Instant Focus Boost: Tap into Mac & iOS’s Hidden Soundscapes!

In a world where distractions are just a notification away, finding focus can sometimes be a tall order. Whether it’s for work, study, or just some quiet reading time, the presence of background noise such as White Noise or the soothing sounds of ocean waves can be the concentration aid many individuals need. This is not just anecdotal; a study published on the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest reports that white noise can boost attention and creativity, albeit the improvements are modest. Here’s the link to the study for those interested in the details. Now, if you’re a Mac or …

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State of the Apps 2023

Cortex by Myke Hurley and CGP Grey is one of my favorite podcasts and I eagerly look forward to each episode. Every year, in the penultimate episode of the year, they talk about the most important apps and services they currently use. And then, the always worth reading Mere Civilian also recently wrote an article under that theme. Last year, I actually wanted to do the same, but then didn’t for reasons I don’t remember. This year, however, the time has come. Which apps do I use every day? What has changed in the last year? And where do I …

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How to use Focus Modes on Apple’s devices

So, I’ve written about how Focus modes really could be a first step towards user profiles on the iPad a couple of weeks ago. In this article, however, I barely talked about how to set them up. That’s why I’d like to give a short how-to and also show my own focus modes to get you an idea of what is possible. — How to set up focus modes on iPhone, iPad, and Mac (This guide has been developed for macOS. The process on iPad and iPhone, however, is just about the same, so the guide should be easily applicable …

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Notebooks 12 released

So… it’s been a while. In the past, I usually aimed for about two to three articles per month. Lately, I was not able to maintain this schedule due to several reasons. Most importantly, I try to focus on my PhD. Then, there was a (much needed) vacation and just a lot going on. And I am not sure that the slower cadence will change any time soon. Sorry! But enough of the excuses, back to the content: Notebooks 12 (or Notebooks 3 on the Mac) has been released. Notebooks is an app that is comparable to DevonThink or KeepIt. …

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Add your COVID vaccination certificate to the Wallet app with iOS 15.4

The latest iOS release 15.4 has a few new features to offer, including the ability to use FaceID while wearing a mask. Also new is the function to import the Covid vaccination certificate (for EU citizens) into the iPhone Wallet and the Health app. To accomplish this, you don’t have to do anything other than scan the QR code you received after getting vaccinated – that’s it. After that, you can find the proof in both Health and Wallet.

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Eigene Widgets mit Widgetsmith (iOS 14)

Widgetsmith war die Überraschung im App Store 2020. Vom Indie-Entwickler David Smith als Möglichkeit für Power-User*innen gedacht, ging die App viral und war über Tage und Wochen die Nummer 1 in Apples App Store. Was für ein Erfolg! Dieses kurze How-to gibt eine Anleitung, um alles aus der App herauszuholen und den eigenen Homescreen zu individualisieren. 0. Erlaubnisse erteilen und Mitgliedschaft Bevor es los gehen kann, sollte man in die Einstellungen gehen und dort auf den Punkt Manage Permissions klicken, um der App Rechte einzuräumen, ohne die sie nicht funktioniert. Dazu gehören u.a. der Zugriff auf den Kalender oder den …

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Using Prizmo Go In a Long-Term Research Workflow – (The Sweet Setup) ➡️

Letzte Woche schrieb Christian Forster hier einen Gastbeitrag zum Thema OCR-Apps für mobile Endgeräte. Prizmo Go kam dabei besonders gut weg. Vor ein paar Tagen bin ich dann auf folgenden Artikel gestoßen, in dem Josh Ginter über seinen Workflow mit Prizmo Go und KeepIt berichtet. Auch wenn ich selbst KeepIt nicht nutze, fand ich den Anwendungsfall spannend und möchte daher gern darauf hinweisen. Der Artikel ist allerdings auf englisch. Ginter schreibt: I imagine this working much the same for any student or any author completing research for a thesis or book. When researching from a physical book taken out from …

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