Mac Power Users 618: Making Movies at Pixar, with John Soliman

This episode of Mac Power Users has Stephen and I chatting with John Soliman, a second assistant editor at Pixar, about his workflows and how collaboration works at the studio.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

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The Wallpaper* Feature on the Apple Design Team and a Missed Opportunity

Wallpaper* published a rare feature on the inside of the Apple Design Team. This group of people is arguably the best design team in the world. I have so much respect for their work. You should read every word of the article and take some time with those pictures. That being said …

  • I can’t help but think that every picture looks arranged and posed. This is not the design team ’at work’. They are instead posing for a magazine shoot. Creating art is messy. Those pictures and the table layouts in those pictures are art, but they are not, in my experience, what it looks like while you are doing art.
  • It appears they shot most of the pictures on the upper floors. I’m guessing the dirty work of design happens on the lower floors.
  • I wish that in addition to rooms dedicated to typography and color science, they also showed an even bigger room dedicated to user interface design. In my opinion, Apple’s hardware is untouchable at this moment, but some of the software mechanics and user interfaces need work. I wish I saw signs they were working more on that.

The article references an oft-quoted Steve Jobs explanation of design and how it is more than just a veneer. “It’s not just how things look, it’s about how things work.” I agree with that statement entirely.  

That said, relying on something Steve Jobs said years ago to justify your work is the wrong way to go about it. During Alan Dye’s tenure as VP of human interface design, Apple has become very opinionated and, arguably, too minimal. Removal of proxy icons is just one example of this. It feels like the veneer is getting way too much attention at the expense of the working bits.

Instead of quoting Steve Jobs, I would have preferred an explanation from Alan Dye about his philosophy of user interface design and what his north star is when he does his work. I’d like him to make his case. If he explained the thinking behind this minimal approach, it might make more sense. Maybe this article was never meant to be that kind of deep dive on design philosophy, but it feels like a missed opportunity.

Silly Season is Ramping Up for an Apple Headset

Apple is a secretive company but the existence of new Apple products are rarely much of a secret these days. We knew a tablet was coming. We knew there was a watch coming. We currently know there is a mixed reality headset on the way.
And now the smoke signals are going up for an announcement in 2022.

  • Ming-Chi Kuo is now reporting weight (around 350 grams) and operation details (it will not require an iPhone). He also reports a 2022 Q2 Announcement (WWDC would make sense) and a Q4 2022 release.
  • Mark Gurman also reports in that the first generation device will be used for “gaming, media consumption, and communication.”

This is just the beginning. As this filters out to the not-so-super-connected technology audience, the rumors about this product are going to be nuts.

Where I was eager for an Apple Watch and very eager for a tablet, I’m not sure where I stand on a headset. I think this is definitely a space Apple should have an offering, but I’m still not sure what their approach will be.

If you are curious about what Apple is going to offer, I would recommend not getting too hung up on the rumors. There are going to be so many words thrown into the Internet meat grinder about an Apple headset when things really start heating up and nearly all of them will be by folks who have no clue what is actually going on.

Outlines vs. Mindmaps

I sometimes get asked about where I use outlining tools versus mind mapping tools. I can see why those lines could be confused. Both tools are good at taking a bunch of inputs and letting you organize them later. For me, the distinction is all about chaos and order. Specifically, where outlines are best for taking generally organized information and making it more organized, mind maps are all about taming chaos.

For instance, when I was making the initial attempt at organizing the Photos Field Guide, I used a MindNode-based mind map. I didn’t have a clear path when I started that project, and I needed to just get ideas on the screen so I could start organizing. By using a mind map, I saw there were multiple organizational paths for that course. Using the mind map also helped me determine to group courses by platform rather than topic.

Other good examples of mind map tasks, for me, are where I’m learning something new or when I have to get my head wrapped around my own thoughts on a topic. In that case, I start up a new mind map and add to it slowly.

On the flip side, when I create a chronology for a client matter, a project that is, by nature, linear, I start with an outline. I’ll do the same thing outlining contracts or planning structured long-form blog posts. Another place I often use outlines is when attending what feels, to me at least, like a structured lecture. You can just tell when the speaker has a beginning, middle, and an end, and those fit best as outlines.

Whether you are using mind maps or outlines, Cooking Ideas still works. This is the technique I’ve talked about in the past where you start to map or outline early, and come back to it every day or two with your subconscious mind doing the heavy lifting. If you can get started on a project this way early enough, it sometimes feels like the work does itself.

