‘Next Step’ Shortcuts Utilities
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MacStories Unwind: WeCrashed and Wet Leg
This week on MacStories Unwind, Federico recommends WeCrashed on Apple TV+, and John has had the new Wet Leg album on repeat since its release a week ago.
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Show Notes and Links
Federico’s Pick:
- WeCrashed on TV+
John’s Pick:
Apple Announces Winners of Its Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge
In January, Apple announced what has become its annual ‘Shot on iPhone’ photography contest. This year, the challenge presented to photographers was to take macro shots using the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Here’s what Apple has to say about the winners:
Today, Apple is announcing the 10 winners who highlight the global and diverse community of iPhone photographers, with finalists from China, Hungary, India, Italy, Spain, Thailand, and the US. Their stunning images will be featured on apple.com, on Apple’s Instagram (@apple), and on billboards in select cities.
The winning images were picked by a panel of expert photographers that included Anand Varma, Apeksha Maker, Peter McKinnon, Paddy Chao, Yik Keat Lee, Arem Duplessis, Billy Sorrentino, Della Huff, Kaiann Drance, and Pamela Chen.
The image above, ‘Strawberry in Soda’ by Ashley Lee, was taken in San Francisco and is my personal favorite. The photo’s bright colors and the crisp bubbles offset against a dark background convey an energy that really sets it apart. Every photo picked by the judges is unique and stunning in its own way, though, so be sure to check out the winners in Apple’s press release and be on the lookout for them on Apple’s Instagram account and on billboards.
AppStories, Episode 269 – Automation April: Interviews with the Developers Behind Pushcut and Working Copy→
This week on AppStories, we interview Rodrigo and Victor Araújo, about the many-layered ways that Pushcut extends the utility of Shortcuts and Anders Borum, the creator of the iOS and iPadOS Git client Working Copy, about the app’s use of Shortcuts.
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On AppStories+, Federico explains the tension between building multi-purpose shortcuts and those that do one thing well, while John covers some of the ways he’s been refining his task management system.
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Apple Podcasts Follower Metrics Are Now Available
Last month, I wrote about Apple’s plans to expand the analytics available to podcasters who offer free shows. Yesterday, the new metrics for free shows went live on Apple Podcasts Connect with an announcement from Apple.
The metrics report on a show’s Followers, the term Apple uses to describe anyone who follows free podcasts by selecting the plus button in the Apple Podcasts app. “Subscribers” is reserved for anyone who signs up to receive episodes of paid shows
The new analytics are explained in detail in a support document on Apple Podcasts for Creators. If you’re a podcaster, you’ll find the new metrics under the Analytics tab on Apple Podcasts Connect. The company says that the new Follower metrics allow podcasters to:
Get a breakdown of followers per show and easily measure followers across shows. Once a show is selected, you can view the number of net new followers over the last week, month, 60 days, and all time. Navigate to the Trends menu to view a graph of followers over time and the number of net new followers on a specific day or during a specified range.
The new statistics also report the listening habits of Followers and anyone who doesn’t follow your show.
It’s good to see Apple’s podcast analytics offerings expanding. Apple is just one source of listeners, but it’s a big one that, for many shows, is the dominant source of listeners, so having more anonymized data on user behavior should help guide podcasters in their promotional efforts.
Automation April: myTunes, a Personalized Music Video Channel
One of the delights of Shortcuts is the potential of simple individual actions. By themselves, they might not do much, but combined with simple actions from other apps, they create shortcuts that are greater than the sum of their parts. Two of my favorite recent examples are a pair of actions from the apps Play and Downie that combined with a new feature of the Channels app, have allowed me to create a personalized music video channel that I can watch anywhere.
I’ve been tinkering with this idea on and off for months, but it wasn’t until Play came along, and Channels expanded beyond TV shows and movies, that the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Those two changes have allowed me to build my own version of 80s era MTV, when the channel was about music, not reality TV, using just a handful of Shortcuts actions.
There are already ways to stream an endless playlist of music videos, including Apple Music TV, which is available in the TV app. However, I like the concept of Apple Music TV more than its implementation. It’s too much like radio, spoon-feeding me someone else’s music picks. What I wanted was complete control of the library of music videos I watch.
One way to solve this would be to create a playlist on the Mac with my favorite music videos and play them on shuffle. That’s not a bad solution, but it doesn’t square with how I find music videos. More often than not, I discover videos on Twitter or in my RSS feeds where I follow sites like Chorus.fm and Pitchfork, which frequently link to music videos on YouTube.
What I’ve always wanted was an automated way to download the best videos I find from YouTube and play them at my leisure on my TV, an iPad, or any other device with a screen. What Shortcuts and a few third-party apps have delivered is even better than I’d hoped: a virtual TV channel ready to play my favorite music videos 24/7 on shuffle, which I call myTunes. Here’s how it works.
Tim Cook Delivers Keynote Speech to Privacy Group
Today at the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Global Privacy Summit, Apple CEO Tim Cook delivered a keynote speech on privacy. The IAPP’s mission is to act as a resource for privacy professionals to help them in their efforts to manage information privacy risks and protect data for their organizations.
Cook’s speech, which was livestreamed on the IAPP’s YouTube channel, began with a recap of Apple’s efforts to protect user privacy, including App Tracking Transparency, alluding to the “A Day in the Life of Your Data” white paper the company published early last year.
Cook told the assembled crowd that Apple supports privacy regulation, including GDPR in the EU and privacy laws in the US. However, Cook also expressed concern about unintended consequences that laws being considered in the US and elsewhere might cause, calling out sideloading proposals in particular. Cook said that although Apple supports competition, alternate app stores and sideloading are not the solution because they would open devices up to apps that sidestep the company’s tracking protections and can expose users introduce malware.
Concluding his remarks, Cook called on tech companies and governments to work together to fashion policies that don’t undermine user privacy. Ending on an optimistic note, Cook told the gathering that although the world is at a pivotal moment for privacy, the end of privacy as we know it is not inevitable.