On this episode of Focused, Mike and I dig into an idea we’re calling “donkey work.” It’s the stuff that has to get done but doesn’t require your best creative thinking. Invoicing, email triage, file management, scheduling. The question is whether AI assistants can…
Listen & read notes →MailMaven: The Email Client for Mac Power Users (Sponsor)
My thanks to SmallCubed for sponsoring MacSparky this week. When Apple pulled the rug out from under third-party Mail plugins, a lot of power users lost tools they depended on. SmallCubed’s MailSuite (MailTags, Mail Act-On) was one of the big ones. Rather than walk…
Continue reading →Mac Power Users 841: Robot Assistant Field Guide
This week on Mac Power Users, Stephen and I go deep on the robot assistant system I’ve been building with Claude Cowork. We cover the whole journey — from why chatbots never quite delivered on their productivity promises to the combination of skill files,…
Listen & read notes →The Case for an Ultralight Mac
The MacBook Neo is here, and it’s already obvious it will be a massive hit for Apple. People are going to buy so many of these. It will be transformative and bring lots of new users into the Apple ecosystem. But I want to…
Continue reading →Using Cowork Dispatch
I made a video explaining how I’m using the new Claude Cowork Dispatach feature to run my shutdown routine from bed. Here you go:
Continue reading →Pixelmator Pro FTW
I recently realized that I’ve stopped using every photo editing app except Pixelmator Pro. It happened gradually over a couple of years, but now it’s the only tool I reach for. I love Acorn and respect the other developers making great image editors. But…
Continue reading →The Robot Assistant Field Guide is Here
I spent the better part of a year experimenting with AI and coming away unimpressed. The chatbots were fine for generating a quick summary or answering a trivia question. But every time I tried to use them for real work, the same problem showed…
Continue reading →Fantastical Meets AI: Your Calendar Just Got Smarter (Sponsor)
This post is sponsored by Flexibits. I’m delighted to welcome back Flexibits as a MacSparky sponsor. Their premier calendar application, Fantastical, has been my daily driver for years, and they just shipped something that genuinely changes how I manage my schedule. Fantastical now has…
Continue reading →David Pogue’s Book on Apple’s First 50 Years
David Pogue has a new book out called Apple: The First 50 Years. We interviewed David about it on Mac Power Users, and I got an early copy. I’ve read the whole thing, and I really enjoyed it. There are a lot of Apple…
Continue reading →The Now Page Update
My goal with the Now Page is to update it weekly. If I could do that, updates would not be newsworthy. But, alas, the last few months have been nuts and I finally got it updated today after a two month hiatus. Hopefully, this…
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