John Voorhees

5554 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 - Ep. 426 - 35 minutes

Our Self-Imposed Tech Deadlines

FedericoJohn

This week, Federico and John share their self-imposed tech deadlines for the hardware and software they use.

On AppStories+, Federico and John follow up their tech deadlines with the hardware they expect to add to their setups in 2025.

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

AppStories Episode 426 - Our Self-Imposed Tech Deadlines

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

This episode is sponsored by:

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A Trio of iPhone Tips

The obscurity of a tip is in the eye of the beholder, but I’ve gathered three today that I don’t think many people know. The first two are related to long-pressing on the iPhone, which is something I do a lot in certain circumstances but don’t experiment with enough. That’s why I was surprised to...

Interesting Links

Federico

A new startup called Sesame AI recently showcased their Conversational Speech Model (CSM), which aims to generate more natural and human-sounding AI. I played around with it earlier this week, and it’s…eerie. It is, by far, the best speech model I’ve ever heard from a digital assistant. I’m curious to see if this becomes...

App Debuts

Federico

Pediapal Created by Adrian Eves, Pediapal is a new iPhone app that helps parents track their children’s health measurements and medicine needs. The app lets you record stats like height and weight, set up medication reminders, and create shareable care plans for babysitters or other caregivers. I’ll let you guess the first contact I...

The Ferris Bueller Productivity Theorem

Scribe.

Scribe.

I think about this Ferris Bueller quote a lot: Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. I love the “carpe diem” energy of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. But today, I’m going to point that energy at workflows instead of slacking. Just a few...

Podcast Rewind: A Keyboard Rabbit-Hole, British Spies, and Converting Video to 3D

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

Comfort Zone

Niléane has entered her keyboard era, Chris has a consumer warning as well as a really good macropad, and then we find the best games on the Mac.

MacStories Unwind

This week, a little Cajun cooking, behind-the-scenes of the launch of NPC XL, another great British spy drama, and a classic sci-fi deal.

Magic Rays of Light

Sigmund and Devon grade their predictions for the 97th Academy Awards, discuss the process and benefits of converting films and shows to 3D, and recap the latest Apple Immersive Video release: Deep Water Solo.

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Apple Delays Siri Personalization→

Apple released a statement to John Gruber of Daring Fireball today announcing that it is delaying a “more personalized Siri.” According to Apple’s Jacqueline Roy:

Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we’ve made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT. We’ve also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year.

This isn’t surprising given where things stand with Siri and Apple Intelligence more generally, but it is still disappointing. Of all the features shown off at WWDC last year, the ability to have Siri take actions in multiple apps on your behalf through natural language requests was one of the most eagerly anticipated. But, I’d prefer to get a feature that works than one that is half-baked.

Still, you have to wonder where the rest of the AI market will be by the time a “more personalized Siri” is released and whether it will look as much like yesterday’s tech as some of today’s Apple Intelligence features do.

Permalink

Phoenix Rising: Tapbots Reveals New Bluesky Client for Summer Release

Tapbots, the makers of Mastodon client Ivory, announced today that they are working on a Bluesky client. The app, which will be called Phoenix, is planned for release this summer.

There aren’t a lot of details yet, but Tapbots’ history of making top-notch social media apps stretches back many years, to Tweetbot, which was pulled from the App Store after Twitter no longer offered a third-party API. If you visit the project’s landing page, there is a brief FAQ, which explains that Ivory will continue to be developed, and that the Tapbots team believes separate apps for Mastodon and Bluesky will result in a better user experience than combining the two, which strikes me as right. Tapbots also says that they will release a public alpha version of the app as soon as possible.

This is great news. I’ve never been a huge fan of the default Bluesky app, and although more alternatives seem to be released every week, there are still fewer choices than there are for Mastodon. Plus, as an Ivory user, I’m looking forward to what I expect will be a similar interaction model and design with Phoenix.

Podcast Rewind: The Disappearing Prosumer App Market, Retroid Flip 2 Specs, NPC XL Debuts, and Tony Hawk Remakes Announced

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and I examine the widening gap between consumer and enterprise apps, asking what happened to prosumer and small business app market.

This episode is sponsored by:

  • Incogni – Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code APPSTORIES with this link and get 60% off an annual plan.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, Retroid Pocket Flip 2 specs are out, the Legion Go S disappoints, and we try to decipher what AYANEO is doing before reminiscing over a PictoChat clone on the iPhone and discussing the benefits of having a personal videogame shopper in Japan, and Brendon’s experience with the black Miyoo Flip.

NPC XL

Then on NPC XL for Patreon backers, Federico, Brendon, and I share our love of the Sony PSP, from Federico’s long-time obsession to Brendon’s more recent journey down the rabbit hole, to my very first PSP, the gang covers the PSP’s history, their experiences, and the PSP’s impact on handheld gaming.

Back NPC on Patreon for a new episode of NPC XL every week.

Ruminate

Robb is hyped for a new Tony Hawk game, I launched NPC XL, and finally, Robb has a pen and paper update.

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