AI is suddenly everywhere, from online services and software to bespoke hardware products. On this episode of Mac Power Users, I take Stephen on a journey to talk about the tools I have found useful, as well as what is not yet ready for prime time.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:
This episode of Automators is sponsored by:
The force is strong with this one.
As I continue to follow news reports about the regulations arising from Europe and decreasing sales in China, in Q1 2024, Apple experienced a 25% year-over-year decrease. I can’t help but think that Apple has some heavy rowing ahead with respect to international markets. As governments are starting to take an active role in regulating smartphones and related technologies, Apple is increasingly under scrutiny.
I expect it’s only a question of time before some government demands that Apple give them a backdoor into user privacy as a condition of selling in their market. At that point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple just pulled out of that market. Indeed, I would expect it.
For years, smartphone (and social media) businesses were allowed to expand without regulation or oversight. It looks as if that is coming to an end.
Grammar correction is, in my opinion, one task where AI shines. This week’s sponsor, Fixkey.ai, is an excellent implementation of grammar-correcting AI that you can use anywhere on your Mac. Fixkey is an app on your Mac that, with a single keystroke, will grab your text and check it against an artificial intelligence grammar checker. It can then rewrite an entire sentence, without you having to click on individual issues; it just fixes them. It can even show you what it’s changing. You don’t need to click on single words to correct them. Just trigger Fixkey and let it do its work.
I’ve been using Fixkey for several months, and I’m impressed. I love that it works everywhere and gives me a way to quickly clean up and improve my writing. Its ubiquity is what really makes it work. Type anywhere on your Mac, and you have the Fixkey AI copilot at your back.
With Fixkey Pro, you can access all the new features, get 24-hour support, as well as unlimited use of AI models to translate many languages into English. You can even set up custom prompts. Best of all, the gang at Fixkey.ai will give you a 30% discount with coupon code MACSPARKY30.
I recently heard my friend, Kourosh Dini, explain tasks as “stored intentions”. I think that’s a wonderful outlook for tasks. Too often, we think of tasks as obligations or future sources of guilt. And really, all they are is unfulfilled intentions.
Intentions, like tasks, can change. They should adapt as circumstances change. This flexibility is more important than any task management tool. It reminds you that your attitude towards task management and your choice to commit to a task are personal and can be adjusted to suit your needs.
Here’s what took place in the Labs for the month of April 2024:
If you’d like to be a part of the MacSparky Labs, you can get more information and join right here.
Mark Gurman is now reporting that the new iPad Pro we’ll get next week may include the M4 chip. Because that particular chip is expected to have new AI features, the argument is that adding it to the new iPad Pro would help boost sales as Apple goes deeper into AI at WWDC in June.
While I think Apple will turn the M4’s AI features into a selling point, I find it hard to believe we’ll get one next week. They still haven’t released the M3 chip for all the existing Mac hardware. Wouldn’t it be strange if an iPad had an M4 while the Mac Studio was still on an M2? The good news is we don’t have to wait long to find out.
Neil Jhaveri founded Mimestream, a macOS email app for Gmail users. On this episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I talk to Neil about his time at Apple, Mimestream’s roadmap (including an iOS version and supporting non-Google services), and email’s place in today’s world.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:
This week’s sponsor, Fixkey.ai, is an excellent implementation of AI that you can start using today. Fixkey is an app on your Mac that, with a single keystroke, will grab your text and check it against an artificial intelligence grammar checker. It can then intelligently rephrase an entire sentence, and you do not need to manually click on individual problems; it just fixes them. It can even show you what it changes. You don’t need to click on single words to correct them. Just trigger Fixkey and let it do its work.
I’ve been using it for several months, and I’m impressed. I love that it works everywhere and gives me a way to quickly clean up and improve my writing. Its ubiquity is what really makes it work. Type anywhere on your Mac, and you still have Fixkey.ai at your back.
With Fixkey Pro, you can access all the new features, 24-hour support, and unlimited use of AI models to translate any language into English. You can even set up custom prompts. Best of all, the gang at Fixkey.ai will give you a 30% discount with coupon code, MACSPARKY30.