{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1", "user_comment": "This feed allows you to read the posts from this site in any feed reader that supports the JSON Feed format. To add this feed to your reader, copy the following URL -- https://www.macstories.net/feed/json/ -- and add it your reader.", "home_page_url": "https://www.macstories.net/", "feed_url": "https://www.macstories.net/feed/json/", "language": "en-US", "title": "MacStories", "description": "Apple news, app reviews, and stories by Federico Viticci and friends.", "items": [ { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77790", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/the-latest-from-comfort-zone-macstories-unwind-and-magic-rays-of-light/", "title": "The Latest from Comfort Zone, MacStories Unwind, and Magic Rays of Light", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

\n

Comfort Zone

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Matt made an app and brings a very, very unbiased take on it, Chris has solved some of his tech paper cuts, and Niléane probably won yet another challenge by bringing a really rad Apple TV remote.

\n

MacStories Unwind

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This week on Unwind, I make a Kuzu discovery that may amuse Italian listeners, we explore bars and aperitivo, and we share a music and TV show pick, along with a great deal.

\n

Magic Rays of Light

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Sigmund and Devon highlight the premiere of Apple Original Spanish-language comedy Love You To Death, break down the changes coming to MLS Season Pass this season, and recap immersive film Man vs. Beast.

\n

\n

Comfort Zone, Episode 35, ‘Switzerland is at the Top’ Show Notes

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\n

Weekly Topics

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Other Things Discussed

\n

Follow the Hosts

\n

MacStories Unwind, ‘Never Bored’ Show Notes

\n
\n\n

Unplugged

\n

Picks

\n

Unwind Deal

\n

MacStories Unwind+

\n
\"\"

\n

We deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.

\n

To learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.

\n

Magic Rays of Light, Episode 155, ‘Love You to Death, MLS Season Pass Changes, and Immersive Bull-Riding’ Show Notes

\n
\"\"

\n

Highlight

\n

MLS Season Pass Returns

\n

Trailer Talk

\n

Apple Original News

\n

Releases

\n

Extras

\n

Recap

\n

TV App Highlights

\n

Up Next

\n

Send us a voice message all week via iMessage or email to magic@macstories.net.

\n

Subscribe to Magic Rays of Light on YouTube and follow us on Mastodon and Bluesky.

\n

Sigmund Judge | Follow Sigmund on Mastodon or Bluesky

\n

Devon Dundee | Follow Devon on Mastodon or Bluesky

\n

MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.

\n

If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:\nComfort Zone\n\n \n \n \n \n \nMatt made an app and brings a very, very unbiased take on it, Chris has solved some of his tech paper cuts, and Niléane probably won yet another challenge by bringing a really rad Apple TV remote.\nMacStories Unwind\n\n \n \n \n \n \nThis week on Unwind, I make a Kuzu discovery that may amuse Italian listeners, we explore bars and aperitivo, and we share a music and TV show pick, along with a great deal.\nMagic Rays of Light\n\n \n \n \n \n \nSigmund and Devon highlight the premiere of Apple Original Spanish-language comedy Love You To Death, break down the changes coming to MLS Season Pass this season, and recap immersive film Man vs. Beast.\n\nComfort Zone, Episode 35, ‘Switzerland is at the Top’ Show Notes\n\nWeekly Topics\nQuick Reviews on the App Store\nAnnouncing Quick Reviews\nAirPods Max charging dock\nOther Things Discussed\nCheerwine\nChris’s new USB-C cable\nOld Salt Apple TV remote\nNew Salt Apple TV remote\nMatt’s TV\nGameTrack\nLinear\nFollow the Hosts\nChris on YouTube\nMatt on Birchtree\nNiléane on Mastodon\nComfort Zone on Mastodon\nComfort Zone on Bluesky\nMacStories Unwind, ‘Never Bored’ Show Notes\n\nLinks and Show Notes\nUnplugged\nFollow-Up:\nKuzu vs. Kudzu\n\nBars, Coffee Shops, and Bottle Shops\nUnderstanding Italian Coffee Culture\nAperitivo A Beginner’s Guide to a Italian Tradition Tuscany Now & More\nClassic Aperol Spritz Recipe\nA decent definition of a bottle shop\n\nPicks\nFederico’s Pick:\nForgiving Spree by Slowly Slowly\n\nJohn’s Pick:\nPrime Target on Apple TV+\nPrime Target review – this stylish thriller is like Good Will Hunting meets The Bourne Identity\n\nUnwind Deal\nJack Ryan\nMacStories Unwind+\n\nWe deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.\nTo learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.\nMagic Rays of Light, Episode 155, ‘Love You to Death, MLS Season Pass Changes, and Immersive Bull-Riding’ Show Notes\n\nHighlight\nLove You To Death\nMLS Season Pass Returns\nMajor League Soccer returns to MLS Season Pass on Apple TV\nMLS on Apple Music\nMLS on Apple Podcasts\nMLS on Apple Maps\nTrailer Talk\nGoldie\nSurface — Season 2\nBerlin ER\nApple Original News\nPaleyFest LA 2025 featuring the Cast and Crew of Severance\nThe Gorge - Den of Geek London Fan Screening\nWhy Ben Stiller Made Severance (and Doesn’t Care about What Elon Says About Him) | On with Kara Swisher\nReleases\nKendrick Lamar’s Road to Halftime\nThe Story of Kendrick Lamar\nApple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show Event Page\n‎Kendrick Lamar Artist Spotlight on Apple Fitness+\nKendrick Lamar HUMBLE. Synth Riders Experience\n‎PGA TOUR Pro Golf\n‎Doodle Jump 2+\n‎My Dear Farm+\nExtras\n‎The You You Are\nAdam Scott vs. Patricia Arquette | Hot Ones Versus\nSilo — Extending Worlds: Silos 17 & 18\nRecap\nDeaf President Now!\nMan vs. Beast\nTV App Highlights\nAll We Imagine as Light\nSeptember 5\nPiece by Piece\nInvincible\nApple Cider Vinegar\nThe Floor\nUp Next\nNewtopia\nThe White Lotus\nSend us a voice message all week via iMessage or email to magic@macstories.net.\nSubscribe to Magic Rays of Light on YouTube and follow us on Mastodon and Bluesky.\nSigmund Judge | Follow Sigmund on Mastodon or Bluesky\nDevon Dundee | Follow Devon on Mastodon or Bluesky\nMacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.\nIf you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-02-07T12:55:46-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-02-07T12:55:46-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Comfort Zone", "Magic Rays of Light", "podcast", "unwind", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77782", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/the-uk-demanded-that-apple-grant-it-access-to-encrypted-storage-globally/", "title": "The UK Demanded That Apple Grant It Access to Encrypted Storage Globally", "content_html": "

Joseph Menn, writing for The Washington Post:

\n

\n Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

\n

The British government’s undisclosed order, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies. Its application would mark a significant defeat for tech companies in their decades-long battle to avoid being wielded as government tools against their users, the people said, speaking under the condition of anonymity to discuss legally and politically sensitive issues.\n

\n

Menn reports that in response, Apple will likely stop offering encrypted storage in the UK. That does not, however, address the order’s demand for access to storage in other countries.

\n

The UK order reportedly applies to Advanced Data Protection, an end-to-end encryption feature added by Apple in 2022 that ensures that not even Apple has access to users’ cloud storage. Apple is not commenting presumably because to do so would be a criminal violation under UK law, but it did comment in 2024 when given a draft of the order, that has now been issued:

\n

\n During a debate in Parliament over amendments to the Investigatory Powers Act, Apple warned in March that the law allowed the government to demand back doors that could apply around the world. “These provisions could be used to force a company like Apple, that would never build a back door into its products, to publicly withdraw critical security features from the UK market, depriving UK users of these protections,” it said in a written submission.\n

\n

As Menn points out, even the F.B.I., which has pressured Apple to offer backdoor access to its encrypted services in the past, recently endorsed the use of encrypted services to counter recent hacks of U.S. communications systems.

\n

I don’t think any government should have this sort of access over their citizens’ data, but the UK law is particularly egregious because it applies worldwide. Tech companies have faced government pressure for this sort of access for years. On the surface, it may seem like a good way to ‘catch the bad guys,’ but once the backdoor is created, there’s no way to ensure it will be used only by ‘the good guys.’

\n

\u2192 Source: washingtonpost.com

", "content_text": "Joseph Menn, writing for The Washington Post:\n\n Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.\n The British government’s undisclosed order, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies. Its application would mark a significant defeat for tech companies in their decades-long battle to avoid being wielded as government tools against their users, the people said, speaking under the condition of anonymity to discuss legally and politically sensitive issues.\n\nMenn reports that in response, Apple will likely stop offering encrypted storage in the UK. That does not, however, address the order’s demand for access to storage in other countries.\nThe UK order reportedly applies to Advanced Data Protection, an end-to-end encryption feature added by Apple in 2022 that ensures that not even Apple has access to users’ cloud storage. Apple is not commenting presumably because to do so would be a criminal violation under UK law, but it did comment in 2024 when given a draft of the order, that has now been issued:\n\n During a debate in Parliament over amendments to the Investigatory Powers Act, Apple warned in March that the law allowed the government to demand back doors that could apply around the world. “These provisions could be used to force a company like Apple, that would never build a back door into its products, to publicly withdraw critical security features from the UK market, depriving UK users of these protections,” it said in a written submission.\n\nAs Menn points out, even the F.B.I., which has pressured Apple to offer backdoor access to its encrypted services in the past, recently endorsed the use of encrypted services to counter recent hacks of U.S. communications systems.\nI don’t think any government should have this sort of access over their citizens’ data, but the UK law is particularly egregious because it applies worldwide. Tech companies have faced government pressure for this sort of access for years. On the surface, it may seem like a good way to ‘catch the bad guys,’ but once the backdoor is created, there’s no way to ensure it will be used only by ‘the good guys.’\n\u2192 Source: washingtonpost.com", "date_published": "2025-02-07T07:12:13-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-02-07T11:48:49-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Encryption", "regulation", "security", "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77777", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/stories/gemini-2-0-and-llms-integrated-with-apps/", "title": "Gemini 2.0 and LLMs Integrated with Apps", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

Busy day at Google today: the company rolled out version 2.0 of its Gemini AI assistant (previously announced in December) with a variety of new and updated models to more users. From the Google blog:

\n

\n Today, we’re making the updated Gemini 2.0 Flash generally available via the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI. Developers can now build production applications with 2.0 Flash.

\n

We’re also releasing an experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Pro, our best model yet for coding performance and complex prompts. It is available in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, and in the Gemini app for Gemini Advanced users.

\n

We’re releasing a new model, Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, our most cost-efficient model yet, in public preview in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI.

\n

Finally, 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental will be available to Gemini app users in the model dropdown on desktop and mobile.\n

\n

\n

Google’s reasoning model (which, similarly to DeepSeek-R1 or OpenAI’s o1/o3 family, can display its “chain of thought” and perform multi-step thinking about a user query) is currently ranked #1 in the popular Chatbot Arena LLM leaderboard. A separate blog post from Google also details the new pricing structure for third-party developers that want to integrate with the Gemini 2.0 API and confirms some of the features coming soon to both Gemini 2.0 Flash and 2.0 Pro, such as image and audio output. Notably, there is also a 2.0 Flash-Lite model that is even cheaper for developers, which I bet we’re going to see soon in utilities like Obsidian Web Clipper, composer fields of social media clients, and more.

\n

As part of my ongoing evaluation of assistive AI tools, since Gemini’s initial rollout in December, I’ve been using it in place of ChatGPT, progressively replacing the latter. Today, after the general release of 2.0 Flash, I went ahead and finally swapped ChatGPT for Gemini in my iPhone’s dock.

\n

This will probably need to be an in-depth article at some point, but my take so far is that although ChatGPT gets more media buzz and is the more mainstream product1, I think Google is doing more fascinating work with a) their proprietary AI silicon and b) turning LLMs into actual products for personal and professional use that are integrated with their ecosystem. Gemini (rightfully) got a bad rap with its initial release last year, and while it still hallucinates responses (but all LLMs still do), its 2.0 models are more than good enough for the sort of search queries I was asking ChatGPT before. Plus, we pay for Google Workspace at MacStories, and I like that Gemini is directly integrated with the services we use on a daily basis, such as Drive and Gmail.

\n

Most of all, I’m very intrigued by Gemini’s support for extensions, which turn conversations with a chatbot into actions that can be performed with other Google apps. For instance, I’ve been enjoying the ability to save research sessions to Google Keep by simply invoking the app and asking Gemini what I wanted to save. I’ve searched YouTube videos with it, looked up places in Google Maps, and – since I’ve been running a platform-agnostic home automation setup in my apartment that natively supports HomeKit, Alexa, and Google Home all at once – even controlled my lights with it. While custom GPTs in ChatGPT seem sort of abandonware now, Gemini’s app integrations are fully functional, integrated across the Google ecosystem, and expanding to third-party services as well.2

\n

Even more impressively, today Google rolled out a preview of a reasoning version of Gemini 2.0 that can integrate with YouTube, Maps, and Search. The idea here is that Gemini can think longer about your request, display its thought process, then do something with apps. So I asked:

\n

\n I want you to find the best YouTube videos with Oasis acoustic performances where Liam is the singer. Only consider performances dated 1994-1996 that took place in Europe. I am not interested in demos, lyrics videos, or other non-live performances. They have to be acoustic sets with Noel playing the guitar and Liam singing.\n

\n

Surely enough, I was presented with some solid results. If Google can figure out how to integrate reasoning capabilities with advanced Gmail searches, that’s going to give services like Shortwave and Superhuman a run for their money. And that’s not to mention all the other apps in Google’s suite that could theoretically receive a similar treatment.

\n
\"Bonehead

Bonehead playing the piano? Yes please.

\n

However, the Gemini app falls short of ChatGPT and Claude in terms of iOS/iPadOS user experience in several key areas.

\n

The app doesn’t support widgets (which Claude has), doesn’t offer any Shortcuts actions (both Claude and ChatGPT have them), doesn’t have a native iPad app (sigh), and I can’t figure out if there’s a deep link to quickly start a new chat on iOS. The photo picker is also bad in that it only lets you attach one image at a time, and the web app doesn’t support native PWA installation on iPhone and iPad.

\n

Clearly, there’s a long road ahead for Google to make Gemini a great experience on Apple platforms. And yet, none of these missing features have been dealbreakers for me when Gemini is so fast and I can connect my conversations to the other Google services I already use. This is precisely why I remain convinced that a “Siri LLM” (“Siri Chat” as a product name, perhaps?) with support for conversations integrated and/or deep-linked to native iOS apps may be Apple’s greatest asset…in 2026.

\n

Ultimately, I believe that, even though ChatGPT has captured the world’s attention, it is Gemini that will be the ecosystem to beat for Apple. It always comes down to iPhone versus Android after all. Only this time, Apple is the one playing catch-up.

\n
\n
  1. \nPlus, o1-pro’s coding performance for large codebases is unrivaled. But it also costs $200/month – way more than any regular user interested in assistive AI tools for their personal workflow should pay. ↩︎\n
    2. \n
  2. \nI’d love to see a Todoist extension for Gemini at some point. ↩︎\n
    3. \n
\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Busy day at Google today: the company rolled out version 2.0 of its Gemini AI assistant (previously announced in December) with a variety of new and updated models to more users. From the Google blog:\n\n Today, we’re making the updated Gemini 2.0 Flash generally available via the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI. Developers can now build production applications with 2.0 Flash.\n We’re also releasing an experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Pro, our best model yet for coding performance and complex prompts. It is available in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, and in the Gemini app for Gemini Advanced users.\n We’re releasing a new model, Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, our most cost-efficient model yet, in public preview in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI.\n Finally, 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental will be available to Gemini app users in the model dropdown on desktop and mobile.\n\n\nGoogle’s reasoning model (which, similarly to DeepSeek-R1 or OpenAI’s o1/o3 family, can display its “chain of thought” and perform multi-step thinking about a user query) is currently ranked #1 in the popular Chatbot Arena LLM leaderboard. A separate blog post from Google also details the new pricing structure for third-party developers that want to integrate with the Gemini 2.0 API and confirms some of the features coming soon to both Gemini 2.0 Flash and 2.0 Pro, such as image and audio output. Notably, there is also a 2.0 Flash-Lite model that is even cheaper for developers, which I bet we’re going to see soon in utilities like Obsidian Web Clipper, composer fields of social media clients, and more.\nAs part of my ongoing evaluation of assistive AI tools, since Gemini’s initial rollout in December, I’ve been using it in place of ChatGPT, progressively replacing the latter. Today, after the general release of 2.0 Flash, I went ahead and finally swapped ChatGPT for Gemini in my iPhone’s dock.\nThis will probably need to be an in-depth article at some point, but my take so far is that although ChatGPT gets more media buzz and is the more mainstream product1, I think Google is doing more fascinating work with a) their proprietary AI silicon and b) turning LLMs into actual products for personal and professional use that are integrated with their ecosystem. Gemini (rightfully) got a bad rap with its initial release last year, and while it still hallucinates responses (but all LLMs still do), its 2.0 models are more than good enough for the sort of search queries I was asking ChatGPT before. Plus, we pay for Google Workspace at MacStories, and I like that Gemini is directly integrated with the services we use on a daily basis, such as Drive and Gmail.\nMost of all, I’m very intrigued by Gemini’s support for extensions, which turn conversations with a chatbot into actions that can be performed with other Google apps. For instance, I’ve been enjoying the ability to save research sessions to Google Keep by simply invoking the app and asking Gemini what I wanted to save. I’ve searched YouTube videos with it, looked up places in Google Maps, and – since I’ve been running a platform-agnostic home automation setup in my apartment that natively supports HomeKit, Alexa, and Google Home all at once – even controlled my lights with it. While custom GPTs in ChatGPT seem sort of abandonware now, Gemini’s app integrations are fully functional, integrated across the Google ecosystem, and expanding to third-party services as well.2\nEven more impressively, today Google rolled out a preview of a reasoning version of Gemini 2.0 that can integrate with YouTube, Maps, and Search. The idea here is that Gemini can think longer about your request, display its thought process, then do something with apps. So I asked:\n\n I want you to find the best YouTube videos with Oasis acoustic performances where Liam is the singer. Only consider performances dated 1994-1996 that took place in Europe. I am not interested in demos, lyrics videos, or other non-live performances. They have to be acoustic sets with Noel playing the guitar and Liam singing.\n\nSurely enough, I was presented with some solid results. If Google can figure out how to integrate reasoning capabilities with advanced Gmail searches, that’s going to give services like Shortwave and Superhuman a run for their money. And that’s not to mention all the other apps in Google’s suite that could theoretically receive a similar treatment.\nBonehead playing the piano? Yes please.\nHowever, the Gemini app falls short of ChatGPT and Claude in terms of iOS/iPadOS user experience in several key areas.\nThe app doesn’t support widgets (which Claude has), doesn’t offer any Shortcuts actions (both Claude and ChatGPT have them), doesn’t have a native iPad app (sigh), and I can’t figure out if there’s a deep link to quickly start a new chat on iOS. The photo picker is also bad in that it only lets you attach one image at a time, and the web app doesn’t support native PWA installation on iPhone and iPad.\nClearly, there’s a long road ahead for Google to make Gemini a great experience on Apple platforms. And yet, none of these missing features have been dealbreakers for me when Gemini is so fast and I can connect my conversations to the other Google services I already use. This is precisely why I remain convinced that a “Siri LLM” (“Siri Chat” as a product name, perhaps?) with support for conversations integrated and/or deep-linked to native iOS apps may be Apple’s greatest asset…in 2026.\nUltimately, I believe that, even though ChatGPT has captured the world’s attention, it is Gemini that will be the ecosystem to beat for Apple. It always comes down to iPhone versus Android after all. Only this time, Apple is the one playing catch-up.\n\n\nPlus, o1-pro’s coding performance for large codebases is unrivaled. But it also costs $200/month – way more than any regular user interested in assistive AI tools for their personal workflow should pay. ↩︎\n\n\nI’d love to see a Todoist extension for Gemini at some point. ↩︎\n\n\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-02-05T20:34:36-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-02-07T11:49:19-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Federico Viticci", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/viticci/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/94a9aa7c70dbeb9440c6759bd2cebc2a?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "AI", "gemini", "google", "stories" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77770", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/stories/the-many-purposes-of-timeline-apps-for-the-open-web/", "title": "The Many Purposes of Timeline Apps for the Open Web", "content_html": "
\"Tapestry

Tapestry (left) and Reeder.

