I was sad to get an email today announcing that Automatic Labs is shutting down. Automatic made a device that plugs into your car’s diagnostic port and send all sorts of data to your iPhone. It was a way to make your not-so-smart car just a bit smarter. I received a complimentary unit when they sponsored Mac Power Users ages ago and then I bought two more for my wife and daughter’s car because I liked it so much. We’ve continued to use those devices in the intervening years and I’m sorry to see them shutting down. They are offering rebates to some customers.

CGP Grey just posted one of his best and an absolute must watch if you feel stuck by the Pandemic.

Adam Tow (our recent Automators guest) dove deep in iPad keyboards. I’d entirely forgotten about the hardware keyboard Apple made for the first iPad. I don’t think I ever saw one of those in the wild. Either way, if iPads and keyboards meet up in your personal geek Venn diagram, this one’s for you.

There is a new utility app for the Mac, called Service Station that I’ve been using, and enjoying for the last few weeks. Service Station adds a customizable context menu to your Mac. For some years now, you’ve been able to activate services by right-clicking with the mouse. Service Station takes this idea and runs with it. Specifically, you can make a user-customizable contextual menu for each file type. If you only open images with specific applications or run scripts on them, you can significantly speed up that process through the contextual menu with Service Station. In the below screenshot, for instance, Service Station will give me menus for Preview, Pixelmator Pro, and Sketch. I can also add scripts to this.

Then later, when I right-click on an image file, I get those three applications listed directly in my contextual menu. It’s a clever application and if you find yourself frequently working with right clicks or scripting, it’s a useful app. The application is sandboxed and available through the Mac App Store.