John Voorhees

5431 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

Last Week, on Club MacStories: Symlinks for Windows and macOS, File Organization Tips, Batch-Converting Saved Timers, and an Upcoming ‘Peek Performance’ Town Hall

Because Club MacStories now encompasses more than just newsletters, we’ve created a guide to the past week’s happenings along with a look at what’s coming up next:

Monthly Log: February 2022

Metroid running at 4K on Federico's MacBook Pro

Metroid running at 4K on Federico’s MacBook Pro

MacStories Weekly: Issue 310

Up Next

Next week on Club MacStories:

  • On March 8th, at 5:00 pm Eastern US time, we’ll be holding a live audio Town Hall in the Club MacStories+ and Club Premier Discord community. Join Federico, John, and Alex for reactions to the day’s events and to ask any questions you may have. More details about the Town Hall are available in the Announcements channel on Discord.
  • In MacStories Weekly 311, John will publish a shortcut for tweeting links to web articles via Typefully.

Nintendo Switch Online 2.0 Gets a Redesign and Adds a Few New Features

Since it debuted, Nintendo Switch Online’s utility has been primarily limited to initiating voice chats and other online features in the Switch games that support them. That’s still the core of version 2.0, but the app has been redesigned and adds a couple of nice new features.

The new design divides the screen into a scrolling row of friends along the top, thumbnails of the games you own that support online services, like Animal Crossing, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, and Splatoon 2, and the app’s Voice Chat feature. It’s a simple, good-looking design, but the abundance of blank space, if you’re not using voice chat, reveals just how little else the app has to offer.

Tapping on a friend's Mii shows you what they're playing or when they were last online.

Tapping on a friend’s Mii shows you what they’re playing or when they were last online.

The row of friends indicates who is currently online and who you’ve marked as a ‘Best Friend,’ which pins their Mii avatars to the beginning of your friends list. Tapping on a Mii shows you what someone who is online is playing or when they were last online. The game-specific thumbnails act as launchers for each game’s service, and voice chat is only activated if you first start a game on the Switch in a mode that supports it.

Nintendo Switch Online walks you through the process of starting a voice chat and lets you manage your visibility to friends.

Nintendo Switch Online walks you through the process of starting a voice chat and lets you manage your visibility to friends.

A small but welcome touch is the ability to copy your friend code in the app’s settings. Previously you had to grab your Switch, dig into your profile, and manually copy the information if you wanted to send it to someone. Personally, that’s been a huge drag on how often I share my friend code, so I appreciate the change.

It’s good to see Nintendo Switch Online updated, but it’s still a little disheartening to think that it took the company five years to get to a version 2.0 with such modest feature additions. Still, the update is an improvement, and hopefully, it’s also a sign that Nintendo is prepared to invest more time and effort into the app as a way to enhance the Switch experience.

Nintendo Switch Online is available as a free update on the App Store.

AppStories - Ep. 263 - 53 minutes

Beyond Doom Scrolling: Getting More Out of Twitter

FedericoJohn
AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

AppStories Episode 263 - Beyond Doom Scrolling: Getting More Out of Twitter

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

This week, Federico and John talk about how to get more out of Twitter while avoiding doom scrolling, through a combination of advanced Twitter features, third-party apps, and Shortcuts.

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MacStories Unwind: Elden Ring and Kimi

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps
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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

This week, Federico shares why he’s enjoying Elden Ring so much, and John recommends Kimi, an HBO Max thriller with a tech twist.

Apple’s Upcoming ‘Peek Performance’ Event

On March 8th at 5:00 pm Eastern US time, we’ll be holding a live audio Town Hall in the Club MacStories+ and Club Premier Discord community. Join Federico, Alex, and me for reactions to the day’s events and to ask any questions you may have. More details about the Town Hall are available in the Announcements channel on Discord.

Federico’s Pick

John’s Pick:

Apple Announces March 8th Online Event

As tweeted by Federico, Apple has announced an online media event for March 8th, 2022 at 10:00 am Pacific:

Based on the latest speculation and rumors, Apple is expected to introduce a revision of the iPhone SE and iPad Air. Other announcements could include the base-model iPad, which has historically been revised in the spring, and new Apple silicon Mac minis.

Of course, MacStories readers can expect comprehensive coverage on MacStories and AppStories, which will extend to Club MacStories too.

You can follow all of our ‘Peek Performance’ Apple event coverage through our event hub, or subscribe to the dedicated RSS feed.

OutlineEdit 3 Offers a Fast, Keyboard-Driven Way to Outline Your Thoughts

One of my earliest MacStories reviews was of OutlineEdit 1.0, a Mac-only outlining app that caught my eye with its attention to the kind of details that are a must for creating carefully structured outlines quickly. Version 3.0 recently landed on the Mac App Store and at its core, OutlineEdit is just as capable as ever at effortlessly turning ideas into outlines. The changes introduced with version 3.0 include refinements to existing features, as well as a handful of new features that extend OutlineEdit’s capabilities. Let’s take a look.

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