I want to talk about the MacBook 2016 and MacBook Pro 2016s that I purchased for a minute and then onto what’s next for me. I bought my rose gold MacBook 2016 in the highest configuration, the Macbook Pro with Touch Bar came out and that led to a 2nd purchase. Other than desktop Macs that I replaced last year, these are still my main Macs. I don’t use desktops much.

I’m typing on my Rose Gold MacBook 12 which I prefer over my faster but heavier MBP with Touch Bar. So, after 3 years, I’m kind of in the mood for a new laptop and have that same dilemma except a bit worse right now. I can’t believe there is no MacBook 12 for 2018 or 2019. I have a VERY hard time believing this is a discontinued model. No way!

Rumors have been going around for a long time that the next MacBook 12 will be driven by one of Apple’s A chips, not an intel chip. The industry this year is coming to the conclusion that Apple needs to do this platform switch. Also, we have incursions from iOS 13 with Catalyst coming to help migrate iOS apps to the Mac. If iOS app migration and A chips continue to close in on Macs and MacOS, the MacBook may get a double whammy soon!

Software development is slow compared to hardware except that firmware is essentially software burned into silicon so it’s still trouble. There’s no way Apple can turn its back on Mac miniaturization. I know some may think Macs are yesterday’s news but some of the best things and all the big complex apps have been on PCs and Macs not on smartphones and iPads.

iOS apps are getting better as that is where the volume is. As in 20 smartphones vs 1 Mac and maybe 3 PCs. This is guesswork with these numbers, but in any case we have developers working on stuff that fits on tiny devices that never grows up to run on Mac apps.

The Mac and Windows apps aren’t getting upgraded fully if at all. FileMaker Go is practically a view only device compared to FileMaker Pro Advanced which can build incredibly powerful and complex databases and automate just about anything at scale. Part of the problem is that iOS is a touch or fat finger environment that can’t handle as much detail/complexity as a Mac or say Windows 10.

One more time on Desktop Software. It’s not going away. It is being invested in and can run on things like a sexy little MacBook 12. In MacOS Catalina come Fall, we get to plug an iPad into our Macs and use Apple Pencils on the Mac software that supports it. Macs will get a little more fun in their lives and who knows what happens with Apple’s A processors cranking out augmented reality on these Macs. Interesting that we are actually plugging the iPads in with wires, I guess the wires will allow better performance. Which might be understandable if we throw in a big dose of augmented reality. I hope someone finds an application for AR quickly for something fun like maybe genealogy family trees – kind of like time travel if the software can figure out how to visualize that.

So, temporarily I’m stuck with the NEW COOL MacBook Air 2019. OK, 12 ounces heavier isn’t working for me but I do admire the 13 inches of screen real estate over the 12 — some stuff is designed for a minimum of 13″. Also, I very much appreciate the 2 Thunderbolt ports vs. 1 USB-C on the MB12. I get 4 on a MacBook Pro — 2 on both sides which really helps when you need a plug and power is on your right side.

The new Air 13 seems to get a thumbs down from reviewers based on performance. Just like the MacBook 12’s have done. The 13 has a girly 8th gen Y Intel processor (a lousy 2 cores) vs. the beefy hotter 9th gen 4-core processor in the new MBPs. All I can say to Apple is you could have done a little more for the Air. Like offer an option but I suppose that wedge and that 1/4 lb. lighter Mac couldn’t handle these beefier hotter chips. I think the marketing guys were trying to drive a wedge between the two models. Whatever.

Even though 1/4 lb. is almost nothing, I seem drawn to the Air 13. It is a vote for smaller lighter. I would get the next MB12 if there were any available other than a 2017 (that’s too historic and only 1 year ahead of what I have now!). Also, cost is an issue with the MBP. It’s too easy to end up spending close to $3000 with one of those if you, like me, want to have 16gb RAM and a terabyte SSD for an extra $200. The Air I want probably will cost me closer to $2000, but once you open the floodgates of processor choices on the MBP13, you cross the $2500 line in a heart beat.

Anyway, if you are a woman like me who is not crazy about even an extra 1/4 lb. or like little devices like I do and really aren’t doing lots of intensive gaming or video processing or something, I say go with the Air 13. OK. One last admission, I have an iMac Pro on my desk should some crazy reason for more power come up at some point. I pretty much hate working at my desk, so most work is done like this on the couch with my MB12.

There is an outside chance a MacBook 12 will show up if Apple doesn’t like its sales of Macs in September but I doubt it. I’m still a little on the fence about buying before I can get a 2019 or 2020 MacBook 12 but as soon as I make a move, you’ll be the first to know!

Macs are still Relevant to the Knowledge Professional

There are lots of reasons why a knowledge professional would like this Mac. First, it is a Mac which is historically the favorite for creatives. I’m going to assume that knowledge professionals must be creative to do their jobs regardless of the field. If you are operating with knowledge at a professional level and might be a knowledge enthusiast too, this is your brand.

But this gorgeous MacBook Pro is Pricey!

Let’s get this out of the way early. Yes. Apple raised their prices on these better quality Macs. You get your money’s worth, but yeah, it will cost you. As my father used to say, money doesn’t grow on trees. And the last 30-years haven’t been kind to the middle class. But your tools have never been like this.  You are better educated and more knowledge-capable than ever. If you are serious about your career, this big tax deduction is a great investment. It is your primary tool so consider cutting back elsewhere in your budget.

iPad is Not (Yet) Enough. Now that you are preferring Mac and are creating with knowledge whether writing, advising, creating presentations or diagramming, you’ll probably want a Mac not just an iPad to get your work done. I say you need both if you can do it because reading, the primary activity of a knowledge professional, is best on an iPad by a large margin. It feels better. It’s less awkward.

Mac wins when you are writing. If you are reading and typing, you’ll probably be better on a Mac than an iPad just due to the advantage extra MacBook functionality. With a Mac you can still read but you get some extras. The screen is adjustable to any angle and is always with you (you don’t need a stand or foldable cover to prop it up). The keyboard is really good and is built in. It works well on a table or your lap or anything in between. While Apple doesn’t give you a touch screen, it gives you the world’s best trackpad which you can operate and still keep your hands in perfect typing position.

