The Inherent Value of the Creative Act

I’ve been thinking about the idea of the creative act and how it inspires joy in humans. I recently watched a documentary about a group of jazz musicians who were lamenting how no one is really willing to pay them what they’re worth. Club owners barely compensate these musicians, so why don’t they just take jobs digging ditches or doing something else more stable? I think the answer lies in the joy of creation.

As humans, I believe when we are creating, we are being our most natural selves. That act brings with it a high, and for jazz musicians, whose craft is rooted in real-time improvisation, they get to live in that high on a regular basis. It’s almost like the market has figured that out without really naming it. It knows these musicians will take less, because the non-monetary compensation of creating in front of an audience is just that powerful. It’s not just about the money—it’s about the act and the sharing of it.

That really resonates with me. I naturally gravitate toward anything that lets me express creative energy—whether that’s making music, building furniture, or what I create as MacSparky. My frustration with the administrative side of MacSparky probably reflects that pull toward the creative parts. I’ve lived this trade-off before. When I used to play jazz for money, I often accepted gigs that didn’t pay much because I just wanted to play. The same logic often shows up in how I price MacSparky products: I don’t optimize for maximum profit. I want to earn enough to be able to keep going, but I also want to get the content “out there”. I want the ideas to spread. I want to share what I’ve made.

I’m also aware of how fortunate I am to have structured a life where I get to live in that creative space most of the time. That didn’t happen by accident. I made conscious and unconscious choices to get here. If I had gone full throttle into being a high-powered attorney, sure, I’d be making more money. But would I get the same high? Not likely.

This reflection also helps me clarify why I’m so resistant to using artificial intelligence for the actual work of creating. I see AI as an incredibly useful assistant, especially for administrative things, but when it comes to the core act of making something, I want that to come from me. Because that’s the joy. That’s the whole point.

Rivian and CarPlay

Earlier this year, I leased a Rivian. I’m a little embarrassed by it. I’ve never had a car this fancy, and for that matter, I’ve never leased a car before. However, it was a good deal, and I’ve finally paid off the kids’ college expenses. So daddy got a treat.

I love almost everything about this car, except the lack of CarPlay. I knew going in that CarPlay wasn’t available and that the built-in infotainment system was professionally designed and integrated. I also noticed that in many ways the Rivian system is more attractive than CarPlay.

Now that I’ve had it six months, I can tell you the lack of CarPlay is a problem. There are certain CarPlay features, like text alerts and ETA sharing, that the Rivian system, as pretty as it is, just doesn’t support.

Nevertheless, I really admire the company and its founder, RJ Scaringe. Their headquarters isn’t far from my home. Also, I understand why they’re not supporting CarPlay. The company has an ethic very similar to Apple, and if Apple made a car, they wouldn’t use somebody else’s system either.

But every time RJ gets on a podcast or in front of a reporter and explains how he thinks they don’t need CarPlay, I cringe a little. If they’re going to take a pass on using CarPlay, then they absolutely need to match the CarPlay feature set. And they haven’t done that yet. Some of these missing features are promised for future releases, though not all of them. (Don’t even get me started on the Rivian’s Alexa integration, which performs the herculean task of making Siri look good and reliable.)

Another reason this is frustrating is that my non-geek wife understands CarPlay and uses it all the time. When she drives the Rivian, she has no clue how to get directions or play her music. The ubiquity of CarPlay makes it easier for novice users to get what they need while hurtling down the road.

So while I understand Rivian’s desire to not be dependent on other companies like Apple, I think my Rivian would be even better if I had at least the option to use CarPlay.

Kagi News: A News Site That Respects Your Time

I have a problem with news consumption. I want to stay informed about what’s happening in the world, but I don’t want it to absorb my entire day. More importantly, I’m tired of the slant. Every major news outlet seems to have an agenda, and I find myself spending more time filtering editorial bias than actually learning what happened.

So I’ve been looking for a way to get a neutral, comprehensive news briefing without the time sink. That’s a tall order, but Kagi’s new product Kagi News might actually deliver on it.

If you’re not familiar with Kagi, they’re the folks behind the paid search engine that doesn’t track you or show ads. I interviewed Kagi’s founder on Mac Power Users and found him to be an insightful and sincere guy. They’ve built a reputation for respecting users’ time and attention, so when they launched a news app, I paid attention.

Kagi News takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of an endless feed that updates constantly throughout the day, you get one comprehensive press review delivered at 12:00 UTC. That’s it. One daily briefing designed to be consumed in about five minutes.

The system reads thousands of community-curated RSS feeds from publications around the world and uses AI to synthesize them into digestible summaries. Each story includes a summary, highlights, key quotes, a timeline, context, and potential impact. If you want to dive deeper, there’s a one-tap link to the original source. It’s aggregation, not editorial.

I’ve been testing Kagi News and I’m cautiously optimistic. The once-daily update means I’m not constantly checking for new stories. I open the app in the morning, spend five minutes getting caught up, and move on with my day. That alone is a huge win.

If you want to stay informed without the doomscrolling, Kagi News is worth trying. It won’t replace in-depth reading on topics you care deeply about, but as a daily briefing to keep you generally informed, it’s solid.

The app is free to download and use. You can get it from the App Store or access it on the web.

OmniFocus Updates

As OmniFocus went through its SwiftUI transition leading up to version 4, I heard from a lot of readers who were impatient with the slow upgrade. That is no longer a problem. Now that OmniFocus is firmly in SwiftUI, updates are coming quickly.

Version 4.7 added an entirely new data type, “Planning” Dates, which I’m still trying to wrap my head around for how I’m going to use. They also added the ability to create mutually exclusive tags like prioritization and energy level assignment. Repeat functionality has also become easier.

Then, while I was finishing up this post, OmniFocus lapped me and released version 4.8, which modernizes the app for Liquid Glass and adds Foundation Model support for Artificial Intelligence right inside OmniFocus. So you could make a new project and have the AI structure take steps for you. Keep it up, Omni Group.

Automating Project Creation using MCP with OmniFocus

On a whim, I decided to have Claude review my quarterly and monthly planning documents and then automatically generate my monthly and quarterly goal projects in OmniFocus. It’s an interesting new way to automate and, surprisingly, it worked on the first go.
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