\n

Writing at The Verge following the release of The Iconfactory’s new app Tapestry, David Pierce perfectly encapsulates how I feel about the idea of “timeline apps” (a name that I’m totally going to steal, thanks David):

\n

\n ⁠⁠What I like even more, though, is the idea behind Tapestry. There’s actually a whole genre of apps like this one, which I’ve taken to calling “timeline apps.” So far, in addition to Tapestry, there’s Reeder, Unread, Feeeed, Surf, and a few others. They all have slightly different interface and feature ideas, but they all have the same basic premise: that pretty much everything on the internet is just feeds. And that you might want a better place to read them.⁠⁠
\n […]
\n These apps can also take some getting used to. If you’re coming from an RSS reader, where everything has the same format — headline, image, intro, link — a timeline app will look hopelessly chaotic. If you’re coming from social, where everything moves impossibly fast and there’s more to see every time you pull to refresh, the timeline you curate is guaranteed to feel boring by comparison.⁠⁠\n

\n

I have a somewhat peculiar stance on this new breed of timeline apps, and since I’ve never written about them on MacStories before, allow me to clarify and share some recent developments in my workflow while I’m at it.

\n

\n

I think both Tapestry and the new Reeder are exquisitely designed apps, for different reasons. I know that Tapestry’s colorful and opinionated design doesn’t work for everyone; personally, I dig the different colors for each connected service, am a big fan the ‘Mini’ layout, and appreciate the multiple font options available. Most of all, however, I love that Tapestry can be extended with custom connectors built with standard web technologies – JavaScript and JSON – so that anyone who produces anything on the web can be connected to Tapestry. (The fact that MacStories’ own JSON feed is a default recommended source in Tapestry is just icing on the cake.) And did you know that The Iconfactory also created a developer tool to make your own Tapestry connectors?

\n

I like the new Reeder for different reasons. The app’s animations are classic Silvio Rizzi work – fluid and smooth like nothing else on iOS and iPadOS. In my experience, the app has maintained impeccable timeline sync, and just this week, it was updated with powerful new filtering capabilities, enabling the creation of saved searches for any source within the app. (More on this below.)

\n

My problem with timeline apps is that I struggle to understand their pitch as alternatives to browsing Mastodon and Bluesky (supported by both Tapestry and Reeder) when they don’t support key functionalities of those services such as posting, replying, reposting, or marking items as favorites.

\n

Maybe it’s just me, but when I’m using a social media app, I want to have access to its full feature set and be able to respond to people or interact with posts. I want to browse my custom Bluesky feeds or post a Mastodon poll if I want to. Instead, both Tapestry and Reeder act as glorified readers for those social timelines. And I understand that perhaps that’s exactly what some people want! But until these apps can tap into Mastodon and Bluesky (and/or their decentralized protocols) to support interactions in addition to reading, I’d rather just use the main social media apps (or clients like Ivory).1 To an extent, the same applies for Reddit: if neither of these apps allow me to browse an entire subreddit or sort its posts by different criteria, what’s the point?

\n

But: the beauty of the open web and the approach embraced by Tapestry and Reeder is that there are plenty of potential use cases to satisfy everyone. Crucially, this includes people who are not like me. There is no one-size-fits-all approach here because the web isn’t built like that.

\n

So, while I still haven’t decided which of these two apps I’m going to use yet, I’ve found my own way to take advantage of timeline apps: I like to use them as specialized feeds for timelines that I don’t want to (or can’t) have in my RSS reader or add as lists to Mastodon/Bluesky.

\n

For instance, I created a custom MacStories timeline in Tapestry with feeds for all kinds of places on the web where MacStories publishes content or social media posts. I love how Tapestry brings everything together in a unified, colorful timeline that I can use alongside my RSS and social apps to see all sorts of posts by our company.

\n
\"The

The colors!

\n

Reeder’s latest addition is also something I’m considering at the moment. The app can now create saved filters, which are based on multiple filtering conditions. These rules can be stacked to create custom views that aggregate specific subsets of posts from sources that, typically, would be their own silos. Want to create an “AI” feed that cuts through RSS, Bluesky, YouTube, and Reddit to find you the latest AI news or products by keyword? How about a filter to show only YouTube videos that mention Nintendo? All of this (and more) is possible with Reeder’s latest update, with an interface that…I’ll just let the screenshots speak for themselves.

\n
\"Silvio

Silvio Rizzi’s design taste never disappoints.

\n

Which leads me back to my main point. I feel like thinking about this new generation of apps as social media clients would be wrong and shortsighted; it reduces the scope of what they’re trying to accomplish down to a mere copy of a social media timeline. Instead, I think Tapestry and Reeder are coming at this from two different angles (Tapestry with better developer tools; Reeder with superior user filters), but with the same larger ambition nonetheless: to embrace the open nature of the Web and move past closed platforms that feel increasingly archaic today.

\n

The fact that I can make a timeline out of anything doesn’t mean that Tapestry or Reeder have to be my everything-timelines. It means that the modern web lets me choose what I want to see in these apps. I can’t help but feel that there’s something special about that we must protect.

\n
\n
  1. \nSpeaking of which: are the folks at Tapbots considering a Bluesky client? ↩︎\n
    2. \n
\n

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Join Now", "content_text": "Tapestry (left) and Reeder.\nWriting at The Verge following the release of The Iconfactory’s new app Tapestry, David Pierce perfectly encapsulates how I feel about the idea of “timeline apps” (a name that I’m totally going to steal, thanks David):\n\n ⁠⁠What I like even more, though, is the idea behind Tapestry. There’s actually a whole genre of apps like this one, which I’ve taken to calling “timeline apps.” So far, in addition to Tapestry, there’s Reeder, Unread, Feeeed, Surf, and a few others. They all have slightly different interface and feature ideas, but they all have the same basic premise: that pretty much everything on the internet is just feeds. And that you might want a better place to read them.⁠⁠\n […]\n These apps can also take some getting used to. If you’re coming from an RSS reader, where everything has the same format — headline, image, intro, link — a timeline app will look hopelessly chaotic. If you’re coming from social, where everything moves impossibly fast and there’s more to see every time you pull to refresh, the timeline you curate is guaranteed to feel boring by comparison.⁠⁠\n\nI have a somewhat peculiar stance on this new breed of timeline apps, and since I’ve never written about them on MacStories before, allow me to clarify and share some recent developments in my workflow while I’m at it.\n\nI think both Tapestry and the new Reeder are exquisitely designed apps, for different reasons. I know that Tapestry’s colorful and opinionated design doesn’t work for everyone; personally, I dig the different colors for each connected service, am a big fan the ‘Mini’ layout, and appreciate the multiple font options available. Most of all, however, I love that Tapestry can be extended with custom connectors built with standard web technologies – JavaScript and JSON – so that anyone who produces anything on the web can be connected to Tapestry. (The fact that MacStories’ own JSON feed is a default recommended source in Tapestry is just icing on the cake.) And did you know that The Iconfactory also created a developer tool to make your own Tapestry connectors?\nI like the new Reeder for different reasons. The app’s animations are classic Silvio Rizzi work – fluid and smooth like nothing else on iOS and iPadOS. In my experience, the app has maintained impeccable timeline sync, and just this week, it was updated with powerful new filtering capabilities, enabling the creation of saved searches for any source within the app. (More on this below.)\nMy problem with timeline apps is that I struggle to understand their pitch as alternatives to browsing Mastodon and Bluesky (supported by both Tapestry and Reeder) when they don’t support key functionalities of those services such as posting, replying, reposting, or marking items as favorites.\nMaybe it’s just me, but when I’m using a social media app, I want to have access to its full feature set and be able to respond to people or interact with posts. I want to browse my custom Bluesky feeds or post a Mastodon poll if I want to. Instead, both Tapestry and Reeder act as glorified readers for those social timelines. And I understand that perhaps that’s exactly what some people want! But until these apps can tap into Mastodon and Bluesky (and/or their decentralized protocols) to support interactions in addition to reading, I’d rather just use the main social media apps (or clients like Ivory).1 To an extent, the same applies for Reddit: if neither of these apps allow me to browse an entire subreddit or sort its posts by different criteria, what’s the point?\nBut: the beauty of the open web and the approach embraced by Tapestry and Reeder is that there are plenty of potential use cases to satisfy everyone. Crucially, this includes people who are not like me. There is no one-size-fits-all approach here because the web isn’t built like that.\nSo, while I still haven’t decided which of these two apps I’m going to use yet, I’ve found my own way to take advantage of timeline apps: I like to use them as specialized feeds for timelines that I don’t want to (or can’t) have in my RSS reader or add as lists to Mastodon/Bluesky.\nFor instance, I created a custom MacStories timeline in Tapestry with feeds for all kinds of places on the web where MacStories publishes content or social media posts. I love how Tapestry brings everything together in a unified, colorful timeline that I can use alongside my RSS and social apps to see all sorts of posts by our company.\nThe colors!\nReeder’s latest addition is also something I’m considering at the moment. The app can now create saved filters, which are based on multiple filtering conditions. These rules can be stacked to create custom views that aggregate specific subsets of posts from sources that, typically, would be their own silos. Want to create an “AI” feed that cuts through RSS, Bluesky, YouTube, and Reddit to find you the latest AI news or products by keyword? How about a filter to show only YouTube videos that mention Nintendo? All of this (and more) is possible with Reeder’s latest update, with an interface that…I’ll just let the screenshots speak for themselves.\nSilvio Rizzi’s design taste never disappoints.\nWhich leads me back to my main point. I feel like thinking about this new generation of apps as social media clients would be wrong and shortsighted; it reduces the scope of what they’re trying to accomplish down to a mere copy of a social media timeline. Instead, I think Tapestry and Reeder are coming at this from two different angles (Tapestry with better developer tools; Reeder with superior user filters), but with the same larger ambition nonetheless: to embrace the open nature of the Web and move past closed platforms that feel increasingly archaic today.\nThe fact that I can make a timeline out of anything doesn’t mean that Tapestry or Reeder have to be my everything-timelines. It means that the modern web lets me choose what I want to see in these apps. I can’t help but feel that there’s something special about that we must protect.\n\n\nSpeaking of which: are the folks at Tapbots considering a Bluesky client? ↩︎\n\n\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-02-04T21:45:24-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-02-05T20:35:19-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Federico Viticci", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/viticci/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/94a9aa7c70dbeb9440c6759bd2cebc2a?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Fediverse", "Social Media", "web", "stories" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77762", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/new-apple-invites-app-debuts-on-the-app-store/", "title": "New \u2018Apple Invites\u2019 App Debuts on the App Store", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

Apple Invites is now available on the App Store as a free download. The app, which Apple just announced, is iPhone-only and allows users to send and receive invitations to events – yes, invitations, invites is not a noun.

\n

Here’s what the onboarding looks like:

\n
\"\"

\n

The app can generate full-screen graphics for invitations to any sort of event. The invitations allow you to mix a combination of photos and AI-generated images that are combined with details about the event and the Memojis of the people you invite. There are multiple font choices, the option to add a playlist from Apple Music, and sections for draft invitations, upcoming events, events you’re hosting, those you’re attending, plus past and upcoming events. Invitees can send notes back to the sender too.

\n

Here’s one Federico made for my imaginary birthday party:

\n
\"\"

\n

I won’t be using the Image Playground integration.

\n

Fortunately, you aren’t required to use Apple Intelligence to make your invitations, although it is notable that this is one of the first Apple apps we know of that is calling the Image Playground API directly. The app also has a wide variety of backgrounds and supports multiple frameworks and apps system-wide, like Photos, Contacts, Maps, Weather, Calendar, Music, and more.

\n

Here are some more screenshots of the app and what it offers:

\n
\"\"

\n
\"\"

\n
\"\"

\n

Anyone can receive and respond an invitation using the app, but only iCloud+ subscribers can send invitations. I won’t be using Apple Intelligence to generate images for invitations, but putting the Image Playground integration aside, the app looks nice and is a fun way to approach what is usually a chore of back and forth emails or text messages. You can download Invites from the App Store using this link.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Apple Invites is now available on the App Store as a free download. The app, which Apple just announced, is iPhone-only and allows users to send and receive invitations to events – yes, invitations, invites is not a noun.\nHere’s what the onboarding looks like:\n\nThe app can generate full-screen graphics for invitations to any sort of event. The invitations allow you to mix a combination of photos and AI-generated images that are combined with details about the event and the Memojis of the people you invite. There are multiple font choices, the option to add a playlist from Apple Music, and sections for draft invitations, upcoming events, events you’re hosting, those you’re attending, plus past and upcoming events. Invitees can send notes back to the sender too.\nHere’s one Federico made for my imaginary birthday party:\n\nI won’t be using the Image Playground integration.\nFortunately, you aren’t required to use Apple Intelligence to make your invitations, although it is notable that this is one of the first Apple apps we know of that is calling the Image Playground API directly. The app also has a wide variety of backgrounds and supports multiple frameworks and apps system-wide, like Photos, Contacts, Maps, Weather, Calendar, Music, and more.\nHere are some more screenshots of the app and what it offers:\n\n\n\nAnyone can receive and respond an invitation using the app, but only iCloud+ subscribers can send invitations. I won’t be using Apple Intelligence to generate images for invitations, but putting the Image Playground integration aside, the app looks nice and is a fun way to approach what is usually a chore of back and forth emails or text messages. You can download Invites from the App Store using this link.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-02-04T11:21:55-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-02-04T11:41:18-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Apple Intelligence", "Invites", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77757", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/stories/six-colors-apple-in-2024-report-card/", "title": "Six Colors\u2019 Apple in 2024 Report Card", "content_html": "
\"Average

Average scores from the 2024 Six Colors report card. Source: Six Colors.

\n

For the past 10 years, Six Colors’ Jason Snell has put together an “Apple report card” – a survey to assess the current state of Apple “as seen through the eyes of writers, editors, developers, podcasters, and other people who spend an awful lot of time thinking about Apple”.

\n

The 2024 edition of the Six Colors Apple Report Card has been published, and you can find an excellent summary of all the submitted comments along with charts featuring average scores for the different categories here.

\n

I’m grateful that Jason invited me to take part again and share my thoughts on Apple’s 2024. As you’ll see from my comments below, last year represented the end of an interesting transition period for me: after years of experiments, I settled on the iPad Pro as my main computer. Despite my personal enthusiasm, however, the overall iPad story remained frustrating with its peculiar mix of phenomenal M4 hardware and stagnant software. The iPhone lineup impressed me with its hardware (across all models), though I’m still wishing for that elusive foldable form factor. I was very surprised by the AirPods 4, and while Vision Pro initially showed incredible promise, I found myself not using it that much by the end of the year.

\n

I’ve prepared the full text of my responses for the Six Colors report card, which you can find below.

\n

\n

The Mac

\n

4/5

\n

Look, as we’ve established, I can now use my iPad Pro for everything I do and don’t need a Mac in my life. But I think Apple is doing an outstanding job with its Mac lineup, and I’m particularly envious of those who own the new Mac mini, which is small, powerful, and just exceedingly cute. I would give this category 5 stars; I don’t because Apple still insists on not making touchscreen Macs or more interesting and weird form factors.

\n

The iPhone

\n

4/5

\n

It’s been an interesting year in iPhone land for me. After the September event, I purchased an iPhone 16 Pro Max, but my mind kept going to the iPhone 16 Plus. I was fascinated by its color, slimmer form factor, and more affordable overall package. I used the iPhone 16 Plus as my primary phone for two months and loved it, but then something happened: much to my surprise, I realized that I wasn’t taking as many pictures of my dogs, friends, and family as I used to with the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

\n

That’s when it hit me. I thought I wouldn’t need all the features of a “pro” phone – and, honestly, since I’m not a professional cinematographer, I really don’t – but in the end, I was missing the 5x camera too much. In my experience with using a 16 Plus, I was able to confirm that, if I wanted, I could live without a ProMotion display. But it was the lack of a third, zoomed camera on the Plus model that ultimately got me. I rely on the 5x lens to take dozens of pictures of my dogs doing something funny or sleeping in a cute way every day, and its absence on the 16 Plus was preventing me from grabbing my phone out of my pocket to save new memories on a daily basis.

\n

I’m glad I did this experiment because it also left me with a couple of additional thoughts about the iPhone line:

\n
  1. If Apple comes out with a completely redesigned, slimmer “iPhone 17 Air” later this year that doesn’t have a 5x camera, I’ll have to begrudgingly pass on it and stick with the 17 Pro Max instead.
    2. \n
  2. Now more than ever, I truly, fundamentally want Apple to make a foldable phone that expands into a mini-tablet when opened. I don’t care how expensive Apple makes this device. I look at the latest Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and I’m very jealous of its form factor, but I also know that I wouldn’t be able to use Android as the OS for my phone.
    3. \n

If it weren’t for the lack of a foldable form factor in Apple’s iPhone lineup, I would give this category 5 stars. I hope we’ll see some changes on this front within the next couple of years.

\n

The iPad

\n
\"\"

\n

3/5

\n

What can I say about the iPad that I haven’t already documented extensively? I love the iPad Pro’s hardware, and I find the M4 iPad Pro a miracle of hardware engineering with no equal in other similar products. In 2024, I chose to go all-in on the 11” iPad Pro as my one and only computer; in fact, since the MacPad stopped working a few weeks ago (RIP), I don’t even have a Mac anymore, but I can do everything I need to do on an iPad – that is, after a series of compromises that, unfortunately, continue to be the other side of the coin of the iPad experience.

\n

Going into its 15th year (!), the iPad continues to be incredible hardware let down by a lackluster operating system that is neither as intuitive as iOS nor as advanced or flexible as macOS. The iPad is still stuck in the middle, which is exactly what I – and my fellow iPad users – have been saying for years now. I shouldn’t have to come up with expensive hardware-based workarounds to overcome the limitations of a platform that doesn’t want me to use my computer to its full extent. But, despite everything, I persist because no other tablet even comes close to the performance, thinness, and modularity of an iPad Pro.

\n

Wearables

\n

4/5

\n

I love my new AirPods 4, and I find the combination of no in-ear tips and basic noise cancellation a fantastic balance of trade-offs and comfort. I didn’t rely on AirPods Pro’s advanced noise cancellation and other audio features that much, so switching to the “simpler” AirPods 4 when they were released was a no-brainer for me.

