scare where my external 2TB (platter-based) media drive decided not to mount. Happy to say the drive did wake up eventually but I wasn’t too concerned since I has a fairly recent backup I made with SuperDuper.

SuperDuper is a cloning tool that can help you clone a hard drive to another drive or DMG file. The drive based clones are fully bootable and can help you out when your main drive bites the dust. SuperDuper can do full or incremental backups, and these can also be scheduled to run overnight.

My current home setup includes an 2011 iMac with 2 internal hard drives. A 256 SSD acts as the main system HD and a 2 TB platter-based drive is cut up for various purposes (1 partition is a Bootcamp drive, 1 is a mirror backup of the SSD and the other is a time machine backup of the SSD). I then have a separate 2 TB external media HD which has my iTunes library and general archive (the largest files consisting of old video projects).

I use SuperDuper on a scheduled backup to clone my main system hard drive and then I use a OmniFocus monthly todo remind me to plug in another 2 TB drive to mirror my main media archive. The incremental backup works get here making the task really quick and easy to do.

SuperDuper has save my ass many times and I highly recommend it as a valuable tool to help you migrate data around and help facilitate your backup strategy.

A free download of SuperDuper is available but if you want to unlock the incremental, scheduling and scripting features you’ll need to purchase a license. A license costs $28 and can be purchased from the Shirt Pocket store.

31 Days, 31 Products: Status Board

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 01:38:22 +0000

Day 23: Status Board

Status Board is an iOS app from Panic that lets you turn an old iPad into a visual collection of actionable data.

Like all Panic software the app itself is incredibly well put together. New in version 2 you can have multiple boards, wallpapers, photo panels and more. You can even output the status board to a TV to make a large status board (as seen from Panic itself):

While I love having my own old(er) iPad show me status, my biggest complaint, and warning for people interested, is that the default panels provide very basic data and you are more than likely going to have to do some work to get the good numbers out of your system of interest and in into their format. Panic does link to various third parties that can help but I still feel like more could be done to support the community.

Status Board is a free download from the App Store with an in-app purchase to unlock all the panels for $10.

31 Days, 31 Products: BBEdit

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 22:15:07 +0000

Day 22: BBEdit

There are lots of text editors out there for Mac OS X and I’ll be up front in saying I use different ones for different tasks. When it comes to extremely large files, large find and replace, text file corruption or general system configuration files, I turn to BBEdit.

I’ve been a long time BBEdit user, going back to when I first started with the Mac during the “Classic” days. It’s one of the most solid, stable text editors out there and a great tool to add to your collection.

BBEdit has a free trial available. A license will cost you $49 and can be purchase directly from the Bare Bones Software store.

31 Days, 31 Products: Vimeo

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 21:55:26 +0000

Day 21: Vimeo

When it comes to professional video hosts, I choose Vimeo.

Vimeo is a video hosting site that empowers creators to have more control over how their content is displayed and distributed than other services like YouTube.

I like using Vimeo since I can pay for a Pro account which then let’s me upload HD content, have access to that content via an API and makes sure no ads are ever shown over my content. Vimeo is also much more reasonable about ownership right.

Right now we use Vimeo for Philly CocoaHeads content and I have a personal channel as well with some odd and ends. No doubt as I look to do more work for my upcomming project you’ll see a new channel open up soon.

Vimeo has a few tiers of membership with different options and you get started with a trial account.

31 Days, 31 Products: OmniGraffle

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 19:28:26 +0000

Day 20: OmniGraffle

OmniGraffle is a an app from the OmniGroup that lets people design, I’ll call them, component-based compositions; things like data models, website wireframes, and more.

I’ve been a long time user of OmniGraffle, in particular I love using it to make flow charts to help visualize app launch sequences or data download flows. I’ve even recently come to use it to help me plan furniture arrangements in my apartment (side note: I really want to get more space in the future, I miss having a dedicated office space).

OmniGraffle is probably not an app you’ll need on a daily basis but when you do, it’s really nice to use and can help you produce some awesome documentation. Like all the Omni apps, it’s extremely well done with lots of polish and documentation.