Mac wins when you are gathering and organizing as you begin or review a project. The Finder with its multiple windows and ease of connecting and working with external data, beats the iPad handily in these critical knowledge functions. There are many Mac apps to choose from. I like Scapple for the visual note-taking. I like Ulysses because it keeps my serious writing and important notes in a database so all that stuff is there so I can grab what I need quickly. I think Scrivener is great for long writing projects. But also we have lovely OmniOutliner and Omnigraffle.

Why Would the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar be your choice for your next portable Mac?

Look and Feel

Jony Ive outdid himself with this Mac. I’ve got the space gray model which is stunning. I believe and its been documented that beauty can inspire and energize. What knowledge professional doesn’t need all the inspiration and energy they can get when faced with tough creative challenges? It is smooth as silk opening, closing  and adjusting the screen angle.  The screen is wide color and brilliantly lit. The touch bar is perfectly blended with the keyboard. The 4 Thunderbolt ports are small leaving the sides uncrowded.

Form Factor

I’ve been using the MacBook 12 and I have to say that the small size and 2 lb. weight are wonderful on your lap or in your bag. It’s better for me to have the extra screen size, though. I like big screens because I get a larger canvas just like I like bigger notebooks and note pads when I need to figure out what I am doing on a new problem or project. For me, the 13″ size is as big as I’m willing to carry or hold. I would not have gone 13″ if the MBPTB was bigger or heavier than its compact 3 lbs. I like that it is smaller than the MacBook Air 13 by a large margin and, of course, way cooler. It’s more comfortable on my lap.

The Amazing Touch Bar

I’m typing on it now. I have an iPad Pro 12.7 next to me but it is sitting idle for the reasons I’ve just covered. The Touch ID on the right edge of the touch bar is the biggest favorite out of the box. It’s not to be typing to login anymore. I haven’t learned much about the new touchbar yet, but I like that Apple has given me a small strip of iOS in this new MacBook Pro. That strip is great for discovering the commands available at any given moment. Simply engaging touch in the middle of a writing project may help your brain get a little more creative. I’m thinking it engages with the right brain, subconscious, primitive capacities of the mind where breakthroughs and insights are facilitated.

 Largest Trackpad

With the exception of the new MBP15 trackpad, this is the biggest trackpad around. Apple already makes by far the best trackpads. Turns out as you get into gestures including drag, pinch and zoom, the bigger the better. If palm rejection wasn’t excellent, the size of the trackpad would be an issue. Not a problem that I’ve experienced.

Fastest Solid State Drive

Apple says this solid state drive is twice as fast as previous SSD generations. This affects how fast things start – you are doing one thing and you do another thing. It’s extremely responsive. There’s no resistance to your effort. Faster is better when you work on hard stuff.

The USB-C Thunderbolt Ports

I’m not the best one to judge the downsides of not having the ports that came on previous MacBook Pros. I already have been using a single USB-C port with my MacBook 12 for over a year and a half and 4 ports seem like a complete luxury even though USB-C. They aren’t as compatible so I’ve used Apple 3 port adapters when I wanted power and a backup. With four ports, I don’t need a hub or multiple function adapters. I plug in power in one port and a hard drive and a USB stick all at the same time. I’ve got a 64 gig USB-stick that has a regular USB3 side and a USB-C side so that’s already available and I recommend one of these if you are new to USB-C.

My 2013 MacBook Pro 13 had an SD card slot, 2 USB3 ports and a Thunderbolt 2 port.  Now I get 2 full speed Thunderbolt 3 ports and 2 full speed second generation USB-C ports. I just bought 2 new $89 1-terabyte 7200 rpm G-drive portable drives in space gray from the Apple Store. I can’t find that $89 price anywhere else so I think Apple is helping out on that price a bit to make buying new USB-C drives palatable.

I am a technology enthusiast, so all these really powerful and fast, state of the art ports seem good. The lack of legacy compatibility and requirements to sometimes use an adapter for old drives seems like a very reasonable price to pay considering how small and light the MBPTB is and what I get. You can get a USB-C to USB3 adapter for about $10. Apple has their USB-C to USB3 adapter for sale for $9. Apple is trying to make these adapters affordable to smooth your way into the future.

You can keep all of your dongles at home except maybe take that USB stick with USB-C and USB-3. You already had a USB stick with you anyway didn’t you?

We’ve also heard rumors of a 13″ and 15″ MacBook. Yesterday, the dates for Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference were announced. Let’s see… Looks like the 13″ and 15″ MacBooks will be the top of the line. I’m thinking we will get larger MacBooks with a little more oomph due to their larger size. Larger size equates to more room for batteries that could handle more power-hungry chips.

The MacBook 12″ would be the entry level model. The 12 is the smallest and lightest MacBook at the most affordable price point. Not sure whether the MacBook 13 will be called MacBook Pro or just the 15. Still, based on the history of the MacBook Pro, the 13 will be intermediate in price and the 15 will be higher and more full-featured. MacObserver was the first Mac site I saw yesterday that forecast the new MacBook Pros would be close in design to the MacBook 12. MacObserver guessed these will support Thunderbolt 3 via the USB-C port and might have a second USB-C port since there’s more room for one to accommodate a bigger 13 or 15 inch screen.

I can’t imagine getting a 15″ MacBook Pro. Great for screen size but I wouldn’t want to carry it or have it on my lap. But what happens if it is under 4 lbs? If so, it gets interesting to more people.

I’m much more interested in the 13″ MacBook. MacObserver predicts it will weigh well under 3 lbs. I will have to wait and see whether 12 or 13 seems more attractive once all the chips are on the table. If you have any doubts about the power of the latest MacBook 12 and would pay a little more if the right 13″ came along, you may want to join me.

In 2015, this MacBook is all you need unless you are a diehard power user. I would rather wait once in a while than carry more than 2 lbs. The reviews on MacBook have been way too conservative and old school.

