Two-Day Indie App Sales Event Begins Today with Over 250 Apps

By John Voorhees

Matt Corey has once again gathered indie developers to organize a huge sale today and tomorrow. Corey, the maker of Bills to Budget and Signals, has organized a collection of over 250 apps that will be offered at a discount through Wednesday. The list is too long to publish here, but it includes many apps we’ve covered here on MacStories and on Club MacStories in the past, including:

There are a lot of great deals, with many apps discounted 50% or more. What’s listed above is a small fraction of the participating apps, so be sure to visit Indie App Sales and support these great indie apps.

Web Advocates Challenge Apple’s EU Browser Policies →

Linked By John Voorhees

The EU’s Digital Markets Act requires Apple to allow third parties to offer web browsers with their own browser engines. However, more than a year later, there are no browsers built with Chromium, Gecko, or any other engine in the EU.

At a recent EU workshop on Apple’s compliance with the DMA’s browser requirements, Apple representatives were asked some pointed questions by Open Web Advocacy (OWA), and others about its browser engine policies. OWA, a non-profit that advocates for the open web, raised multiple issues with Apple’s approach to browser engines in the EU that they believe are holding back third-party engines.

One issue is that versions of the same browser with different engines can’t be part of the same app bundle. According to OWA, that effectively means vendors like Google and Mozilla would need to release a new EU-only version of their browsers, starting the process of acquiring users from scratch, which I can’t imagine any browser company would sign up to do voluntarily.

Another issue OWA raised is that there is currently no way for web developers outside the EU who are not associated with the browser makers to obtain browsers with competing engines for testing purposes. That’s a problem that’s been solved with other apps by allowing test versions to be distributed outside the EU. However, as things stand today, OWA says that web developers couldn’t use EU-only browsers for testing even if there were any available.

Other issues were raised, too, but these two strike me as practical impediments to third-party browser engines that can and should be resolved. Apple’s responses to OWA’s challenges focused on privacy and security, which are legitimate factors to consider, but it’s disappointing that more than a year after the DMA took effect, the practical problems raised by OWA and others still haven’t been solved.

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AppStories, Ep. 445 - 38 minutes

Imagining Apple’s Next Big Thing

Federico

John

This week, Federico and John share a grab bag of projects we’d like to see Apple pursue from software, to hardware and corporate acquisitions.

On AppStories+, Federico and John take their wish list further with a bunch of gadgets they’d like to see Apple make.

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AppStories Episode 445 - Imagining Apple’s Next Big Thing

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App Debuts

By John Voorhees

John

Cascable Studio Cascable Studio 7.1 recently introduced powerful automation features for streamlining photographers’ iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac workflows. The app, which lets you remotely control, tether, automate, and transfer photos and video from more than 200 supported cameras over USB, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet, now supports Elgato’s Stream Deck on the iPad and...

A New Approach to Computing

By John Voorhees

As I’ve played around more with AI tools, I’ve begun to realize that computing is going to increasingly become a lean-back experience, which I expect will change the input devices we use. Here’s where I think we’re heading. I learned touch typing in high school. I’m comfortable with a keyboard under my hands and can...

Interesting Links

By John Voorhees

John

It was a big week for Apple history posts: On 512 Pixels, Stephen Hackett linked to a post by Marcin Wichary that recounts the history of the Mac’s settings from 1984–2004. (Link) Stephen also did some testing to confirm that macOS Tahoe does not support FireWire 800. I’m surprised it lasted this long. (Link)...

The Search for Nintendo’s Elusive iMac G3-Inspired Game Boy Colors →

Linked By John Voorhees

Source: Console Variations.

Retro Dodo, linking to the website Console Variations, has a story about the time Nintendo produced variants of the Game Boy Color that matched the iMac G3. All that seemingly remains of these color-matched Game Boys is the low-resolution image above from a 1999 issue of 64 Dream Magazine because Retro Dodo’s Sebastian Santabarbara went looking for the handhelds and was unable to find them anywhere online.

Nintendo wasn’t alone in copying the vibrant translucency of the iMac G3. In the late ’90s it seemed like every consumer product maker did something similar. Most of those products have been lost to time and forgotten, but Nintendo fans are an intrepid bunch. I wouldn’t be surprised if these iMac-themed Game Boy Colors turn up in an auction online eventually.

