MPU vs MacSparky Labs

Software
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What a thread! I read it all with some mixed emotions. Usually, I don’t post when these types of things come up because this post will inevitably vex some. Here goes anyway:

About the Forum
We started this Forum on Facebook but quickly got the message that our listeners didn’t like being monetized, and many, myself included, were leery about Facebook.

So we set up this private forum. I’ve been paying for it out-of-pocket since it opened. Stephen has split the cost with me since he joined. Over the years, we’ve spent thousands keeping it up and running. @RosemaryOrchard has graciously volunteered her time on the back end. We’ve never monetized the forum, but know when you hear us read ads on the shows, some of that money comes back here.

Regardless, this Forum has been a smashing success, with many people coming and going and very little of the usual forum drama. Our listeners are generally lovely people. No surprise there. If you’ve been following the Reddit drama, you’ll know my initial instincts about this forum remain. I want it to stay a safe, knowledgeable space that we own.

About MPU
We’re sorry to lose you if you no longer listen to the show. We also understand shows and listeners change over time. Next week Stephen and I will be recording episode 700! That said, there are a few guiding principles of MPU. I wrote them down before recording episode 1 but I’ve never shared them publicly. Here you go:

  • Make It Fun: Life is rough enough.
  • Provide an On-Ramp for the Listener: Even when we go deep, we start shallow so people can come along.
  • (Ideally) Give One Helpful Idea to Every Listener on Every Show: If you give me 1.5 hours, I want to give you something useful back. If I’m not giving you enough signal to noise, I’m sorry. But I will tell you that I spend a lot of time, energy, and effort aiming for precisely the opposite.

These principles stand today just as they did in episode 1.

As to guests, we do have some repeat guests, but only because they have new and interesting things to share. I expect this Sunday’s guest will do just that. We are also always looking for new people and have been delivering the goods there too.

About the Labs and MPU
I am putting tons of effort into creating interesting and valuable content for everyone. The last year and a half have been a bit of a roller coaster for me as I’ve been figuring out balance, but looking at the shows we’ve published and the stuff I’ve made for the labs, I can assure you that everybody got more than they would have if I still had two careers.

Stephen and I appreciate positive, constructive criticism, which is sometimes well-deserved. But please don’t ever question our intention: to make MPU the best Apple-centric podcast in the universe.

I love MPU and the stuff I make as MacSparky. It is the most important work of my life. And that’s no bulls&*t.

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Intentions not questioned!

Even when I thought I wasn’t getting value, I realized I was - just didn’t need it as much as I had before (which I can attribute to you, Katie, and Stephen). So my current approach is different.

Thanks for the feedback, David!

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Thanks David, like I said up above, this is one of my favorite places on the internet, so you’re doing something right! I enjoy the podcasts too, but don’t feel bad if I miss one from time to time, no need to be a completist!

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There’s some truth to a bunch of things listed above, at least for me. I posted a lot throughout COVID, and still post occasionally, but now less.

Partially, it’s a dearth of time.

Partially, I have less to say about computers right now than I do my other interests (guitars, films), which aren’t relevant to this forum.

Partially, a couple others hinted about some folks potentially having issues with some folks who are a little more abrasive. Without saying too much (or anything specific at all, I hope), I am either one of the abrasive ones (sorry) or easily offended by them.

And the final thing: product maturity for sure. I was complaining about crummy keyboards and monitors for nearly half a decade. Problems solved. Now I’ve got less to discuss.

I would like to post more, but see the first issue.

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I think David and Stephen do an excellent job and I appreciate the effort. I listen to MPU less frequently or I may not fully finish an episode. This has more do with me than the actual episodes. I have gotten better at using the Mac (in part because of MPU) and my interests have shifted away from general computing. I find I have very little interest in Apple Watches , or iPhones or even new hardware(current M1 chips are still working great). I am more interested in learning how people are using their computers and novel uses of software, especially for coralling notes, ideas and information.I am less interested in the “new shiny” and more interested in learning old/new tool/techniques. Albeit the VR glasses could have some interesting applications…

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I wonder if we should have a thread to start a discussion on hobbies and how they intersect with our digital devices. I’m guessing some hobbies at least have a clean break, but many don’t! Like e.g. growing up I trained on classical piano and still dabble, so I was surprised to see a few forum members mention recently how they’re using e-readers for sheet music and notation. It wasn’t an option when I was taught, and I use paper. So that sort of thing is fun to learn about.

I do also think that learning about people’s other activities generally, especially where they’re intersecting with tech, can be really fruitful. E.g. @Denny mentioned frog surveying (ecology person here, great use of tech!), and there’s probably all sorts of stuff we do that we don’t even talk about!

I love discussing methods. Most the time I don’t want to know how to mechanically do something (and help menus exist for that), I want to know how people are using a tool or solving a problem. That’s the main value of the forum to me.

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Honestly, I enjoy the Forum, now, more than the Podcast(s). And I certainly learn more from the Forum than the Podcast(s). And don’t get me started on the Three Tiers and the cost. I know a guy’s got to make a living but……the cost for value is an issue I’m having. Only so much to go around. YMMV! I’d pay to subscribe to this Forum IF it ever came to it. Just this thread alone would be worth the price of admission (he said carefully) with perhaps a LITTLE extra for the Podcast(s). Besides, just look at the contributors to this thread. The comments, the attitudes. Outstanding! I learned more about Markdown (etc) in these 67 posts than all the Podcasts. Enough! I think you get where I’m coming from. Thanks to all you folks who contribute to this Forum. Invaluable.

