Out With The Old (Email), In With The New

A Year-End Grab Bag

On the last day of 2024, I thought I’d clear out my “Topics Bin” to make way for the New Year. That means this post will cover several topics, not just one. In keeping with the “clearance” theme, I’ll start with…

The Big Clean Out

I have a few rituals I perform the last few days of every year to have a “clean” start to the New Year. (Am I on the spectrum? Probably.) I tackle the pile of papers and detritus on my desk and elsewhere in my office. This often involves using my Fujitsu ScanSnap to scan documents and receipts that I’d put off doing and entering some of those into Quicken. It also involves “putting away my toys” — akin to my mom telling me to clean up my room — by putting various cords, cables and other tech stuff back in the bins I have for them in my office closet. And yes, I have a LOT of bins!

Next, I peruse my Applications folder, looking for any apps I tried out but found less than thrilling; I call this Digital Weeding. To get rid of them, I launch the free AppCleaner app and drag these apps into its Drop Zone, then hit the return key. The app and all its associated files (many invisible) disappear… poof!

Then I turn my attention to email.

End The Year With Inbox Zero

Nothing symbolizes “Digital Hoarding” more than email. Over the years, I’ve dealt with dozens of Tech Daddy clients with hundreds of thousands of unread email messages in their inboxes and many thousands more in various mailboxes. I once did the math for one of these people, telling them that if they spent at least three hours a day solely reading emails, it would take over 46 years to get through them all!

So many people either don’t think about deleting emails or refuse to, for whatever reason. That may have been an OK strategy many years ago, but it’s not practical here in (almost) 2025. We all have phones, tablets, and other devices synching with these email accounts; constantly indexing them in the background eats up data plan minutes and caps. Another downside: all major email providers now have storage limits. Never deleting an email means you will eventually pay money for that privilege.

To save money and your sanity, I recommend adopting the idea of Inbox Zero, which initially meant getting the number of messages in your inbox down to ZERO and keeping it there. However, the term also refers to an email strategy that doesn’t necessarily involve an empty inbox. This article explains what Inbox Zero is (and isn’t), why you should consider adopting it, and steps to achieve it.

Over the last few days, I have dealt with several hundred emails in my inbox. They typically consisted of notices I didn’t have time for that day, receipts I’d meant to enter into Quicken but put off, etc. I sorted the rest into their respective mailboxes, and… another poof! For me, an empty inbox is a symbol of a fresh start. It feels really good!

The Best Of The Rest

• Say The Secret Word

In other columns, I’ve advocated for creating a secret word or phrase with your family to combat the rising tide of AI-based phone scams. These typically involve receiving a phone call from a family member (usually a child or grandchild) claiming they’re in trouble and need money immediately. What makes these scams more insidious is that the Bad Guys are using the real voices of these family members, captured off social media and elsewhere on the Web, and using AI to make them say what they want them to say. That’s why a secret word or passphrase is so essential to have. And my friend David Sparks — a.k.a. MacSparky — agrees. He recently released a free video discussing this very thing, which you can access below:

• What To Do With That New iPhone 16 You Just Got

Did the Holiday Gift Goddess bless you with a new iPhone 16? (Any model counts.) If so, you’ll want to check out the latest “How To Use All The New iPhone 16 Features” guide created by the stalwart team at MacRumors. The guide also covers new iOS 18, 18.1 and 18.2 features that complement these phones. Click here to access it.

• Better snaps in 2025

Speaking of iPhones, their cameras are capable of so much it can be daunting to figure out how to get the best photos possible. MacRumors has come to the rescue again with its newest camera guide, “6 iPhone Camera Tips To Enhance Your Photography.” Access it here.

• 5 Apple Products Coming In 2025

Here’s a quick look at what Apple has in store for the New Year. I noticed the article left out what I consider to be the most important impending release: the new M4-based MacBook Air. If it’s anything like the previously-released M4 iMac, Mac mini and MacBook Pro (I’ve used all of them), it should be a knockout! This page has more info on what to expect.

• 5 Apple Intelligence Features Coming In 2025

Finally, here’s a look at what’s in store for Apple Intelligence. Some people are still unaware that Apple’s version of AI integration is a “work in progress” and is being rolled out in phases. iOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 introduced the first set of Apple Intelligence features, with more added in the next release. However, Apple is just getting started! This page tells you about what’s ahead in 2025.

That’s A Wrap!

To all my subscribers, thank you for making my first year on Substack a memorable one. Your feedback and messages have been instructive and heartwarming, reminding me why I loved writing about these topics so many years ago. The difference between my previous columns in various publications and magazines and these Substack posts is that I now have a connection with my readers I’d never had before. Writing, by its nature, is a solitary act of creation. To know that people are reading what I write — and even better, responding to it — means the world to me!

Please let me know if you have a question, comment, or request for a future column. Now, on to 2025… let the Tech Mayhem begin! ;-)

Your friendly neighborhood Tech Daddy

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