MacSparky

Our iOS devices go with us just about everywhere and pairing them with some select accessories can make them more useful in more situations. On this week’s episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I talk about some of the products that we rely on when using…

My thanks to BetterTouchTool for sponsoring MacSparky this week. BetterTouchTool takes your mouse, trackpad, and just about every other input device and makes them way better. Apple’s built-in gestures are just a taste of what you could do with those…

We’re diving deep on why focus is so important on the latest episode of Focused. Mike and I also share thoughts about ultralearning and why sometimes survival alone is good enough.This episode of Focused is sponsored by:Squarespace: Make your next move.…

We’re joined by Chris Bailey on this week’s episode of Mac Power Users. He’s an author and presenter with an undying love for TextEdit and getting focused work done with the Mac and iPad.This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:1Password: Have…

On the latest episode of Automators, Rose and I are tackling regular expressions. What are they? How do you make them? Where do you use them? All of those questions get answered in this episode. Regex isn't as daunting as it may first seem.This episode…

It’s always fun checking in with my pal Chuck Joiner. You can watch or listen to us on MacVoices talk about how I had to rebuild the newest Shortcuts Field Guide since Apple rebuilt Shortcuts. Among other things, I also give some examples of what you can…

This week I was a guest on the 9to5 Watch Time podcast where I talked with Zac Hall about fitness with the Apple Watch and thoughts on the watch in general. It’s a fun listen because when we recorded, we were on the last day of an Apple Watch fitness…

This week MacSparky is sponsored by SaneBox, the email service that can add a boatload of features to any email application. Using SaneBox you can get your email auto-sorted for you, defer it, and even get reminders when people don’t reply to important…

Yuvi Zalkow, an MPU guest from long ago, has an app. Neurotic Stix Pro just feels … so … Yuvi. They help you express your words with hand-drawn animated stickers that you can send in Messages. You can write your own captions or choose from the ready-made…

Next year I will be speaking at the Small Firm Bootcamp in New Orleans. There are a lot of advantages to being a small operation when it comes to practicing law, and I’m looking forward to this conference. If that's your thing, I'll see you there.

The launch price for the Shortcuts Field Guide is about to end. I'm so happy with the way this course turned out. I’ve spent the last week recording additional videos for the course. There are seven new videos and they feature apps like PCalc, LookUp, more…

On this week’s episode of Mac Power Users, we’re joined by Dave Hamilton to talk about his work at the Mac Observer and BackBeat Media, his approach to podcasting, how covering Apple has changed over the years, and some software tools every Mac user should…

Every year, I find myself fascinated by Austin Mann's in-depth reviews of the new iPhone camera, and this year he doesn't disappoint. I was surprised to learn about how much he likes the new wide lens, but he makes a good case for it. Even if you don't want to…

I have talked plenty on the Focused podcast about how I am not a fan of the word busy. For instance, when you see an old friend and ask how they’re doing, they will often tell you how busy they are. Busy seems to have turned into something like a badge of…

It’s still not clear when we will get macOS Catalina, but it can't be far off. There are significant changes with this year's Mac update, including the fact that Catalina will no longer not support 32-bit applications. That means after you install the…

This week, MacSparky is sponsored by OmniFocus, one of my favorite applications. Professional task management is the key to staying on top of your projects. These days, we have more commitments than ever. If we don’t have powerful tools to manage those…

Author and designer Mike Rohde joins us on the latest episode of Focused to discuss the practice and process of sketchnoting. We talk about choosing the right tools, the benefits and drawbacks of analog versus digital, and why sketchnoting is for…

The new version of Drafts for iOS and iPad OS is really nice. It adds a lot of new features:Rewritten main user interface and gesture interface.Support for multiple windows (iPadOS 13 only).Edit actions in separate window.Live Markdown previews in a separate…

It’s a feedback episode, Stephen and I revisit Alfred and backups and talk about iOS 13's bumpy release and the new iPhone and Apple Watch. Stephen also gives a behind-the-scenes look at the recent Relay FM Podcastathon and closes the episode by reading a…

This week MacSparky is sponsored by TextExpander. Copy and paste is an inefficient way to keep track of the things you type again and again. TextExpander makes you more productive by taking care of all those words and phrases for you. TextExpander works in all…