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Last Week, on Club MacStories: Voting on the Next AV Club Pick, a Tip for Avoiding Accidental Lock Screen Activations, Utility Shortcuts for Mac, and a New Episode of Unplugged

Because Club MacStories now encompasses more than just newsletters, we’ve created a guide to the past week’s happenings along with a look at what’s coming up next:

AV Club Voting Begins

Don’t forget to vote for the latest AV Club pick in the Club MacStories+ Discord. Head to the Announcements channel for the details and to vote for one of the following four choices:

We’ll discuss the videogame or show selected as a community with a live Discord Town Hall event that is tentatively set for March 15th. For those unable to join live, we’ll publish the conversation to the Club MacStories Town Hall podcast feed after the event, as we did earlier this month for the Matrix movie series.

AV Club is a monthly event held in the Club MacStories+ Discord community. Club members vote on a movie, TV show, videogame, book, or music to enjoy as a group. It’s like a book club, but for all kinds of media. Our Discord community is one of the many perks for Club MacStories+ and Club Premier members.

MacStories Weekly: Issue 309

New Club MacStories+ and Club Premier Discount

Typefully is a beautifully designed Twitter utility for writing, scheduling, and publishing tweets and threads from the makers of Mailbrew.

Club MacStories+ and Club Premier members can get 30% off on their first year’s subscription to Typefully by visiting the Club Discounts page.

Last Week, on Club MacStories: The Matrix Movies Town Hall, Shortcuts Code Injection, Scheduling and Remotely Triggering Shortcuts on the Mac, and a New App Discount

Because Club MacStories now encompasses more than just newsletters, we’ve created guide to the past week’s happenings along with a look at what’s coming up next:

AV Club Town Hall, The Matrix Movies

AV Club is a monthly event held in the Club MacStories+ Discord community. Club members vote on a movie, TV show, videogame, book, or music to enjoy as a group. It’s like a book club, but for all kinds of media.

This month, we rewatched the original Matrix movie trilogy and watched The Matrix Resurrections, which was released late last year. Then, on Wednesday, we held a live audio AV Club Town Hall on Discord hosted by Federico, John, and Alex, who were joined by two Club members to discuss the films and take questions from members who listened live.

If you’re a Club MacStories+ or Club Premier and missed the lively discussion, it’s available as a Club-only podcast that you can enjoy on the Club website or subscribe to from your the Club Podcasts page.

MacStories Weekly: Issue 308

Replacing an existing shortcut with one that has been modified by injecting code into it.

Replacing an existing shortcut with one that has been modified by injecting code into it.

  • Federico shared a proof of concept shortcut that can be used to modify shortcuts by injecting code into them. The shortcut automates the entire process including resigning the modified shortcut in the Terminal, and reimporting it into the Shortcuts app.
  • John explained how to schedule and remotely trigger shortcuts on the Mac using built-in system apps.
  • In the Club MacStories+ Discord Share Your Setup channel, a member shared an in-depth look at their email workflow and related automations, and in the Off-Topic channel, members shared their favorite sites and restaurants in Rome.

  • Plus:

New Club MacStories+ and Club Premier Discount

Recurrence is a task manager for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac to track the repeating tasks in your life. Perfect for chores, bill payment, and much more. Recurrence puts history at the forefront, allowing you to see when something was last done and accompanying notes.

Club MacStories+ and Club Premier members can try Recurrence for 3 months free by visiting the Club Discounts page.

Up Next

Next week on Club MacStories:

  • An all-new episode of MacStories Unplugged, the monthly anything-goes Club podcast that’s a free-form discussion of apps and a behind-the-scenes look at what we’re doing at MacStories.
  • A new installment of The Macintosh Desktop Experience, John’s Club MacStories+ and Club Premier column that explores new ways to get more out of your Mac, with a focus on the latest tools and technologies available to Mac users and how they fit in the context of the Mac’s rich history.

MacStories Unwind: It’s All About the Picks

It’s hard to believe that we’re already closing in on the 100th episode of MacStories Unwind, part of an experiment that we launched in the spring of 2020, just as lockdowns were taking hold around the globe. Unwind grew organically from the music, movie, TV show, videogame, and other media recommendations Federico and I share with each other all the time. However, like many things we do, Unwind was also an experiment – two experiments, really.

