Mac Power Users 619: Home Studio Updates

I had to move my home office, while Stephen built a cabin. On this week’s episode of Mac Power Users, we compare notes on how our studios have evolved over the last couple of years.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? You don't have to worry about that anymore.

  • Memberful: Best-in-class membership software for independent creators, publishers, educators, podcasters, and more. Get started now, no credit card required.

  • The Tech Savvy Lawyer Podcast

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Website Transition and New RSS Link

I have been busy with a skunk-works project to transition the website to WordPress for the last several weeks. I've been a happy customer of Squarespace for years, but I am looking to add some new features as we move into the new year, and I needed a bit more flexibility. The website's look will remain the same (except for a few minor tweaks). Nearly all of the changes are happening under the hood. Regardless, I'm about to push the button, and this will be the last post going out through the old system.

New RSS
Once the publication goes live, there will be a new RSS Feed:
http://www.macsparky.com/feed

We are trying to automatically direct the old feed to the new one, but you never really know about these things. If you don't get any more posts after this one in your feed, the auto-direct didn't work, and you will need to re-sign up above.

I can't wait to roll out some new features with the new site.

The Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking

Something I think a lot about is contextual computing. (Here's an MPU episode on the topic.) Put simply, our technology has advanced to a level where a mindful user should be able to get focused work done without distraction. As a few basic examples, you should not have to go to an email inbox to answer a specific email or a list of all your tasks to find only the tasks related to a particular project. And yet, too many software developers don't consider this. Often the only way into specific data is first to wade through all the general data.

To use travel as an analogy. If you were in Los Angeles and wanted to visit Trafalgar Square in London, you'd have to get in a car, then on a plane, then a train, and then a cab. All the way, you'd have distractions that may delay or divert you from Trafalgar Square entirely. It doesn't have to be that way with technology. Why not skip all that and zap yourself right to that data set you need.

I've slowly built my entire data management stack around this principle, and I can usually stay in context and on target. You should too. I'm going to be covering this in much greater detail in 2022.

In the meantime, I'm not alone in this belief. Cognitive scientist and Hook developer Luc Beaudoin has spearheaded a movement called the Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking. Linking is the key to contextual computing. It is how we can skip the plane, the train, and the cab. There is no better place for this movement to get traction than the Apple developer community. So many Mac developers have already built linking systems already. We need them standards-based, not loaded with tracking garbage, and ubiquitous. There are many smart people behind this and I hope it gets momentum. There are plenty of problems in the world for us to tackle. Are we going to use our computers to do focused work and make things better, or will we use them to distract us from what matters? This is a good start.

Mac Power Users 618: Making Movies at Pixar, with John Soliman

This episode of Mac Power Users has Stephen and I chatting with John Soliman, a second assistant editor at Pixar, about his workflows and how collaboration works at the studio.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? You don't have to worry about that anymore.

  • Memberful: Best-in-class membership software for independent creators, publishers, educators, podcasters, and more. Get started now, no credit card required.

  • Electric: Stop stressing over scattered devices. Get a free pair of Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones when you schedule a meeting.

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The Wallpaper* Feature on the Apple Design Team and a Missed Opportunity

Wallpaper* published a rare feature on the inside of the Apple Design Team. This group of people is arguably the best design team in the world. I have so much respect for their work. You should read every word of the article and take some time with those pictures. That being said …

  • I can’t help but think that every picture looks arranged and posed. This is not the design team “at work.” They are instead posing for a magazine shoot. Creating art is messy. Those pictures and the table layouts in those pictures are art, but they are not, in my experience, what it looks like while you are doing art.

  • It appears they shot most of the pictures on the upper floors. I’m guessing the dirty work of design happens on the lower floors.

  • I wish that in addition to rooms dedicated to typography and color science, they also showed an even bigger room dedicated to user interface design. In my opinion, Apple’s hardware is untouchable at this moment, but some of the software mechanics and user interfaces need work. I wish I saw signs they were working more on that.

The article references an oft-quoted Steve Jobs explanation of design and how it is more than just a veneer. “It’s not just how things look, it’s about how things work.” I agree with that statement entirely.  

That said, relying on something Steve Jobs said years ago to justify your work is the wrong way to go about it. During Alan Dye’s tenure as VP of human interface design, Apple has become very opinionated and, arguably, too minimal. Removal of proxy icons is just one example of this. It feels like the veneer is getting way too much attention at the expense of the working bits.

