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AppStories, Episode 264 – Apple Event Impressions: The New iPad Air, Mac Studio, and Studio Display→

This week on AppStories, we cover our first impressions of the iPad Air, Mac Studio, and Studio Display, including Federico’s thoughts on where the Air fits into the iPad lineup and John’s take on what to keep in mind when customizing a Mac Studio.

[Subscribe here.](https://appstories.net/plans)

Subscribe here.

On AppStories+, a little behind-the-scenes look to planning event coverage, a thank you and mini Chipolo One review from John, and Federico on the three Indiegogo campaign perks he’s waiting to receive.

We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week.

To learn more about the benefits included with an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ.

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Tripsy 2.10 Adds Web-Based Itineraries and Expanded Travel Email Forwarding

Tripsy is my favorite travel app because it’s not just about getting from Point A to Point B. To me, the app defines the difference between trips and travel. Lots of apps can track travel information about your flights or show you where your hotel is on a map. Tripsy can do those things too, and it’s good at them. However, where Tripsy shines brightest and sets itself apart from other apps is by going beyond those nuts and bolts essentials and focusing the things you want to do and see on your trip.

I'm a big fan of Tripsy's modern design.

I’m a big fan of Tripsy’s modern design.

We’ve covered Tripsy before, so if you’re brand new to the app, be sure to check out that review, which covered the app’s 2.0 release. That update featured a beautiful modern card-style design, loads of trip inspiration and planning tools to organize travel, lodging, activities, dining, and more in one neatly organized app that works on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and more recently, the Mac.

Unfortunately, that update was also released in the fall of 2019, so I only got a chance to use it once before COVID ended my travel plans for a while. However, the travel outlook is brighter in many corners of the world today, and pent-up demand has people revisiting deferred trips, me included. If you’re in a similar situation and have a trip in your future, I encourage you to give today’s Tripsy update a look because, with version 2.10, Tripsy makes it easier to organize a trip than ever before.

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macOS 12.3: The Magic of Universal Control and More

macOS 12.3 Monterey has arrived, delivering Universal Control, the long-awaited feature that allows users to transition between Macs and iPads with a single set of input devices. Federico is covering the feature from the perspective of iPadOS 15.4, so I’ll focus on the Mac. In addition to Universal Control, macOS 12.3 includes other smaller features, which I’ll cover at the end of this story.

I’ve been using macOS 12.3 as my daily OS throughout the current beta cycle for a couple of reasons. First, Shortcuts has been steadily improving ever since Monterey’s fall introduction, so I wanted to stay on top of those improvements in real-time. Second, I’ve been fascinated by the possibilities created by Universal Control since it was announced at WWDC last year. I’m pleased to report that the feature hasn’t disappointed me and has quickly found a place as part of my core computing setup.

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iOS and iPadOS 15.4: Hands-On with Universal Control, Face ID with a Mask, and More

iOS and iPadOS 15.4 are available today.

iOS and iPadOS 15.4 are available today.

Today, Apple released iOS and iPadOS 15.4. The fourth major updates to iOS and iPadOS 15, originally released in September 2021, offer a long list of miscellaneous improvements and feature tweaks (which I will detail later in the story) as well as two major additions for iPad and iPhone users: the long-awaited Universal Control and the ability to use Face ID while wearing a mask, respectively.

I’ve been testing both iOS and iPadOS 15.4 since the first beta in late January, and I was able to spend some quality time with both of these features and everything else that is new and improved in these releases. Let’s take a look.

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Last Week, on Club MacStories: A Special Apple Event Town Hall, ShareMenu 2.0, a Typefully Shortcut, and a Home Office with a View

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:

Town Hall: Apple’s Peek Performance Event

  • Last week, Federico, John, and Alex were joined by MacStories Discord moderator Lachlan Campbell for a live Town Hall event in the Club MacStories+ Discord community to recap and share first impressions of Apple’s Peek Performance keynote, which introduced a new iPhone SE, iPad Air, Mac Studio, and the Studio Display.
  • The Town Hall was recorded and published as part of the Club MacStories+ Town Hall podcast feed, which members can access from the Club podcasts page.

MacStories Weekly: Issue 311

  • ShareMenu 2.0: an update to Federico’s ShareMenu shortcut that’s designed to replicate the behavior of the old ‘Run Workflow’ extension. Version 2.0 includes improved macOS integration and support for more file types.
  • Draft Tweet: A shortcut that John created for sharing articles using Typefully, a web app for scheduling tweets and managing multiple Twitter accounts.
  • Club member Dan Stucke’s home office setup that has a beautiful view of the English countryside.

