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



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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:

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Windows and Apple Silicon

Things are evolving quickly for folks who want to run Windows on the new Apple silicon Macs. Hackers figured it out first, but now Parallels has Windows for ARM support working in its version 16 preview. Granted, this is only for Windows for ARM (vs. Windows for x86), but I didn’t expect this to happen so fast.

It’s still unclear if Microsoft is interested in playing along and offering Windows for ARM for sale separate from Windows for ARM hardware. Does that make sense when the Apple silicon hardware is both faster and lasts longer than traditional ARM hardware? Is that screwing over all those other Microsoft partners?

A month ago, I would have said that official support for Windows on Apple silicon is a pipe dream. Now I’m not so sure.

Power Up Apple Photos with PowerPhotos (Sponsor)



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PowerPhotos is the year-end sponsor at MacSparky. While Apple continues to make incremental progress with Photos, the power tools are forever absent.

PowerPhotos is the app you need to manage your extensive photo library. 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.

PowerPhotos has all those tools you’d want for Apple Photos, but Apple will never add. The end of the year is a great time to look at and manage your photo library. Why not do that with PowerPhotos this year? If you’re a Mac veteran, you may recall an app from the iPhoto days called iPhoto Library Manager that gave you a similar set of tools. PowerPhotos is by the same developer, and it’s just as reliable.

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


PowerPhotos

The Default Search Challenge

With the recent iOS update, Apple has added Ecosia as an alternative default search engine. Ecosia is similar to DuckDuckGo in that it is a privacy-focused search engine that isn’t Google. They don’t sell your data to advertisers and don’t use trackers. Instead of trying to build a monster-sized company, Ecosia is using its profits to plant trees. That’s right. Trees. One hundred fifteen million of them as of this writing.

So for the last week, I’ve been using Ecosia and, like DuckDuckGo, finding it up to the task. I would recommend you try DuckDuckGo (which has some nice tricks up its sleeve) or Ecosia (which is trying to help the planet) instead of Google for the rest of 2020. Just give it a shot. If you’re not happy with it by New Year’s Day, you can switch back.

To switch your default browser on iOS, go to Settings → Safari → Search Engine. On the Mac in Safari, go to Safari → Preferences → Search.