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Apple Names Sabih Khan COO as Jeff Williams Plans Retirement

By John Voorhees

Apple announced today that later this month, Sabih Khan is taking over for Jeff Williams as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. According to Apple’s press release, Williams will continue to oversee the company’s design team, Apple Watch, and health initiatives. Later this year, Williams plans to retire, at which point Apple’s design team will report directly to Tim Cook.

Cook had this to say of Williams:

Jeff and I have worked alongside each other for as long as I can remember, and Apple wouldn’t be what it is without him. He’s helped to create one of the most respected global supply chains in the world; launched Apple Watch and overseen its development; architected Apple’s health strategy; and led our world class team of designers with great wisdom, heart, and dedication. I am and will always be beyond grateful for his numerous contributions to Apple over the years and his loyal friendship. Jeff’s true legacy can be seen in the amazing team he’s created and, while he’ll be greatly missed, he leaves the work of the future in incredible hands.

Of Khan, Cook said:

Sabih is a brilliant strategist who has been one of the central architects of Apple’s supply chain. While overseeing Apple’s supply chain, he has helped pioneer new technologies in advanced manufacturing, overseen the expansion of Apple’s manufacturing footprint in the United States, and helped ensure that Apple can be nimble in response to global challenges. He has advanced our ambitious efforts in environmental sustainability, helping reduce Apple’s carbon footprint by more than 60 percent. Above all, Sabih leads with his heart and his values, and I know he will make an exceptional chief operating officer.

Khan isn’t someone who is probably familiar with a lot of readers, but he’s worked alongside Williams throughout his tenure at Apple. Williams said of Khan:

I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Sabih for 27 years and I think he’s the most talented operations executive on the planet. I have tremendous confidence in Apple’s future under his leadership in this role.”

I’ve always enjoyed Jeff Williams’ Apple Watch and health initiative presentations, which he’s delivered with a relaxed confidence for years. Apple’s press release doesn’t say who will lead its Apple Watch program or health initiatives, but I’m sure we’ll hear more on that front later this year.

My Latest Mac Automation Tool is a Tiny Game Controller

By John Voorhees

Source: 8BitDo.

I never expected my game controller obsession to pay automation dividends, but it did last week in the form of the tiny 16-button 8BitDo Micro. For the past week, I’ve used the Micro to dictate on my Mac, interact with AI chatbots, and record and edit podcasts. While the setup won’t replace a Stream Deck or Logitech Creative Console for every use case, it excels in areas where those devices don’t because it fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and costs a fraction of those other devices.

My experiments started when I read a story on Endless Mode by Nicole Carpenter, who explained how medical students turned to two tiny 8BitDo game controllers to help with their studies. The students were using an open-source flashcard app called Anki and ran into an issue while spending long hours with their flashcards:

The only problem is that using Anki from a computer isn’t too ergonomic. You’re hunched over a laptop, and your hands start cramping from hitting all the different buttons on your keyboard. If you’re studying thousands of cards a day, it becomes a real problem—and no one needs to make studying even more intense than it already is.

To relieve the strain on their hands, the med students turned to 8BitDo’s tiny Micro and Zero 2 controllers, using them as remote controls for the Anki app. The story didn’t explain how 8BitDo’s controllers worked with Anki, but as I read it, I thought to myself, “Surely this isn’t something that was built into the app,” which immediately drew me deeper into the world of 8BitDo controllers as study aides.

8BitDo markets the Micro’s other uses, but for some reason, it hasn’t spread much beyond the world of medical school students. Source: 8BitDo.

As I suspected, the 8BitDo Micro works just as well with any app that supports keyboard shortcuts as it does with Anki. What’s curious, though, is that even though medical students have been using the Micro and Zero 2 with Anki for several years and 8BitDo’s website includes a marketing image of someone using the Micro with Clip Studio Paint on an iPad, word of the Micro’s automation capabilities hasn’t spread much. That’s something I’d like to help change.

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AppStories Episode 445 - Imagining Apple’s Next Big Thing

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