Eero in the Apple Store

Apple has now started selling Eero mesh networking hardware in the Apple Store. This is interesting for a couple of reasons.

Eero is an Amazon Product

I’m an Eero user. They sponsored the podcast years ago, and then I bought some more when they upgraded their hardware. They are substantially better than our prior AirPort WiFi. We all got a little nervous when Amazon bought Eero, but so far it seems they’ve left mainly Eero alone. Still, it’s surprising that Apple is willing to sell Eero in its store. Can we take this to mean that Apple is convinced Amazon is not going to be doing anything creepy with Eero data? I sure hope so.

Apple is Probably Not Getting in the Mesh Networking Game

I would love for Apple to get back into the WiFi router game. What if Apple TVs and HomePods could double as Mesh networking devices? Given Apple’s position on protecting consumer privacy and their ability to integrate their hardware and software, such a product could be great. Given the fact that Apple is instead now selling Eero devices, the possibility of an Apple mesh networking system seems unlikely.

Focused 99: Working From Home, with Dave Caolo



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Dave Caolo joins Mike and me on this week’s episode of Focused to talk about games and productivity, how his bullet journal helps him stay focused, and working from home without going crazy.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • 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 FOCUSED to get 30% off. Offer expires on January 31, 2021.

  • Blinkist: Read 3,000+ books in 15 minutes or fewer. Start your 7-day free trial.

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

Mac Power Users 535: State of the Platform: Apple Services



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From iCloud to Apple TV+, Apple’s range of services is broader than ever, but how do they all stack up? Has this shift to services changed how users should view the company? Stephen and I discuss on the latest episode of Mac Power Users.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? You don’t have to worry about that anymore. 

  • The Uptake, from Microsoft: A new show on all things tech and community from Microsoft.

Automators 49: Reusable Shortcuts with Scotty Jackson



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In this episode of Automators, Rosemary and I are joined by Scotty Jackson to talk about his Shortcuts-based automations which cross into the web and beyond.

This episode of Automators is sponsored by:

  • 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 AUTOMATORS to get 30% off. Offer expires on January 31, 2021.

  • Ahrefs: SEO Tools & Resources To Grow Your Search Traffic. Get a 7-day trial for just $7.

  • ExpressVPN: High-Speed, Secure & Anonymous VPN Service. Get 3 months free with a 1-year package.

Jazz Friday: McCoy Tyner


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In March we lost another jazz great, pianist McCoy Tyner (Wikipedia). McCoy first entered my orbit as the pianist in the John Coltrane quartet during its best years. McCoy played piano on some famous Coltrane recordings, including My Favorite Things (Wikipedia(Apple Music) and one of my all-time favorite albums, Ballads0 (Wikipedia(Apple Music). As John Coltrane’s music became more atonal, McCoy left the band in the mid-60s and continued to record as a solo artist and group leader for the rest of his life.

I’ve been doing a deep dive on McCoy Tyner in Apple Music all week. The album I keep coming back to is a big band he led. My favorite track is High Priest. I particularly dig the McCoy piano solo at the top. We’ll all miss you, McCoy.

The Apple Store Online Hub

Yesterday Apple unveiled a new online store hub that makes it a lot easier to get at services that traditionally required a trek to an Apple Store. Not only does this help out while we endure the pandemic, this service is going to be great for those Apple device owners that don’t live close to an Apple Store (or, like me, live close but still don’t want to go to the mall). I’m glad Apple built this. I hope they keep it up after the pandemic is over and the stores re-open.

How Apple Reinvented the Cursor for the iPad

I keep finding myself linking to Matt Panzarino here because he just keeps delivering the goods, particularly with iPad coverage. Matt got to interview Apple Software Chief Craig Federighi about the new iPad cursor implementation and wrote it up at Tech Crunch. It was by far my favorite read this week. I continue to believe that delight is one of my primary reasons for using the iPad and the new cursor implementation brings that whimsy.

Deferring Email with SaneBox (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by SaneBox, the email management service I’ve now used for years. For this post, I’d like to focus on one SaneBox feature, deferring email.

Deferring email is the process of taking something in your inbox and snoozing it for a set period of time. This gets the email out of your life and lets you focus on other things until some time in the future when you’re in a better place to process that mail.

When I first heard of the idea of deferring email, I thought it was silly and just another way of pushing today’s problems until tomorrow. However, I was wrong. Deferring email is actually a very powerful tool that takes almost no time and I’ve now been using it for years. I get a lot of email that doesn’t merit getting sorted into my task system (which takes time) but also isn’t appropriate for right now. Deferring that email just takes a second and there is something to be said for getting that mail out of the way while you continue doing the hard work.

With SaneBox, you have nearly unlimited options for deferring email. You can defer it to tomorrow, or next week, or Saturday morning, or a specific time. For today, I thought it’d be fun to share my deferred email boxes on my MacSparky email account.

AFTERNOON

This is the nutty one that will make a lot of people angry. I do a thorough sweep through my MacSparky account every morning and afternoon. Morning is when I am most productive so I don’t deal with many emails directly in that morning sweep. Pushing email away until the afternoon review by deferring it is a great way to keep myself from getting sidetracked by non-critical email. I’ve thought about getting rid of this deferred email box several times but I don’t. It is just too useful.

TOMORROW, 2 DAYS, 5 DAYS

I only give a certain amount of time to email every day. I always deal with the most critical email first either answering it directly or turning its response into an OmniFocus project. If there is still email left and time’s up, I defer the email out into the future.

Deferring non-critical email is a great solution, and it’s just one of the many features available to you with a SaneBox subscription. Best of all, use the links in this post to get a discount.