The Monday Brief (MacSparky Labs)

I’ve been counseling the Labs members to wait for a new MacBook Pro since I think the M2 versions are not far off. However, I received a note from lab member Brian explaining he couldn’t wait any longer and asked if I thought it was a mistake to buy an M1 MacBook Pro now. In short, my reply was “no”… This is a post for MacSparky Labs Tier 2 (Backstage) and Tier 3 (Early Access) Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?

Mac Power Users 666: The 2022 MPU Gift Guide

Believe it or not, it is time for the annual Mac Power User’s Holiday Gift Guide once again!

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

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DEVONthink for All of Your Research (Sponsor)

I often hear from listeners/readers looking for a research solution in the Mac ecosystem. My favorite app for this, without a doubt, is DEVONthink. DEVONthink is the most professional document and information management application for the Mac. It’s the one place for storing all your documents, snippets, or bookmarks, and working with them.

The Integrated A.I. assists you with filing and searching, while the extensive search language with advanced Boolean operators.

DEVONthink features a Flexible sync system that supports many cloud services – or lets you synchronize over the local network too – with everything securely encrypted. This gives you the choice for however syncing works best for you!

It has Smart rules and flexible reminders that let you automate all parts of your workflow and delegate boring, repeating tasks. Let DEVONthink automatically organize your data with rules you define!

DEVONthink’s AppleScript dictionary is one of the largest on the Mac. There’s no part of DEVONthink that can’t be automated. Extend DEVONthink’s functionality with your own commands by adding them to its Scripts menu.

Even templates can have scripts inside and you can set up new documents with data from placeholders, or inserted by your own AppleScript code.

And, of course, there’s so much more, from an iOS companion app, email archiving, scanning, or even an embedded web server for sharing your data securely with your team.

I’ve heard from so many people that use DEVONthink in so many ways ranging from managing bills to writing their doctoral thesis. It is that good. I love the way the DEVONthink developers have thought through all the little details from syncing to using the built-in artificial intelligence.

I find the combination of innovative features and automation support irresistible. Interested? MacSparky readers can get a 20% discount on DEVONthink..

The Focused 2023 Calendar

It’s that time again. Mike and I are proud to announce the release of the 2023 Focused Wall Calendar. This wall calendar works great when you hang it within sight of your desk. It’s that big thing you can look at before taking on a new commitment to make sure you aren’t already in over your head. That’s how I use mine, at least.

I also like this calendar because it easily lets me plan out the big rock projects of my year. For instance, I’m spending lots of time working on the Obsidian Field Guide over the next few months. I need to look no further than my wall for confirmation of that fact.

This is the fourth year we’ve sold these calendars, and we’ve received so much positive feedback from folks putting them on their walls. Moreover, the calendars get better every year. Here are a few of the features we’ve got built into the 2023 iteration:

  • It’s big: 25″ x 36″, so you can read it across the room.
  • Dry erase: Of course.
  • Daily tracking bubbles for building habits.
  • Weeks start on Mondays because we are not animals.
  • No Gaps! No space between months, so you can keep on track.
  • Double Sided: Landscape on one side, portrait on the other.
  • Includes major U.S. Holidays because I keep trying to set meetings on Thanksgiving.

In addition to all of the above, this year, we’re also giving you a digital download for Today’s Action Plan. It’s a digital file you can write on with your iPad or your Remarkable to plan your day with your tablet. This is an excellent combination with the Focused calendar. I’ve been using the Daily Action Plan over the past month as we’ve been perfecting it for you, and I love it. (Power tip: export the action plan to Day One!)

You can get it all now for just $30 plus shipping. Get yours today.

Backblaze Q3 Drive Stats

Backblaze, the online backup service I use, buys many spinning disk hard drives. And by a lot, I mean over 230,000 drives. They also keep data on which drives last and which fail. That’s pretty important when you are buying on their scale.

The good news for the rest of us is that they routinely share that data. Here’s the most recent data on their drives. A few things that stood out to me:

Drive Size Increases

4TB used to be the standard drive size. Now they are buying 16TB drives. These days you can put a lot of storage on a spinning disk.

Older Drives Still Fail

Even though manufacturers are better than ever at making reliable spinning disk drives, older ones still fail at an accelerating rate over time. If you use a spinning disk in your backup routine, you need to replace them occasionally. This is obvious, but seeing the data helps send that point home.

I had some four-year-old drives last year (the last two spinning drives in my fleet). I rotate the two drives locally and offsite as a last-line-of-defense backup. They hadn’t started failing, yet I knew they didn’t have much gas left in the tank, so I replaced them. The good news is that because spinning drives are getting so cheap, the cost to replace them is only going down, and spinning drives are just fine for these backup/archive-type jobs for most people.

Check out the Backblaze statistics if you’d like to get a better idea of who’s making the best spinning drives today.