Advantages. I’m not going to dwell on it. But, a gorgeous 2-lb Mac is a joy to use. Yes, this gold one looks awesome and the warm gray does too. The force touch trackpad opens up lots of possibilities and certainly is the best trackpad Apple has ever made. The backlit keys look better than ever. The retina screen is as good as it gets. The USB-C port is state of the art and better than what you get with a brand new MacBook Pro or Air.  The only knock on it is that there’s only one of them and it’s brand new so there aren’t as many accessories for it — yet.

Power. I’m guessing only 5 – 10% of the computer-using population need more power than this. This is not an unpowerful Mac. Part of that is because it has a very fast state-of-the-art SSD in it. It’s got oomph for video. Yes, some of you need more power but you know who you are. The rest of us can party with a 2-lb Mac.

Only 1 Port Besides a Headphone Jack. It seems that everyone is all concerned about the lack of ports. I got this MacBook over 2 weeks ago and I’m doing just fine. Yes, I bought a $19 adapter to go USB3 to USB-C. That handles connecting iOS devices, USB sticks and hard drives. You’ll live. With 9 hours of battery-life, you don’t need to plug-in all the time. This is the first mobile-first Mac. Times change.

Thunderbolt Monitors — Not so Much. If you like to use your MacBook to drive a large Thunderbolt monitor and sit at a desk, the 2-lb MacBook may not be for you. You paid good money for a fancy Apple Thunderbolt monitor. You aren’t going to be happy that there is no adapter for Thunderbolt for this little guy. I’m not sure Thunderbolt is long for this world now that the powerful and versatile USB-C is rolling out. I still expect to see a USB-C adapter for Thunderbolt before long. There are quite a few Thunderbolt monitors out there and most of their owners have the bucks to buy the latest tech. Apple might even make an adapter if they get enough flak, but don’t hold your breath.

VGA and HDMI Monitors are a Go. If you have a VGA or HDMI monitor or monitors, buy Apple’s new USB-C VGA or HDMI adapters for $79. These adapters let you connect your USB-C power cable, your monitor and a drive or USB stick all at once. Your golden or space gray MacBook, even though tethered, will serve you just fine.

The Always with you Mac. With this tiny 2-lb carry, you can be portable in the living room, bedroom or local coffeehouse with an ease you’ve never known. Maybe you travel quite a bit.  I promise you this 2-lb Mac will compete with an iPad and will be your friend in the air and airport.

We now have a handheld Mac almost. As you probably know, I have an Apple Watch and need to stand every hour come hell or high water. With the MacBook, I can be on a Skype call and stand up, carry it around for a minute, and get my stand in.

If you are in the market for a new laptop this year and aren’t prioritizing on power at all costs, get this 12″ Macbook. It is smaller and lighter than the MacBook Air 11 with a bigger and better screen. The typing was fine from the moment I tried it in the store. I guarantee you the resale value on this state of the art Mac will beat the MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs hands down.

Which Apple Watch?

Acquired Apple Watch on April 24. I went with the Sport Watch for the price and the lightness over the Sapphire lens. So far no scratches. Part of my thinking was that Apple does an awesome job with aluminum. The iPhone looks stellar, why would I want to spend more to get stainless steel? It’s the same wrist-computer, after all. And, like I said, I wanted light.

Got the Space Gray with Black Sports Band. Working like a charm. Comfortable. Doesn’t bother me to keep it on all the time. Good to go! Yes. This is my dog, Spinner. Kind of fun to have her on my wrist.

Got the 42mm. This was a close call as I have small wrists. So the 42mm watch is pretty big on my wrist but I have worn bigger in the old days from time to time. And I survived. I went for the screen real estate and the extra battery life. No regrets.

Does Apple Watch Meet my Expectations?

It’s working great for my first goal of Standing regularly. This alone may justify the purchase. Actual Goal 1 was to learn about this new wearable computer something I’ve heard about for 20 years back when all this stuff was in the future. Now we have something real and backed by Apple’s economic power to change the world.

My minimum requirements are good. I haven’t mastered notifications so they are hit or miss and sometimes I get haptic notifications and sometimes not. I’m sure more will be revealed but I’m busy right now with work so don’t have oodles of time to sort all this out. At least now the Apple Watch is on my wrist so I’m getting to experience this ground breaking new release from day one.

Experiencing the Apple Watch

The experience is pretty transparent, actually, if you don’t count getting dinged to stand up every hour. I usually beat it to the punch partly because I’m afraid I’ll miss one of my hours and I like to get as many Stands as I can per day at this point in the game.

I don’t notice that the watch is on my wrist. That’s the transparent part. It’s just there. After a good 15 years not wearing a watch, it’s kind of handy to have one on my person. And in addition to my iPhone which might not be in an app that shows the time or is somewhere in the house but not on me. It’s pretty rare to not have the iPhone near, but the watch is really near. Even if it takes a half second to turn on.

I have no doubt I will be wearing this watch for the foreseeable future. At least until next year’s version that is. I would love to be able to control some of the variables myself. One great candidate would be how long the watch stays on before going to sleep. I would push it to at least 20 seconds over the current 15 unless battery life got to be an issue.

Looking forward to learning more and seeing cooler and cooler apps over time. Developers have had little to no time to learn how to take advantage of this device. As they learn and iterate, all sorts of improvements will be made.

I’m preordering an iPhone 6 Plus on Friday but I’ve been unsure until now. Now that I’ve been reading the web and twitter non-stop on my quest for those who have actually had the phones in their hands and sometimes in their pockets, I’m ready to commit.

Things to consider before you decide the iPhone 6 Plus is too big:

1. Bigger Screen is better — always. This is a personal next-gen computer, not just a phone to make phone calls on. Screen real estate matters

2. Optical Image Stabilization. Only the Plus camera has  this great feature for low light shots.

3. Higher Resolution 400 ppi. Sharper screen. The 6 has only 326 ppi.

4. A Lot Better battery life. 20-40% better. No battery case needed. Less bulky in that respect.

5.  Two Column Landscape View in iOS 8. Not on iPhone 6.

6. One device is better than 2. This is a mini mini iPad not just an iPhone but that too. 1 device to maintain and purchase. 1 cellular connection. You won’t need to lug your iPad mini or maxi around as much. Or you can sell/trade-in the mini.

