Post Category → not-labs

Audio Hijack Is the Mac’s Best Audio Recorder, and So Much More (Sponsor)

Audio Hijack lets you record any audio on your Mac, from individual applications like Safari or Zoom, hardware audio devices like microphones and mixers, or even the audio output of the entire system. If you can hear it, you can record it. Whatever you need to do with audio on your Mac, Audio Hijack can help.

  • Record conversations from Zoom, FaceTime, and other VoIP apps
  • Save streaming audio from the web
  • Create podcasts, both remote and in-studio
  • Digitize vinyl
  • And so much more

To say Audio Hijack is essential to me for my work is an understatement. But my family and I find uses for Audio Hijack all the time. For example, my wife is now in the Disneyland Candlelight Christmas Choir. She wanted to practice but didn’t have any recordings. So we got last year’s concert on YouTube and downloaded the audio with Audio Hijack so now she can practice in the car.

Last week, Rogue Amoeba shipped Audio Hijack 4.3 with a brand-new Transcribe block to turn any spoken audio into text. The Mac’s best audio recording tool now also gives you unlimited transcription, without ongoing charges. Transcribe audio from a mic, an app, or a file. It’s great for video meetings, podcasts, and so much more. Read all about it in the Audio Hijack 4.3 blog post.

Through the end of November, MacSparky readers can save 20% by purchasing with coupon code SPARKS20. Visit the Audio Hijack site to download the free trial.

More on Apple and AI

During last week’s earnings call, Tim Cook spoke briefly about Apple and artificial intelligence:

“In terms of generative AI, obviously, we have work going on. I’m not going to get into details about what it is, because as you know, we really don’t do that. But you can bet that we’re investing. We’re investing quite a bit. We’re going to do it responsibly, and it will… you will see product advancements over time where those technologies are at the heart of them.”

This feels to me like round two of the photos-in-the-cloud debate from a few years ago. Google was examining your photos on their cloud servers and then allowing you to search them for pictures of dogs, or mountains, or whatever. Apple explained they wanted to do that on device, which would give you the benefit of having this feature, without putting your photos out there.

I remember seeing Craig Federighi at one of the Live Talk Show events when he quipped something like, “We can buy pictures of mountains. We don’t need yours.”

When Apple gets around to sharing a generative AI product, it will also run locally on your device. (There is a reason for all those machine learning cores they’ve been stacking on their chips.) Again, people will wring their hands that it’s not possible to do on device what’s happening in server farms. Again, I expect we’ll find that what happens on our devices is good enough and 100% more private.

I’ve written on this before, but I sincerely hope Apple aims their AI research at automation and Siri. It could be their Siri moonshot.

Mac Power Users 717: The Apple Notes Deep Dive

While it had humble beginnings, Apple Notes has grown into a true competitor over the years. On this episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I explore its history, features, and where Apple should take it next.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

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About the M3 Performance

As the MacBook Pros with M3 are hitting the wild, we are getting more data on their performance. It’s looking like a roughly 20% increase over the M2 generation. The M3 Max chip is clocking about the same speed as the M2 Ultra, which is impressive.

I did not think the succeeding generations of Apple silicon would improve that much year over year. I hope Apple can keep it up.

“Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max”

Perhaps the biggest news of the Scary Fast Apple event is that Apple shot the whole thing on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. So the Mac event was, at least, kind of about the iPhone. It’s remarkable how far the iPhone has come as a camera.

Apple shared details of how they did it. There’s some really nice equipment in this footage which begs the question, did they use iPhones to shoot the video about using the iPhone to shoot the event?

This Month in the MacSparky Labs

Here’s what took place in the Labs for the month of October 2023:

  • 2023-10-31 – MacSparky Labs “Scary Fast” Meetup (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-30 – An Update on Today’s “Scary Fast” Apple Event (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-27 – The Lab Report – 27 October 2023 (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-27 – Labs FOD: Tim Stringer’s Stream Decks (Labs 2)
  • 2023-11-25 – October Deep Dive – Maker and Manager (Labs 3)
  • 2023-10-25 – The Endor Studios Recording Setup (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-24 – Building Interactive Keynote Presentations (Labs 2)
  • 2023-10-20 – The Lab Report – 20 October 2023 (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-19 – Labs Focus Session (Labs 2)
  • 2023-10-18 – Portable Zoom Station (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-17 – Testing Lex (Labs 3)
  • 2023-10-13 – Lab Report – 13 October 2023 (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-12 – Contextual Email (Labs 2)
  • 2023-10-11 – October Labs Meetup (Labs 2)
  • 2023-10-10 – Exploring Default Folder X 6 (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-06 – Lab Report – October 6 (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-05 – September 2023 Deep Dive – iOS 17 (Video) (Labs 3)
  • 2023-10-05 – September 2023 Deep Dive – iOS 17 (Audio) (Labs 3)
  • 2023-10-04 – MurmurType (Labs 2)
  • 2023-10-03 – Sparky’s Super Action Button (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-02 – Sparky’s Q4 Planning (Labs 1)
  • 2023-10-02 – Labs Focus Session (Labs 2)

If you’d like to be a part of the MacSparky Labs, you can get more information and join right here.

A Few Thoughts on Apple’s “Scary Fast” Event and Announcements

Last night, Apple did a prime-time event where they shared a little news and some new hardware. I’ve got a few thoughts:

  • The 5:00 P.M. Pacific start time was a brain-bender for me. As I went through the day, I kept forgetting there was still an Apple Event later. Is this what it always feels like in Europe?
  • I’ve already heard complaints about the fact the event was only 30 minutes. I liked it. They didn’t have more to say. They didn’t add fluff or silly demos. In. Out. Thank you very much.
  • I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but I’ve always felt Johny Srouji is just kind of scary. It’s those eyes. So, of course, on a Halloween-adjacent announcement, he starts, “Welcome to my lab!”. I love that he leans into it.
  • We got M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max all in one go. I hope that is the way of the future. I’d expect the M3 Ultra sometime next year (along with MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro).
  • The graphics sounds like the big winner here. If you are doing graphics-heavy work, this may be for you.
  • We got M3 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros. It appears the 13-inch MacBook Pro is now gone. In its place is a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an entry-level M3 chip. That’s a win. If you loved the Touch Bar, I’m sorry.
  • We also got news of an updated 24” iMac with the M3 chip. Same colors. Same form-factor. Just faster. I sure would have liked them to announce an M3 Pro iMac with a bigger screen to go along with it. I hear from a lot of people that want a Mac like that.
  • I expected the peripherals to all switch over to USB-C. However, it looks like that’s not happening yet.
  • Apple makes the M3 sound like a significant improvement. They are trying to convince remaining Intel chip owners and even leaning a bit on M1 users. If you’re in that second category and your M1 iMac s fine, don’t worry about it. The M1-equipped Macs are still really great computers.

Now, we can say Apple is done for the year. Before you know it, we’ll be in 2024, which will be all about the Vision Pro.