Fix Your Email. Use SaneBox (Sponsor)



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SaneBox is this week’s MacSparky sponsor. There’s a lot of email going around, and SaneBox and its A.I. helps me keep focused on actionable emails and takes the work of filtering what does not need to be read right now.

One of the ways SaneBox does this is with the @SaneCC. It’s a filtering folder. What goes in there? It’s the emails I’m CC’ed on. It just makes sense to me. When I’m not on the “To:” line, that means the email isn’t necessarily an actionable item, more like I’m included on the information, a sort of FYI. So do I have to read it RIGHT NOW? No, and that’s the beauty of SaneBox. Once I’ve trained @SaneCC, I can go to this folder and read these emails later when I have the time to read them.

But SaneBox doesn’t just work for me, it works with me. If there’s an email from someone who is Inbox-worthy, I can train SaneBox to put the email from them into my Inbox, even though I’m CC’ed because I can control @SaneCC from my Trainings list. Once a sender is trained, SaneBox knows to let this sender gets to pass through the velvet rope into my Inbox.

If you’re curious how to get SaneBox identify your important messages, hide distractions, banish annoying senders, remind you to follow up and more, now is the time to try it out. You can sign up for a free trial and get a $10 credit you can use towards a SaneBox subscription.

The New MacBook Pro


So I ordered a new MacBook Pro. Here are the specs and my thinking:

16 Inches

Over the last year, I’ve been using an M1 Mac mini and a 13″ MacBook Pro. Throughout that process I’ve learned a few things. First, with the crazy battery life of the M1 machine; it is really nice having a light, portable Mac. Second, the Mac mini is nice, but it would help me if my production machine was portable. What I mean by that is more about moving about the house than out in the world. With the big COVID shake-up hitting our house, I’ve lost my walled-off studio and instead am installed more centrally in the house. Overall, I prefer the change, but sometimes I need to go into a room to podcast or record screencasts. That really isn’t possible with the Mac mini, but a big MacBook Pro would be perfect for this. With the MacBook Pro, I can keep it connected to my big screen, but also disconnect and move with it.

Why 16″ and not 14″? I intend to keep the small M1 MacBook Pro for trips out of the house. This MacBook Pro I’m buying is expensive. I don’t want to be banging it up on the road unless I have a real good reason to take it with me. For non-production tasks, the M1 is perfect, light, and gets crazy battery life. So since I have a light machine for the road, why not the big boy for home? Also, I like big screens.

M1 Pro, not M1 Max

I’ve been getting plenty of production out of the M1. Doubling that will make things even better for me. However, quadrupling it with the M1 Max seemed like overkill for my needs and my budget. I got the stock M1 Pro processor count: 10 cores, 16 graphics cores. For what I make, this computer is going to scream.

So … umm … the above paragraph is not going to age very well.

Memory – 32 Gigabytes

I continue to believe that it is hard to get more bang for your buck than by adding memory. With modern Macs, that decision only happens at the time of original purchase. Memory makes everything run better and faster. That being said, if the M1 Pro had the option to go to 64 Gigabytes (it does not), I still probably would have stopped at 32.

Storage – 4 Terabytes

Yup, you read that right. This was the option where I spent the most money. My current data load is right at 2 Terabytes. Moreover, I continue to add more big files and media as I generate videos for MacSparky and the DLR Field Guide. I intend to ramp both of those up even more over the next year. I’m tired of shuffling storage between internal and external drives and decided this was a solvable problem if I’d just throw (a lot of) money at it. So I did. As I spend the next several years filling up 4TB, I’ll try not to think about how much it cost.

Color – Silver

Because I’m sick of space gray.

Using the Apple Trade In Program

A few days before the Apple event, I took my M1 Mac mini, an aging iMac, and a few other bits of Apple gear in the Apple Store. I sold it all back to Apple for about $2,000 in Apple Store gift cards. I could have made more selling the hardware myself, but the whole process with Apple only took 20 minutes and I don’t have to worry about hearing back from some crazy buyer. Either way, I got rid of the extra hardware and was able to get my new MacBook Pro for $2,000 less. The only hang-up was that there was a problem with the Apple Online Store at launch. It couldn’t accept gift cards for the first few hours, setting back my ship date. I tell the entire story on this week’s episode of MPU dropping later today (or tomorrow).

Anyway, that’s the specs for my next Mac.

The New MacBook Pros Screen Resolution

Today I spent the entire day recording podcasts largely about the new MacBook Pros. I have more thoughts about these new screamers and am working on some posts for tomorrow. In the meantime, I’d refer you to Benjamin Mayo’s post over at 9to5 Mac about the screen resolutions. These new machines will have native 2x Retina resolution, which means the text (and all other small objects) will be tack sharp. In my mind it’s just one more win with these new Macs.

A Few Thoughts Following Apple’s “Unleashed” Event Today

Today was Apple’s much anticipated “Unleashed” event. Apple delivered the goods, and I have a few thoughts:

The Opening

  • The opening Movie was fun (as always). I knew we were in good shape when they included the MagSafe connector in the movie. However, I also laughed out loud when the indie artist (working from an old garage) used a $6,000 Pro Display XDR. That probably explains why there wasn’t a car in the garage.