While this plug is for the Mac version of OmniGraffle I do want to mention that I did purchase the iOS version when I got my iPad Pro a few weeks ago too. While I’ve only spent 15 minutes with it on the iPad it really feels well done and I encourage you to check it out if interested.

OmniGraffle for Mac does have a free demo available. A license can be purchased for $99 Standard or $199 Pro from the Omni Store or the Mac App Store.

31 Days, 31 Products: Trello

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 02:38:44 +0000

Day 19: Trello

Trello is a product I’ve been using for years. It’s an online software version of a Kanban board. Google explains:

Kanban boards are a great way to organize tasks that have to travel through a status flow. While a physical version of the board has its own merits in my work and collaborations it has been much more important to have these boards online, enter Trello.

You can start using Trello with very simple boards like this:

As you become more familar with the app you can then add media to cards, create checklists, add summaries, assign owners, and so on.

The first time I remember jumping in and really getting a lot out of Trello was back in 2010 when I was part of a startup. We used Trello to manage almost everything; sprints towards our product work, consulting efforts and even our sales pipeline. It worked great.

In more recent time I’ve seen the CocoaLove team use Trello. They tracked marketing efforts, speaker proposals, sales, sponsors and more. Having it all out on a virtual board, shared with the team and updated in real time — it gave a visual sense of completion and progress that was much appreciated.

For more info check out this walkthrough video or Trello’s own Getting Started Guide. Experimenting with Trello is extremely low risk. They have free accounts that let’s you really get to the know the product and then price tiers if you want to start some more sophisticated collaboration or integration. Trello is highly recommended.

31 Days, 31 Products: Postbox

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 01:50:45 +0000

Day 18: Postbox

Email apps can be a point of contention for many people. For me I’ve settled into a very functional but plain setup.

At the base, I use a few Gmail accounts with lots of server side filtering into folders (for things like mailing lists, automated responses, etc). Then I use an IMAP-friendly desktop app. In recent years the IMAP-client of choice for me has been Postbox, a fairly clean and strait-forward email client that has its roots from the Thunderbird project. Despite the cross platform support of Postbox (it runs on Windows too) it still fits in well on the Mac.

My email flow is as follows. I archive most email while deleting the outright trash. I’ll scan the new messages in my spam folder about once a week. I find I usually pull out a few emails which while are promotional though I wouldn’t consider outright spam. I do try to unsubscribe form things that are too noisy. When I need to search Postbox does a fairly good job for resent stuff though I’d be lying if I didn’t jump to the web version of Gmail for searches that need to go deep into the archives.

So yeah, Postbox is not the sexiest software out there for email but it serves me just fine and might be worth a look if you want something solid and simple.

A free trial of Postbox is available, and, if you like it, a license can be purchased from them directly for $15.

31 Days, 31 Products: Elgato Game Capture HD

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 02:36:44 +0000

Day 17: Elgato Game Capture HD

Elgato Game Capture HD is actually a hardware/software combo. Its an external capture device that does HDMI passthrough, grabbing whatever video signal you are passing through (be it from a video game console or computer display). It will them compress the video as mp4 on the device and and delver the compressed video to a Mac via a USB cable connection (which is also used for power). On the Mac you’ll run some software that saves the capture to disk and also optionally helps you stream to Twitch.

I originally bought and used the Game Capture HD to help me record some Let’s Plays.

As for my own “Let’s Play career”, it was short lived. I had a bunch of fun doing a handful of series before quitting mid-way through Final Fantasy IV. I quit because I started to have other life goals and while fun, the amount work it took to produce the videos compared to their small impact — it didn’t feel worth it.

ANYWAYS… the Elgato Game Capture HD found its way to be useful for me once more this past year when we decided to start capturing CocoaHead talks. I now use the device to capture our HDMI output (before it’s redirected to the televisions) and I have to say the recorder software holds up well to us switching machines, resolutions and what not while recording. After the meeting, I take the videos from here and then match a separate audio capture we do through a lapel microphone to build our final video, (edited in ScreenFlow, and published on Vimeo).

If you are interested in video capture you can browse the Elgato Gaming site for a rundown of the current product lineup. The device I use is the base model and costs $150 retail but there are other options if you want higher frame rate capture (mine is 30 fps, they also have 60 fps available).

