The Last Month in The MacSparky Labs

We just wrapped up February in the MacSparky Labs. There was a lot of good content in February (listed below) and more planned in March. If you haven’t already checked out The MacSparky Labs, I’d love to have you on board.

2022-03-01 – Convert an Image from HEIC to JPG with Shortcuts (All members)

2022-02-27 – MacSparky Studio Expansion, Part 1 – The Plan (All members)

2022-02-25 – Roles Based Productivity (Early Access)

2022-02-24 – Testing out the Rocketbook (Early Access and Backstage)

2022-02-22 – Testing a second monitor (Early Access)

2022-02-21 – Customizing Folder Search with Alfred (All members)

2022-02-17 – FOD Interview with Gabe Weatherhead (Early Access and Backstage)

2022-02-14 – Automating One Thing (All members)

2022-02-11 – Contemplating a Second Monitor (Early Access)

2022-02-10 – February 2022 Virtual Meet-up (Early Access and Backstage)

2022-02-07 – Birthday Journaling with MacSparky (All members)

2022-02-04 – Retreats with Jason Snell (Early Access and Backstage)

2022-02-02 – Fixing iPhone Wallpaper with a Blur (All Members)

2022-02-01 – Disneyland vs. Disney World with Casey Liss (Early Access and Backstage)

Jim Dalrymple’s Retirement

Jim announced that he is retiring from the Apple-reporting business and moving to Texas. I couldn’t be happier for him. As someone who has a little recent experience with transitions, I know he must have a mix of emotions right now. I’ll miss Jim’s perspective, but fortunately, he’s keeping his podcast running.

My favorite Jim Dalyrmple story is from a few years ago when I met him at the NAMM show, which happens near me when we’re not mid-pandemic. NAMM is the National Association of Music Merchants. It’s like Macworld, but for music nerds, and bigger. Anyway, I spent a day walking around with Jim and realized that everyone in the music business also seems to know Jim. It felt like walking through town with the mayor.

Good luck, Jim.

Mac Power Users 629: Workflows with Craig Hockenberry

Craig Hockenberry is back on this episode of Mac Power Users to weigh in on Apple silicon, why he’s an Apple Watch power user, and life as a Mac developer.

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Automators 96: Automating Mikah Sargent

Mikah Sargent is using all the automations and joins Rosemary and me on this week’s episode of Automators to share some of his favorite Mac, iOS, and home workflows.

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Thoughts on a Big MacBook Air

Yesterday Chance Miller published an opinion piece at 9to5 Mac on the need for a 16-inch MacBook Air. Stephen Hackett has been talking about the same idea on the Mac Power Users for months now. The idea would be that Apple has two laptop models (consumer (Air) and pro) along with two sizes for each model (small and big).

We’ve got two sizes on the MacBook Pro. Why not have that on the MacBook Air as well? Stephen suggested 13 and 15 inches. Chance is arguing for 16 inches. I would probably tend toward 12 and 15 inches. Regardless, having a larger screen consumer-grade MacBook would be an excellent idea. Because of the significant differences in pricing between the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, it’s unlikely a larger MacBook Air would cannibalize sales for the 16″ inch MacBook Pro. If anything, I think it would cause more people to upgrade from the smaller MacBook Air than downgrade from the big MacBook Pro.

I also just like the symmetry of it all. You go into an Apple store and answer two questions:

  1. Consumer or Pro?
  2. Small or large?

Now that Apple has sorted out the Mac and is making excellent laptops, this would be the next logical step in my mind.