Cameras and Microphones

I enjoyed John Gruber’s response to the Wall Street Journal piece on the risks posed by webcams. In the article, Joanna Stern for the WSJ found a white hat hacker to try and break into her webcam on a Mac an Windows PC. On the Mac, getting access to the webcam required her to download an app outside of the App Store, turn off some of its security features, and then click OK on a dialog asking for camera access. That doesn’t sound like getting hacked to me as much as just being dumb.

Most interesting to me was John’s concern about microphones.

“I’ve never understood … the complete lack of similar paranoia over microphones, which cannot be blocked by a piece of tape and which have no in-use indicator lights.”

I agree with this 100%. If there is going to be a privacy breach through your Mac that does not include you doing something silly (like clicking OK to camera access), it is going to be through the microphone. I’d love to get some indication from Apple that they are addressing this vector as well as they’ve addressed the video camera.

Jazz Friday – Ben Wendell’s Seasons

Today for Jazz Friday I want to share a contemporary saxophone player that I enjoy, Ben Wendell. Ben plays the sax and bassoon. He’s been a sideman for many artists in many genres (including Snoop Dogg!), but some of my favorite music from Ben are shorts he does with other talented musicians on YouTube. He does collections of these videos that all eventually turn into albums. Lately, I’ve been listing to the Seasons collection and enjoying it. You can get the album on Apple Music and below is one of my favorite videos in the collection.

The 2019 Emoji with 100% more Otter


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I’ve come a long way in my relationship with Emoji since they first appeared on the iPhone. At this point, I use them every day, and I do think they can convey a certain level of emotion with text with the right people. Meanwhile, the emoji machine keeps rolling along. According to Emojipedia, we’ve got 230 more Emoji heading our way in 2019. I like the way the emoji library gets more inclusive every year. Two significant additions this year are people with disabilities and couples of all colors and types. Sign me up. The idea of my very own Otter emoji is also pretty cool.

Focused 66: Putting Email in Its Place



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On this week’s episode of Focused, Mike and I navigate the minefield of email. We share strategies and workflow tips to help you curb inbox addiction and reclaim your focus.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • Timing: The automatic time tracking app for macOS. Use this link to save 10% on your purchase.

  • FreshBooks: Online invoicing made easy.

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

AppleScript to Link to Apple Mail Message

I’ve always like the way OmniFocus can create links to Apple Mail messages when saving an email as a task. With help from listener Jacob (@evansio), I’ve now got a script that can do that anywhere via a text expander snippet. Here’s the AppleScript:

(*
  Returns a link to the first selected Apple Mail message
*)
tell application "Mail"
  set _msgs to selected messages of message viewer 0
  if (_msgs is not equal to missing value) then
    set _msg to first item of _msgs
    set _msgID to do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c 'import sys, urllib; print urllib.quote(sys.argv[1])' " & (message id of _msg)
    return "message://%3C" & (_msgID) & "%3E"
  end if
end tell

Here is that script embedded in a TextExpander Snippet. I’m using the abbreviation “elink”


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That’s it. Once you’ve installed it, just type “elink” in any app that can take a URL and you create a link to the currently selected email message. I use it all the time in Notes and Calendar note fields but it really works anywhere. Here’s a short explanatory video.

Find Files Like a Boss with HoudahSpot (Sponsor)

This week I’m pleased to welcome back HoudahSpot as a sponsor. Apple’s Spotlight search is a powerful tool. But imagine if there were a group of engineers at Apple that wanted to turn up the Spotlight search a notch or two and had nobody in management to tell them “no”. That’s what you get with HoudahSpot. 

HoudahSpot is like Spotlight, but better in every way. It improves upon Spotlight to let you find files by multiple criteria, like name, text, content kind, author, recipient, and pixel count to name a few. You can combine these search criteria to drill in quickly and choose which locations HoudahSpot looks in and which locations it ignores. Need to find every file that includes the name “bumfuzzle” but also includes the word “cumquat” in the text and was written in 2017? HoudahSpot can do that for you. You can even set up templates for repeat searches.

I’ve used HoudahSpot for years and if you haven’t tried it yet, you should. The thing about HoudahSpot is that with all of that search criteria, it’s just faster. It’s faster than a Finder search, it’s faster than a Spotlight Search, and it’s faster than a Siri search. I’ve not found any easier way to laser in on just the files you want. With HoudahSpot you can find a needle in a haystack.

Anyway, don’t take my word for it, go try out the app. If you like it, you can get 20% off with the coupon code MACSPARKY2019 or purchase through this link. There’s no better way to search your Mac.



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Mac Power Users 468: Mixing Macs and Microsoft with Christina Warren



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Christina Warren, tech commentator, podcaster, and Cloud Developer Advocate at Microsoft, drops by this week’s episode of Mac Power Users to talk about using a Mac at work, the state of PowerPoint, and how to get the most out of tech when traveling the world.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • Hover: Show the world what you’re passionate about with 10% off your first purchase.

  • Luna Display: The only hardware solution that turns your iPad into a wireless display for your Mac. Use promo code POWER at checkout for 10% off.

  • TextExpander, from Smile: Recall your best words. Instantly, repeatedly. Get 20% off your first year.

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

Outline like a Pro with Omni Outliner (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by OmniOutliner, the best outliner available for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone. OmniOutliner combines powerful outlining tools plus a smart, simple interface to allow you to make beautiful outlines that can be as complex as you need them to be and no more than that. With smart columns, scriptability, custom styles, and templates, you can’t go wrong. You can share your data between all versions of OmniOutliner, so you always have your outlines available to you.

I use OmniOutliner to outline contracts and complex legal transactions for my day job. I also use it to outline all of my field guides. The combination of powerful outlining tools with synchronization across all of my devices is a winner for me. No matter where I am if I think of something I want to add to the next field guide, OmniOutliner is right there waiting for me to update it. I’ve heard from listeners and readers that use OmniOutliner for all sorts of things, like writing a novel, creating a family tree, or just collecting their thoughts.

To learn more, head over to the OmniOutliner website and download the free trial today.



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