Instead of quoting Steve Jobs, I would have preferred an explanation from Alan Dye about his philosophy of user interface design and what his north star is when he does his work. I'd like him to make his case. If he explained the thinking behind this minimal approach, it might make more sense. Maybe this article was never meant to be that kind of deep dive on design philosophy, but it feels like a missed opportunity.

Silly Season is Ramping Up for an Apple Headset

Apple is a secretive company but the existence of new Apple products are rarely much of a secret these days. We knew a tablet was coming. We knew there was a watch coming. We currently know there is a mixed reality headset on the way.

And now the smoke signals are going up for an announcement in 2022.

  • Ming-Chi Kuo is now reporting weight (around 350 grams) and operation details (it will not require an iPhone). He also reports a 2022 Q2 Announcement (WWDC would make sense) and a Q4 2022 release.

  • [Mark Gurman also reports in that the first generation device will be used for "gaming, media consumption, and communication."

This is just the beginning. As this filters out to the not-so-super-connected technology audience, the rumors about this product are going to be nuts.

Where I was eager for an Apple Watch and very eager for a tablet, I'm not sure where I stand on a headset. I think this is definitely a space Apple should have an offering, but I'm still not sure what their approach will be.

If you are curious about what Apple is going to offer, I would recommend not getting too hung up on the rumors. There are going to be so many words thrown into the Internet meat grinder about an Apple headset when things really start heating up and *nearly* all of them will be by folks who have no clue what is actually going on.

Outlines vs. Mind Maps

I sometimes get asked about where I use outlining tools versus mind mapping tools. I can see why those lines could be confused. Both tools are good at taking a bunch of inputs and letting you organize them later. For me, the distinction is all about chaos and order. Specifically, where outlines are best for taking generally organized information and making it more organized, mind maps are all about taming chaos.

For instance, when I was making the initial attempt at organizing the Photos Field Guide, I used a MindNode-based mind map. I didn’t have a clear path when I started that project, and I needed to just get ideas on the screen so I could start organizing. By using a mind map, I saw there were multiple organizational paths for that course. Using the mind map also helped me determine to group courses by platform rather than topic.

Other good examples of mind map tasks, for me, are where I’m learning something new or when I have to get my head wrapped around my own thoughts on a topic. In that case, I start up a new mind map and add to it slowly.

On the flip side, when I create a chronology for a client matter, a project that is, by nature, linear, I start with an outline. I’ll do the same thing outlining contracts or planning structured long-form blog posts. Another place I often use outlines is when attending what feels, to me at least, like a structured lecture. You can just tell when the speaker has a beginning, middle, and an end, and those fit best as outlines.

Whether you are using mind maps or outlines, Cooking Ideas still works. This is the technique I’ve talked about in the past where you start to map or outline early, and come back to it every day or two with your subconscious mind doing the heavy lifting. If you can get started on a project this way early enough, it sometimes feels like the work does itself.

My weapons of choice these days for both? MindNode for mind maps. OmniOutliner for outlines. Both cover all the Apple platform devices and make it really easy to jump between devices and resume.

Focused 140: Your Brain Is Not a Computer with Cory Hixson

Engineering professor Cory Hixson joins the Focused crew this week to talk about staying on target, not letting your kids eat your brain, and why you are not a computer.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • Indeed: Get a free $75 credit to upgrade your job post.

  • Setapp: More than 200 powerful apps for your Mac. Try it free for a week.

  • The Intrazone, by Microsoft SharePoint: Your bi-weekly conversation and interview podcast about SharePoint, OneDrive and related tech within Microsoft 365.

Become the Boss of Your Email with SaneBox (Sponsor)

Did you know that the snooze button isn't only for your alarm clock? With SaneSnooze, you can snooze on your emails as well. SaneBox, this week’s sponsor at MacSparky, helps me prioritize my email with the SaneSnooze feature.

There are emails that you don’t have to act on right now, and that’s where SaneSnooze comes in handy. I can snooze the less important emails until I want to respond. The email disappears from my main inbox. Not delete disappear, but more of a I’ll-deal-with-it-later situation because SaneSnooze will hide the email until the time I say I’m ready for it to show back up in my inbox, and I can give it my attention when I’m ready to deal with these kinds of emails.

