Years ago, I encountered a fascinating concept in a book by the Dalai Lama: every seven years, human beings transform into entirely new versions of themselves. This idea stems from the biological principle that our bodies replace virtually all their cells over a seven-year…
Continue reading →A Brand-New Frank Lloyd Wright Home (Sort Of)
Frank Lloyd Wright homes (with the exception of the brick mausoleums he built in Los Angeles) really connect with me. That’s why I was fascinated by this article about RiverRock, a newly completed home based on one of Wright’s 1959 Usonian designs. This isn’t…
Continue reading →Perplexity Voice Assistant Embarrasses Siri
I wrote yesterday that maybe Apple needs to buy Perplexity. To make my case, Perplexity released a voice assistant to their iOS app that makes Siri look pretty bad. I occasionally make quick videos for the MacSparky labs members that don’t go through the…
Continue reading →PowerPhotos 3.0 is Here
PowerPhotos 3.0 has officially landed, and it’s a big one. For the uninitiated, PowerPhotos is a utility that fills in the gaps in Apple’s Photos app. It’s long been the Photos utility of choice for many Mac power users, offering features like multiple library…
Continue reading →When the Machines Remember
Early in my experience with ChatGPT’s voice feature, my daughter walked into the room and I told it to say hello to her. It did, cheerfully, and it totally creeped her out. I turned the voice off. A week later, I fired ChatGPT back…
Continue reading →Focused 228: Time Surfing, with Paul Loomans
Author Paul Loomans joins Mike and me on this episode of Focused to talk about time surfing, a zen approach to keeping time on your side. This episode of Focused is sponsored by: Indeed: Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide using Indeed to hire great…
Listen & read notes →Perplexity Moves into Mobile
News broke this week that Perplexity AI is in talks to integrate its assistant directly into Samsung and Motorola phones. What’s especially interesting here is how this upends the usual Android assistant narrative. Google has been baking Gemini into Android with increasing urgency, and…
Continue reading →Black Boxes and Bad Habits
I had to chuckle when I read this Verge article about Meta’s attorneys botching their document redactions during the FTC antitrust trial. Having spent three decades in the legal racket, it was shocking to me how often lawyers (and their staff) were completely flummoxed…
Continue reading →Mac Power Users 793: Accurate, Not Boring
On this Mac Power Users feedback episode, Stephen and I revisit iCloud.com access and Advanced Data Protection, make confessions about recent setup changes, and answer a bunch of listener questions. This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by: Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase…
Listen & read notes →Don’t Underestimate Apple’s Shot at On-Device Medical AI
There’s a rumor that Apple is working on an on-device medical AI. The idea is that your iPhone or Apple Watch could use its onboard silicon to privately analyze your health data and offer recommendations, without sending that sensitive information to the cloud. The…
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