John Voorhees

5773 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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The Latest from Comfort Zone, Magic Rays of Light, and MacStories Unwind

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

Comfort Zone

Niléane has taken to the skies in Flight Simulator, Chris wants to talk about yet another Mac, and the gang all looks for the best open source app (or web app!) they can find.


Magic Rays of Light

Sigmund and Devon preview the new features coming in tvOS 18.2. Then, they recap the first German-language Apple Original series, Where’s Wanda?, and Spanish-language medical drama series Midnight Family.


MacStories Unwind

This week on MacStories Unwind, we kick off the first of our annual ‘best of’ Unwind recaps with the best music releases of 2024.

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A Fun Way to Add Holiday Cheer to Your Mac→

If you’re looking to add a little holiday cheer to your Mac, be sure to check out Festivitas by developer Simon Støvring. The app lives in your Mac’s menu bar where you can switch between displaying colorful blinking holiday lights along your menu bar, dock, or both.

The app requires access to accessibility permission to tell where your Mac’s dock is, which it will ask permission for when you first start it. Once that’s out of the way, you can turn the lights on and off from the menu bar, where you can also access settings to customize things like the size of the lights, their spacing, and the thickness of the wire that connects them.

The app is available via Gumroad for 4 euros.

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The Latest from NPC: Next Portable Console and AppStories

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and I consider the differences between assistive and generative AI and cover the sort of automation tasks for which assistive AI is useful.

On AppStories+, I share my skepticism about the utility of Apple’s rumored home hub device.


NPC: Next Portable Console

Tencent and Intel announce a huge handheld, Sony is taking its time, reviewers share early hands-on testing of the Ayn Odin Portal, the Miyoo Mini Flip is spotted across the Internet, Samsung files an intriguing portable gaming patent, and a new eGPU is on the way. Plus, Brendon revisits the Anbernic RG35XXSP, Federico has a mini-surprise, and Federico and I share oue first impressions of the Retroid Pocket 5.

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Apple Music Replay 2024 is Live→

Apple has released its annual Apple Music Replay overview of subscribers’ listening statistics for 2024. The recap can be accessed on the music.apple.com/replay, where you’ll find details about the music to which you listened throughout the year, including your top albums, songs, artists, playlists, and genres. If you’d rather browse Replay in the Music app, you can do that too, with the ‘Open’ in Music button that appears at the top of the webpage and opens the same content as a popup over your Apple Music library.

At the beginning of Replay, there’s an animated recap with highlights of your year in music set to the songs you enjoyed throughout the year. Replay also calls out listening milestones like the total number of minutes listened and the number of artists and songs played. Plus, subscribers can browse through their statistics by month. Also, at the bottom of Replay, you’ll also find a link to your Replay ‘24 playlist, with the top 100 songs you listened to in 2024.

The timing of Replay ‘24 is perfect. I’ve begun preparing my list of favorite albums of 2024 for this week’s MacStories Unwind, which will be out Thursday for Club MacStories members and for everyone else on Friday, and as my Replay playlist makes abundandly clear, 2024 has been a great year for music.

To view your own Replay 2024 statistics, visit music.apple.com/replay.

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Assistive AI Automation Tools

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

AppStories Episode 414 - Assistive AI Automation Tools

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

This week, Federico and John consider the differences between assistive and generative AI and cover the sort of automation tasks for which assistive AI is useful.

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App Debuts

Scribe There are plenty of AI-based transcription apps on the App Store (believe me, I must have tried at least 10 different ones this week, and I barely scratched the surface), but how many of them use a plastic-wrapped CD as their whole aesthetic? Scribe does. The app does the same thing as dozens...



Interesting Links

Microsoft has wanted to open a smartphone-based game store for years and finally got an opening earlier this year thanks to a court ruling against Google. Microsoft is ready to go, but Google got a reprieve this week from the judge in the case, who has given the company more time to comply with...


The Latest from Comfort Zone, Magic Rays of Light, and MacStories Unwind

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

Comfort Zone

“The gang has so much to be thankful for, including you, dear listeners. ❤️

Oh yeah, and they find new ways to listen to music before being revealing their absolute favorite Apple app.”


Magic Rays of Light

Sigmund and Devon discuss Steve McQueen’s Blitz, new Apple Original documentary Bread & Roses, and the first episode of Concert for One featuring an immersive performance by RAYE.


MacStories Unwind

This week, a Thanksgiving guessing game, neighborly pies, NotebookLM, the Infamous Cousin Dave’s emoji habits, and getting started with retro gaming.

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