31 Days, 31 Products: Hearthstone

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 05:01:10 +0000

Day 16: Hearthstone

Everyone needs something to destress, something to be a friendly distraction in-between long coding sessions. For me as of late this is a mix of podcast walks and Hearthstone.

Hearthstone is an online card game from Blizzard, designed around the heroes of Warcraft. Warcraft lore is not a requirement but will be enjoyed for those have some background. Leeroy!

The format of the game has you pick a hero class and build a deck of 30 cards (a mix of class specific cards, and general cards). As you play the game you’ll draw cards, spend mana to play cards, use cards to fight other cards and hopefully, overtime, kill your opponent. It sounds more complicated than it really is. The good news is Hearthstone is extremely welcoming to new players. It has some great tutorials to get you started.

Hearthstone is a free to play game. You can earn gold through daily quests (win 2 games as mage, etc.) and other means which let you buy more cards, expansion packs or play special Arena mode games (which itself rewards cards). These things can also be unlocked for cash directly should you start to enjoy the game and want to progress your card collection a little faster.

As it goes, being a free to play game, you’ll have a plenty of opportunity to experience the game to see if you like it without spending any money. If you do like the game, you will probably want to buy some cards to jumpstart your collection. The need for this will also vary with how much you like to experiment with new decks. Sure enough there are players our there who have gotten Legendary rank using pure Free 2 Play accounts.

The game itself is playable on the Mac/Windows, iPhone or iPad. If you every want to throw down, my Battle.net name is zorn711. Good luck.

31 Days, 31 Products: Charles Proxy

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 00:04:11 +0000

Day 15: Charles Proxy

Setting up an HTTP proxy to observe internet traffic on your machine is incredibly valuable when developing web or mobile applications. My tool of choice for such is Charles Proxy.

It’s been a while since I really evaluated what else is on the market for this kind of need but as the saying goes, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. I find Charles Proxy works well, particularly for observing SSL traffic on the iOS simulator which requires a bit of setup to get working right.

Charles Proxy has a free trial available and if you like it a license will cost you $50 from their site directly.

31 Days, 31 Products: OmniFocus

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 23:22:05 +0000

Day 14: OmniFocus

OmniFocus, from the OmniGroup, is a task manager that embraces the work style of Getting Things Done.

I’ve been an on again and off again user of GTD / OmniFocus for many years now. I’ve done GTD through index cards, automated scripts over OmniOutliner and then eventually OmniFocus. For the years where I did stop, it was mostly because I was taking time off my side work and frankly didn’t have that much to keep track of. Over the last few months however I’ve been taking on more things and setting up some long term goals. OmniFocus has really helped me stay on track and keep up with my responsibilities.

A bit about my setup. I use the Mac version primarily but also own the iOS version for occasional reference and general OmniGroup UI-fanboy reasons. I have project folders for Personal, Work, CocoaHeads and Clickable Bliss (Relaunch). I also have projects named “Tasks” and “Someday Maybe” for each responsibility which is a great place for one-off things. I’m much better about doing my Reviews since restarting, typically doing them on Mondays. I take the time to not only cleanup my inbox, mark done things which I have yet to check off but to also flag those items for which I want to work on that week. Some of my flags are a little more well-wishing then they should be but I like having the flag context be my ‘sit down at desk, what do I need to do today’ list.

I also use a browser extension for quick recording of URLs. This isn’t the Read Later stuff I send to Instapaper, but more the, hey I’m writing an app in EmberJS and here’s a great article on authentication. Let me add it to the EmberJS research project. Or, heres a great gift idea for my sister, let me add the URL to the Buy Christmas Presents project.

OmniFocus for Mac does have a free trial. When you are ready to buy you can use the Mac App Store or buy from OmniGroup direct. Standard Edition is $40, Pro is $80. The iOS app (App Store) is similarly, $40 for Standard and $60 for Pro.

31 Days, 31 Products: SourceTree

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 20:52:01 +0000

Day 13: SourceTree

SourceTree is Mac OS X app that serves as a UI front end for the popular version control system Git. (Upon writing this it seems to also support Mercurial as well, though my comments below are from the perspective of a git user.)