7. eReading – the 5.5″ size is perfect and comfortable for long-form reading.

8. Reachability. There’s a special reachability feature in iOS 8 that lets you still operate it with one hand.

9. It’s Different, Newer. Thus refreshing and stimulating. Be the first one on your block!

10. Still fits in your pocket. Unlike the iPad mini. Yes, a lot of women already find a regular iPhone too bulky for their tiny pocketed skinny jeans and carry the iPhone in a purse. If that’s you, bigger is better since the Plus will fit in just about any purse easily.

Related Links:

• eReader Joy on iPhone 6 Plus
  “Unless one really just needs a phone, or money is really tight, this is currently the king of hand-held Everything Machines. I havenâ€t been this excited since the iPad 1.”
• Gizmodo on iPhone 6
  “But after a brief time fondling the 4.7-inch iPhone 6—up from a 4-inch predecessor—I feel comfortable saying that this is the right kind of sizing up.”
• The Verge on iPhone 6
  “The big question with a larger screen is how it affects battery life: Apple says that it managed to cram a longer-lasting and bigger battery into the new iPhone 6 Plus. The phone gets 24 hours of 3G talk time, up to 16 days on standby (384 hours), up to 12 hours of internet use on LTE/Wi-Fi, and up to 14 hours of video playback.”
• TUAW Steve Sande On Choosing
  “How about holding the device? To be honest, although it looks much larger, I tend to use my iPhone two-handed anyway, except for making phone calls. Did I feel like I was holding a brick up to my head with the mockup? No — I have fairly small hands and it fit nicely.”
• TUAW Steve Sande More Thoughts on Big iPhone
  “Picking up the iPhone 6 Plus mockup, I found myself much more apt to use it two-handed, although notifications could still be perused one-handed.”
• ZDNet Matthew Miller iphone 6 Trumps iPad mini
  “My iPad Mini is primarily used to consume video content (streaming TV, movies, and sports apps), read ebooks, and manage my email and calendar. It is not an essential device whereas phones are essential to my daily train commute and business travel life. With a 5.5 inch display, it looks like the iPhone 6 Plus can serve as both my tablet and phone.”
• iMore Which to get iPhone 6 or 6+?
  “If the iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s are already big for you, you’ll want to stick to the iPhone 6. If the iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s simply aren’t big enough, you’ll want to go for the iPhone 6 Plus.”
• MacWorld on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus
  “By default, the iPhone 6 Plus takes advantage of its extra screen space to put more information on screen. Apps that previously featured only one pane of information can now offer two in landscape orientation, making the device almost feel like a tiny iPad. However, users with vision issues who were hoping that the iPhone 6 Plus would be a “large-print edition” of the iPhone neednâ€t fret: You can set the iPhone 6 Plus to use the display like a regular iPhone 6, at which point everything on the screen is just bigger. You choose which you prefer: larger or more.”

In a mostly mobile world filled with digital devices, writers, thinkers and creators may have lost their rhythm when it comes to the use of paper and pen. At least that’s what happened to me.

I was an early adopter with the Palm Pilot in the late nineties. I wasn’t writing on paper all that much then because I was fascinated with this new tool. Somehow in the mid 2000’s or so I got caught up in the Moleskine craze and journaling and filled about 20 moleskine notebooks over the next years. Those were mostly large Moleskines but I did try to use the Pocket versions too. Problem was they were small but still too big and uncomfortable for a back pocket.

Flash forward to 2014 and I now have 4 years of iPad use seeking to again go digital but not quite ready to give up on paper and ink either. I’ve got an iPhone and an iPad plus a MacBook Pro and iMac 27 so I’ve got everything one could ask for digitally and mobilely.

I am a fast typist so it is more efficient for me to type when writing. But then, I don’t always have my MacBook Pro with me. And I’ve kind of given up on the Logitech Keyboard Cover even though I bought one for my iPad Air and it works for typing fast into an iPad app. It works, but I have reason to bring my MacBook Pro so then a keyboard for the iPad seems superfluous.

The four apps that keep me chained to the MacBook Pro are: FileMaker Pro, Scapple, Ulysses III and Circus Ponies Notebook 4. These apps either don’t have an iOS equivalent or have an iOS counterpart that leaves a lot to be desired.

A lot of people are writing notes everywhere they are and with whatever is handy so that means on a computer or other digital device or on paper. Paper is still better for a lot of things. Here are just a few of the many reasons paper is still around:

Paper Is:

1. Flexible. You can write at any angle and draw as you please which makes it wonderful for annotation, cocktail napkin diagrams and much more.

2. No Electricity Required. Our digital devices all suck battery like nobody’s business and so require all this maintenance with cables and adapters at every turn.

3. Personal. It’s not neat and orderly necessarily but it is more personal and has an authenticity and expressiveness that can’t be matched in a typed digital document.

4. Typing on glass sucks. It’s a hard surface that doesn’t give at all and doesn’t provide tactile feedback.

5. Speed. What would you prefer when the phone rings and its an important client or other call that requires some note-taking. When all your resources need to be attending to the call, paper’s flexibility and sheer speed of entry usually wins.

6. It folds. Yes, you can unfold an 8-1/2 by 11″ sheet and use it. When iPads can do that and more, the days of paper may be numbered but it’s going to be a few more years I’m afraid.

7. The Feel. Get a good pen like my favorite the Uniball Vision Elite and good paper from Field Notes, Doane Paper, Moleskine or the exquisite Clairefontaine. This is not finger or stylus on glass. This feels much better.

Choosing the best pen and paper or notepad or notebook takes time to get right. But now it’s worse. You might need to rethink your previous favorite methods. I have.

There are a million use cases for paper and I don’t want to write a book on this so will confine my discussion to what I’ve been using and why.

