John is MacStories’ Managing Editor, has been writing about Apple and apps since joining the team in 2015, and today, runs the site alongside Federico.
John also co-hosts four MacStories podcasts: AppStories, which covers the world of apps, MacStories Unwind, which explores the fun differences between American and Italian culture and recommends media to listeners, Ruminate, a show about the weird web and unusual snacks, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about the games we take with us.
However, thanks to the efforts of the Clickwheel Games Preservation Project led by GitHub user Olsro, every iPod game has been preserved. As Orland explains:
[Olsro] lucked into contact with three people who had large iPod game libraries in the first month or so after the project’s launch last October.
Getting working access to the final unpreserved game, Real Soccer 2009, was “especially cursed,” Olsro tells Ars. “Multiple [people] came to me during this summer and all attempts failed until a new one from yesterday,” he said. “I even had a situation when someone had an iPod Nano 5G with a playable copy of Real Soccer, but the drive was appearing empty in the Windows Explorer. He tried recovery tools & the iPod NAND just corrupted itself, asking for recovery…”
Not only has the project preserved the entire library of games, but now, they’re available to anyone who still has a working iPod that supports them. Sonic on iPod will never be considered the definitive version of Sega’s classic, but if you ask me, it’s still worth preserving the memories of people like Reddit user Mahboishk for whom, “The iPod version of Sonic the Hedgehog was my introduction to the franchise as a kid, and it got me into speedrunning.” That 2000s version of Sonic is an important link in the story that has helped Sonic endure as a franchise from its ’90s origins to today. Now you too can try your hand at navigating the Green Hill Zone with a click wheel.
First, Last, Everything is a brand new MacStories podcast that explores people’s relationships with the technology that has shaped their lives. Each week, Jonathan Reed – who is a regular contributor to MacStories Weekly, our Club community manager on Discord, and the author of our annual watchOS reviews and other stories – gets to know a guest through three pieces of tech:
the one that first inspired them,
their latest obsession, and
the thing that’s meant everything to them.
From apps and computers to weird gadgets and more, Jonathan and listeners get to know someone from the unique perspective of the technology they love. Plus, in each episode, Jonathan shares an aside about a bit of technology you may have never heard of during the ‘Something’ segment.
Jonathan is a great interviewer and has a fantastic slate of guests lined up for season one of First, Last, Everything. You’ll hear new perspectives from familiar voices as well as brand new ones. Gadgets are fun, but it’s the people who use them that bring them to life through their stories. If you’re curious about technology, how others use it, and how new perspectives could inform your tech use, First, Last, Everything is your kind of show.
First, Last, Everything is a seasonal podcast, with new episodes releasing every Tuesday throughout the season. Season one includes eight episodes that will take the show well into the fall. Then, after a brief break, the podcast will be back with a new slate of interviews.
As someone who cares a lot about the human side of technology, I’m absolutely in love with this show. Federico and I dabbled with a similar concept years ago, so I’m really happy to see Jonathan putting his own spin on the idea and bringing together such a great lineup of guests that I’d love to spoil for everyone but will keep as a surprise.
You can listen to the first episode with YouTuber Tom Hitchins, whom, coincidentally, Federico and I hung out with a lot at WWDC this year, today. You can find Tom on his YouTube channel, Byte Review, or his website, Kiroku.co.uk, where he’s making calm, aesthetic videos about Apple products, creating wallpapers and Lightroom presets, and selling stickers and other great products. I think you’ll love the interview.
As we’re fond of saying, you can get First, Last, Everything wherever you get your podcasts. The show is still rolling out across the Internet, so it may show up in some places before others, but you can always visit macstories.net/podcasts/first-last-everything for links to the show on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Spotify, and good, old-fashioned RSS. Plus, you can follow the show on Mastodon and Bluesky.
We’re equally excited to bring you Cozy Zone, a members-only extension of Comfort Zone hosted by Matt Birchler, Niléane, and Chris Lawley. It was a no-brainer to add Comfort Zone to MacStories, and the reaction from listeners has been beyond our expectations. It’s the perfect blend of information and entertainment sprinkled with the hosts’ weird obsessions.
