Claude Claude added widgets this week. With the latest update, you can start a new session, have a photo analyzed, or open the app’s dictation mode from your Home Screen or Lock Screen. The update is modest but notable since so many web-first apps never support native features like widgets. LOK Digital LOK Digital...
Recharged: A New Approach to Charging My iPhone
There was a time when it was hard to get through the day without topping off your iPhone’s battery at least once. Most days, I’d go to bed with barely any battery left, so I’d plug it in and let it charge all night, ensuring my phone had a full battery by the time I...
MacStories Weekly Returns to Fridays
Beginning next week, we’ll be moving Weekly back to Fridays. Why? It’s pretty simple. Since the beginning of a new year, our schedules have changed, and we’re hoping to spend less time working on weekends. Plus, it gives everyone a full weekend to dig into the latest issue no matter what time zone you live...
Interesting Links
AYANEO, notorious for its high-end handheld gaming devices, has created something truly unique with the AYANEO 3, which includes a modular system for customizing the layout of its controls. (Link) Andrew Cunningham reviews the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, which is both incredibly fast and expensive. (Link) Anthropic has introduced a new developer API...
The Latest from Comfort Zone, Magic Rays of Light, and MacStories Unwind
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
Comfort Zone
Matt has an announcement to make (and a cool app to talk about), Chris brought a bag of goodies, and Niléane brought a fun challenge around using our mice in interesting ways.
Magic Rays of Light
Sigmund and Devon highlight the premiere of Apple Original thriller Prime Target, share their perspectives on the conversation surrounding dark scenes in shows and films, and recap the gripping second season of Silo.
MacStories Unwind
This week, a neighborhood explosion, oats, root vegetables, and coffee, plus a classic sitcom, a unique videogame, and an action-packed movie.
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What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.
Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
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Epic Games Announces iOS Store Expansion in the E.U.→
The Epic Games Store, which is available in the E.U. on iOS as a result of the Digital Markets Act and globally on Android, is expanding.
During a press briefing, Epic’s Tim Sweeney said:
Our aim here isn’t just to launch a bunch of different stores in different places, but to build a single, cross-platform store in which, within the era of multi-platform games, if you buy a game or digital items in one place, you have the ability to own them everywhere.
As part of the store expansion, The Verge’s Lauren Feiner reports that Epic will cover Apple’s E.U. Core Technology Fee charged on free games for the first 12 months. Epic will also offer monthly free games, and eventually, weekly freebies. The new games aren’t available just yet, but should be soon.
It’s good to see Epic expanding its offerings on iOS and Android. Alternative marketplaces have grown slowly in the E.U., but with Epic willing to reduce the financial risk of Apple’s Core Technology Fee, we should start seeing Epic’s store expand more rapidly.
The Vision Pro Lends a Hand to the STRUTT ev¹ Personal Mobility Device→
YouTuber Two F Zero T has a first look at the STRUTT ev¹, a personal mobility device that was shown off at CES and can be controlled with the Vision Pro. The video, which I first saw linked by Apple’s Mike Stern on Mastodon, demonstrates the impressive tech packed into the STRUTT ev¹, including a unique integration with the Vision Pro. Thanks to Apple’s headset, users can navigate their surroundings with the Vision Pro’s eye and head tracking.
One of the things that’s easy to forget is that the Vision Pro builds on Apple’s years of accessibility research and development, which pioneered many of the interactions central to how people use it. With the release of the Vision Pro, developers working on new hardware like the STRUTT ev¹ can build on Apple’s innovation to offer an even richer feature set in their products. It’s a virtuous circle that benefits everyone. Apple’s products work better for more people, and companies like Strutt can build on that technology to offer an enhanced experience to their customers, too.
The Latest from AppStories and Ruminate
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
AppStories
This week, Federico and John look ahead to WWDC and beyond to consider how Apple Intelligence could be used to change the way we use our iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
On AppStories+, Federico has grievances about the lack of Apple software compatibility on Android.
Ruminate
I brings the snack, Robb tries the BuJo life, and they both discuss web apps.
Access Extra Content and Perks
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.
Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
Netflix Games Seemingly Narrows Its Focus→
I’ve followed Netflix Games’ journey closely for the last three years. The company has dipped its toe into a wide variety of genres but stood out for its deep catalog of artistic indie games, including recent additions like Monument Valley 3. However, based on an earnings call reported on by Neil Long of mobilegamer.biz, that may be changing.
According to Long, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said:
After three years of releasing a broad range of mobile titles, Netflix said it is now focusing on “a few key genres”, including narrative games based on its own IP, party games, kids games and “mainstream established titles (like Grand Theft Auto)”.
From that, it sure sounds like indie games are being squeezed out at Netflix Games, which has seen its fair share of upheaval recently. I hope not though. Having high-quality indie titles on my iPhone that are also available on my Ayn Odin Android portable console has been a delight.