Focused 112: Productivity & Creativity



Focused Artwork.jpeg


Mike and I consider the relationship of productivity and creativity and how it shapes the work that we do. On this episode of Focused, we’re diving into our personal knowledge management stacks and the tools we currently use, share some tips for tagging, and discuss where to draw the lines between tools for managing tasks and ideas.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

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

  • Woven: The calendar with the most powerful scheduling tools. Try it free for 21 days.

Thoughts on the One More Thing Event

So today, Apple announced its first Apple Silicon Macs. I have a few thoughts:

  • Wow! I had high expectations, but overall, Apple delivered with the new M1.

  • The M1 performance looks like a crazy leap forward. Generally, we’ll get 3X performance increases and 5X graphics improvements. That is completely nuts.

  • On all of these devices, Apple suddenly had all of this additional low watt/hour power. In each case, they chose to use it by giving the devices both more power and more battery. That isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise, to me at least, is how much power and additional battery life they were able to get.

  • Battery improvements are nuts. They gave many numbers, but it sounds like at least 6 hours of additional battery on both laptops.

  • There are two chip options available: 7 core and 8 core. I suspect that is simply a result of chip binning. When they didn’t get a full yield on a chip, they make that one of the less expensive ones.

  • My initial impression is that the scales just got tipped even more toward the MacBook Air in the Air vs. Pro question. The MacBook Air is so much more powerful and now fanless. You’ll need to justify going up to the Pro.

  • The M1 Mac mini was not in any of the rumors I read but makes sense. The Mac mini is now a mighty little computer.

  • There were no demos of running iPhone and iPad apps on the M1 Macs. Didn’t that seem weird?

  • Speaking of iOS, we didn’t get several of the iOS features I’d liked to have seen, like FaceID, cellular radios, and Touchscreen. But it is still early. I expect that may change with future hardware.

  • Did anybody else catch the bit with Ken Case playing the harp at 20:59?

  • You can order the new Macs today. Big Sur ships in two days. Buckle up, gang.

Overall, this change just gave the Mac a jolt of electricity. I fully expect the Mac hardware to also evolve in unexpected directions. I cannot wait to see how this all plays out over the next few years.

iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Mini-Reviews

The reviews dropped today for the iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Mini. There aren’t many surprises.

iPhone 12 Pro Max

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is taking better pictures than any other iPhone, which makes sense given that it has better camera components (bigger sensor, on-sensor stabilization). Matthew Panzarino discovered the telephoto lens on the iPhone 12 Pro Max also has stabilization, which produces noticeably better images. That said, having read multiple reviews, my take is the 12 Pro Max is only incrementally better than the iPhone 12 Pro. You’ll get better pictures indoors or in the dark. Your daylight outdoor photos will look mostly the same.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is also, not surprisingly, getting better battery life but is awkward to carry. One bit of insight from nearly all reviewers is that the squared-off sizes make holding the larger iPhone more difficult. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ve been a big phone club member for years because I like the bigger screen. (Mine arrives Friday.)

Notable reviews on the iPhone 12 Pro Max are those from Matt Panzarino, Nilay Patel, Marques Brownlee,

iPhone 12 Mini

I feel like this phone has a self-selecting audience, just the exact opposite of the Max phone crowd. I’m pleased that Apple is intentionally making a small iPhone with the latest and greatest components. You will take a hit to battery life with a smaller phone. While the 12 Pro Max requires you to carry a big phone, the 12 Mini may require you to carry a battery on busy days.

Notable Reviews on the iPhone 12 Mini are those from Matt Panzarino, Dieter Bohn, Marques Brownlee

The Dawning of Idea Management

Kourosh Dini at BeingProductive.org is a friend and fellow traveler. He makes things for the Internet, but he also keeps and manages a medical practice. Kourosh and I like to get on the phone once in a while and discuss the nerdy things that are getting us most excited. Recently we recorded one of those calls, and Kourosh has released it at his blog. In it, Kourosh and I talk at some length about our experiences with this growing set of idea tools like Obsidian, Roam Research and, of course, DEVONthink.

When we recorded that call, I was finishing my deep dive of research on these tools for MPU 559. If you enjoyed that episode, consider this a director’s commentary on it.

Mac Power Users 561: iPad Check-In with Federico Viticci



Mac Power Users Artwork.png


On this episode of Mac Power Users, MacStories founder Federico Viticci talks about the iPad and its ecosystem of apps for power users. As the iPad itself becomes more capable, what users can do with it continues to expand, but as we discuss, there are still pain points.

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 from Smile: 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 from Smile.

  • The Intrazone by Microsoft SharePoint: Your bi-weekly conversation and interview podcast hosted by the SharePoint team.