In each weekly bonus episode of Comfort Zone, Matt, Niléane, and Chris invite listeners to join them in the Cozy Zone, where they’ll cover extra topics, invent wilder challenges and games, and share all their great (and not-so-great) takes on tech. The show is an excellent way to get to know the hosts better and participate in the fun you already enjoy on Comfort Zone. Here’s the trailer.
The first episode of Cozy Zone is being released publicly so everyone can get a taste of it right now. You’ll find it today in the Comfort Zone feed and on YouTube. Going forward, Cozy Zone will be audio-only for now, but if we hear from enough listeners who want it, we’ll work on making video versions a regular option, too. The first episode is available to watch here:
Episode 1 of Cozy Zone is available in the Comfort Zone audio-only podcast feeds too.
You can get cozy with the Comfort Zone crew for just $5/month or $50/year, which not only makes the bonus episodes possible, but supports Comfort Zone, too. The gang has already recorded the first few episodes, and they’re great. We think you’ll love them as well. To keep up with Cozy Zone, be sure to follow the existing Comfort Zone accounts on Mastodon and Bluesky.
Finally, thanks to everyone who reads MacStories and listens to our shows. It means a lot to us. We have no shortage of ideas of ways we can make MacStories even better than it was yesterday or is today, but without you all reading, listening, and spreading the word about what we do to your friends and family, it wouldn’t be possible. The MacStories community is strong and the kind of foundation that has allowed us to weather fundamental shifts in the online media world. Thank you for all you’ve done and continue to do for MacStories.
Yes, you read that right. Instagram has finally released an iPad version, and you know what, it looks good, too.
Announced on Instagram’s blog today, the new iPad app supports iPadOS 15.1 and later and includes the features you’d expect like Reels and Stories, plus a new “Following” tab that includes sections for posts and Reels from Friends who follow you back, a “Latest” section that’s sorted chronologically, and an “All” section. Instagram’s messaging is supported and the extra screen real estate allows you to view your inbox and threads simultaneously. It even supports keyboards, trackpads, and the Apple Pencil.
I gave up any expectation that Instagram would ever be released on the iPad years ago. I never really understood the notion that it wouldn’t work on a bigger screen, especially since what Instagram does has expanded a lot in recent years. I’m not a big Instagram user, but I’m glad to see it on the iPad finally. Not only does it work full screen, but with windowing coming in iPadOS 26, you’ll be able to enjoy the more iPhone-like look if you prefer too.
I’m not seeing the app on the App Store yet, but it’s rolling out now and should be available to everyone shortly as a free download here.
It’s almost Labor Day in the U.S., and like most holidays, it’s a time to save money on your favorite gadgets. Before we get to that, though, I want to thank everyone who has followed MacStories Deals on Mastodon and Bluesky.
We brought back MacStories Deals after a seven-year hiatus because I wasn’t happy with any of the deal sites or social media accounts I was following myself. The volume of posts was too great, and the quality of the deals was often suspect, but in the end it all came down to a case of French’s Yellow Mustard.
One day while scrolling through Ivory, I came across a deal for a case of 12 bottles of mustard for $9. That’s a pretty great deal, but it’s not what I wanted.
Amazon and Apple’s stores are full of deeply discounted products, but most of them aren’t what I want to see. The websites and social media accounts following those deals aren’t very discriminating, either, because they’re all about getting people to click links at scale.
Our bet with MacStories Deals is that we can succeed in a much different way. Our occasional deal roundups here and the media picks and deals on MacStories Unwind showed us that the deals we share are popular with the MacStories community because we’re picky. You can get a firehose of deals anywhere, but what you get from us – and now from MacStories Deals – is an editorial filter that respects your time by eliminating the noise.
So instead of sharing as many deals as possible, our approach is to share just a handful of deals each day and supplement MacStories Deals with the occasional post on the site when the deal volume warrants it. In an era when AI is flooding the zone with slop and lowering the common denominator for all content, we believe that experience and editorial constraints will serve the MacStories community better.