Back Pocket

Any kind of knowledge professional or enthusiast needs to capture their thoughts on the spur of the moment. I like carrying a small notebook in my back pocket that doesn’t hold a wallet. Yes, I’m a woman who doesn’t carry a purse constantly, only when I have to. And I walk a lot for exercise. Who wants to carry a purse then? So I just have a notebook in my back pocket along with a pen all the time and that covers me. When I go to bed, it is on the nightstand.

What do I use? Here are the 4 recent contenders: Doane Paper spiral bound note pad, Doane Paper utility notebook, Field Notes pocket notebook and Moleskine cahier pocket notebook.

Doane Paper Utility Notebook (3 for $10 direct).  The Doane paper is best of this group. Stapled binding. If you like to bound notebooks, these are really good and should be tried if you haven’t yet. Bright white paper with light small grid plus rules. Some might find it busy but I like it.

Field Notes Pocket Notebook (3 for $10 Amazon or direct or in stores). Stapled Binding. Field Notes harks back to farmers using notebooks over 100 years ago so if you like retro at all, you might fall in love with their brand. Fun is also utmost with all sorts of interesting variations. I will warn you away from the Arctic explorer notebooks though. The water repellant paper doesn’t hold roller ball ink at all. Field Notes is the comfiest bound notebook in your pocket because its paper is thinner than Doane above. You really should go to fieldnotesbrand.com and watch the video and see their amazing stock. Also, when you order direct, they often give you extra goodies.

Moleskine Cahier Pocket Notebook  (3 for $8 Amazon).  It is the thickest in your pocket with 64 pages which is not quite as comfortable as the thinner 48 page Doane Small Utility and Field Notes. The Moleskine is also the sturdiest and stitched not stapled. The feel of actually writing on the Moleskine is best in the sense it feels like you are writing on a quality journal. You may prefer Moleskine’s cream colored paper.

Doane Paper Small Flapper Jotter (3 for $13 direct). Same paper with spiral binding on top. If you don’t want a bound notebook for your pocket, this is a great option and the one I’m currently using. Smallest size in the group – 1/2 inch narrower and shorter. It’s not quite as sturdy as the others so it tends to bend out of shape but doesn’t fall apart either. Use one-handed a little better. Tear off sheets with ease and without guilt. Lies flat so better for photographing the pages.

With any of these back pocket options, I turn the pad over every time I put it back in my pocket to reverse the bend and it works pretty well.

Medium-sized Note Pad

Here’s the biggest change to my protocol. I no longer regularly use the bound notebooks like the large Moleskine. Now that I’m mostly digital, I am not journaling on paper on the average day. I do it sometimes but I’m more likely to type in a journal entry into my super favorite journaling program: Day One. Now, I’m photographing journal pages I write on paper and storing them. If it isn’t too many pages, I’ll probably do single entries in Day One for each page so I can capture all of it digitally there. If too long, I will store the page images on my computer and add them all to an Evernote note for reference if I haven’t inserted them into one of my dedicated Circus Ponies Notebooks.

Once you say no to paper journaling as your main journaling medium, then you might not want a bound journal to write in. I am using the doane paper Large Flapper Jotter and loving it. I also use the larger Field Notes steno pad when it fits my use case.

Where the Flapper Jotter Rules: I find that the 80-page Flapper Jotter 5.5 x 8.5 inches is big enough for me and smaller and easier to carry than the 6 x 9 inch Field Notes Stenopad. This is perfect most of the time when you are sitting at a table or otherwise have a writing surface. $9 direct.

Where the Steno Pad Rules: The Field Notes Stenopad wins when you need to write in unusual locations like in the car, in bed or standing up because it has a really rigid and thicker cover and back.  I also like the black coating on the spiral wire on the Stenopad compared to the bare wire on the Flapper Jotter. $9.95 amazon or direct or in stores. If you haven’t been to fieldnotesbrand.com, you should once – it is very entertaining.

I bought the iPad mini with retina in late November 2013. I’m a long-time Kindle owner since the Kindle 2 and had the Kindle touch, Kindle 4 and the Kindle Keyboard. But swore I would just use the iPad mini and not get the Paperwhite. I broke down and got the Paperwhite for $139 — the price without ads.

Paperwhite Has the iPad mini Beat for Extended Reading

Size and Weight. And the size is perfect for ereading — I’m convinced. You don’t need the 8″ iPad mini screen unless you want to read oversized things like textbooks. Most of my reading is for fiction or other non-fiction that has very few illustrations so you don’t need a big screen.

E-Ink Screen. In exchange for not getting color, you get a screen that is probably best for your eyes compared to the typical computer or iPad screen. Lots of people who have iPads and iPhones still carry a Kindle to get this benefit.

Great Value.  I’m very impressed with what you get in the Paperwhite. The special side lighting works great to give you the perfect lighting in any situation. Touch responsiveness is much improved over the Kindle touch (I still wish they had page flip buttons like they used to on Kindle Keyboard and prior, but hey?).

But I Still Prefer the iPad mini with retina

Touch Responsiveness. I stopped using the Kindle touch because it was too slow and unresponsive. Responsiveness is now adequate on the Paperwhite 2 but I still find the touch experience far behind that effortless, immediate iPad touch responsiveness.

Color Highlights. I love and prefer the size of the Paperwhite for extended reading, but, for me,  the other advantages of the iPad mini with retina override that size preference. I like highlighting even in fiction and if I’m highlighting several things on a page I appreciate the ability to put those highlights in different colors. I’m sure I’m in the minority on this highlight thing though.

Better Screen. At $399 vs $139, the iPad mini better have a better screen than the Paperwhite. I love the crisp text on that screen. Even if it isn’t e-ink. My eye doctor may disagree.

Bottom Line

Advantages of the iPad mini retina for ereading:

• Touch Responsiveness
• Colored Highlights
• Better Screen

Advantages of the Paperwhite 2 for ereading:

• Size and weight is great for extended reading (over 30 minutes)
• Special e-ink light is better for your eyes
• Incredible value

Revised Jan 29. I have both iPads so have been using and comparing them for about two months now. Both iPads are extraordinary and leaps ahead of previous iPads. Choosing one is difficult.