\n

If we’re counting the Vision Pro in wearables, for as flawed as that product can be (it is, after all, a fancy developer kit with an almost non-existent third-party app ecosystem), I also think it’s an impressive showcase of what Apple can do with hardware and miniaturization if money is not a concern and engineers are free to build whatever they want. I don’t use the Vision Pro on a regular basis, but whenever I do, I’m reminded that visionOS is an exciting long-term prospect for what I hope will eventually be shrunk down to glasses.

\n

That is, in fact, the reason why I’m not giving this category 5 stars. I really want to stop using my Meta Ray-Ban glasses, but Apple doesn’t have an alternative that I can purchase today – and worse, it sounds like their version may not be ready for quite some time still. It seems like Apple is, at this point, almost institutionally incapable of releasing a minimum viable product that doesn’t have to be a complete platform with an entire app ecosystem and a major marketing blitz. I just want Apple to make a pair of glasses that combine AirPods, Siri, and a basic camera. I don’t need Apple to make XR glasses that project a computer in front of my eyes today. And I wish the company would understand this – that they would see the interest in “simple” glasses that have speakers, a microphone, and a camera, and release that product this year. I hope they change their minds and can fast-track such a product rather than wait for visionOS to support that kind of form factor years from now.

\n

Apple Watch

\n

5/5

\n

Vision Pro

\n

3/5

\n

Home

\n

2/5

\n

My entire apartment is wired to HomeKit, but I don’t love HomeKit because I’m tired of purchasing third-party hardware that doesn’t have the same degree of quality control that Apple typically brings to the table. I’m intrigued by the idea of Apple finally waking up and making a HomePod with a screen that could potentially serve as a flexible, interactive home hub. That’s a first step, and I hope it won’t disappoint. Seriously, though: I just would love for Apple to make routers again.

\n

Apple TV

\n

3/5

\n

Services

\n

2/5

\n

I switched from Apple Music to Spotify last year, so the only Apple services we use in our household now are iCloud storage with family sharing and Apple TV+. I love Apple TV+, but they should make a native app for Android so that I can watch their TV shows on my Lenovo media tablet. As for iCloud, I use it for Shortcuts, app integrations, and basic iCloud Drive storage, but I don’t trust it for work-related assets because it’s so damn slow. For whatever reason, with Dropbox I can upload heavy video files in seconds thanks to my fiber connection, but with iCloud, I have to wait a full day for those assets to sync across devices. iCloud Drive needs more controls and tools for people who work with files and share them with other people.

\n

Overall Reliability of Apple Hardware

\n

5/5

\n

I have never had an Apple product fail on me, hardware-wise, in the 16 years I’ve been covering the company. If there’s one area where Apple is leagues ahead of its competition, I think it’s hardware manufacturing and overall experience.

\n

Apple OS Quality

\n

4/5

\n

Quality of Apple Apps

\n

3/5

\n

Developer Relations

\n

1/5

\n

Other Comments

\n

I’m genuinely curious about what Apple is going to do with Apple Intelligence this year. Their first wave of previously announced AI features still hasn’t fully rolled out, and it’s fairly clear that the company is more or less two years behind its competitors in this space. While OpenAI is launching Tasks and Google is impressing the industry with their latest Gemini models and promising AI agents living in the browser, Apple is…letting you create cute emoji and terrible images that are so 2022, it hurts.

\n

That being said, I believe that Apple is aware of the fact that they need to catch up – and fast – and I kind of enjoy the fact that we’re witnessing Apple being an underdog again and having to pull out all the stops to show the world that they can still be relevant in a post-AI society. The company, unlike many AI competitors, has a unique advantage: they make the computers we use and the operating systems they run on. I’m convinced that, long term, Apple’s main competitors won’t be OpenAI, Anthropic, or Meta, but Google and Microsoft. The Apple Intelligence features we saw at WWDC last year made for a cute demo; I think 2025 is going to show us a glimpse of what Apple’s true vision for the future of computing and AI is.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Average scores from the 2024 Six Colors report card. Source: Six Colors.\nFor the past 10 years, Six Colors’ Jason Snell has put together an “Apple report card” – a survey to assess the current state of Apple “as seen through the eyes of writers, editors, developers, podcasters, and other people who spend an awful lot of time thinking about Apple”.\nThe 2024 edition of the Six Colors Apple Report Card has been published, and you can find an excellent summary of all the submitted comments along with charts featuring average scores for the different categories here.\nI’m grateful that Jason invited me to take part again and share my thoughts on Apple’s 2024. As you’ll see from my comments below, last year represented the end of an interesting transition period for me: after years of experiments, I settled on the iPad Pro as my main computer. Despite my personal enthusiasm, however, the overall iPad story remained frustrating with its peculiar mix of phenomenal M4 hardware and stagnant software. The iPhone lineup impressed me with its hardware (across all models), though I’m still wishing for that elusive foldable form factor. I was very surprised by the AirPods 4, and while Vision Pro initially showed incredible promise, I found myself not using it that much by the end of the year.\nI’ve prepared the full text of my responses for the Six Colors report card, which you can find below.\n\nThe Mac\n4/5\nLook, as we’ve established, I can now use my iPad Pro for everything I do and don’t need a Mac in my life. But I think Apple is doing an outstanding job with its Mac lineup, and I’m particularly envious of those who own the new Mac mini, which is small, powerful, and just exceedingly cute. I would give this category 5 stars; I don’t because Apple still insists on not making touchscreen Macs or more interesting and weird form factors.\nThe iPhone\n4/5\nIt’s been an interesting year in iPhone land for me. After the September event, I purchased an iPhone 16 Pro Max, but my mind kept going to the iPhone 16 Plus. I was fascinated by its color, slimmer form factor, and more affordable overall package. I used the iPhone 16 Plus as my primary phone for two months and loved it, but then something happened: much to my surprise, I realized that I wasn’t taking as many pictures of my dogs, friends, and family as I used to with the iPhone 15 Pro Max.\nThat’s when it hit me. I thought I wouldn’t need all the features of a “pro” phone – and, honestly, since I’m not a professional cinematographer, I really don’t – but in the end, I was missing the 5x camera too much. In my experience with using a 16 Plus, I was able to confirm that, if I wanted, I could live without a ProMotion display. But it was the lack of a third, zoomed camera on the Plus model that ultimately got me. I rely on the 5x lens to take dozens of pictures of my dogs doing something funny or sleeping in a cute way every day, and its absence on the 16 Plus was preventing me from grabbing my phone out of my pocket to save new memories on a daily basis.\nI’m glad I did this experiment because it also left me with a couple of additional thoughts about the iPhone line:\nIf Apple comes out with a completely redesigned, slimmer “iPhone 17 Air” later this year that doesn’t have a 5x camera, I’ll have to begrudgingly pass on it and stick with the 17 Pro Max instead.\nNow more than ever, I truly, fundamentally want Apple to make a foldable phone that expands into a mini-tablet when opened. I don’t care how expensive Apple makes this device. I look at the latest Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and I’m very jealous of its form factor, but I also know that I wouldn’t be able to use Android as the OS for my phone.\nIf it weren’t for the lack of a foldable form factor in Apple’s iPhone lineup, I would give this category 5 stars. I hope we’ll see some changes on this front within the next couple of years.\nThe iPad\n\n3/5\nWhat can I say about the iPad that I haven’t already documented extensively? I love the iPad Pro’s hardware, and I find the M4 iPad Pro a miracle of hardware engineering with no equal in other similar products. In 2024, I chose to go all-in on the 11” iPad Pro as my one and only computer; in fact, since the MacPad stopped working a few weeks ago (RIP), I don’t even have a Mac anymore, but I can do everything I need to do on an iPad – that is, after a series of compromises that, unfortunately, continue to be the other side of the coin of the iPad experience.\nGoing into its 15th year (!), the iPad continues to be incredible hardware let down by a lackluster operating system that is neither as intuitive as iOS nor as advanced or flexible as macOS. The iPad is still stuck in the middle, which is exactly what I – and my fellow iPad users – have been saying for years now. I shouldn’t have to come up with expensive hardware-based workarounds to overcome the limitations of a platform that doesn’t want me to use my computer to its full extent. But, despite everything, I persist because no other tablet even comes close to the performance, thinness, and modularity of an iPad Pro.\nWearables\n4/5\nI love my new AirPods 4, and I find the combination of no in-ear tips and basic noise cancellation a fantastic balance of trade-offs and comfort. I didn’t rely on AirPods Pro’s advanced noise cancellation and other audio features that much, so switching to the “simpler” AirPods 4 when they were released was a no-brainer for me.\nIf we’re counting the Vision Pro in wearables, for as flawed as that product can be (it is, after all, a fancy developer kit with an almost non-existent third-party app ecosystem), I also think it’s an impressive showcase of what Apple can do with hardware and miniaturization if money is not a concern and engineers are free to build whatever they want. I don’t use the Vision Pro on a regular basis, but whenever I do, I’m reminded that visionOS is an exciting long-term prospect for what I hope will eventually be shrunk down to glasses.\nThat is, in fact, the reason why I’m not giving this category 5 stars. I really want to stop using my Meta Ray-Ban glasses, but Apple doesn’t have an alternative that I can purchase today – and worse, it sounds like their version may not be ready for quite some time still. It seems like Apple is, at this point, almost institutionally incapable of releasing a minimum viable product that doesn’t have to be a complete platform with an entire app ecosystem and a major marketing blitz. I just want Apple to make a pair of glasses that combine AirPods, Siri, and a basic camera. I don’t need Apple to make XR glasses that project a computer in front of my eyes today. And I wish the company would understand this – that they would see the interest in “simple” glasses that have speakers, a microphone, and a camera, and release that product this year. I hope they change their minds and can fast-track such a product rather than wait for visionOS to support that kind of form factor years from now.\nApple Watch\n5/5\nVision Pro\n3/5\nHome\n2/5\nMy entire apartment is wired to HomeKit, but I don’t love HomeKit because I’m tired of purchasing third-party hardware that doesn’t have the same degree of quality control that Apple typically brings to the table. I’m intrigued by the idea of Apple finally waking up and making a HomePod with a screen that could potentially serve as a flexible, interactive home hub. That’s a first step, and I hope it won’t disappoint. Seriously, though: I just would love for Apple to make routers again.\nApple TV\n3/5\nServices\n2/5\nI switched from Apple Music to Spotify last year, so the only Apple services we use in our household now are iCloud storage with family sharing and Apple TV+. I love Apple TV+, but they should make a native app for Android so that I can watch their TV shows on my Lenovo media tablet. As for iCloud, I use it for Shortcuts, app integrations, and basic iCloud Drive storage, but I don’t trust it for work-related assets because it’s so damn slow. For whatever reason, with Dropbox I can upload heavy video files in seconds thanks to my fiber connection, but with iCloud, I have to wait a full day for those assets to sync across devices. iCloud Drive needs more controls and tools for people who work with files and share them with other people.\nOverall Reliability of Apple Hardware\n5/5\nI have never had an Apple product fail on me, hardware-wise, in the 16 years I’ve been covering the company. If there’s one area where Apple is leagues ahead of its competition, I think it’s hardware manufacturing and overall experience.\nApple OS Quality\n4/5\nQuality of Apple Apps\n3/5\nDeveloper Relations\n1/5\nOther Comments\nI’m genuinely curious about what Apple is going to do with Apple Intelligence this year. Their first wave of previously announced AI features still hasn’t fully rolled out, and it’s fairly clear that the company is more or less two years behind its competitors in this space. While OpenAI is launching Tasks and Google is impressing the industry with their latest Gemini models and promising AI agents living in the browser, Apple is…letting you create cute emoji and terrible images that are so 2022, it hurts.\nThat being said, I believe that Apple is aware of the fact that they need to catch up – and fast – and I kind of enjoy the fact that we’re witnessing Apple being an underdog again and having to pull out all the stops to show the world that they can still be relevant in a post-AI society. The company, unlike many AI competitors, has a unique advantage: they make the computers we use and the operating systems they run on. I’m convinced that, long term, Apple’s main competitors won’t be OpenAI, Anthropic, or Meta, but Google and Microsoft. The Apple Intelligence features we saw at WWDC last year made for a cute demo; I think 2025 is going to show us a glimpse of what Apple’s true vision for the future of computing and AI is.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-02-04T10:57:10-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-02-04T10:57:10-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Federico Viticci", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/viticci/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/94a9aa7c70dbeb9440c6759bd2cebc2a?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "2024", "apple", "stories" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77748", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/mela-1-6-adds-web-search-engine-and-recipe-import-from-youtube-instagram-and-tiktok-videos/", "title": "Mela 2.5 Adds Web Search Engine and Recipe Import from YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok Videos", "content_html": "
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Back in 2021, Silvio Rizzi, developer of the all-time great RSS client Reeder , released Mela, an app for importing, collecting, and sharing recipes. Right from the start, Mela stood out as a delightful take on the recipe app genre. Just like Reeder, it features a beautiful design and is a joy to browse and use. The app originally shipped with the ability to import recipes directly from the web, subscribe to RSS feeds, and even scan recipes found in physical cookbooks and magazines. Combining those features with its built-in tools for converting measurements and dynamically adjusting meal sizes, Mela truly cooked up the perfect recipe (pun intended) for becoming your one and only cooking app companion. You can check out John’s original review of the app on MacStories to learn more.

\n

This month, Mela was updated to version 2.5 with several improvements, including an option to search for recipes on the web using a new native recipe search engine and the ability to import recipes from video descriptions on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, all of which have become popular platforms for discovering and sharing cooking ideas. This new version takes the app’s web scraping capabilities even further than before, and I was curious to see how it fared.

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Let’s check it out.

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First, I must say that I’ve been quite impressed by Mela’s interface for searching the web for recipes. The app offers several search engine options, including an extensive list of popular services like Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, and even Ecosia, but the highlight is definitely its new ‘Web Recipe Search’ option, which surfaces recipes from across various recipe sites.

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To get started, head to Mela’s Browser tab and start searching for a recipe. If you use the default Web Recipe Search option, the results will be presented in a neat card layout that groups recipes by website and highlights them with a picture and a short excerpt extracted from the corresponding webpage. To take a closer look at a recipe, simply tap on its card, and the app will take you to the full webpage. You can then tap the floating ’Found Recipe’ button at the bottom of the screen to import it into Mela. As usual, before saving the recipe, the app will let you preview and customize it to adjust everything from portion sizes and units to the main recipe itself.

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\"Searching

Searching for samosa recipes via Mela’s new Web Recipe Search.

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I’ve found this new web search feature to be delightful. It’s a great addition to Mela’s ability to import recipes from the web. It lets you sort through dozens of options and save recipes without ever having to deal with the clutter that comes with regular Google search results, and it allows you to bypass cookie popups on most cooking websites entirely.

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The other new feature in this update is the option to import a recipe by pasting a video URL from YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok into the app’s address bar. By scanning the description of a video containing a recipe, Mela is able to successfully figure out the quantity of each ingredient and even cooking steps. My main worry was that Mela would struggle outside of English-speaking videos, but to my surprise, the app seemed to work just as well with French-speaking videos from YouTube.

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\"I

I successfully imported a cookie recipe from a French YouTube channel. Just like with other imports, Mela lets you easily adjust the number of portions and changes the ingredient quantities accordingly.

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When it comes to recipes found on TikTok, I’ve had less luck. Mela seems less capable of identifying recipes from there, and it often would not let me import a recipe directly after pasting a TikTok URL into the address bar. On my first attempt at importing a rougail saucisses recipe (an excellent meal from La Réunion island; you should check it out), Mela did not offer the ‘Found Recipe’ button:

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However, on my second attempt, with a different rougail saucisses recipe found on TikTok, the import was successful:

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Clearly, by searching for recipes in French mixed in with some Reunionese Créole, I was stress-testing Mela’s ability to parse recipes from videos. Still, I would say seven out of ten attempts worked impressively well.

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I’m not a great cook – in fact, I have a hard time enjoying the process at all – but over the years, I can attest that Mela has become one of my partner’s favorite apps to use on their iPhone. I can easily understand why they’ve come to love it for collecting recipes instead of relying on browser bookmarks and scanned documents scattered on their laptop’s hard drive. Mela has come a long way while maintaining its beautiful UI design, and with its ever-extending ability to import recipes from different mediums, it definitely stands out in its category.

\n

Mela is available for free on the App Store for iOS and iPadOS. All the app’s features can be unlocked with a one-time $4.99 in-app purchase. The Mac version is available separately as a free download on the Mac App Store, where all of its features can be unlocked with a one-time $9.99 in-app purchase.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Back in 2021, Silvio Rizzi, developer of the all-time great RSS client Reeder , released Mela, an app for importing, collecting, and sharing recipes. Right from the start, Mela stood out as a delightful take on the recipe app genre. Just like Reeder, it features a beautiful design and is a joy to browse and use. The app originally shipped with the ability to import recipes directly from the web, subscribe to RSS feeds, and even scan recipes found in physical cookbooks and magazines. Combining those features with its built-in tools for converting measurements and dynamically adjusting meal sizes, Mela truly cooked up the perfect recipe (pun intended) for becoming your one and only cooking app companion. You can check out John’s original review of the app on MacStories to learn more.\nThis month, Mela was updated to version 2.5 with several improvements, including an option to search for recipes on the web using a new native recipe search engine and the ability to import recipes from video descriptions on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, all of which have become popular platforms for discovering and sharing cooking ideas. This new version takes the app’s web scraping capabilities even further than before, and I was curious to see how it fared.\nLet’s check it out.\n\nFirst, I must say that I’ve been quite impressed by Mela’s interface for searching the web for recipes. The app offers several search engine options, including an extensive list of popular services like Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, and even Ecosia, but the highlight is definitely its new ‘Web Recipe Search’ option, which surfaces recipes from across various recipe sites.\nTo get started, head to Mela’s Browser tab and start searching for a recipe. If you use the default Web Recipe Search option, the results will be presented in a neat card layout that groups recipes by website and highlights them with a picture and a short excerpt extracted from the corresponding webpage. To take a closer look at a recipe, simply tap on its card, and the app will take you to the full webpage. You can then tap the floating ’Found Recipe’ button at the bottom of the screen to import it into Mela. As usual, before saving the recipe, the app will let you preview and customize it to adjust everything from portion sizes and units to the main recipe itself.\nSearching for samosa recipes via Mela’s new Web Recipe Search.\nI’ve found this new web search feature to be delightful. It’s a great addition to Mela’s ability to import recipes from the web. It lets you sort through dozens of options and save recipes without ever having to deal with the clutter that comes with regular Google search results, and it allows you to bypass cookie popups on most cooking websites entirely.\nThe other new feature in this update is the option to import a recipe by pasting a video URL from YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok into the app’s address bar. By scanning the description of a video containing a recipe, Mela is able to successfully figure out the quantity of each ingredient and even cooking steps. My main worry was that Mela would struggle outside of English-speaking videos, but to my surprise, the app seemed to work just as well with French-speaking videos from YouTube.\nI successfully imported a cookie recipe from a French YouTube channel. Just like with other imports, Mela lets you easily adjust the number of portions and changes the ingredient quantities accordingly.\nWhen it comes to recipes found on TikTok, I’ve had less luck. Mela seems less capable of identifying recipes from there, and it often would not let me import a recipe directly after pasting a TikTok URL into the address bar. On my first attempt at importing a rougail saucisses recipe (an excellent meal from La Réunion island; you should check it out), Mela did not offer the ‘Found Recipe’ button:\n\nHowever, on my second attempt, with a different rougail saucisses recipe found on TikTok, the import was successful:\n\nClearly, by searching for recipes in French mixed in with some Reunionese Créole, I was stress-testing Mela’s ability to parse recipes from videos. Still, I would say seven out of ten attempts worked impressively well.\nI’m not a great cook – in fact, I have a hard time enjoying the process at all – but over the years, I can attest that Mela has become one of my partner’s favorite apps to use on their iPhone. I can easily understand why they’ve come to love it for collecting recipes instead of relying on browser bookmarks and scanned documents scattered on their laptop’s hard drive. Mela has come a long way while maintaining its beautiful UI design, and with its ever-extending ability to import recipes from different mediums, it definitely stands out in its category.\nMela is available for free on the App Store for iOS and iPadOS. All the app’s features can be unlocked with a one-time $4.99 in-app purchase. The Mac version is available separately as a free download on the Mac App Store, where all of its features can be unlocked with a one-time $9.99 in-app purchase.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-02-03T11:23:31-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-02-04T10:01:35-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "app", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77750", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/the-latest-from-comfort-zone-magic-rays-of-light-and-macstories-unwind-16/", "title": "The Latest from Comfort Zone, Magic Rays of Light, and MacStories Unwind", "content_html": "
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Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

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Comfort Zone

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Matt is unable to defend himself as he’s on the lamb, Chris is exploring that Mac life, and Niléane has some snazzy new headphones. Then Chris edited with AI to pretty good effect and Niléane tried using an AI search engine to much less success.

