A Tale of Two Tech Giants

Today we got news of Microsoft adding Split View, Do Not Disturb, smart folders, and more to the most recent version of Microsoft Outlook for iPhone and iPad.

Meanwhile, Google Docs lingers. I continue to be amazed at the impressive attention Microsoft gives to Apple platforms in comparison to Google. Several years ago, I would’ve been shocked by it. These days, I expect it.

This shouldn’t be surprising, given the two companies’ relative positions as the outside platforms. The days of windows versus Mac are officially over. That is not so true on mobile.

Focused 85: The Depth of Our Madness



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Mike and I reveal our obsession with calendars on the latest episode of Focused. We discuss time and tasks, maintaining motivation, and our own calendaring workflows for how we plan our day. 

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • FreshBooks: Online invoicing made easy.

  • Bottomless: Re-ordering coffee based on your consumption. Get 3 months of free shipping and your first bag for only $10.

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

The New AirPods

Apple has now released a second set of AirPods. These include several additional features:

  • Rubber tips so you can make them fit your ears better.

  • More water resistant. (Really … sweat and light rain resistant)

  • Noise cancellation

I think all three features are important but noise cancellation is the one I’d be most intested in. Interestingly, it has a pass through mode for when you are using it when noise cancelling is not worth it, or even dangerous. These aren’t meant to be a replacement product to the existing AirPods but a premium product.

I don’t care for use of the “Pro” moniker, but I like the look of the new AirPods. I’ll be reporting back when mine show up.

Mac Power Users 507: Ian Elsner and His Stick of Gum PC




Ian Elsner joins us on this week’s episode of Mac Power Users. Elsner is a museum exhibit creator who is using the iPhone SE, iPad Pro, and an Intel Compute Stick together in some very interesting and unusual ways to help develop educational exhibits for kids and adults.

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.

  • 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.

  • Linode: High performance SSD Linux servers for all of your infrastructure needs. Get a $20 credit.

  • Kensington: The professionals’ choice. Find the right docking solutions for your organization today.

Automators 35: Automating Business with Don McAllister



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On the latest episode of Automators, Rosemary and I are joined by Don McAllister, founder of ScreenCastsOnline, to talk about the automations he has set up to make running a small business easier for everyone.

This episode of Automators is sponsored by:

  • ExpressVPN: High-speed, secure, and anonymous VPN service. Get 3 months free with a 1-year package.

  • FreshBooks: Online invoicing made easy.

  • Bottomless: Re-ordering coffee based on your consumption. Get 3 months of free shipping and your first bag offer $10.



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This week MacSparky is sponsored by TextExpander. Copy and paste is an inefficient way to keep track of the things you type again and again. TextExpander makes you more productive by taking care of all those words and phrases for you. TextExpander works in all your apps so you can use it everywhere, like Microsoft Word and Excel, Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, and Apple’s Pages.

TextExpander does way more than that. With TextExpander you’ll see your snippets everywhere. It syncs between your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Windows PC instantly.

They’ve got free snippet groups for all sorts of folks including job recruiters, freelancers, airport codes, brand names, and more at the TextExpander website (or you can download some of mine).

TextExpander even lets you run AppleScripts. For example, I use TextExpander to auto address emails with Apple Mail.

Best of all, with TextExpander you don’t have to work alone: TextExpander for Teams lets you manage and share snippets with your coworkers or the entire company. Use this link to get 20% off. 

The Sad (But Improving) State of HomeKit Cameras

While HomeKit, as a platform, has made a lot of progress over the last few years, the Achilles’ heel remains cameras. There are very few options, and all of them are expensive. In June, Apple announced new support for cameras in HomeKit, including a service where, as part of your iCloud subscription, you can store HomeKit connected camera video safely on Apple’s iCloud. It’s called HomeKit Secure Video. This makes a lot of sense from a security standpoint and it will save HomeKit users some money. 

