John Voorhees

5405 posts on MacStories since November 2015

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.
@[email protected]
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net
voorhees@macstories.net

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QuickTime VR and Spatial Computing→

Source: Tabletops.

Source: Tabletops.

Soon, the world will get a glimpse of the Apple Vision Pro outside of the tightly controlled demos provided to a select number of people. As we wait for that moment, it’s worth taking a look back at QuickTime VR with Michael Steeber through his excellent newsletter, Tabletops.

QuickTime VR was a 3D image format that explored some of the spatial video concepts coming to the Vision Pro, albeit using CD-ROMs in 90s-era Macs. To show off the technology, Apple created a demo CD that included a virtual tour of the recently closed Company Store. Steeber got the tour up and running and shared some wonderful images and videos of Apple’s vision for VR 30 years ago.

The story is full of interesting details about Apple retail when the Company Store was all there was to Apple retail:

At the entrance to the store is a physical map of the space, like the kind you’d find at a trailhead or in a museum lobby. In the Performa department, a cutout of a child hanging upside down looms from the ceiling. Along the wall is a disheveled pile of AppleDesign Speaker boxes. In the Newton department, an entire wall is wrapped with a print of someone’s backside, toting a Newton in their jeans pocket.

One section of the store is filled with more than 700 software titles. In early promotional materials, Apple called this aisle “Technology Way,” which is so similar to the “Software Alley” in early Apple Stores that I can’t help but wonder if it was carried over.

Be sure to check out the latest issue of Tabletops to see QuickTime VR in all its glory and sign up for the newsletter while you’re there. It’s always a good read.

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AppStories - Ep. 368 - 31 minutes

Workflow Experiments

FedericoJohn
AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

AppStories Episode 368 - Workflow Experiments

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31:08

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

This week, Federico and John Federico and John explore workflows they’ve been trying in a variety of apps.

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Understanding Apple’s Response to the DMA

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

What a week. When it began to look like Apple would announce how it planned to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), I expected small changes at the margins that wouldn’t significantly move the needle in the EU or anywhere else. Boy, I was wrong.

Instead, we got a far-reaching, complex response that touches aspects of iOS, system apps, the App Store. There’s a lot of ground to cover, but Federico and I have talked to Apple a couple of times each about what was announced and ask questions, so it’s time to dive and try to make sense of everything.

Before getting too deep into the weeds, it’s important to understand why Apple made its announcement last week and, whether you share it or not, the company’s perspective. That makes understanding the details of what was announced easier and will hopefully help you parse legitimate criticisms of Apple’s plans from hollow hot-takes.

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Interesting Links

[[John]] OpenAI announced this week that it has cured GPT-4 of its lazy streak, according to this story by Emilia David. (Link) With the news of changes coming to the App Store yesterday, Epic Games has said it plans to allow EU users to buy games from an iOS-based Epic Games store. (Link) Becca Farsace...

App Debuts

[[John]] NowPlaying NowPlaying is a beautifully designed iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch app that provides a ton of information about songs, albums, and artists. The latest iteration of the app added a new share feature that generates a rich landing page that can be opened by anyone with whom you’ve shared its link. The page...

Integrating ScreenFloat with Other Apps

I recently reviewed ScreenFloat. It’s a Mac screenshot utility that I’ve been aware of for a long time, but it wasn’t until version 2.0 that it offered a feature set that convinced me it needed to be part of my workflow. ScreenFloat isn’t an app I use every day because I don’t need to float...

MacStories Unwind: Diablo Mode, Part 3 of Federico’s Gaming Surprise

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps
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38:36

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

This week, Federico concludes his grand surprise with one more enhancement to his mobile gaming setup.

MacStories Unwind+

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

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Apple Shares List of Alternate Browsers That Will Be Available to EU Users in iOS 17.4

One element of the changes coming to iOS in the European Union is that beginning with iOS 17.4, EU users will see a choice of browsers when they first launch Safari that can be set as the systemwide default browser. For each country, that list will contain the 12 most popular browsers from its App Store storefront displayed to the user in a random order.

As you can imagine, there is overlap among EU member countries, but there are plenty of differences, too. If you’re curious which browsers will be listed in your country, check out the lists for each of the 27 EU member countries after the break that Apple has told us will appear the first time Safari is launched in iOS 17.4.

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Apple Introduces Transcripts for Podcasts

I switch to Apple system apps every summer to test the latest versions of the company’s OSes. I usually return to my favorite third-party apps over time, but Apple Podcasts has been an outlier since last summer for various reasons. The app has come a long way in recent years, and while it still doesn’t quite fit with how I like to listen to shows, it has stuck when many other system apps haven’t.

With other podcast apps struggling in recent months and Apple offering unique features that aren’t found elsewhere, Podcasts has become a compelling choice for a lot of listeners. And judging from the download numbers for AppStories, Unwind, and Magic Rays of Light, I don’t think I’m alone in this assessment.

An AppStories transcript.

An AppStories transcript.

Today, Apple added another reason to use its system app: transcripts. The new feature couldn’t be easier for podcast creators:

Apple automatically generates transcripts after a new episode is published. Your episode will be available for listening right away, and the transcript will be available shortly afterwards. There will be a short delay while we process your transcript. If portions of your episode change with dynamically inserted audio, Apple Podcasts will not display the segments of the audio that have changed since the original transcription. Music lyrics are also not displayed in the transcripts.

Listeners will be able to follow along with its transcript, much like how real-time lyrics work in Apple Music, with the text highlighting in sync with the audio for shows.

Viewing a transcript in Podcasts Connect.

Viewing a transcript in Podcasts Connect.

I’ve experimented with OpenAI’s Whisper for creating transcripts of MacStories’ podcasts, and although the results are good enough for creating a searchable episode database for our internal use, they haven’t been good enough to publish. As a result, I’m very keen to see how well Apple’s solution works. If they prefer, podcasters will be able to upload their own transcripts, too.

A downloaded transcript.

A downloaded transcript.

The transcripts generated by Apple are saved as VTT files, which is a W3C standard for displaying timed text using HTML 5’s track element. I looked at AppStories, and sure enough, there’s a transcript available for the latest episode already. As one of the show’s creators, I can access, download, edit, and re-upload the transcript. Based on my preliminary scan of the latest episode, though, the transcription is very good, including timestamps and identification of each speaker, although not by name, which isn’t surprising.

There was a lot of buzz surrounding the App Store changes coming to the EU next month. Those changes are important and will drive the story of the App Store for years to come, but there’s more to iOS 17.4, and Podcasts transcripts are a prime example of a feature that adds value and makes podcasts more accessible to everyone.