Moom’s Big Update

I cannot understate the value of setups for your Mac. By that, I mean creating custom setups for different modes of work. For example, what if every time you went to answer your email, you had your email application on the left side of the screen, your calendar on the top right, and your task manager on the bottom right? Suddenly, managing email, making appointments, and capturing tasks has a lot less friction.

The problem, of course, is that setting that up is tedious. It doesn’t have to be, though, because automation makes it dead simple. You could pull that automation off in many ways, and I’ve covered a lot of them over the years, from custom keyboard Maestro scripts to AppleScripts to Shortcuts.

There’s a new contender, however, for easily making setups with the latest update to the Moom window manager. Moom is my favorite window manager. It is a power-user tool for power-user window management.*

With Moom, you can set windows exactly as you wish, down to the pixel. It is an ideal app for creating setups. Except the apps must first be open before Moom can arrange them.

The latest Moom release fixes that. Now Moom not only arranges your apps, but opens them as well, making it a credible window setup app from soup to nuts.

In hindsight, this is a no-brainer addition, but I’ve never seen a window manager do it before. If, despite all of my preaching about the religion of window setups, you still haven’t tried it, check out the latest version of Moom. It may give you the tools you need to simply put it together.

  • Apple’s release of solid window management tools last year means that you should only consider third-party managers if you need power features.

Testing Private Cloud Compute with a Journal Entry

While I’ll admit I’ve been giving Apple a shellacking as of late about their Artificial Intelligence offering, I AM genuinely impressed with Private Cloud Compute, which is an entirely private LLM, owned and operated by Apple, and addressable via Shortcuts.… This is a post for the MacSparky Labs Pathfinder and Insider members. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.

AI Tools Accelerate the Demise of News Sites

The Wall Street Journal ran an article covering how News Sites are seeing a dramatic decrease in traffic in response to Google’s new AI tools. This shouldn’t be a surprise. AI search delivers answers without requiring the you to click on the blue links. So there’s less traffic for all Internet sources and, subsequently, less revenue.

That said, AI is only going to become more of a force in search. The answer is not to put the toothpaste back in the tube, but instead rethinking how we monetize content on the Internet.

Turn Your Reading Backlog Into Your Next Favorite Podcast with Listen Later (Sponsor)

Listen Later is back as a MacSparky sponsor, and I’ve got to share how this service has genuinely changed my relationship with long-form content.

You know that feeling—you’ve got a dozen thoughtful articles bookmarked, a stack of PDFs waiting to be read, and newsletters piling up in your inbox. The content is valuable, but finding uninterrupted reading time? That’s the real challenge. Listen Later turns this frustration into opportunity by converting your saved reading into personalized podcast episodes with remarkably natural AI narration.

What impresses me most is how seamlessly the service fits into existing workflows. Email an article URL directly to Listen Later, and within minutes you’ve got a custom podcast episode waiting for you. Those research PDFs gathering digital dust? Now they’re perfect companions for your morning hike.

For productivity nerds like us, Listen Later solves a fundamental time management problem: it lets you consume quality content during otherwise “dead” time—commuting, exercising, or doing household tasks. Your saved articles finally get the attention they deserve, and your downtime becomes more productive.

The service handles everything from Google Docs to email newsletters, even extracting text from images to create audio. It’s thorough without being complicated.

Ready to tackle that reading backlog? New users get $2 in free credit to explore what Listen Later can do. Head over to their site and start turning your to-read pile into your next favorite podcast.

Check out Listen Later and discover how much more you can actually “read.”

Mac Power Users 802: The Ubiquiti Universe

Stephen leads me through the maze of Ubiquiti’s Unifi networking offerings on this episode of Mac Power Users. The company offers a wide range of equipment for home and business users, including routers, switches, access points, cameras, and more, but it can be confusing to navigate.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • 1Password: Never forget a password again.
  • Ecamm: Powerful live streaming platform for Mac. Get one month free.

The Irrelevance of Hari Seldon

I tore through Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series when I was about twelve. At first, I assumed the story would follow Hari Seldon, the brilliant mathematician who kicks off the series by predicting the collapse and rebirth of galactic civilization. Twelve-year-old me loved Hari, and I couldn’t wait to see his story unfold.

Then the books leapt forward … by centuries. Seldon slipped from living legend to myth, from myth to footnote, and finally into near‑obscurity. Part of my twelve-year-old self was offended by that. I’d been invested in Hari, and how could he become so obscure? Underneath it all, I was grappling with something: If even Hari Seldon—a towering hero—could vanish into the background noise of history, what chance did I have of leaving a mark?

After my twelve-year-old brain processed this, I surprisingly didn’t find the thought depressing. I found it freeing. The futility of chasing an eternal legacy felt like permission to let go. The real point, my twelve‑year‑old self decided (and my adult self still believes), is to live fully in the sliver of time we’re given—to savor our brief window of human experience rather than worry about being remembered forever. That little epiphany has stayed with me.

That insight became an internal compass. When I start taking myself too seriously, it nudges me back into alignment. By now, it’s so ingrained that I seldom notice it, yet it quietly shapes my decisions and my ability to live in the moment.

It colors my work as well. I don’t expect any Field Guide I write to alter the course of humanity, but I can help real people, right now, who face the same messy challenges I do. There’s a quiet nobility in that: sharing what I’ve learned, offering what might help, and trusting readers to judge its value.

Recognition is nice, but I try not to clutch it. Anything I build stands on the shoulders of others, and I’m happy to spread credit around. If someone finds my work useful, that’s enough. After all, in just a few generations I’ll be much less remembered than Hari Seldon, and that’s okay.

Looking back, that early revelation about impermanence was probably my first real philosophical insight. Not a bad takeaway for a twelve‑year‑old.