The Algorithm and You

The Wall Street Journal did an interesting study, as reported in 9to5Mac, where it attempted to decrypt the TikTok algorithm and came up with some disturbing results.

TikTok looks at the videos you linger on and rewatch in particular, then starts feeding you more similar content. The effect snowballs. (According to TikTok, it also looks at what you share, like, and follow.)

In the case of the Wall Street Journal experiment, they created an account that started leaning into sadness. After 224 videos (36 minutes of total watch time), 93% of the videos fed to the account were about sadness or depression. For someone who is already struggling, this will just pull them further down.

Companies like TikTok and YouTube design these algorithms to get you to watch more. The money comes from the ads. The more you watch, the more ads they feed you. It’s a simple business model, and there is no room in the algorithm to teach you something useful and certainly not to help you.
Why would you turn that agency over to a glorified ad firm?

One of my pet projects heading into next year is pushing all these content consumption algorithms out of my life. No longer will I let companies like TikTok and YouTube decide what gets poured into my brain. There are tools out there to help you curate your own list of content that is not designed to send you down the rabbit hole of emotions and lost time but instead to help you. I’ll share more on this as I figure out the workflows, but if you’re currently letting the algorithms pick your media, stop.

Using Priorities in Reminders (MacSparky Labs)

Since my last coverage of Apple Reminders, I’ve heard from many Labs members using Reminders that need some help with the rough patches. In this video, I explain how to use priorities in Apple’s Reminders app and automate their assignment…

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?

Apple’s Increasingly Diversified Manufacturing

A significant part of the formula that brought Apple from a near-bankrupt company to a trillion-dollar one was its relationship with Chinese manufacturing. Through China, Apple developed and sold the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Mac. At the same time, few things could more effectively cripple Apple than problems with manufacturing, and for a long time, all their eggs were in one basket.

However, Apple seems to have got the memo. I suspect disentangling itself from China as its sole manufacturing partner was not easy or trivial, but we are starting to see results on the outside. Recently, we discovered they will be manufacturing MacBooks in Vietnam next year. They are also now manufacturing in India and Indonesia (in addition to China). Apple is increasingly spreading out its manufacturing among multiple countries.

Apple hasn’t said much about this, and I expect they won’t. I hope they aren’t going to stop with the existing countries. There is too much at stake. I’ll be surprised if Apple’s global manufacturing diversification doesn’t look a lot different in five years.

Mac Power Users 671: Out of the Water

On this feedback episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I reflect on the first year of the MacSparky Labs, discuss the recent eufy camera news, and answer a bunch of listener questions.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? You don’t have to worry about that anymore. 
  • Storyworth: A meaningful gift to treasure forever. Get $10 off your first purchase. Get started right away with no shipping required.
  • Memberful: Best-in-class membership software for independent creators, publishers, educators, podcasters, and more. Get started now, no credit card required.
  • Electric: Unbury yourself from IT tasks. Get a free pair of Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones when you schedule a meeting.

The Next Labs Focus Session (MacSparky Labs)

Our first Focus Session was a big success, so we’re doing another one on December 29, 2022 at 9:00 AM Pacific. If you’re not familiar with these Focus Sessions, they are a time where a group of us commit to showing up and working on our independent projects but at the same time connected on a zoom call to give us some sense of accountability. Having done our first session last week, I can tell you it works…

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?

Contextual Spaces and Window Management Tricks (MacSparky Labs)

Here’s a walkthrough on how I’m using Spaces these days. I like to keep different contexts in different spaces. For example, all of my communications apps are in one Space so I only see those when I actually want to work on communications. Either way, here are my thoughts on context-based spaces and a bunch of tricks to manipulate Spaces and window location using some clever BetterTouchTool scripts.


Chapter Markers
0:00 Introduction 
0:14 Sparky’s Spaces Strategy
1:13 Moving between spaces
2:14 Moving Apps Between Spaces with BTT
3:50 Jump to a Specific Space with BTT
5:22 Move window to a Specific Space with BTT
6:26 Advice and Conclusion

Geek Meter (1-3)
Level 2
This isn’t hard once you wrap your head around the idea of contextual spaces. The script writing bits are trivial in BetterTouchTool and this video shows you how to build them yourself.

Automators 117: Magic Online Automations with Make

In this episode of Automators, Rosemary and I dive into Make.com and get nerdy with a new online automation platform. And because it’s the holidays, we also touch on some of our holiday automations.

This episode of Automators is sponsored by:

  • MasterClass: This holiday, give one annual membership and get one free! Click this link now.
  • Electric: Unbury yourself from IT tasks. Get a free pair of Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones when you schedule a meeting.
  • LinkedIn Jobs: Post a job for free by visiting this link.