On this episode of Intentional AI, Chris and I look at how dictation went from a nine-thousand-dollar tool that needed hours of training to something you can whisper into your watch. We compare cloud and local options, including Wispr Flow, MacWhisper, Superwhisper, and Whisper Memos, along with the privacy tradeoffs that come with each.
We also talk about using your voice to give robots better context, then wrap up with Claude’s new browser and background computer use.
This episode of Intentional AI is sponsored by:
The post Intentional AI 8: Whisper to Write appeared first on MacSparky.
On this episode of Focused, Mike and I work through practical questions about capacity, chronotypes, delegation, accountability, and what to do when a careful plan collapses. We also talk about task overload and the difference between getting human help and handing work to a robot.
In Deep Focus, we look at systems for bad days and why my automated daily note lost to the paper cards sitting on my desk.
This episode of Focused is sponsored by:
The post Focused 264: The Accountability Shaped Hole appeared first on MacSparky.
Joe Moyer explains how his iPad mini became his go-to reading device. I’ve got an old iPad mini serving the same purpose. Wouldn’t it be nice, however, if I could fit it in my pocket?
Totally unrelated, I’m looking forward to the iPhone event tomorrow.
The post A 7″ Reading Device appeared first on MacSparky.
This post is sponsored by Rogue Amoeba.
This week, my friends at Rogue Amoeba are back to sponsor MacSparky. On September 30, they’ll be marking 24 years of making great audio tools for the Mac. To celebrate, MacSparky readers can save 24% off anything in the Rogue Amoeba lineup. Use discount code SPARKY24 in their online store through the end of September.
Rogue Amoeba has a full suite of audio tools for the Mac. Audio Hijack is their flagship recording tool.
Audio Hijack records audio from anything on your Mac: your web browser, a Zoom or Teams call, a microphone, a hardware interface, or your entire system audio. It’s easy to build your sessions, using a visual block-based canvas. Drop in your audio sources, add any effects you want, and hook up recording and monitoring. Audio Hijack makes sure it all connects automatically, and you get exactly the audio you expect.
They just released Audio Hijack 4.6, with refinements to their fantastic Transcribe block. Drop it into a session, and Audio Hijack turns audio into text locally on your Mac. Nothing gets uploaded, nothing goes to a server, and there are no accounts required. If you’ve been looking for a way to get transcripts of your calls and recordings without handing the audio to somebody else, Audio Hijack is your answer.
There’s a fully functional free trial, so you can put Audio Hijack through its paces before you spend anything. Download it today from Rogue Amoeba’s website. And don’t worry – Audio Hijack is already updated for compatibility with macOS 27 (Golden Gate).
My thanks to Rogue Amoeba for supporting MacSparky, and for keeping Mac audio in such good hands for 24 years. Check out Audio Hijack, and the rest of their lineup, and don’t forget discount code SPARKY24 to save 24% off everything this month.
The post Record Any Audio on Your Mac, with Audio Hijack appeared first on MacSparky.
The Relay for St. Jude 2026 fundraiser is underway. Hooray! Since 2019, the Relay community has raised more than $4.8 million for St. Jude. This year, we’re within reach of the $5 million mark.
The case is simple. You give money and they use it to take care of kids with cancer. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food. The hospital has also helped push the U.S. childhood cancer survival rate from 20% when St. Jude opened in 1962 to more than 80% today. Donors make that work possible. I plan on helping. You can too. Even five dollars helps.
The post Help Relay Reach $5 Million for St. Jude appeared first on MacSparky.
Hazel turns twenty this weekend. I’m a fan. People ask if I’m still using Hazel in the age of AI, and the answer is absolutely yes. Hazel still does a lot of great file management on your device without burning tokens or sacrificing your privacy. There’s definitely space for it on my hard drive still.
To mark the occasion, everything in the Noodlesoft store is 35% off through Monday night. No code required, the sale price is already showing:
For giggles, I’ve also marked the Hazel Field Guide 50% off for the week. Code: HAZELIS20
Happy Birthday, Hazel.
The post Hazel Turns 20 appeared first on MacSparky.
Teddy Svoronos returns to the Mac Power Users. Teddy explains how he uses tech to teach at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the challenges of teaching in the age of A.I.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:
The post Mac Power Users 865: Harvard Professor Teddy Svoronos on AI in the Classroom appeared first on MacSparky.
Growing up and watching Star Trek, one thing that made it feel futuristic to me was the interaction with the “computer.” You didn’t see Captain Picard updating software or managing user interfaces. Instead, he just said something out into the air, and then the computer responded politely and efficiently, giving him whatever he needed.
