I've been playing around with the accessibility keyboard in High Sierra and it is very interesting how much you can do with it. Even if you don't have a disability, it can be useful to be able to type when your keyboard isn't available.As I play around with it, I discover more and more it can do. I even made a big discovery while making is video!
I think this is kind of cool. You can use Alexa on your iPhone through the Amazon shopping app (but strangely, not the Alexa app). So you can use Siri, Alexa through the Amazon app, and Google and Microsoft's Cortana through their apps. Four assistants, one iPhone.
Stumbled upon dict:// links which open the Dictionary app right to a specific word. Doesn't work too well from Safari, but can be made to work as hyperlinks in documents. This could be potentially useful as a teaching aid.
Let's see what Apple recommends as gifts this year. I comment on each item.
A new feature of the Apple Clips app lets you use a virtual reality background to make video, quickly and easily. Hopefully in the future they will let you use your own VR background scene. Still, it is pretty fun and could be useful too.
I bought a cheap wireless charger to go with my iPhone X. I was skeptical of wireless charging and whether it would be worth it. But it turns out I really like it.
So I got my iPhone X today, and decided to film opening the box for those interested. It took about 30 minutes to set up, most of which was the update to iOS 11.1.I'm very embarrassed by how bad this video looks. I don't do videos like this very often, and I swear the scene looked great in the iPhone 6 Plus screen that I was using to do the recording. But the contrast is just horrible, even after adjusting in Final Cut. Oh well. At least we can use this as a springboard for questions you may have about the iPhone X.
I played around with a JXA (JavaScript for Automation instead of AppleScript) script that searches for duplicate photos in your Photos library and marks them with a keyword. It turned out to be pretty simple. But it could be dangerous if you plan to use it to permanently deleted photos.Here is the script text: var Photos = Application("Photos"); Photos.includeStandardAdditions = true; var currentSelection = Photos.selection(); var photoDataList = []; for (var item of currentSelection) { var photoInfo = String(item.date())+" "+String(item.size())+" "+String(item.name()); var isDup = false; for(var i=0;i<photoDataList.length;i++) { if (photoDataList[i] == photoInfo) { isDup = true; break; } } if (isDup) { var keys = item.keywords(); if (keys == null) keys = []; item.keywords = keys.concat(["duplicate"]); } else { photoDataList.push(photoInfo); } }
Have a look at my menu bar icons. I'll explain where each one comes from and perhaps you'll find something you can use as well.
I've had people ask me about viewing and editing photo metadata on the iPhone or iPad. It takes a third-party app to do that. This one called MetaPho will allow you to view, change and delete metadata.
Sometimes when I try to make a MacMost video, it just doesn't happen. I was trying to make a video on the new Siri Personal DJ functionality this week, and I couldn't get it to work reliably. Check out the frustrating results. Have you tried Siri Personal DJ? Any luck?
A new feature in High Sierra allows you to use Full Screen mode with Mail and then it splits the screen when you compose a new message or reply to one. So you see your mailboxes and messages on the left, and the message you are composing on the right.
A new feature in High Sierra is the ability to see flight tracking info in Spotlight. A small feature, to be sure, but useful to some.
An experiment. I look at the latest questions in Apple Discussion and give you the off-the-top-of-my-head ideas and solutions. So, covering a variety of topics including: wireless charing through iPhone cases, iTunes 12.7 app redirect problems, Numbers SUMIF, how to get iOS app updates unstuck, etc. (I apologize for the audio as I didn't realize I was recording using the wrong mic).
Just me talking about what I think of the iPhone X and why I'll be buying one. Let me know what you think about it!
OBS has to be one of the coolest pieces of free Mac software out there. I'm not using it for anything in particular, but I thought I could show it off here anyway. It allows you to combine media inputs (camera, screen, audio, etc) and stream live or save to a file. Kind of like a TV studio. It is very easy to use. I did use it in the past to do some live Facebook streaming. I could, if I wanted, record the MacMost episodes with it.
Thought I'd show you a Safari extension I've been using to help with some of my web development work.
Playing around with multitasking in iOS 11 on the iPad today as I'm updating my My iPad book. I like this far better than iOS 10 multitasking. Take a look.
A quick look at what's to come in High Sierra. You'll be able to share files directly in iCloud Drive. I mean with another person, not just another Mac you own.
I like trying out new iPhone keyboards. Anything that can give me the potential to type faster on that little screen. Google has a free one called Gboard. It allows you to swipe-type. See the video for a demo. I also like that you can search for emoji. I can never remember which emoji to use, so being able to search for keywords to narrow it down helps. There are some other useful features as well.
