Federico Viticci

10776 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.

Daylite: The Productivity App for Individuals and Teams, Exclusively for Mac and iOS [Sponsor]

Marketcircle helps individuals, teams, and small businesses on the Mac, iPhone and iPad be more productive with their two apps, Daylite and Billings Pro.

For those of you who don’t know about Daylite, it has been around for almost 15 years. Daylite helps you manage clients, schedules, tasks, projects, emails and new business opportunities, all in one app where they’re interconnected. From a single client you can see who referred them, emails to and from, booked or upcoming appointments, pending business deals and even future followups. Or from a single Project you can see each person and their role, the tasks and who’s responsible, meetings about the project, and notes, all in chronological order. Daylite helps you remember everything so you don’t have to worry about anything falling through the cracks. And when you invite team members, you can share this information, assign tasks or check each others calendars before scheduling meetings.

And with the recent release of Daylite 6, Marketcircle has made it even easier to get started. Create an account and login from your Mac, iPhone or iPad, then works with or without an Internet connection. Daylite will sync changes between devices and teammates when a connection is available. Marketcircle includes a 30 day trial for Daylite, with monthly and yearly plans.

You can even read about other companies using Daylite here.

Our thanks to Marketcircle for sponsoring MacStories this week.


iPad Pro and OS X with Screens

Eddie Vassallo, writing on the Entropy blog on using the iPad Pro in combination with a Mac mini via VNC:

The beauty of a single machine fully dedicated to the iPad Pro is that we always have a full OS X instance at the ready for anything that arises - from exporting and compiling app builds to transcoding video, to downloading and uploading large files. Heck, we’ve even found it useful for firing up a desktop instance of Chrome when pesky sites misbehave on mobile Safari. It has truly filled the gap for any desktop-class workflows we require (that have not already been fulfilled with an iOS App or Web-based method).

Before switching to the iPad as my only computer and before iOS 9 multitasking (I would say between 2011 and 2014), this is also what I did. I set up a personal mini at Macminicolo (a fine company which also hosts this very website) and relied on Edovia’s excellent Screens app to access desktop apps like iTunes and Chrome. I also used to keep the mini always running for Hazel rules (here’s an archive of posts about it) and other desktop automation. I do most of this stuff directly on iOS now, but if you need a Mac for some key tasks, Screens with iOS multitasking sounds better than ever.

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How Apple Watch Keeps Time

From The Telegraph’s interview with Apple’s Kevin Lynch on the timekeeping features of Apple Watch:

Apple built its own Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers at various locations to ensure the delivered time is as close as possible to Stratum One accuracy, the time server which keeps the Apple Watch within microseconds of Stratum Zero devices - the highest possible quality for time references.

Once the time reaches the Apple Watch, the team worked to ensure it remains accurate, he says. Each device uses a temperate controlled crystal oscillator to counteract the natural drift that clocks and watches tend to experience over time.

I’m not sure any human watch wearer would ever notice a 50-millisecond difference – especially when waiting for midnight at a New Year’s Eve party – but still, fascinating tech.

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Twitter for Mac 4.0

Every couple of years, I find myself writing that Twitter for Mac hasn’t been abandoned.

Today’s one of those days again, as Twitter has released version 4.0 of its new Mac client with design changes and support for some of the new Twitter features.

Here’s Jason Snell:

The new app supports inline video playback, animated GIFs, group DMs, muting, and tweet-quoting support, all major Twitter platform features that previously weren’t supported by the Twitter for mac app. Previously, you had to click on a quoted tweet URL to view that tweet—not fun—and on a tweet URL to open a browser window to watch video or animations. Yuck. This is much better.

That’s good news, of course, but the problem is – it looks like Twitter shipped a ton of bugs and regressions in this release, while still missing some of the latest additions for mobile platforms and the web. From a quick scan of my timeline today:

I’ve seen dozen of other people lamenting poor performance, odd behaviors on OS X, and random bugs with Twitter accounts. That doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, especially after you read that the app was apparently outsourced to developers outside of Twitter. Even more baffling: Twitter Moments – one of Twitter’s biggest product releases of 2015 that got its own (confusing) TV commercial – aren’t supported in the new Mac app.

That’s disappointing, but I find some solace in the fact that I’ll get to write about these bug fixes in 2017.

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Emulate Classic Game Consoles with the New Apple TV

A must-read guide by Andrew Cunningham if you’ve considered emulating classic games (for me, that means SNES, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance) on a new Apple TV:

Right now there are two notable emulation projects targeting tvOS. One is a distant relative of the MAME arcade emulator, though it doesn’t seem as though it’s being maintained. Another, Provenance, is the one we’ll be spending the most time with. It’s a multi-system emulator that supports most major 8- and 16-bit consoles, including the NES, SNES, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance.

That’s basically it for now, but more consoles could show up in the future. Provenance is already heavily based on open source code from OpenEmu and other projects, so anyone with a little patience could port other emulators without much extra work.

That’s my kind of holiday side-project, too.

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SCOTTeVEST – Multi-Pocket Clothing to Carry All of Your Gadgets [Sponsor]

You know the “gadget dance”, that moment of panic when you frantically try to find your smartphone? SCOTTeVEST eliminates that stress.

SCOTTeVEST designs multi-pocket clothing that lets you carry and use all of your gadgets and daily essentials. For over 15 years, SCOTTeVEST has catered to tech lovers by cleverly engineering pockets to balance the load and keep you comfortable while giving you easy access to your electronic devices.

With up to 42 pockets in a single item, you’ll have space for your iPhone, iPad, MacBook, iPod and other gadgets, plus your wallet, keys, sunglasses and more. Their patented Personal Area Network (PAN) solution provides built-in wire management and quick, tangle-free access to your earpiece. Additional features include an attached eyeglass chamois to keep your lenses and screens smudge-free, detachable key holders, and clear touch pockets that let you see and use touch screen devices without removing them from the pockets.

SCOTTeVEST knows that time is your most valuable asset. Their clothing keeps your
gear organized and within reach, making for the perfect gift for all of the gadget lovers in your life – including yourself. Go to scottevest.com/macstories and get 20% off with the coupon code ‘macstories’.

Our thanks to SCOTTeVEST for sponsoring MacStories this week.


OpenEmu 2.0

Fantastic update to my favorite videogame emulator for OS X: OpenEmu 2.0 has brought support for new systems, better integration for SteelSeries controllers (I have one for my Apple TV), a modernized interface, and even a way to organize screenshots and save states. The highlights: support for PlayStation, PSP, and Nintendo 64 games, plus real-time gameplay rewinding.

How I wish this was around ten years ago, when I was really into emulation on my PSP (which I still keep around, running homebrew software). If you haven’t tried OpenEmu in a while, now’s a good time to play with it again.

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