One of the oldest (and best) pieces of productivity advice is to always plan on a recovery day after a trip. It is such an obvious idea that I hesitate to even post about it. Nevertheless, it is advice that I seldom followed ……
Continue reading →Author Archives → David Sparks
Mac Power Users 497: Spotlight, Alfred, and LaunchBar
macOS’s Spotlight feature has made serious strides in recent years, but many power users still turn to Alfred and LaunchBar for app launching, file searching, and executing workflows. Join us for this week’s episode of Mac Power Users to listen to Stephen and I…
Listen & read notes →Get Some Automation with Text Expander (Sponsor)
Often people ask me how to get started with some simple automation to make their lives easier. The answer to that question is this week’s sponsor, TextExpander. Copy and paste is an inefficient way to keep track of the things you type again and…
Continue reading →Focused 80: The Power of “No”
This week on Focused, Mike and I take on the challenges (and rewards) that come with saying “no.” For those who didn’t catch it, at the beginning of the year the Free Agents podcast transitioned to the new format to talk about how to…
Listen & read notes →Mac Power Users 496: Keyboard Hacking with Brett Terpstra
Brett Terpstra joins us on the latest episode of Mac Power Users to talk about his keyboard hacks, planning workflows, some of his favorite apps, and the looming arrival of his new app, nvUltra. This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your…
Listen & read notes →Automators 30: Some Favorite Automations
The latest episode of Automators is now available for download. In it, Rose and I share some of our most beloved recently created automations. Rosemary has an automation to help to deal with her garbage email address, and I have an email-related automation dealing…
Listen & read notes →Diagramming and Planning with inShort (Sponsor)
This week MacSparky is sponsored by inShort for macOS. inShort is an advanced diagramming and planning tool that lets you specify processes, resources, and how they all fit together. All of this is built around a unique interface that enables you to drill down…
Continue reading →Mac Power Users 495: Manning the Battle Bridge with Artist Thom Zahler
Comic book artist Thom Zahler uses his Macs and iPads to create some incredible artwork and manage his indie business. On this week’s episode of Mac Power Users, Thom shares his apps and workflows. This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by: 1Password: Have you…
Listen & read notes →Keyboard Maestro Script for Automating Contact Creation with Cardhop
Here’s a small Keyboard Maestro script that I use just about every day to create contacts on my Mac with Cardhop. The problem this is designed to solve is Basecamp project email addresses. Every new Basecamp project I create has a specialized (and nearly…
Continue reading →Apple Music Digital Masters
Yesterday Billboard wrote: “On Wednesday (August 7) Apple Music announced the launch of Apple Digital Masters, a new initiative by the streaming giant that combines all of its “Mastered for iTunes” offerings into one global catalog. This is the company’s first public acknowledgement of…
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