And SaneBox lets you choose how long you want to snooze. You can set your Snooze Folders to SaneTonight, SaneTomorrow, SaneNextWeek, SaneNextMonth, or whatever you think works best for you. When you move an email to your chosen SaneSnooze time, that email will disappear from your inbox, and then SaneBox will move that email back into your inbox at the time you’ve designated it. Want to deal with email on your terms? Click here to sign up for a free trial, and you can get a $10 credit you can use towards a SaneBox subscription. 

Mac Power Users 617: Back in Whack

Stephen and I are joined by Apple's Jeremy Butcher on the latest episode of Mac Power Users to discuss the company's new Business Essentials program. Then, we revisit iCloud storage management, clipboard apps, and email providers. USB-C hubs and migrating to an Apple silicon Mac are also discussed.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • TextExpander from Smile: Get 20% off with this link and type more with less effort! Expand short abbreviations into longer bits of text, even fill-ins, with TextExpander from Smile.

  • SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!

  • Indeed: Get a free $75 credit to upgrade your job post.

  • quip: Better oral care, made simple. Get your first refill free.

Automators 90: Holiday Automation 2021

Automating the holidays has never been easier. Rose and I have a pile of holiday-related automations to make life easier and impress your friends and family on the this episode of Automators.

This episode of Automators is sponsored by:

Shortcuts in Limbo

I’ve enjoyed some recent posts from John Voorhees and Jason Snell about expanding Shortcuts on the Mac using AppleScript and the terminal. However, I still am having trouble getting consistent and reliable automation with Shortcuts on the Mac. The product still feels a lot like a beta in that some parts of it just don’t work as advertised. This is troublesome for a few reasons.

First, I worry that folks eager to try Shortcuts for Mac are going to get frustrated when the creation process fails them. (For example, I spent 10 minutes fighting with Shortcuts this morning to set a variable.) Once new users get a Shortcut built, there is no guaranty it will perform correctly given the current state of things. To make this worse, there is very little in the way of error reporting. A lot of times the Shortcut will fail with no feedback whatsoever to the user so you don’t know if you made a mistake in constructing it, or if the feature you called is just broken.

Second, I’m trying to build a Shortcuts for Mac Field Guide, but many of the lessons I want to teach are in a holding pattern until particular bugs get fixed.

Put simply, Shortcuts for Mac is in limbo right now. The good news is that it is improving a lot in the betas and every sign we can see from the outside points to the fact that the Shortcuts Team is aware of these issues and working on them. I suspect it’s one of those things where they just ran out of time and couldn’t get it entirely in shape before Monterey was released.

Hopefully, this limbo period is short-lived.

TextExpander (Sponsor)

A shoutout to TextExpander, MacSparky’s sponsor this week. I’ve been a user of TextExpander for a long time. It’s been a real difference-maker in my workflow by doing a lot of the work for me.

TextExpander supports a variety of macros, and one supported macro is the Tab key. What does that mean for you? TextExpander can insert some text, press Tab for you, then insert more text.

For instance, I regularly send my assistant emails with updates about the latest Field Guide I’m working on. TextExpander allows me to use just a couple of keystrokes and I can start the new email and then trigger a snippet.

The beauty of TextExpander is the snippet will automatically type my assistant’s email address, press tab, put in the the same email subject line, press tab, and fill in a general template for the body of the email. The cursor is ready for me and placed right where I need to start typing the new information for the week. That’s a more efficient use of time. And that’s what TextExpander can do for you: allow you to take your time back. Get 20% off your first year. Leave the boring, repetitive tasks in the past: get TextExpander and focus on what matters most.

Being vs. Doing

In Ryan Holiday’s book, Ego Is the Enemy, there is an excellent section called “To Be or To Do.” The idea is that you can easily get lost in being when you should instead focus on doing.

Being is the trappings. Doing is the work.

Looking back on my law career, I see this in myself. As a young lawyer, I was hung up on the trappings of lawyer-ism. I bought a leather briefcase and a fancy raincoat that, after nearly 30 years in Southern California, still looked new when I gave it away a few years ago. I had a miniature statue of the scales of justice in my office. No, really, I did. When I look back, I cringe.

At this point, with decades in this racket, I know what makes a good lawyer (or a good MacSparky, or a good husband, or a good whatever). The answer, in hindsight, is doing the work.

To be a good lawyer, I needed to “do” a lot of lawyering. To be a good MacSparky, I need to do a lot of MacSparky-ing. The briefcase never mattered.