Here are some of the places each wins:

iPad mini with Retina

• Easier to Carry
• Easier to Hold
• More Portable – not for pockets but fits purses
• Cheaper by $100

iPad Air

• Bigger Screen
• Faster
• Better Color Gamut
• Better for important work

The Casual User

In my view, the more casual user is better off with the handier, smaller, lighter device in most cases because the demands on it are less. If I’m a casual user, I want easy and fun above all else and the mini wins here. The casual user is reading, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, emailing, texting, looking at photos, taking notes, checking the weather.

The Knowledge Enthusiast / Professional User

This large group of knowledge enthusiasts and professionals may have different needs when it comes to iPads. An employed or self-employed knowledge professional is doing his life’s work at work or in off hours as a serious hobby. These people lose the distinction between work and leisure in a large part of there days, nights and weekends.

In my case, a lot of my reading, note-taking, research and creating is related to my technology consultant and software developer work. I try to take off one day a week – Saturday. Still and all I might do an experimental software project that day or read about designers or read the new Jony Ive book partly because I want to do better design in my work.

I need a tablet that does well in work and play. My 2 months work and play with these iPads tells me that the iPad Air competes well against the mini when you want an all-purpose iPad. Just like with paper notepads and notebooks, a roomier canvas can help the creative process. It can help you think.

The Argument For a Bigger Screen

If you like larger for your eyes and/or fat fingers, you’ll like the iPad Air:

• If you have large fingers and get frustrated finding the exact spot to tap.
• If you are big and strong, the iPad Air at 1 lb might seem small and light already. No need for an itty bitty iPad mini.

Any time you need to do a lot of interaction with the screen pressing buttons, selecting, pinching in and out and moving things,  or even typing, that extra screen real estate comes in handy. I will call this serious use. The serious nature of your work and benefits of the larger screen might trump the portability and holdability advantages of the iPad mini.

If you Can’t Decide Get the iPad mini with Retina

If you are right in the middle stuck there and can’t decide. I would recommend the mini just because that portability and hold-ability will have you use it and carry it more – so you get more value that way. And, you save $100 out of the box. That $100 could pay for the LTE version or double the storage, both nice to haves.

If you Can’t Decide Get Both

There is a third alternative if funds are available and you can justify the expense. Getting both. As a technology professional, I could justify the purchase. If money is a big concern, though, you may find it frustrating to have both and mostly be only using one at a time.

I use the iPad mini when:

• Reading in bed or on the couch.
• I’ve got it in my hand already which doesn’t happen as often with the Air.

I use  the Air when:

• I want to do serious work with it.
• I want to use an external keyboard and write. The portable keyboards like the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover that I have are better with the wider iPad Air. But, an external keyboard like the Apple wireless works as well with the mini just takes up more space in your kit bag.
• I’m home and can use whichever iPad suits me. Web browsing can be nicer on that bigger screen… Big screens rock!
• As a laptop substitute when I am going out, expect to have some sitting time and I am not taking my laptop.
• These iPads are so light that you can take both with you out the door and leave your Mac home and come out pretty well.

The Mac is not Dead Yet Either

This first month, I haven’t taken a keyboard with me to a coffee place to facilitate typing. Instead I either take my pretty light Macbook Pro retina along with the mini when I need to do FileMaker development (which can’t be done yet on an iPad) or use a Mac app that has no iPad equivalent like Scapple! I’ve been reassured that Scapple for iPad is in the works. And, I would bet money that modest FileMaker development will become a paid option on an iPad within a year or so. The roomier iPad Air screen will be nice for some of these applications.

Final Verdict

Ok, Ok. If I had to choose 1 today, I would go with the iPad mini. I’m a woman and the size of the mini is really nice. The mini is a better value by a hair and you’ll use it more often than the larger tablet unless you really don’t prefer the smaller size.

If you have further thoughts, I would love to hear them here or have you direct me back to your entry elsewhere.

Happy New Year!

Now I’m starting to talk about easy ways to get FileMaker to talk to other apps by pressing a button over at my FileMaker Fever Blog.

FileMaker is the knowledge worker’s database. It means you can have your specialty that’s not FileMaker and still get amazing things out of it. FileMaker consultants may find some tips they haven’t thought of or seen before, but my intended audience is you.

I don’t believe in hard to use, arcane database apps. I like the easy stuff so I can remain human and not be required to become a full-time programmer just to access, collect, use and manipulate data the way I want.

Hopefully, my FileMaker Fever blog will provide you with some simple FileMaker tips that you can use without asking a professional for help. That doesn’t mean you might not want to ask for a little help once and a while if you get ambitious and have a question.

I am building an iOS and Mac Knowledge app using FileMaker 12. FileMaker Go on iOS is free. My distribution options are wide open. This is the creative part of my app journey, though, so distribution is not on my mind yet. It is great fun building the app I want for my iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Knowledger

I call my new app-in-the-making Knowledger. It’s the shortest app name I could think of that plays on the word Knowledge – the focus of the app. For now it is a code name. Things are in flux.

Knowledger is a customizable, personal knowledge dashboard. It can pull information from Wikipedia, Google Search and Google Maps on subjects of interest. It is your own database and internet tool. Ambitious Knowledge Professionals may want to use FileMaker Pro to integrate Knowledger into their own Filemaker framework. Lack of integration is one of the frustrations in the knowledge arena and the door is open to go there as needed and desired.

Knowledge Enthusiasts

If you are a knowledge professional, you must keep up in your area of specialized knowledge and also knowledge in general – including current events. You don’t operate in a vacuum. Forces outside your specialty affect your work. Your perishable knowledge exists in world that changes every day.

Computers have been the tool du jour for knowledge professionals for good reason. You need to master the tool to function as a knowledge professional or pay a price. Now we have new species of computers: iPhones, iPads and their brethren providing access to information 24/7.

Are you a Knowledge Enthusiast? I’ve come to believe that my real market is what I call Knowledge Enthusiasts. I’m one. I love to learn. I have learning goals that exceed my professional interests. I am curious about my passions and become curious easily. Managing my attention so that it goes where my priorities are is part of the reason for Knowledger.

