David Allen Wizardgold's Posts

The first part of a podcast in which I talk to Bob who lives in Japan. We talk about various software. He likes to use OmniGraffle to make flash cards for the Japanese children to learn English. We also chat about art apps for the Mac and iOS. Bob mentions Manga Studio application and I talk about what is going to happen with Aperture when the new Photos app arrives early in 2015.

I recorded how I start my day using Siri. While I am still in bed and my eyes have not yet opened I can find out if it is too early to get up or if it is time I got my butt out of bed. Before I have even started to get the sleep out of my eyes I have asked Siri what time it is, if there are any messages, events or emails waiting for me. When my eyes have decided to join the land of the living I can check out the social networks with Twitter, Facebook and Google plus. I can use it for the dictation to reply to messages and she even understands my Brummie accent. Starting the day this way is so much better, especially in the winter when it is nice and warm in bed and the day hasn't yet warmed up.

Starting when your eyes are not ready for the day they are still partly closed and there is nothing better than to get a few things done by talking to Siri. IRI ball to first of all find out what time it is I am first of all able to then I can see if I have any appointments for the day, check my messages and my email. The curtains are still closed, the room is still dark and I haven't even opened my eyes it. In this podcast I talk about starting the day with Siri and then I talk about the application I bought yesterday called Workflow. Workflow gives us automation on iOS and I am impressed with the new application that only came out yesterday. Already I can see I will have lots of uses for it. It is especially good when I combine it with Launch Center Pro.

The Mac Podcast where enthusiasts talk about what they do with their Macs and iOS devices. Mike is a video and movie guy interested in the audio end of making movies and we talk about movies he has made and how he is going into making videos with a new business venture. All done using Mac computers and other technologies. One of his favourite apps to use is Fantastical. Great for organising his life and of course we chat about FInal Cut and other options for editing video.

I last got talking to Michael about five years ago and since then he's added a trashcan Mac Pro and also the latest iMac with a 5K display to his Apple stable. He tells me about how his house and he burned down alongside telling me what he does with his Mac and his iOS devices. You could say that we had a really good chat and that we got on like a house on fire! The good thing is that it wasn't his house. He does also use a Microsoft surface tablet, but we won't hold that against him. It seems that most of his business end of things could be done with whatever sort of technology even though his offices dominantly Mac-based. Some software that is required for the business is either Windows or Android. For his personal computing needs he uses Mac and IOS and is still using Aperture for his photography as he was when I first spoke to him. Like many people that are used to using professional applications for photography and in particular using Aperture is considering moving completely to Adobe Lightroom due to

I love reading and my latest book is the book River God by Wilbur Smith. It is extremely entertaining and I am enjoying the story. I know that as soon as I finished this one I will be moving on to the next book in the series. I am back at home in Spain, in Catalonia and the weather has been a little bit cool and wet. So I'm keen, even desperate to get out for a ride on my bicycle but in the meantime I have been making video tutorials showing Mac users how to encrypt emails. While working on this video I upgraded some software and had some difficulties and had to try other software and continued having more difficulties. These are the difficulties only arose because of me not being used to using that software for creating tutorials. It made me think that I need to spend some time relearning and reacquainting myself with this software. And then I will be to make some more tutorials! My latest tutorial shows Mac users how to sending encrypted emails using certificates from StartSSL. It is not too difficult to

People watching in the airport. Sheridan cheese market for tea and samosas Grandson time and a visit to Cavan court.

I am in the Apple Community after being half in and half out by using an Android phone for 16 months. Added to the stable today with the arrival of the latest iPad. Easy set up which I could have made go faster if I had thought about what I was doing step by step. I started downloading apps to the iPad that I could have just synchronised from iTunes. Pretty pleased with the iOS device from Apple and I know it will serve me well for two or three years now. The screen is excellent and it looks like the text and images are right on top of the glass front. Less reflective than the screen on the previous model. I am finding it great for reading books. Trying out a load of camera and photo apps and I can't wait to get into the Replay app I saw demoed on the stage at the Apple event last week. Pixelmator is an app I love using on the Mac and I have just bought the new iPad version. It will be a favourite along with Procreate which I like to use for drawing and painting digitally.