I have been trying to remind myself of this lately by changing some of my internal verbs and nouns. In my head, I don’t think of myself as a lawyer or a MacSparky, but instead as someone who helps people overcome legal challenges or someone who teaches people how to use Apple technology to serve their purpose in life.

I focus on the action. It may seem like a subtle change, but it is an important one. By focusing on my actions as the craftsman, I stop making assumptions about my abilities or purported entitlements.

Instead, I force myself to prove it through my efforts. This is how I judge myself, not by the result but by the work. This alternate mindset, by its existence, removes the possibility for me to assume anything I make will be worth a damn simply because of who I am. Instead, I need to prove it every time.

Mac Power Users 616: The Quality Will Be Ensured, with Daniel Jalkut

Stephen and I are joined by Daniel Jalkut on this episode of Mac Power Users. After his absence is blamed on an innocent co-host, Daniel chats with us about his indie development career, the new MacBook Pro, and the many options developers face when picking a method for writing a macOS application.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? You don't have to worry about that anymore.

  • TextExpander from Smile: Get 20% off with this link and type more with less effort! Expand short abbreviations into longer bits of text, even fill-ins, with TextExpander from Smile.

  • Electric: Stop stressing over scattered devices. Get a free pair of Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones when you schedule a meeting.

  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.

ChronoSync Update

With the proliferation of cloud-based storage, it’d be easy to think you don’t need local backup any more. I disagree. I make regular backups of my data to big, slow, inexpensive spinning hard drives that I store away from the computer (with one going offsite).

I’ve tried all the tools for this and ChronoSync is my favorite. ChronoSync is the automatic sync and backup app for your Mac, and they have just released a major beta, ChronoSync 4.10. ChronoSync can back up your data, create a bootable disk, clone your hard drive, synchronize files between two computers and store redundant backups in the cloud. This new release brings:

  1. Monterey support and optimized for M1 Macs.

  2. Simple bootable backups, like the old days, for all the new versions of macOS.

  3. iCloud support.

My congratulations to the ChronoSync team on this release.

The HomePod Mini Experiment

HomePod mini in the front, Focal in the back.

Recently, Jason Snell wrote about using a stereo-paired set of HomePod mini speakers with his Mac. I reported on a similar experiment on the latest episode of Mac Power Users.

Specifically, I wanted to see if AirPlay-paired HomePod minis could replace my existing wired speaker system. My current system is nice. They're Focal speakers with a powerful subwoofer on the floor. I reviewed those speakers, along with their 30-pin connector, in 2009. Rather than sending them back to the manufacturer, I sent back a check and kept the speakers. I've been using them every since.

Nevertheless, the siren song of those cute little orange HomePod minis called out to me, and I bought a pair as an experiment. Everything Jason says is right. These speakers sound better than expected for something so small. When paired together, you do get separation and good sound for a minimal footprint.

They don't match the quality of my subwoofer-enhanced Focals, but to do so would defy the laws of physics. They did, however, sound good enough that I was willing to consider using them as my new full-time speakers.

The problem, for me, was lag in the AirPlay connection. Every time I hit play, there was a slight delay between me pushing the button and the music starting. If I only needed speakers for music, that'd be fine.

Unfortunately, the lag showed up in other places too. For example, I often dictate voice-to-text on my Mac. I use the built-in Siri dictation for this. When I engage the dictation, my Mac makes a pleasing "boop" sound. When I'm done, I push the button again, and my Mac then makes the "beep" sound. The feedback from those sounds makes dictation easier. With AirPlay-connected speakers, however, I got no boop, just the beep.

To make matters worse, I also use those speakers to edit audio and video files. In those cases, I'm looking at an audio wave file while I make the edits. The audio that comes through my speakers must match with the waveform on my screen. With the HomePod minis, it did not. When I pressed play, the waveform started scrolling, and the audio lagged behind a second or two. So when I saw a gap in the waveform (indicating silence), the speakers were still making noise and vice versa. (Interestingly, I do not see a similar delay when editing with AirPods.) I could have just witched to headphones, but I'm not willing to only edit video with headphones.

So the unsurprising answer is that AirPlay is not yet ready for use in video production. I liked my tiny orange speakers with their orange cords, but they had to go back in the end.

I now have a newfound love for my Focal speakers, which I plan to keep using ... at least ... for now.

One last thought that occurs to me is that no matter how good AirPlay gets, the audio input port on the Focal speakers continues to serve me well. Just think how much more versatile the HomePod could be with an audio input in addition to AirPlay.