My weapons of choice these days for both? MindNode for mind maps. OmniOutliner for outlines. Both cover all the Apple platform devices and make it really easy to jump between devices and resume.

Focused 140: Your Brain Is Not a Computer With Cory Hixson

Engineering professor Cory Hixson joins the Focused crew this week to talk about staying on target, not letting your kids eat your brain, and why you are not a computer.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • Indeed: Get a free $75 credit to upgrade your job post.
  • Setapp: More than 200 powerful apps for your Mac. Try it free for a week.
  • The Intrazone, by Microsoft SharePoint: Your bi-weekly conversation and interview podcast about SharePoint, OneDrive and related tech within Microsoft 365.

Sensemaking Obsidian Seminar

Mike Schmitz and Nick Milo are two of my favorite people on the Internet and they’re joining forces this Thursday to do a webinar on Sensemaking with Obsidian. I know they have both been working on hard on this one and I’m looking forward to seeing what they are up to.

Become the Boss of Your Email With SaneBox (Sponsor)

Did you know that the snooze button isn’t only for your alarm clock? With SaneSnooze, you can snooze on your emails as well. SaneBox, this week’s sponsor at MacSparky, helps me prioritize my email with the SaneSnooze feature.

There are emails that you don’t have to act on right now, and that’s where SaneSnooze comes in handy. I can snooze the less important emails until I want to respond. The email disappears from my main inbox. Not delete disappear, but more of a I’ll-deal-with-it-later situation because SaneSnooze will hide the email until the time I say I’m ready for it to show back up in my inbox, and I can give it my attention when I’m ready to deal with these kinds of emails.

And SaneBox lets you choose how long you want to snooze. You can set your Snooze Folders to SaneTonight, SaneTomorrow, SaneNextWeek, SaneNextMonth, or whatever you think works best for you. When you move an email to your chosen SaneSnooze time, that email will disappear from your inbox, and then SaneBox will move that email back into your inbox at the time you’ve designated it. Want to deal with email on your terms? Click here to sign up for a free trial, and you can get a $10 credit you can use towards a SaneBox subscription. 

Mac Power Users 617: Back in Whack

Stephen and I are joined by Apple’s Jeremy Butcher on the latest episode of Mac Power Users to discuss the company’s new Business Essentials program. Then, we revisit iCloud storage management, clipboard apps, and email providers. USB-C hubs and migrating to an Apple silicon Mac are also discussed.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • TextExpander from Smile: Get 20% off with this link and type more with less effort! Expand short abbreviations into longer bits of text, even fill-ins, with TextExpander from Smile.
  • SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!
  • Indeed: Get a free $75 credit to upgrade your job post.
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Shortcuts in Limbo

I’ve enjoyed some recent posts from John Voorhees and Jason Snell about expanding Shortcuts on the Mac using AppleScript and the terminal. However, I still am having trouble getting consistent and reliable automation with Shortcuts on the Mac. The product still feels a lot like a beta in that some parts of it just don’t work as advertised. This is troublesome for a few reasons.

First, I worry that folks eager to try Shortcuts for Mac are going to get frustrated when the creation process fails them. (For example, I spent 10 minutes fighting with Shortcuts this morning to set a variable.) Once new users get a Shortcut built, there is no guaranty it will perform correctly given the current state of things. To make this worse, there is very little in the way of error reporting. A lot of times the Shortcut will fail with no feedback whatsoever to the user so you don’t know if you made a mistake in constructing it, or if the feature you called is just broken.

Second, I’m trying to build a Shortcuts for Mac Field Guide, but many of the lessons I want to teach are in a holding pattern until particular bugs get fixed.

Put simply, Shortcuts for Mac is in limbo right now. The good news is that it is improving a lot in the betas and every sign we can see from the outside points to the fact that the Shortcuts Team is aware of these issues and working on them. I suspect it’s one of those things where they just ran out of time and couldn’t get it entirely in shape before Monterey was released.

Hopefully, this limbo period is short-lived.

Automators 90: Holiday Automation 2021

Automators Cover Art

Automating the holidays has never been easier. Rose and I have a pile of holiday-related automations to make life easier and impress your friends and family on the this episode of Automators.

This episode of Automators is sponsored by: