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.
Apple has announced that CFO Luca Maestri will leave that position effective on January 1, 2025, but continue at Apple to lead Corporate Services. Maestri will be replaced by Kevan Parekh, Apple’s Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis, who has been at Apple for 11 years. Maestri has been Apple’s CFO for a decade.
In a press release issued by Apple, Tim Cook had this to say about Maestri and Parekh:
Luca has been an extraordinary partner in managing Apple for the long term. He has been instrumental in improving and driving the company’s financial performance, engaging with shareholders, and instilling financial discipline across every part of Apple. We’re fortunate that we will continue to benefit from the leadership and insight that have been the hallmark of his tenure at the company.
During his time as CFO, Maestri enabled essential investments and practiced robust financial discipline, which together helped the company more than double its revenue, with services revenue growing more than five times.
More details on Apple’s CFO transition are available in its press release.
A short time ago, Apple announced that it will hold an event on September 9, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific time with the tagline “It’s Glowtime.” Glowtime is likely a reference to the new capabilities coming to Siri with the updates coming to the company’s OSes. If history is any indication, in addition to a recap of changes to Apple’s OSes, we’ll also see new iPhones and revised Apple Watches. Rumors point to new AirPods too.
[[John]] Tameno 1.1 Tameno is a timer app for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS that lets you set up repeating timers that use haptics or visual cues to alert you each time they count down. From the developer of Yoink and ScreenFloat, the app also includes excellent Shortcuts and widget support. This week, Tameno...
Today, I thought I’d explore some of the best ways I’ve found to keep up with videogames, so you can spend less time researching games and more time playing. What makes tracking games more difficult than it should be is that the industry is fractured across multiple platforms and services. Games are available on consoles,...
With an Apple event and review season around the corner and the summer coming to a close, we’re taking next week off from publishing MacStories Weekly. We do this every summer as a way to carve out some more time to work on our reviews and relax a little before the busy fall. The Monthly...
[[John]] Sarah Jeong at The Verge has an excellent story about the Pixel 9’s Magic Editor and what it means for our assumptions about photos and the reality they depict. (Link) MacRumors’ Tim Hardwick reports on the new Apple Park backgrounds for FaceTime calls that were added to the macOS Sequoia beta. (Link) Epic Games...
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
Sigmund and Devon highlight the return of Pachinko and share their earliest experiences with Apple TV.
The gang shares their very sane, and not at all controversial ???? notification preferences. Then they explore some new and interesting Obsidian plugins you might not have heard of.
This week, John and Federico discuss peanut butter, the limits of testing gadgets in public, and Federico’s latest Spotify experiment before turning to a movie and two music recommendations.
Yesterday, during Gamescom’s opening night ceremonies, Netflix Games released a trailer for Monument Valley 3. The franchise’s sequel from Ustwo Games, which has been in development for five years, will be published exclusively on Apple’s App Store and Android by Netflix Games on December 10th. Monument Valley 1 and 2 are also moving to Netflix Games on September 19th and October 29th, respectively. Both games previously launched on the App Store as paid titles and were later added to Apple Arcade.
Few details have been shared about Monument Valley 3, although the trailer does reveal that the game’s protagonist Noor will sail a boat for the first time. According to Jennifer Estaris, Ustwo’s Game Director of Monument Valley 3:
Monument Valley is a title that has pushed boundaries of what is possible in games, from the power of minimalist design, to the simplicity of play and the emotion of interactive storytelling. Our goal is to bring our biggest Monument Valley yet to as many people as possible, which is why we partnered with Netflix to deliver the game to hundreds of millions of players around the world as part of their memberships.
I’ve had my eye on Netflix Games for a while. Its catalog, which we discussed on NPC: Next Portable Console and I’ve written abouta lot, is full of high-quality indie games as well as casual games and TV tie-ins. I’ve half expected Netflix to veer in a more Arcade-like direction, but so far, the company’s game library continues to outdo Apple Arcade in terms of game quality and balance among genres.
Federico
