Reminders That Actually Work, CarPlay Hacks, and Why Siri Hates You

Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting

SXSW is in full swing, and Dave is multitasking like a pro—grabbing his SXXpress passes mid-recording while keeping the geeky goodness rolling. Quick Tips flood in, from clicking your scroll wheel to copy text in Terminal to checking CPU usage per Safari tab in Activity Monitor. Need hands-free Siri? Just activate her from your steering wheel. Speaking of hands-free, snagging a wireless CarPlay screen for just $45 sounds like a no-brainer. Adam even took ChatGPT for a spin, using it to summarize scenes in a play he’s doing. You’ll even find your three favorite geeks diving into smarter ways to manage reminders with tags, projects, Kanbans, and location-based alerts. And don’t forget to test your UPS quarterly—Carsten’s got his EcoFlow power station pulling double duty.

Apple dropped some fresh gear, and Ken Case describes how he’s using his Vision Pro daily. The M4 MacBook Air, new Mac Studio, and M3 iPad Air made waves, but let’s not ignore the everyday wins—like OpenIn giving you control over mailto links and Thunderbird’s (somewhat broken) indexing. Security gets its moment with a deep dive into “Sign In With Apple” and why padding your passwords matters. Oh, and if you’ve ever raged at Siri for not appending text to an existing note, Adam’s got you covered. Whether it’s tech, tricks, or troubleshooting, one thing’s for sure: Don’t Get Caught!

• 00:00:00 Mac Geek Gab 1080 for Monday, March 10th, 2025
  • March 10th: Fill Our Staplers Day
  • Police Code 10-80 – Pursuit in progress
  • MGG Monthly Giveaway – Unite 6 from BZG Apps!
  • Special Promo: HelloFresh is running a 50% off special this month at HelloFresh.com with promo code HELLOFRESHPODCAST.
  • Special Promo: Factor is running a special this month at FactorMeals.com with promo code FACTORPODCAST.
  • MGG Monthly Giveaway – Win a copy of CCC Backup from Bombich Software!
• 00:03:26 SXSW This week, and today Dave needs to get SXXpress passes during the MGG recording. Fun!
  • Eddy Cue & Ben Stiller talk Severance (and more) @ SXSW
• Quick Tips
  • 00:00:01 Nick-QT-Click your scroll wheel to copy text in Terminal
  • 00:04:58 Crampy-QT-Activate Siri from your steering wheel
  • 00:06:06 Activity Monitor will show you CPU per Safari webpage usage
  • 00:07:29 Siri Ignores you when she’s face down
    • CarLinKit Adapter
    • Wireless Aftermarket CarPlay Screen (only $45 today)
  • 00:11:20 Adam used ChatGPT!
  • 00:15:25 Andrew-QT-Tips to Make Reminders Even More Useful
    • Previously-used Alternatives: OneNote, Evernote, Trello, ToDoist, Goodlinks
    • Save Bookmarks
    • Projects (with Kanban boards)
    • Groups
    • Tags
    • Repeating
    • Setting Location
    • Shopping List
    • Siri
  • 00:20:41 Mark R-QT-Test your UPSes Quarterly
  • 00:22:22 Carsten-CSF-EcoFlow Power Stations as UPSes
    • Jackery makes Adam’s
• 00:26:57 SPONSOR: Rogue Amoeba Software makes some of the best Mac Audio software on the planet, and we couldn’t produce MGG this way without it! Just visit MacAudio.com/MGG and use code GEEKGAB to save 20% on anything they make. Download free trials, then buy online to receive the discounted price.
• New Apple Stuff
  • 00:29:03 Ken Case-How I use my Apple Vision Pro every day
  • 00:32:33 New M4 MacBook Air
  • 00:39:46 New Mac Studio
  • 00:41:06 New M3 iPad Air
• 00:46:29 SPONSOR: BBEdit, the power tool for text from Bare Bones Software; now with integrated Notebooks and extended language support.
• Your Questions Answered and Tips Shared!
  • 00:47:52 Andy-Offer a Choice of Clients to Intercept mailto links
    • OpenIn
  • 00:51:22 DGC-Thunderbird Mail’s indexing is broken on the Mac
  • 00:54:57 David-Scheduling Meetings with Multiple Calendars (here’s ChatGPT’s thoughts)
  • 01:00:17 GW-Is Sign In With Apple safe?
  • 01:07:35 Using padding on your passwords
  • 01:10:04 David-Any Way to Auto Alphabetically Sort Apple Mail (GC?)
    • BASIC Line numbers by tens
  • 01:14:03 No Mail Client Is Perfect
  • 01:15:44 Adam-How do I get Siri to add text to an existing note on iOS?
• 01:20:03 MGG 1080 Outtro
  • MGG Monthly Giveaway – Unite 6 from BZG Apps!
  • Bandwidth Provided by CacheFly
  • Pilot Pete’s Aviation Podcast: So There I Was (for Aviation Enthusiasts)
  • The Debut Film Podcast – Adam’s new podcast!
  • Dave’s Business Brain (for Entrepreneurs) and Gig Gab (for Working Musicians) Podcasts
  • MGG Merch is Available!
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