So thanks again for following MacStories Deals on Mastodon and Bluesky. It’s just one small project of many that are in the works, but I hope you all appreciate the approach and take advantage of a deal here and there while we earn a small commission from your purchases.
Now, on to the Labor Day deals.
M4 MacBook Airs
The 2025 13-inch M4 MacBook Air in Midnight.
Students are returning to school, and many will be looking for deals on Mac laptops. Currently, every M4 MacBook Air in both the 13-inch and 15-inch configurations is at an all-time low price on Amazon. The MacBook Air is one of my favorite portable computers of all time, and now is a great time to pick one up.
Today, Relay kicked off its annual fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help combat childhood cancer. We’d love it if MacStories readers joined us in supporting this cause.
[St. Jude] is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer, and other life-threatening diseases. If that sounds expensive, it’s because it is, but the bill isn’t passed to the families of patients. At St. Jude, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family’s ability to pay.
Relay, which has raised over $4 million for St. Jude over the years, will be raising money through the end of September. Thanks in advance for checking out Relay’s fundraiser for St. Jude and to all who donate.
Late yesterday, The Iconfactory released 2.0 updates to Tot for macOS, Tot Pocket for iOS and iPadOS, and Tot Mini for watchOS. The apps, which The Iconfactory describes as tiny text companions, include a handful of big new features that span all three versions, along with other updates and fixes that are unique to each platform.
What hasn’t changed is Tot’s incredible design and reliable performance across all platforms. The app showcases some of The Iconfactory’s best app design work, which Federico described in his review of version 1.0:
Tot’s colored dots serve the dual purpose of being spatial navigation tool and context indicators. You can navigate across documents in the app with a quick swipe, and in doing so on modern iPhones you’ll feel a delightful haptic tap; alternatively, you can tap the dots to switch documents. As I mentioned above, each dot carries a color, which becomes the background color of the selected document (vibrancy is also used to let the color shine through the software keyboard – a nice touch). The palette chosen by The Iconfactory for Tot’s seven documents is some of the finest selection of colors I’ve seen in a modern iOS app: it looks great in light mode, and it looks amazing in dark mode thanks to its combination of high contrast and translucency.
The combination of that elegant design with reliable sync across multiple OSes and thoughtful Shortcuts integration has understandably made the Tot family of apps integral to a lot of MacStories readers’ workflows. However, if you haven’t tried any of the Tot apps before, it’s worth checking out Federico’s review of version 1.0 for the fundamentals because they haven’t changed, and I’ll be focusing on what’s new.
My favorite 2.0 feature is that Tot now supports automatic indenting. If you indent a line using the Tab key, the next line will begin at the same indentation level when you hit Return. That makes creating hierarchical lists a lot faster than before. My only quibble with the feature is that if you’re making a bulleted list, to indent a line, you can’t indent using just the Tab key if the cursor appears anywhere in your line of text. However, you can use ⌘ + ] and ⌘ + ] to do the same thing. Regardless of how indenting is invoked, it’s an excellent addition to Tot that I was glad to see included in the update.
Tot allows you to define pairs of smart bullets.
Speaking of bullets, Tot 2.0 also supports customizable smart bullets. From the app’s settings, you can choose from different pairs of symbols and emoji, like empty and filled circles or empty and filled stars. To toggle between the symbols in each pair, all you need to do is click or tap on them. If the eight default pairs aren’t to your taste, there are a bunch of alternatives you can use instead, such as the snowflake and flame emoji. It’s a clever twist on standard checkboxes and radio buttons that I’ve enjoyed because it adds some character and color to the app.
Tot adds eight new text dividers, too. From the classic three dashes used in Markdown to asterisks and more, there’s a nice variety of options. Plus, you can easily insert a divider with the keyboard shortcut Control + Minus.
The Iconfactory has made other platform-specific changes, too:
Settings have been redesigned in the Mac version and include new options, such as floating the Tot window over other windows.
The iOS and iPadOS versions include a menu button that offers access to the app’s settings along with a couple of bulk operations like saving, sharing, and exporting notes.
The watch app’s design has been refreshed with simplified controls and colorful backgrounds.
