MacStories

0:0022:10 Sponsored by: MindNode – Ever Had a Geistesblitz? This week on MacStories Unwind: MacStories Apple Announces Online Media Event for April 20, 2021 Spotify Announces Car Thing: Dedicated Audio Streaming Hardware for Drivers Apple Expands Fitness+…

Today, Apple announced an expansion of Fitness+ with new workouts for pregnancy and older adults. The company also expanded its existing offerings with new yoga, HIIT, and strength workouts for beginners and said Jane Fonda will be featured in the next episode…

This week on AppStories, we introduce part two of our music miniseries, with a focus on third-party music discovery, playback, and utility apps. Sponsored by: Privacy – Smarter payments. Get $5 to spend on your first purchase. Pingdom: Start monitoring your…

As first confirmed by Federico on Twitter, Apple has announced a media event for April 20, 2021 at 10:00 am Pacific. The event will be held online only. Apple event confirmed: next Tuesday, April 20. Online event, 10 AM Pacific. Bring on those new iPad Pros!…

Source: Spotify. Spotify has announced Car Thing, a dedicated Bluetooth-enabled audio controller for your car. Car Thing, which is Spotify’s first foray into hardware, is currently available by invitation only to Premium subscribers in the US. Spotify’s…

I’ve experimented with a lot of HomeKit devices over the past few years, and I often think about how I would set my home up if I were starting from scratch. That is exactly what Quinn Nelson of Snazzy Labs has done with his new home: Nelson’s video shows…

A Geistesblitz is a flash of inspiration that hits you when you least expect it. For instance, when you’re in the shower or walking the dog. It can often lead to a flood of new ideas. Hi! I’m Markus, the founder of MindNode. If you’re like me, then a…

0:0027:34 Sponsored by: Daylite – Do Big Things With Your Small Business This week on MacStories Unwind: MacStories Albums 4.0: A Must-Have App for Music Lovers HomePaper: A Handy Utility for Creating Beautiful Home App Wallpapers Kara Swisher Interviews…

This week on AppStories, we talk about Apple Arcade’s big expansion and the iOS component of John’s retro gaming project before beginning a new mini-series focused on music. For the first installment, we focus on hardware and services, covering our current…

Just past midnight Pacific time today, Apple filed Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in its legal dispute with Epic Games. The document, a standard pre-trial filing, is designed to serve as a road map for the trial judge, explaining the facts…

Today, Apple updated the Find My app to allow third-party products to take advantage of its network of devices to locate lost and stolen belongings from the app’s new Items tab. According to Apple’s press release: “For more than a decade, our customers…

Albums 4.0 is a beautifully designed, feature-rich app with more filtering and discovery tools than any other music app I’ve tried. The app is also opinionated, favoring album playback over individual songs or playlists. It’s the sort of focused, deep…

Aaron Pearce, the developer behind some of my favorite HomeKit apps like HomeRun, HomeCam, and HomePass, has a new utility that is out today for the iPhone and iPad called HomePaper that solves a very specific problem: boring Home app wallpapers. The room and…

Apple CEO Tim Cook was interviewed on Sway, The New York Times’ podcast hosted by Kara Swisher, in an episode released today. Swisher asked Cook about a wide range of topics, including privacy, iOS 14.5, Parler’s removal from the App Store, autonomous…

This week MacStories is sponsored by Daylite, a real Mac and iOS app that empowers you and your team to handle more clients, close more deals, and execute more projects than ever before. Built exclusively for Apple users, Daylite is a native Mac CRM and…

Chris Plante, writing for Polygon on today’s major Apple Arcade news: Microsoft’s and Apple’s bets on downloadable subscription services would seemingly place them behind their streaming counterparts in the long run, but that’s not quite the case.…

0:0032:33 Sponsored by: Concepts – Sketch, Note, Draw This week on MacStories Unwind: MacStories Apple Announces That WWDC 2021 Will Be Online-Only Again from June 7 - 11 A First Look at the Apple Developer App’s New Design and Search Functionality…

Apple announced a significant expansion of Apple Arcade today, releasing more than 30 new games, bringing the total catalog to more than 180 titles. There are a couple of new aspects to today’s release. First, Apple has added new exclusive Arcade Originals,…

Jason Snell writing on Six Colors: The more I use Shortcuts, the more I realize that in many ways, user automation on iOS has outpaced automation on the Mac. Let me give you an example: On iOS I built a shortcut to grab the contents of selected text in Safari…

Matthew Panzarino, reporting for TechCrunch says the latest beta version of iOS and iPadOS 14.5 includes two new English Siri voices. The report elaborates that the existing female voice is no longer the default and that users will choose the voice they want…

There is no shortage of iPad stands. Search for one on Amazon, for instance, and you’ll be met with page after page of results. Most stands are unremarkable, with little that distinguishes one from another. Twelve South’s HoverBar Duo is different, though.…

Spotify Mixes in the Made for You hub. Earlier today, Spotify announced their latest feature rollout for both free and premium users: Spotify Mixes. Inspired by the Daily Mix, which the company introduced in 2016, Spotify Mixes are a collection of personalized…

Apple quietly acquires companies with products and teams that complement its own offerings all the time, but it’s not often an investor, which makes the company’s recent investment in UnitedMasters notable. As reported by Matthew Panzarino at TechCrunch,…

Source: Google. In more mapping news, Google announced several new features that are available in its Maps app now or are coming later this year, including improvements indoor navigation, weather and air pollution data, eco-friendly driving directions, and…

This week on AppStories, we scrutinize Apple’s home strategy from its discontinued Airport routers and HomePod to the Apple TV, HomePod mini, HomeKit routers, the Home app, and more, plus ongoing browser and calendar experiments, and the hunt for an elusive…

With more people being vaccinated all the time, air travel has picked up too. To help iPhone, iPad, and Mac users understand each airport’s health requirements, Apple has begun adding COVID-19 travel guidance to airport place cards in Maps. The data includes…

Shortly after announcing WWDC will be held online again this year from June 7 - 11, Apple released a significant update to its Developer app, which serves as a hub for news and watching WWDC sessions. The sidebar of Developer is now easier to navigate. On the…

Apple has decided to make WWDC an online-only event again for 2021, which is no surprise given the on-going global pandemic. Before going online-only last year, WWDC was held at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, from 2017 - 2019.…

One of the greatest advantages of the iPhone’s camera hardware is that it’s easy to take photos wherever you are. That’s also a bit of a curse because there’s probably no greater friction in managing a photo library than sifting through a large stack…

Sketch, note, and explore endless ideas with Concepts’ infinite canvas for iPad. Draw in designer COPIC colors with liquid pens and brushes, and organize images, text and sketches into visual moodboards. Used by creative professionals for visual thinking,…