Tag: Working Smarter Newsletter

I have good news and bad news.  The Bad News The time has come. I’m sad to announce that I’m closing Working Smarter for Mac Users forever in February. It breaks my heart, but it’s the right thing to do. Although Working Smarter for Mac Users has been my passion project for 4 years, and I don’t regret a minute of it, I need to be more careful of what I wish for. While I loved being in business for myself, it was a…

Here’s the downloadable free companion project for my latest book, GarageBand For Dummies Second Edition The free download includes the GarageBand project (which you can edit or alter any way you like), my finished stereo master of the project, and my PDF notes. The song is an oldie entitled, “The House of the Rising Sun.”Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus and his All GarageBand BandClick here to play The House of the Rising Sun (final mix)Download

Mojave’s new “Use Stacks” command lets you organize the items on your desktop with a single menu selection (choose View–>Use Stacks) or keyboard shortcut (press Command + Control + 0).  They say a picture is worth a thousand words; here’s how it works: It’s that simple.  If your Desktop is a mess, burn that keyboard shortcut — Command + Control + 0 — into your muscle memory and start using it to turn your Desktop clutter into neatly organized stacks.  One last thing:…

This short video (under 5 minutes) details why the Mac Clipboard still sucks, and explains how to make it suck a lot less (for free). Enjoy!

In spite of its salacious, click-bait title, and apparently being written by fictitious baseball player Sidd Finch*, I read an article called How to Not Write Like an Asshole a while ago. In it, the author proposes that the way to become a great writer is to copy great writers. “When I say you should copy great writers, I mean you should literally copy their best work, word-for-word, and preferably by hand. This process is called copywork and it’s mind-numbingly simple. You…

I read an article on Fortune (dot) com a while back about multitasking and why it may not be good for you). Here’s a brief excerpt (click the headline to read the rest): Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Multitask, According to an MIT Neuroscientist  by Earl Miller   “Start by blocking out a period of time to focus. Eliminate as many distractions as possible: Put away your phone, turn off extra computer screens, shut down your email if you have to….

This is the first issue of the rebooted Working Smarter Newsletter, aka version 2.0. My goal is to provide you with useful tips, hints, and techniques you can use to work smarter, along with links to tips, hints, and techniques of others you might find beneficial.  First up, a quick tip about the WiFi menu on your Mac: The old Option key trick for your Mac’s Wi-Fi menu  I heard this today on one of my favorite podcasts—MacGeekGab—and it reminded…

I just sent the email below to literally everyone I know to bring them up to speed on what I’ve been up to, since I haven’t posted here or sent out a newsletter in months.   If you’ve ever signed up for one of my mailing lists, or were ever in any of my Contacts databases, you should have received the message (I’m Back!)  earlier this morning (February 19, 2018 at 10:39 AM Central as I type), If you’re not…

As you may recall, I released my first self-published e-book, Working Smarter for Mac Users back in February and was touched to receive many reviews like these: Then, a few months later, I released my first online course, Working Smarter for Mac Users—Improve your Efficiency, which is based on the first section of the book—Improve Your Efficiency—and was even more touched to receive reviews like these:   But… as good as I think the Working Smarter for Mac Users—Improve Your Efficiency course is, it’s only Part I…

After 16+ Years of Nearly Continuous Development, My New Online Course — Working Smarter for Mac Users: Improve Your Efficiency — is Now Open for Enrollment! After more than 16 years of nearly continuous development, I’m proud to announce that my first video training course — Working Smarter for Mac Users: Improve Your Efficiency — is now open for enrollment.   It would be an understatement to say I’m proud of Working Smarter for Mac Users: Improve Your Efficiency. I’m more than proud — I’m ecstatic….

I hope you enjoy this short film by yours truly (Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus)… It explains why you SHOULD NOT BUY the softcover version of my latest book, Working Smarter for Mac Users, and why the eBook version is so much better.

My editor Bryan Chaffin says one of the best (and most unique) things about Working Smarter for Mac Users is that I don’t try to convince you there’s only one way to do things, or that my way is the best or only way. Rather, one of the hallmarks of my eBook is that I offer you tips, hints, and techniques that have worked for me, as well as tips, hints, and techniques that may not have worked for me but may…

We’ll begin with a bit of advice on working with and managing windows, including how to quickly hide and show them, the four ways you can view Finder windows, and how to tweak the Toolbar and Sidebar to make them more useful. I work with a dozen or more apps running at any time, and most of them have more than one open window or tab. So, at any moment there are at least a dozen windows on my two…

Here is another skill I recommended in the first chapter of Dr. Macintosh (1989) and still recommend to this day. That skill is reducing your dependence on the mouse. Many of the things you do with your mouse can be done faster and easier with a keyboard shortcut. If you’re not familiar with keyboard shortcuts, look in just about any menu in almost any application and you’ll see some. Take the Finder’s Edit menu, for example: I can’t remember the…

I read this article at fortune.com the other day called Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Multitask, According to an MIT Neuroscientist by Earl Miller.  I couldn’t agree more. One of the cornerstones of my new book, Working Smarter for Mac Users, is that you get more work done when you focus on one task at a time. I knew this instinctively, but only after years of trial and error, which is why I found the science behind it so fascinating. Here’s an excerpt (click it…

In spite of its salacious, click-bait title, and apparently being written by fictitious baseball player Sidd Finch*, I read an article entltled How to Not Write Like an Asshole last year. In it, the author proposes that the way to become a great writer is to copy great writers. “When I say you should copy great writers, I mean you should literally copy their best work, word-for-word, and preferably by hand. This process is called copywork and it’s mind-numbingly simple. You barely have…

NOTE: The article below was featured in my Working Smarter for Mac Users newsletter this week and is excerpted from my soon-to-be-released eBook, Working Smarter for Mac Users. It’s a delightful little ditty with a tip that can save you countless hours. ‘ Better still, the more you use this tip, the more time you’ll save. And, as you’ll see, it couldn’t be easier. And, last but not least, if you read all the way to the end, there’s a free gift for you!    All…

Hello blog-readers! This entry starts with a short tip on drive failure rates that could be useful the next time you buy a hard drive. That’s followed by an excerpt from my new eBook, Working Smarter for Mac Users, an excerpt virtually guaranteed to make you more productive.    Onward! Drive Failure Rates I don’t know how many people use Backblaze for their offsite backups, but it’s probably a lot (and it includes me). What I do know is that they had 73,653 hard…

As a first-time self-publisher, I’ve been reading a lot about building an email list and attracting new fans. And it turns out one of the big trends in marketing on the Internet today is to give away up to 95% of your content.  I’m not sure how true it is, but I’m ready to give it a. try. All you have to do is sign up for my newsletter and I’ll give you not just one, not just two, but…

I’m so happy to have finished Working Smarter for Mac Users. All of the chapters are in production and the final iBook, Kindle, Nook, PDF, and print-to-order versions should be available by the end of February assuming no major hiccups. Now, I’ve got some very good news for you: You don’t have to buy my book. I know it sounds crazy but I want everyone to see it so I’m going to give away all or most of it right here in…