While I think it’s important for all git users to be comfortable with the command line interface I can’t help but personally prefer to interact with my repos more visually on a day-to-day basis. The SourceTree UI isn’t going to win any Apple Design Awards since it leaks the command line git to the user, but that’s fine with me. I’m not looking for visual-only version control for non-geeks — I just want a solid UI for my git interactions.

My favorite features include, spell checking my commit messages, diff-ing branches, easily stashing and de-stashing code snippets and the open in terminal window (for when I need it). I also enjoy having a visual UI for when I’m reviewing the commit stage and want to make sure no frivolous xib changes are going to be committed via accidental saves in Xcode.

SourceTree is a free download available from the Atlassian website though you may need to register for an unlock license.

31 Days, 31 Products: Instapaper

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 03:12:52 +0000

Day 12: Instapaper

Instapaper is an app that let’s you mark articles to be “read later” and then presents them to you in a very clean, ad-free environment. I’ve been a long time Instapaper fan (before similar services like Pocket or Safari’s own reading list were even available); it’s an app that really shines on the iPad for long couch sessions. It’s also pretty good about storing the content for offline reading in case you are on a plane with a no connection.

I highly recommend Instapaper. The ability to collect up all your readings is particularly efficient. Additionally, you may find that when your time is being blocked off you might be a little more choosy about which article you want to give your time. Do not put pressure on yourself to empty your list. Treat it as an basket of possibilities.

Instapaper has clients for iOS, Android and the desktop web. The apps and the service are free, but there is a premium option for $29/year to help symbolize your support and get a few more features.

31 Days, 31 Products: TextExpander

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 17:14:29 +0000

Day 11: TextExpander

TextExpander is an app that expands text. 🙂

Seriously though, TextExpander is a great system wide tool for Mac OS X that helps you type out a single word or string and then it will expand it into the full message you wanted. Some examples of my own use:

mike@cb.com into mike@clickablebliss.com
cphone into 215-555-5555
hphone into 215-555-4444
ac- into Acceptance Criteria:
git- into (a long gitignore useful for Xcode Projects)
ddate into (current date)
ttime into (current time)

For me TextExpander really shined while I was doing customer support for my products. I would be able to break down most email responses with answers and other messaging really quickly, while at the same time mixing in the personal side of the response and not sound like a robot. I also love that I can store my TextExpander dictionary on Dropbox and share it on all my devices. Makes every machine feel like home.

TextExpander has a free trial available. A license will cost you $44.95 and can be bought from the Smile online store.

31 Days, 31 Products: Byword

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 01:38:20 +0000

Day 10: Byword

Today is kind of a two-for-one in that I’d like promote both Markdown and my favorite Markdown editor, Byword.

Markdown is a plain text format originally designed by John Gruber that let’s you style up text for later transformation into HTML. The big idea with Markdown is that the plain text itself should still be readable and convey the intent, even in plain text.

Byword is a Markdown and Plain Text editor for Mac OS X that offers a simple interface that let’s you focus on the content instead of the tools. While Byword is also available on iOS I primarily use it on Mac OS X.

I’ve been using Markdown as far back am I can remember having the option. I also remember back in the day there was a lot of competition with another format called Textile, which had a lot of support from 37signals. Markdown seems to have won the day. In particular I really like GitHub’s flavor. I do sometimes wish for something more. One feature I’d like it to be able to highlight lines or chunks of code for tutorial purposes. I’d also like to see more open source Markdown into ebook options.

I’ve been a pretty regular Byword user since its introduction. I love the content-focused UI. I like the little features, like using my h1 as the file name for a new document. I also enjoy the HTML preview window quite a bit. There are various forms on Meetup.com and some want HTML, others want rich text. Using Byword I can generate both really quickly.

Byword for Mac is available exclusively through the Mac App Store for $11.99 with a $4.99 in-app purchase to add blog publishing features.

31 Days, 31 Products: Today

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 20:09:06 +0000

Day 09: Today

Weather apps are probably one of the biggest category of apps out there. Everyone has a favorite, and Today is mine.

