It’s Time to Give to St. Jude

It’s September and that means it’s time for the annual Relay St. Jude Fundraiser. St. Jude’s mission is simple: Take care of children with life-threatening diseases and do it for free. That’s right. This is a charity that takes care of kids with cancer and doesn’t bankrupt their parents in the process. 

Relay’s goal this year is nearly $500,000. If they can hit that number, it will make the total contribution over the past several years over $2M. This year Relay even has some fun swag if you donate.

Every year Daisy and I save to make a St. Jude donation and I can tell you it feels pretty great pushing that button. This year was strange since I quit my big boy job, but we still stave enough to donate the value of an Apple Watch Ultra. The thing is, however, if everyone that reads this post would give just $5, it would eclipse my donation. That’s right. If all of you skip Starbucks tomorrow and give $5 to St. Jude, you can save some lives. Why not?

The Monday Brief (MacSparky Labs)

Happy Monday!

Things seem to be calming down a bit this week in the Apple-verse. With last week’s announcements made, we now just have to wait to see how well the new products hold up against Apple’s promises. If Apple follows its usual form, the review embargo on the new iPhones should lift this Wednesday (with the Apple Watch Ultra reviews dropping next Wednesday) …

This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?

The Six Colors Membership Program

When I first decided to add the MacSparky Labs, one of my biggest sources of advice and inspiration was Jason Snell. Jason and I went independent at about the same time and when I decided to hang up my lawyer’s briefcase, Jason was right there for me again. Now he’s enhancing his membership program (I was already a member.) I’m so pleased to endorse and recommend Jason’s new enhanced membership program over at Six Colors. I know Jason put a lot of thought into it and plans on delivering for his members.

Mac Power Users 657: New Hardware & iOS 16

Apple has announced its slate of iPhones and Apple Watches for the year and has major software releases right around the corner. So we dropped this week’s Mac Power Users episode a little early. Stephen and I discuss Apple’s announcements and review iOS 16.

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: 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.
  • Indeed: Join more than three million businesses worldwide using Indeed to hire great talent fast.
  • Setapp: More than 240 powerful apps. Try it free for a month with code ‘MACPOWER’.

Automators 110: iOS 16 Automation

iOS 16 is nearly here, and there are a lot of automation updates to try out. In this episode of Automators, Rosemary and I walk you through them all.

This episode of Automators is sponsored by:

  • TextExpander: Your Shortcut to Efficient, Consistent Communication. Get 20% off.
  • Setapp: More than 240 powerful apps. Try it free for a month with code ‘AUTOMATORS’.
  • Hover: Make a name for yourself. Get 10% off any domain name.

MindNode for Superior Mind Maps (Sponsor)

This week’s Sponsor, MindNode, is my mind mapping app of choice. I was there at the beginning with mind map apps when they all cost north of $500 and were super complicated. When I first discovered MindNode (iOS Version) (Mac Version), it was love at first sight. MindNode, from day one, has always been an attractive yet powerful mind mapping app that makes the process of developing thoughts and ideas easy and fun. I use it daily. MindNode has a bunch of new features if you haven’t looked at it lately.

Emoji Support
You can choose from thousands of available emoji and then add them as an image to your nodes. It immediately makes your mind map more visual.

Compact Layout
They’ve got a brand new node layout for top-down mind maps. This can be used for organizational charts or any other type of mind map where this new format suits.

The New Apple Watch App
They fully redesigned the watch app using the look and feel of the MindNode Outline view. It’s faster, more responsive and makes capturing ideas on the go even easier. Also, I expect it would look pretty great on a 49mm Apple Watch Ultra.

That’s not all. MindNode has plans in the works for this fall to turn the iPad app into a true desktop-class app with a customizable toolbar, improved controls, and a unified design with the Mac version. I can hardly wait.

A Few Thoughts on the Apple Watch Ultra

I’ve been on a journey with the Apple Watch Ultra. When rumors of a “Pro” Apple Watch first began to surface, I was against the idea. I always appreciated the way you could buy any Apple Watch and still get the same features and processor. This new hypothetical watch would break that.

However, over time I came around to the idea. As Apple products mature, they diversify. In every class of Apple hardware (Macs, iPhones, and iPads) there are consumer products and “Pro” products. Why wouldn’t that also happen for the Apple Watch, which had a slow start but is now very much a success? A MacSparky Labs member also pointed out to me in one of our meetups that having a “Pro” class of Apple Watch also lets Apple try features and hardware that isn’t appropriate or ready for the standard Apple Watch.

So that was my mindset as Apple announced the Apple Watch Ultra yesterday. The Ultra accomplishes what I’d hoped. It gives Apple the freedom to make an Apple Watch very much not for the masses. The Ultra is bulky with a big battery and a lot of accommodations for its active users that would not appeal to everyone. So the Ultra is an offshoot of the Apple Watch, and it looks like it is well suited for that job. I’m looking forward to early reviews.

It does make me wonder, however, if Ultra is not the only class of offshoot Apple Watches. For example, I’ve heard from doctors that rely on the Apple Watch for communications and images when working rounds. Could Apple make a watch that serves them better? Likely not. Apple doesn’t generally seem inclined to split their product lines very much, as the iPhone mini could attest. Still, it’s a fun experiment to imagine where else they could go.

The Keynote Story

As we head into today’s Apple “Far Out” keynote, we’ve got a pretty good idea in terms of what we’ll see in the new iPhones and at least an inkling of what we’ll see with the new Apple Watch.

What we don’t know is the narrative. Apple does have a story around its products and how they see them fitting in for their users and along with the rest of the Apple product line in general.

For the iPhone, it is the modern utility belt in your pocket doing everything from communications to photography. For the Apple Watch, it’s increasingly becoming a health-focused product there to help keep you fit and (sometimes) alive.

With each new Apple keynote, I’m always interested to see how they look at whatever they’re introducing as part of that larger narrative. If you watch the event today, pay attention to the story.