MacStories Weekly: Issue 65
Canvas, Episode 28: Read Later Services→
This week Fraser and Federico change gears and focus on Read Later services.
A different episode of Canvas this week – we talked about the best apps and services to save articles for later, including Apple’s own Reading List and some alternative power-user methods. You can listen here.
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Balance Brings Financial Accounts to the Mac’s Menu Bar
Balance is a macOS menu bar app that tracks the balances and transactions in your bank, investment, and online financial accounts. The app supports thousands of financial institutions and takes advantage of some of Apple’s latest innovations on the Mac like the Touch Bar and Touch ID. If you want immediate access to balance and transaction data across multiple accounts at your fingertips, Balance is worth a look.
Fire Emblem Heroes Arrives on the App Store
Nintendo’s third iOS title, Fire Emblem Heroes, is now available on the App Store. The game, which features characters from throughout the history of the popular Fire Emblem series, is also launching on the Google Play Store today.
Nintendo describes Fire Emblem Heroes as:
A world with two kingdoms: the Emiliano Empire, which wishes to rule all worlds, and the Askran Kingdom, which stands in its way. You are a summoner with the special ability to call upon legendary Heroes from different Fire Emblem worlds. In order to save the Kingdom of Askr from destruction, join the Order of Heroes and face a never-ending challenge.
Fire Emblem Heroes comes on the heels of Nintendo’s Miitomo and Super Mario Run titles, which were released in 2016. Earlier this week, Nintendo said it intends to release 2-3 mobile games each year. The next game, a mobile version of Nintendo’s Animal Crossing franchise, was originally set for release in March, but has been delayed until sometime during Nintendo’s next fiscal year, which begins in April.
Polygon has a great preview video that is an excellent explanation of how Fire Emblem Heroes works:
Fire Emblem Heroes is a free download on the App Store with In-App Purchases.
Outlook for iOS Introduces Email Add-ins
Today as it launched version 2.1 of Outlook for iOS, Microsoft announced a new feature for the app: add-ins. Add-ins are a form of integration with both third-party and first-party services that provide multiple new ways to manage your email, and they’re available only to Office 365 customers.
TxtBck is an iMessage App that Makes You a Better Texter
Generally, I feel like I’m a pretty good texter. When I receive a message, I’m quick to respond and make sure that the important texts always take priority.
But for many people, managing texts along with countless other notifications on their phones is a tricky task. To help remind you to text back your loved one or coworker, there’s TxtBck, an iMessage app that I’ve been playing with for a few days.
Evernote 8: A Review and Comparison with Apple Notes
Evernote has a long and storied history. It once reigned as king of note-taking services, successfully blossoming in an increasingly mobile world. But as the service grew larger, it became a less efficient tool for the core task of viewing and creating notes. New features and tangential apps added over time created bloat and became distractions. For a time, there weren’t many worthwhile alternatives for Apple users to explore. That changed in June 2015, when Apple introduced a revamped Notes app for iOS and macOS.
I’d been unhappy with the clunky state of Evernote at the time iOS 9’s Notes was unveiled. My experience with Notes in the past had been frustrated by poor syncing that led to data loss on multiple occasions. But what Apple demonstrated with Notes’ overhaul looked promising, and I gave it a shot.
Notes has kept me satisfied since its big update, and I know many people are in the same boat. But Evernote recently launched version 8 of its iOS app, which led me to give that service another try.
YouTube Updated with Chromecast Control Features
If you own a Google Chromecast or Chromecast-compatible device, you now have more options for controlling it from an iOS device. The YouTube app received an update that lets you play, pause, skip forward and back, and control the volume of streaming video from the Lock screen and Control Center of an iOS device, or from an Apple Watch. This functionality has been available on Android for a long time, so it’s nice to see it extended to iOS users who have a Chromecast too.
Fantastical 2.8 Brings Rich Notifications, iMessage Stickers
With a new version released today on the App Store, Flexibits updated Fantastical – the popular calendar client with natural language input – to include deeper support for iOS 10 and the iPhone 7. Version 2.8, available on the iPhone and iPad, adds new iMessage stickers using the app’s icon as the main character in different expressions, haptic feedback on the iPhone 7, and, more importantly, rich notifications for calendar events and reminders.