It helps you take regular breaks from your Mac to rest your eyes, without breaking your flow.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
This week, Federico and John rethink podcast apps, exploring why it’s such a tricking category to get right for the greatest number of users.
This week, Federico returns to join John and Brendon to recap the latest portable gaming news before Federico drops a massive GameCube surprise on his co-hosts.
Today, we’re expanding NPC: Next Portable Console to include video on YouTube. The reception to the show has been fantastic. NPC debuted in the top five on the Apple Podcasts Video Game chart and has been attracting more listeners every week as an audio-only podcast on YouTube. However, with videogames being such a popular category on YouTube, we knew we could do more for listeners by adding a proper video version of the show.
So beginning today, you can watch NPC on the MacStories YouTube channel:
Today’s episode was the perfect place to start with video. I don’t want to give away Federico’s surprises here, but he plotted a big reveal for months that he springs on Brendon and me in today’s episode. It’s a deep dive into the console modding community and a classic Federico reveal. As always, we highlight the latest portable gaming news, too.
If you haven’t tried NPC or checked out the MacStories YouTube channel yet, you can subscribe to NPC on YouTube or subscribe to the MacStories channel for access to all six of our podcasts and more. Of course, all of our shows are available as audio-only podcasts too.
Thanks to everyone who has listened to NPC and our other new shows these past few months. It means a lot to us. Our ongoing experiments with YouTube are a direct result of the enthusiasm for the shows and something we plan to do more of in the coming months.
I’ve used Federico’s Apple Frames shortcut to add device frames to screenshots for years. It’s a great way to quickly process multiple screenshots and upload them to the MacStories CDN with minimal effort. But as great as Shortcuts is for simplifying this sort of task, there are advantages to using a native app instead.
Shareshot is an app for iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro that occupies a lot of the same feature space as Apple Frames, using Apple hardware to frame screenshots. However, the app simultaneously does more and a little less than Federico’s shortcut. That one missing feature means that I won’t be abandoning Apple Frames, but because of the things the app can do that Apple Frames can’t, Shareshot will be joining the shortcut as a utility I expect to use a lot.
Let’s dig into what makes Shareshot shine.
Today, Patreon alerted creators who use its platform that Patreon must begin using Apple’s In-App Purchases system in its iOS app or face the app’s removal from the store. According to Patreon:
This has two major consequences for creators:
- Apple will be applying their 30% App Store fee to all new memberships purchased in the Patreon iOS app, in addition to anything bought in your Patreon shop.
- Any creator currently on first-of-the-month or per-creation billing plans will have to switch over to subscription billing to continue earning in the iOS app, because that’s the only billing type Apple’s in-app purchase system supports.
This change was first publicized by Patreon late last year, but the exact date of the 2024 transition was unknown at the time. The Patreon post linked above and a video by Patreon founder Jack Conte explain the situation in depth and walk through what the company is doing to help transition creators and their members to new billing systems.
The changes don’t affect supporters who purchase a membership before November 2024. Also, Patreon has created a tool for creators to pass Apple’s 30% fee on to their members who sign up using the iOS app, which it recommends doing. However, that’s bound to create some ill will with members, and it doesn’t solve the fact that certain kinds of billing like ‘per creation’ charges aren’t available as part of Apple’s payment system, meaning that many creators will need to change their financial arrangements with their members.
It’s a real shame to see this. On the one hand, I’ve always wondered why Patreon was able to use its own billing system. Apparently, so was Patreon. On the other hand, though, Apple allowed Patreon to do its own thing for years. Patreon and creators built businesses that don’t fit neatly into Apple’s payment system, so it doesn’t strike me as fair that now, they have to find a way to fit that square peg into a round hole.
I wish this were an isolated thing, but it isn’t. Apple’s caring-for-creators engine seems to have run out of gas.
Rethinking Podcast Apps 
App Debuts Flighty 4.0 Flighty 4.0 is out, boldly claiming that it can predict flight delays before the airlines notify travelers. According to an email I received announcing the update, here’s how the developers say they can predict delays: Late Arriving Aircraft – Late planes are the #1 cause of delays. So Flighty uses machine learning...
Interesting Links Beta users have uncovered the prompt-based instructions for several Apple Intelligence features, which are stored in plain text in the upcoming version of macOS. (Link)
Apple’s fee response to the DMA is getting more and more confusing. Benjamin Mayo at 9to5Mac has a good overview of how the fees work if a developer...
What Happened to the Middle? Not long ago, Federico and I did an AppStories episode about email apps. One of the problems we identified with the category is that there’s a gap between email apps designed for everyday consumer use and enterprise-based solutions. Power users and small teams that fit somewhere between those ends of the spectrum are stuck making...
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
Sigmund and Devon preview Apple Intelligence, highlight new Apple Original heist flick The Instigators, discuss improvements to Continuity Camera in the tvOS 18 beta, and recap Land of Women.
Chris is absent for mysterious reasons, Niléane finds clever ways to watch the Olympics, and Matt explores his podcast app feelings.
This week, Federico returns to discuss the animal kingdom and share our E-ink device hot takes, along with a movie pick.
Federico
