St. Jude Fundraiser 2024

Every September, it is my privilege to play a small part in the enormous enterprise of the Relay St. Jude Fundraiser. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, located in Memphis, Tennessee, is one of the premier research hospitals in the world, treating and researching childhood cancer and other diseases.

If your child has cancer, St. Jude will be there for you, and you will never receive a bill — no strings attached.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is one of the largest research hospitals in the world. When St. Jude opened fifty years ago, the childhood cancer survival rate was 20%. Now, partly due to St. Jude’s efforts, it’s 80%. As successful as they’ve been, they’re not satisfied. They want to wipe out childhood cancer, and they are relentless in their efforts.

Unlike most hospitals, the majority of their funding comes from donors. My friend Stephen has a personal experiencewith St. Jude that you can read about. But regardless, this is a worthwhile cause.

Many of us are about to send a lot of money Apple’s way as they announce their fall lineup of products. When doing that, perhaps think about sending some money to St. Jude as well. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several people from St. Jude over the years, and they are singularly devoted to their cause. Also, look into employee matching at your company. The Walt Disney Company is very generous; each year, we double our contribution through my wife’s employment matching.

Mac Power Users 760: Production Workflow Check-In

Join Stephen and me on this episode of Mac Power Users as we take inventory of what software and services we’re using in our content businesses, and talk about how we work with our respective teams across multiple time zones and platforms.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code MPU.
  • SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!

Siri Concerns

Last week Ryan Christoffel over at 9to5Mac quoted the latest Mark Gurman report about Apple developing an additional AI personality. Gurman reports that Apple is working on “[…]another human-like interface based on generative AI.” Like Ryan, I am confused by this.

official siri icon currently in use in 2024

For too long, Apple let Siri linger. It’s been the butt of jokes in tech circles for years. We’re told that this year will be different and Siri will truly get the brain transplant it deserves. But if so, why is Apple working on an entirely different human-like interface? Does this signal that the Siri update isn’t all it should be?

It’s too early for any of us to tell on the outside. There are some Siri updates in 18.1, but they are largely cosmetic. We’re still waiting for the big shoe to drop on Siri updates with later betas.

However, the idea that Apple is already working on the next thing before they fix the current shipping thing does make me a little nervous. I realize that at this point, we’re all just reading tea leaves, and I could be completely off the mark here, but I sincerely hope that the updates to Siri this year get all of the effort that Apple can muster.

The Lab Report for August 30, 2024

It’s time for the latest Lab Report from the MacSparky Labs, covering this week’s Apple news and rumors. In this episode: It’s Glowtime for Apple (and they name a new CFO), more iPhone 16 rumors ahead of the September 9 event, and a Labs Video rebroadcast all about the Action Button.
… This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members. Care to join? Or perhaps you need to sign in?

Focused 211: The Focus MOB

On this episode of Focused, Mike and I consider the role of Margin, Ownership, and Boundaries in the pursuit of living a focused life.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • Indeed: Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide using Indeed to hire great talent fast.
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  • Vitally: A new era for customer success productivity. Get a free pair of AirPods Pro when you book a qualified meeting.

The Rumored AirPods Max 2

Rumors continue to swirl around the idea of updated AirPods Max. 9to5Mac did a nice summary of the anticipated features with a new hardware version, including the H2 chip, Adaptive Audio, conversation awareness, and personalized volume. The current iteration of AirPod Max (now four years old) has been lagging behind some of the newer features in other versions of the AirPods.

image of apple AirPods max, in silver, viewed from the front.
Image: Apple

I bought the original AirPods Max shortly after they launched, and I use them regularly. However, I rarely take them out of the studio. Sometimes I need really good audio as I edit screencasts and podcasts, and I am unable to or unwilling to use speakers. In these cases, they are excellent. (They’re also really good for listening to music louder than I want my wife to know I am listening to music.)

I went back and looked at my original impressions of these headphones, and most of it still holds true. I never really found the weight to be a problem. I sometimes have them on for two or three hours at a time, and it’s just not an issue for me.

Another use case for me with the AirPods Max is a backup set of podcasting headphones. I’ve had several occasions where I used them as monitors while recording shows, and they work just fine.

I don’t think I’ll rush to upgrade my original AirPods Max when the new ones come out, but some of those new features are tempting. Regardless, I hope we see the long overdue update to AirPods Max at the iPhone event next month.

Apple’s September 9 “It’s Glowtime” Event

poster for apple it's glowtime event, taking place on 9 september 2024

Apple announced this year’s iPhone event for Monday, September 9 at 10:00 Pacific.

A few things about it:

  • Monday is unusual for an Apple Event. My guess: they want to stay clear of the US Presidential Debate set for September 10.
  • Mark Gurman reports it’s another pre-taped event. I wonder if Apple will ever go back to the live events. They spent a lot of money on those Steve Jobs Theater seats.
  • For those of you in the MacSparky Labs, keep an eye on your email. I’ll set up a few events around the announcements.