This week on MacStories Unwind, I explain iced coffee to Federico, who has a new Logitech Lift mouse and has been playing Tchia, while I spent hours at the theater enjoying John Wick, Chapter 4.
A core perk of a Club MacStories+ or Club Premier membership is the wide variety of discounts on our favorite apps and services we offer in partnership with developers. Our app discount program brings Club members a long list of deals that regularly rotate, so there’s always something new to try. That makes it easy to save hundreds of dollars on some of the best apps out there when you sign up and to keep on saving month after month.
Yesterday, Craig Hockenberry announced a free Apple TV app he created called Blank. The app blanks out your TV screen until you press a button on the Apple TV remote. That way, you can listen to music or a podcast through an Apple TV without also watching the album art or screensavers.
Blank is a clever solution to something that’s been a problem ever since the second-generation Apple TV, which ditched its dedicated audio out port in favor of HDMI. How do I know that? Well, I tackled the same problem myself in 2016 in a far hackier way than Hockenberry, which I shared more than 300 issues ago in MacStories Weekly 25. As I said then, when the Apple TV’s flyover screensavers, and even HDMI, were brand new:
I enjoy the new flyover screensavers on the Apple TV, but whether you have a current generation Apple TV and use those, or use a different screensaver with any model of the Apple TV, the screensavers are a distraction when you throw a party and want to use the Apple TV for music. In my experience, people are drawn to the screensaver like moths, focusing on it instead of socializing.
My solution? Create a Photos album with a single 1080p image of a black rectangle and use it with the Apple TV’s ‘Sliding Panels’ screensaver. Blank is a far more elegant solution and even offers an inspirational quote that appears onscreen before the screen goes blank.
I just published version 1.0.2 of S-GPT, the shortcut I released last week to have conversations with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and integrate it directly with native features of Apple’s OSes. You can find the updated download link at the end of this post, in the original article, and in the MacStories Shortcuts Archive; before you replace version 1.0.1 of S-GPT, save your existing OpenAI API key somewhere as you’ll have to paste it again in the shortcut later.
I’m going to include the full changelog for S-GPT 1.0.2 below, but long story short: S-GPT is now aware of the current date and time, and I’ve heard all the requests about improving interactions with the HomePod and Siri, so I made that part much better. S-GPT can now perform a variety of date/time calculations with natural language, and you can end a conversation by saying “no” or “stop”.
In 2021, I reviewed the Loupedeck Live, a programmable control panel for the Mac and Windows PCs for Club MacStories members as part of my Macintosh Desktop Experience column. It’s an excellent device, but its price put it at a disadvantage to a similarly-sized Elgato Stream Deck despite several other advantages that I explained in the review.
Last year, Loupedeck released the Loupedeck Live S, a smaller, more affordable Loupedeck that retains the core experience of the Loupedeck Live, but dispenses with a handful of physical buttons and dials. The new device retails for $189 compared to the Loupedeck Live, which is $269. That’s still $40 more than the 15-button Stream Deck MK.2, but a significantly narrower difference for a device that offers a wider range of functionality, making it worth another look if you were put off by the Loupedeck Live’s price.
This week on AppStories, I explain my new link management workflow, combining a series of apps and shortcuts, and Federico shares more about his S-GPT shortcut that integrates ChatGPT with Apple’s OSes.
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On AppStories+, a behind-the-scenes look at the first week of Automation April.
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Because Club MacStories now encompasses more than just newsletters, we’ve created a guide to the past week’s happenings:
On Wednesday, April 12th at 11:30 AM Eastern US time, we’ll be holding a special Automation April workshop for Club MacStories+ and Premier members where we’ll cover a range of Shortcuts topics, including how to come up with new automation ideas for Shortcuts on Apple’s latest platforms, some of the new actions you should consider in the Shortcuts app, and some of the shortcuts we’re working on. We’ll also be taking member questions about Shortcuts from members.
BetterTouchTool is an essential Mac application that has stood the test of time since it was one of the first to be covered by MacStories back in November 2009. In its early days, BetterTouchTool was a simple application primarily designed for adding customizable gestures to MacBook trackpads and Magic Mouse.
Today, BetterTouchTool has evolved to become a powerful tool that enables users to configure customizable gestures for Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad (1-3), customize the Touch Bar and map keyboard shortcuts, bind mouse buttons, create custom mouse gestures, and customize the Siri Remote. Additionally, BetterTouchTool can connect and configure MIDI devices, works great with the Shortcuts app on macOS Monterey & Ventura, and comes with a plethora of predefined actions that can be combined to perform virtually any command on your Mac.
Recently, “Generic Devices” support has been added, enabling advanced users to add support for many devices on their own using simple JavaScript. For example, users have already created scripts even for exotic devices like the Griffin Power Mate, a Philips Foot Control, or the Microsoft Adaptive Controller.
Moreover, a fantastic feature that is currently being finalized and set to release by the end of April is the “Floating Widget Menus.” These menus are scriptable and customizable and can be placed anywhere on the screen, attached to particular windows, or shown upon demand. With a unique plugin system in place, these menus can integrate custom SwiftUI-based widgets and will even work seamlessly with BTT Remote on iPhone and iPad in the future.
Also, check out the new “Transform & Replace Selection With ChatGPT” predefined action that lets you use ChatGPT directly in any of your apps.
BetterTouchTool comes with a 45-day trial, after which you can choose between a license that includes all updates for 2 years and a lifetime license.
For a limited time, MacStories readers can purchase BetterTouchTool for 20% off by using the coupon code MACSTORIESBTT_2023 at checkout. So, don’t delay. Go to folivora.ai to learn more about this fantastic Mac app and take advantage of the special limited-time, 20% discount on BetterTouchTool.
Our thanks to BetterTouchTool for sponsoring MacStories this week.
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