There are a lot of angles to AI and productivity emerging right now. One I’ve come to appreciate is AI-based smarter autocomplete. My tool of choice for this is Cotypist. It’s made by a trusted Mac developer, it’s fast, and it takes privacy seriously.…
Continue reading →Testing Hidden Bar
Folks have been asking for a low bandwidth menu-bar manager. I’ve found one, Hidden Bar. In this video I share how it works.…
This is a post for MacSparky Labs Level 3 (Early Access) and Level 2 (Backstage) Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?
Has Apple Lost Its North Star?
Despite the name of his blog, Hypercritical, I’ve always appreciated the measured tone John Siracusa takes when it comes to criticizing Apple. From the outside, it’s always easy to oversimplify analysis of what’s going on in a trillion-dollar company, and John doesn’t do that.…
Continue reading →Mac Power Users 796: The Alfred Field Guide
Known as an app launcher and Spotlight replacement, Alfred can supercharge a wide range of tasks across macOS. On this episode of Mac Power Users, Mike and I discuss my new Field Guide covering the app and our use of the application. This episode…
Listen & read notes →Deep Dive – AI-Based Presentation Graphics
The Opal C1 Webcam is meant to be the webcam everybody actually wants to use. It\’s got tons of software features and a better lens system than anything you\’d find in most (all?) other webcams. It\’s time for me to kick the tires…
This is a post for MacSparky Labs Tier 2 (Backstage) and Tier 3 (Early Access) Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?
Jam Session 001 – Local AI
In this very first MacSparky Labs Jam Session, several Labs members and I got together to discuss running a local AI model and how it’s going. There were lots of interesting takes and tips on how that is working in 2025.
… This is a post for MacSparky Labs members only. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.
How to Fix Bad Transcriptions on Your Clipboard
expand_te_snippet
The Lab Report for May 9, 2025
In this week’s episode of The Lab Report: Get ready to become and Alfred ninja (new Field Guide is out!), NotebookLM now on iPhone, and I come to the rumored iPhone Air’s defense.
… This is a post for MacSparky Labs members only. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.
Reminders Helpers
There’s a lot to like about Apple’s Reminders. However “quick capture” is not one of those things.
… This is a post for MacSparky Labs members only. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.
Phishing in the Age of AI: Why Seniors Are at Risk
I recently reviewed the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center 2024 report, which revealed $16.6 billion in reported losses (a 33 percent increase) and over 859,000 complaints last year. The most frequent victims? Our oldest generation. It wasn’t so long ago that phishing emails were easy…
Continue reading →