Apple Music Changes

  • More playlists sound great. That was the reason I subscribed to Beats Music before Apple bought them. This is one of those things where the proof is in the pudding. Let’s see.

  • The new Apple Music Voice Plan lets you subscribe to Apple Music for $5/month, but the only interface you get is your voice. It’s a mistake. To try it out, I’ve spent the whole day trying to trigger music with only my voice. Here’s a sample interaction. “Hey Siri, Play Fried Bananas by Dexter Gordon” [beep beep] “Sure things. Here’s Damage by H.E.R.” I think this service is going to make people hate Siri.

AirPods Version 3

  • Assuming they fit, the smaller stem is better in my opinion.

  • I dig Spatial Audio. So getting it in the standard AirPods is a win.

  • I’m assuming that with force sensor controls, I no longer have to walk around beating on my ears to play and stop like a crazy person.

  • 1 hour of listening time with 5 minutes of charging. Yes, thank you.

  • I have a certain degree of trepidation about the v3 AirPods. I like the way AirPods v1 and v2 fit my ears. These are different. No matter how much better they get, I’ll be stockpiling the v2 AirPods, which are still for sale, if the new ones don’t fit my ears.

  • I’ve ordered a pair. Not sure if I’ll love them or return them. You’ll find out soon.

  • Also, here’s the new AirPods feature dump slide from the presentation, just for you.



Color HomePod minis

  • Yup, They have colors.

  • Nope. Still no word on a replacement for non-mini HomePods.

  • Every time I watch one of these, I make a note to try out Siri’s Intercom feature, yet I never do. Maybe this time.

  • There now seem to be two camps about the “Apple House” that keeps showing up in HomePod-related announcements. One group thinks Apple has trapped a family like a tribe of hamsters. The other just wants to move in. Put me in that second group. Sure, one of my walls would be plexiglass, and all of you could watch me 24/7, but look at those dining room chairs!



The M1 Pro and Max



  • So there was this big whoop-de-doop at WWDC when Apple “accidentally” added an #M1X tag to the YouTube video. So many (myself included) were convinced that meant the new chip would be called M1X. Turns out the chips are named M1 Pro and M1 Max. Do you think Apple gaslighted us all?

  • The rumor guys got the rest essentially right: 10 cores (with eight performance and two efficiency cores), 16/32 graphic cores, and up to 64 Gigabytes of RAM. So you are looking at something between 2 and 4 times more powerful than the M1, which is no slouch. This is the big thing I was waiting to learn, and I think Apple silicon is crushing it.

  • Apple put up a lot of graphs. To summarize them all, this chip performs like a lion but eats power like a mouse. It’s nuts.

  • Johny Srouji is one intense dude. If I were to let anyone down, I wouldn’t want it to be Johny Srouji. Could you imagine looking into those eyes after you drop the ball?

  • It was good to see some of the most prominent video production people talking about Apple silicon without the old-school style demos. Even if they go back to live events, this is the way to bring third-party developers.

The New MacBook Pros

  • Of course, the new MacBooks Pro had to go last

  • The New Cases: A bit boxier, but it doesn’t look that much different to me. That black anodization behind the keyboard = cool.

  • The Death of the Touch Bar: There has been a lot of anger aimed at the poor Touch Bar. I learned to like it. Either way, we can all stop talking about it now.

  • Touch ID: It’s still there, on the power button.

  • If the video is accurate, it looks like the aluminum case has “MacBook Pro” embossed in the bottom. Please let that be true.

  • Color: Any color you want so long as it is silver or space gray. This stung a bit after seeing so many excellent colors for the new iMacs a few months ago. I’d have loved to get one of these new MacBook Pros in orange.

  • Feature Parity: I dig that the choice between 14 and 16 inches is just that. Whatever features you want, you can get with either size.

  • The Screen: The new screen might be just as big of a deal as the Apple silicon. 120Hz ProMotion and variable refresh rate plus the iPad-style Liquid Retina XDR mini-LEDs. I need to see it, but I think this screen will be gorgeous. 7.7 million pixels on a 16.2-inch screen. Wow.

  • The New Camera: I laughed when Apple explained the new 1080 lens was double the prior camera. When 1080 is double, that means the old camera was garbage. (And it was.) A more accurate explanation would be, “Now we all know the old cameras sucked. These new cameras are okay and definitely don’t suck.”

  • MagSafe: Did you see the little green light is back? I loved that light. With a glance, you knew if your Mac was charged or not. Also, the cable is no longer fixed to the power brick. It’s USB-C on the other end, making it much easier to use with other chargers. This makes MagSafe even more convenient.

  • I/O: We got everything we wanted. MagSafe, HDMI, SD Card, high-impedance headphone jack, and three Thunderbolt ports. The works.

  • The Notch: I’m already reading people freaking out about the addition of a notch. I don’t think it is that big a deal, provided my menu bars will go around it and not under it. (I typically run a lot of menu bar apps.) I also think the size of the notch makes it a placeholder for Face ID in future iterations.

