DEVONthink for Superior Metadata (Sponsor)


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This week MacSparky is sponsored by DEVONthink. DEVONthink has been offering AI-based research tools for years on the Mac, but it has hardly stood still. DEVONthink most recently released version 3 for the Mac and, just last week, version 3 of DEVONthink to Go for iPad and iPhone. The apps are modern and take full advantage of the most recent and powerful tools available in the Apple Ecosystem.



DEVONthink Metadata


One of the things I like best about DEVONthink is the way it handles metadata. DEVONthink has its own systems for organizing, tagging, sorting, automating, and updating all sorts of metadata for your files. One example is that I store contracts I’m writing for clients in DEVONthink. I use the app’s Annotations metadata to store notes on drafts of contracts. These are notes that only I see but prove invaluable when I come back a month later and ask, “why does this exist?” DEVONthink runs circles around the metadata tools available to you with the native Finder. Using the full array of DEVONthink metadata tools I’m able to cut through my files and get to what matters most fast.

And better metadata is just one of many features you’ll get with DEVONthink. To learn more head over to DEVONthink and download the trial and check it out for yourself.

StreamDeck + Keyboard Maestro with KMLink

The Stream Deck already has a built-in plug-in for running Keyboard Maestro. It’s great and lets me run Keyboard Maestro scripts from my Stream Deck. However, it can also be tedious in that it requires me to hard link specific buttons to the Stream Deck and if I want to move a button, I’ve got to get past a bunch of friction. If I want to move the button, I needed to change the Keyboard Maestro entry. That’s no fun.

Lately I’ve been just using the independently developed KMLink instead. The script looks at your Keyboard Maestro library and lets you attach a specific script to the button. You can also add a custom icon. Once you add it to your Stream Deck setup, you can move the button around the Stream Deck without any complicated remapping.

If you are combining your Stream Deck with Keyboard Maestro, you’ll want to check this out.

Focused 119: Productivity & Meditation, with Chris Bailey



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Author Chris Bailey joins Mike and me on this episode of Focused to talk about the productivity benefits of meditation, conquering resistance, and the path of least regret.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code FOCUSED at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.

  • PDFpen, from Smile: The all-purpose PDF editor for Mac, iPad, and iPhone.

  • Indeed: Get a free $75 credit to upgrade your job post.

Additional Considerations for Home Security Cameras

Over the past few years, home security cameras have got better and cheaper. That’s good. Now anyone can set up a home security camera and keep an eye on the front door or the dog. The problem, however, is that all of these cameras are not created equal. There are two issues you need to consider when purchasing a camera that manufacturers don’t often mention: commerce and security.

Commerce

A lot of the camera racket has turned into a razor and blades style business. You get the cameras but then you end up spending around $100/year to have their cloud storage. That may be worth it to you, assuming the vendor knows what they’re doing and they have a good security model. I have trust issues with all of these vendors. How much of a stake do they really have in protecting your privacy? How much effort are they putting into keeping all that video from your house safe?

Security

It’s called a security camera but is it actually secure? This is particularly a concern if you do use the vendor’s cloud storage. Do you want anyone in the world able to look at your front door or your dog? Vendors are slowly coming around on this. Ring just announced that you can add end-to-end encryption to your video on their servers but it is (currently) off by default.

I continue to be happy with my Eufy cameras. They didn’t break the bank. They’re holding up fine and they work with Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video service that gets me encrypted online storage as part of my iCloud account (that I’m already paying for).

Mac Power Users 575: Talking Parity with John Siracusa



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John Siracusa joins Stephen and me on the latest episode of Mac Power Users to talk about the 2019 Mac Pro and what Apple silicon may mean for pro users. Then, John talks about his pair of Mac apps and what he wants out of the future of macOS.

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.

  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.

  • Pingdom: Start monitoring your website performance and availability today, and get instant alerts when an outage occurs or a site transaction fails. Use offer code MPU to get 30% off. Offer expires on January 31, 2022, and can be used only once.

  • DEVONthink: Get organized—unleash your creativity. Use this link for 10% off.

RIP Chick Corea

This week we lost jazz pianist Chick Corea (Wikipedia). I’ve been a Chick Corea fan my entire life. He got his start with several jazz greats (including Miles Davis) but really arrived as an early pioneer of jazz fusion with his band, Return to Forever. LIke so many greats, Chick was constantly trying different things and sounds. At one point he had two bands, one focused on electric instruments and another focused on acoustic instruments.

Regardless, he was amazing when he sat at a keyboard. The thing that always stood out to me was how effortless he’d make it look. Almost like he was barely touching the keys. If you’d like to listen to some Chick Corea music, I really like his Chick Corea Plays album recorded live in Paris a few years ago. Chick talks about some of his favorite music as well as playing.

Chick also did a lot of duet collaborations. One of the best was with vibraphonist Gary Burton. They made several albums together over the decades. Below is a tiny concert they did together giving you a tease of their music.

We’ll miss you, Chick.

Automators 69: Joe Buhlig and Automating OmniFocus



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The Omni Group has released a remarkable automation platform for their apps, including OmniFocus. In this episode of Automators, automator Joe Buhlig joins us to talk about his automation journey and working with the Omni Group’s new platform.

This episode of Automators is sponsored by:

Hyper Key Via BetterTouchTool

I’m a big advocate for the hyper key. This idea was first introduced to me by Brett Terpstra and involves mapping Shift-Control-Option-Command to the caps lock key. Using the hyper key opens your keyboard up to a ton of new easily triggered shortcuts. Historically, I’ve done this remapping with Karabiner Elements. However, this remapping just got a lot easier. BetterTouchTool has added the a new feature that lets you map the hyper key combination to any key (including caps lock). See the screenshots below for how to set it up. Also, the developer has a walkthrough right here.

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Backblaze Hard Drive Stats for 2020

Every year, Backblaze, the online backup service I use, publishes its failure rate for the hard drives it uses in its backup servers. The latest report is up and this is useful data. In 2020, they added nearly 40,000 drives and monitored 162,530 drives. With those sorts of numbers, you can get an idea for what hard drive manufacturers are cutting the mustard.

My big take away is that drives are getting better. The overall failure rate is down and big winners were Seagate and HGST. If you need to buy any spinning drives, I’d recommend checking this out.

The Growing Movement for Hyperlinking and Contextual Computing

Ryan Boren, the former lead developer of WordPress, has thought a lot about text, hyperlinking, and contextual computing. His recent post assembles a lot of resources about the importance of text and linking, including my own post on contextual computing.

There is a movement afoot to democratize text and hyperlinking on the web, in apps, and across our computers. For the longest time we’ve been spinning our wheels using computer data (particularly words) as digital approximations of the printed words that came before them. That needs to change. Using hyperlinking and contextual computing, we take the written word (and the underlying paradigm about how we work on a computer) from one dimension and convert it to three dimensions.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this myself and I truly believe dynamic, bi-directional linking across files and apps can dramatically improve the way we use our computers and develop our days. It is the way for computers to truly serve the role as “bicycles for the mind”.