It’s time again for Sparky’s quarterly Q&A. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. This one has questions including Apple Products, Productivity & Workflows, Content Creation, Businesses & Career, personal questions, and, of course, what’s currently in MacSparky’s shop.
… This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.
Apple Workflow Consulting: Bear & Glass
Brett Terpstra has started a new business.
“I’ve mentioned before that what I really wanted out of my career was to be a consultant, especially in automation and efficiency on Mac and iOS, for teams and small-to-medium size businesses looking to grow. Well, I’m excited to have teamed up with Christopher Gamblée-Wallendjack to create Bear & Glass.“
Brett Terpstra
This is one of those forehead smacking posts where you think, “Of course.” Brett would be perfect for this. His customers will be lucky to have his expertise.
The Annual Field Guide Sale Starts Today
It’s that time of year. I only run a Field Guide sale once a year and now it’s time. The annual Field Guide sale is live. Everything’s 20% off through December 1.
Code: PIE25
Get your Field Guides right here.
I spent the last 20 years figuring out how to be more productive with Apple technology without losing my mind. These Field Guides are everything I’ve learned.
The Productivity Field Guide is the most popular. It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing what matters. Built on ancient philosophy and modern techniques. Over 70 videos, 7 hours of training. The Plus Edition adds an insightful webinar series.
The Apple Productivity Suite Field Guide is brand new. Turns out Apple’s free apps (Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Freeform) are way more powerful than most people realize. This guide shows you the 80% you’re missing. Pro Edition includes deep-dive workshops.
The Alfred Field Guide and Keyboard Maestro Field Guide are for people who want their Mac to work faster. Real automation. Real time savings. Plus there are guides for OmniFocus, Obsidian, Paperless, Photos, Shortcuts, Hazel, DEVONthink, and more.
The Sale ends Monday, December 1. The next sale is not until November 2026.
The Lab Report for November 21, 2025
The Lab Report is my weekly podcast exclusively for the MacSparky Labs members.
Would you like to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.
Deep Dive • Myth-Busting Focus Modes
In this deep dive, we look deeper into Focus Modes and bust some myths holding people back. This truly is one of the most transformative features Apple offers, and I think everybody should take advantage of it.… This is a post for the MacSparky Labs Pathfinder members. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.
NotePlan: Your Notes, Tasks, and Calendar in One Place
This week’s sponsor is NotePlan, and if you’ve been looking for an app that brings your notes, tasks, and calendar together without overwhelming you, this one’s worth a look.
I spend a lot of time thinking about how different productivity tools connect (or don’t). NotePlan takes an interesting approach by combining your daily notes with task management and calendar events in a single interface. The idea is simple: everything you need to see for your day lives in one spot, formatted in clean Markdown.
The daily note concept is solid. It’s like a digital Bullet Journal, giving each day its own page for thoughts, tasks, and notes. You can timeblock your day and see those blocks right in your calendar to stay focused. Notes can have properties, and you can organize projects on simple Kanban boards to keep everything moving forward.
NotePlan works great for people who want structure without rigidity. The calendar integration means you can see your schedule alongside your tasks, and the Markdown formatting keeps everything readable and portable. There’s also a template system if you like consistent formatting. Best of all, you get all these features with a native Mac app!
If you’re curious about bringing your notes and tasks closer to your calendar, check out NotePlan. They offer a free trial so you can see if it fits your workflow. It’s a thoughtfully designed app that respects how Mac users actually work.
Next Up: Robots
I enjoyed this recent MDBHD video about the Neo Humanoid Robot. It’s a robot that you can buy/rent to put in your house as a robot housekeeper. It seems really rough around the edges, and it will require an actual human at Neo to drive it around.
It seems hardly ready for prime time. And yet …
I’m increasingly convinced that we will see useful domestic robots in my lifetime. I wonder, however, if they’ll actually be humanoid shaped or more like advanced iterations of robot vacuums that can also clean up, and fetch the remote. The disruption train just keeps rolling.
Enabling Hypertension Notifications
Now that your Series 9 or newer Apple Watch can help you detect hypertension, why haven’t you turned it on yet? In this video, I explain the new feature and how to set it up.… 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.
Focused 243: The Single Source of Truth is On the Fridge, with Thom Gibson
Social media content specialist Thom Gibson joins Mike and me on this episode of Focused to talk about Sunday meetings, journaling in broad strokes, and the struggles that come with working from home.
This episode of Focused is sponsored by:
- Indeed: Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide using Indeed to hire great talent fast.
1Password Auto-Unlock
1Password can now unlock automatically when unlocking your Mac. The feature is now available to 1Password 8 users. You’ll need to enable it in settings. You can set the “reset” timer between 10 minutes and never.
Of course, this all depends on your own environment and comfort level, but if you find yourself annoyed by having to type your master password more than you’d like, this is for you.
