MindNode: Mind Mapping Meets Apple Watch (Sponsor)

This week’s sponsor is MindNode, the mind mapping tool I’ve been using for 15 years.

Some projects don’t fit in linear lists. They need space to branch, to connect in ways that only make sense when you can see the whole picture at once. That’s where mind mapping works, and MindNode is the best mind mapping tool for Apple users.

MindNode makes capturing ideas frictionless. I keep a full-screen mind map open on my Mac and swipe to it throughout the day when thoughts hit. Add a node, see how it connects to everything else, swipe back to work. The idea is captured before it vanishes.

You can start messy. Branch ideas in every direction. Then switch to outline view when you need structure. The two views stay in sync, so you get both visual thinking and organized output without choosing between them.

MindNode just launched an Apple Watch app. You can view your mind maps as outlines on your wrist, check off tasks, and even edit content on the go. I didn’t expect mind mapping to work on a watch, but the outline view makes it practical. When you’re away from your devices and need to reference a project or mark something complete, it’s there.

MindNode runs natively on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro, and now Apple Watch. Your documents sync through iCloud, which keeps your data private and encrypted. The team at IdeasOnCanvas has been building MindNode for over 17 years.

If you’re looking for a better way to organize ideas, or if you’ve bounced off clunky mind-mapping tools before, check out MindNode and give it a try. The Apple Watch integration is just the latest reason it keeps earning a spot in my productivity stack.

A Quick Note on MindNode Versions

If you used MindNode a few years ago and got confused by the transition, you’re not alone. Here’s the short version: MindNode is the current, actively developed app. MindNode Classic is the older version. One subscription unlocks both, so you can use either. The team at IdeasOnCanvas still maintains Classic (they even shipped a Liquid Glass update for it), but MindNode is where all the new development happens. If you bounced off during the transition, now’s a good time to come back.

Unite Pro Complete SwiftUI Rebuild

I’ve been a fan of Unite for years. Turn any website into a proper Mac app. Simple idea, but the execution is what sets it apart.

Now the team at BZG Apps has rebuilt the entire thing from scratch in SwiftUI. After nearly nine years, they rewrote everything.

The standout feature is the Site Customizer. You can visually remove page elements, adjust fonts and colors, disable sticky headers.

No CSS required, though power users still have full access. Type a name or URL and Unite detects the site, pulls icons, and suggests optimal settings. It removes most of the friction from getting started.

I’ve been running the press preview and I’m impressed. If you’ve ever wanted a web app to feel like it belongs on your Mac, Unite Pro will do that for you.

Mac Power Users 839: David Pogue

On this episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I sit down with the one and only David Pogue to talk about his massive new book, Apple: The First 50 Years, his career path from musical theater to tech journalism, and his current tech stack. We also get nerdy about voice dictation, AI, and what it’s like to write a book you could genuinely use as a doorstop. Fair warning: there’s a brief detour into Sondheim.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

Things: A fresh new look for OS 26. Download a FREE trial for your Mac.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code MPU.
1Password: Never forget a password again.

Don’t Let the Robot Drive Alone

Since the first release of Claude Cowork, I’ve been diving deep on the tool.

Even when I had my OpenClaw dalliance, I still had a useful robot assistant helping me out in Claude Cowork. I’m convinced that at this point, it is our best option for getting AI assistance with donkey work.

OpenClaw is a 24/7 open door. If the AI hallucinates, it hallucinates with actual consequences. If it misunderstands a command, nobody’s watching.

With Cowork, I watch the AI work. I log in. I verify what it’s doing. Then I log out and the AI doesn’t stay logged in. It doesn’t make decisions in the dark. It executes tasks under supervision.

This sounds less efficient. It isn’t when you consider how much bigger the trust envelope gets.

I still get AI handling my posting, invoicing, and support. The AI processes the work in the same timeframe. The only difference is I’m present during execution.

The trade-off is asymmetric. You lose maybe 10 percent of the raw automation benefit. You eliminate 90 percent of the risk.

With Cowork, nothing happens unobserved. You’re present. You catch the mistake before it’s committed.

The supervised model feels slower only when you’re not familiar with it. Once you’re comfortable, Cowork moves fast.

You initiate a task. You watch. You verify. You’re done. If I trust the process, I’ll put it in a different space and just occasionally swipe in to make sure it’s doing the job.

This model is consistent with the way we humans historically handle high-risk situations. You don’t trust your accountant completely. You verify the numbers. You don’t trust automated backups. You test them. Supervised AI is just the same principle applied to autonomous agents.

If you’re thinking about AI automation, start with Cowork.

Get comfortable with supervised execution and learn where AI makes mistakes. Understand the kinds of donkey work you can offload without the extraordinary risk of an independent agent.

If you want some help getting started, stay tuned. I will have something for you … soon.

Home Screens: Dave Myhre

Today I’m featuring the home screen of my pal Dave Myhre. Dave, a former jet pilot and current Christmas Tree farmer, is one of the most thoughtful technology users I know. He’s the kind of guy who actually thinks about why he sets things up a certain way, not just how. He’s also been busy planting trees, which tells you something about his priorities. So Dave, show us your home screen.

Dave’s First Home Screen

Dave’s Second Home Screen

What are some of your favorite apps?

Obsidian — I like writing my notes in markdown and keeping everything stored locally. I wish it had a native Mac app, and I really wish it had usable iOS and iPadOS versions. On mobile devices, I only use it to view notes. If notes need to be shared, I’ve switched to Apple Notes.

Paprika is my go-to for meal planning, recipe management, and shared grocery lists. I really enjoy Paprika’s ability to capture recipes from the web. Sharing recipes in Paprika is also very easy. Last year, I spent time entering some of my Mom’s recipes into Paprika and even attached pictures of her original 3×5 recipe cards. I was able to share the recipes with family members either as a Paprika file or a PDF.

