I drive a lot. In the car, TomTom and Instacast are my most used iPhone apps. So when I asked the twitterverse if there’s a way to generate TomTom URLs from my Mac, I figured the answer would be No. You see, I’d love to be able to create a URL and save it to a “Today’s itinerary” txt file.

Thankfully, Frank was listening.

Frank Tisellano whipped up a bookmarklet that does the trick. Open the location on Google Maps, click the bookmarklet, and then paste the supplied URL wherever you need it. For me, a txt file is the destination, which I then access with Byword for iOS. Thanks, Frank!

To get the bookmarklet, click here.

It takes your brain fifteen minutes to get back into the groove of work after an interruption. That’s just a guess, but I’m sure a study somewhere can prove it. And your gut tells you I’m right, right?

That’s why I silence the heck out my phone. How can a person get work done with ‘new mail’ notifications turned on? We all know folks who salivate like a Pavlovian dog every time their iPhone bings or tri-tones. In one split-second motion, their arm snaps to the phone, thumb-pumps the home button, and swipes that unlock arrow right off the glass. Just gotta check. Red badges are almost as treacherous. They are as demanding of attention as a zit to a teenager.

Maybe that’s too far, but you get the idea. Somewhere along the lines, you have to ask, Is the phone serving me, or am I serving the phone? The following is a list of actions I suggest you employ on your iPhone and iPad. Consider it good hygiene.

• Turn off ‘New Mail’ notifications (Settings > Sounds > set ‘New Mail’ to none).
• While you are in the Sounds preferences, turn off Sent Mail, Lock Sounds, and Keyboard Clicks as well. Oh, and scroll up to the top of the list and turn off Vibrate under the Silent heading. Vibrating phones are terrifying for everyone within three feet.
• Curate Notification Center (Settings > Notifications). Only keep in Notification Center what would be considered urgent and important. Ask yourself, “Is this something that should interrupt why I pulled out my phone in the first place”
• Do the same thing for the ‘Not in Notification Center’ category, but make sure all those Badges, Sounds, and Banners are slimmed back to only the essential.
• Comb through your Notification settings every now and then just to make sure all your apps are wrangled back into place. They’re squirrely and will sometimes poke back out.
• Go to your Twitter app’s settings, and make it notify you of Direct Messages only (Tweetbot: Accounts button > Accounts & Settings > Settings > [Your account] > Notifications).
• Be bold, turn off the red badge for Mail (Also in the Notifications settings, but make sure you turn off everything).

My opinion is that the iPhone is not an email device. Sure, you can fire up Mail if you’re expecting something important, but it’s a horrible habit to constantly be checking that inbox. To me, email is work, and work is done at a Mac. In a later post I’ll share more about how I use the iPhone. But for now, just know that the iPhone is not allowed to interrupt my life.

Welcome! As a recovering Apple employee and now Mac consultant, there is a whole lot of tech stuff I want to talk about. It’s things that just doesn’t seem fitting on my company’s website. Menu bar apps, Accordance tips, or conflicts between faith and technology aren’t really interests of my clients. The idea behind this blog is that if you can handle me on Twitter, you might find something enjoyable here as well.

To learn more behind my motive and vision behind this blog, check out the colophon. Cheers!