The CHIPS Act

The CHIPS Act is now law, injecting $52B into domestic chip production. Increasing US-based chip production is a swell idea. I wonder, however, if this act will actually accomplish that. I don’t write that trying to be clever. Building a domestic chip ecosystem is both important and extremely complex. Throwing some money at it may be a good start, but it is going to take more than that.

Mac Power Users 52: Where Does the iPad Fit?

Apple refers to the iPad as a magical pane of glass that becomes whatever you need of it. On this week’s Mac Power Users, Stephen and I discuss some apps and accessories that help the iPad reach that potential. 

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? You don’t have to worry about that anymore. 
  • Electric: Unbury yourself from IT tasks. Get a free pair of Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones when you schedule a meeting.
  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
  • Sourcegraph: Universal Code Search. Move fast, even in big codebases. Try it now.

To Help A Teacher

I haven’t said much lately about my oldest daughter, Samantha, but I’m immensely proud of her. In the last few months she completed her Masters in Education program and now is now about to launch her career as a high school teacher. She’ll be teaching Art and Art History at Hollywood High School. (Yup, that Hollywood.) The school hasn’t had an art/art history program in years, and she is building the program from the ground up. Those kids are going to be lucky to have Sam as their teacher.

One of the facts of life here in California is that most teachers buy a lot of their own supplies. Sam is starting from scratch, so we’ll be helping her gear up. If you feel generous and want to help a teacher, you can check out her classroom wish list here.

OmniFocus Voice Control Tutorial with Sal Soghoian (MacSparky Labs)

This month’s Friends of Dave interview is a special one. Sal Soghian (formerly with Apple, now working with the Omni Group) spent an hour with me doing a walk-through on how to set up and start using the new Javascript-based voice automation in OmniFocus. Sal has, in essence, created an entirely new user interface for OmniFocus, letting you fully control the app with your voice. Moreover, you can add your own custom commands. In this video, I share my screen and Sal walks me through the entire setup process. Watch this video with the current version of OmniFocus installed on your Mac and you’ll be voice-controlling within the hour…

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?

Unleash Your Creativity with DEVONthink (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by DEVONthink, the app that organizes and tracks your data for you. I use DEVONthink for all of my research and record-keeping workflows. DEVONthink has all the tools: auto-sort, artificial intelligence-based search, automatic OCR, the works.

Since releasing the DEVONthink Field Guide I’ve heard from so many people that rely on DEVONthink. To name a few:

  • I heard from a high school student that tracks all her class work in subject-based DEVONthink databases. (That would also work for college.)
  • I heard from a pH.d student writing his thesis with DEVONthink.
  • I heard from a listener that builds plastic models of WWII aircraft. He researches every plane before a build and uses DEVONthink to store his growing database.
  • Stephen Hackett, our too-young but too-smart Apple historian has gigabytes of Apple data in his DEVONthink database.

These are just a few. If you have need of tracking, sorting, organizing, or searching data, DEVONthink that do that job better for you than anything else. Check it out today.

Focused 157: Non-Traditional Measures of Productivity, with Mike Vardy

Mike Vardy is back on this episode of Focused to talk about the rhythm of work and why some people feel “productivity” is becoming a dirty word.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • NetSuite: The leading integrated cloud business software suite. Get a special one-of-a-kind financing offer.
  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code FOCUSED at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
  • Indeed: Get a free $75 credit to upgrade your job post.

The Voice of Baseball

We lost Vin Scully tonight. At 94 years old, he had a good run. But we sure will miss him.

Growing up in the greater Los Angeles area in the 70s and 80s, there was one constant in our lives, Vin Scully. His soothing, educational storytelling (there were a lot of stories) was our soundtrack. As Dodgers fans, the only thing we hated more than Billie Martin and the Yankees was network announcers calling Dodgers games. We kept a radio in the room with our television, largely so we could turn down the television volume on Dodgers games and listen to Vinnie call it on the radio.

As I got older, I paid less attention to baseball but any time I could hear Vin Scully call a game, I would. It brought me right back. Listening to Vin Scully was like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket. There will never be another sports announcer like Vin.