For me the view I like the most is the visual seven day, showing the highs and the lows, using colors to express heat.

Not sure what else to say, it’s a simple app for a simple problem with a clean design and a unique take.

Today costs $1.99 and is available on the App Store.

31 Days, 31 Products: SimPholders

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 19:38:25 +0000

Day 08: SimPholders

SimPholders is a great example of identifying a small but troublesome issue and building a simple solution for it. SimPholders is a menu bar extension that helps you quickly get at the most recent Xcode simulator builds in the Finder as well as a handful of other useful features.

I’ve been using SimPholders for a while and it’s really handy. I find myself often needing to sneak into a app’s documents folder to inspect a Core Data database, or fidget with some other resource and SimPholders makes it super easy. This despite all of the latest complexities of Xcode and the growth in simulator devices / platforms.

SimPholders has a free trial and when it’s up you can buy a license for $11 from their website.

31 Days, 31 Products: TweetBot & Twitterrific

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 15:35:51 +0000

Day 07: TweetBot & Twitterrific

Doing a two for one special today (Cyber Monday and all!) with two of my favorite Twitter clients.

For me, the only reason I found Twitter usable and joined in 2007 was because of Twitterrific for Mac OS X. There was no way I was going to visit the Twitter website to stay active but the idea of having my timeline live on my desktop was a killer feature, and thus a killer app.

Later on iOS, I with many others experienced an orgy of Twitter app options. I personally favored Tweetie but after that was bought and killed by Twitter itself I moved on to TweetBot.

I do prefer TweetBot on the phone, but when it comes to my iPad I’m back to Twitterrific. While a bit bulky to look at, I just love the full screen view of my timeline.

Twitterrific for iOS is a free download on the App Store with a $4.99 in-app purchase to unlock the full app. Twitterrific for Mac also has a free trial which can be licensed through the Iconfactory Store for $9.95 or purchased through the Mac App Store.

TweetBot for iOS is a pay for download on the App Store and will costs you $4.99. TweetBot for Mac is also a pay for download on the Mac App Store and will cost you $9.99.

31 Days, 31 Products: Duet

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 21:15:42 +0000

Day 06: Duet

Duet is a new addition to my toolset, one of the many apps I bought after getting my iPad Pro, and wow is it good. Duet lets you use your iPad as a secondary monitor and unlike some previous Airplay-based solutions of the past, Duet actually uses a wired connection for a zero lag experience. To run Duet you’ll install an app on the iPad and then a secondary app on your Mac or Windows desktop machine. When the iOS app launches you’ll instantly connect and have a secondary monitor available in System Preferences, just like a “real” monitor. The connection process is seamless and there is no lag on the iPad.

I’ve been using Duet at home with my iMac and it’s so helpful to have the extra space for chat rooms or long running videos. I was also considering buying a portable monitor to use while I’m on the road teaching (one screen for slide and Xcode demo, and the other for my notes) and Duet looks like it will solve that problem too.

As mentioned above it takes two apps to run Duet. The iOS app is available on the App Store for $15.99 and the Mac and Windows clients are free downloads available on their website.

31 Days, 31 Products: ScreenFlow

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Sat, 28 Nov 2015 22:48:48 +0000

Day 05: ScreenFlow

ScreenFlow is a best in class tool for screen capturing and video editing. Typically I use ScreenFlow to make screencasts, short videos primary featuring action from my desktop with a voice narration. These screencasts are incredibly powerful, wether it’s a short demo to accompany a code pull request or feature walkthrough for the client. Having these screencasts not only answers questions but creates archivable value in that they can be replayed for new developers or stakeholders in the future. I also use ScreenFlow to assemble and edit the video and audio sources for our CocoaHead videos.

So even though modern OS X has limited support in QuickTime for capturing the screen, I still recommend ScreenFlow. Its capture tools are really easy to use and can capture multiple things at once (like the desktop, your camera, your voice and the computer audio — all on separate editing tracks). Once your editing you’ll have even more power to trim the movie, speed up boring things like text entry, and cleanup the audio track.

ScreenFlow has a free trial download available on it’s website and when your ready to buy a license it will cost you $99 from Telestream’s store or the Mac App Store.