I hesitated before I am graded my Mac to Yosemite and this is because I always use DragonDictate rather than using the keyboard. I reckon I can write about three times faster using the dictation rather than using typing. In the end I decided to take the jump and give it a try. Of course I had a whole load of backups completed before I did anything. I use the application Superduper to create two separate backups of the system drive. And I also have Time Machine backup to fall back on if necessary too. So I am quite pleased with the new operating system for my Mac even though there are one or two things that are not working on it and will never work on it probably. The reason that some things will not work is because of the absence of Bluetooth low energy version 4 on the Mac. So whichever way I tried to get it to do the job with the handoff and also with connecting up the phone for the SMS messages on the Mac it was no good at all. Tomorrow I will be getting my new iPad air 2 and I will be held to try ou

The battery of my iPhone is just not lasting today. So it is a good job I have an external battery coming so I can charge it up when I am out and about. Getting an extra charger too - One for carrying with me to use elsewhere and the other to leave beside the bed. Two more lightening cables - One for the car and one for connecting to the Mac. Now I am sorted. I should have been working on the book today - It is a non fiction book about how to beat writers block with technology and a good and geeky writers workflow. I have been testing out apps on my iPhone and iPad to use alongside the apps I use on the iMac so I have a funnel of ideas and words that go into the writers app Scrivener. Scrivener is the best place to do professional quality writing like a book or long articles. My book goes into depth with the testing I have been doing on outliner apps and getting the data moving in between specific apps on the way to Scrivener. Then in the last chapters I have the final workflow which works for me. I have it

I got the e-bike out and hit the road. Some errands to be done first but the beach and a dip in the sea beckoned. Trying out the MapMyRide app this morning. It isn't working as well as the Map my Walk app that I have been using. Something is not quite right. I have been fiddling with settings and I will sort it out so that it records my position with GPS as does the other app. First day of my holiday following a long old time at the campsite for the summer.

Waffling about the goings on at the campsite. A couple of Swedish girls arrived on bicycles looking sweaty. It's a tough trip from Tossa de Mar to Plato's d'Step on bikes. I talk about other happenings in the campsite

Sort of happy with the iPhone 6 - All of the features are great and the phone is lightening quick in comparison with what I had before. The battery is draining too fast for my liking and I will have to get a back up battery to use to save me on the days of heavy use. #iphone6

after using android devices for just over a year I have been tempted to go back into the Apple fold. I have ordered a new iPhone 6 and I can't wait to get my hands on it. There are loads of new things in iOS eight which have brought me back such as the extensibility feature which allows me to work with the features of one application while still in another application. I can do things in the Paper Camera app from within the photos application which is pretty handy. I like that we can have widgets that we can drag down from the top in the notifications area although I don't think it's quite makes up for what I have been using with the Google Now. I'm looking forward to using my favourite applications that are only available on iOS. These applications would be Drafts, OmniFocus, Clear and Day One. There are a number of other applications that I'm pleased to be using gain over on the iOS platform and the applications in general are better on the Apple side of the fence. This is one of the reasons why it some

Podcasting for authors and writers A short podcast discussing how to get started with podcasting with hardware and software. I demonstrate the difference between using an internal microphone and an external microphone. There is information as to how to have a good microphone technique so that you sound as good as it is possible. I talk about the microphones that I use for studio recording and also the one that I use when I am out and about. #Podcasting #howto #writers #authors

#AppleWatch - I want one. I just can't help myself because I love technology and the thought of it being like living in the future. I watched the Apple announcement this morning on my computer and before I knew it I was lusting after one of these Apple watch devices to put on my wrist. It's going to seem a long wait between now and the beginning of next year when it becomes available to the general public.