Focus Modes, although technically not a stand-alone application, has given me back control of my attention and focus when using my devices. I’m down to two key focus modes: Normal and Deep Work. Normal limits notifications to a select group of people and a very short list of applications, and it allows calls only from known contacts. Everything else shows up in scheduled notifications that display about every four hours. Now, when my phone sends a notification, it’s probably important to me, and I don’t feel bad about checking it. My Deep Work focus mode allows notifications only from my wife and my emergency bypass contact. All other calls and notifications show up in the scheduled notifications.

What app makes you most productive?

I have a bunch of pokers in the fire. Quite honestly, too many. The only way I keep from getting burned is by maintaining a robust task management system. I’ve found pairing OmniFocus with Reminders to be a powerful combination. My projects and personal tasks live in OmniFocus, and my shared tasks live in Reminders. Having two task management applications is not the ideal solution. To keep things straight between the two, I use a simple rule to decide where the task will live. If it’s a shared task, it’s handled in Reminders; otherwise, it’s managed in OmniFocus.

What app do you know you’re underutilizing?

Drafts — it’s my capture tool of choice. Almost everything starts in Drafts. Unfortunately, I rely too heavily on cut-and-paste to get things out of Drafts. The actions library in Drafts is excellent. I really need to pick a few actions and get those under my fingers. (Dave, I can help with that.)

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Solitaire by MobilityWare. It’s simple and easy to start and stop, even in the middle of a game. And of course, I never play it in Game Center. It’s called Solitaire for a reason.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

Add deep link support to Notes, Reminders, Files, and Photos. There is some support now, but system-wide deep link support would be nice.

Fix Siri. Enough said. (Amen, Dave.)

What’s your wallpaper and why?

Just the stock black background that has a slight gradient from dark gray to black. It’s boring and simple, but I like it. I’ve also removed most of the icons from my home screen. I use the Calendar and OmniFocus widgets to keep tabs on what’s going on. I also use the Left widget to graphically show the days remaining in the current quarter. Only a handful of apps live on my home screen. Notes, Reminders, PCalc, 1Password, Drafts, OmniFocus, and Maps. The Phone, Messages, FaceTime, and Mail applications live on the second page, along with a short list of other key applications. Slowly, I’ve been removing the other applications from the remaining screens, since searching for them works fine when I need them.

Thanks, Dave!

The Lab Report for March 6, 2026

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The Rivian Apple Watch App

For the last week, I’ve been using the new Rivian Apple Watch app, and it’s pretty great. There are separate screens for security, climate control, and charge level, in addition to a mini dashboard that has everything you need.

Rivian Phone App Dashboard

Rivian Gear Guard

Energy Screen

Climate Screen

Related, their recent integration of the digital car key into Apple Wallet has been running on my iPhone (and Apple Watch) flawlessly for six weeks. Not a single failure to unlock. It’s interesting how good Rivian is getting at supporting Apple devices with their applications while at the same time resisting CarPlay. In some ways they are a great Apple partner. In other ways, not so much.

Rivian has announced its own large language model that it will install in a future update, which will hopefully include the features I’m still missing from CarPlay. As I understand it, this update isn’t far off.

And yes, I named my car Peregrine.

Labs Book Club: Intentional with Chris Bailey

We had a lot of fun at the book club meetup for Chris Bailey’s new book, Intentional…

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

MacBook Neo First Impressions

Apple announced the MacBook Neo today, and I think it’s a bigger deal than most people realize.

The headline is the price. $599. That’s it. And if you’re a student, $499. Yesterday, the cheapest way to get a Mac laptop was north of a thousand dollars. Today, it costs less than a lot of Chromebooks. That is a massive shift.

I’ve been teaching people how to use Macs for a long time. The number one barrier has always been cost. People want to try the Mac, but they can’t justify the price. That excuse just evaporated. A college kid working a summer job can afford this. The Mac is available to a lot of people today that it wasn’t available to yesterday.

It comes in four colors: blush, indigo, silver, and citrus. I love that Apple is having fun with this. They’re bright and playful, and that’s exactly right for a computer aimed at bringing new people into the Mac. I’m a little sad there’s no orange, though. I would have been first in line.

Stephen Hackett wrote a great breakdown of the technical differences between the Neo and the MacBook Air. The A18 Pro chip instead of an M-series. 8GB of RAM with no upgrade option. USB-C instead of Thunderbolt. No MagSafe. One of the two USB-C ports is only USB 2. You’re giving things up.

But for the person this Mac is designed for, none of that matters. If you’re writing papers, browsing the web, managing email, taking video calls, and maybe editing a few photos, this machine does all of that. And it does it with 16 hours of battery life in a fanless design.

Stephen Robles put together a good video walk-through of the new machine if you want to see more.

I think part of the reason this computer exists is the continued payoff from Apple silicon. Apple’s chips are so good that a chip from the iPhone can drive a full Mac. That’s not a compromise. That tells you how far ahead Apple is in chip design.

The A18 Pro handles Apple Intelligence, runs macOS, and does it all in a thin, silent chassis. The silicon advantage is what makes this price point possible. No other laptop maker could do this.

I understand why Apple went with a 13-inch form factor. It’s the sweet spot for most people, and it keeps costs down. But part of me would have liked to see this as a 12-inch machine.

I’m probably mixing my own signals, though. What I really want is an ultra-light MacBook built on Apple silicon. A spiritual successor to the 12-inch MacBook from 2015, but done right this time with chips that can actually handle the thermal constraints. That’s a different product for a different day.

The Neo isn’t trying to be the lightest computer Apple makes. It’s trying to be the most accessible. And at $599, it nails that.

They are going to sell a lot of these.