31 Days, 31 Products: Acorn

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 20:54:47 +0000

Day 04: Acorn

Acorn is an image editor for Mac OS X built with tons of love, from the native UI that feels like it truly belongs on Mac OS X to some of the most impressive documentation and tutorials you’ll find. When you choose Acorn you’re getting a first class product.

I’ve been a long time Acorn user. I find it’s much quicker to open and do some quick image cropping or color adjustments than some other monster app like Photoshop. I’ve also made use of it’s excellent scripting features before to automate screenshot processing and the like. It’s a huge time saver.

Acorn has a free trial available on it’s website and when you are ready to buy you can buy direct or via the Mac App Store. A license will cost you $29.99.

31 Days, 31 Products: 1Password

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 18:25:57 +0000

Day 03: 1Password

Usernames and passwords are a broken system, yet sadly one we’re likely to still be using for a while to come. 1Password is tool that can help you generate and retrieve good (hard to crack) and unique passwords for every site you use. With apps for every platform and features like browser extensions with form fill, thumbprint identification on iOS and security warnings about hacked sites, I find 1Password to be a must have app and one of the first apps I install on a new machine.

I’ve even enjoy using 1Password to share stuff. For example, at CocoaHeads we share a group vault for a handful of credentials shared via Dropbox. Now I know they just introduced a new team sharing feature so maybe this is a little old school, but it’s working for us and we like it.

My biggest feature request for 1Password is to get something more advanced than the master password for my Mac. Some thumbprint hardware would be cool, or maybe even a face+voice recognition alternative. This would obviously get some push if Apple introduced a native thumbprint scanner on their Macbook line. Maybe some day…

1Password can be bought through the Mac App Store or their site. A Mac license costs $49 (with a free trial available) and the iOS client is a free download on the App Store with a $9.99 in-app purchase for some more advanced features. Windows and Android versions are also available for similar pricing; again, see their store page for details.

31 Days, 31 Products: Fin

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 17:05:38 +0000

Day 02: Fin

Fin is an app for iOS that turns your device into a large countdown timer; particularly helpful for presentations and performances. Fin is a universal app that works well for iPad as well as iPhone. It even has Watch support.

I’ve been using Fin via an iPad mini at CocoaHeads and it really helps us stay on time with our busy agenda. I really like the color warnings when time is running out and generally how easy it is to reset / change times with gestures.

Fin is available from the App Store for $4.99 and you can find out more about it on its website.

31 Days, 31 Products: MindNode

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 22:42:19 +0000

Day 01: MindNode

MindNode is a tool for mind mapping. Mind mapping is a process where you take a word, phrase or topic and place it in the middle of a piece of paper. From there you create branches off that first object to help explore or document an idea. Similar to brainstorming through a text-based outline, mind maps tend to be favored by people who think visually and like to accompany their maps with color assignments, drawings and more.

I’ve been using MindNode for a few months now, both on Mac OS X as well as iOS and it works great. The document format works on both sides so you can start a mind map on the iPad and bring it back the Mac with no issues. The UI of MindNode is simple but familiar. If you have experience with Keynote or Pages, you should feel well at home.

As for what I mind map, well, related to my recent announcements it’s mostly been things like naming (companies, products) and then pro/con list for different app ideas. I also recently did a map for how I organize my Dropbox files (a future blog post maybe).

MindNode is available from the Mac App Store ($29) as well as the iOS App Store ($9). A free trial for Mac can be downloaded from their website.

31 Days, 31 Products: Launch Post

mike@mikezornek.com (Mike Zornek) — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 22:38:33 +0000

At CocoaLove 2015 we had the pleasure of listening to Jaimee Newberry speak and from my notes I recollect the following from her talk:

Even before the talk, I was already inspired by Jaimee’s “31 days” series of writings and video posts. I’ve been wanting to get more writing practice and have been kicking the can on starting my own series but no more!

Today begins 31 Days, 31 Products — a blog series where once a day for 31 days I’ll post a short story sharing some of the products and services I’ve come to enjoy using. I hope you like it and discover a new helpful tool along the way.