Because I’m spending so much time with artificial intelligence lately, and because it seems to be such an interesting topic for podcast listeners and MacSparky Labs members alike, I decided to read Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks by Yuval Noah Harari. It’s…
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Google’s AI Search Mode: What It Means for Users and Creators
Google recently announced the integration of an AI Mode into its search engine, powered by the Gemini 2.0 model. This update aims to provide more advanced and conversational responses directly in the search results. Frankly, I’m not surprised. The only surprise is that it took…
Continue reading →The Pragmatic Explanation of Apple’s AI-Free iPad
A lot of folks are getting bent out of shape over the fact that the new entry-level iPad, released last week, doesn’t support Apple Intelligence. I don’t really see it that way. The goal of this iPad, in my opinion, is to keep it under…
Continue reading →Cotypist: AI Autocompletion Everywhere on Your Mac
There are a lot of angles to AI and productivity emerging right now. One I’ve come to appreciate is AI-based smarter autocomplete. My tool of choice for this is Cotypist. It’s made by a trusted Mac developer, it’s fast, and it takes privacy seriously.…
Continue reading →The Gen3 AI Revolution
I’ve been spending a lot of time with Claude 3.7 Sonnet lately, and I wanted to share some thoughts on the new “Gen3” AI models. Claude 3.7 is trained with a massive leap in computing power compared to its predecessors. What’s Different About These…
Continue reading →Google and AI Search
The Information is reporting that Google plans to add “AI Mode” to its search. This is not a surprise if you’ve spent any time with Perplexity or ChatGPT search; they’re both leaps and bounds ahead of traditional Google Search. Moreover, Google’s Gemini is pretty good,…
Continue reading →About That Yule Playlist Artwork
Last Friday, I published my annual post referring to my Yule playlist. Attached to it was a cute picture of Santa Claus playing the saxophone. That image spurred a few questions about whether I used AI for it, and the answer is yes. For…
Continue reading →Apple’s Image Playground: Safety at the Cost of Utility?
As I’ve spent considerable time with Apple’s Image Playground in the recent iOS 18.2 beta, I’m left with more questions than answers about Apple’s approach to AI image generation. The most striking aspect is how deliberately unrealistic the output appears — every image unmistakably reads as…
Continue reading →Gemini’s iPhone Launch Shows Google’s AI Ambitions
Gemini, Google’s flagship AI model, has landed on the iPhone, marking another significant move in the increasingly competitive AI assistant landscape. The app brings the full suite of Gemini’s capabilities to iOS users, including conversational AI similar to ChatGPT, image generation through Imagen 2, and deep integration with Google’s…
Continue reading →Timing Gets AI Support
Image: timingapp.com There are a lot of great time-tracking applications out there, but one of the absolute best for Mac users is Timing. That’s because it is a native app on your Mac with a bunch of built-in automation. You don’t have to worry about…
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