Maybe 5 – 10% of the population share this passion for knowledge whether working or not. That’s where Knowledger comes into play more broadly.

The Holy Grail of Knowledge

I’m treading on dangerous ground working on an app called Knowledger. Having access and storage of all your notes, ideas and clippings, books, whatever is what the knowledge enthusiast craves. Ideas, insights and information slip away as other pieces of information and other ideas come to mind. Knowledge at your fingertips. Google says they want to put the world’s knowledge at your beck and call. I’m entering holy grail turf with caution in my own way and trying to keep focus in the midst of a hurricane. Here’s what I’m up to.

Knowledger Features in Development

In its current incarnation, Knowledger tracks your people, groups, places, things, ideas and works. Whenever you encounter any of these and want to save them and follow them as needed, you just type in the name. Data entry is next to nill. Quick. No hassle. Frictionless.

One of the problems you encounter on iOS is that you have to operate in app silos – App A doesn’t know what App B is doing. That problem is starting to be addressed here and there by URL schemes that allow apps to talk to each other. Knowledger uses URL schemes to talk to other apps. Knowledger can access the web with FileMaker’s built in browser, but stopping there limits you. Key Apps used in concert can crucially improve the experience and aid your knowledge quest.

Knowledger can talk directly to excellent Wikipedia apps like Articles and Wikipanion. It can talk to Chrome if you have it installed. It can talk to Drafts and Day One. This inter-application communication is a key feature of an app that is designed to be your dashboard to the world of information beyond your doorstep.

Creativity

Creating requires invention which requires concentration over time. It is facilitated by obsession. To be creative you need to be mulling over the roadblocks to your vision, dwelling in the subject matter at play and using your subconscious to do the rest while you are driving, dreaming or in the shower. You need to have your note pad ready at all times to capture the stray insight that comes your way. But, the dwelling on and obsession piece is where Knowledger comes in.

Travel

There are huge possibilities for knowledger. We are a world of knowledge workers in a knowledge economy. Flooded with information, most of which we don’t want. Collect the places that catch your interest and learn about them in your spare time. I’ve got Iowa where my grand father was born to go with Duluth where my Norwegian grand parents migrated. I’ve got the classic cities like Paris, London, Rome and Berlin. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland. And Akihabara, the amazing gadget shopping mecca in Japan. Every time I capture a new place or person I get a sense of satisfaction that I’ve claimed them for my collection.

Better Use of your Time

If you are a knowledge enthusiast, you may be among the minority who resist the call of various iOS games, staying on track with your quest for relevant knowledge. Or not. I would like you to have Knowledger with you as a constructive option and alternative to seductive time-fillers.

With Knowledger, you spontaneously add people, places and things as they occur to you. You favorite the ones you want to dwell on and unfavorite them when they’ve become less interesting or you’ve moved on.

That’s it. Your knowledge system dashboard and personal interests database.

I have a near weightless REI backpack to carry my gear – the kind designed for carrying water while cycling. Here is my current configuration:

• retina MacBook Pro 13″
• iPad 3 and/or iPad mini
• iPhone 5

With this lineup, there’s no need for an extra keyboard, I’ll use the rMBP if there’s much typing involved. And love every minute of it. Cost 3.5 lbs.

Favorite writing apps include Day One, Byword and iA Writer. I’ve grown to prefer apps that support markdown because rich text isn’t universally supported across apps and is especially weak on iOS. I also prefer doing my email (Mail), strenuous web research (Safari) , free form diagramming (Scapple) and other non-iOS work like FileMaker Pro development on Mac (I just finished release 12 of my Studio Manager product – yay!). I got a lot more enthused about Mac once I acquired this retina wonder in October.

Reading, which is probably the biggest chunk of my time on these outings, is done on iPad 3 with its awesome retina and better reading form factor. It’s almost a toss up between the 3 and my cute, svelte, nearly weightless iPad mini. I often take both of these so I have the choice between the sheer eye pleasure of retina or the feather-weight delight of the mini. If you take the iPad 3, what’s another .68 lbs? Both offers you the chance to switch away from the iPad 3 if it starts feeling heavy after a while. The already rumored retina mini may make this twosome obsolete next year. The only casualty in all this has been a Kindle – I haven’t popped for a nearly free ($119) Kindle Paperwhite due to lack of juggling capability. Even I have my limits.

Where does that leave the iPhone 5 then? This handheld of choice is still relevant my friends. The form factor is incredibly ahem handy especially when moving or in line. You still can’t beat the ease of use you get when in motion – walking to and from my coffee place of choice. If not in hand, it is in pocket and ready at a moment’s notice. I still prefer this little guy when reading in bed or on the couch in many cases. This preference will probably go away once the retina iPad mini is here. But the iPhone 5 awesome retina – better than ever due to blacker blacks, is a serious competitor for reading with the much less rewarding text of the iPad mini. Don’t forget all those lines we wait in. The omnipresent iPhone 5 is there by your side. No pack or purse required. It doesn’t hurt that it has cellular data either.

News of Apple’s fires and promotions is unsettling and leaves many questions to answer. The Jony Ive promotion over all human interface at Apple is great. The firing of John Browett as head of retail seems good. Why should the rapidly growing and most profitable retail operation in the world get cut backs to save a few bucks? The loss of Scott Forstall, the key force in the development of iOS, is a little scary.

I want to put in a disclaimer here before I get started with my comments. I don’t know nearly enough about these guys. This is more a list of questions and guesses than solid information. I will post updates as more is revealed.

Jony Ive

Skeumorphism begone! No more bookshelves, leather stitching and horrible fonts like in notepad. Jony will see to the elimination of all unnecessary ornamentation, you can be assured of that. In its place will come extraordinary care in all manners of software design. The differences between hardware and software design will cease. Yay for that. The only questions here are:

1. Who will lead the software and UI effort underneath Jony Ive? Is there a designer in waiting to take that role? Probably so.
2. Will there be loss on the hardware side due to less attention there? I’m hoping the broader focus won’t dilute the secret sauce once an awesome design lead is selected.
3. Will the elimination of conflicts and workarounds necessary to overcome the ongoing differences between Ive and Forstall free up energy that more than makes up for #2?
4. Will there be synergy having hardware and software design under one roof? Yeah.

