Grab Any Text Anywhere with TextSniper (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by a killer Mac utility, TextSniper. TextSniper is a Mac OCR app that can extract text anywhere on your Mac’s screen and automatically save it to your clipboard, so you can paste it anywhere you need it. It can even read the text to you. The whole thing works a lot like the built-in screen capture on the Mac, just way more powerful. You know those websites that won’t let you copy text? With TextSniper, you can. Do you know the pain of getting a phone number out of a document? It’s easy with Text Sniper.

That’s not all. With TextSniper, you can:

  • Quickly get text from PDFs, Zoom calls, Presentations, and Videos. 
  • Read QR codes and barcodes.
  • Get text out of just about any image format, including JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and BMP.

I use this app often. It’s made by a developer who spends much time making it the best capture utility on the Mac. You can even use your iPhone or iPad camera to take a photo for TextSniper to perform its magic.

Moreover, in an era where so much software is more about data mining than giving you a service, TextSniper doesn’t collect your data. The text recognition is processed on your Mac and does not require an internet connection. 

I personally use this app multiple times a week. My uses for it in the last week include: getting a UPS number without a link for package tracking (hooray!), getting a different number out of a “locked” PDF for my accountant to help pay my taxes (ugh.), and grabbing some clever chisel sharpening instructions from an ancient website that POSTED TEXT IN A JPG IMAGE! TextSniper can be just as helpful to you.

TextSniper works with macOS Catalina and later and also works with Parallels Desktop

Get TextSniper now and enjoy the fastest way to copy uncopyable text, wherever you find it. Use promo code TSMS2023 to get an additional 25% off.

Merlin’s Wisdom Project

I have always been a Merlin Mann fan. We’ve become friends over the years, but first, I was a fan. I think of Merlin in the way that I imagine contemporaries thought of Mark Twain. He’s observant, good-hearted, and can do amazing things with a pen or, in Merlin’s case, Markdown. 

For some time now, Merlin has been collecting little bits of wisdom that range from helpful advice, “Buy the nicest screwdrivers you can afford.“, to paradigm-shifting deep thoughts:


Your kids are not little versions of you; they are little versions of themselves. So, don’t be sad or alarmed whenever they are becoming something different from you. Because, they will become lots of things that are different from you, and that’s arguably the whole point. It is inarguably a thing that you need to cheerfully celebrate and support.
Merlin Mann, The Wisdom Project
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The best part is that he’s sharing them with the world.

SaneBox: Do Not Disturb (Sponsor)

Do Not Disturb was nifty little sign you could hang on the doorknob of a hotel room to let other people know they weren’t supposed to knock on your door or enter your room. You can also stick out a Do Not Disturb sign on your inbox with the help of this week’s MacSparky sponsor, SaneBox. SaneBox helps you keep your email sanity, and with Do Not Disturb, you can keep the distraction of email at bay when you don’t want to be disturbed and want to concentrate on what you need to do.  

Do Not Disturb is a feature you turn on. You choose a start and stop time, and during this time, emails won’t appear in your inbox. It’s like they saw the sign hanging on your doorknob that said, “Do Not Disturb,” and they didn’t disturb you. Where did they go? The emails that you were supposed to receive during your scheduled quiet time are moved into a Do Not Disturb folder. And this is all customizable, so you can set your desired start and end dates and times.  You can also set up delivery exceptions so that if you have someone or something important you need to get through, you can enable exceptions.

Manage your inbox and reduce the interruptions throughout the day with SaneBox. See if it works for you with a free 14-day trial, and if you decide you like it, you’ll get a $10 credit you can use towards a SaneBox subscription. Spend less time on email and more time on what really matters. 

Mac Power Users 710: Apple’s Wonderlust Event

Mere hours after Apple’s iPhone 15 event, Stephen and I break down the news surrounding the iPhone 15 line, the Apple Watch Series 9, and the updated Apple Watch Ultra on this episode of Mac Power Users.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • 1Password: Never forget a password again.
  • MacPaw: Introducing Moonlock, the new cybersecurity division at MacPaw, and the upgraded CleanMyMac Malware removal module.
  • Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code MPU.
  • NetSuite: The leading integrated cloud business software suite. Download NetSuite’s popular KPI Checklist, designed to give you consistently excellent performance.

Focused 186: The Burden of Opportunity, with Shawn Blanc

We’ve got Focus Course creator and small business owner Shawn Blanc back on Focused to talk about margin, sabbaticals, and focusing like a boss.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code FOCUSED.
  • Indeed: Join more than three million businesses worldwide using Indeed to hire great talent fast.
  • Zocdoc: Find the right doctor, right now with Zocdoc. Sign up for free.

Mac Power Users 709: Save Your Shift Key

On this feedback episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I answer listener questions and talk a bit more about window managers and backup utilities, my modern typewriter, Stephen’s new Plex server, and a lot more.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • TextExpander: 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.
  • SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!
  • Zocdoc: Find the right doctor, right now with Zocdoc. Sign up for free.
  • Electric: Unbury yourself from IT tasks. Get a free pair of Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones when you schedule a meeting.

Is AI Apple’s Siri Moonshot?

The Information has an article by Wayne Ma reporting Apple is spending “millions of dollars a day” on Artificial Intelligence initiatives. The article is pay-walled, but The Verge summarizes it nicely.

Apple has multiple teams working on different AI initiatives throughout the company, including Large Language Models (LLMs), image generation, and multi-modal AI, which can recognize and produce “images or video as well as text”.

The Information article reports Apple’s Ajax GPT was trained on more than 200 billion parameters and is more potent than GPT 3.5.

I have a few points on this.

First, this should be no surprise.

I’m sure folks will start writing about how Apple is now desperately playing catch-up. However, I’ve seen no evidence that Apple got caught with its pants down on AI. They’ve been working on Artificial Intelligence for years. Apple’s head of AI, John Giannandrea, came from Google, and he’s been with Apple for years. You’d think that people would know by now that just because Apple doesn’t talk about things doesn’t mean they are not working on things.

Second, this should dovetail into Siri and Apple Automation.

If I were driving at Apple, I’d make the Siri, Shortcuts and AI teams all share the same workspace in Apple Park. Thus far, AI has been smoke and mirrors for most people. If Apple could implement it in a way that directly impacts our lives, people will notice.

Shortcuts with its Actions give them an easy way to pull this off. Example: You leave 20 minutes late for work. When you connect to CarPlay, Siri asks, “I see you are running late for work. Do you want me to text Tom?” That seems doable with an AI and Shortcuts. The trick would be for it to self-generate. It shouldn’t require me to already have a “I’m running late” shortcut. It should make it dynamically as needed. As reported by 9to5Mac, Apple wants to incorporate language models to generate automated tasks.

Similarly, this technology could result in a massive improvement to Siri if done right. Back in reality, however, Siri still fumbles simple requests routinely. There hasn’t been the kind of improvement that users (myself included) want. Could it be that all this behind-the-scenes AI research is Apple’s ultimate answer on improving Siri? I sure hope so.