Indie App Sales is back with excellent deals on apps from many of your favorite developers. With over 300 apps to choose from, the complete list is full of gems like:
The sale periods vary by app, but most are offering discounts today and tomorrow, so check it out to grab a great deal on these excellent apps and support indie development.
Today, Tapbots released version 2.0 of Ivory, the company’s Mastodon client for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The update brings a notable list of improvements, one exciting new feature that should make it easier to follow and curate specific topics on the fediverse, and a fully redesigned share sheet extension.
On Mastodon, it is possible to follow hashtags in addition to accounts. This feature is particularly useful for tracking discussions about a specific topic across the wider fediverse. However, following hashtags is currently limited. Followed hashtags appear in your main chronological timeline among your followed accounts, and it isn’t possible to curate together multiple hashtags into a separate, easily accessible view. Ivory 2.0 aims to solve this with Hashtag Lists. Now, in the app’s redesigned Hashtags tab, you can create a list that contains up to four hashtags, and you can even exclude specific hashtags if you’re looking to fine-tune the resulting timeline.
Hashtag lists can be accessed from Ivory’s dedicated Hashtags tab, or directly from the Home tab by tapping on the title bar.
The other big improvement in Ivory 2.0 is its redesigned share sheet extension for creating posts. It is now fully-featured, with the ability to set the post’s visibility and language, as well as an option to add alternative text descriptions to shared images and videos. When sharing a URL, the share sheet will now show a preview of the link card that will appear as part of your post. To get started, tap the Share button from the Photos app, Safari, or any app that supports the native iOS and iPadOS share sheet, then choose the Ivory icon.
In addition, Ivory 2.0 comes with small visual refinements to the way images and videos are displayed in a post’s detail view and the ability to set a fixed order for context menu items throughout the app.
Tapbots continues to update and refine Ivory at a steady pace. As a result, it is still my favorite way to use Mastodon on a daily basis. With a new major version of Mastodon on the horizon, I’m excited to see Tapbots add support for new features in Ivory without necessarily waiting for improvements to the default Mastodon experience.
If you want to create your own cat hashtag list today, Ivory 2.0 is now available on the App Store for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The app comes with a seven-day free trial for new users, after which a monthly or annual subscription is required to use most of its features.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
This week on Magic Rays of Light, Sigmund and Devon highlight Apple Original film Fancy Dance starring Lily Gladstone, discuss Sigmund’s experience with the new Beats Pill, share their thoughts on the third season of Acapulco, and recap thrilling sci-fi series Dark Matter.
This week, Matt goes Infinite, Chris embraces Nothing, and Niléane tries to make a Frame…work. Oh, and we discover 2 of the hosts have sane travel bags and the other is a maniac.
Our thanks once again to ListenLater.net for sponsoring Comfort Zone and MacStories! Let them know you heard about them from us to get 20% more credits with your first purchase.
This week, the Umarell return and a bay leaf mystery must be solved with technology. Plus, we have summertime movie and TV picks.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
This week, Federico and I share tips on iPadOS, macOS, RSS, cross-platform file transfers, and more.
For episode 3 of NPC, we cover the latest news about the Ayn Odin2 Mini, ONEXPLAYER X1 Mini, Asus ROG Ally X, the Anbernic RG Cube, and more, John finally received his transparent blue Anbernic RG35XXSP, Brendon got a surprise in the mail, and Federico shares his first impressions of the Powkiddy RGB30.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
This week on Magic Rays of Light, Sigmund and Devon highlight new Apple Original bilingual comedy series Land of Women, discuss latest with regards to Apple and the Digital Markets Acts, and recap The Big Cigar.
Niléane tests the gang on their French knowledge (it goes great…), Chris adds some goblins to this productivity system, and Matt tries to connect to the other side.
Our thanks once again to ListenLater.net for sponsoring Comfort Zone and MacStories! Let them know you heard about them from us to get 20% more credits with your first purchase.
This week, Federico and I look back at the first half of 2024 and pick our favorite TV shows, movies, videogames, music, and gadgets.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
This week, Federico and John attempt to clear up confusion about MacStories’ position on AI web crawlers before rethinking email apps in light of the update to Apple’s Mail app coming this fall.
On AppStories+, Federico and John preview their fall review research setups and consider the impact of Apple Intelligence on the Shortcuts app.
On Ruminate, I tried a pork rind and then we get into the drama of the week: AI.
Today, the European Commission informed Apple that based on its preliminary investigation it has determined that the company is in violation of the Digital Markets Act. The EC has also opened a separate non-compliance procedure against Apple over the Core Technology Fee and other changes instituted earlier this year as part of its response to the DMA.