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Reviving an old thread I tried to start about this:

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I think a photography thread would be great. It could focus on Apple hardware used, apps for editing, processing and designing, storage, and workflows. Even sample photos. The “trick” would be to keep the discussion focused within the Apple ecosystem, otherwise, there are better forums for wider ranging photography discussions.

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What an interesting thread. I’d assumed things had been quieter because it was summer … there were so many thoughtful observations. I like this forum, mainly for its practicality. It would be my go-to for asking questions about problems with hardware and software, and I’m confident there would be useful responses. But I also like it when it’s more … philosophical; how to resist the endless temptations of new software, how to simplify workflows, and so on.

I don’t use Discord much, for the reasons already mentioned. I subscribe to the Rest is History podcast, and they have a Discord form, but I find it utterly overwhelming to engage with.

I had hopes for Mastodon, but I just don’t find it a simple as I want, and the very few people I want to follow haven’t left Twitter. It’s too much like hard work for me. For all their faults, Twitter or Facebook are pretty easy to use. In the UK, lots of small businesses use FB as surrogate websites, so if you want to see opening times, say, or menus, you have to use FB in some form. They aren’t on Mastodon.

I do listen to the MPU podcast, but less and less assiduously. Not because I don’t like the presenters - I do - but, partly because the podcasts are so long (which could be manageable if I just listened to one podcast, but I don’t, and I don’t have time to listen all day), and partly because there’s only so many reviews of the same software, or the same events, that I need in my life.

I don’t know if this a UK perspective, but it seems to me that the MPU podcast (and it’s not alone in this) typically focuses on the same sort of software with the same sort of functions, which I’ll very loosely categorise as productivity related (notes, calendars, to-do lists, writing apps, and the Obsidian type “second brain” apps…).

As others have mentioned, guests are often industry types. They’re almost never people struggling with academic work, or lab work, or who are field archaeologists, or clinicians, or running market stalls, or small businesses. It seems to me that every shop I go into now, I pay on some sort of app on an iPad which then emails me my receipt. Anyway, hopefully, you get the idea. I’m not very interested in “productivity” as a thing, nor am I interested in digitising every aspect of my life.

I love good tech, but I can’t help recall being at meetings back in the day when I’d have to wait for everyone to fire up their prehistoric tech to add our next session to their calendar. I’d have my paper diary ready within a few seconds.

My wife is far more efficient with her paper lists than I am with my Reminders, Calendars, Things, Omnifocus …

I like the simplicity of using Reeder for blogs, Podcasts for … podcasts. I just tried Readwise Reeder, but quickly dumped it. I don’t want my blogs divvied up into long reads, short reads, forgotten reads, etc etc. I just want to read the blog, or not. And it isn’t the only app that can send stuff to Obsidian or DEVONthink. I don’t want everything gamified, or every app trying to interest me in buying something else.

Like others here, I like MacSparky’s Field Guides, but they sometimes remind me of the mandatory training I used to have do at work. It covered almost everything someone in a general hospital ought to know, but I worked in psychiatry and in primary care.

And finally, there is a financial aspect: there are podcasts I like that I’d to pay for, apps I’d like to subscribe to, Field guides I’d like to buy, sub stacks I want to read, but it all mounts up, especially when added together. Not that subscribing is a bad thing, but it buys me more podcasts, bonus podcasts, more live shows, and demands more time. And I end up overwhelmed.

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I’m glad to see both hosts participating in this thread. I hope all the consistent themes – e.g. more diversity of topics, guests, etc – in this thread influence the direction the podcast goes in the future.

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I think some people never learned how to disagree and remain civil while doing it. And people thinking they are anonymous on the internet doesn’t help.

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I have to say I didn’t realize it was so expensive to maintain. Really for me, you guys on MPU were part of my introduction to America and the Apple stuff I aquired here on arrival. I kind of stayed in the loop really for that reason, kind of for old times sake but, I have to say I do find some things interesting stil. I really have so few IT bottlenecks now that if my interest was purely practical I might spend even less time here and listening to MPU. I don’t listen every show but in general I have really pared back my podcast listening over all.

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Give it a go!

I’ve been using the same photo editing app on iOS for a decade :joy:

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Indeed!

“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” —Rupertus Meldenius

The hard part is defining the essentials. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I would, but I’m a recent purchaser of all of the Affinity apps. I haven’t learned how to use them yet. Perhaps when things slow down, I’ll have time. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I can recommend the Affinity Photo for Beginners online class by Affinity Revolution for when you do get time. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I fully agree, you’ve succinctly expressed why I’m listening to fewer episodes in full and skipping ahead more even then. With relatively few exceptions, guests seem to be from the “creative” industries — whatever that means. There must be hundreds of users of this very forum using macs in their work in interesting sectors of industry, commerce and academia. Can we hear from some of them?

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Thanks! I’ll be sure to check that out, much appreciated.

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If memory serves, you’re into databases in a big way. We don’t hear about databases often enough on the podcast to suit me. If drafted would you serve as a guest on the MPU podcast? :slightly_smiling_face: