This week, Federico and John share their geeky holiday season tech projects.
- Vitally – A new era for customer success productivity. Get a free pair of AirPods Pro when you book a qualified meeting.
Links and Show Notes
Nerding Out for the Holidays
- John’s 5th Generation iPod Video Restoration Project
- Apps mentioned:
- Parts and Tutorials
- Federico’s Battery Situation
- John Obsidian Plugin Exploration and Related Organization System
- Federico’s Wi-Fi Experiments
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A few weeks ago, I gave myself a challenge: find a compact USB-C hub/dongle for the iPad Pro that supports both fast charging and USB-C video out. As is often the case with my stories of this kind, it ended with me discovering a relatively unknown piece of gear from a similarly not-so-popular company, which...
This week, Federico and John tackle the struggle with staying organized in the face of the never-ending stream of files and other information.
- Notion – Do your most efficient work with Notion AI. Try it free today.
Links and Show Notes
Getting Your Digital Life in Order
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This week, Federico and John explore why there are so many good task managers, but none is a perfect fit with the way they work.
- Zocdoc – Find the right doctor, right now with Zocdoc. Sign up for free.
- Vitally – A new era for customer success productivity. Get a free pair of AirPods Pro when you book a qualified meeting.
Links and Show Notes
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The Home Screen on my iPhone 15 Pro Max is largely a product of refinement over the past few months as well as acceptance of certain habits of mine that dictate how I like to use my iPhone. I tried different approaches over the years, and as much as I want to keep an open...
This week, John is joined by Relay FM’s Stephen Hackett for a recap and thoughts on Apple’s Scary Fast event, which was recorded live in the Club MacStories+ Discord.
- Notion – Do your most efficient work with Notion AI. Try it free today.
Links and Show Notes
Apple’s Scary Fast Event
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This week, Federico and John cover the web apps they use and why they’re sometimes preferable to native apps.
- CleanMyMac X – Your Mac. As good as new. Get 5% off today.
- Electric – Unbury yourself from IT tasks. Get a free pair of Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones when you schedule a meeting.
- Vitally – A new era for customer success productivity. Get a free pair of AirPods Pro when you book a qualified meeting.
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Web Apps and Services
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One of the perks of a Club MacStories+ and Club Premier membership are special columns published periodically by me and John. In this week’s Macintosh Desktop Experience column, John explained how widgets in macOS Sonoma are the glue between apps and services that make the Mac feel even more like part of an integrated ecosystem of platforms and devices:
The Mac’s place in users’ computing lives has changed a lot since Steve Jobs returned to Apple and reimagined the Mac as a digital hub. Those days were marked by comparatively weak mobile phones, MP3 players, camcorders, and pocket digital cameras that benefitted from being paired with the Mac and Apple’s iLife suite.
The computing landscape is markedly different now. The constellation of gadgets surrounding the Mac in Jobs’ digital hub have all been replaced by the iPhone and iPad – powerful, portable computers in their own right. That’s been a seismic shift for the Mac. Today, the Mac is in a better place than it’s been in many years thanks to Apple silicon, but it’s no longer the center of attention. Instead, it sits alongside the iPhone and iPad as capable computing peers.
What hasn’t changed from the digital hub days is the critical role played by software. In 2001, iLife’s apps enabled the digital hub, but in 2023, the story is about widgets.
Stay until the end of the story and don’t miss the photo of John’s desk setup, which looks wild at first, but actually makes a lot of sense in the context of widgets.
Macintosh Desktop Experience is one of the many perks of a Club MacStories+ and Club Premier membership and a fantastic way to recognize the modern reality of macOS as well as get the most of your Mac thanks to John’s app recommendations, workflows, and more.
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I’ve been spending some time lately configuring a HomeKit button to control lights in my kitchen (a topic I plan to explore soon in the Automation Academy) and, as you can imagine, I ended up assigning shortcuts rather than scenes to various button presses. If you have a HomeKit button, you can do this by...
Federico
John
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