At the time, that made total sense to me as something that would be natural in a few hundred years, but it never occurred to me that we would get there in my lifetime. And yet, we are rapidly approaching the Star Trek moment.
Through a variety of technologies – flawless text-to-speech dictation, modern processors, and artificial intelligence – we are getting to that point where you can just yell something into the air and digital problems get solved. Heck, if you’re willing to go out on the end of the spear, we are already there.
In essence, this lets you separate the user from the software. It’s putting another level of abstraction between you and the work. This doesn’t mean we’re replacing the software, at least for the time being, but it does mean you can step away from it. Rather than being an operator of your software and systems, you become more of a director of it.
Smart productivity app developers are already seeing that, and that’s why you’re seeing so many of them release MCPs and other techniques for their software to work with artificial intelligence. They are, in effect, adding their software to your voice-controlled stack.
I expect that to only accelerate. We’ll be getting Siri AI very shortly, and you’ll see how Apple is doing the same thing within the confines of their own operating system and, of course, under their terms.
We are spending a lot of time talking about these technologies in the MacSparky Labs and the Robot Assistant Field Guide. Over time, what this will achieve is to make all of us power users provided we can get comfortable with the additional abstraction and use our imaginations. What I’m here to tell you is that normal folks in the not-so-distant future are going to work very similarly to Jean-Luc Picard.
The post The Approaching Star Trek moment appeared first on MacSparky.
This week in the labs, we covered the usual assortment of geeky topics and we’re all looking forward to the iPhone event next week.
Below you’ll find the week’s new videos and podcasts, a few of the conversations happening in the member community, and what’s coming next week. Most of those links lead straight into the Labs community on Circle, so they’ll only open if you’re a member. If you’re a Labs member who hasn’t set up your Circle access yet, send me a note and I’ll get you in. For members, this is your week at a glance. If you’re not one yet, it’s a peek at what you’re missing.
Roundup · August 31 · all tiers
The August wrap-up went up in all three tiers on Monday. Every video, podcast, and live session from the month, collected in one place.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
Video · September 2 · Pathfinder & Insider
MindNode just added MCP support, so you can now hook your AI right into your mind maps. I gave it one dictated prompt and watched it build a full map of my MacSparky content pipeline, channels, platforms, and all.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link
Video · September 3 · all tiers
Every USB-C cable looks the same and they are not the same. WhatCable is a free utility that identifies what a cable can actually carry, and I walk through it.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
Podcast · September 4 · all tiers
Tim Cook is done running Apple. After fifteen years, he’s moved to executive chair and John Ternus is CEO, effective September 1.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
I’m gently being pushed up the MacMini ladder (Labs Discussion Board)
A member set out to replace an M1 Mac mini and watched the spec climb one reasonable-looking step at a time.
Grok Bot (Labs Discussion Board)
One member asked whether anybody else has been trying Grok Bot and got back a long hands-on writeup.
If you’re a Labs member and haven’t joined the Circle community yet, let me know and I’ll get you set up.
Apple’s event is Wednesday and we’re getting together right after. Here’s the calendar through the middle of October.
Labs iPhone Event Meetup · September 9, 12:00 Pacific
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
Labs September Meetup (After Dark) · September 10, 18:00 Pacific
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link
September Deep Dive – The Mac Studio Home Server · September 17, 12:00 Pacific
Labs Jam Session – Browsers · September 24, 12:00 Pacific
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
Q4 Quarter Planning Meetup · October 1, 10:00 Pacific
Labs October Meetup · October 8, 14:00 Pacific
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link
October Deep Dive – Local and Private AI on a Mac · October 15, 12:00 Pacific
The videos, podcasts, and live sessions above are inside MacSparky Labs. Join at macsparky.com/join.
The post This Week in the Labs — September 4, 2026 appeared first on MacSparky.
Last week Apple updated the Magic Keyboard, replacing text key labels with glyphs, which is kind of nice. I have a similar keyboard on my laptop, and I like it.
However, I was hoping they would fix a different injustice that’s been around for a while. Specifically, you can buy the extended keyboard with black or white keycaps, but the standard Magic Keyboard only comes with white keycaps. I find this baffling.
There are plenty of us picky users who want an Apple keyboard on our desk (with Touch ID) that is not 16 inches wide. And yet, still no dice.
The post For Those of Us Particular About the Things on Our Desks… appeared first on MacSparky.
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