Federico’s Research and Note-Taking Setup 
This week, Federico and John dig into the latest iteration of the research and note-taking setup that Federico is using to prepare his annual iOS and iPadOS review, which features Obsidian.
On AppStories+, Federico and John catch up on post-WWDC rest and project planning.
Jason Snell, writing at Six Colors about one of the new keyboard-related additions to iPadOS 15:
In iPadOS 14, if you hold down the Command key, you can see a list of app-specific features and their key equivalents. It’s like a quick-reference card for keyboard shortcuts. In iPadOS 15, it’s been expanded to become more like the iPad equivalent of the Mac menu bar—not only does it list keyboard shortcuts, but it can list every command in the app, and you can click any of them to execute them. iPad apps that build out the Mac menu bar for their Catalyst version can pick this feature up for free. It’s another way that the Mac and iPad are trading features and complementing one another.
Then there’s the Globe key. Hold it down in any app in iPadOS 15, and you’ll see a different set of commands, all of which can be applied globally. (Get it?) These menus are full of shortcuts to switch to the home screen (Globe-H), open a Quick Note (Globe-Q), activate Control Center (Globe-C), and pretty much any other system-level area.
I particularly like Snell’s suggestion regarding these new global keyboard shortcuts and the Shortcuts app in the future. As I explained on Connected this week, I’ve been using iPadOS 15 since the first beta came out at WWDC, and I’m still learning all kinds of new keyboard shortcuts that are now supported by the system. Impressively, the new Globe modifier has been associated with all sorts of system functions, including Siri and Control Center.
If you use a third-party hardware keyboard that doesn’t have a Globe key, you can always remap another one in Settings ⇾ General ⇾ Keyboard ⇾ Hardware Keyboard ⇾ Modifier Keys. And while the keyboard shortcuts menu can be dismissed by holding the Globe key (or ⌘, for app-specific commands) again or clicking outside of it, you can also press the ⌘. shortcut (which is the equivalent of an Escape button on iPadOS) to instantly close it. Lastly, you can start typing while the menu is shown to quickly filter commands by name.
2021 Apple Design Award Winners: The AppStories Interviews
For today’s special bonus episode of AppStories, Federico and John interview the creators of four 2021 Apple Design Award winning apps and games: Winston Chen, creator of Voice Dream Reader; Esther Huybreghts, Mathijs Demaeght, and Melissa Cash from Pok Pok, creators of Pok Pok Playroom; Brian Mueller, creator of CARROT Weather; and Maria Sayans and David Fernandez Huerta from ustwo games, creators of Alba: A Wildlife Adventure.
On AppStories+, Federico and John consider what makes the apps that win ADAs special and Federico explains that he has restored his iPhone and is beta testing AudioOS 15 on the HomePod.
Three Features That Set iOS 15 Apart
This week, Federico and John cover the three features that will sell iOS 15 to most users: Focus Mode, SharePlay, and Live Text and share some of their recent audio gear purchases for lossless streaming and AirPlay. They also take questions from listeners who watched on Instagram Live.
On AppStories+, Federico and John say hello from their first-ever live recording of AppStories on Instagram Live.
How iOS and iPadOS 15 Improve My Obsidian Note-Taking Setup It’s been a busy week at MacStories, and, like every year, I’ve spent the past few days editing stories by John and Alex (after all, isn’t this what an Editor in Chief is supposed to do?) and collecting my first notes, thoughts, and tidbits about iOS and iPadOS 15. I’ve been doing all this...
WWDC 2021: Safari Web Extensions and Live Text
In today’s special WWDC 2021 episode, Federico and John discuss the sorts of tools that could be built with Safari Web Extensions and Federico explains how Live Text works and can be used in practice.
On AppStories+, Federico and John explain what they enjoyed about this year’s Apple Design Awards presentation.
WWDC 2021: Shortcuts’ Folder and File Actions, Quick Note, and Safari
In today’s special WWDC 2021 episode, Federico and John take a closer look at the new folder and file actions coming to Shortcuts, discuss the intriguing potential of Quick Note, and are skeptical about some of the Safari design changes.
On AppStories+, John hooks up his iPhone and iPad to his home stereo system to the Belkin Soundform Connect, adding AirPlay to his setup, and figures out a way to stream Apple Music lossless audio too.
WWDC 2021: Shortcuts for the Mac, iPad Keyboard Navigation, and Developer Tools
In today’s special WWDC 2021 episode, Federico and John cover Shortcuts for Mac, new ways to navigate the iPad using the keyboard, and developer tools, including TestFlight for Mac, Swift Playgrounds, and RealityKit 2’s Object Capture.
On AppStories+, Federico and John discuss the ‘work hangover’ caused by the WWDC keynote and catching up with the news emerging from the conference.
WWDC 2021: Keynote Overview and Reactions
In today’s first special WWDC 2021 episode, Federico and John cover the highlights of Apple’s keynote, including iOS and iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and watchOS 8.
On AppStories+, Federico and John explain how they deal with the flood of information from the first day of WWDC and how Federico is saving research materials during WWDC.
John