Day One just introduced a new, interesting feature: Shared Journals.
The idea is that you can share a journal. Multiple people could contribute. An individual’s entries are not editable by other participants, but it’s an excellent way to build a journal among friends and family.
This goes against the grain of journaling in that journaling is usually a very private thing. However, I see a use for this. I’ve already set one up with my wife, where we’re journaling our trips to Disneyland. It’s a way for us to create a record together, and it will be enjoyable. It has the added benefit that she is now regularly using Day One and is now doing more personal journaling that isn’t shared with me.
Overall, it’s a nice new feature, and if you’ve got loved ones also using Day One, I recommend giving it a try.
People have been looking for a way to grab quick notes from a podcast for a long time. PodHighlighter.io is the best option I’ve seen to do this yet. It uses a Shortcut along with Overcast and some AI to get you notes and summaries from podcasts. In this video I show you how it works and how to set it up.… 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?
There are a lot of nice articles today about the Mac’s 40th Anniversary. My favorite was at the Steve Jobs Archive. The Mac was not a big “boil-the-ocean” project at Apple but something else, designed by a small team and largely left alone by the corporate types. The later “Think Different” ad campaign easily applies to the people who brought the Mac to life. I was a junior in high school when the Mac first arrived, and it was immediately obvious to me that computers would be “just like this” going forward.
If you’re interested in more of the story behind the development of the Mac, I recommend Andy Hertzfeld’s Folklore.org. It’s a gold mine of early Apple anecdotes. I’ll finish by saying that despite it’s age, my Mac remains the bit of Apple technology that I continue to use and rely upon the most.
iOS 17.3 is out. Hooray. There are a few small new features and a big one, Stolen Device Protection. In this short video, I walk you through what’s new, what Stolen Device Protection is, and how to turn it on.…
Hope you’re looking forward to a good week. I heard from Labs members over the weekend about Vision Pro and have more thoughts. Here’s a short Monday Brief video on the topic… This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?
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I’ve had some Labs members ask for help with repeating tasks using Apple’s Reminders. Here’s a technique I developed … This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?
This week I’m welcoming back Dropzone as a sponsor at MacSparky. Dropzone is a productivity tool that enhances drag-and-drop on your Mac. Drag files onto the menu item and a beautifully designed and animated grid of all your actions opens. Share with services such as AirDrop, Imgur, FTP, Amazon S3, Facebook, X (Twitter) and many others. Move and copy files, launch applications, and even develop your own actions using the powerful Ruby-based scripting API.
With Dropzone, you can easily add actions to your grid with the new Quick Add menu or by dropping folders or apps onto the ‘Add to Grid’ area. Quickly reorganize your actions using drag-and-drop and delete them by holding the Option key. The new in-grid progress bars let you keep track of task progress. Also see how tasks are progressing at a glance in the new animated menu item.
Drop Bar has another great feature: Drag files you know you’ll need later onto the Drop Bar area of the grid to stash them temporarily. Drag stacks on top of each other to combine them. You can even drag a stack onto another Dropzone action.
One of my favorite new features is Add-on Actions, where you can add pre-configured actions to Dropzone. Want to resize files, search images, download from YouTube? Those actions (and a lot more) are available to you.
I use Dropzone daily. Here are just a few things I do with Dropzone:
I keep some of my most commonly used image files (MacSparky Logo, podcast artwork) permanently saved in Dropzone. Anytime I need them, they are there waiting for me.
Often I’ve got temporary files when working on a project. I put them on the DropBar in Dropzone so I can use them as needed.
When working on my laptop and I’ve got apps in full-screen mode, Dropzone hold any attachments I need to move between files.
When I want to keep a YouTube video, I drop it on the Dropzone YouTube downloader.
I’ve set certain folders as repeating Dropzone targets. Now I can move files to my Action folder or copy items to the Desktop with just a drag.
I’m a big Dropzone fan and happy to have them as a MacSparky sponsor. Check it out today.
Today, I woke up at 4:30 AM so I could give Apple $4,000 for a product I’ve never tried before. Crazy.
The order process went smoothly (at first). I was able to get through the checkboxes fast enough. There are upgrades for additional memory. An extra $200 will double your storage to 512GB, and an extra $400 will get it to 1TB. There is also Applecare for $499 or $25/mo.
I had a lot of questions about glasses. My distance vision is 20/20, but I need readers for books and screens. A dialog box asked if I needed glasses, and then it asked what kind of glasses. I ticked the box for readers and told them 1.5-1.75 works for me, and that was it. I was not required to upload a prescription.
My final order was a 512GB device (probably dumb to add the extra storage). I did not order any additional accessories. I’m going to wait to see how I use the device first. Then I clicked the button to pay and (foolishly) picked Apple Pay in haste. The problem is that my business card is not part of Apple Pay. (My bank only supports Apple Pay for personal cards, not business cards.) I had a moment of crisis there but decided I’d go ahead and pay on my personal card and let my accountant sort it out.
The app gave me a 9:00 AM pick up time at my local Apple Store on February 2, and I was good to go. I pushed the Buy button.
Declined.
I have no idea why. That card has a balance of a few hundred dollars and plenty of credit. Likely a fraud thing.
So I switched (in Apple Pay) to my company debit card. The only problem was that my pickup window was then gone, so I had to pick a new one. 11:30 on February 2. Check. Press Buy.
Declined.
Again, I have no idea why. Plenty of money to pay for this ridiculous headset.
So then, I canceled the checkout. I figured at that point I had a 50/50 chance that pushing that cancel button would reset the whole transaction, and then I wouldn’t be able to get one–since I’d lost my place in line. At that point, I was okay with that potential outcome.
So I pressed Cancel.
Good news? It didn’t cancel the transaction but just brought me back to the screen where I could choose to pay via Apple Pay or traditionally with my company card (as I usually do with Apple transactions). Now the first available time is 3:00 PM on February 2. Click Buy.
Transaction failed. The allotted time is already taken. Pick a new one.
So this went on multiple times. I’d pick a time, and then it was no longer available when I pushed to buy a second later. It finally worked with me picking up at 12:30 PM on February 3.
So success? I think? I have to admit I’m mixed about spending so much on a product I haven’t tried and don’t fully understand. I’m hoping that there is a productivity/contextual computing story around this headset, and the only way I’m going to really know that is to try it for myself. So I have some trepidation and am mindful of that return window. But I’m also excited to try something entirely new from Apple. So often, it is when they come to an existing platform with their own unique spin that Apple does their best work, and I want to see them do that again. Either way, here we go.
P.S. For you Mac Power Users listeners, Stephen also got one, so we’ll be sharing thoughts soon.
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?
