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

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AppStories, Episode 98 – Mixed iOS/Mac Automation→

On this week’s episode of AppStories, dive into Federico’s experiments in mixed iOS and Mac automation for controlling his Mac mini, iTunes, and podcasting setup.

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

AppStories Episode 98 - Mixed iOS/Mac Automation

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

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AppStories - Ep. 98 - 42 minutes

Mixed iOS/Mac Automation

FedericoJohn
AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

AppStories Episode 98 - Mixed iOS/Mac Automation

0:00
42:00

↓

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

This week, Federico and John dive into Federico’s experiments in mixed iOS and Mac automation for controlling his Mac mini, iTunes, and podcasting setup.

Read more

Terminology

John

I’ve long been a fan of Greg Pierce’s dictionary app Terminology. Greg is best known as the creator of Drafts, but if you do any writing at all, you should have Terminology too because it combines a dictionary, thesaurus, and other tools, which makes it a perfect writing companion. Terminology has the basics you’d...

Revoking App Access to Your Apple Music Subscription

John

The ability to connect an Apple Music subscription to other devices and apps is still relatively new. Especially with devices, there aren’t many outside Apple’s own that work with the streaming service. However, with the addition of the ability to pair an Amazon Echo with Apple Music, the option is available to more people...

App Debuts

John

Amazon Prime Video Amazon’s X-Ray feature has been available as part of Amazon Prime Video on Amazon devices, game consoles, and elsewhere for quite a while, but conspicuously absent from the Apple TV. This week though, the Amazon Prime Video app was updated on the Apple TV to add the feature. To use it,...

Q&A

Question: My wife is very active, but she struggles to close the Activity rings on her Apple Watch, even when actively exercising. That got us to wondering what the rings actually measure. Yes, it’s standing hours, exercise, and active calories, but what sensors in the Watch are used for each ring, and what do they...

Apple Releases iOS Update to Fix FaceTime Bug and Compensates Teen Who Discovered the Problem

Today, Apple issued an update to iOS that fixes the serious bug that we reported on last week, which could be exploited to eavesdrop on someone using FaceTime. With iOS 12.1.4 in place, Apple has turned Group FaceTime back on server-side too, but it will only work with the updated version of iOS and later releases.

In a statement to MacRumors, BuzzFeed, and other media outlets Apple said:

Today’s software update fixes the security bug in Group FaceTime. We again apologize to our customers and we thank them for their patience. In addition to addressing the bug that was reported, our team conducted a thorough security audit of the FaceTime service and made additional updates to both the FaceTime app and server to improve security. This includes a previously unidentified vulnerability in the Live Photos feature of FaceTime. To protect customers who have not yet upgraded to the latest software, we have updated our servers to block the Live Photos feature of FaceTime for older versions of iOS and macOS.

In the security update notes released alongside the update, Apple credits Grant Thompson, the teenager who first reported the bug, along with Daven Morris of Arlington, Texas.

FaceTime

Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation

Impact: The initiator of a Group FaceTime call may be able to cause the recipient to answer

Description: A logic issue existed in the handling of Group FaceTime calls. The issue was addressed with improved state management.

CVE-2019-6223: Grant Thompson of Catalina Foothills High School, Daven Morris of Arlington, TX

According to Nicole Nguyen of BuzzFeed, Apple is also compensating Thompson’s family and making a gift towards his education:

Obscura Updated with Histogram Support and a New Image Viewer

Obscura 2.0 was one of our favorite iOS app updates of 2018, which garnered it a MacStories Selects Best App Update Runner-Up award. Since it was released eight months ago, developer Ben McCarthy has continued to refine the app and add new features such as iPad support, new editing controls, localizations, and a Photos extension. With the latest update out today, Obscura has added a histogram visualizer, a redesigned image viewer, iPad keyboard shortcuts, and more.

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CARROT Weather Is More Customizable and Useful on the Apple Watch Than Ever

CARROT Weather has had one of the top tier Apple Watch apps for a long time now. In the early days of the Watch, CARROT was one of the few apps that loaded quickly and worked reliably. Since third-party complications were introduced, CARROT’s had some of the best. With the latest update though, CARROT has extended its Watch app’s functionality and flexibility even further and added a few other great features too.

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