What we published, and links of note
Here are the things we published this week, as well as some great link material. You can also stay up-to-date by following us on Twitter and RSS.
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Roberto Marin’s sweet setup »
Roberto Marin is a freelance architect and co-founder StudioEmme2, and also writes about using a Mac with architecture at MArCh.
Coming from a history of working with 3D CAD software, I found it extremely interesting that Roberto does his architectural design with his Mac. From my experience, this is almost unheard of. It’s always interesting to learn how people get around the limitations in software to do their work.
For technical architectural drawings, I use DraftSight from Dassault Systèmes and CAD 2D free (requires registration for its use) with an interface similar to AutoCAD Autodesk. This allows me to be quickly productive in realizing the design. I rarely need to create three-dimensional models and renders — I rely on external services for those models.
Want to share your Sweet Setup? »
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Quick Tip: Create PDFs from emails on iOS »
As Bradley explains, there’s no easy way to create PDFs of emails that you receive on iOS. There’s plenty of great use cases for why you might want to do this for keeping records.
Thankfully, a third-party service has stepped in to make this a possibility. PDF Convert.me is a free service that allows you to forward emails to a special email address, and it will return a PDF copy of that email in return.
Some great deals on apps and gear »
This week we started a new page on the site dedicated to great deals on apps and gear. Apps go on sale from time to time, and prices for iOS- and Mac-centric gear are always fluctuating. This page will be updated daily with a running list apps and gear that are on sale or at a good price.
These are things we use ourselves and/or recommend year-round — they’re apps and products which are worth it even when they’re not on sale — but right now they happen to be at a good price.
The Productivity Pack app sale »
Tools & Toys, our sister site, found a great deal on several popular services that we think is pretty awesome. Even if you already have a subscription with these services, you can take advantage of the bundle to score an extra year of the service at the sale price.
Do you want to get premium upgrades for Evernote, Pocket, LastPass, and Wunderlist? Then The Productivity Pack is for you. For just $59.99, you can get premium versions (for a year) of all of those apps. This bundle is valued over $185.
Coffee Grinder Recommendations »
Tools & Toys also published a collection of some of the best coffee grinders out there — whether you’re a newbie or a veteran coffee snob. Take a look at some great entry-level grinders, as well as some with more pro features.
In our guide to awesome coffee gear, we pointed out a couple coffee grinders we liked. We feel this is a topic worth examining a little more deeply though, so we’re giving our recommendations a page all their own.
Artisanal Software Festival (Sponsor) »
Six great little software teams have put together this year’s Artisanal Software Festival at ArtisanalSoftwareFestival.com.
Our thanks to the Artisanal Software Festival for sponsoring the site this week.