Technology

I thought it would be good to do a series about how I automate my days as a means of keeping myself on track and conserving energy. The first part of this is in how I set up my day using the Agenda…

This MacSparky Labs Content is for all Labs Members (Levels 2-3) In a recent episode of Mac Power Users, I explained why I like the automatic time tracking I get with the Timing App. I’ve decided to make this my exclusive time tracking app as an experiment and in this video, I share how I’m... Continue reading →

At the end of every episode of the In the News podcast that I record every Friday with Brett Burney, Brett and I each share a tip in a segment called “In the Know.” In the most recent episode, I...

Twitter’s new owner has a vision that sounds a lot like a scrappy little social network that already exists, with one key difference.

Here’s how to double your search outputs using half the time and energy

The TL;DR of how you can search:• from:twittername• keyword1 OR keyword2• min_faves:2000• min_retweets:2000• filter:links• filter:images• until:YYYY-MM-DD• since:YYYY-MM-DD• near:location within:15mi— Tessa Davis (@TessaRDavis) April 8, 2022

Whenever I review notes I’ve taken on a video, I inevitably want to go back to rewatch parts of it. However, finding the right segment is a slow, cumbersome chore, which is why I’ve created Timestamped Notes, a trio of shortcuts that are optimized for the Mac, but adaptable to iPadOS, to automate the process

On this week’s episode of Mac Power Users, the topic of HEIC vs. JPG images came up. Sometimes you’ll end up with an HEIC image on your Mac that you want to upload or otherwise share with someplace that only accepts JPGs. So I made a simple Quick Action in Shortcuts to do the conversion.... Continue reading →

I'm starting a new series where I'll be looking at some of the most popular task managers. Before getting started, however, here's a look at how I'm currentl...

I’ve used a lot of different podcast apps over the years, but the one I return to most often and have used the most is Overcast by Marco Arment. The app’s customizability, Smart Speed and Voice Boost audio enhancement technologies, and Shortcuts support are unrivaled among podcast players. I also appreciate that when episodes of

I put some time into Bunch this weekend. It’s been a little while since I’ve worked on it — I haven’t needed it to do anything new lately, and the current release hasn’t had any major bug reports. So

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Highlighting while reading has enormous benefits.

A tutorial video showing 8 new features for Whiteboard in Microsoft Teams for 2022. These new features in Microsoft Teams Whiteboard include aggregated react...

The Markdown Service Tools are a collection of OS X Services designed to make writing Markdown text that much easier. Services (also known as Quick Actions) work in any Cocoa-based application (

I've decided to build a dedicated space for MacSparky Studios. Here's the explanation and the initial plans. This also turned into a bit of a screencast on h...

I write a lot of things in a plain text format known as Markdown. It provides a set of standardised ways to mark up text for processing into other formats (such as HTML), whereby formatting and other rich content elements are applied. I write all of my blog posts in this format, and also posts for other sites where I publish and contribute. One of these sites is Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC), a site where you can donate to my coffee fund if you like the stuff I do. It is also where I post each month to let everyone know what I have been up to. It regularly surprises me just how much content and support to other Internet denizens I’ve actually provided during the course of a month! Over the course of the month I jot down notes in Drafts, and then in the following month I write these up, in Markdown ready for posting. Unfortunately, BMAC does not support Markdown, but it does support rich text.

Choosing the right file format for your images can be tricky, and at first glance the differences between PNG versus JPG can be unclear. Don't worry, we'll ...

France, Foret De Senonches, Le Perche recorded by Colin Hunter. h/t Alan Levine

I'm experimenting with subroutines in KM 10. h/t MacSparky David sparks

A fun mini-game about pop-ups and the deviousness of websites and apps h/t cogdog Alan Levine

Citizen DJ invites the public to make music using free-to-use audio and video collections. By embedding these materials in hip hop music, listeners can discover items in the library's vast collections that they likely would never have known existed. h/t cogdog alan Levine

Faced with the gargantuan task of digitising thousands of photos, Don decided to make this project-based tutorial to assist if you are ever faced with such a task. The secret is the speed and quality of scanning along with capable automation tools to make the whole process easier. In this screencast, Don takes you on a tour of his chosen method along with the tools he uses along the way, from scanning his images all the way to a final import into Photos.

This week, Tim is back with three more Zoom tips that can take your experience further, especially when you are the host. You learn about the vanishing pen, how to use the live transcripts feature, then take a closer look at statistics and what they can tell you.