First, Unwind was designed to test ways to better integrate MacStories, Club MacStories, and our podcasts by providing listeners with a recap of the week across everything we do. Second, the show served as a proof of concept for the Club MacStories+ A.V. Club, a sort of book club for all sorts of media that has become a pillar of our Club MacStories+ Discord community.

Unwind is nearly two years old now, and what we’ve learned is that our Unwind picks – the weekly segment where we recommend a wide range of media – has become the highlight of the show for many listeners. Unwind picks are our favorite part of the show too, allowing us to share our many interests outside of the tech world. So late last year, we began experimenting with a series on our favorite TV shows and movies, videogames, and music of 2021. We’ve taken the approach further this year, giving our Unwind picks room to breathe and eliminating the weekly recap from the show.

Read more

Last Week, on Club MacStories: Parsing Shortcuts as XML and JSON, Apps That Extend Apple Apps, Safari Tips, and Developer Interviews

Because Club MacStories now encompasses more than just newsletters, we’ve created a guide to the past week’s happenings along with a look ahead to what’s next:

MacStories Weekly: Issue 307

Parsing shortcuts as JSON.

Parsing shortcuts as JSON.

about App Store In-App Events to see how they’re being used and what developers’ experience with them has been.

Up Next

On Wednesday, February 16th, at 11:00 am Eastern US time, Federico, Alex, and I will be joined by Club members to discuss the Matrix movie series during a live audio Town Hall in our Discord community for Club MacStories+ and Club Premier members as part of the community’s A.V. Club channel.

MacStories Unwind: The Video Game History Hour and Playing Classic Games with the Dolphin Emulator

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This week, John recommends the Video Game History Hour, a podcast from the Video Game History Foundation, and Federico takes us along on his videogame emulation journey from handeld Windows PCs to the Apple’s M1 Max MacBook Pro.

John’s Pick:

Federico’s Pick:

Luigi's Mansion.

Luigi’s Mansion.


Luigi's Mansion.

Luigi’s Mansion.


Metroid Prime.

Metroid Prime.


The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker


The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Apple Releases a Statement on Its Efforts to Deter The Misuse of AirTag and the Find My Network

Apple has released a statement about its efforts to prevent unwanted tracking using AirTags. The company’s statement outlines its cooperation with law enforcement to apprehend people who have misused AirTags and details the steps it is taking to improve AirTags and the Find My network, including:

  • New privacy warnings when AirTags are set up
  • Making it clear when AirPods have caused a Find My network alert
  • Expansion of AirTag and Find My network support documentation
  • A new Precision Finding feature for the iPhone 11 and later that will make it easier to locate a nearby AirTag
  • On-device alerts to accompany audible alerts that an AirTag is with you
  • Refinements to the logic used to decide when to alert users of unwanted tracking
  • Adjustments to the sounds played by an AirTag traveling with you

It’s good to see Apple open up about the steps it’s taking to address the misuse of AirTags. As I said last month:

This is also a topic where some added transparency about what Apple is doing to address concerns about stalking would help observers decide whether it’s enough instead of having only anecdotal news reports to go on.

Today’s statement is exactly the sort of increased transparency I was hoping we’d see from Apple. I’ll leave it to people with expertise in personal safety to comment on whether these steps go far enough. I’m just glad that those experts’ opinions can now be based on facts instead of speculation.

Tweetbot 7 Adds Back the App’s Stats View and Includes New Themes

Over three years ago, Tweetbot removed the app’s stats view as a result of Twitter API changes. Today, that view is back in Tweetbot 7 for the iPhone and iPad, thanks to the social media company’s increased willingness to open its platform to third-party developers like Tapbots.

The view includes a graph at the top, followed by statistics detailing your timeline activity for the last week, including Likes, Replies, Tweets, Retweets, Quotes, and Follows. You can swipe across the graph to see each category by day or tap the categories under the graph to jump straight to that view.

Tweetbot 7 also includes new dark themes called hej and bumblebee. Hej features a slate blue background with yellow highlights, while bumblebee has a near-black background with brighter yellow accents.

The pace of Tweetbot updates has picked up significantly in recent months, which is fantastic. I missed the app’s stats view, so it’s nice to see its return. However, with each new feature and refinement to Tweetbot’s iOS and iPadOS apps, the Mac app looks more and more dated. The two versions are badly out of sync in terms of features too. As someone who spends a lot of time on the Mac, that’s disappointing and something that I hope will change soon.

Tweetbot 7 is available as a free update on the App Store for the iPhone and iPad. However, some of the app’s features require a subscription.