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Sponsored By: Jelly: A better way to share an inbox. Go to and use code COMFORTZONE15 for 15% off your first year of Jelly.

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Magic Rays of Light

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Sigmund and Devon highlight the return of Mythic Quest for its fourth season on Apple TV+ and share their ideas for how Apple can improve gaming on Apple TV this year.

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MacStories Unwind

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This week, Federico and I do some regional grocery shopping, Federico pursues pasta perfection, plus a documentary and podcast recommendation.

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Comfort Zone, Episode 34, ‘I’m the Pepper Daddy Now’ Show Notes

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Weekly Topics

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Other Things Discussed

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Follow the Hosts

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Magic Rays of Light, Episode 154, ‘Mythic Quest and Gaming on Apple TV in 2025’ Show Notes

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Pre-Roll

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Highlight

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Main Topic

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Apple TV News

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Releases

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Extras

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TV App Highlights

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Up Next

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Send us a voice message all week via iMessage or email to magic@macstories.net.

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Subscribe to Magic Rays of Light on YouTube and follow us on Mastodon and Bluesky.

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Sigmund Judge | Follow Sigmund on Mastodon or Bluesky

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Devon Dundee | Follow Devon on Mastodon or Bluesky

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MacStories Unwind, ‘Pursuing Pasta Perfection’ Show Notes

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Unplugged

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Picks

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MacStories Unwind+

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We deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.

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To learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.

\n

MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.

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If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:\nComfort Zone\n\n \n \n \n \n \nMatt is unable to defend himself as he’s on the lamb, Chris is exploring that Mac life, and Niléane has some snazzy new headphones. Then Chris edited with AI to pretty good effect and Niléane tried using an AI search engine to much less success.\nSponsored By: Jelly: A better way to share an inbox. Go to and use code COMFORTZONE15 for 15% off your first year of Jelly.\nMagic Rays of Light\n\n \n \n \n \n \nSigmund and Devon highlight the return of Mythic Quest for its fourth season on Apple TV+ and share their ideas for how Apple can improve gaming on Apple TV this year.\nMacStories Unwind\n\n \n \n \n \n \nThis week, Federico and I do some regional grocery shopping, Federico pursues pasta perfection, plus a documentary and podcast recommendation.\n\nComfort Zone, Episode 34, ‘I’m the Pepper Daddy Now’ Show Notes\n\nWeekly Topics\nSamson SR850 headphones\nSKÅDIS\nOther Things Discussed\nMatt was on AppStories\nSamsung uses AI to invent…screen recording?\nfocussedOS\nDark Noise\nHyperkey\nRaycast\nText Snipper\nCleanShot X\nPixel Perfect\nFinal Cut Pro\nRiverside\nChatGPT Search\nFollow the Hosts\nChris on YouTube\nMatt on Birchtree\nNiléane on Mastodon\nComfort Zone on Mastodon\nComfort Zone on Bluesky\nMagic Rays of Light, Episode 154, ‘Mythic Quest and Gaming on Apple TV in 2025’ Show Notes\n\nPre-Roll\nApple Music: 100 Best Albums Book\nHighlight\nMythic Quest\nMain Topic\nNetflix Games Seemingly Narrows Its Focus\nApple TV News\nApple Announces the 2025 Black Unity Collection\nReleases\nSuper Bowl LIX\nApple Music Live: Björk\nFireAid\nMan vs. Beast\nVietnam: The War That Changed America\nExtras\nSeverance — Ben Stiller and Adam Scott Remember Their Past | Origin Story\nSeverance — Opening Title Sequence: Season 2\n‘Severance’ has a new credit sequence for Season 2. The animator explains it | LA Times\nTim C.’s Orientation\nSeverance — The Cast Breaks Down Fan Theories | Theoretically\nSeverance — Lumon Management Program: Integrating New Team Members\nBe Mine Pill People\nTV App Highlights\nYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man\nMatlock\nYou’re Cordially Invited\nSing Sing\nDeaf President Now!\nLove, Brooklyn\nTwinless\nHal & Harper\nBubble & Squeak\nSorry, Baby\nBy Design\nUp Next\nRoyal Rumble\nHollywood Squares\nSend us a voice message all week via iMessage or email to magic@macstories.net.\nSubscribe to Magic Rays of Light on YouTube and follow us on Mastodon and Bluesky.\nSigmund Judge | Follow Sigmund on Mastodon or Bluesky\nDevon Dundee | Follow Devon on Mastodon or Bluesky\nMacStories Unwind, ‘Pursuing Pasta Perfection’ Show Notes\n\nLinks and Show Notes\nUnplugged\nShop the Pig: Grocery Store Names\nRegional Grocery Stores\nPiggly Wiggly\nFood Lion\nHarris Teeter\nPublix\n\n\nPerfect Handmade High Hydration Pizza e Mortazza Recipe\nNaturaSi\nCacio e Pepe e Corn Starch – Pixel Envy\nThe Perfect Cacio e Pepe Recipe, According to Science\n\nKuzu\nKuzu Root Starch\n\nPicks\nJohn’s Pick:\nAn Update on Our Family on Max\n\nFederico’s Pick:\nInto the Aether\nThe ITA Patreon\n\n\nMacStories Unwind+\n\nWe deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.\nTo learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.\nMacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.\nIf you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-31T12:33:54-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-31T12:35:49-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Comfort Zone", "Magic Rays of Light", "podcast", "unwind", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77746", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/doing-research-with-notebooklm/", "title": "Doing Research with NotebookLM", "content_html": "

Fascinating blog post by Vidit Bhargava (creator of the excellent LookUp dictionary app) about how he worked on his master thesis with the aid of Google’s NotebookLM.

\n

\n I used NotebookLM throughout my thesis, not because I was interested in it generating content for me (I think AI generated text and images are sloppy and classless); but because it’s a genuinely great research organization tool that provides utility of drawing connections between discreet topics and helping me understand my own journey better.\n

\n

Make sure to check out the examples of his interviews and research material as indexed by the service.

\n

As I explained in an episode of AppStories a while back, and as John also expanded upon in the latest issue of the Monthly Log for Club members, we believe that assistive AI tools that leverage modern LLM advancements to help people work better (and less) are infinitely superior to whatever useless slop generative tools produce.

\n

Google’s NotebookLM is, in my opinion, one of the most intriguing new tools in this field. For the past two months, I’ve been using it as a personal search assistant for the entire archive of 10 years of annual iOS reviews – that’s more than half a million words in total. Not only can NotebookLM search that entire library in seconds, but it does so with even the most random natural language queries about the most obscure details I’ve ever covered in my stories, such as “When was the copy and paste menu renamed to edit menu?” (It was iOS 16.). It’s becoming increasingly challenging for me, after all these years, to keep track of the growing list of iOS-related minutiae; from a personal productivity standpoint, NotebookLM has to be one of the most exciting new products I’ve tried in a while. (Alongside Shortwave for email.)

\n

Just today, I discovered that my read-later tool of choice – Readwise Reader – offers a native integration to let you search highlights with NotebookLM. That’s another source that I’m definitely adding to NotebookLM, and I’m thinking of how I could replicate the same Readwise Reader setup (highlights are appended to a single Google Doc) with Zapier and RSS feeds. Wouldn’t it be fun, for instance, if I could search the entire archive of AppStories show notes in NotebookLM, or if I could turn starred items from Feedbin into a standalone notebook as well?

\n

I’m probably going to have to sign up for NotebookLM Plus when it launches for non-business accounts, which, according to Google, should happen in early 2025.

\n

\u2192 Source: blog.viditb.com

", "content_text": "Fascinating blog post by Vidit Bhargava (creator of the excellent LookUp dictionary app) about how he worked on his master thesis with the aid of Google’s NotebookLM.\n\n I used NotebookLM throughout my thesis, not because I was interested in it generating content for me (I think AI generated text and images are sloppy and classless); but because it’s a genuinely great research organization tool that provides utility of drawing connections between discreet topics and helping me understand my own journey better.\n\nMake sure to check out the examples of his interviews and research material as indexed by the service.\nAs I explained in an episode of AppStories a while back, and as John also expanded upon in the latest issue of the Monthly Log for Club members, we believe that assistive AI tools that leverage modern LLM advancements to help people work better (and less) are infinitely superior to whatever useless slop generative tools produce.\nGoogle’s NotebookLM is, in my opinion, one of the most intriguing new tools in this field. For the past two months, I’ve been using it as a personal search assistant for the entire archive of 10 years of annual iOS reviews – that’s more than half a million words in total. Not only can NotebookLM search that entire library in seconds, but it does so with even the most random natural language queries about the most obscure details I’ve ever covered in my stories, such as “When was the copy and paste menu renamed to edit menu?” (It was iOS 16.). It’s becoming increasingly challenging for me, after all these years, to keep track of the growing list of iOS-related minutiae; from a personal productivity standpoint, NotebookLM has to be one of the most exciting new products I’ve tried in a while. (Alongside Shortwave for email.)\nJust today, I discovered that my read-later tool of choice – Readwise Reader – offers a native integration to let you search highlights with NotebookLM. That’s another source that I’m definitely adding to NotebookLM, and I’m thinking of how I could replicate the same Readwise Reader setup (highlights are appended to a single Google Doc) with Zapier and RSS feeds. Wouldn’t it be fun, for instance, if I could search the entire archive of AppStories show notes in NotebookLM, or if I could turn starred items from Feedbin into a standalone notebook as well?\nI’m probably going to have to sign up for NotebookLM Plus when it launches for non-business accounts, which, according to Google, should happen in early 2025.\n\u2192 Source: blog.viditb.com", "date_published": "2025-01-30T21:15:25-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-30T21:15:25-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Federico Viticci", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/viticci/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/94a9aa7c70dbeb9440c6759bd2cebc2a?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "AI", "google", "NotebookLM", "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77738", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-reports-q1-2025-financial-results/", "title": "Apple Reports Q1\u00a02025 Financial Results", "content_html": "
\"Apple's

Apple’s Anhui, China store. Source: Apple.

\n

Last quarter, Apple reported revenue of $94.9 billion, which was a 6% year-over-year gain.

\n

Today, first-quarter 2025 earnings are out and Apple reported record revenue of $124.3 billion, a 4% year-over-year gain. The diluted earnings per share was $2.40 a 10% year-over-year gain.

\n

Tim Cook had this to say:

\n

\n Today Apple is reporting our best quarter ever, with revenue of $124.3 billion, up 4 percent from a year ago. We were thrilled to bring customers our best-ever lineup of products and services during the holiday season. Through the power of Apple silicon, we’re unlocking new possibilities for our users with Apple Intelligence, which makes apps and experiences even better and more personal. And we’re excited that Apple Intelligence will be available in even more languages this April.\n

\n

Going into today’s earnings call, Apple’s stock was downgraded by multiple analysts. Factors cited in the downgrades included weak sales in China, an expectation that Apple wouldn’t meet earnings expectations, and the the lack of any boost in iPhone sales from Apple Intelligence.

\n

It’s possible that some of the most powerful Apple Intelligence features that have yet to debut will drive future sales of iPhones and other devices even further than last quarter. That’s not a bet I’d necessarily take, but irrespective of hardware sale accelleration, the volatility among the companies behind the leading artificial intelligence models may insure to Apple’s benefit as investors move their investments into stocks that are perceived as safer.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Apple’s Anhui, China store. Source: Apple.\nLast quarter, Apple reported revenue of $94.9 billion, which was a 6% year-over-year gain.\nToday, first-quarter 2025 earnings are out and Apple reported record revenue of $124.3 billion, a 4% year-over-year gain. The diluted earnings per share was $2.40 a 10% year-over-year gain.\nTim Cook had this to say:\n\n Today Apple is reporting our best quarter ever, with revenue of $124.3 billion, up 4 percent from a year ago. We were thrilled to bring customers our best-ever lineup of products and services during the holiday season. Through the power of Apple silicon, we’re unlocking new possibilities for our users with Apple Intelligence, which makes apps and experiences even better and more personal. And we’re excited that Apple Intelligence will be available in even more languages this April.\n\nGoing into today’s earnings call, Apple’s stock was downgraded by multiple analysts. Factors cited in the downgrades included weak sales in China, an expectation that Apple wouldn’t meet earnings expectations, and the the lack of any boost in iPhone sales from Apple Intelligence.\nIt’s possible that some of the most powerful Apple Intelligence features that have yet to debut will drive future sales of iPhones and other devices even further than last quarter. That’s not a bet I’d necessarily take, but irrespective of hardware sale accelleration, the volatility among the companies behind the leading artificial intelligence models may insure to Apple’s benefit as investors move their investments into stocks that are perceived as safer.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-30T16:42:51-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-30T16:42:51-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "earnings", "earnings call", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77735", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/the-latest-from-appstories-and-npc-next-portable-console-6/", "title": "The Latest from AppStories and NPC: Next Portable Console", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

\n

AppStories

\n
\n
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\n

This week, for episode 420 Federico and John are joined by Matt Birchler, co-host of Comfort Zone and many other projects to talk about web apps, email, AI, and more.

\n

On AppStories+, Matt, John, and Federico confess their tech secrets.

\n

Sponsored by:

\n

NPC: Next Portable Console

\n
\n
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\n

It’s a packed episode with a post Switch 2 reveal vibe check and more on iPhone game controller innovation, plus John’s early impressions of the Ayn Odin2 Portal, Brendon’s review of the Miyoo Flip, and Federico’s long 2DS/3DS emulation journey.

\n

\n

AppStories, Episode 420, ‘Three Browsers Are Better Than One with Matt Birchler’ Show Notes

\n
\n\n

AppStories+ Pre-Show

\n

Visit AppStories.net to learn more about the extended, high bitrate audio version of AppStories that is delivered early each week and subscribe.

\n

Web Apps, AI, and the Future of App Stores

\n
\"[Subscribe

Subscribe here.

\n

On AppStories+, a video experiment, I have iPad Pro follow-up, and Federico has technical follow-up and a question for listeners about streaming videogames over Wi-Fi.

\n

We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week.

\n

To learn more about the benefits included with an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ.

\n

NPC, Episode 19, ‘Peas, a Rubber Band, and an iPad’ Show Notes

\n
\n\n

iPhone Controller Innovation

\n

Ayn Odin2 Portal

\n

Miyoo Flip

\n

Federico’s 3DS Journey

\n

MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.

\n

If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:\nAppStories\n\n \n \n \n \n \nThis week, for episode 420 Federico and John are joined by Matt Birchler, co-host of Comfort Zone and many other projects to talk about web apps, email, AI, and more.\nOn AppStories+, Matt, John, and Federico confess their tech secrets.\nSponsored by:\nThings – Keep Your Plans on Track\nMemberful – Easy-to-Use Reliable Membership Software\nNPC: Next Portable Console\n\n \n \n \n \n \nIt’s a packed episode with a post Switch 2 reveal vibe check and more on iPhone game controller innovation, plus John’s early impressions of the Ayn Odin2 Portal, Brendon’s review of the Miyoo Flip, and Federico’s long 2DS/3DS emulation journey.\n\nAppStories, Episode 420, ‘Three Browsers Are Better Than One with Matt Birchler’ Show Notes\n\nLinks and Show Notes\nAppStories+ Pre-Show\nVisit AppStories.net to learn more about the extended, high bitrate audio version of AppStories that is delivered early each week and subscribe.\nYouTube\nTourBox Elite Plus\nAlso Mentioned:\nAutomation April The Loupedeck Live S Is a More Portable and Affordable Automation Control Panel for the Mac\nFirst Look Logitech’s MX Creative Console Is Poised to Compete with Elgato’s Stream Deck Lineup\nGetting Started with Shortcuts for Mac and the Stream Deck\nTRMNL\n\n\nWeb Apps, AI, and the Future of App Stores\nEmail\nSuperhuman\nShortwave\n\nBrowsers\nZen\nArc\n\nHow Chinese AI Startup DeepSeek Made a Model that Rivals OpenAI\nMatt’s Recent App Favorites\nCursor\nLottielab \nSpline \n\nQuick Reviews\nWhere to Find Matt Birchler\nComfort Zone podcast\nBirchtree.me\nA Better Computer\n\nSubscribe here.\nOn AppStories+, a video experiment, I have iPad Pro follow-up, and Federico has technical follow-up and a question for listeners about streaming videogames over Wi-Fi.\nWe deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week.\nTo learn more about the benefits included with an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ.\nNPC, Episode 19, ‘Peas, a Rubber Band, and an iPad’ Show Notes\n\nLinks and Show Notes\niPhone Controller Innovation\nMCON’s Kickstarter Campaign\n8BitDo’s Micro Controller Clip\nGamSir’s Unnamed Combo Controller and Battery Prototype\nMore on Wavelengths and MacStories\n\nThe Bitmo Lab GAMEBABY\nAyn Odin2 Portal\nWebsite\nRetro Game Corps Review\nMiyoo Flip\nOn AliExpress\nBrendon’s review on Wavelengths\nBrendon’s video on YouTube\nFederico’s 3DS Journey\nMicrosoft Surface 2 Duo\nSteam Deck\nEmuDeck\nEmulation Station\n\niPad Pro 4\nLenovo Legion Y700 (2024 model), available only from China\nNote: Brendon mentioned that it const $300, but that’s the 2023 model\nExample of graphics quality\n\nLenovo Legion Tab Gen 3, which will be available worldwide soon\nNintendo 2DS\nMacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.\nIf you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-29T11:47:40-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-29T11:47:40-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "appstories", "NPC", "podcast", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77733", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/game-tracker-a-powerful-app-to-track-organize-and-customize-your-videogame-library/", "title": "Game Tracker: A Powerful App to Track, Organize, and Customize Your Videogame Library", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

Game Tracker is a new videogame tracking app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac from Simone Montalto, who is probably best known to MacStories readers for developing the excellent Book Tracker. In fact, Montalto has created an entire suite of tracking apps that also includes Movie Tracker, Music Tracker, and Habit Tracker. That experience with various tracking apps shows with Game Tracker, which does a fantastic job of tailoring to the particularities of videogames and leveraging metadata to allow users to make the app their own.

\n

Let’s take a closer look.

\n

\n
\"Game

Game Tracker on the Mac in dark mode.

