Fruity Picks #13 - KeyCue 10 is a Game Changer for Keyboard Warriors

Last week KeyCue 10 became available and it was a real game-changer for those of us who use keyboard shortcuts in anger.

I was a bit of a late starter for using keyboard shortcuts despite having been a Mac user for over fifteen years. I've always relied on the mouse - maybe it's something to do with being left-handed, who knows? But over the last few years, I've come to rely more and more on keyboard shortcuts. This is partly because I'm starting to get more aches and pains in my mouse hand as I get older, but also because I've started to realise how powerful these shortcuts can be. This has also partially been as a result of using the Elgato Stream Deck to automate many of my often used shortcuts, keyboard and others, and I'll post about this in the near future.

Traditionally, keyboard shortcuts need to be added by using the Keyboard option in System Preferences. Within that preference pane, you select Shortcuts and then App Shortcuts. This is a really clunky way to create keyboard shortcuts and relies on you getting the menu structure absolutely right - a single spelling mistake will make the shortcut fail. For deeply nested menu items - the sort that would really benefit from having a shortcut - this can be a problem.

KeyCue 10 changes that, and allows the user to create dynamic shortcuts from within an application. I’m currently writing the draft for this post in Ulysses so I’ll use it as an example.

In Ulysses, there is no keyboard shortcut to insert an image into a Ulysses sheet. Using KeyCue 10, all I have to do is to find the appropriate menu item to perform the function - in this case, Edit->Attach->Image… and the using the key combination that I want to use, simply keep these pressed until the shortcut is accepted. 

This GIF from Ergonis explains it far better than I can!

If you're not familiar with KeyCue in general, I would highly recommend you check it out for the other primary features it offers. The biggest of these is that it will show you, at the push of a hotkey, exactly what keyboard shortcuts (user, system, and app defined) are being used and how. This will help you establish potential key combinations that could be used for a new shortcut without interfering with an existing combination. 

The software is available from Ergonis, and at the time of writing costs 19.99 EUR (£17.00)

A First Foray into the Realm of Apple Silicon

Sometime in the autumn of 2020, my beloved 2017 MacBook Pro started doing something horrible. As soon as the machine went into any form of sleep mode, even just launching the screen saver, a white light started flashing at the right end of the Touch Bar. It would stop as soon as I started using the computer, but immediately it started to idle, the flashing resumed. Initially, the intensity and frequency of the flashes weren’t too bad, but over time the problem worsened. 

Searching for potential solutions brought only bad news. It wasn’t an uncommon problem, although it was rare, it looked like the only fix was to take it to a service centre and potentially required a new motherboard. This was seriously bad news. Not only was it going to cost a load of cash but we were in the second phase of lockdowns in Prague and getting the fix could take a serious amount of time. And without the computer I was helpless. So, I did the only sensible thing - I put a cloth over the end of the Touch Bar and buried my head in the sand.

I managed to get back to the UK for Christmas in 2020 and the problem vanished for a short while but started up again just before I was due to return to Prague. My trip was too short to get the machine into a service centre in the UK, and besides, I was in quarantine for all but one day! But to add to the misery, the battery was also now showing signs of failing…

In July I decided to bite the bullet and take decisive action. So I bought an M1 Mac mini. I’ve never used a Mac mini before and to be honest I’ve been a bit sceptical about them in the past. I didn’t need/want another laptop. I wanted a cheap replacement that would be able to help me continue to operate while I finally took the MBP in for repair (by this time the service centres were operating again and I decided that the fix had to be done whatever the cost…)

I went for the M1 Mac mini, 512Gb/16Gb combo which worked out at £1,050, slightly cheaper than in the UK! I already had a Dell 24” monitor set up along with all the peripherals I needed so I only had to buy the unit which helped keep the costs to a minimum. I could probably have managed with the 8Gb version, but I figured I’d saved a lot of money while the pubs were closed, so what the heck…

It was a breeze to set up the Mac mini using a Time Machine backup of the MBP and from unboxing to having a working computer probably took no more than a couple of hours. The biggest issue was rearranging the desk so I could now accommodate three computers (including my work laptop). From a connection perspective, all I needed to do was swap the cable from my iTec TB 3 hub from the MBP to the mini and everything was immediately accessible. Simple - just the way Macs are supposed to be!

The current Apple Harvest configuration (Feb 2022)

The M1 (called Kampa) is an absolute joy to use. It’s absolutely silent and apart from a couple of pieces of software that I could no longer use there was little impact on my workflow. The biggest downside was that I could no longer use TotalSpaces from Binary Age (and TotalFinder from the same stable) which meant having to learn how to use Mission Control properly - more on that another time). I purchased a Satechi hub to complement the Mac mini - the one that sits under the mini and connects via USB-C and provides 6 extra ports (non-SSD version).

But what of the MacBook Pro? A few days after getting the M1 setup and functional, I trudged down the road to the iStyle service centre on Revolucni in Prague’s New Town. I explained the problem and they took away my baby and told me they’d need to run some tests and come back to me with a quote. A few days later they sent me an email with the cost of the fix - for both the hardware issue and a replacement battery - under £240! I was stunned. I was expecting to have to pay a minimum of £500, and probably closer to £1,000. I agreed to have them perform the repairs before they could change their minds, and two weeks later I collected the fixed computer (it took a little while for them to source the correct battery).

Like many long time Mac users, I’m now struggling a little with the Intel-based MBP. When it’s sitting alongside the M1 Mac mini I really notice it huffing and puffing while doing very little real work. It feels old, whilst before this whole story started it was my pride and joy. So it begs the question of what next? And that, dear reader, is a question I can’t currently answer, although I’m tempted to go for an M1 13” MacBook Pro. It would meet my needs for a laptop, fit nicely into my workflow and besides, despite the pain, it’s caused me, I still love the Touch Bar!