Posts in news

Apple Announces October 30th Event

Apple has announced an event will be held on Monday, October 30th, at 5:00 pm Pacific time. There’s no indication of what might be announced, but the announcement does include the obtuse teaser ‘Scary Fast’ in the email invitation that was sent to the media. Also, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg has suggested that a refreshed iMac and MacBook Pros may be in the works.

The event is also being held at an unusual time compared to every Apple event in recent history. Whether or not that’s significant or not remains to be seen.

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What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.

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Automattic Acquires Interoperable Messaging Service Texts

Source: Texts.

Source: Texts.

Today, Automattic acquired Texts, a startup that’s been building a one-stop destination for managing your many chat and messaging apps in one place.

Automattic, which runs blogging platform WordPress.com and Tumblr, has been acquiring a growing list of companies in recent years, including the makers of apps like Day One and Pocket Casts. The company’s latest purchase marks its first foray into messaging.

Texts is a paid service that allows users to send and receive messages on several platforms, including iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Slack, and Discord DMs, from a single app. There are other companies, like Beeper, attempting something similar using the open-source protocol Matrix, but Texts is a little different. It has developed its own technology stack for handling messages from multiple services that the company says doesn’t require it to send them across its servers and is end-to-end encrypted. Instead, Texts sends messages directly from one of its supported messaging platforms to another. Currently, Texts is available on the Mac, Windows, and Linux, with an iOS app under development and Android on the company’s roadmap too.

I had a chance to speak with Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg about the acquisition, and it was clear from our conversation that he views it as a natural next step in the company’s support of open web platforms. It’s also a great fit with WordPress.org and Tumblr’s embrace of the ActivityPub protocol, which powers Mastodon and other federated social networks.

With the list of companies that offer some sort of siloed messaging that doesn’t interoperate with any others continuing to grow, I imagine the demand for a service like Texts’ is only going to grow over time. Backed by Automattic, Texts should have the resources to bring interoperability to more messaging services and grow its support for additional OSes more quickly, making it more competitive in what I expect will become an increasingly competitive market as lawmakers and regulators continue to put pressure on tech companies to make their messaging platforms more open.

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What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

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MacStories Unwind: A Nintendo Boy at Heart

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps
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21:30

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps


This week on MacStories Unwind, creative people we’d love to interview, desert island game systems, a brainy puzzle game and a TV show about an equally brainy chemist.

  • Kolide – It ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today!

Unplugged

Media Picks

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Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

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Apple Announces a New, More Affordable Apple Pencil That’s Coming in November

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Today, Apple unveiled a new, more affordable Apple Pencil that charges via USB-C and supports many of the features of the two previous-generation Apple Pencils, but not all of them.

The new USB-C model looks a lot like the second-generation model, except it doesn’t charge wirelessly. Instead, the end of the Pencil can be pulled back to reveal a USB-C port for charging. However, like the second-generation Pencil, the new model attaches magnetically to the side of compatible iPads, which puts the Pencil into sleep mode to preserve battery power.

The latest Pencil also supports tilt sensitivity and hover, which was introduced with the latest iPad Pro models, but pressure sensitivity and double-tap to switch tools are not supported. Apple isn’t offering free engraving, either.

The new Apple Pencil is $79 ($69 for education) and will be available beginning in early November. According to Apple’s press release, the accessory is compatible with all iPad models that have a USB-C port, including iPad (10th generation), iPad Air (4th and 5th generations), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generations), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th generations), and iPad mini (6th generation).

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Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.


Announcing the Club MacStories Fall Membership Event and Discount

Today, we’re announcing our first-ever Club MacStories Membership Event and Discount. I’ve got more details below, but the highlights include 20% off on all annual Club MacStories plans plus special columns, a live Discord event, giveaways, deals, downloadable content, and more every day through October 31st. There’s a lot going on, so let’s look at the details.

To take advantage of the discounted plans, please use the coupon code CLUB2023 at checkout or click on one of the buttons below.

Join Club MacStories:

Join Club MacStories+:

Join Club Premier:

Visit our [Plans page](https://www.macstories.net/club/plans) for more details on each Club option.

Visit our Plans page for more details on each Club option.