\n

I’ve tried a lot of videogame tracking apps, from ones that are designed specifically for videogames to those that are built into general-purpose media trackers. Depending on your needs, both approaches can work well, but the nature of videogames lends them to an app designed specifically for the medium. That’s because games carry a lot of important metadata that other types of media don’t, like the platforms a game is available on, the format, the gameplay modes, and more.

\n
\"Each

Each game includes a wealth of information.

\n

Game Tracker takes advantage of the unique information available for videogames, which gives it an instant advantage over general-purpose media apps. Pulling from the Internet Game Database, Game Tracker includes each game’s description, release date, ratings, developer and publisher information, game modes, player perspectives, platforms, completion times, screenshots, artwork, and trailers. Plus, the app lets users add their own ratings, track their progress, make notes, and record games they’ve loaned to friends.

\n
\"Sort

Sort options (left), filters (center), and advanced sorting (right).

\n

Having all that data is useful by itself, but Game Tracker uses it far better than most apps I’ve tried. For example, there are five different ways to sort your games and 11 criteria for filtering them. Plus, Game Tracker allows you to build advanced sorting rules by combining multiple sorting criteria and to create elaborate saved searches by stacking filters. With so many ways to view your games, the built-in sorting and filtering features are often enough, but I appreciate that I can do a lot more than that, and I bet anyone with a big game collection will, too.

\n
\"A

A couple of spaces I’ve created and a note pinned to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

\n

Game Tracker also allows you to add your own content to your collection, including the media format, progress, notes, tags, and the status of any games you’ve loaned out. You can create your own hand-curated lists of games, called spaces. For example, I created a Retro Games space to collect classic games I’m currently playing or playing soon. And you can bulk edit game data. From any collection view, pick “Select games” from the three-dot menu to select as many games as you’d like to edit.

\n
\"There

There are many ways to browse your collection.

\n

Where Game Tracker really shines, though, is in the way it uses all the information pulled from IGDB and added by users. From the app’s main view, you can browse your collection in a wide variety of ways. You can always view all of your games at once, but you can also browse based on progress, release status, formats, smart lists, platforms, genres, and more. From the app’s primary view, you can remove any of these browsing options you don’t want, reorder them, and collapse sections as well.

\n
\"Three

Three of the six layout options.

\n

Another nice design touch is that you are not locked into one particular layout when viewing games in your collection. The app offers six different options, and each view in the app can be set to a different layout.

\n
\"Tracking

Tracking time played with timers and Game Tracker’s Stats view.

\n

If you like to track the time you spend playing your game collection, you can do that, too. For any game you’ve marked as being currently played, you can start a timer to track your total time played and take notes alongside the timer that will show up in the Notes section for that game. You can mark the percentage of the game you’ve played as well.

\n

The total time played and percentage played will all show up in the app’s Statistics section, which collects high-level data about how much you’ve played, the dates you’ve played, your playing streak, and more. It’s a lot of data, but it’s perfect for anyone who wants to keep track of their progress. Though I haven’t used this feature much yet, I plan to dip my toes in further to see if it helps me keep up with my playtime goals better. When you start a timer, it also starts a Live Activity, so you can track your progress from your Lock Screen or the Dynamic Island as you play.

\n
\"Tracking

Tracking playtime from my Home Screen (left) and some of Game Tracker’s many Shortcuts actions (middle and right).

\n

Live Activities aren’t the only modern feature packed into Game Tracker. The app includes a deep set of widgets for tracking a game you’re currently playing, any other game in your collection, and your spaces. There’s a widget that will drop you into Game Tracker’s search feature to find games, too.

\n

The app also offers deep integration with Shortcuts, with actions to find games based on a variety of criteria, add metadata to existing games in your collection, create spaces and tags, and open and retrieve game entries based on the app’s long list of metadata, to name just a handful of the many actions. There are 10 different Control Center widgets, which can also be added to your Lock Screen, to open the app to a specific area or search for a game.

\n
\"Browsing

Browsing similar games.

\n

From an individual game’s view, you can select the three-dot menu button and pull up a list of similar games, too, which is great for discovery. However, I’d like to see a dedicated discovery section added to the app that’s populated with pre-built lists like New Releases and other categories for when I’m looking for inspiration on what to play next.

\n

Finally, your collection syncs via iCloud across all platforms, backs up periodically, and can be exported in CSV or PDF formats with filters applied. I particularly like the simple export options, which make your data far more portable than in many other apps.

\n

One thing Game Tracker doesn’t currently handle very well is unreleased games. I’ve added several games coming later this year that I want to play, and the app lists them as released now that it’s 2025. I also have a couple of games in my collection that don’t have a release date yet (I’m looking at you, Silksong), and those are given the release year of 1969, so Game Tracker assumes they came out decades ago. That makes managing upcoming games a little hard at the moment, but it’s also something I expect will get worked out in future updates, so it’s not a big deal.

\n
\"Game

Game Tracker is a lovely native way to manage your videogame colleciton.

\n

If you’re the sort of person who likes to collect a lot of data about your hobbies and track things in your life, Game Tracker is perfect for you. It’s the kind of app that makes dipping in and out of a large collection of games easy because you’ll know which games are active and where you are in each. I love that you can leave yourself notes for the next time you resume a game, and the tagging feature lets me do things like remember which of my many retro handhelds I’m using for a particular game – a very NPC problem, I know. But even if you aren’t playing dozens of games across a pile of hardware, Game Tracker is one of the best ways to natively manage your videogame collection and playtime across multiple devices.

\n

Game Tracker is available to download on the App Store. The free version allows you to track five games and create one space. With the Pro version, you can track an unlimited number of games and create as many spaces as you’d like for $1.49/month, $10.99/year, or a one-time purchase of $34.99.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Game Tracker is a new videogame tracking app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac from Simone Montalto, who is probably best known to MacStories readers for developing the excellent Book Tracker. In fact, Montalto has created an entire suite of tracking apps that also includes Movie Tracker, Music Tracker, and Habit Tracker. That experience with various tracking apps shows with Game Tracker, which does a fantastic job of tailoring to the particularities of videogames and leveraging metadata to allow users to make the app their own.\nLet’s take a closer look.\n\nGame Tracker on the Mac in dark mode.\nI’ve tried a lot of videogame tracking apps, from ones that are designed specifically for videogames to those that are built into general-purpose media trackers. Depending on your needs, both approaches can work well, but the nature of videogames lends them to an app designed specifically for the medium. That’s because games carry a lot of important metadata that other types of media don’t, like the platforms a game is available on, the format, the gameplay modes, and more.\nEach game includes a wealth of information.\nGame Tracker takes advantage of the unique information available for videogames, which gives it an instant advantage over general-purpose media apps. Pulling from the Internet Game Database, Game Tracker includes each game’s description, release date, ratings, developer and publisher information, game modes, player perspectives, platforms, completion times, screenshots, artwork, and trailers. Plus, the app lets users add their own ratings, track their progress, make notes, and record games they’ve loaned to friends.\nSort options (left), filters (center), and advanced sorting (right).\nHaving all that data is useful by itself, but Game Tracker uses it far better than most apps I’ve tried. For example, there are five different ways to sort your games and 11 criteria for filtering them. Plus, Game Tracker allows you to build advanced sorting rules by combining multiple sorting criteria and to create elaborate saved searches by stacking filters. With so many ways to view your games, the built-in sorting and filtering features are often enough, but I appreciate that I can do a lot more than that, and I bet anyone with a big game collection will, too.\nA couple of spaces I’ve created and a note pinned to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.\nGame Tracker also allows you to add your own content to your collection, including the media format, progress, notes, tags, and the status of any games you’ve loaned out. You can create your own hand-curated lists of games, called spaces. For example, I created a Retro Games space to collect classic games I’m currently playing or playing soon. And you can bulk edit game data. From any collection view, pick “Select games” from the three-dot menu to select as many games as you’d like to edit.\nThere are many ways to browse your collection.\nWhere Game Tracker really shines, though, is in the way it uses all the information pulled from IGDB and added by users. From the app’s main view, you can browse your collection in a wide variety of ways. You can always view all of your games at once, but you can also browse based on progress, release status, formats, smart lists, platforms, genres, and more. From the app’s primary view, you can remove any of these browsing options you don’t want, reorder them, and collapse sections as well.\nThree of the six layout options.\nAnother nice design touch is that you are not locked into one particular layout when viewing games in your collection. The app offers six different options, and each view in the app can be set to a different layout.\nTracking time played with timers and Game Tracker’s Stats view.\nIf you like to track the time you spend playing your game collection, you can do that, too. For any game you’ve marked as being currently played, you can start a timer to track your total time played and take notes alongside the timer that will show up in the Notes section for that game. You can mark the percentage of the game you’ve played as well.\nThe total time played and percentage played will all show up in the app’s Statistics section, which collects high-level data about how much you’ve played, the dates you’ve played, your playing streak, and more. It’s a lot of data, but it’s perfect for anyone who wants to keep track of their progress. Though I haven’t used this feature much yet, I plan to dip my toes in further to see if it helps me keep up with my playtime goals better. When you start a timer, it also starts a Live Activity, so you can track your progress from your Lock Screen or the Dynamic Island as you play.\nTracking playtime from my Home Screen (left) and some of Game Tracker’s many Shortcuts actions (middle and right).\nLive Activities aren’t the only modern feature packed into Game Tracker. The app includes a deep set of widgets for tracking a game you’re currently playing, any other game in your collection, and your spaces. There’s a widget that will drop you into Game Tracker’s search feature to find games, too.\nThe app also offers deep integration with Shortcuts, with actions to find games based on a variety of criteria, add metadata to existing games in your collection, create spaces and tags, and open and retrieve game entries based on the app’s long list of metadata, to name just a handful of the many actions. There are 10 different Control Center widgets, which can also be added to your Lock Screen, to open the app to a specific area or search for a game.\nBrowsing similar games.\nFrom an individual game’s view, you can select the three-dot menu button and pull up a list of similar games, too, which is great for discovery. However, I’d like to see a dedicated discovery section added to the app that’s populated with pre-built lists like New Releases and other categories for when I’m looking for inspiration on what to play next.\nFinally, your collection syncs via iCloud across all platforms, backs up periodically, and can be exported in CSV or PDF formats with filters applied. I particularly like the simple export options, which make your data far more portable than in many other apps.\nOne thing Game Tracker doesn’t currently handle very well is unreleased games. I’ve added several games coming later this year that I want to play, and the app lists them as released now that it’s 2025. I also have a couple of games in my collection that don’t have a release date yet (I’m looking at you, Silksong), and those are given the release year of 1969, so Game Tracker assumes they came out decades ago. That makes managing upcoming games a little hard at the moment, but it’s also something I expect will get worked out in future updates, so it’s not a big deal.\nGame Tracker is a lovely native way to manage your videogame colleciton.\nIf you’re the sort of person who likes to collect a lot of data about your hobbies and track things in your life, Game Tracker is perfect for you. It’s the kind of app that makes dipping in and out of a large collection of games easy because you’ll know which games are active and where you are in each. I love that you can leave yourself notes for the next time you resume a game, and the tagging feature lets me do things like remember which of my many retro handhelds I’m using for a particular game – a very NPC problem, I know. But even if you aren’t playing dozens of games across a pile of hardware, Game Tracker is one of the best ways to natively manage your videogame collection and playtime across multiple devices.\nGame Tracker is available to download on the App Store. The free version allows you to track five games and create one space. With the Pro version, you can track an unlimited number of games and create as many spaces as you’d like for $1.49/month, $10.99/year, or a one-time purchase of $34.99.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-29T10:06:44-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-30T16:50:19-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "app", "games", "iOS", "iPadOS", "macOS", "videogames", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77727", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/bookshop-org-now-supports-local-booksellers-with-ebook-sales/", "title": "Bookshop.org Now Supports Local Booksellers with eBook Sales", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

Bookshop.org launched in 2020 as a way to sell books online while still supporting local bookstores, which have become a rarity in the U.S. The company has seen success selling physical books online. As Boone Ashworth explains at Wired:

\n

\n For physical books, Bookshop lets buyers direct 30 percent of the proceeds of a sale to their favorite participating bookstore. An additional 10 percent of those sales, plus the sales of books that are not earmarked for a specific store, gets split up and distributed to every store on Bookshop’s platform.\n

\n

Now, Bookshop has added eBooks that can be purchased online and read in the company’s new Bookshop.org app, available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Ashworth breaks down how these sales work:

\n

\n Ebook sales through Bookshop, however, will see 100 percent of the proceeds going to the store that sells them through the platform. If a user buys an ebook directly from Bookshop without naming a bookstore they want to support, then a third of that profit will go into the pool of funds that gets divided between stores. The rest will go to pay for Bookshop.org’s engineers and server costs.\n

\n

Giving local bookstores the ability to sell eBooks fills a big hole for those businesses. Bookshop CEO Andy Hunter shared the company’s motivation for offering eBooks with Wired:

\n

\n “It’s crazy that bookstores can’t sell ebooks to their customers right now,” Hunter says. He says he wants this program to continue his company’s mission of propping up local bookstores, but he also hopes this move will help take Amazon down a peg as well.\n

\n

I’ve tried Bookshop’s app briefly with some book previews, and it works well. The settings options aren’t as extensive as in other eBook readers, but the basics – like text size, pagination versus scrolling, a couple of font options, and light, dark, and paper themes – are all there. The design makes browsing your library of books or finding something new to read easy, too. It may not be enough for some readers, but this is a 1.0 release, so I’m optimistic additional options will be offered with time.

\n

It’s great to see Bookshop offering eBooks. We have an excellent bookstore here in Davidson that I love to browse, but more often than not, I prefer an eBook over the paper version, so it’s nice to have that as an option now.

\n

The Bookshop.org app is available on the App Store as a free download. eBooks must be purchased online and synced with the app.

\n

\u2192 Source: wired.com

", "content_text": "Bookshop.org launched in 2020 as a way to sell books online while still supporting local bookstores, which have become a rarity in the U.S. The company has seen success selling physical books online. As Boone Ashworth explains at Wired:\n\n For physical books, Bookshop lets buyers direct 30 percent of the proceeds of a sale to their favorite participating bookstore. An additional 10 percent of those sales, plus the sales of books that are not earmarked for a specific store, gets split up and distributed to every store on Bookshop’s platform.\n\nNow, Bookshop has added eBooks that can be purchased online and read in the company’s new Bookshop.org app, available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Ashworth breaks down how these sales work:\n\n Ebook sales through Bookshop, however, will see 100 percent of the proceeds going to the store that sells them through the platform. If a user buys an ebook directly from Bookshop without naming a bookstore they want to support, then a third of that profit will go into the pool of funds that gets divided between stores. The rest will go to pay for Bookshop.org’s engineers and server costs.\n\nGiving local bookstores the ability to sell eBooks fills a big hole for those businesses. Bookshop CEO Andy Hunter shared the company’s motivation for offering eBooks with Wired:\n\n “It’s crazy that bookstores can’t sell ebooks to their customers right now,” Hunter says. He says he wants this program to continue his company’s mission of propping up local bookstores, but he also hopes this move will help take Amazon down a peg as well.\n\nI’ve tried Bookshop’s app briefly with some book previews, and it works well. The settings options aren’t as extensive as in other eBook readers, but the basics – like text size, pagination versus scrolling, a couple of font options, and light, dark, and paper themes – are all there. The design makes browsing your library of books or finding something new to read easy, too. It may not be enough for some readers, but this is a 1.0 release, so I’m optimistic additional options will be offered with time.\nIt’s great to see Bookshop offering eBooks. We have an excellent bookstore here in Davidson that I love to browse, but more often than not, I prefer an eBook over the paper version, so it’s nice to have that as an option now.\nThe Bookshop.org app is available on the App Store as a free download. eBooks must be purchased online and synced with the app.\n\u2192 Source: wired.com", "date_published": "2025-01-28T10:36:00-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-28T10:36:00-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "app", "books", "iOS", "iPad", "iPadOS", "iPhone", "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77721", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/sothebys-is-auctioning-custom-ipods-from-the-late-karl-lagerfelds-massive-collection/", "title": "Sotheby\u2019s Is Auctioning Custom iPods from the Late Karl Lagerfeld\u2019s Massive Collection", "content_html": "
\"Behold,

Behold, the BlingPod. Source: Sotheby’s

\n

Sotheby’s is auctioning the estate of renowned designer Karl Lagerfeld. The auction house, which is auctioning the estate’s assets in multiple lots, includes several collections of classic iPods and custom iPods, like the ultra-blinged-out one above. The estate’s collection also includes these first-generation iPod Nanos that Parker Ortolani posted on Mastodon:

\n
\"Source:

Source: Sotheby’s

\n

Compared to Lagerfeld’s full collection, though, Sotheby’s selection is a drop in the bucket. It’s estimated that the designer owned over 500 iPods when he passed away. According to graphic novelist Warren Ellis’s website:

\n

\n Lagerfeld famously had an “iPod nanny” to digitise his collection for the iPods and to add new music to new devices. This is how he ended up with over 300 of them – he treated them like cassette tapes.\n

\n
\"Source:

Source: Sotheby’s.

\n

I’m impressed with Lagerfeld’s commitment to the iPod long after all but the Touch was discontinued. There’s a lot to be said for single-purpose devices like the iPod. I’d love to see Apple bring the iPod back one day, even if it were just a limited run. But if they do, I hope they get weird with it and take inspiration from some of these great custom iPods from Lagerfeld’s collection.

\n

\u2192 Source: sothebys.com

", "content_text": "Behold, the BlingPod. Source: Sotheby’s\nSotheby’s is auctioning the estate of renowned designer Karl Lagerfeld. The auction house, which is auctioning the estate’s assets in multiple lots, includes several collections of classic iPods and custom iPods, like the ultra-blinged-out one above. The estate’s collection also includes these first-generation iPod Nanos that Parker Ortolani posted on Mastodon:\nSource: Sotheby’s\nCompared to Lagerfeld’s full collection, though, Sotheby’s selection is a drop in the bucket. It’s estimated that the designer owned over 500 iPods when he passed away. According to graphic novelist Warren Ellis’s website:\n\n Lagerfeld famously had an “iPod nanny” to digitise his collection for the iPods and to add new music to new devices. This is how he ended up with over 300 of them – he treated them like cassette tapes.\n\nSource: Sotheby’s.\nI’m impressed with Lagerfeld’s commitment to the iPod long after all but the Touch was discontinued. There’s a lot to be said for single-purpose devices like the iPod. I’d love to see Apple bring the iPod back one day, even if it were just a limited run. But if they do, I hope they get weird with it and take inspiration from some of these great custom iPods from Lagerfeld’s collection.\n\u2192 Source: sothebys.com", "date_published": "2025-01-27T16:02:35-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-28T09:19:08-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "ipod", "ipod nano", "music", "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77710", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/ios-and-ipados-18-3-tweak-apple-intelligence-and-add-a-few-features/", "title": "iOS and iPadOS 18.3 Tweak Apple Intelligence and Add a Few Features", "content_html": "
\"Starting

Starting them young. Source: Apple.

\n

The drip, drip, drip of Apple Intelligence continues with iOS and iPadOS 18.3. There are still some big-ticket features announced at WWDC 2024 that are yet to come, but with today’s release, Apple keeps ticking items off its list.

\n

The biggest change is one that is largely hidden from view. Starting with iOS and iPadOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence is turned on by default. That should result in greater adoption of the features, and it’s a good indicator that Apple is confident LLM hallucinations won’t come back to bite the company in its reputation. We’ll see about that last bit, but given the size of the iPhone market, Apple’s guardrails have held up reasonably well so far.