  • Pricing: I was curious about how they’d price the new MacBook Pros. They are no longer paying for Intel’s markup, but they also spent piles of money developing these custom chips. In the end, the pricing was about what I expected. These new MacBook Pros are incredibly powerful. You’ll pay a premium for that power, but the price doesn’t feel entirely out of whack to me. They must have got something right; ship times are already slipping to late December.

  • And here’s the feature dump slide for the new MacBook Pros.



Missing in Action

  • M1 Pro Mac mini: I expected to see one today but didn’t. If you are waiting for one though, I don’t think you’ll have to wait long. Now that the chip is out of the bag, I’d not be surprised for Apple to release an M1 Pro/Max mini with just a press release. There are rumors, however, of a new case design. That could mean they’ll wait until the new M1 Pro/Max iMacs are ready.

  • Consumer Grade External Monitor: I had to laugh at one point when they had one of the new MacBook Pros hooked up to three Pro XDR monitors. That was $18,000 of pixels connected to that Mac. If I had Tim Cook’s desk, I’d be pressing to get a more affordable Apple-branded monitor out the door ASAP.

The Video Keynote Format

  • It’s interesting how quickly these pre-canned Apple event videos have turned into the norm. I do have to wonder if they’ll ever go back to live events. If I was Apple, I’d probably not. These events are faster, and there are never any gaffes. The downside is that with no media present, you can’t have a hands-on area. But I’m not convinced Apple views that as a downside.

Mac Power Users 610: iPad Workflows



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Fresh off the release of iPadOS 15, Stephen and I cover the update’s revised multitasking system and talk about some of our favorite workflows for the iPad on this episode of Mac Power Users.

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.

  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.

  • Zocdoc: Find the right doctor, right now with Zocdoc. Sign up for free.

  • The Intrazone, by Microsoft SharePoint: Your bi-weekly conversation and interview podcast about SharePoint, OneDrive and related tech within Microsoft 365.

The Post Where I Whine About Apple’s 2021 Leather Colors

You’ll find that in the decade-plus I’ve been writing at MacSparky, I rarely comment on Apple’s color choices. That’s because I am spectacularly unqualified to do so. Canary yellow and lemon yellow both look to me just like … well … yellow. I buy my shirts from REI and I don’t own anything remotely fashionable. Someone bought me a pair of hip Allbirds several years ago and I still wear them every day even though they are no longer hip. Heck, I still have no clue how I’m supposed to pronounce Hermès.

All that said, can I just say that I think the leather colors for this year’s iPhone cases and wallets all look like dogs&*t? I finally made it into an Apple Store and looked at them closely. This is the first time I couldn’t’ get excited about a single one of them. The same goes for the magnetic wallet. I got one last year and I use it all the time. I thought the new wallet location features would justify an upgrade but I just couldn’t bring myself to buy any of them in those colors.

Instead, I ended up buying a light blue synthetic case (It’s called “Blue Jay”, of course) that I actually like.

Apple Watch 7 Initial Reviews and Thoughts

Yesterday all the early reviews dropped on the Apple Watch Series 7. My favorites were from TechCrunch, John Gruber, and Marques Brownlee. One theme that seems to run throughout is that the Apple Watch Hardware is to a point where the changes are more iterative than revolutionary, which is probably good news. I’ll be upgrading my Series 5 to a Series 7, so I’m invested. I like the additional pixels and the brighter always-on display. To be honest, I am most looking forward to having a watch with a fresh battery. I wear my Apple Watch every day and use it aggressively. I’m now to the point I often need a mid-day charge to get to the end of the day.

To me, the obvious next step for the Apple Watch is more and better watch faces. I seem to repeatedly bounce between watch faces, none of which I am particularly excited about. At this point Apple has put way more creativity into watch bands than watch faces. I don’t need a new industrial design for the Apple Watch, but I sure would like some more face options.

The Focused 2022 Calendar



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It’s that time of year again and the Focused Podcast is once again selling the Focused Year planning calendar in collaboration with the amazing folks at NeuYear. This is the third iteration of the Focused calendar and this one is the best yet.

The idea behind the Focused calendar is to give you the big picture at a glance. I’ve had one of these on my wall now for a few years and despite my love of gadgets, there is nothing like the clarity you get from having the year’s big obligations and projects staring back at me every day.

We’ve made further improvements this year as well. We’ve improved the customizable habit tracking bubbles and the calendar is laminated for dry erase markers. Also, starting this year you can get the calendar in either portrait or landscape mode, just flip it over.

I should have mine in a week and I can’t wait to get it on the wall. You may want to get one for yourself.

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Unleashed


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Today Apple announced its “Unleashed” event for next week on October 18 at 10AM Pacific. This is a rare Monday event. The artwork looks like it was shot from the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. I’ll be shocked if this not the M1X MacBook Pro event. With the M1 MacBooks, we got to see the Apple Silicon tuned for battery life. With the M1X, I’d expect to see the Apple Silicon tuned for performance. In other words, “unleashed”.

If the rumors are to be believed, we’ll be getting 14” and 16” MacBooks Pro and (possibly) a performance Mac mini with the larger iMacs to come next year. Although I’d love to see Apple prove those rumor guys wrong and give us iMacs too.