MacLife - USA (2020-09)

APPS FOR KEEPING

YOU FOCUSED

Working from home can be difficult,

especially with so many distractions

close at hand. It can be all too easy

to take a TV break for a few minutes,

then find yourself still sat on the sofa

hours later!

That’s why apps that help you focus

can be vital. You don’t even need to

download any third–party apps, as

Apple’s Screen Time (on Mac, iOS, and

iPadOS) has plenty of built–in tools to

help you stay on track.

If you want to look elsewhere, one

of our favorites apps is Forest. It’s

beautifully simple — you open it on your

iPhone and plant a tree, but if you close

it and use a different app your tree dies.

Stay focused and you can grow a lush,

thriving forest.

There are plenty of other options.

Fantastical and OmniFocus are brilliant

for planning out your schedule, while

writing apps like Bear and Ulysses give

you a clean slate on which to work. And

if you keep forgetting key assignments,

use GoodTask — it’s far better than

Apple’s Reminders.

Forest rewards focus — if you get distracted

and close the app, your trees die.

ASUS ZENSCREEN GO MB16AHP

Around $360 From Asus, asus.com

Features USB-C and micro-HDMI ports, included foldable cover, four–hour

battery life, 1.9lb

Thanks to Sidecar, iPads work great as second screens. The problem is they’re small. This

handy monitor addresses that, giving you a 15.6–inch display that’s still small and light enough

to be positioned wherever you need it. Its expansive screen space is great for productivity

when you need to work from home. And with a built–in battery, it works wirelessly, too.

CANON PIXMA TR8520

$129.99 From Canon, usa.canon.com

Features SD card slot, 4.3–inch touchscreen, up to 4800x1200 dpi print

resolution, 100–sheet capacity, up to A4 paper size

Want a great home printer? Look no further than this beauty from Canon. The Pixma TR8520

has it all: superb color printing, desk–friendly design, spacious and user–friendly touchscreen,

strong Wi–Fi and Bluetooth connectivity; plus copy, scan, and fax functionality too. And while it

may not be the cheapest, it’s affordable enough to not break the bank either.

CALDIGIT TS3 PLUS

$249.99 From CalDigit, caldigit.com

Features Thunderbolt 3 x2, USB–C x2,

USB–A x5, Gigabit Ethernet, SD card

reader, DisplayPort 1.2, audio in/out,

S/PDIF connector

If you need a Thunderbolt 3 dock, there’s no better

option than CalDigit’s TS3 Plus. It offers a whopping

15 ports of connectivity, including multiple USB and

Thunderbolt 3 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet slot, a card

reader, monitor connections, and so much more.

This is the all–in–one desktop hub for you if near–

complete connectivity is what you want.

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Image rights clockwise from top: Canon, Seekrtech Ltd, CalDigit.

Equip Your Home Office

maclife.com SEP 2020 35