718: Workflows with Dan Provost

Dan Provost is one of the folks behind Studio Neat. This week on Mac Power Users, Stephen and I talk to him about what his role is in the company and its products, the tools he uses to get his work done, and some of his favorite apps and services.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

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The Focused 2024 Wall Calendar is Here

Focused 2024 Wall Calendar

It’s that time of year again and the official Focused 2024 wall calendar is now available and shipping. (I got mine a few days ago.)

I love this calendar. It puts your entire year on the wall so you can see how you’re doing and when you’re busy. I’ve been using them for years, and I find them an excellent way to control the flow of my year.

It’s also been nice for my family to come into Endor Studios and look at the calendar so they know when I’m available. This would be an excellent tool for anybody working at home or with a team.

We’ve put a lot of work into the design of this calendar over the years, and it’s both functional and attractive.

I always mount mine on foam in the vertical orientation and hang it on the wall.

You can get yours now.

The MacSparky Wall of Love

While I have never had a problem making content as MacSparky, I struggle with all the other little bits of running the business. I just want to make stuff. It’s my sincere desire to keep doing this for the duration and I acknowledge that if that’s to happen, I also need to work on the business parts of MacSparky, so one of my goals has been to (slowly) get better at that.

As part of that effort, I’ve set up a Testimonial system that I’ve been slowly rolling out and it’s going really well. I now have MacSparky Walls of Love for both the Field Guides and the Labs. If you have a moment and would like to leave a testimonial for the Fields Guides and/or the Labs, I’d sure appreciate it.

Farewell, Big iMac

In Jason Snell’s (excellent, as usual) review of the new M3 24” iMac, he reports on the currently-non-existent large iMac: “Apple told me that it has no plans to develop a 27-inch iMac again.”

Apple said the same thing to The Verge.

I have received many emails and messages from listeners and Labs members wanting to get a large iMac and asking how long they will have to wait. Based on this reporting, my answer will be, “Don’t wait; it’s not coming.”

I used to be a large iMac guy. I owned several of them over the years. If they released one today, I would not be interested. I’ve found I prefer the new world of separate computers and displays. My current display (a Pro Display XDR) has now worked with three different Macs. While there’s a higher cost going in, I think the math works out over time. Moreover, you can avoid that higher cost if you buy a non-Apple display.

When you look at the Mac compared to the iPhone, it is a blip on the Apple product line. Moreover, I expect if we had the numbers, you’d find that desktop Macs are but a blip compared to laptop Macs. So, when it comes to desktop Macs, we’re talking about a blip of a blip. I can understand why Apple doesn’t want to spend the time and resources to make a large iMac.

In hindsight, their messaging on this has been pretty straightforward: They view the 24-inch iMac as halfway between the little one and the big one and good enough for an iMac. I bought my daughter (a teacher) an M1 iMac as a graduation present (in yellow!). She loves it. I asked if she thinks it should be bigger, and she declined, “It fits perfectly on my desk.”

If you want something bigger, they want you to buy a Mac mini or Mac Studio along with one of their displays. Many people will not be happy with this decision but that is the reality. That doesn’t mean Apple isn’t capable of changing its mind. Remember when they got out of the display business? But if you need new hardware, I would not plan on waiting for that day.

I don’t think Apple is being coy. I think they view themselves as out of the big iMac business.

Focused 190: Overdosing on Gratitude, with Karl Staib

Process consultant Karl Staib joins Mike and me on this episode of Focused to talk about process design, delegation, and the power of gratitude.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

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