Scott Forstall

1. Forstall is extremely talented or Steve Jobs wouldn’t have kept him and promoted him to top of Apple software.
2. It’s scary to think what happens when all that knowledge in his head and passion goes somewhere else like Google or Microsoft. If he goes to a smaller venue to become CEO there, that could be a good thing for Apple.
3. The iOS team is the A-Team at Apple software. Can Craig Federighi take that A-team higher without a dip while he and the team adjust to a new leader?
4. Some say Scott may have been the closest to a Steve Jobs in his passion, creativity, vision and take-no-prisoners determination. Will his leaving make Apple too soft?
5. I want to know a lot more about Federighi and his immediate reports. Will this be a plus or a minus for iOS?

Eddy Cue

1. Who is this Eddy Cue guy anyway? I don’t like iTunes much and iCloud looks pretty great but is still in that awkward stage where we can’t be sure how successful it will be. Apple TV is still struggling.
2. Eddy is taking over Siri and Maps and already had a full plate. We hear he is not an egomaniac and just does what needs to be done. I’m sure that makes him popular, but does that make him able to drop jaws and delight?
3. I like Maps so far given its toddler stage so I think it will be fine.
4. I’m not too worried about Siri. It hasn’t been great yet although it surely has its moments. Pour in the money and I think you will keep moving up that ladder. I love the dictation that’s already proving useful.
5. Practical and pragmatic are two things that really help balance creative efforts. Apple is heavily laden with creatives, so Eddy’s practicality may be good. When Steve came back to Apple, he got really practical and we all know how well that went. Brilliantly!

Bob Mansfield

1. Bob seems perfect in the role he’s played at Apple in hardware engineering. He comes across really practical and earnest in his videos.
2. Apparently, Bob didn’t get along with Forstall and would probably be long gone by now if Scott wasn’t leaving. And Bob is well-liked by Jony Ive.
3. His new Technology group should be interesting. I hear wireless and semiconductors will fall here. Those are mobile technologies that are important these days.

Craig Federighi

1. Sr. VP, Software Engineering – OS X and iOS.
2. I like him from his keynotes. Seems highly competent and smart.
3. We need to learn more about this guy as his job is critical.
4. Big job. I hope he is really, really good.

Dan Riccio

1. Sr. VP, Hardware Engineering
2. Yikes, I don’t know this guy – yet.
3. The word is Jony Ive prefers Bob Mansfield.
4. The word is the Hardware Engineering troops were grumbling after Riccio’s promotion.

John Browett

1. He gave well-deserved pay raises to some of the retail staff. That’s a start.
2. He cut staff hours to to try to save money. Not so good when Apple sales are through the roof and consumer expectations are that they will be treated as well as they would be at a Rolls Royce dealership. Retail pay is low. Apple has over $100 billion in the bank. This does not compute.
3. Tim Cook selected him. Bad decision in my book.
4. Tim has now taken over retail until a replacement is found. I’m sure efficiency will be great but that’s not sufficient.

Phil Schiller

1. Sr. VP of Worldwide Marketing.
2. Nothing here to see except Phil did run the whole keynote pretty much when the iPad mini and all the rest was introduced.
3. It’s obvious that Phil is really bright and no pushover. He’s going to help keep the ship aright. Without Steve, his voice is louder.
4. He’s not just a sales guy. He has a lot of input into products too.

I’ve had hands on with the white iPad mini for 2 days now. It’s incredibly small and light. What a difference. The lack of retina resolution is the only weakness. Extremely small type is most affected. Retina fanatics should check one out at the Apple store, Best Buy or other store carrying one to see the screen and size for yourself.

Which iPad to use when? I can’t tell yet whether the split in use between big and small iPads will be 50-50 or what.  It will be interesting to see whether the pleasure of using such a small and light iPad will exceed the pleasure of full-on retina and by how much. But the iPad mini insures that I will have an iPad with me more often. It will especially help for apps that are iPad only like Thinkbook and Paper. Or for iBooks Author ebooks.

Screen Size and Smaller targets. You can adjust the size of type in most iPad apps to adjust for the smaller screen. The smaller buttons and icons work perfectly well in most cases. Any iPad apps size down without a hitch. But, some small things like the text in the bookmarks bar in Safari get really small. It doesn’t pay to try to tap them on the mini. I just type my letter abbreviations into the unified location and search field. The screen is huge compared to the iPhone but that doesn’t eliminate all negative consequences of a screen size shrink. Popular apps will get little tweaks to optimize for the mini in the next weeks. Flipboard has already been tweaked.

Web surfing. Compared to web surfing with an iPhone, the iPad mini is a dream. This little guy will travel well and will be there with your iPhone to help you out when you need a bigger screen. It just won’t help quite as thoroughly as its big brother. Keep in mind that mostly the iPad mini just works and replaces iPad 3 without incident, but I am looking for the flaws and differences here and have found a few.

Advantages. The most important advantages of the iPad mini are the $170 less it costs and its wonderful hand-friendly size and weight. I paid $729 for my 32gb iPad 3 with LTE and $329 for the 16gb wifi-only mini. That’s $400 less. When I need internet and I’m away from wi-fi I can create a personal hotspot on my iPhone and connect my mini that way. I’ll manage with 16 gigs and 1 more LTE device is too many even for me.

Retina mini. A year from now, we will likely have one and the perfect iPad may be realized. I didn’t want to wait a year for a retina version of a smaller iPad. If Apple had chosen to charge $399 and offered this year’s version in retina, I would have bought one and been a little happier I think – retina fanatic that I am. I am not so price sensitive that the cost would have deterred me. But the weight and thickness would have been more and will be more even next year.

The iPad mini will sooner or later cross that retina divide. Meanwhile, I have an awesome little iPad that will let me have access to amazing apps that I love and find essential. Retina or otherwise, most of the time I’m not focusing on the retina or not-retina. I’m reading, learning, writing, drawing, researching and being entertained regardless.