In particular, the EC’s preliminary findings take issue with Apple’s response to the DMA’s anti-steering provisions:
Apple currently has three sets of business terms governing its relationship with app developers, including the App Store’s steering rules. The Commission preliminarily finds that:
- None of these business terms allow developers to freely steer their customers. For example, developers cannot provide pricing information within the app or communicate in any other way with their customers to promote offers available on alternative distribution channels.
- Under most of the business terms available to app developers, Apple allows steering only through “link-outs”, i.e., app developers can include a link in their app that redirects the customer to a web page where the customer can conclude a contract. The link-out process is subject to several restrictions imposed by Apple that prevent app developers from communicating, promoting offers and concluding contracts through the distribution channel of their choice.
- Whilst Apple can receive a fee for facilitating via the AppStore the initial acquisition of a new customer by developers, the fees charged by Apple go beyond what is strictly necessary for such remuneration. For example, Apple charges developers a fee for every purchase of digital goods or services a user makes within seven days after a link-out from the app.
Apple may respond to the EC’s preliminary findings in writing. A final decision regarding compliance with the law is due by March 25, 2025, the one year anniversary of the beginning of DMA proceedings against Apple.
The EC has also opened a separate investigation regarding Apple’s compliance with Section 6(4) of the DMA, which provides that:
The gatekeeper shall allow and technically enable the installation and effective use of third-party software applications or software application stores using, or interoperating with, its operating system and allow those software applications or software application stores to be accessed by means other than the relevant core platform services of that gatekeeper. The gatekeeper shall, where applicable, not prevent the downloaded third-party software applications or software application stores from prompting end users to decide whether they want to set that downloaded software application or software application store as their default. The gatekeeper shall technically enable end users who decide to set that downloaded software application or software application store as their default to carry out that change easily.
The gatekeeper shall not be prevented from taking, to the extent that they are strictly necessary and proportionate, measures to ensure that third-party software applications or software application stores do not endanger the integrity of the hardware or operating system provided by the gatekeeper, provided that such measures are duly justified by the gatekeeper.
Furthermore, the gatekeeper shall not be prevented from applying, to the extent that they are strictly necessary and proportionate, measures and settings other than default settings, enabling end users to effectively protect security in relation to third-party software applications or software application stores, provided that such measures and settings other than default settings are duly justified by the gatekeeper.
Specifically, the EC says it will investigate whether the Core Technology Fee, the multi-step process for downloading apps from alternative app marketplaces, and the eligibility requirements for running an alternative app marketplace are ‘necessary and proportionate’ under the DMA. The EC also notes that it is continuing to investigate Apple’s process for validating apps and alternative app marketplaces.
None of this is particularly surprising, given the complexities of the provisions Apple put into place in the wake of the DMA. The ‘necessity and proportionality’ of Apple’s changes are, by their nature, subjective determinations. That makes the DMA hard to comply with, but it also leaves ample room for the EC and Apple to negotiate a resolution of their dispute over the DMA. It’s time for the parties to put this dispute to rest.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
This week on Magic Rays of Light, Sigmund and Devon share early hands-on impressions of the tvOS 18 developer beta, highlight Apple Original drama series Presumed Innocent, and recap the second season of The Big Door Prize.
Matt decides to stop being so grumpy, Chris may or may not have survived WWDC, and Niléane brings a strange robot to the party.
Our thanks to ListenLater.net for sponsoring Comfort Zone and MacStories. Let them know you heard about them from us to get 20% more credits with your first purchase.
This week, John and Federico explain how they unwind after WWDC and how they think about MacStories’ family of podcasts before recommending a comedy series, action movie, and album.
Apple announced that today it is releasing Final Cut Pro 2 for the iPad and Final Cut Camera for the iPhone on the App Store. Both apps were announced at the company’s Let Loose event in May. To recap, Final Cut Pro 2 for the iPad adds the following features:
Final Cut Camera is available to download for free on the App Store and can be used standalone to record video or in conjunction with the iPad’s Live Multicam feature. Videos that you record are stored in the app itself but can be exported to Final Cut Pro or shared with other apps via the share sheet.
I received beta versions of both apps just before WWDC, so I only began testing them recently. Based on that early testing, working with a 25GB project stored on an external drive worked well, at least with my 2TB Samsung T9 SSD, which uses USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 for 20Gbps throughput. Final Cut Camera is straightforward to use, too, and I appreciate that it doesn’t dump the videos it records into Photos. However, I haven’t had a chance to test Live Multicam. I only have one iPhone (which is shocking, I know). Plus, I was unable to connect that sole iPhone to Final Cut Pro 2 for the iPad due to what appears to be a bug in either iOS or iPadOS 18.
That said, it’s good to see Apple iterating on the iPad version of Final Cut Pro and adding the iPhone into the mix for capture. My video editing needs are fairly simple, but for $49/year, Final Cut Pro 2 for the iPad strikes me as a good deal for a lot of video creators. As of publication, Final Cut Camera was not appearing on the App Store but should be available soon.
