I (Luc) thoroughly enjoyed being interviewed by David Sparks and Stephen Hackett on Mac Power Users (Episode 560), which was published Nov. 1st.
Our discussion revolved around Cognitive Productivity. We discussed challenges to our meta-effectiveness. And we talked about solutions, including Hook and other software and books.
CogSci Apps also works at the intersection of tech and humanities, but adds cognitive science to the mix. More precisely: from an integrative design-oriented (“IDO”) cognitive science perspective, we aim to understand the challenges and opportunities knowledge workers face when using information, mostly on their Macs and iPhone. We select specific problems, and develop laser-focused solutions to them. Our goal is to help people become more effective people in general, and more effective producers and users of knowledge in particular. This is summarized on CogSci Apps’ “About Us” web page.
Hook is a component of the cognitive productivity framework. It helps you use your favorite apps in your knowledge-intense work/life. In that respect, it’s stereotypically “Canadian” — building bridges. In fact, Hook was partly inspired by my being an at-founding employee of another Canadian startup, Tundra Semiconductor. Tundra developed semiconductor bus bridges (‘interconnect’). It occurred to me years after leaving Tundra that my business partners and I could build a software analog of Tundra’s bridges, which interconnects information from all kinds of apps.
A blooper in the episode: I referred to Apple as positioning itself at the intersection of tech and science. MPU listeners know that I meant tech and humanities, of course.
The Mac Power Users podcast is quite relevant to Hook users. David Sparks has developed techniques for helping people stay in context using Keyboard Maestro, which he’s dubbed “contextual computing.