  • Plus:

Visit plus.club to learn more about Club MacStories.

Textastic: Code Editor and SFTP Client for iPad and iPhone [Sponsor]

Textastic is the most comprehensive and versatile text and code editor available for iPad and iPhone.

This starts with syntax highlighting support for more than 80 programming and markup languages: Textastic handles highlighting for C, C++, Swift, Objective-C, Rust, Go, Java, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, PHP, Python, Ruby, Perl, Lua, Markdown, LaTeX, YAML, JSON, and many more. If your favorite language is not yet included in the extensive list, you can add your own syntax definitions and themes compatible with Sublime Text and TextMate.

With clients for SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, Dropbox, and Google Drive, as well as the integrated SSH terminal, however, Textastic goes well beyond the functionality of a traditional text editor. Since Textastic supports tabs, you can have multiple files and SSH terminals open at the same time, and, on iPad, in multiple windows side by side.

Whether you want to create web pages and check them with the built-in web preview, edit configuration files on your server, or perform code reviews, Textastic is the perfect tool for your mobile workflow.

Customizable keyboard shortcuts, wide-ranging configuration options, support for Git repositories using the Git client Working Copy, and robust find and replace, turn this app into the most powerful code editor for iPad you’ll find.

The long list of features also includes support for iCloud Drive, the Files app, drag and drop, trackpad and mouse, printing, Split View, multiwindowing, and a whole lot more.

The app is, of course, regularly updated and maintained as well. With the recently released version 9.8, for example, Textastic got the ability to search the contents of files in a folder and its subfolders for text or regular expressions, allowing you to stay on top of large projects and quickly find what you’re looking for.

And if you ever get stuck, the in-depth manual, which describes every part of the app in detail and is illustrated with nearly 150 screenshots, will help you out.

To learn more about Textastic and what it can do for your iPad and iPhone code editing needs, visit textasticapp.com, and download a copy today.

Our thanks to Textastic for sponsoring MacStories this week.

MacStories Unwind: A.P. Bio and House by Shout Out Louds

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This week, Federico updates us on the latest software changes to the Xbox Series X|S and recommends A.P. Bio, a TV comedy from Peacock and John discovers his favorite album of 2022 so far: House by Shout Out Louds.

Follow-Up

Federico’s Pick:

John’s Pick:

Logger Is the Missing Console for Shortcuts Power Users

Logger for Shortcuts.

Logger for Shortcuts.

Indie developer Alex Hay has long pushed the boundaries of what third-party developers can build with the SiriKit framework and Shortcuts integrations on Apple platforms.

In late 2019, his Toolbox Pro app redefined what it means to complement Apple’s Shortcuts app with additional actions, creating an entirely new sub-genre of headless utilities designed to provide additional actions with configurable parameters. Recently, Hay introduced Nautomate, another utility that provides users with Shortcuts actions to integrate with the Notion API without having to write a single line of code. And today, Hay is launching Logger, another Shortcuts-compatible app that is similar to his previous ones, but with a twist: rather than adding actions for external services or apps such as Apple Music and Notion, Logger offers actions to create the troubleshooting console that has always been missing from Shortcuts.

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The Shift in Apple’s Hardware Strategy→

John Porter writing for The Verge puts a finger on a strategic shift that has slowly been emerging at Apple for a while.

Summoning the era of butterfly keyboards and the Mac Pro’s infamous thermal corner, Porter says:

There was a time not long ago when it seemed like Apple spent more time telling its customers what they wanted rather than just giving it to them.

In contrast,

with yesterday’s announcements, which include the powerful and port-rich Mac Studio and a new monitor that costs a fraction of the price of Apple’s previous attempt, Apple is now consistently doling out consumer-friendly features its fans have been calling for.

Porter traces the roots of Apple’s shift in approach back to 2017 when the company gathered a small group of writers to announce that it was hitting reset on the Mac Pro. Two years later, Apple introduced a new Mac Pro, and ever since then, there’s been a steady stream of devices released that underscore the company’s new hardware approach.

Reading the tea leaves to discern strategic shifts like this is always fraught with peril, but I think Porter is onto something. As he lays out, there are plenty of signs of the shift stretching back five years, and no better evidence than the Mac Studio, which is bristling with utilitarian conveniences like ports and an SD card slot on the front of the computer and plenty of other I/O options tucked away on the rear of the machine.

Apple’s shift has left users with an abundance of excellent computing options. Next, I hope we see a similar shift in the company’s approach to its software, concentrating on taking better advantage of the devices now available to users.

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