\n
\"\"

\n

That said, Apple is walking back one feature a little. Notification summaries will no longer be applied to news apps, after some high-profile confabulations. Given that news apps typically send headlines, which are inherently summary in nature, I don’t think that’s a great loss, although the change is reportedly temporary. However, one change to notifications is not temporary: starting with iOS and iPadOS 18.3, summarized notifications appear in italics to help distinguish them from other notifications.

\n

Visual Intelligence has been updated in iOS 18.3 as well. Accessed by pressing and holding the iPhone’s Camera Control, Visual Intelligence can now add events to your calendar, identify animals and plants, and get information about places around you, such as a store or restaurant’s hours.

\n

The latest update also adds back a Calculator feature. When you tap the equals sign repeatedly, the Calculator app will apply the last-used operation each time.

\n

Finally, Apple introduced its latest Black Unity Collection earlier today. The iPhone and iPad wallpapers are part of iOS and iPadOS 18.3, and the new Unity Rhythm watch face is included with watchOS 11.3.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Starting them young. Source: Apple.\nThe drip, drip, drip of Apple Intelligence continues with iOS and iPadOS 18.3. There are still some big-ticket features announced at WWDC 2024 that are yet to come, but with today’s release, Apple keeps ticking items off its list.\nThe biggest change is one that is largely hidden from view. Starting with iOS and iPadOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence is turned on by default. That should result in greater adoption of the features, and it’s a good indicator that Apple is confident LLM hallucinations won’t come back to bite the company in its reputation. We’ll see about that last bit, but given the size of the iPhone market, Apple’s guardrails have held up reasonably well so far.\n\nThat said, Apple is walking back one feature a little. Notification summaries will no longer be applied to news apps, after some high-profile confabulations. Given that news apps typically send headlines, which are inherently summary in nature, I don’t think that’s a great loss, although the change is reportedly temporary. However, one change to notifications is not temporary: starting with iOS and iPadOS 18.3, summarized notifications appear in italics to help distinguish them from other notifications.\nVisual Intelligence has been updated in iOS 18.3 as well. Accessed by pressing and holding the iPhone’s Camera Control, Visual Intelligence can now add events to your calendar, identify animals and plants, and get information about places around you, such as a store or restaurant’s hours.\nThe latest update also adds back a Calculator feature. When you tap the equals sign repeatedly, the Calculator app will apply the last-used operation each time.\nFinally, Apple introduced its latest Black Unity Collection earlier today. The iPhone and iPad wallpapers are part of iOS and iPadOS 18.3, and the new Unity Rhythm watch face is included with watchOS 11.3.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-27T13:08:06-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-27T13:08:06-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "iOS", "iPadOS", "watchOS", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77708", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/deepseek-tops-the-app-store-charts-and-sends-ai-stocks-on-a-wild-ride/", "title": "DeepSeek Tops the App Store Charts and Sends AI Stocks on a Wild Ride", "content_html": "
\"DeepSeek's

DeepSeek’s newfound popularity has made it impossible to log in as of the publication of this story.

\n

And just like that, ChatGPT has been dethroned from its perch at the top of the App Store’s free app list, replaced by DeepSeek, another AI app. What’s interesting is that DeepSeek, which was developed by a Chinese startup, was reportedly created at a fraction of the cost of ChatGPT and other large language models developed in the US, which has tech stocks in turmoil.

\n

Last week, DeepSeek revealed its latest LLM, which matches or outperforms OpenAI’s o1 model in some tests. That’s nothing new. AI companies have been one-upping each other for months. What’s different is that DeepSeek was reportedly built with a fraction of the hardware and at a fraction of the cost of OpenAI’s o1 and models like Anthropic’s Claude.

\n

DeepSeek is also open source, potentially undermining the financial viability of U.S. and other for-profit companies that have spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing models that require a paid subscription. And, because it’s free, DeepSeek rocketed to the top of the App Store’s free app list, passing OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has been at or near the top of the list for months.

\n

That has caused a stir in Silicon Valley. As VentureBeat’s Carl Franzen puts it:

\n

\n The open-source availability of DeepSeek-R1, its high performance, and the fact that it seemingly “came out of nowhere” to challenge the former leader of generative AI, has sent shockwaves throughout Silicon Valley and far beyond, based on my conversations with and readings of various engineers, thinkers and leaders. If not “everyone” is freaking out about it as my hyperbolic headline suggests, it’s certainly the talk of the town in tech and business circles.\n

\n

Now, as DeepSeek is starting to look like the real deal, the stock market is causing competitors’ stocks to drop, including NVIDIA’s, which, according to the Financial Times, fell 13% at the opening of the New York Stock Exchange.

\n

If there’s one thing that has been a truism of the AI industry over the past couple of years, it’s that it moves very fast. Today’s leaders are tomorrow’s laggards. Will DeepSeek dethrone the U.S. AI companies? It’s far too early to know, but it certainly is beginning to look like there’s a new horse in the race.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "DeepSeek’s newfound popularity has made it impossible to log in as of the publication of this story.\nAnd just like that, ChatGPT has been dethroned from its perch at the top of the App Store’s free app list, replaced by DeepSeek, another AI app. What’s interesting is that DeepSeek, which was developed by a Chinese startup, was reportedly created at a fraction of the cost of ChatGPT and other large language models developed in the US, which has tech stocks in turmoil.\nLast week, DeepSeek revealed its latest LLM, which matches or outperforms OpenAI’s o1 model in some tests. That’s nothing new. AI companies have been one-upping each other for months. What’s different is that DeepSeek was reportedly built with a fraction of the hardware and at a fraction of the cost of OpenAI’s o1 and models like Anthropic’s Claude.\nDeepSeek is also open source, potentially undermining the financial viability of U.S. and other for-profit companies that have spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing models that require a paid subscription. And, because it’s free, DeepSeek rocketed to the top of the App Store’s free app list, passing OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has been at or near the top of the list for months.\nThat has caused a stir in Silicon Valley. As VentureBeat’s Carl Franzen puts it:\n\n The open-source availability of DeepSeek-R1, its high performance, and the fact that it seemingly “came out of nowhere” to challenge the former leader of generative AI, has sent shockwaves throughout Silicon Valley and far beyond, based on my conversations with and readings of various engineers, thinkers and leaders. If not “everyone” is freaking out about it as my hyperbolic headline suggests, it’s certainly the talk of the town in tech and business circles.\n\nNow, as DeepSeek is starting to look like the real deal, the stock market is causing competitors’ stocks to drop, including NVIDIA’s, which, according to the Financial Times, fell 13% at the opening of the New York Stock Exchange.\nIf there’s one thing that has been a truism of the AI industry over the past couple of years, it’s that it moves very fast. Today’s leaders are tomorrow’s laggards. Will DeepSeek dethrone the U.S. AI companies? It’s far too early to know, but it certainly is beginning to look like there’s a new horse in the race.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-27T10:41:17-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-28T08:53:12-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "AI", "artificial intelligence", "DeepSeek", "OpenAI", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77706", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-announces-the-2025-black-unity-collection/", "title": "Apple Announces the 2025 Black Unity Collection", "content_html": "
\"Source:

Source: Apple.

\n

To honor Black History Month, which starts in February, Apple has released a new Black Unity Collection. Similar to 2024’s collection, the 2025 edition includes a Sport Loop band, iPhone and iPad wallpapers, and an Apple Watch face.

\n

According to Apple’s press release:

\n

\n Black creatives and allies at Apple collaborated on the design of the new collection. The collection, Unity Rhythm, weaves together the colors of the Pan-African flag: black, green, and red. The Black Unity Sport Loop is woven in a custom pattern of raised and recessed loops that creates a lenticular effect, revealing green on one side of each loop, and red on the other. When the band is worn, the colors appear dynamic, shifting from green to red as a user moves their wrist, and the color yellow appears in the transition, as if by magic.\n

\n

The wallpapers spell the word “Unity,” which matches the pattern on the Watch face and colors of the Watch band. The Unity Rhythm watch face also includes a rhythmic chime on the hour and half-hour.

\n
\"Source:

Source: Apple.

\n

Apple is also supporting several organizations with grants, including the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in New Orleans, Battersea Arts Centre in London, Music Forward Foundation in Los Angeles, Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, and The National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, Tennessee.

\n

The Apple Watch Black Unity Sport Loop is available to order online today and will be in stores this week for $49. The Unity Rhythm watch face and wallpapers will be available in a future software update.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Source: Apple.\nTo honor Black History Month, which starts in February, Apple has released a new Black Unity Collection. Similar to 2024’s collection, the 2025 edition includes a Sport Loop band, iPhone and iPad wallpapers, and an Apple Watch face.\nAccording to Apple’s press release:\n\n Black creatives and allies at Apple collaborated on the design of the new collection. The collection, Unity Rhythm, weaves together the colors of the Pan-African flag: black, green, and red. The Black Unity Sport Loop is woven in a custom pattern of raised and recessed loops that creates a lenticular effect, revealing green on one side of each loop, and red on the other. When the band is worn, the colors appear dynamic, shifting from green to red as a user moves their wrist, and the color yellow appears in the transition, as if by magic.\n\nThe wallpapers spell the word “Unity,” which matches the pattern on the Watch face and colors of the Watch band. The Unity Rhythm watch face also includes a rhythmic chime on the hour and half-hour.\nSource: Apple.\nApple is also supporting several organizations with grants, including the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in New Orleans, Battersea Arts Centre in London, Music Forward Foundation in Los Angeles, Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, and The National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, Tennessee.\nThe Apple Watch Black Unity Sport Loop is available to order online today and will be in stores this week for $49. The Unity Rhythm watch face and wallpapers will be available in a future software update.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-27T09:45:52-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-27T09:45:52-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "apple watch", "Black Unity Collection", "news" ], "attachments": [ { "url": "https://cdn.macstories.net/apple-watch-black-unity-collection-watch-face-1737988591186.mp4", "mime_type": "video/mp4", "size_in_bytes": 12499531 } ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77704", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/introducing-our-updated-ipad-hub/", "title": "Introducing Our Updated iPad Hub", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

We’ve updated MacStories’ iPad hub. You may not have noticed before, but it’s linked right there in the masthead, and it’s an amazing resource. The iPad hub collects over a decade of Federico’s coverage of years of iPad hardware and iPadOS. It’s a fantastic historical resource and the best place to find his latest coverage.

\n

Federico has been using and writing about the iPad since its beginning. His many hardware reviews benefit from that in-depth knowledge and his experiments in modularity and creating a hybrid laptop-tablet are legendary.

\n

On the iPad hub, you’ll find:

\n

If you love the iPad as much as we do, check out our iPad hub. It’s a fantastic resource and a fun trip through Apple’s hardware history.

\n

\u2192 Source: macstories.net

", "content_text": "We’ve updated MacStories’ iPad hub. You may not have noticed before, but it’s linked right there in the masthead, and it’s an amazing resource. The iPad hub collects over a decade of Federico’s coverage of years of iPad hardware and iPadOS. It’s a fantastic historical resource and the best place to find his latest coverage.\nFederico has been using and writing about the iPad since its beginning. His many hardware reviews benefit from that in-depth knowledge and his experiments in modularity and creating a hybrid laptop-tablet are legendary.\nOn the iPad hub, you’ll find:\nFederico’s latest iPad coverage like iPad Pro for Everything and iPad mini Review: The Third Place.\nYou’ll also find his iPadOS reviews, including every version from iPadOS 18 back to iOS 9.\nIn 2020, we celebrated the iPad’s 10th anniversary with a look back at the tablet’s history and future, which is collected on the hub too.\nPlus, there’s a long list of stories full of productivity tips, deep dives into iPad-exclusive features, and commentary.\nIf you love the iPad as much as we do, check out our iPad hub. It’s a fantastic resource and a fun trip through Apple’s hardware history.\n\u2192 Source: macstories.net", "date_published": "2025-01-27T09:06:34-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-27T09:06:34-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "iPad", "iPadOS", "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77701", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/the-latest-from-comfort-zone-magic-rays-of-light-and-macstories-unwind-15/", "title": "The Latest from Comfort Zone, Magic Rays of Light, and MacStories Unwind", "content_html": "
\"\"

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Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

\n

Comfort Zone

\n
\n
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\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
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Matt has an announcement to make (and a cool app to talk about), Chris brought a bag of goodies, and Niléane brought a fun challenge around using our mice in interesting ways.

\n

Magic Rays of Light

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\n
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\"\"\"\"
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\"\"\"\"
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\n

Sigmund and Devon highlight the premiere of Apple Original thriller Prime Target, share their perspectives on the conversation surrounding dark scenes in shows and films, and recap the gripping second season of Silo.

\n

MacStories Unwind

\n
\n
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\n

This week, a neighborhood explosion, oats, root vegetables, and coffee, plus a classic sitcom, a unique videogame, and an action-packed movie.

\n

\n

Comfort Zone, Episode 33, ‘Put a Bumper Case on That Thing’ Show Notes

\n
\n

Weekly Topics

\n

Other Things Discussed

\n

Follow the Hosts

\n

Magic Rays of Light, Episode 153, ‘Prime Target, Dark Scenes, and Silo’ Show Notes

\n
\"\"

\n

Highlight

\n

Main Topic

\n

Apple TV News

\n

Trailer Talk

\n

Apple Original News

\n

Releases

\n

Extras

\n

Recap

\n

TV App Highlights

\n

Up Next

\n

Send us a voice message all week via iMessage or email to magic@macstories.net.

\n

Subscribe to Magic Rays of Light on YouTube and follow us on Mastodon and Bluesky.

\n

Sigmund Judge | Follow Sigmund on Mastodon or Bluesky

\n

Devon Dundee | Follow Devon on Mastodon or Bluesky

\n

MacStories Unwind, ‘Uncooked’ Show Notes

\n
\n\n

MacStories Uncooked

\n

Picks

\n

MacStories Unwind+

\n
\"\"

\n

We deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.

\n

To learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.

\n

MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.

\n

If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:\nComfort Zone\n\n \n \n \n \n \nMatt has an announcement to make (and a cool app to talk about), Chris brought a bag of goodies, and Niléane brought a fun challenge around using our mice in interesting ways.\nMagic Rays of Light\n\n \n \n \n \n \nSigmund and Devon highlight the premiere of Apple Original thriller Prime Target, share their perspectives on the conversation surrounding dark scenes in shows and films, and recap the gripping second season of Silo.\nMacStories Unwind\n\n \n \n \n \n \nThis week, a neighborhood explosion, oats, root vegetables, and coffee, plus a classic sitcom, a unique videogame, and an action-packed movie.\n\nComfort Zone, Episode 33, ‘Put a Bumper Case on That Thing’ Show Notes\n\nWeekly Topics\nCursor\nKobo Clara BW\nCalDigit TS4 Dock\nTomtoc Shoulder Bag\nJames Brand Folsom Pocket Knife\nOther Things Discussed\nHelloQuitX\nFilter subscribed languages from individual persons you follow\nFederico is using Superhuman\nQuick Reviews coming to iOS\nWii cursor\nWii cursor demo GIF 1\nWii cursor demo GIF 2\nLogitech MX Master 3S\nFollow the Hosts\nChris on YouTube\nMatt on Birchtree\nNiléane on Mastodon\nComfort Zone on Mastodon\nComfort Zone on Bluesky\nMagic Rays of Light, Episode 153, ‘Prime Target, Dark Scenes, and Silo’ Show Notes\n\nHighlight\nPrime Target\nMain Topic\nHow Apple developed the world’s first end-to-end hearing health experience\nApple’s secret testing rooms | Tyler Stalman \nInside Apple’s Top Secret Audio & Video Labs for iPhone 16/16 Pro | Brian Tong\nApple TV News\nPlex Experience Preview\n‎MoviePass Screening Room\n‎Live Switcher Mobile\nTrailer Talk\nVietnam: The War That Changed America\nLove You To Death\nApple Original News\nM. Night Shyamalan Faces $81 Million Copyright Trial Over Apple TV+ Show ‘Servant’ | Variety\nThe Truth About Emanuel\nReleases\nEva the Owlet\nApple Music Live: Björk\nExtras\nBen Stiller and Adam Scott on Apple News In Conversation\nSeverance — Inside the Grand Central Terminal Pop-Up\nSeverance Balloon\nSeverance — Season 1 Recap, Courtesy of Lumon\nSilo – Inside Solo’s Vault with Steve Zahn\nOK Go - A Stone Only Rolls Downhill\nPMI Behind the Scenes: The OK Go Project\nRecap\nSilo\nTV App Highlights\nSonic the Hedgehog 3\nGladiator II\nNosferatu\nThe Girl With the Needle\nSaturday Night\nKobe: The Making of a Legend\nUp Next\nBelieve Me\nWhiskey on the Rocks\nThe Wild Robot\nSend us a voice message all week via iMessage or email to magic@macstories.net.\nSubscribe to Magic Rays of Light on YouTube and follow us on Mastodon and Bluesky.\nSigmund Judge | Follow Sigmund on Mastodon or Bluesky\nDevon Dundee | Follow Devon on Mastodon or Bluesky\nMacStories Unwind, ‘Uncooked’ Show Notes\n\nLinks and Show Notes\nMacStories Uncooked\nCoffee Overnight Oats\nEasy Overnight Oats\nPicks\nFederico’s Picks:\nFriends\nStream\nBuy\n\n1000xRESIST\n\nJohn’s Pick:\nAlien Romulus on Hulu\n\nMacStories Unwind+\n\nWe deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.\nTo learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.\nMacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.\nIf you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-24T17:54:56-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-24T17:54:56-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Comfort Zone", "Magic Rays of Light", "podcast", "unwind", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77696", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/epic-games-announces-ios-store-expansion-in-the-e-u/", "title": "Epic Games Announces iOS Store Expansion in the E.U.", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

The Epic Games Store, which is available in the E.U. on iOS as a result of the Digital Markets Act and globally on Android, is expanding.

\n

During a press briefing, Epic’s Tim Sweeney said:

\n

\n Our aim here isn’t just to launch a bunch of different stores in different places, but to build a single, cross-platform store in which, within the era of multi-platform games, if you buy a game or digital items in one place, you have the ability to own them everywhere.\n

\n

As part of the store expansion, The Verge’s Lauren Feiner reports that Epic will cover Apple’s E.U. Core Technology Fee charged on free games for the first 12 months. Epic will also offer monthly free games, and eventually, weekly freebies. The new games aren’t available just yet, but should be soon.

\n

It’s good to see Epic expanding its offerings on iOS and Android. Alternative marketplaces have grown slowly in the E.U., but with Epic willing to reduce the financial risk of Apple’s Core Technology Fee, we should start seeing Epic’s store expand more rapidly.

