"Hey Siri, Send"
Great Apple Watch tip for something that I've been struggling with. http://macsparky.com/blog/2015/5/hey-siri-send
noise dept.
hello vonnie
Xuebing Du
Three Goblin Art
NASA
Monterey Bay Aquarium

izzy's playlists!

Origami Around
sheepfilms
d e v o n
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dirt enthusiast
almost home
Peter Solarz

JVL
DEAR READER
art blog(derogatory)

Love Begins
AnasAbdin
Sweet Seals For You, Always
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@aaronisaacs
"Hey Siri, Send"
Great Apple Watch tip for something that I've been struggling with. http://macsparky.com/blog/2015/5/hey-siri-send
Much needed. Looking forward to these.
On The Apple Watch: Backlash
As I write this I’m waiting for the sound of the UPS truck to roll up in front of my house with my new Apple Watch. I’m excited, and that’s OK. Like all Apple product roll outs, there has been a ton of backlash on the internet. One of the most ridiculous was a Gawker article asking people to sign a plege not to have sex with anyone who wears an Apple Watch. I won’t link to it here so as not to drive traffic to this link bait. In this article, the author calls the Apple Watch dumb, and the iPad dumb, effectivly calling millions of people dumb because they like a peice of technology. Well, I think they’re dumb.
Technology fills different needs to different people. It’s OK to be excited about it. If it excites you, don’t let anyone tell it shouldn’t. I know people who get excited about watching a live PGA event. I could not think of something less exciting, but I’m not about to vow never to have sex with anyone who likes golf. If you like it, enjoy it. Don’t let anyone tell you what you should or should not spend your money on, be excited about or waste your time reading about.
People look to things of interest for a distraction from the bad things life throws at you. It’s a way to relax, unwind. For me, those things are technolgy and card tricks. This weekend I’ll have a new gadget, and go to a magic convention. That’s a pretty great weekend to me. I hope you enjoy your golf.
On The Apple Watch: Buttons
Button, button, who’s got the button?
The Apple Watch only has two buttons, and both serve as navigation rather than activation (generally speaking). The Pebble watch has four buttons, all of which are for activation and navigation.
I’m a little worried that I will miss the button functionality of the Pebble. I listen to a lot of podcasts and I use the music playback on my pebble to pause/play and skip ad reads. It’s great while driving because I don’t ever have to take my eyes off the road, I can get the right button by feel. The Apple Watch requires at least a quick glance at the screen.
That is one thing the Pebble has going for it over the Apple Watch. It may be the only thing.
I was going to post something about this, but Gruber, as always, does it better.
On The Apple Watch: Bands
Bands
The Apple Watch bands are nice. And expensive. Ridiculously expensive. $50 for a rubber, sorry fluoroelastomer, watch band is insane. The cheapest non rubber band is $150. That’s just nuts. It’s the one thing about the Apple Watch that is a disappointment to me.
I’ve tried on several on the bands at the Apple Store. None of the bands I tried on even left me with the slightest urge to spend the money on one. The sport is comfortable. I preordered a silver sport with blue band and an extra black band. Why you couldn’t order a silver sport watch with a black band is a mystery.
Hopefully, third party watch bands aren’t far behind.
On The Apple Watch: Battery Life
Battery life: The reviews have made it clear that the Apple Watch battery lasts as long as advertised. The problem many people have been complaining about is having to charge it every day. I don’t see that as a problem at all, in fact I think it may be a advantage.
My Pebble will last anywhere from 3–6 days on a single charge. But, that also opens it up to not checking its battery level often and finding it dead midday. I’ve gotten better about managing, but the first few months I owned a Pebble, that’s exactly the problem I ran into often.
I’ll just plug my Apple Watch in every night with my iPhone and iPad and not worry about it. However, I’m still debating getting a second charging cable to carry in my bag. I’m sure the first week or two of owning the Apple Watch I’ll be playing around with it enough to drain the battery more than usual. While I understand why it can’t be, I wish it was charged with a lighting cable. I already carry one of those and have them strewn about the house, office and car.
On the Apple Watch: Why?
The Apple Watch is a being released in one week. I’ll be posting some quick thoughts everyday about it until I get mine, which I have pre-ordered.
Why do I need a Smartwatch? This seems to be the biggest question for most people. I’ve actually been wearing a Pebble Smartwatch for over 18 months. A Smartwatch is already part of my daily workflow. At work my phone is always on silent. I’m often in a spot where an alert sound is totally unacceptable. I also often miss notifications because I don’t feel my iPhone buzz in my pocket. The Pebble has completely solved this problem for me. The Apple Watch will take this to a new level with the ability to act on certain notifications right from the watch. I’ve been sold on notifications on my wrist for a long time now.