As I sat in the room and listened to the announcement, however, I couldn’t help but wonder which vendors would support it. Most of the camera vendors make a lot of money charging customers to store their video in the cloud. Generally, you should expect to pay about $100 a year to have someone manage that storage for you. Why would vendors build in support with their cameras for a system that makes their lucrative add-on service obsolete?

This is an issue of particular interest to me because I want to upgrade my cameras and home security system to something more HomeKit friendly but have been unhappy with the available options.

In the last few days, we’ve had some promising news. The popular Arlo system now supports HomeKit. However, Arlo isn’t currently planning on making its cameras work with Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video. (Arlo has its own cloud storage subscriptions component for $10/month.) We also got news of an upgrade to the Eufy Cam 2 camera system. The company behind the Eufy cameras is Anker. I have been buying their portable batteries for years, and I’m glad to see them expanding. Indeed, it appears they have a lot of interesting home security/camera products in the pipeline. They don’t have a cloud service but instead, give you the ability to save video directly to a memory card on your local network. Not surprisingly, it appears the new Eufy Cam 2 will support HomeKit Secure Video. The new Eufy Cam 2 ships next month.

It is too early to tell, but these announcements are promising. I’m going to sit tight for a few more months to see how things pan out, but the ability to build my security system inside HomeKit is starting to look more like a possibility and less like a pipe dream.

Mac Power Users 506: iOS Accessories



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Our iOS devices go with us just about everywhere and pairing them with some select accessories can make them more useful in more situations. On this week’s episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I talk about some of the products that we rely on when using our iPhones and iPads, from cases and batteries to tripods and keyboard.

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 Omni Group: We’re passionate about productivity for Mac, iPhone and iPad.

  • Linode: High performance SSD Linux servers for all of your infrastructure needs. Get a $20 credit.

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

Charge Up Your Mouse and Trackpad with BetterTouchTool (Sponsor)


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My thanks to BetterTouchTool for sponsoring MacSparky this week. BetterTouchTool takes your mouse, trackpad, and just about every other input device and makes them way better. Apple’s built-in gestures are just a taste of what you could do with those devices. With BetterTouchTool, you can completely re-design your Touch Bar, configure various Magic Mouse and Trackpad gestures, define keyboard shortcuts, bind standard mouse buttons, use the Siri Remote with your Mac and do tons more.

BetterTouchTool offers many actions to automate various tasks on your Mac. These can be assigned to any input-device trigger you choose. Additionally, it contains some handy features like window snapping, a clipboard manager, a screenshot editor, and much more. It even includes a free iOS app to control your Mac and trigger actions remotely. If you have a MacBook or MacBook Pro, this app is an absolute game-changer.

For example, when I click the bottom right corner of my trackpad, the currently active window gets resized to the right side of the screen. (I also do the same on the left side.) This little gesture is just one step in BetterTouchTool, but for me, it’s second nature, and I use it countless times a day.

Recently, the BetterTouchTool added a community website at community.folivora.ai. Users have shared some amazing presets there, including some very advanced custom Touch Bar setups that you should check out.

BetterTouchTool comes with a 45-day trial, after which you can choose between a license that includes all updates for two years and a lifetime license.

BetterTouchTool has been around for nine years, and I’ve used it since the beginning. With BetterTouchTool, I can make my Mac dance. You should too. MacSparky readers can purchase BetterTouchTool for 15% off at checkout by using the coupon code MACSPARKYBTT for a limited time. So don’t delay. Go to folivora.ai to learn more and take advantage of the special limited-time, 15% discount on BetterTouchTool.

Focused 84: Focus Is a Super Power



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We’re diving deep on why focus is so important on the latest episode of Focused. Mike and I also share thoughts about ultralearning and why sometimes survival alone is good enough.

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.

  • FreshBooks: Online invoicing made easy.

  • Bottomless: Re-ordering coffee based on your consumption. Get 3 months of free shipping and your first bag for only $10.