\n

\u2192 Source: theverge.com

", "content_text": "The Epic Games Store, which is available in the E.U. on iOS as a result of the Digital Markets Act and globally on Android, is expanding.\nDuring a press briefing, Epic’s Tim Sweeney said:\n\n Our aim here isn’t just to launch a bunch of different stores in different places, but to build a single, cross-platform store in which, within the era of multi-platform games, if you buy a game or digital items in one place, you have the ability to own them everywhere.\n\nAs part of the store expansion, The Verge’s Lauren Feiner reports that Epic will cover Apple’s E.U. Core Technology Fee charged on free games for the first 12 months. Epic will also offer monthly free games, and eventually, weekly freebies. The new games aren’t available just yet, but should be soon.\nIt’s good to see Epic expanding its offerings on iOS and Android. Alternative marketplaces have grown slowly in the E.U., but with Epic willing to reduce the financial risk of Apple’s Core Technology Fee, we should start seeing Epic’s store expand more rapidly.\n\u2192 Source: theverge.com", "date_published": "2025-01-24T06:14:40-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-24T06:14:40-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "DMA", "Epic Games", "EU", "games", "regulation", "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77691", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/the-vision-pro-lends-a-hand-to-the-strutt-ev%c2%b9-personal-mobility-device/", "title": "The Vision Pro Lends a Hand to the STRUTT ev\u00b9 Personal Mobility Device", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

YouTuber Two F Zero T has a first look at the STRUTT ev¹, a personal mobility device that was shown off at CES and can be controlled with the Vision Pro. The video, which I first saw linked by Apple’s Mike Stern on Mastodon, demonstrates the impressive tech packed into the STRUTT ev¹, including a unique integration with the Vision Pro. Thanks to Apple’s headset, users can navigate their surroundings with the Vision Pro’s eye and head tracking.

\n
\n

One of the things that’s easy to forget is that the Vision Pro builds on Apple’s years of accessibility research and development, which pioneered many of the interactions central to how people use it. With the release of the Vision Pro, developers working on new hardware like the STRUTT ev¹ can build on Apple’s innovation to offer an even richer feature set in their products. It’s a virtuous circle that benefits everyone. Apple’s products work better for more people, and companies like Strutt can build on that technology to offer an enhanced experience to their customers, too.

\n

\u2192 Source: youtu.be

", "content_text": "YouTuber Two F Zero T has a first look at the STRUTT ev¹, a personal mobility device that was shown off at CES and can be controlled with the Vision Pro. The video, which I first saw linked by Apple’s Mike Stern on Mastodon, demonstrates the impressive tech packed into the STRUTT ev¹, including a unique integration with the Vision Pro. Thanks to Apple’s headset, users can navigate their surroundings with the Vision Pro’s eye and head tracking.\n\nOne of the things that’s easy to forget is that the Vision Pro builds on Apple’s years of accessibility research and development, which pioneered many of the interactions central to how people use it. With the release of the Vision Pro, developers working on new hardware like the STRUTT ev¹ can build on Apple’s innovation to offer an even richer feature set in their products. It’s a virtuous circle that benefits everyone. Apple’s products work better for more people, and companies like Strutt can build on that technology to offer an enhanced experience to their customers, too.\n\u2192 Source: youtu.be", "date_published": "2025-01-23T19:38:34-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-23T19:39:33-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "accessibility", "Vision Pro", "Linked", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77689", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/the-latest-from-appstories-and-ruminate-15/", "title": "The Latest from AppStories and Ruminate", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

\n

AppStories

\n
\n
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\n

This week, Federico and John look ahead to WWDC and beyond to consider how Apple Intelligence could be used to change the way we use our iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

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On AppStories+, Federico has grievances about the lack of Apple software compatibility on Android.

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Ruminate

\n
\n
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I brings the snack, Robb tries the BuJo life, and they both discuss web apps.

\n

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AppStories, Episode 419, ‘An Apple Intelligence Wish List’ Show Notes

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\n

AppStories+ Pre-Show

\n

Visit AppStories.net to learn more about the extended, high bitrate audio version of AppStories that is delivered early each week and subscribe.

\n

AppStories+ Pre-Show

\n

Main Show

\n

An Apple Intelligence Wish List

\n

Ruminate, Episode 201, ‘Big Bujo Boy’ Show Notes

\n
\"\"

\n

MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.

\n

If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:\nAppStories\n\n \n \n \n \n \nThis week, Federico and John look ahead to WWDC and beyond to consider how Apple Intelligence could be used to change the way we use our iPhones, iPads, and Macs.\nOn AppStories+, Federico has grievances about the lack of Apple software compatibility on Android.\nRuminate\n\n \n \n \n \n \nI brings the snack, Robb tries the BuJo life, and they both discuss web apps.\n\nAppStories, Episode 419, ‘An Apple Intelligence Wish List’ Show Notes\n\nAppStories+ Pre-Show\nVisit AppStories.net to learn more about the extended, high bitrate audio version of AppStories that is delivered early each week and subscribe.\nAppStories+ Pre-Show\nLenovo Legion Tab Gen 3\nVivaldi browser\nVivaldi for iOS Updated with Colorful Themes and Ability to Force Dark Mode\n\nObsidian Web Clipper Bookmarklet\nMain Show\nAn Apple Intelligence Wish List\nA more conversational Siri\nApple Readies More Conversational LLM Siri in Bid to Rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT - Bloomberg\n\nDeveloper Tools\nCursor\n\nPixelmator Team to Join Apple\nRuminate, Episode 201, ‘Big Bujo Boy’ Show Notes\n\nSoup You Can Suck On: Introducing Progresso Soup Drops, the Ultimate Cold and Flu Season Comfort\nProgresso is coming soon\nSHAQ-A-LICIOUS XL Gummies\nLay’s All Dressed\nBullet Journal\nThe Bullet Journal Method\nRobb Knight has invited you to use Godspeed\nSuperhuman\nGranola — The AI Notepad for meetings\nMacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.\nIf you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-22T15:21:22-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-22T15:21:22-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "appstories", "podcast", "ruminate", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77686", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/netflix-games-seemingly-narrows-its-focus/", "title": "Netflix Games Seemingly Narrows Its Focus", "content_html": "

I’ve followed Netflix Games’ journey closely for the last three years. The company has dipped its toe into a wide variety of genres but stood out for its deep catalog of artistic indie games, including recent additions like Monument Valley 3. However, based on an earnings call reported on by Neil Long of mobilegamer.biz, that may be changing.

\n

According to Long, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said:

\n

\n After three years of releasing a broad range of mobile titles, Netflix said it is now focusing on “a few key genres”, including narrative games based on its own IP, party games, kids games and “mainstream established titles (like Grand Theft Auto)”.\n

\n

From that, it sure sounds like indie games are being squeezed out at Netflix Games, which has seen its fair share of upheaval recently. I hope not though. Having high-quality indie titles on my iPhone that are also available on my Ayn Odin Android portable console has been a delight.

\n

\u2192 Source: mobilegamer.biz

", "content_text": "I’ve followed Netflix Games’ journey closely for the last three years. The company has dipped its toe into a wide variety of genres but stood out for its deep catalog of artistic indie games, including recent additions like Monument Valley 3. However, based on an earnings call reported on by Neil Long of mobilegamer.biz, that may be changing.\nAccording to Long, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said:\n\n After three years of releasing a broad range of mobile titles, Netflix said it is now focusing on “a few key genres”, including narrative games based on its own IP, party games, kids games and “mainstream established titles (like Grand Theft Auto)”.\n\nFrom that, it sure sounds like indie games are being squeezed out at Netflix Games, which has seen its fair share of upheaval recently. I hope not though. Having high-quality indie titles on my iPhone that are also available on my Ayn Odin Android portable console has been a delight.\n\u2192 Source: mobilegamer.biz", "date_published": "2025-01-22T15:10:39-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-22T15:10:39-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "app store", "games", "iOS", "Netflix", "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77684", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/a-firmware-update-that-promises-to-turn-smart-lights-into-motion-sensors/", "title": "A Firmware Update that Promises to Turn Smart Lights into Motion Sensors", "content_html": "

Jennifer Pattison Touhy has a story on The Verge today about a technology debuting soon that turns existing smart lights into motion sensors:

\n

Sensify is a proprietary technology based on wireless network sensing (WNS) that works with Zigbee-based smart devices, like Hue smart lights. According to Pattison Touhy:

\n

\n WNS works by detecting disturbances in radio frequencies and can also be applied to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread technologies. McKinney says Sensify requires three or more devices positioned around a detection area to detect motion and occupancy in the space. The tech also allows for precise detection zones based on where the devices are situated. “The devices send messages to each other, look at underlying network diagnostic information, and process it to provide occupancy sensing decisions,” says McKinney.\n

\n

The story goes on to explain the performance of the technology:

\n

\n Performance-wise, McKinney says Sensify is “equivalent or superior” to passive infrared sensing (PIR) tech, which is traditionally used for motion sensing. It also doesn’t need line of sight, as PIR does. However, it’s not as precise as technologies like mmWave sensing, which can determine if someone is in a room through as slight a movement as breathing. “The lights will still likely turn off if you’re still, even if you’re in the space,” he says.\n

\n

That’s great to hear and something I hope is enabled by manufacturers without charging an additional fee or subscription. I know that may be wishful thinking, but even if there is a fee, it may be worth it to not litter your home with less accurate motion sensors everywhere and could give Hue and other Zigbee-based device makers an advantage over other companies.

\n

\u2192 Source: theverge.com

", "content_text": "Jennifer Pattison Touhy has a story on The Verge today about a technology debuting soon that turns existing smart lights into motion sensors:\nSensify is a proprietary technology based on wireless network sensing (WNS) that works with Zigbee-based smart devices, like Hue smart lights. According to Pattison Touhy:\n\n WNS works by detecting disturbances in radio frequencies and can also be applied to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread technologies. McKinney says Sensify requires three or more devices positioned around a detection area to detect motion and occupancy in the space. The tech also allows for precise detection zones based on where the devices are situated. “The devices send messages to each other, look at underlying network diagnostic information, and process it to provide occupancy sensing decisions,” says McKinney.\n\nThe story goes on to explain the performance of the technology:\n\n Performance-wise, McKinney says Sensify is “equivalent or superior” to passive infrared sensing (PIR) tech, which is traditionally used for motion sensing. It also doesn’t need line of sight, as PIR does. However, it’s not as precise as technologies like mmWave sensing, which can determine if someone is in a room through as slight a movement as breathing. “The lights will still likely turn off if you’re still, even if you’re in the space,” he says.\n\nThat’s great to hear and something I hope is enabled by manufacturers without charging an additional fee or subscription. I know that may be wishful thinking, but even if there is a fee, it may be worth it to not litter your home with less accurate motion sensors everywhere and could give Hue and other Zigbee-based device makers an advantage over other companies.\n\u2192 Source: theverge.com", "date_published": "2025-01-22T14:25:22-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-22T14:25:22-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "HomeKit", "Hue", "Smart Home", "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77681", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/bangcase-push-button-iphone-automation/", "title": "BANG!CASE: Push-Button iPhone Automation", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

I’ve been intrigued by the BANG!CASE ever since it was introduced by Bitmo Lab as a Kickstarter campaign about a year ago. The case includes a programmable button that can be used to automate actions using your iPhone’s accessibility features. However, because I don’t normally use a case with my iPhone, I never followed through on buying the BANG!CASE.

\n

Fast forward to early January at CES when I visited the booth for JSAUX, an affiliate of Bitmo Lab. In addition to JSAUX’s portable displays and gaming accessories, the company was showing off the BANG!CASE and GAMEBABY. (More on that on NPC soon.)

\n

It just so happens that since the holidays, I’ve continued my quest to refine how I collect and process information throughout my day. That’s led me to test a dozen or so apps, build new shortcuts, and explore other new setups. As a result, I was primed to give the BANG!CASE a try when Bitmo offered me a review unit at their booth, and I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks.

\n
\n

The case has a couple of minor drawbacks that I’ll get to, but by and large, it’s the most unique and useful case I’ve ever put on an iPhone. After enjoying my iPhone without a case for nearly two years, I’ve found that the utility of the BANG!CASE is significant enough that I’ve decided to keep using it, which I didn’t expect. So today, I thought I’d lay out why I like the BANG!CASE so much and how I’m using it.

\n

\n

At first blush, the BANG!CASE is an ordinary case made of a soft-touch plastic. It feels good to hold, includes a cutout for the Camera Control, and has hard clicky buttons that make pressing the iPhone’s standard buttons easy. However, aside from the case’s programmable button, the part of the BANG!CASE I like the most is the design of the back, which shows off its electronics and adds some character to my iPhone.

\n

Aesthetics aside, what really sets the BANG!CASE apart is an extra button that sits midway between the side button and the Camera Control. Bitmo calls it the BANG!BUTTON, and it can be programmed to perform three different actions with a single-press, double-press, or long-press.

\n

The BANG!BUTTON works via Bluetooth as an accessibility device, a very clever solution that has a couple of important implications worth keeping in mind. The first is that the BANG!CASE’s Bluetooth radio is powered by a rechargeable battery, not your iPhone. That means you’ll need to charge your case periodically. The case comes with a charging cable that has a USB-A plug on one end and a special connector on the other end that uses magnets and two pogo pin connectors. In my experience, the BANG!CASE doesn’t need to be charged often, but relying on a proprietary cable to do so isn’t ideal.

\n
\"Setting

Setting up actions for the BANG!BUTTON.

\n

The other somewhat fiddly implication of the BANG!CASE’s design is that you’ll need to dig fairly deep into iOS’s accessibility settings to set up the BANG!BUTTON’s actions. The first step is to hold the BANG!BUTTON until the light on the case is blinking to pair the case with your iPhone under Settings → Bluetooth. Once it’s paired, you can go to Settings → Accessibility → Touch → AssistiveTouch → Devices, where you’ll see your case listed. There, you can assign up to three actions, including a long list of system and accessibility actions, along with any shortcuts you’ve created in the Shortcuts app.

\n

None of that is as bad as it may sound since it’s a one-time setup unless you decide to change the assigned actions. Also, I’ve been using the BANG!CASE for a couple of weeks and have yet to run out of battery, although I have topped it off a couple of times. That said, running out of juice would be a bummer because you’d lose the use of the BANG!BUTTON; having yet another thing to charge in my life isn’t great, either.

\n

Still, I’ve enjoyed the BANG!CASE a lot – so much so that I’ve been using it daily since I got home from CES. You can get more out of Apple’s Action button using Shortcuts, as Federico has shared with his ActionMode shortcut for Club MacStories members, but it’s always nice to have more automation options, which is exactly what the BANG!CASE provides. Moreover, I find the Action button a little hard to reach on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, whereas the BANG!BUTTON is near the middle of the iPhone’s vertical side, making it easier to press.

\n
\"\"

\n

For the time being, I’ve settled on the following for my Action and BANG!BUTTON setup:

\n

So far, I’ve enjoyed this setup a lot. Having both text and voice capture just a single button press away has been perfect for saving tasks, ideas, and snippets of text. Thanks to superwhisper’s share sheet integration, it’s simple to send its transcriptions to a to-do, email, note-taking, or other app too.

\n

The winter season is my time to try new things. I’ve burned through task managers, email services, automation and AI services, new audio and video hardware, Macs, and more. It’s an eclectic mix, but the apps and services that are sticking all have one thing in common: easy access no matter what the context is. The BANG!CASE offers that, giving me access to a larger set of button actions at my fingertips, which I’m loving so far. The iPhone is a great capture device, and it’s even better with the BANG!CASE.

\n

The BANG!CASE is available from Bitmo Lab for $49.99.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "I’ve been intrigued by the BANG!CASE ever since it was introduced by Bitmo Lab as a Kickstarter campaign about a year ago. The case includes a programmable button that can be used to automate actions using your iPhone’s accessibility features. However, because I don’t normally use a case with my iPhone, I never followed through on buying the BANG!CASE.\nFast forward to early January at CES when I visited the booth for JSAUX, an affiliate of Bitmo Lab. In addition to JSAUX’s portable displays and gaming accessories, the company was showing off the BANG!CASE and GAMEBABY. (More on that on NPC soon.)\nIt just so happens that since the holidays, I’ve continued my quest to refine how I collect and process information throughout my day. That’s led me to test a dozen or so apps, build new shortcuts, and explore other new setups. As a result, I was primed to give the BANG!CASE a try when Bitmo offered me a review unit at their booth, and I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks.\n\nThe case has a couple of minor drawbacks that I’ll get to, but by and large, it’s the most unique and useful case I’ve ever put on an iPhone. After enjoying my iPhone without a case for nearly two years, I’ve found that the utility of the BANG!CASE is significant enough that I’ve decided to keep using it, which I didn’t expect. So today, I thought I’d lay out why I like the BANG!CASE so much and how I’m using it.\n\nAt first blush, the BANG!CASE is an ordinary case made of a soft-touch plastic. It feels good to hold, includes a cutout for the Camera Control, and has hard clicky buttons that make pressing the iPhone’s standard buttons easy. However, aside from the case’s programmable button, the part of the BANG!CASE I like the most is the design of the back, which shows off its electronics and adds some character to my iPhone.\nAesthetics aside, what really sets the BANG!CASE apart is an extra button that sits midway between the side button and the Camera Control. Bitmo calls it the BANG!BUTTON, and it can be programmed to perform three different actions with a single-press, double-press, or long-press.\nThe BANG!BUTTON works via Bluetooth as an accessibility device, a very clever solution that has a couple of important implications worth keeping in mind. The first is that the BANG!CASE’s Bluetooth radio is powered by a rechargeable battery, not your iPhone. That means you’ll need to charge your case periodically. The case comes with a charging cable that has a USB-A plug on one end and a special connector on the other end that uses magnets and two pogo pin connectors. In my experience, the BANG!CASE doesn’t need to be charged often, but relying on a proprietary cable to do so isn’t ideal.\nSetting up actions for the BANG!BUTTON.\nThe other somewhat fiddly implication of the BANG!CASE’s design is that you’ll need to dig fairly deep into iOS’s accessibility settings to set up the BANG!BUTTON’s actions. The first step is to hold the BANG!BUTTON until the light on the case is blinking to pair the case with your iPhone under Settings → Bluetooth. Once it’s paired, you can go to Settings → Accessibility → Touch → AssistiveTouch → Devices, where you’ll see your case listed. There, you can assign up to three actions, including a long list of system and accessibility actions, along with any shortcuts you’ve created in the Shortcuts app.\nNone of that is as bad as it may sound since it’s a one-time setup unless you decide to change the assigned actions. Also, I’ve been using the BANG!CASE for a couple of weeks and have yet to run out of battery, although I have topped it off a couple of times. That said, running out of juice would be a bummer because you’d lose the use of the BANG!BUTTON; having yet another thing to charge in my life isn’t great, either.\nStill, I’ve enjoyed the BANG!CASE a lot – so much so that I’ve been using it daily since I got home from CES. You can get more out of Apple’s Action button using Shortcuts, as Federico has shared with his ActionMode shortcut for Club MacStories members, but it’s always nice to have more automation options, which is exactly what the BANG!CASE provides. Moreover, I find the Action button a little hard to reach on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, whereas the BANG!BUTTON is near the middle of the iPhone’s vertical side, making it easier to press.\n\nFor the time being, I’ve settled on the following for my Action and BANG!BUTTON setup:\nAction Button: I use Quick Capture for Obsidian to quickly save thoughts to a scratchpad note in my Obsidian vault.\nBANG!BUTTON Single Press: A single press of the BANG!BUTTON triggers a shortcut that starts a new recording in superwhisper, an app that uses OpenAI’s Whisper LLM to transcribe spoken audio.\nBANG!BUTTON Double Press: When I hit the BANG!BUTTON twice, it opens Control Center, giving me quick access to a variety of media playback, HomeKit, and other controls.\nBANG!BUTTON Long Press: I have several shortcuts for saving URLs from specific apps, but for those contexts I haven’t created an automation for, I copy the link and then long-press the BANG!BUTTON to save it as a task in Godspeed using its API.\nSo far, I’ve enjoyed this setup a lot. Having both text and voice capture just a single button press away has been perfect for saving tasks, ideas, and snippets of text. Thanks to superwhisper’s share sheet integration, it’s simple to send its transcriptions to a to-do, email, note-taking, or other app too.\nThe winter season is my time to try new things. I’ve burned through task managers, email services, automation and AI services, new audio and video hardware, Macs, and more. It’s an eclectic mix, but the apps and services that are sticking all have one thing in common: easy access no matter what the context is. The BANG!CASE offers that, giving me access to a larger set of button actions at my fingertips, which I’m loving so far. The iPhone is a great capture device, and it’s even better with the BANG!CASE.\nThe BANG!CASE is available from Bitmo Lab for $49.99.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-22T12:18:59-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-22T13:53:47-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "accessories", "automation", "iPhone", "shortcuts", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77672", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/the-latest-from-comfort-zone-magic-rays-of-light-and-macstories-unwind-14/", "title": "The Latest from Comfort Zone, NPC, Magic Rays of Light, and MacStories Unwind", "content_html": "
\"\"

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Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

\n

Comfort Zone

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In this very special episode, the gang makes their “Pro” and “Pro Max” predictions for tech in 2025 and oh my, does it get wild! Who’s best clued into the tech coming this year? Who is just wish-casting their way to third place? We’ll have to wait to find out.