The rest of the Apple Watch functionality over a Pebble is just gravy for me. A delicious exciting gravy.
Boy I hope this scene is in the next X-Men movie. From Uncanny X-Men 142- Days of Future Past.
Steaming to the Future
New episode of I Hope This Stays Down. Pat and I discuss the Emmy nominations and the future of TV, Tech they take on vacation, and Aaron’s Pebble Watch.
Direct Download
iTunes
Pebble Review
I haven’t worn a watch in over 15 years, since I fell down a flight of stairs and smashed my Rolex into a million pieces. It wasn’t a real Rolex, it was a fake I purchased several years before on a school trip to New York City. The fall down the flight of stairs wasn’t real either. It took place in the middle of a production of Noises Off and was supposed to happen. However, that particular performance resulted in me smashing my watch on the stage floor as I landed.
Ten days ago I started wearing a watch again. It’s a Pebble smartwatch that I was able to pick up at Best Buy (another story unto itself). It’s big and bulky, but I have large hands and big arms so it’s comfortable for me. It comes with a rubber watch band that you can replace with a standard watch band, but I haven’t bothered and don’t think I will. Having not wore a watch in so many years, I realized quickly how many things I bump my wrist against everyday. The Pebble has a scratch resistant screen, but I already have a pretty good scuff on mine. The display is easy to read, but a higher resolution would be appreciated.
This isn’t a traditional review, this is more about my personal experiance with the Pebble Watch.
Pairing the watch with my iPhone was easier than I expected it to be and it was up and running in just a couple of minutes. Out of the box an iPhone can send phone call and text message notifications to the Pebble. All other notifications require a bit of wrangling to get to the watch, but I was able to get notifications I wanted to show up on my Pebble. However, if the iPhone and Pebble ever lose their bluetooth connection to each other, you have to go through the whole process again. This happens more than I thought it would, getting the phone and watch too far away from eah other or having to reboot your iPhone. Getting notifications back isn’t hard or terribly time consuming, it’s just a pain in the ass. This is a limitation of iOS 6, and there is reason the believe this will may fixed with iOS 7. Text messages display the senders name and the full message. Phone calls display the number, and if the number is in your contacts, it may or may not display the callers name. It’s still a little wonky. I often don’t feel my iPhone vibrating in my pants pocket and I often feel phantom vibrations, the Pebble helps with both of these.
Battery life on my iPhone does take a slight hit from constatntly being connected via bluetooth, about an extra 10% a day. The watch battery is rechargable and lasts 5–7 days. The battery indicator is an issue, it only shows up when you are getting low on battery. My watch died at about 9 AM the other day and I spent the day without my new watch. I couldn’t charge the watch at work because it uses a proprietary cable that you can’t buy extras of yet.
When my battery failed, I removed the watch and came to a realization. I like this thing. I missed it, after wearing it for just a week. It takes some getting used to, and I have had a couple of odd moments with it. The second day I was wearing it, I went to rinse a spoon off in my kitchen sink, the exact moment I placed the spoon under water (with the hand that had the Pebble on the wrist) I got a notification. It startled me, and I threw the spoon thinking I was somehow being electrocuted. I wasn’t, it was just a text message coming in. Like I said, it takes some getting used too.
I recieved a nice compliment from a waitress who liked my watch, having no idea what it was, she just liked the looks of it and the text watch face I was using. A co-worker wanted to know why I kept looking at my watch as I recieved a series of text messages from my wife. No one has yet to say to me “Hey, is that a Pebble?”.
If you are a using of IFTTT, you can use the SMS channel to get some cool notifications on your watch. I’ve set up IFTTT to text me if there is breaking news for the NY Mets, to send the days weather report everyday at 6:30 AM, and to alert me if my Wemo senses motion in my house when I am not home. Since all the notifications come to my iPhone as a text message, they show up on my Pebble as well.
After I’ve explained to people what the Pebble is, the most common questions is, “Why would you want that?”. It’s a legitimate question. Aside from not missing calls and notifications when my phone is silenced in my pocket, I can quickly glance and see if what is making my phone buzz is important. In a meeting, out to dinner or any time it may be rude to take out your phone, you can get away with a quick glance at your watch.
