Microsoft Office 365 Updated to Support Apple Silicon and Big Sur→

Microsoft today announced updates to their suite of Microsoft 365 apps to support Apple Silicon, including design tweaks to match the look of macOS Big Sur:

We are excited to announce that starting today we are releasing new versions of many of our Microsoft 365 for Mac apps that run natively on Macs with M1. This means that now our core flagship Office apps—Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote—will run faster and take full advantage of the performance improvements on new Macs, making you even more productive on the latest MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. The new Office apps are Universal, so they will continue to run great on Macs with Intel processors. The apps are not only speedy, but they also look fantastic as they have been redesigned to match the new look of macOS Big Sur.

Among the other changes, Microsoft’s Outlook for Mac can now be used with iCloud email addresses for the first time. The Apple Silicon update for Microsoft Teams isn’t ready yet, but they’re working on it:

Microsoft Teams is currently available in Rosetta emulation mode on Macs with M1 and the browser. We are working on universal app support for M1 Macs and will share more news as our work progresses.

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Fitness+ Review Roundup

Apple debuted Fitness+ yesterday alongside iOS and iPadOS 14.3. The service, which integrates tightly with the Apple Watch, offers workout classes on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, and uses the Apple Watch to track your heart rate and other metrics. There are ten types of workouts available that are designed to accommodate beginners through experts. New workouts are recommended based on what you’ve done before and can be filtered by criteria like trainer, time, and music.

Apple invited a long list of press from health and fitness publications and a few from the tech world and other media outlets to try Fitness+ in advance of its launch. Here’s what some of them had to say:

Nicole Nguyen of The Wall Street Journal remarked on something that a lot of reviews highlighted:

What differentiates Apple’s app is its approach to workout newbies. There is a starter collection of videos designed for anyone who is “brand new to exercise,” as a sort of introductory course to each of the app’s disciplines. And even in the harder sessions, one of the trainers in the background offers a modified version for less-advanced practitioners.

Molly Ritterbeck appreciated the emphasis on beginners too in an in-depth review for Runners World:

This smart programming is not unique—there are competitor services that also do this well—but it is one feature that sets the service apart from the majority of apps out there in the oversaturated fitness category. There is a real risk of injury and getting in over your head for beginners, which can lead to decreased motivation or just quitting altogether, so this thoughtful approach is a highlight.

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Pro Photographer Austin Mann Explains ProRAW→

With the release of iOS 14.3, Apple’s ProRAW image format is available in its Camera app and third-party apps like Halide Mark II. Travel photographer Austin Mann, who has been testing ProRAW, published a story explaining why the new format matters, demonstrating the scenarios where it makes the biggest differences, and sharing tips on how and when to use the format.

As Mann explains:

Pro photographers traditionally choose to shoot in RAW because it offers more control. Where there is more data (more color, more range, more everything), there is more latitude to push an image to achieve a vision, and now with ProRAW we have this luxury built right into the native iPhone camera app.

However, ProRAW doesn’t abandon computational photography completely. Instead:

the iPhone camera only leverages the computations that are absolutely necessary for accurate imaging, but gives us complete control over preference parameters like white balance, noise reduction, sharpening, and more.

HEIC image (left) ProRAW image (right). Source: [austinmann.com](http://austinmann.com/trek/iphone-proraw).

HEIC image (left) ProRAW image (right). Source: austinmann.com.

To test ProRAW, Mann took some 30-second Night mode images of the Geminid meteor shower using the iPhone 12 Pro Max. The contrast between what could be achieved by editing a HEIC file versus a ProRAW file in Lightroom is compelling. With the HEIC image, many of the details in the image were lost but with the ProRAW file, Mann was able to preserve the stars in the night sky and the fine details of a rock.

Mann also has side-by-side comparison shots that demonstrate the difference between ProRaw’s 12-bit color and HEIC’s 8-bit color. The differences are more subtle but still noticeable.