It’s great to see the Tot apps reach version 2.0. The three tentpole features – automatic indenting, custom smart bullets, and text dividers – are all meaningful improvements that don’t compromise the apps’ simplicity. Those features, along with several quality of life improvements and other bug fixes that you can read about in Tot’s version history, add up to an excellent update that should serve users well for a long time.
Tot is available on the Mac App Store, and Tot Pocket is available on the iOS and iPadOS App Store. Each costs $19.99, though existing users can update to Tot Pocket at no extra cost. Tot Mini, the Apple Watch app, is available as a separate $1.99 purchase.
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been testing a pair of Philips Hue Play wall washer lights along with a Play HDMI sync box 8K that the company sent me to test. The wall washer lights are a new and interesting approach to accent lighting for the Hue Play line that I like a lot, but they also come with a premium price tag, so it’s worth taking a close look at what they offer.
Philips Hue’s Play wall washer lights. Source: Philips Hue.
I’ve been using Philips Hue Play lights for a while. I have two Play gradient light tubes in my office; one sits behind a shelf on my desk, providing a backlight to my work environment, while the other is on the top of a tall bookshelf, illuminating what would otherwise be a dark corner of the room. I typically set them to a natural light color using Adaptive Lighting in Apple’s Home app, but they can do fancy gradient colors, too, which can be a fun way to mix things up.
A more traditional Play wall washer setup than mine. Source: Philips Hue.
But the downside of tube lights is that they take up a lot of horizontal space. That’s where the new wall washer lights come in. They’re cylindrical with a vertical and angled slice taken out of one side, which is where the LEDs are located. Most notably, though, at around six inches tall by a little more than three inches wide, the wall washers work in a much wider variety of places than tube lights. That compact footprint has been perfect for fitting behind my TV, where I’ve already crammed gaming consoles, a Wi-Fi router, and other gear.
Other highlights of the Hue Play wall washers include:
ColorCast, Philips Hue’s term for the way the wall washers generate highly saturated multi-colored gradients,
1035 lumens of light, which is impressive for such a small device, and
the ability to display white light in a wide 2000–6500 Kelvin range.
The Play wall washers require a Hue Bridge and are compatible with HomeKit, allowing you to use either the Hue app or the Home app to turn them on and off, dim them, and change their colors.
The Iconfactory’s Craig Hockenberry had an interesting post over the weekend on Furbo.org that struck a chord with me. The post explores the ‘why’ surrounding Liquid Glass contrasting the upcoming iOS 26 changes with the transition from iOS 6 to iOS 7. That earlier change was driven by a need to make app design accessible to more people, which, as Hockenberry explains, seems different from the motivation behind Liquid Glass:
I’m unaware of anyone outside of Apple who’s thinking “we really need to have more fluid glass in our designs”. Of particular note during the introduction is how much time they spend showing off glass blocks and talking about the physical effect itself. While not addressing the most important question: “why do we need this?”
And I’m pretty sure the answer is “we don’t”. The answer is “Apple does.”
Hockenberry thinks the switch to Liquid Glass is being driven by unreleased hardware very much like the iOS 11 safe areas that were instituted before the iPhone X’s notch and Home indicator debuted. It’s a great theory that could easily have people facepalming in the not-too-distant future. I hope he’s right.
Since 2023, Apple has been locked in a dispute with Masimo over patents related to the Apple Watch’s Blood Oxygen feature. That meant for more than 18 months, Apple Watches in the U.S. were sold without Blood Oxygen monitoring.
Apple will introduce a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users through an iPhone and Apple Watch software update coming later today.
The update doesn’t affect watches in the U.S. that already had Blood Oxygen feature or watches sold elsewhere in the world.
According to Apple, today’s update was enabled by a recent U.S. Customs ruling, and:
Following this update, sensor data from the Blood Oxygen app on Apple Watch will be measured and calculated on the paired iPhone, and results can be viewed in the Respiratory section of the Health app.
It’s good to see the Blood Oxygen feature returning to all Apple Watches, and not just future hardware releases. It will be interesting to see how the redesigned feature, which requires an iPhone, compares to the original feature that is no longer available in new hardware.
