How to Cook Ideas with MindNode

For years I’ve been talking about how I cook ideas using MindNode. In this video, I walk you through the process of creating a new MindNode. Then, I show you a fully matured MindNode that I built over the course of a year which led to me closing down my law practice… This is a post for MacSparky Labs Tier 2 (Backstage) and Tier 3 (Early Access) Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?

Limited Edition AirTag

Felipe Espósito reports Apple will do a special promotion in Japan for the Year of the Rabbit, with a cute rabbit emoji AirTag (which, btw, looks to me strikingly like Usagi Yojimbo). This is great, but not enough. Apple should do more limited edition runs on their products, both in quantity and in scope. Why not a special mouse for Earth Day or AirPods case on Mother’s Day? What if you could get a MacBook Air that replaced the globe key with that little bunny icon? Historically, one of the things I loved about Apple was the whimsey. More of that again, please.

Apple announces new limited edition AirTag in Japan to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit

The Monday Brief (MacSparky Labs)

I hope everyone is enjoying a happy holiday season and getting some time off. As I write this, we are finding ourselves in the week between Christmas and New Year. That is the time in the United States when all the weight loss companies blow their entire advertising budget. There’s a reason for that. There’s something about “January 1” that we can’t help but feel a sense of renewal and fresh starts…

This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?

Mac Power Users 672: Tech That Worked in 2022

Stephen and I reflect on the apps and services we’ve relied on for the past year on this episode of Mac Power Users, and one of us makes a rash vow about new Macs.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

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Happy Birthday PCalc

Today PCalc turned 30, and in celebration, it’s 30% off. There are two things to know when you use PCalc:

  1. It Is the Most Actively Developed Calculator App in the History of Calculator Apps

James Thomson, the developer, is one of the best in the business. As I understand things, he had a lot to do with the Dock at the bottom of your Mac’s screen during a tour of duty at Apple. Now he spends his time obsessing over and improving PCalc, and he’s been doing that for 30 years.

  1. When You Use PCalc, You Are Supporting One of the Good Guys

PCalc doesn’t have a “team.” PCalc is just James. And James is one of the nicest, cleverest gents you’ll ever meet.

PCalc is my calculator of choice. You should check it out today and get 30% off.

Pixelmator Pro’s Debanding Update

Color banding (or posterization) is a common type of image artifact especially noticeable in low-quality photos featuring gradients or large areas of solid color. I see this all the time in wallpapers and landscapes.

Instead of smoothly blending together, colors jump abruptly from one shade to the next, forming distinct bands of color. The latest Pixelmator Pro release takes all the work out of debanding with its “Deband” button. Push the button. The bands go away. It’s that simple. Behind the scenes it is using machine learning to pull this off.

I purchased Pixelmator Pro when it first launched and continue to find value in the purchase as they continue to solve annoying photo problems for me.

Tinderbox: Notes and So Much More (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by Tinderbox, the Tool for Notes. Tinderbox is a workbench for your ideas, projects, and plans. It can help you analyze and understand them today, and it will adapt to your changing needs and growing knowledge.

The thing I dig about Tinderbox is the way the canvas adapts to what you need. You can build text and graphical maps of your ideas and data that grow with your understanding.

Build relationships by arranging notes, organizing them with shape and color, and linking them. Whether you need maps, timelines, charts, or outlines Tinderbox has you covered. It lets you record ideas quickly and keep them where you’ll find them again when you need them.

Everyone’s excited about the infinite canvas app, but Tinderbox has been doing it for decades.
The Tinderbox team calls it information gardening and it’s brilliant.

And that is just the beginning. Tinderbox agents scan your notes continuously, searching for notes that meet your criteria. Tinderbox’s timeline view creates wonderful, interactive diagrams to reconstruct events and plan projects.

Best of all, with Tinderbox, your data is yours. Tinderbox files are XML, and Tinderbox can create HTML, XML, RSS, OPML, and more. Tinderbox shares notes with Simplenote, Notes, Evernote and DEVONthink.

People are doing amazing things with Tinderbox. Maybe you should too.