Not all photos benefit equally from being shot in ProRAW, and because the files are much bigger than HEIC images, it’s worth understanding when it makes sense to use ProRAW. According to Mann, the format works best for shots with which Apple’s computational photography has the most trouble, such as very low light and high dynamic range scenarios.

Be sure to check out Austin Mann’s entire article for additional examples of ProRAW in action, tips on when and how to use the format, and his interview with Rene Ritchie about ProRAW.

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Apple Releases iOS and iPadOS 14.3 with Apple ProRAW, App Clip Codes, Fitness+ Support, and Direct App Launches from Shortcuts

Today Apple released iOS 14.3, a mid-cycle update which includes quite a few very nice features. App Clip Codes were announced alongside iOS and iPadOS 14 at WWDC, so it’s good to see them finally making it out to the public. Similarly, Apple ProRAW was touted as a feature of the new iPhone 12 Pro cameras, but hasn’t been available to iPhone 12 Pro users until today (unless you were running the iOS 14.3 beta, of course). iOS 14.3 does include support for Apple’s impending Fitness+ subscription service, but as of this writing that feature is still disabled prior to the service’s launch.

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MacStories Selects 2020: Recognizing the Best Apps of the Year

John: The MacStories Selects Awards are our annual love letter to apps and the people who make them. Apps have become ubiquitous, seeping into every corner of our lives. They help us find a job and home, get work done, blow off steam, order a meal, and everything in between. With so many apps available in the App Store, though, it’s easy to take them and their creators for granted, which is why as the year comes to a close, we step back and pause to celebrate the MacStories Team’s favorite apps and the people who make them.

To say that bringing an app to life from idea to a fully-formed 1.0 is tough is a vast understatement, and 2020 hasn’t made the process any easier. However, as we survey the past year, the depth of innovative apps makes it clear that many developers poured themselves into their apps in 2020. The result was a list of MacStories Selects candidates that was longer than in any prior year of the awards.

We had a wealth of excellent apps to choose from this year for the seven categories the MacStories Team chose:

  • Best New App
  • Best App Update
  • Best New Feature
  • Best Watch App
  • Best Mac App
  • Best Design
  • App of the Year

Along with the Readers’ Choice Award, which was chosen by Club MacStories members, that makes a total of eight award winners plus twelve runners-up. These are the third annual MacStories Selects Awards, which we debuted in 2018. As we did last year, we have also created beautiful physical awards commemorating the winners, which we will be sending out to each in a couple of weeks.

We also recorded a special episode of our podcast AppStories all about the MacStories Selects winners and runners-up. It’s a terrific way to learn more about this year’s apps.

You can listen to the episode below.

So, it’s with great admiration and respect for the developers who have persevered through a tough year to produce some of the best apps we’ve ever used that we present to our readers the 2020 MacStories Selects Awards:

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Agenda: Date-Focused Note Taking [Sponsor]

Agenda has had a great year. In May, Agenda 10 added note templates, a powerful sharing extension, and translations in 11 new languages. Just a few months later, Agenda 11 introduced Widgets and Scribble (handwriting recognition), as well as support for the new Apple Silicon Macs.

And the team at Agenda is not resting yet. They are currently working on one of the most requested features in the Agenda Community: Tables. Agenda 12 will allow you to embed tables directly into your notes, and take them with you on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Tables are already being beta tested by the Agenda faithful and will be available in January 2021. Best of all, you will be able to use Agenda’s new tables for free.

If you aren’t familiar with Agenda, it’s a note-taking app with a twist — it focuses heavily on dates. You organize your notes into projects, sorted into a timeline. You can link notes to calendar events and reminders in Apple’s apps.

The tight integration of notes and dates is what makes it a unique note-taking experience. For example, by tying notes you’ve been taking in advance of a meeting to the event in your calendar, the notes are right there when you need them.

It sounds like a great idea, but we all know a great app is more than an idea. Agenda won an Apple Design Award in 2018 and was named MacStories’ Best New App the same year. It’s been featured countless times in Apple’s App Stores and is an Editors’ Choice. It’s not just a great idea — it’s a very polished app.

