Make an Impression with Hoban Cards (Sponsor)

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Considering the Folding Phone

Ben Lovejoy at 9to5 Mac has an interesting story about Apple experimenting with a folding iPhone and links to a video with some interesting renders from ADR Studio Design. (below) This topic came up on our recent MPU episode with Austin Evans. Austin, who has played with all the folding phones so far, argues that the regular-sized phone folded down to half size is better than the full-sized iPhone that folds up to iPad mini size.

I’ve not used any of the current crop of folding phones, but I can’t help but think I’d prefer that second category. I’d rather have an iPhone that can grow into something like an iPad mini and keep the whole kit in my pocket. The more I think about it, however, the more I’m convinced that if Apple were to ship a folding iPhone, it’d be like one in the video, where it folds down to a smaller phone. That just seems so much more along the lines of Apple’s genetic bent toward smaller and lighter. Regardless, I expect that a product like this from Apple (if it ever ships) will be years from now.

Fantastical 3.6: Openings, Proposals, and Quarterly View Plus Demonstration Videos

Today Flexibits released Fantastical version 3.6 with several big updates:

Openings

This lets you create a link where Fantastical’s web server can see your availability but not your appointments and then let folks schedule appointments with you against that. This is the first time I’ve seen someone pull off a feature like this without requiring you to hand over your account credentials. Nicely done.

Proposals

These have been in Fantastical for a while now, but this latest iteration also lets you create a link so you can have multiple people weigh in on your proposed times. It even reports the results to you directly in Fantastical.

Quarterly View

I’m going to take some credit for this one. I’ve been requesting/begging/harassing the Flexibits team. I like to work in quarters, and there were no calendar apps that would display your calendar in a quarterly view … until now.

I know many folks don’t like the subscription software model, but it is here to stay. I will say, however, that Flexibits is doing it right. All of these features are now just in the app. There is no upgrade fee or requirement for a higher subscription tier.

I made the demonstration videos for Flexibits. You can watch them below.

The Six Colors 2021 Apple Report Card

Today Jason Snell published his annual Apple Report Card. The story this year isn’t particularly surprising. On the big picture level, people are loving the new Mac hardware and frustrated with Apple software in general. I can’t help but think digging out of this perceived software hole is going to be a much longer turnaround for Apple than our collective reversal on Apple Hardware.

Part of the problem is that different people have different reasons for being unhappy with Apple software. The other reason is that software, now more than ever, is complicated. In the days of MacPaint, the team just had to make an app that could paint with the Mac. Modern Apple software needs to work on screens ranging from watch size to iMac size, utilize input methods ranging from fingers to keyboards, and play nicely with the Internet. That’s a tall order and I think most people that think seriously about these things know that. Still, I believe Apple could do better.

Mac Power Users: 626: It’s Like Two Dozen Calendars

In this Mac Power Users feedback episode, Stephen and I revisit Dropbox, photo management, calendar sets, and more.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!
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Jason Snell on the Rumored Apple Headset

Jason Snell writing for Macworld:

Apple’s been getting ready for this for years. And while Apple’s first VR device will be expensive and underpowered compared to its second, third, and fourth, it will still be the culmination of at least five years of effort. I have to admit, I’m interested to see Apple’s vision for virtual worlds–and I hope that, somewhere in there, there’s room for a friendly poker game among Memojis.

I’m with Jason and find myself curiously optimistic. I own the first generation Oculus Quest and my big stumbling blocks with it are the limited uses (beyond gaming) and the poor screen resolution. Those are two problems that Apple could easily solve. I hope that 2022 is the year Apple starts tuning its cards over in this space.

SaneBox (Sponsor)

New year, new you going as planned? If you resolved to declutter and clean up your inbox for the new year, consider giving SaneBox a try. You can test it out for yourself with their 14-day free trial.

There’s nothing to download, and SaneBox works with any webmail/email client. So, why SaneBox? SaneBox will learn from you how to manage your inbox.

They have powerful A.I. that analyzes your email history and learns what is important to you. Not every email needs to be read immediately. There are some that you can read and respond to later, and SaneBox will automatically move those to your SaneLater folder after some training. That leaves only the important messages in your inbox so distractions are kept to a minimum.

Then, SaneBox will send you a daily digest, which summarizes the new email in your SaneLater folder, and here you can check if there any mistakes or emails you need to move or re-train. Not all email is created equally.

Give SaneBox a whirl for free for 14 days and get the robots to help manage distracting unimportant email. 

Focused 144: Enough, with Patrick Rhone

Patrick Rhone joins Mike and me on this episode of Focused to talk about analog productivity, knolling, mise en place, and staying focused while wearing many hats.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

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