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This week on Mac Power Users, David and I get back to the basics, and check on how calendars, contacts and tasks can be effectively managed across a range of devices and apps.
My thanks to our sponsors:
I’ve seen a lot of reports from people with the Series 3 Apple Watch having trouble trying to update to new versions of watchOS, but Dr. Drang’s tale may be the worst I’ve read yet:
A few days ago, I updated my Apple Watch Series 3 to watchOS 7.3. It was, as many Series 3 owners would have predicted, a nightmare. The worst Apple experience I’ve had in the 35 years I’ve been a customer.
My thanks to TextExpander for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. It removes the repetition out of work so you can focus on what matters most. 512 Pixels readers get 20% off their first year.
On one level, the impending death of Call Recorder, a utility I’ve relied on for more than a decade, shouldn’t actually be a big deal. As useful and easy as it was, it’s not as if there aren’t alternatives.
In fact, if I’m being honest, Call Recorder hasn’t been my primary audio-recording tool for years. That distinction goes to Audio Hijack, which works with any app (not just Skype). But I have kept Call Recorder running for every Skype call I make, sometimes as my primary recorder, more often as a backup.
There’s a broader issue here, though.
Call Recorder not surviving the Apple silicon transition is a real bummer, as it was the easiest way to record but local audio and audio from a Skype call, all automatically.
However, like Jason, I’ve used Audio Hijack as my primary recording application for years. I’ve even replicated Call Recorder’s ability to record my audio and the Skype call as separate tracks:
Audio Hijack is seriously like magic, and I use it for far more than just recording my shows. However, Ecamm calling it quits has me looking at options besides Skype for recording my shows.
Zoom, here I come, probably.
I love this, but it makes me feel weird inside, too.
The guys review CARROT Weather 5, dream up new health devices for Apple to make and dive into the new iOS 14.5 beta. Also: Myke won’t wear an anklet, Federico has words for certain drivers and Stephen files feedback about the Reminders app.
(It’s Feedback #FB8989457)
On Connected Pro, the longer, ad-free version of the show, Federico updates everyone on Italian political changes before admitting to reading the rules. And apparently, Casey Liss was behaving badly.
My thanks to our sponsors:
This time on Flashback, Quinn Nelson and I get into the weird tale of the CrunchPadJooJoo Grid10 tablet.
I think we’ve all known Facebook is a cesspool, but now we have hard numbers, as Kate Cox writes at Ars Technica:
As Facebook scrambles to deal with its most problematic groups in the wake of January’s assault on the US Capitol, a new report finds that leaders inside the company knew as long ago as August that 70 percent of its top “civic” groups had too much hate speech, misinformation, violent rhetoric, or other toxic behavior to be recommended to other users.
Researchers inside the company warned executives months ago that top groups were plagued with misinformation and calls to violence, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. “We need to do something to stop these conversations from happening and growing as quickly as they do,” the researchers wrote in internal documents obtained by the WSJ.
Of the top 100 most-active US civic groups, 70 percent “are considered non-recommendable for issues such as hate, misinfo, bullying, and harassment,” the presentation said. “Our existing integrity systems aren’t addressing these issues.”
Seems about right.
Darrell Etherington, writing at TechCrunch:
SpaceX has announced its first all-civilian private spaceflight mission, a high-priced galactic tourism launch that it hopes to fly by the fourth quarter of 2021. The mission, which will use SpaceX’s Dragon crew spacecraft and its Falcon 9 rocket, will include Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, who is CEO of Shift4 Payments, as well as three crew members to be selected and donated by Isaacman, his company and St Jude’s Children Research Hospital. That’s one way to drive product adoption.
The mission is being called Inspiration4, and there’s already a significant digital presence for it, including a website with a countdown timer. Two of the of seats on the four person ride will be donated to St. Jude recipients, with one going to an ambassador for the children’s medical research center, and another going to a member of the public that will be chosen from entrants to an online contest based on either making a donation to St. Jude. The final seat will go to an entrepreneur who builds a business on Shift4’s platform, which enables payments for online stores.
Here’s a bit from SpaceX’s press release:
Isaacman has committed to give $100 million to St. Jude and is inviting everyone to join him in attempting to raise upwards of $200 million or more in support of St. Jude’s multi-billion dollar expansion aimed to accelerate research advancements and save more children worldwide. He will also offer additional support to the St. Jude fundraising effort in the form of other prizes, including flights in a military jet and flight gear.
“From the beginning, St. Jude has been at the forefront of innovation and inclusion, leading in cancer research, care and treatment for some of the world’s sickest children regardless of race, ethnicity, beliefs or a family’s ability to pay,” said Richard C. Shadyac, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude. “This partnership brings two missions together to create one incredible moment in time that will make an impact on many lives for years to come in the global effort to cure childhood cancer.”
This is mind-blowing, and I couldn’t be happier St. Jude is going to part of this amazing mission.
According to Apple, the update improves Bluetooth reliability and addresses the following issues:
It’s available in Software Update now.
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My devices feel busted without TextExpander, and it helps me sound smarter. In January alone, it corrected “teh” to “the” automatically nearly 200 times.
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