I also keep a FitBit Zip in my pocket, and wish the Pebble had those type of sesors on it as well. That would really increase the value of a smartwatch.
The Pebble, and smartwatches in general, are a geeky thing for geeky people. I like geeky things, I like my Pebble and will continue to wear it.
7 Heaven?
New episode of my podcast I hope This Stays Down is now out. Pat and I talk in depth about iOS 7.
http://ihopethisstaysdown.squarespace.com/blog/episode-7-7-heaven
Schnitzel With Noodles
New episode of my podcast I Hope This Stays Down is now out. We pick our favorite games, apps, comics, magic tricks and movies.
iTunes link
Direct Download
Car Wars
Episode 3 of I Hope This Stays Down now on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-hope-this-stays-down/id595732074?mt=2
Love the Hulk. I really enjoyed AvX but more hulk would have been great.
Episode 2: What's In My Murse?
New episode of my podcast with my friend Pat Fegley is now up.
iTunes link
Using PDFPen
PDFPen from Smile Software is one of those apps I’d heard about for a long time. I’d always thought it sounded great, but I didn’t think I needed it and it was pricey.
When an iPad version was released at a much more affordable price, I grabbed it. I was impressed with it and could see some uses for it, I didn’t have many PDFs in my life, but I was glad to add this app to my iPad’s toolbox.
After reading David Sparks’s excellent ebook Paperless, I ordered a document scanner and set out to create a paperless workflow for my job.
I have to submit a time sheet every two weeks to my supervisor. (well, his secretary, actually) This involved the following steps.
Take blank time sheet out of my desk drawer.
If it was the last sheet, take it down the hall to make copies
Fill out the form, take it down the hall to make a copy for my records.
Put a copy in an envelope and walk downstairs to put it in the inter-office mail
Wait for phone call from my supervisor’s secretary asking me where it was.
Sometimes, she would get it that day, sometimes the next. Occasionally, I would have to drive across campus and deliver another copy to her since it never arrived. I decided this time sheet procedure was a perfect candidate for going paperless.
I asked for the original document to be emailed to me in a digital form (for 4 years I had simply been making photocopies of the original I got when I started working here.) It was sent to me as a Word document which I then saved as a PDF and placed in a Dropbox folder. When it came time to submit a time sheet, I would open PDFPen on my iPad, open the document from Dropbox, fill it out with my finger (or a stylus, the one time I actually found a stylus useful on an iPad), email a copy to the secretary, and upload a copy to my Dropbox. Using Hazel, the file would be moved to it’s proper location on my Dropbox for storage if I ever needed to get it again. (This whole process of using Noodlesoft’s Hazel and Dropbox is detailed in Paperless and that section alone is worth 10 times the price of the book.)
This process worked great for several months. PDFPen for iPad was all I really needed. When the iPhone version arrived, I grabbed that too. Even if I am not in my office if front of my Mac, I can get this paperwork submitted quickly and easily.
Things changed this fall. A large part of my job is to serve as technical director for the plays and musicals that get produced on campus. This fall, I decided to scan the scripts of the two shows I was working on and make all my notes on them using PDFPen on my iPad. Using a stylus was producing poor results as was trying to add text fields to type in. On small PDFs like my time sheet, these methods had worked great, but for making notes on 100 plus page PDFs it’s a cumbersome process.
I downloaded a free trial of PDFPen for Mac. An hour later I purchased it; this was the perfect way to make notes on these scripts. They would then sync to iCloud and be available for further mark up on my iPad while working on the shows. I could even get to them with PDFPen for iPhone if I needed. I purchased the basic version of PDFPen, as I didn’t see the need for the features in the Pro version that costs $40 more. This has been an excellent way for me to manage 100+ page scripts I need to make technical notes on, and beats lugging massive, chewed- up revised and re-revised scripts around.
Things changed again last week. I was listening to an episode of Mac Power Users and they were discussing their sponsor, Smile Software, the makers of PDFPen. Usually I will just fast forward these ad spots since I already own and use the app but this time I just let it play. The hosts, David and Katie, were talking about PDFPen Pro, and how you can use it to make PDF forms. Then I had an A-ha moment. Instead of filling out my time sheets using a stylus and inserting multiple text fields, I could create a PDF form, then tap on cells and automatically have a text field there. Luckily, Smile Software does have a way to upgrade from PDFPen to PDFPen Pro just by paying the $40 difference in the cost.
In the past year with PDFPen, I’ve gone from “Don’t need it” to “The iPad Version is all I need” to “I just bought the Pro version”.