Agenda is free to download from the Mac App Store and iOS App Store.

Our thanks to Agenda for its support of MacStories this week.

MacStories Unwind: AirPods Max, Fitness+, Two New Shortcuts, and a HomeKit Lock Review

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Sponsored by: Halide Mark II – The Best Pro Camera For iPhone

This week on MacStories Unwind:

MacStories

Club MacStories

  • MacStories Weekly
    • A collection of modern note-taking apps
    • A shortcut for generating PDFs linked on a website
    • Alex takes a trip down memory lane with Phoenix
  • MacStories Unplugged

AppStories

Unwind

Level Touch: A HomeKit-Enabled Smart Lock That Everyone in Your Household Can Appreciate

Source: Level.

Source: Level.

I’m fairly conservative about the HomeKit devices I add to my home these days. Most of my early HomeKit experiments were limited to my studio, where the impact on the rest of my family was minimal. That approach has worked well for many accessories, but it’s not possible to do with everything.

My studio doesn’t have an exterior door, so although I’ve been intrigued by smart locks for what feels like forever, I’ve been hesitant to test them. Security is clearly a question, but so is convenience. I didn’t want to subject my family to a HomeKit experiment that had the potential to cause headaches for them as they were coming or going throughout the day. Smart locks need to be simple, easy, and reliable while also offering real benefits above and beyond the tried and true method of locking a door.

As a result of these concerns, I sat on the HomeKit lock sidelines for a long time. So, when the makers of the Level Touch smart lock contacted me and offered to send me one to try, I thought long and hard about it. Ultimately, though, my curiosity got the best of me.

The first thing that caught my eye was what the Level Touch isn’t. The lock isn’t one of those big bulky smart locks that you may have seen before. Instead, the Level Touch is ordinary in the sense that it looks like a normal lock on the outside. That’s because the smarts are cleverly hidden inside the lock mechanism itself.

So, a few weekends ago, I took the plunge and installed the Level Touch on an exterior door that gets a lot of use daily. Since then, I’ve been impressed with not only what the Level Touch enables as a HomeKit-enabled device, but also how well it performs as a plain old standard lock. It’s a combination that too few smart home devices accomplish, putting it in a pretty exclusive club.

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AirPods Max First Impressions Roundup

In the wake of this week’s AirPods Max announcement, Apple provided the premium wireless headphones to a handful of YouTubers and media outlets. Nobody had even a full day with the AirPods Max, so none of these are full reviews, but they do provide a closer look at the headphones and some valuable first impressions.

Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch was impressed with the sound quality but warned of the sturdy design:

There is a tradeoff here that I feel I must mention even in this early review, though: These things are heavy. If you do not like heavy headphones, do not buy the AirPod Max.

All of the reviewers seemed impressed with the sound quality of the headphones, including The Verge’s Nilay Patel:

Sound-wise, I’ve had fun listening to the AirPods Max for a few hours — they’re crisp and bright, with a pleasingly wider soundstage than my Sony headphones, and no distortion at all, even at max volume.

Comparisons to wireless headphones from Sony and Bose were also common, but Marques Brownlee questioned whether that was the right comparison, arguing that contrasting the AirPods Max to higher-end headphones might be more meaningful.

The AirPods Max case was raised as a frequent downside by reviewers who compared to a purse, a bra, and even a butt. Another downside depending on how you might use the AirPods Max is the lack of a cable in the box to connect to airplane entertainment systems and other audio sources. Apple offers a 3.5mm to Lightning cable separately for $35.

Be sure to check out the videos published on YouTube that I’ve linked below too. They’re an excellent way to get a better sense of the design details of the AirPods Max.

I’m curious to read and watch full reviews of the AirPods Max after reviewers have had time to use them for more extended periods and in different settings. For now, though, the first impressions provide a nice introduction to what the AirPods Max can do and what some of their limitations are.