The new year is almost here, bringing fresh projects, ambitious goals, and creative work that matters to you. Whether you’re outlining your next novel, organizing years of research, planning a product launch, or capturing ideas before they slip away, the right tools make all the difference.

That’s why I’m excited to have WinterFest 2025 as this week’s sponsor.

This year’s theme is artisanal intelligence—carefully crafted tools that help you think better and create more effectively. In a world where “AI” has become  shorthand for automation and hands-off convenience, WinterFest celebrates a different kind of intelligence: software built by small teams who deeply understand their craft and their customers.

These aren’t apps churned out by algorithm or designed by committee. They’re tools honed over years by developers who use them themselves and answer your support emails personally. There are no subscription traps and no bloated feature lists. It’s just great software at a terrific discount for a limited time.

Here’s this year’s roster. I use a shocking number of them:

Many of these apps have been featured on MacSparky and Mac Power Users over the years.

A few personal favorites: DEVONthink remains my everything bucket for documents and research. Cotypist is a new addition to my toolset but already feels like it should be build into macOS. And BBEdit is simply THE power tool for text.

If you’re a writer, Scrivener is the gold standard for long-form projects, and Scapple from the same team is great for capturing and connecting ideas visually.

Head over to the WinterFest website to see the full lineup and grab what you need at 25% off before the sale ends.

One of the easiest ways to take advantage of artificial intelligence right now is voice-to-text transcription. I’ve been dictating to computers for decades, and I can tell you it’s never been easier than it is now. My weapon of choice for this on my iPhone is Whisper Memos. (The app is sponsoring the blog this week, but I was a paying subscriber long before that.)

The developer recently went full-time working on his various Whisper-related applications, and this change is already paying dividends. A recent update to Whisper Memos adds an auto-summarization feature. So now, in addition to reliably catching your words, you can also get a summary of anything you dictate to the application.

I’ve been using Whisper Memos for over a year now, and I’ve found it particularly powerful when combined with the action button on my Apple Watch. It gives me a seamless dictation workflow that I use throughout my day—whether I’m capturing quick thoughts, drafting content ideas, or recording notes on the go.

If you’re looking for a solid dictation tool for your iPhone, check out Whisper Memos.

Last week I wrote about avoiding social media, and I got a lot of responses. But several of you pointed out that your real problem isn’t Twitter-type apps or Instagram. It’s YouTube.

You go there to watch one video about fixing your bike tire, and three hours later you’re watching someone restore a 1987 Nintendo. I get it. YouTube is sneaky that way.

So here’s what works for me.

1. Create a watch list. YouTube lets you save videos to custom playlists. When you stumble across something interesting, don’t watch it. Just add it to your watch list and close the tab.
2. Schedule your YouTube time. Pick a specific block in your week. Mine’s Friday afternoons. When that time comes, open YouTube and go straight to your watch list. No homepage. No recommendations feed. Just your list.
3. Use the algorithm, but on your terms. I actually like YouTube’s recommendations. They surface videos I wouldn’t find otherwise. The trick is treating them like suggestions, not commands. See something interesting? Add it to the list. Move on.
4. Curate ruthlessly. Before I start watching, I scan my list and delete anything that doesn’t grab me anymore. What seemed interesting on Tuesday might feel skippable by Friday. That’s fine.

This is time boxing in action. You’re not eliminating YouTube. You’re just deciding when and what to watch before you start watching. It turns passive consumption into an active choice.

Does it eliminate the temptation completely? No. Sometimes I still fall down a rabbit hole. But having a system makes those slip-ups rare instead of routine.

The key insight is that YouTube isn’t the problem. The infinite feed is. Your watch list gives you the benefits of YouTube without the trap of endless autoplay.

Give it a try for a week and see what happens.

Record Any Audio With Audio Hijack, From Rogue Amoeba

My friends at Rogue Amoeba are back to sponsor MacSparky this holiday season, and I want to shine a spotlight on their flagship app: Audio Hijack.

Audio Hijack’s tagline is short and sweet: Record any audio. With it, you can save audio from any app, any device, or even from your entire system. Record podcasts, capture streaming audio, archive audio calls, or grab sounds from games and videos. If it makes sound on your Mac, Audio Hijack can record it.

There’s so much more. Use the built-in Transcribe block for local, secure transcription of audio without relying on any cloud services. Schedule recordings for live broadcasts you don’t want to miss. Even use it to create your own live streams. Get 20% off with the coupon code: SPARKYHOLIDAY.