\n

NPC: Next Portable Console

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\n
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On this special edition of NPC, Federico, John, and Brendon react to Nintendo’s video announcement about the Switch 2, dig through every detail of the video for clues, and consider how things are likely to play out in the coming months.

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MacStories Unwind

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\"\"\"\"
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This week, John judges Southerners’ handling of snow, Federico is a game streaming convert, and John has a new favorite series about the Troubles in Ireland. Plus, we found a great deal on a favorite sitcom.

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Magic Rays of Light

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\"\"\"\"
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\"\"\"\"
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Sigmund and Devon share their favorite announcements from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show and recap the second season of Bad Sisters.

\n

\n

Comfort Zone, Episode 32, ‘The Opposite of Snow Leopard’ Show Notes

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\n

”## Weekly Topics
\n- Nothing, just 2025 predictions!

\n

Other Things Discussed

\n

Follow the Hosts

\n

NPC, Episode 18, ‘Nintendo Switch 2: Reactions and First Theories’ Show Notes

\n
\n\n

Nintendo Switch 2 Announcement Reactions

\n

Magic Rays of Light, Episode 152, ‘CES 2025 and Bad Sisters’ Show Notes

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\"\"

\n

Give to the Red Cross California Wildfires Response

\n

Highlight

\n

Main Topic

\n

Trailer Talk

\n

Releases

\n

Recap

\n

TV App Highlights

\n

Up Next

\n

Send us a voice message all week via iMessage or email to magic@macstories.net.

\n

Subscribe to Magic Rays of Light on YouTube and follow us on Mastodon and Bluesky.

\n

Sigmund Judge | Follow Sigmund on Mastodon or Bluesky

\n

Devon Dundee | Follow Devon on Mastodon or Bluesky

\n

MacStories Unwind, ‘Trying to Reach All the Senses’ Show Notes

\n
\n\n

Unplugged Segment:
\n - The South and snow
\n - This video captures it well

\n

Picks

\n

MacStories Unwind+

\n
\"\"

\n

We deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.

\n

To learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.

\n

MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.

\n

If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:\nComfort Zone\n\n \n \n \n \n \nIn this very special episode, the gang makes their “Pro” and “Pro Max” predictions for tech in 2025 and oh my, does it get wild! Who’s best clued into the tech coming this year? Who is just wish-casting their way to third place? We’ll have to wait to find out.\nNPC: Next Portable Console\n\n \n \n \n \n \nOn this special edition of NPC, Federico, John, and Brendon react to Nintendo’s video announcement about the Switch 2, dig through every detail of the video for clues, and consider how things are likely to play out in the coming months.\nMacStories Unwind\n\n \n \n \n \n \nThis week, John judges Southerners’ handling of snow, Federico is a game streaming convert, and John has a new favorite series about the Troubles in Ireland. Plus, we found a great deal on a favorite sitcom.\nMagic Rays of Light\n\n \n \n \n \n \nSigmund and Devon share their favorite announcements from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show and recap the second season of Bad Sisters.\n\nComfort Zone, Episode 32, ‘The Opposite of Snow Leopard’ Show Notes\n\n”## Weekly Topics\n- Nothing, just 2025 predictions!\nOther Things Discussed\nMacStories left Meta platforms\nNiléane’s reporting from last year about Meta’s moderation failings\nDLC podcast\nFollow the Hosts\nChris on YouTube\nMatt on Birchtree\nNiléane on Mastodon\nComfort Zone on Mastodon\nComfort Zone on Bluesky”\nNPC, Episode 18, ‘Nintendo Switch 2: Reactions and First Theories’ Show Notes\n\nLinks and Show Notes\nNintendo Switch 2 Announcement Reactions\nNintendo Switch 2 – First Look Trailer\nNintendo Switch 2 Experience\nNintendo Switch 2 has finally been announced, releasing 2025\nGameCube Keyboard Controller\nGameCube Accessories\n\nMagic Rays of Light, Episode 152, ‘CES 2025 and Bad Sisters’ Show Notes\n\nGive to the Red Cross California Wildfires Response\nHighlight\nSeverance\nMain Topic\nCES Is A Lot: A Gadget Roundup\nHisense TriChroma LED TV\nLG G5\nPanasonic Z95B\nApple Television could be the antidote for these disturbing TV trends | 9to5Mac\nVLC AI Subtitling\nRoborock Saros Z70\nSchlage Sense Pro\nTapo AI Analysis\nCaséta Shades\nAqara Presence Multi-Sensor FP300\nThirdReality MK1 Magic Keyboard\nLaifen Wave Electric Toothbrush\nWillo® AutoFlo+ Fully Automated Kids Toothbrush\nMCON\nBelkin Stage PowerGrip\nNékojita FuFu\nSoliddd Vision\nTrailer Talk\nPrime Target\nEva the Owlet — Season 2\nMythic Quest Season 4\nOnside: Major League Soccer\nReleases\nWord Wright in ‎Game Room\nRecap\nBad Sisters\nTV App Highlights\nMy Name Is Alfred Hitchcock\nRed Rooms\nUp Next\nShot on iPhone 16 Pro | Chinese New Year - I Made a Mixtape for You\nQueer\nShot on iPhone 16 Pro | Chinese New Year - Making of I Made a Mixtape for You\nSend us a voice message all week via iMessage or email to magic@macstories.net.\nSubscribe to Magic Rays of Light on YouTube and follow us on Mastodon and Bluesky.\nSigmund Judge | Follow Sigmund on Mastodon or Bluesky\nDevon Dundee | Follow Devon on Mastodon or Bluesky\nMacStories Unwind, ‘Trying to Reach All the Senses’ Show Notes\n\nLinks and Show Notes\nUnplugged Segment:\n - The South and snow\n - This video captures it well\nPicks\nFederico’s Pick:\nGeForce NOW\n\nJohn’s Pick:\n\n\nSay Nothing\nTrailer\nThe book\nSay Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland\n\n\nMacStories Unwind Deal of the Week\nHow I Met Your Mother TV series bundle\n\nMacStories Unwind+\n\nWe deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.\nTo learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.\nMacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.\nIf you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-17T15:54:29-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-17T16:22:12-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Comfort Zone", "Magic Rays of Light", "NPC", "podcast", "unwind", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77667", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/macstories-unwind-is-now-available-as-video-on-youtube/", "title": "MacStories Unwind Is Now Available as Video on YouTube", "content_html": "

MacStories’ video rollout on YouTube continues today with MacStories Unwind, the podcast where Federico and I swap funny stories about the differences between life in the U.S. and Italy and share media picks and deals. The show is released every Friday, just in time to enjoy a good story and unwind with one of our media picks, and now, you can watch as well as listen.

\n
\n

As with our other shows, there will always be an audio version of MacStories Unwind. The video version is there for those who prefer to get their podcasts from YouTube, and judging from our other shows, that’s a lot of you. But if video isn’t your thing, you won’t notice any difference in the audio version.

\n

I should also mention that we offer an early, ad-free version of the show, which we call MacStories Unwind+, for all Club MacStories members. The plus version of the show comes out on Thursday afternoons U.S. time as one of the many Club perks we offer. It’s a great way to get a jump on your weekend plans by getting our media recommendations a day early and enjoying the other perks of the Club.

\n

You can learn more about Club MacStories and the perks we offer, like weekly and monthly newsletters, podcast perks, special columns, a Discord community, and more, by visiting the Club Plans page. More than ever before, Club MacStories is what sustains MacStories. We’d love it if you’d join.

\n

Join Club MacStories:

\n
\nJoin AnnuallyStarts at $50/yearJoin MonthlyStarts at $50/month\n
\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "MacStories’ video rollout on YouTube continues today with MacStories Unwind, the podcast where Federico and I swap funny stories about the differences between life in the U.S. and Italy and share media picks and deals. The show is released every Friday, just in time to enjoy a good story and unwind with one of our media picks, and now, you can watch as well as listen.\n\nAs with our other shows, there will always be an audio version of MacStories Unwind. The video version is there for those who prefer to get their podcasts from YouTube, and judging from our other shows, that’s a lot of you. But if video isn’t your thing, you won’t notice any difference in the audio version.\nI should also mention that we offer an early, ad-free version of the show, which we call MacStories Unwind+, for all Club MacStories members. The plus version of the show comes out on Thursday afternoons U.S. time as one of the many Club perks we offer. It’s a great way to get a jump on your weekend plans by getting our media recommendations a day early and enjoying the other perks of the Club.\nYou can learn more about Club MacStories and the perks we offer, like weekly and monthly newsletters, podcast perks, special columns, a Discord community, and more, by visiting the Club Plans page. More than ever before, Club MacStories is what sustains MacStories. We’d love it if you’d join.\nJoin Club MacStories:\n\nJoin AnnuallyStarts at $50/yearJoin MonthlyStarts at $50/month\n\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-17T11:20:16-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-17T12:32:18-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "podcast", "unwind", "video", "youtube", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77659", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/npc-special-podcast-episode-nintendo-switch-2-reactions-and-first-theories/", "title": "NPC Special Podcast Episode: Nintendo Switch 2 Reactions and First Theories", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

Earlier today Nintendo announced the first official details about the Switch 2 console. There are still a lot of unknowns, but there are interesting details that can be gleaned from Nintendo’s video announcement. Join Federico, Brendon, and me for our reactions to the announcement and our theories about what is only hinted at by Nintendo in this special bonus episode of NPC: Next Portable Console, which is available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\"\"\"\"
\n
\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Earlier today Nintendo announced the first official details about the Switch 2 console. There are still a lot of unknowns, but there are interesting details that can be gleaned from Nintendo’s video announcement. Join Federico, Brendon, and me for our reactions to the announcement and our theories about what is only hinted at by Nintendo in this special bonus episode of NPC: Next Portable Console, which is available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and wherever you listen to your favorite shows.\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-16T13:29:20-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-16T14:14:21-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "nintendo", "NPC", "podcast", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77655", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/our-macstories-setups-updates-covering-video-production-gaming-and-more/", "title": "Our MacStories Setups: Updates Covering Video Production, Gaming, and More", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

The second half of 2024 saw a lot of change to my setup and Federico’s. We launched the MacStories YouTube channel, expanded our family of podcasts, and spent time chasing the ultimate portable gaming setup for NPC: Next Portable Console. The result was that our setups have evolved rapidly. So, today, we thought we’d catch folks up on what’s changed.

\n
\n

Our Setups page has all the details, but you’ll notice a couple of trends from the changes we’ve made recently. As Federico recounted in iPad Pro for Everything: How I Rethought My Entire Workflow Around the New 11” iPad Pro, the linchpin to ditching his Mac altogether was recording audio and video to SD cards. He already had a solution for audio in place, but video required additional hardware, including the Sony ZV-E10 II camera.

\n
\"Federico's

Federico’s White OLED Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion y700 tablet.

\n

Federico’s gaming setup has evolved, too. The Sony PS5 Pro replaced the original PS5, and he swapped the limited edition white Steam Deck in for the standard OLED version. He also revealed on NPC: Next Portable Console this week that he’s using a Lenovo y700 2024 gaming tablet imported from China to emulate Nintendo DS and 3DS games, which will be available worldwide later this year as the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3. Other upgrades to existing hardware Federico uses include a move from the iPhone 16 Plus to the iPhone 16 Pro Max and an upgrade of the XREAL Airs to the XREAL One glasses.

\n
\"My

My portable video recording setup

\n

As for myself, CES and its bag size limitations pushed me to rethink my portable video and audio recording setups. For recording when I’m away from home I added several items to my kit that I detailed in What’s in My CES Bag?, including:

\n

On the gaming side of things I added a white TrimUI Brick and GameCube-inspired Retroid Pocket 5.

\n

2024 was a big year for setup updates for both of us. We already have new hardware incoming for testing, so keep an eye on the Setups page. I expect we’ll update it several times in 2025 too.

\n

\u2192 Source: macstories.net

", "content_text": "The second half of 2024 saw a lot of change to my setup and Federico’s. We launched the MacStories YouTube channel, expanded our family of podcasts, and spent time chasing the ultimate portable gaming setup for NPC: Next Portable Console. The result was that our setups have evolved rapidly. So, today, we thought we’d catch folks up on what’s changed.\n\nOur Setups page has all the details, but you’ll notice a couple of trends from the changes we’ve made recently. As Federico recounted in iPad Pro for Everything: How I Rethought My Entire Workflow Around the New 11” iPad Pro, the linchpin to ditching his Mac altogether was recording audio and video to SD cards. He already had a solution for audio in place, but video required additional hardware, including the Sony ZV-E10 II camera.\nFederico’s White OLED Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion y700 tablet.\nFederico’s gaming setup has evolved, too. The Sony PS5 Pro replaced the original PS5, and he swapped the limited edition white Steam Deck in for the standard OLED version. He also revealed on NPC: Next Portable Console this week that he’s using a Lenovo y700 2024 gaming tablet imported from China to emulate Nintendo DS and 3DS games, which will be available worldwide later this year as the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3. Other upgrades to existing hardware Federico uses include a move from the iPhone 16 Plus to the iPhone 16 Pro Max and an upgrade of the XREAL Airs to the XREAL One glasses.\nMy portable video recording setup\nAs for myself, CES and its bag size limitations pushed me to rethink my portable video and audio recording setups. For recording when I’m away from home I added several items to my kit that I detailed in What’s in My CES Bag?, including:\na Tomtoc sling bag\nthe Insta360 Flow Pro gimbal\nDJI’s Mic 2 wireless microphones and receiver\nLexar’s tiny 2TB SSD and hub accessory for the iPhone\nOn the gaming side of things I added a white TrimUI Brick and GameCube-inspired Retroid Pocket 5.\n2024 was a big year for setup updates for both of us. We already have new hardware incoming for testing, so keep an eye on the Setups page. I expect we’ll update it several times in 2025 too.\n\u2192 Source: macstories.net", "date_published": "2025-01-16T11:13:17-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-16T11:29:46-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "accessories", "apps", "iPad", "mac", "photography", "setups", "video", "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77647", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/default-browser-a-mac-menu-bar-utility-for-quickly-switching-browsers/", "title": "Default Browser: A Mac Menu Bar Utility for Quickly Switching Browsers", "content_html": "
\"\"

\n

Sindre Sorhus has released more apps than most indie developers I’ve covered, and many are among my favorite utilities. I suspect that a big part of Sorhus’ success is the tight focus of most of those apps, which are designed to eliminate specific points of friction for users.

\n

Sorhus’ latest utility is called Default Browser. It’s a Mac menu bar app that, as the name suggests, lets you change your Mac’s default browser on demand. Just head to the menu bar, and with a couple of clicks, you can switch between any browsers you have installed.

\n

Switching default browsers can be simplified even further by setting a hotkey to reveal the app’s menu and then hitting the number associated with the desired browser. Alternatively, holding down Option as you click on a browser opens it without making it the default. Another nice touch is that, among the multiple menu bar icon options in the app’s settings, there’s an option to use the icon of the currently active default browser, a great reminder of which is active.

\n
\"Default

Default Browser includes several handy settings.

\n

Default Browser works with Shortcuts, too, with actions to get and set your default browser programmatically with actions. That makes it easy to assign browsers to a device like a Stream Deck or Logitech Creative Console for push-button convenience. As Sorhus suggests in the app’s documentation, combining Default Browser with an app like Shortery, which has shortcut triggers for Mac events like connecting to a Wi-Fi network or launching a particular app, opens up a wide array of possibilities as well.

\n

Default Browser also offers a Focus filter, giving you the ability to associate a particular browser with a Focus mode. I don’t have Focus modes for contexts where using a different browser would be useful, but I can imagine it working well for separating web browsing at home from browsing at your workplace or school, for example.

\n

I primarily use Safari, but I’ve been experimenting with Microsoft Edge more, and I’m testing Surf, a browser fused with an AI assistant. I expect we’ll see many more browsers like Surf that aim to combine traditional search and web browsing with the best of what AI can do to organize and provide insights into data. That’s why I purchased Default Browser. The app is available directly from Sorhus for $4, and it makes it easy to quickly switch between browsers whether you’re testing them like me, you’re a developer testing code in different browsers, or you simply prefer certain browsers for certain tasks.

\n

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

\n

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

\n

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

\n

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

\n

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

\n

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

\n

Join Now", "content_text": "Sindre Sorhus has released more apps than most indie developers I’ve covered, and many are among my favorite utilities. I suspect that a big part of Sorhus’ success is the tight focus of most of those apps, which are designed to eliminate specific points of friction for users.\nSorhus’ latest utility is called Default Browser. It’s a Mac menu bar app that, as the name suggests, lets you change your Mac’s default browser on demand. Just head to the menu bar, and with a couple of clicks, you can switch between any browsers you have installed.\nSwitching default browsers can be simplified even further by setting a hotkey to reveal the app’s menu and then hitting the number associated with the desired browser. Alternatively, holding down Option as you click on a browser opens it without making it the default. Another nice touch is that, among the multiple menu bar icon options in the app’s settings, there’s an option to use the icon of the currently active default browser, a great reminder of which is active.\nDefault Browser includes several handy settings.\nDefault Browser works with Shortcuts, too, with actions to get and set your default browser programmatically with actions. That makes it easy to assign browsers to a device like a Stream Deck or Logitech Creative Console for push-button convenience. As Sorhus suggests in the app’s documentation, combining Default Browser with an app like Shortery, which has shortcut triggers for Mac events like connecting to a Wi-Fi network or launching a particular app, opens up a wide array of possibilities as well.\nDefault Browser also offers a Focus filter, giving you the ability to associate a particular browser with a Focus mode. I don’t have Focus modes for contexts where using a different browser would be useful, but I can imagine it working well for separating web browsing at home from browsing at your workplace or school, for example.\nI primarily use Safari, but I’ve been experimenting with Microsoft Edge more, and I’m testing Surf, a browser fused with an AI assistant. I expect we’ll see many more browsers like Surf that aim to combine traditional search and web browsing with the best of what AI can do to organize and provide insights into data. That’s why I purchased Default Browser. The app is available directly from Sorhus for $4, and it makes it easy to quickly switch between browsers whether you’re testing them like me, you’re a developer testing code in different browsers, or you simply prefer certain browsers for certain tasks.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-01-16T08:47:03-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-01-16T08:47:03-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "John Voorhees", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/johnvoorhees/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5a1475dcd87638ed2f250b6213881115?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "browser", "mac", "safari", "utility", "reviews" ] } ] }