John Voorhees

5804 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.

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Apple Music Commissions Custom Playlist Art→

If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, you’re probably familiar with its playlist artwork styles. Some work well to tie together collections of related playlists like Decades, Essentials, and Deep Cuts. The trouble is though, that has also bred a certain sameness across Apple Music’s many playlists. That’s beginning to change as Apple rolls out custom playlist artwork from high-profile music industry artists.

Bijan Stephen of The Verge was told that the new artwork is designed to:

“connect more directly with the communities and the culture for which they were intended,” says Rachel Newman, Apple’s global director of editorial. Before now, Apple’s playlists had a uniform presentation that didn’t necessarily speak to the music. “In many ways, it’s a visual representation of the music that you will find inside that playlist,” said Newman.

Newman told Stephen that the company is rolling out the new artwork over the next few months and intends to redesign ‘many thousands’ of playlists.

The Verge also spoke to several artists involved in the project for its story. Stole “Moab” Stojmenov who created the cover of the Migos’ album Culture explained how he approached the challenge:

“Giving a shape and an image to music is never an easy process,” he wrote. “My style and my creative process have been always characterised by a significant presence of symbology and very powerful images, in addition to a very minimal and simple design. I think this project was somehow a bit different, but it also gave me the chance to create a real manifesto of my style.

The new playlist art published so far is excellent. There’s a wide range of styles that suit the music showcased in each playlist. By drawing on a wide range of talent from the music industry, the company should be able to imbue each playlist with a personality that was sometimes lacking in the past.

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Q&A

Question: I just came across a Mac app called VoodooPad that lets you create a wiki-style database to store large amounts of information. Is there a similar iPad app? I know you can do something like this in Bear with note links, but I would like a dedicated app. (Connor Rose)

VoodooPad is available...


Digital Camera Companion Apps on iOS

Not long ago, I bought a Sony a6500 digital camera. It’s got a 24-megapixel APS-C sensor and uses Sony E-mount lenses, which I already had a couple of from a previous camera, and therefore was one of the reasons I went with this particular model. I also picked the a6500 because it works...


App Debuts

Soor Just over a week ago, Soor debuted as a beautifully designed third-party music client for Apple Music. For all that Soor does well – which is a lot – it also included a number of drawbacks in version 1.0 compared to the first-party Music app. As highlighted in Federico’s review, the app didn’t...



AppStories, Episode 101 – iOS 13 Wish List Part 1: Files and the iPad Home Screen→

On this week’s episode of AppStories, we discuss our iOS 13 wishes for the Files app and iPad home screen.

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

AppStories Episode 101 - iOS 13 Wish List Part 1: Files and the iPad Home Screen

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

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App Debuts

Day One for Mac Day One has been updated to version 3.0 on the Mac with a new design. The new look features bolder typography and has a cleaner overall look that I like. Double clicking on entries opens them up into their own windows, which can be used to refer to one entry...


Gladys for Mac

My main shelf app on the Mac and iOS these days is Yoink. I use it as a temporary parking spot for files, snippets of text, and images to make it easier to move those items around on my Mac, iPad, or between them. For files I regularly need though, I still use Gladys...