Club MacStories has become a big part of MacStories. The Club has grown steadily every year since it was started in 2015, and every plan is packed with more of what you love about MacStories. With this month’s event, we want to accomplish two things:

  • Thank our current members with two weeks packed with what makes the Club special
  • Offer a special 20% off on annual plans to grow the Club further and make switching to a higher-tier membership more affordable for existing members.

The support of Club MacStories members is the foundation of MacStories. It’s given us the freedom to expand, focus on our in-depth stories and reviews, and build a closer relationship with readers. And most recently, while websites are shutting down and laying off staff due to plummeting ad revenue, we’re growing and have plans to do even more in the coming year. That wouldn’t have been possible without the Club.

What’s unique about Club MacStories is that it’s the perfect complement to MacStories.net. If you’re a fan of the site, you’ll find that the Club is a natural extension of what you already love, with more of everything.

Our Club Discord community has become a fantastic resource for Club MacStories+ and Premier members.

Our Club Discord community has become a fantastic resource for Club MacStories+ and Premier members.

That’s been the case since the Club launched over eight years ago. We didn’t hide MacStories content behind a paywall when the Club was started. Instead, the Club has always been designed to supplement MacStories with more app coverage and complex automations, longer podcast episodes, and more. Then, with the introduction of Club MacStories+ and Club Premier, we built on that model further with a vibrant, respectful Discord community of app and automation fans who help each other get the most out of their technology.

Club newsletters are available in our fully-searchable web app for Club MacStories+ and Premier members.

Club newsletters are available in our fully-searchable web app for Club MacStories+ and Premier members.

We know that folks are inundated with subscriptions these days, which is why we work hard to offer what we think is a great value at every tier of the Club. Our eight-year track record of consistency and content, which includes nearly 500 issues of our newsletters, speaks for itself, but we also realize that committing to an annual plan is still a lot. So that is why we’re excited to offer the biggest discount on Club MacStories plans we’ve ever done. Here’s a breakdown of each tier and the discounts we’re offering through October 31, 2023:

Normally Through Oct. 31
Club MacStories $50/year $40
Club MacStories+ $100/year $80
Club Premier $120/year $96

If you’re not familiar with the Club, you can learn more and compare plans side-by-side here and read our FAQ page.

These discounts are available to anyone signing up for one annual Club membership for the first time, reactivating an expired plan, or upgrading a current plan.

To take advantage of the discounted plans, please use the coupon code CLUB2023 at checkout or click on one of the buttons below.

When you change a monthly plan to an annual one, you'll get credit for the remainder of your current month's subscription.

When you change a monthly plan to an annual one, you’ll get credit for the remainder of your current month’s subscription.

Join Club MacStories:

Join Club MacStories+:

Join Club Premier:

As a thank you to members, we’re also rolling out daily content, giveaways, deals, and more over the next two weeks, starting with a new addition to our Club MacStories+ and Club Premier app discounts page, which we’ll reveal tomorrow on Mastodon and Threads. Then on each day for the next two weeks, we’ll have columns, giveaways, a special Discord audio event, eBooks, and more, so keep an eye on the MacStories and Club MacStories Mastodon accounts and the MacStories Threads account every day to hear what’s coming next. We’ll be sure to keep any giveaway entries open throughout the fall Membership Event, too, so no matter when you join, they’ll be available.

Thanks again to our many loyal Club MacStories members, and welcome to everyone joining for the first time. You’ve all helped us grow MacStories, launch new projects, and build MacStories on a strong foundation while staying independent and true to our editorial values. We look forward to bringing you even more of what makes MacStories special for a long time to come.

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.


Obsidian’s Popularity Explained

It’s been nearly three years since I first started using Obsidian. The app has come a long way since then. The app’s core functionality has expanded, its vibrant plug-in developer community continues to go strong, and more and more users have been captivated by its flexibility. According to Jared Newman, writing for Fast Company,

Obsidian estimates that it has one million users, and its Discord channel has more than 110,000 members, who use the app for everything from task management and bookmarking to organizing their daily thoughts.

That’s remarkable growth for an app originally developed by just two people and with a team that still stands at under a dozen members.

