As I’ve explained on both Connected and AppStories in recent weeks, I switched from Apple Music to Spotify as my primary music streaming service and plan on using it throughout 2021. There were several reasons behind this decision (I recommend listening to the “surprise” segment in this episode of AppStories), but, above all, I...
Spotify Shortcuts for Media Playback, Lyrics, and Playlists
Later this week in the January issue of the Monthly Log, I’m going to cover some of the unappreciated features of Spotify, which I’ve been using as my primary music streaming service for nearly two months now. Today, I want to cover one area where Spotify falls short compared to Apple Music: its non-existent...
How Matt Birchler Is Using Hey Email, Almost One Year Later→
Great overview by Matt Birchler on how he’s using Hey for email, almost one year into switching to the service exclusively.
When I was using Gmail and Outlook as the back end for all of my email, I had my pick of the litter when it came to email apps. Apple Mail, Spark, Outlook, Gmail, Airmail, Edison, Blue, Newton, Spike, Polymail…the world was my oyster, and I took part in that game of switching email apps every few months. Spark would release an update and I’d go to it. Then Outlook would do something new and I’d be back there. Then Outlook would have a bug and I’d run to Apple Mail, which would inevitably grow bland and then I’d move back to Spark and the whole cycle would start again.
Was that choice? Absolutely, but was it good for my email? No way.
I switched to Hey for my personal and work email a few months ago (we talked about it in this episode of AppStories), and I haven’t looked back since. The system provided by Hey for managing and organizing incoming email is what sets it apart from the competition, and it’s so good I don’t mind being locked into a proprietary service. Unlike Birchler, I use The Paper Trail a lot and open The Feed less frequently, but I plan on following his suggestion regarding Hey’s widgets by adding a large one to the second page of my Home Screen.
App Modularity
JohnThis week, Federico and John discuss the many aspects of app modularity, including where it started, how it’s supported by Apple, what developers are doing to push modularity forward, and trends to watch for in 2021.
Creating Reminders via an Amazon Echo and Zapier Automation
As I explained on AppStories earlier this week, we recently went through a reorganization phase in our household that resulted in embracing the Alexa ecosystem once again and getting rid of our three HomePods (which are temporarily sitting in storage, but it’s my intention to sell at least two of them). We now have...
Automating Your Home
My Quick Action Setup in GoodTask
As I’ve shared on MacStories Weekly and AppStories before, for the past several months I’ve been using GoodTask – a third-party Reminders client for Apple platforms – as my primary task manager. I tested other apps (as I always do, since it’s part of my job), but I always come back to GoodTask for...
Workflows Revisited: Calendars, Communications, and a Surprise
AppStories Episode 200 - Workflows Revisited: Calendars, Communications, and a Surprise
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This week, Federico and John conclude their miniseries on workflows with a look at what they’re using to manage calendar events and team communications. Plus, Federico springs a big app surprise on John and listeners.
Workflows Revisited: Task Management
AppStories Episode 199 - Workflows Revisited: Task Management
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This week Federico takes listeners along on his recent tour of modern task managers, and he and John discuss the app they have settled on to keep track of their projects and to-dos.