In this episode of Automators, Rosemary and I are joined once more by Scotty Jackson. We take a look at home automation related to Focus Modes, and whether or not you can automate a podcast.
This episode of Automators is sponsored by:
It’s time for the latest Lab Report from MacSparky, covering this week’s Apple news and updates…
This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?
My thanks to SummerFest for sponsoring MacSparky this week. SummerFest 2022 is a terrific collection of some of my favorite and very useful Mac software. During SummerFest, they’re offering a super summer discount off some spectacular research and writing apps. Some of my favorites you can try for yourself at 25% include:
SummerFest doesn’t actually last all summer, so be sure to check out these and other apps at the SummerFest 2022 website before this sale ends.
In March, I was hunting for a better AirTag Wallet, and a friend showed me his Nimalist AirTag Wallet. I liked the way it looked and even ordered one while on-air recording the Mac Power Users.
My wallet eventually arrived (it took several weeks), and I’ve been using it exclusively since then. (By “exclusively”, I mean whenever I carry it when I leave the house, which does not happen every day.)
The wallet has three card slots, a transparent holder on the back for your ID, a cash pocket on top, and a receipt pocket on top. (In the official picture, they’ve got a Goldman card in that slot. Fancy.) The credit card slots are big enough to put two cards in one slot. (I’ve got my insurance and health savings account card in one.) Nevertheless, they are sufficiently grippy inside that I’m not worried about losing anything. I had a session of vigorous upside-down shaking before taking the below photos, and nothing came loose. For your Apple AirTag, there is a stitched circular slot with a button on the top to hold it in place. The button has stayed … well … buttoned since I first set it up.
The leather quality doesn’t match the leather in the Apple wallet, but the Nimalist is less expensive. There is RFID shielding, and despite holding four cards, cash, my ID, and other bits of detritus along with a chunky Apple AirTag, it feels pretty slim in my pocket.
The Nimalist Wallet purchase was interesting for me for a few reasons. First, I didn’t do any research. It looked nice and I ordered one. Usually, I sweat the details on something as personal as a wallet a lot more. Second, I’ve had many emails from listeners and Labs members about this purchase. Several folks followed me down the path. Most feedback has been positive. Some of it has been negative. Some complained that their wallet isn’t holding up for them.
Mine is starting to show small bits of wear. My prior Apple Wallet was built much better and I expect that I won’t be using this wallet in a few years, but it doesn’t look bad either. It’s only been four months, and I haven’t been gentle with it. The wallet serves the dual purposes of 1) holding my stuff and 2) being admirably AirTag trackable. At $50, I’m happy enough with it. Ideally, I’d like this to last a year or two while better designs come to market (or better yet, Apple builds AirTag technology into their own wallet sans the bump. Below is a gallery showing the current status of my Nimalist Wallet.
I am enjoying The MacSparky Labs so much. I’ve traded all the time I used to spend being a lawyer to generate additional content, and let me tell you, this is a lot more fun than that. Below is a list of the content in the Labs from June. I’d love for you to join me.
Last year Apple added the ability to extract text from an image via Shortcut action. So that got me thinking, “Why not make a Shortcut that automates this?” Well, here you go…
This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?
Found under the Mission Control System Preference, “Automatically rearrange Spaces based on recent usage” takes any Spaces you’ve set up and scrambles them every time you open a new app. So it just adds a bit of chaos to your day. I’ll never understand why this is turned on by default.
P.S. I just checked. It’s also turned on by default with a macOS Ventura install.
I’m starting a five-part webinar series this Friday for the Shortcuts for Mac Field Guide, Plus Edition customers. If you signed up for that course you should have received an email with a sign-up link. I’ve also added the sign-up link to the course under the “Shortcuts Webinars” Section. Let me know if you have any problems.
The Webinars will be new materials on Shortcuts for Mac. All of the webinars will be edited and added to the course. So if you can’t make the webinars, you’ll still get all the content as part of the Shortcuts For Mac Field Guide, Plus Edition content.
I’m behind on my email, which made me rethink my email practices and how I can improve them. This is no less than my quest for email serenity. I’ve decided to do this as a series for the MacSparky Labs. Here’s the first entry talking about the problem, potential solutions, and some trouble areas where a specific email can gum up the works. I also share diagrams of some of my email workflows…
This is a post for MacSparky Labs Level 3 (Early Access) and Level 2 (Backstage) Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?
I’ve been working on the RSS Feeds. Now there are three of them.
This feed gets you everything. It includes the MacSparky Labs posts as well, but you’ll only see content in those posts matching up with your membership level.
I publish a lot of content for the MacSparky Labs Members. If you don’t want to see any of that, use this feed.
I have custom feeds for each level of the MacSparky Labs. These are generated individually for each Member. If you are a MacSparky Labs member…
You don’t have access to this RSS feed..