Virtual Keyboards and TextExpander

Philip Blog, TextExpander, TextExpander Tips

[/caption] TextExpander has some issues with virtual keyboards. When you click the mouse, TextExpander assumes that you are moving the text insertion point within a document, selecting a range of text, changing to a different window or text area, or performing some kind of formatting or other command. Thus, when you click the mouse, TextExpander clears the buffer of typed characters it maintains to track when you type a snippet abbreviation. For example, with the ‘ddate’ snippet, when you click the ‘d’ key on the virtual keyboard the first time, TextExpander clears the buffer because the mouse was clicked, then notices that a ‘d’ has been typed. When you click the ‘d’ key the second time, TextExpander again clears the buffer, then stores the ‘d’. The snippet never expands because TextExpander keeps clearing its buffer, never tracking more than one character at a time. TextExpander version 3.1 fixed this problem by adding support for typing with the system’s built-in Keyboard Viewer and for Corallo Software’s VirtualKeyboard application. TextExpander 3.2.4 adds support for AssistiveWare’s KeyStrokes application. If there is another virtual keyboard program that you are using, there is a “hidden” setting in TextExpander that will allow you to use it before support is “built-in” to TextExpander. Just contact support@smilesoftware.com for details.


Macworld: Meet the Podcasters at Our Kiosk

Philip Blog, Live, Public Appearances

Smile will be back at Macworld Expo this year. You can find us in the Indie Developer Pavillion (246 – 1). We are also happy to announce that some of your favorite podcasters will make appearances at the Smile kiosk during Macworld, to meet listeners and answer questions. Maybe they’ll even sign autographs. 😉 Thursday, January 27, 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. Dave Hamilton & John F. Braun Mac Geek Gab Friday, January 28, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. Adam Christianson The MacCast Saturday, January 29, 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Katie Floyd & David Sparks Mac Power Users Smile is proud to be a sponsor of these great podcasts. Come on by just to say “hi” or chat about Mac stuff.

(Photos, l-to-r: Dave Hamilton, John F. Braun, Adam Christianson, Katie Floyd, David Sparks)

Smile and the new Mac App Store

Philip Blog, PDFpen, TextExpander

Mac App StoreThe Mac App Store is a big deal for third-party Mac developers like Smile. For the first time, Apple is making it easy to buy and install software without ever going to a website, downloading a demo, or clicking an installer. Because it’s built into the OS, every Mac user will have a convenient option for purchasing software. PDFpen, PDFpenPro and DiscLabel were available on Day One. (We hope TextExpander will be available soon!) The Mac App Store is not our exclusive channel for sales. Customers are still able to download and purchase applications directly from smilesoftware.com. We have kept the same prices for both channels. We will continue to provide updates to our existing customers outside the Mac App Store. Choose “Check for Update…” in the application menu to download the latest version. You can set automatic update checking and its frequency via the Update preference pane. The versions of our software in the Mac App Store are functionally the same as the versions available on our site. We had to make a few adjustments to meet Apple’s criteria, and that resulted in a discrepancy in version numbers. Updates for both Mac App Store-purchased software and independently-purchased software will be on the same schedule, although there may be a lag for the Mac App Store updates due to Apple’s review process. You might have noticed that your Smile applications are not marked “Installed” in the Mac App Store. That’s because they weren’t purchased through the Mac App Store. The Mac App Store only supports updating products purchased via the Mac App Store. The fact that it shows some products purchased independently as installed is simply a convenience and is in some cases misleading. If you have any questions at all, please let us know at support@smilesoftware.com. You’ll get a fast, friendly answer from our support team.


Case Study: Tim Ferriss & PDFpen

Philip Blog, Case Studies, PDFpen, PDFpen Tips

The 4-Hour Workweek, become a huge best-seller. An authority on working smarter, not harder, Tim is always looking for a better way to do things. For the promotion of his new book, The 4-Hour Body, Tim contacted Smile with a question: Can you make images clickable in a PDF with PDFpen? Answer: Yes! That’s a standard PDFpen feature. Just use the URL tool to draw a rectangle of the element you want to make clickable. PDFpen will prompt you for a link and you’re done. grin We followed up with Tim to learn more about how he uses PDFpen, and found out about his clever use of mini-books for promotional purposes, attractively designed with images linked to Amazon. * * * * * Tim FerrisSmile: How did you find out about PDFpen? Tim: My assistant, Charlie Hoehn, who scours the web for the best of the best. Smile: Were you using another tool that didn’t work for you? Why? Tim: There was nothing remotely effective and easy-to-use for what we wanted to do: quickly create special PDF excerpts of my new book, The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman.  It’s currently #4 on all of Amazon, and a follow up to my #1 New York Times bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek. 4-Hour BodySmile: What are you using PDFpen to do? Tim: To create excerpt “mini-books” that can be promoted by bloggers via blogs and Facebook as free downloads.  It was important that we made them attractive, and that we include clickable links to Amazon, etc.   Here are a few live examples that are going gangbusters:
The 15-Minute Female Orgasm (chapter)
– promoted on Facebook via NorthSocial
Rules That Change the Rules: Everything Popular is Wrong (chapter)
– promoted by blogger Guy Kawasaki There are many more used also in e-mail campaigns. Smile: Do you have any PDFpen tips or tricks to share? Tim: Haha… not really.  The reason I love PDFpen is that I don’t need any tips and tricks to make it work.  It’s a five-minute learning curve.  I just want to get #$%& done smile Tim: Would you recommend PDFpen to other Mac users? Absolutely.  It saved the day. Smile: What are you working on now? Tim: The new book, The 4-Hour Body, is looking to be bigger than the first book, and it took three years to write. Here’s the description — lots of blood, sweat, and tears (all literal)!

The 4-Hour Body is the result of an obsessive quest, spanning more than a decade, to hack the human body. It contains the collective wisdom of hundreds of elite athletes, dozens of MDs, and thousands of hours of jaw-dropping personal experimentation. From Olympic training centers to black-market laboratories, from Silicon Valley to South Africa, Tim Ferriss, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, fixated on one life-changing question: For all things physical, what are the tiniest changes that produce the biggest results? Thousands of tests later, this book contains the answers for both men and women. From the gym to the bedroom, it’s all here, and it all works. There are more than 50 topics covered, all with real-world experiments, many including more than 200 test subjects. You don’t need better genetics or more discipline. You need immediate results that compel you to continue. That’s exactly what The 4-Hour Body delivers.
Here’s the YouTube trailer (1 min.): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIVmsIJyj3A We wish Tim all the best for success with his new book. grin