Google and AI Search

The Information is reporting that Google plans to add “AI Mode” to its search. This is not a surprise if you’ve spent any time with Perplexity or ChatGPT search; they’re both leaps and bounds ahead of traditional Google Search. Moreover, Google’s Gemini is pretty good, and I expect that it could be a real contender if they put it to work with their search engine.

However, the point is that it would be a contender and not the clear market leader. I remember the old days when we had a lot of search engines, and then Google wiped them all out overnight. I don’t think that will be the case with this next arms race of search engines. Google will be one of several good engines from which we’ll be able to choose. Hopefully, this leads to lots of innovation and the end of the search monopoly.

A 10-Year AirTag

Elevation Labs is at it again, tempting me with weird Apple-adjacent products. The TimeCapsule is an AirTag attachment that gives it a 10-year battery. Now, if I could just think of something I want to track for the next 10 years. It’s a clever design and can make a lot of sense if you’re on the road a lot.

A Great Day in Harlem

Every few years, this Art Kane image, “Harlem 1958” comes up (Wikipedia), and it always stops me in my tracks, looking at all these great musicians, many of whom were on the cusp of a career that would change the course of music. They are all luminaries, and only one of them is left, Sonny Rollins.

The New York Times did a great job with this interactive web page and it’s worth scrolling through just to learn a little bit of the history. Sonny Rollins looked cool in 1958 and he still looks cool in 2024. My favorite Sonny Rollins song, Strode Rode, where his solo absolutely shreds.

Thanks for the link, reader Tom.

OmniFocus 4.5

OmniFocus 4.5 With so many great task managers available these days, people sometimes ask me why I’m still using OmniFocus after 15 years. Believe me, I’ve tried them all and OmniFocus remains the best solution for me.

One of the reasons is that The Omni Group never rests. The most recent update to OmniFocus, version 4.5, re-engineered all of the Shortcuts Actions. Because OmniFocus is built using Swift, they were able to add a bunch of new Shortcuts Actions in addition to keeping the old ones for legacy support. (I tried to get a screeenshot of all of available actions, but there were too many. They wouldn’t fit on my 6K monitor.)

Even after all these years, automation is only getting easier with OmniFocus.

Drafts 46

I’m not sure there is a humble brag in Mac software better than how Greg Pierce numbers each significant update to Drafts. We just got Drafts 46, where he added the ability to have Drafts narrate your words for you. This is an excellent way to proofread your own work. First, empty your soul into the keyboard for those precious words. Then have Drafts read them back to you while you close your eyes to see if your soul produced anything worth sharing.

You can find Drafts on the Mac App Store and iOS App Store. To learn more about this update and other features, check out the Drafts documentation.