If I have a superpower, it’s probably this: I’m immune to social media.

It’s been years since I’ve used Twitter or any Twitter-like app. I’ve never gotten hooked. Never felt that pull to scroll. Never lost hours to the feed.

Until last month.

I decided to give Instagram a real shot. Just to see what all the fuss was about. I figured maybe I’d been missing something.

The algorithm was terrifyingly good. Within 30 minutes, my feed was perfectly curated: intricate woodworking joinery, bonsai care techniques, people tying complex knots, and yes, cute puppies. It was like Instagram had crawled inside my brain and said, “We got you.”

For about a week, I found myself reaching for my phone in the evening. Just a little scrolling. Nothing serious. But it became part of the routine.

Then something shifted.

All the knots started looking the same. The joinery techniques blurred together. Even the puppies felt repetitive. And I caught myself watching someone else tend to their bonsai trees while mine sat on the bench outside, waiting for attention.

That’s when it clicked. I’d rather be doing these things than watching other people do them.

Maybe it’s because I grew up without this stuff. My brain didn’t get wired for infinite scroll during those critical years. Or maybe I just prefer the smell of sawdust to the glow of a screen.

Whatever the reason, the spell broke. I got back to my actual hobbies.

Here’s what surprised me most: the algorithm got my interests right, but it couldn’t account for the fact that I’m happiest when I’m making things, not consuming content about making things.

Social media companies have spent billions figuring out how to keep us engaged. They’re incredibly good at it. But they can’t replicate the satisfaction of actually doing the work.

If you find yourself scrolling through content about your hobbies more than you’re actually doing them, maybe try this: spend one evening doing the thing instead of watching other people do it. See which one feels better.

I’m betting on the doing.

This week’s sponsor is Quip, and it’s different from every other clipboard manager I’ve tried.

Most clipboard managers work the same way: they save everything you copy, and after a few days, you’re scrolling through a junk drawer of random text snippets, URLs you’ll never visit again, and those annoying 2FA codes that somehow stick around forever. Quip solves this with something BZG Apps calls “Quip Intelligence”—completely local AI that keeps your clipboard history actually useful.

Here’s what that means in practice. The app automatically removes duplicate entries so you’re not seeing the same email address five times. It strips tracking parameters from URLs before saving them. It filters out those temporary authentication codes that would otherwise clutter your history. And it learns from your behavior to skip the stuff you never actually reuse. All of this happens on your device, so nothing leaves your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

What really stands out is the Smart Collections feature. You can set up rules that automatically organize your clipboard items—all your code snippets in one collection, research links in another, client email addresses in a third. The app handles the sorting, so you can actually find what you’re looking for without scrolling through chaos.

The keyboard extension on iOS deserves special mention. You can access your entire clipboard history from any app without switching contexts. Combined with the Super Shortcuts feature (which turns any clipboard item into a text expansion trigger), it’s remarkably efficient once you get it set up.

Quip is available for $19.99 as a one-time purchase for Mac, or $14.99/year for the full ecosystem across Mac, iPhone, and iPad. There’s a two-week free trial if you want to see how it fits into your workflow.

This week MacSparky is sponsored by OpenCase, and I want to tell you about a genuinely clever approach to iPhone cases.

We all want to use MagSafe accessories, but traditional cases add bulk. Stack a MagSafe wallet or charger on top of a case, and you’re carrying around a thick sandwich of phone, case, and accessory. Plus, those accessories slide around or fall off at the worst moments.

OpenCase solves this with a patented design that has an actual open space in the back of the case. Instead of stacking your MagSafe accessories on top, they sit inside that space. The result is a thinner, lighter setup that’s more secure and charges more efficiently.

The open space creates a border that cradles MagSafe accessories and stops them from sliding around. You can also wedge an accessory like a wallet into that space to create an impromptu stand—handy when you’re traveling or working away from your desk. And because there’s nothing between your iPhone and your MagSafe charger, you’re following Apple’s own wireless charging guidelines for optimal performance.

I appreciate that OpenCase isn’t trying to lock you into their ecosystem. They make accessories designed specifically for that open space, but the case works with most third-party MagSafe accessories too. And here’s a bonus: when you’re not using an accessory, you can actually see the color of your iPhone through that open space. If you bought a gorgeous new iPhone color, why hide it completely?

The new iPhone 17 is here, and if you’re planning to use MagSafe accessories, OpenCase is worth a look. Head over to TheOpenCase.com and use promo code SPARKY for 10% off. That’s TheOpenCase.com with promo code SPARKY for 10% off.