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Finding the Active Window in Big Sur



I have received more email about confusion over the active app in the few months since Big Sur was released. Big Sur is brighter, and figuring out which window is active is more difficult than it ever has been before.

The differences are subtle:

  1. Traffic Lights
    The close / minimize / maximize buttons are lit up in the active window and gray in all inactive windows. This is the easiest way to tell.

  2. Drop Shadow
    There is a subtle drop shadow behind the active window. There is no drop shadow on inactive windows. Depending on the background, this can be impossible to see.

  3. The App Toolbar
    The apps toolbar is just slightly darker in the inactive window. Unless you have the apps right next to each other, this is difficult to notice.

The only reliable way I can tell which app is active is the traffic lights. If you find this annoying, I would suggest HazeOver (Developer) (Setapp). This simple utility darkens everything on your screen except the active app and solves this problem entirely. The app has been around a long time. It got a nice Big Sur update and fully supports Apple silicon.

WinterFest 2020

Winter has officially started and so has WinterFest, the festival of artisanal software. If you’re planning to up your research and writing game for 2021, check out this software sale of some great transformative tools that are up to 25% off. Longtime readers and listeners, you’ve heard me drone on about some of these tools, including DEVONthink, TextExpander, Scrivener, PDFpen. For a very limited time, you can get these for an excellent price, and try them out yourself for all of your plans and projects for the new year. 




PowerPhotos for Apple Photos Power Tools (Sponsor)

My thanks to PowerPhotos for sponsoring MacSparky. It’s a new year and a fresh opportunity to wrangle you Photos Library. PowerPhotos is the app that will help you do just that.With PowerPhotos, you can manage images across multiple libraries. Need to merge libraries? It does that. Need to split images into a separate library? It does that too. I use PowerPhotos to remove duplicates. Whatever your Photos challenge, PowerPhotos can help you get your photo collection back in order.

With the recent release of version 1.9, PowerPhotos supports macOS Big Sur and runs natively on Apple Silicon. It also added a new feature, making it possible to copy RAW+JPG pairs as a single item, making everything all that much easier.

PowerPhotos gives Apple Photos the tools it needs, but Apple didn’t provide. With PowerPhotos, you can work with multiple Photos libraries and store them wherever you want, including on an external drive or a network drive. You can also split up your giant library into smaller ones by copying photos and albums with a simple drag and drop, preserving metadata such as descriptions and keywords along the way. Or, if you already have multiple libraries, use PowerPhotos to merge them while weeding out duplicates along the way. PowerPhotos also features a powerful duplicate photo finder, a browser to let you see your photos without even opening up Photos itself, a multi-library search feature, and more.

MacSparky readers can use the coupon code MACSPARKY20 to save 20% off a purchase of PowerPhotos. Go check out PowerPhotos today.


PowerPhotos Duplicate Tool

PowerPhotos Duplicate Tool

The Focused 2021 Wall Calendar



2021 Focused Wall Calendar


January 1 is upon us, but it’s not too late to get the Focused 2021 wall calendar. This year’s version is dry-erase (but keeps the $24 price point) and week starts on Monday, as they should. I’ve got mine up and it came out great. As much as I like my digital bits, there is something to be said for having a big wall calendar staring back at you as you plan your year. It lets you see where you have room to make something great and where you’re too busy to take on any more. This calendar will help me through 2021. Hopefully, it helps you too.

Blowing Up the Death Star on New Year’s Eve


Death Star Explosion

I have to admit I find New Year’s Eve television pretty tedious. I expect it will be even worse tonight when people aren’t actually allowed to meet in public. So why not instead plan a viewing of Star Wars, Episode IV? If you start the movie (using Disney+) at 10:02:43 PM, the Death Star will blow up at precisely midnight.

Rebel Force Radio has the start times for all the various ways you can watch episodes IV and VI with midnight-timed explosions. I know it sounds nerdy (because it is), but it is also a lot of fun. This year team Sparks will be watching Episode VI at 9:56:54 PM.

May the force be with you.

Making Good on Optimism

Every year, as January 1 approaches, most people start getting eager about the coming year. That is true even more so this year. 2020 was hard. Folks are ready for a fresh start. The problem is that new year optimism often fades all too quickly.

As we head into the new year, I’d encourage you to give your optimism a second look. It’s not enough to just admire it. You need to nurture it. Optimism is just a spark. Optimism plus action is a bonfire. When you are toasting the year tonight, plan action.

WaterField AirPods Max Shield Case


Waterfield AirPods Max Case

WaterField has come out with an AirPods Max Shield Case. Apple blew it by not including a travel-friendly case and Waterfield stepped up.

They’ve designed a leather shield case. There’s one layer of ultra-plush lining backed with soft foam to cradle my AirPods Max and prevent them from getting scratched. Then there’s a top and bottom layer of closed-cell foam to disperse external forces and resist compression—no mooshing of AirPodsMax. All covered in a ballistic nylon or waxed canvas paired with full-grain leather and waterproof zippers to protect my precious AirPods Max against the elements. And the special and ingenious elements by WaterField is the in-case charging and a Magnetic Leather Butterfly that acts as a buffer between the ear cups and triggers the AirPods Max into low-power mode. If you’ve got some AirPods Max, you should check these out.

Mac Power Users 568: Looking Toward 2021



Mac Power Users Artwork.png


At the end of an unprecedented year, Stephen and I take some time to reflect on what it’s meant for an Apple user, and what we’d like to see out of 2021 in terms of tech. Click here for the latest episode of Mac Power Users.

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.

  • Pingdom: Start monitoring your website performance and availability today, and get instant alerts when an outage occurs or a site transaction fails. Use offer code MPU to get 30% off. Offer expires on January 31, 2021, and can be used only once.

  • Woven: The calendar with the most powerful scheduling tools. Try it free for 21 days.