BetterTouchTool: Customize Your Input Devices [Sponsor]

BetterTouchTool is an indispensable Mac app that has stood the test of time. The app was one of the first covered by MacStories back in November 2009. In those early days, BetterTouchTool was a simple app for adding customizable gestures to MacBook trackpads and the Magic Mouse.

Today, many things have changed in BetterTouchTool. Of course, it still allows you to configure all sorts of gestures for the Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse. However, nowadays, the app also supports many more input devices. BTT enables full Touch Bar customization, allows users to define keyboard shortcuts, including a powerful Hyper Key, bind the buttons of mice, create custom mouse gestures, customize the Siri Remote, connect and configure MIDI devices, and more.

BetterTouchTool offers a long list of predefined actions to automate tasks on your Mac that can be assigned to any input-device trigger you choose. The app also contains some handy features like window snapping, a clipboard manager, a screenshot editor, and much more. There is even a free iOS app to remotely control your Mac and trigger actions.

Also, BetterTouchTool already supports macOS Monterey and integrates deeply with the new Shortcuts app. It now lets you run Shortcuts using any of BTT’s triggers. Additionally, BetterTouchTool makes many of its actions available to be used within the Shortcuts app. For examples see https://community.folivora.ai/c/shortcuts/18.

The breadth of what can be accomplished with BetterTouchTool is only limited by your imagination. A great place to get started and be inspired by other BTT users is the BetterTouchTool Community at community.folivora.ai. Users have shared some fantastic BTT presets there, including some very advanced custom Touch Bar setups that you should definitely check out.

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 at checkout. So, don’t delay. Go to folivora.aito 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.

Kotaku Collects the Beautiful Artwork of Apple TV+’s Foundation→

Source: Kotaku.

Source: Kotaku.

The Apple TV+ show Foundation has been on my mind a lot this week. I’ve really enjoyed the first season so far, and yesterday, we hosted a live audio discussion in the Club MacStories+ Discord community, where we were joined by a few Club members to dig into the show’s first seven episodes. The discussion was part of AV Club, a channel in our Discord community where we pick media to enjoy as a group each month. It was a lively and fun discussion that is available to Club members as a podcast too.

As I was collecting my thoughts on Foundation in preparation for our group conversation, one of the aspects of the show that I kept coming back to was its visuals. It’s a sci-fi epic that doesn’t look like any sci-fi show I’ve watched before. From the elegance of Trantor’s surface, which is home to Empire, to the gritty reality of the planet’s subterranean levels, the inhospitable environment of Terminus, and the watery Synnax, every planet has a unique and authentic feel of its own that creates an immersive experience for viewers.

If you haven’t watched the show before or are a fan already and interested in learning more about Foundation’s unique style, I highly recommend browsing through the gallery of concept art for the show that is collected on Kotaku in a story by Luke Plunkett. The gallery of dozens of images includes costume design, landscapes, spaceships, weaponry, and more. Foundation is a big budget production that has more in common with the scale I’m used to seeing in movies. What the artwork spotlighted by Plunkett shows is that beyond the mountain of money spent on Foundation, an extraordinary amount of care has been taken by a group of incredibly talented artists to bring the story to life.

Permalink

AppStories, Episode 247 – Everything New in iOS and iPadOS 15.1

This week on AppStories, we dig into SharePlay and the other changes released last week with iOS and iPadOS 15.1.

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

Subscribe here.

Federico returns to modding iPad accessories for his iPad mini and John wonders whether he should get one of the new MacBook Pros.

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.

Apple Releases Hooked, an Apple Original Podcast with No Ties to Other Properties→

Benjamin Mayo writing for 9to5Mac reports that Apple has published its first podcast that isn’t tied to a TV+ property or Apple News. The show, called Hooked, is a true-crime story featuring career bank robber Tony Hathaway. As Mayo notes, the show is listed as an ‘Apple Original podcast.’

Perhaps more notable is that there doesn’t seem to be a standard RSS feed associated with the show. Instead, the show’s first four episodes and trailer are available only via the Apple Podcasts app. Of course, a feed could be added, but if one isn’t, this would mark Apple’s first foray into exclusive audio content, something which Spotify has been doing for quite some time.

During an investor call last week that Podnews reported on, Spotify declared itself the number one podcast provider in the US and over 60 other countries based on an Edison Research report. As a result, it would come as no surprise if Apple has begun competing head-to-head with Spotify with its own exclusive audio content in the highly-popular true-crime category. At the same time, though, one of podcasting’s strengths has always been its open nature, and it would be a shame to see that further eroded by Apple, which has been a steward of the format for so long.

Update: Although not indexed and available in all podcast apps yet, Hooked does have a traditional RSS feed, which can be found here.

Permalink

Downie: Easily Download Videos From YouTube and Thousands of Different Sites [Sponsor]

Downie for Mac is a simple yet powerful app that allows you to save content from YouTube, Youku, Bilibili, QQ, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Vimeo, and thousands of other sites. Just click on a button in your browser’s toolbar, and Downie will start downloading the content.

Downie can also be set up to extract just the audio, which is ideal for downloading podcasts and other audio material that you listen to when traveling or just commuting.

By default, Downie will take care of most of the workflow for you, selecting the best quality available, sorting downloads by the site they originate from, sorting downloads by playlists, converting the downloaded files into commonly used formats if needed (MP4, MP3), setting the metadata, and more.

But if you are a power user, you will be delighted to know that Downie also has even more powerful features, such as Permute integration, CSV import, an automated mode for uninterrupted downloads while you are not at the computer (or if you run Downie on a server), custom post-processing scripts, custom site integrations via JavaScript, saving extracted metadata into a separate JSON file, and so much more.

Using Transloader by Matthias Gansrigler from Eternal Storms Software, you can also send links from your iOS device to Downie on your Mac.

For a limited time only, MacStories readers can buy Downie with a 25% discount by using on this link or manually entering the discount coupon “MACSTORIES2021” during checkout.

This discount can also be used for the already-discounted Downie + Permute bundle. See Downie’s webpage for more information.

Our thanks to Downie for sponsoring MacStories this week.