  • Pingdom: Start monitoring your website performance and availability today, and get instant alerts when an outage occurs or a site transaction fails. Use offer code MPU to get 30% off. Offer expires on January 31, 2021, and can be used only once.

Automators 62: Automation Fun, with Alex Cox




Alex Cox joins Rosemary and me on this episode of Automators to talk home automation, Drafts, Shortcuts, and how to learn new automation.

This episode of Automators is sponsored by:

Take Control of Your Email with SaneBox (Sponsor)



SaneBox Art


Email is a challenge for all of us. This week’s sponsor, SaneBox is the solution for most of your email problems. SaneBox is an email service that adds a pile of productivity features to your email, regardless of what email client you use. With SaneBox at your back, you can:

  • Wake up every day to find the SaneBox robots have automatically sorted your incoming email for you so you can address the important and ignore the irrelevant. 

  • Defer email for hours, days, or weeks, so it is out of your life until a more appropriate time. They’ve even added a new feature that can optionally auto-reply to snoozed email with something like, “I’m sorry, but I’m underwater right now. I’ll get back to you in a few days.” SaneBox can even auto-reply when you defer an email.

  • Set secret reminders so if someone doesn’t reply to an important email SaneBox gives you a nudge to follow up.

  • Automatically save attachments to the cloud (like Dropbox).

  • Use their SaneForward service to automatically send appropriate emails to services like Evernote, Expensify, and Kayak.

  • Move unwanted email to the SaneBlackHole and never see anything from that person again.

The list goes on, and MacSparky readers love this service.

The SaneBox team has been hard at work lately improving the SaneBox interface and releasing even more new tools. Why not straighten out your email by getting a SaneBox account today. If you sign up with this link, you even get a discount on your subscription. 

iOS 14.2 – Emojis Released. Scores Settled.

Today Apple released iOS 14.2 and iPad OS 14.2. As usual, the point two release gets a ton of new Emoji. I’m sure there is a good reason for holding the new Emoji for the point two updates, but it also is a way to ensure that everyone downloads it. Emojipedia breaks them all down. This year’s release, in particular, helps me personally settle a dispute with my children.*

Additional features include some new wallpapers, updated lock screen controls, and the ability to add a Shazam button to the Control Center.

Notable this year is that this update does not have to deal with as many bugs as it did last year. iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 are more stable than last year.

Looking forward, I would love to see Apple add better widget support to the iPadOS at some point in a future 14.X update. The world loves widgets, and the iPad needs the ability to put them anywhere, not just the left side. A nerd can dream.


thong-sandal_1fa74.png

* As a Californian, I have to acknowledge the inclusion of this sandal in the 2020 new Emoji. I grew up wearing them, and we always called them “thongs” or “flip flops”. My children inform me (frequently) that while the term “flip flops” can still work (though it dates me), the term “thongs” is very much not acceptable and embarrassing to them. So I call them “thongs.” Apparently, I’m not alone because the official name of this new Emoji, as handed down from the Emoji standards commitee is “Thong Sandal”. I look forward to sharing this with my children. (Also, if you really want a pair of Californian-approved “thong sandals” I recommend Rainbows.)

One More Thing


Apple has now announced next week’s One More Thing event for next Tuesday. This will be the third event in three months and the one I’ve been looking forward to most. There are a lot of contrary rumors about exactly how Apple will start rolling out Apple Silicon Macs. I can tell you that I am personally very excited to see how this goes down. Using Apple Silicon, I expect Apple will have the ability to turn up the dial quite a bit on battery life or performance (or perhaps a little bit on both). It will be interesting to see how they decide to go. Also, I’ve been looking at all the white space in Big Sur for months and imagining some cool new Macs with touch screens and iPad apps running alongside traditional Mac apps and all the possibilities that come with that.

Mark Gurman’s sources say that we’ll initially get new models of the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air with Apple Silicon. I have no idea if those will include a touch screen or instead just be the same design as the existing models with a different processor. Regardless, we are going to learn a lot more next Tuesday.

The Apple One Subscription Bundles


Apple One.png

The Apple One Subscription bundles are now available. There are three tiers available:

  • Individual ($14.95) Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage.

  • Family ($19.95) Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 200GB of shared iCloud storage for up to six family members.

  • Premier ($29.95) Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Fitness+, Apple News+, and 2TB of shared iCloud storage for up to six family members. (Currently only available in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia)

It represents a moderate saving over the sticker prices if you added the services individually. Because I’m on a family plan and am including my kids, I’ll spend some time over the next few days making sure to remove any duplication. For instance, I know my daughter subscribes to Arcade+.

To sign up, go to your subscriptions page on your iPhone or iPad. When I tried it, I couldn’t get the Apple One page to load. Rebooting my phone fixed the problem.