Newman’s story, The cult of Obsidian: Why people are obsessed with the note-taking app, does an excellent job capturing what makes Obsidian special and even attracts fans of native apps like Federico and me:

John Voorhees, the managing editor at MacStories, started using Obsidian a couple of years ago after being drawn to its local file structure, and both he and MacStories founder Federico Viticci have written extensively about their Obsidian setups since then.

Obsidian is on [sic] some ways the opposite of a quintessential MacStories app—the site often spotlights apps that are tailored exclusively for Apple platforms, whereas Obsidian is built on a web-based technology called Electron—but Voorhees says it’s his favorite writing tool regardless. He and Viticci have even commissioned some bespoke plug-ins for their Macstories [sic] workflows.

“No matter what your writing needs are, there’s probably a plug-in to satisfy them,” he says.

There are a lot of other reasons I use Obsidian, including its use of local, plain text files formatted in Markdown, but it’s the plug-in system that has made it indispensable to my work. The app simultaneously serves as my text editor, note-taking app, and database all at once, allowing me to move effortlessly among projects and tasks, thanks to the portability of plain text.

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MacStories Unwind: AV Club Edition, Only Murders in the Building

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps
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30:35

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps


In this month’s special AV Club edition of MacStories Unwind, Federico, John, and Jonathan discuss Season 3 of the Hulu Original, Only Murders in the Building.

  • iMazing 3 is coming, macOS and the public beta is available now.

MacStories Unwind+

We deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.

To learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.


Game On: An Upcoming Game Release Check-In

Ever since WWDC 2022, when Apple showcased Resident Evil Village, the company has been eager to highlight console and PC titles that are coming to its platforms. Sometimes, it can be a little hard to keep track of what’s coming, so today’s Game On focuses on recent big-title release news as well as other recent updates in the world of Apple gaming.

Before looking at the titles coming next to Apple’s platforms, let’s take a quick look back at one of the all-time classic iOS games: Machinarium. The game, from Czech studio Amanita Design, which was followed up a few years ago on Apple Arcade by Pilgrims, started on the Mac and other platforms, but was also an iPad gaming pioneer, debuting on the tablet in 2011, with its unforgettable hand drawn style.

However, like a lot of games, Machinarium hadn’t seen an update in a long time. According to Touch Arcade, the game hadn’t been touched since 2019 but was updated last week with controller, Metal rendering, and Core Audio support. If you love puzzle games and haven’t played Machinarium, you can buy it on the App Store and play it on iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS for $5.99.

Source: Capcom.

Source: Capcom.

Skepticism about whether Apple will be successful in attracting console and PC-level games to its platforms is warranted, given the company’s track record with such games. However, they continue to push back, with Tim Cook recently telling The Independent in the context of an interview about the Apple Vision Pro that:

There’s significant excitement about our role in gaming, and we’re very serious about it. This is not a hobby for us. We’re putting all of ourselves out there.

Apple’s last self-proclaimed hobby was the Apple TV, which took a very long time to graduate from that role but is now part of the company’s videogame strategy.

Also, just before iOS and iPadOS 17 were released, Jeremy Sandmel, Apple’s Senior Director of GPU Software, and Tim Millet, Apple’s VP of Platform Architecture, were interviewed by IGN and emphasized the advantage of Apple silicon and its Metal framework across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac as a unified gaming platform:

So we really look at these many generations of SoC architecture across the phone, across the iPad, across now, Apple Silicon Macs. And we’d see that as part of one big unified platform, a graphics and gaming platform in particular.

Fort Solis. Source: Dear Villagers.

Fort Solis. Source: Dear Villagers.

And judging from the announcements, the pace of top-shelf releases is beginning to pick up and include the iPhone more often than in the past. Among other notable upcoming releases:

There may be other big releases coming that I’ve missed, but that alone is a pretty healthy lineup to go with other titles that are already available. It will be interesting to see if others are added to the release roster in the coming weeks.

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.


MacStories Unwind: Flora and Son and Federico’s Latest Tech Discovery

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps
0:00
23:03

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps


This week on MacStories Unwind, I recommend an Irish family drama on Apple TV+, while Federico has been out exploring new corners of the tech world.

  • Kolide – It ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today!

John’s Pick

Federico’s Pick

Federico recording AppStories using the XREAL Air.

Federico recording AppStories using the XREAL Air.

MacStories Unwind+

We deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.

To learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.