Upgrade Your Calendar with Fantastical (Sponsor)

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I am so pleased to welcome Fantastical as a new sponsor of the MacSparky blog. I’ve been using Fantastical since they first released their menu bar app and changed the calendaring world many years ago.

Over the years, it has evolved into a powerful calendaring system for me. Here are just a few of the ways that Fantastical’s unique features make my life easier:

  • I schedule nearly all of my appointments with the proposal feature. When I need to meet someone, I send them a proposal link, and they always pick one. I no longer play the email/scheduling shuffle game.
  • I aggressively use calendars and calendar sets so I can always see exactly what I need.
  • All of my Zoom meetings show up in my Fantastical events. I click the button and start the Zoom call. I haven’t started a Zoom meeting in any other way in the last two years.
  • Quarterly view. I love that view for future planning.
  • Fantastical widgets make the Apple Calendar widgets look so very sad.
  • Fantastical has excellent Shortcuts support, so I’ve fully automated the app.

There are so many reasons why I’m a Fantastical subscriber. If you’re looking for a calendar app that gets updated more than once a year and is made by complete calendar nerds, look no further.

Through the end of November, MacSparky readers will receive the biggest discount of the year and new users will save 50% by using this link – visit the Flexibits site to download the free trial.

Does iPad (and Mac) Reliability Explain Slowing Upgrade Cycles?

Apple didn’t release any new iPad hardware this year, but according to Ming-Chi Kuo, that’s changing next year with iPad updates across the board, including the long-awaited OLED iPad Pro.

That’s good, and I hope that’s all true. But I also know how easy it was to go a year without iPad upgrades. I routinely hear from listeners and readers wanting to know about future iPhones and Macs. Questions about upcoming iPad hardware are a lot more rare.

To me, this is a better indicator of Apple’s success with the iPad than its failure to ship new iPad hardware in 2023. Now, the iPads are so solid and reliable that folks are waiting a long time to upgrade.

I purchased my iPad Pro in 2019. It still works great, and I don’t expect to buy an OLED iPad in 2024. For a nerd like me, four-going-on-five-year-old Apple hardware says something.

To pile onto this point (and I’ve been saying this on the podcast for a while now), I think we’ll get to the same place with the Apple silicon Macs. Apple has done an excellent job of figuring out Mac hardware, particularly with the arrival of their M-series chips. I expect we’ll be happy and hang on to them for a long time. That’s one of the reasons why I think Mac shipments (as reported by Apple last week) are down. The hardware is excellent and lasts a long time. That results in slower upgrade cycles, and that’s good!

I also expect this will be no surprise to Apple which partially explains why services are becoming such a big deal to them.

Spatial Video Demonstrations

John Gruber spent more time with Vision Pro, focusing on the Photos app, including Spatial Video and panoramic photos. In short, John was impressed, and this is just the first iteration of this stuff.

These things are hard to predict. (It took a pandemic for video chat to get legs.) Nevertheless, as families and friends are spread to the four winds, this holodeck-like experience could be a big deal. Moreover, I’ve lost enough people to appreciate how memories fade. My dad died over 30 years ago, and I’d give a lot to be able to feel his presence again, even if just part of a silly spatial video file.

If this takes off, it could become a killer feature for Apple’s future Vision products. And as explained by John, when iOS 17.2 releases you’ll be able to start recording those spatial videos immediately with your iPhone 15 Pro, even if you don’t yet own a Vision Pro headset.

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.