Mercury Weather 2.0 Adds Trip Forecasts

By John Voorhees

If you’ve ever found yourself repeatedly checking the weather of a trip destination in the days leading up to your travels, you’ll appreciate Mercury Weather 2.0, which was released today for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. The update’s marquee feature is Trip Forecast, which lets you set up a trip once and keep tabs on your destination’s weather as your travel dates approach. I reviewed Mercury Weather a couple of weeks ago, so for more on the app’s other features, be sure to check out that review.

From Mercury Weather’s Locations view, there’s now an option to add upcoming trips. Just add your destination and the dates of your trip, and it will appear in a separate, collapsable ‘Upcoming Trips’ section, along with the current conditions and dates of the trip. You can also name your trip and add a custom icon.

You can switch between home and upcoming trips in the Daily Forecast section of Mercury Weather.

As your departure date approaches, your destinations will appear along the top of the Daily Forecast graph. Tap a trip’s name to see that location’s weather forecast or the ‘Home’ button to return to your home location’s weather. Once your trip dates pass, the forecast for your destination just disappears from the app unlike destinations you might otherwise save in a weather app’s list of locations.

Trip Forecasts have been incorporated in Mercury Weather’s small and medium-sized ‘Daily Forecast (Customizable)’ widgets too. The widget includes a summary forecast for the next eight days, and if any of those days are part of your upcoming trip, it will show the forecast for that location instead of your current location.

Mercury Weather on the Mac.

Trip Forecast is an excellent addition to Mercury Weather. I love that I can set up a trip once and forget about it, letting the app show me the upcoming forecast as my travel day approaches and staying out of the way until then. One thing I still miss from other weather apps is radar data, but aside from that, I’ve loved using Mercury Weather this summer.

Mercury Weather is free to download on the App Store, with Home and Lock Screen widgets, the Apple Watch app, historical data, and more than one saved location available to subscribers for $1.99/month or $9.99/year, with a $34.99 lifetime purchase option. A Family Sharing subscription is $3.49/month, $16.99/year, or $59.99 for a lifetime purchase.

David Sparks Releases Obsidian Field Guide

By John Voorhees

No app has had a bigger impact on my day-to-day work in the past couple of years than Obsidian. What makes Obsidian tricky, though, is its flexibility and depth. It can accommodate everything from a simple Markdown note-taking system to acting as a Notion-like relational database. It’s a powerful tool, but also one that takes time to learn.

Today, David Sparks released a new MacSparky Field Guide to help newcomers get their bearings with Obsidian. The video series, which I’ve sampled, covers all the basics, taking viewers on a tour of the app’s interface, core features, built-in plugins, and some of the more popular plugins created by third parties.

The Field Guide comes in Standard and Plus editions, with the Plus Edition adding bonus content via online seminars. The Standard Edition is $49 but is currently $44 for a limited time and the Plus Edition is $99, discounted for a limited time to $89. Both limited time deals are available is you use the code OBSIDIANLAUNCH at checkout.

Sega Releases Samba de Amigo: Party-To-Go on Apple Arcade

By John Voorhees

Today, Sega released Samba de Amigo: Party-To-Go, the latest incarnation of the rhythm game franchise, on Apple Arcade. Samba de Amigo debuted in 1999 in arcades, with a Sega Dreamcast version coming the next year. In those first versions of the game, you played by shaking a pair of maraca controllers to the beat of the music.

Party-To-Go has turned in the maracas in favor of touch gestures, controllers, and keyboards with a release that’s available through Apple Arcade on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. Over the past several days, I’ve tried all but the Apple TV version of the game and have details and first impressions to share.

Apple Announces Media Event for September 12, 2023

By John Voorhees

Apple announced that it will host a fall media event on September 12th at 10:00 am Pacific US time. Like last year, this fall’s event will include an in-person component. The event will also be streamed.

It’s expected that Apple will unveil the iPhone 15 lineup and Apple Watches. The company may update the media on the Vision Pro too.

Relay FM Kicks Off Its 2023 Fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

By John Voorhees

Today, Relay FM kicked off its annual fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help combat childhood cancer. We’d love it if MacStories readers joined us in supporting this cause.

You can make a donation by visiting here.

If you’re a MacStories reader, there’s a good chance you have listened to one of the shows Federico co-hosts on the network or have another favorite, in which case you may have already contributed. However, if not, please consider donating.

St. Jude plays an important role in the fight against childhood cancer, treating kids, and doing research with other medical facilities around the world. Your donations help ensure that families aren’t charged for treatment, travel, housing, or meals, so their sole focus is helping their child get better.

Relay FM, which has raised $2.2 million for St. Jude over four years, will be raising money through the end of September, culminating in the Podcastathon, a 12-hour video streaming event featuring the hosts of many of Relay FM’s network of podcasts that will be held September 22nd. As in past years, the Podcastathon will be streamed on Relay FM’s Twitch channel.

Like last year, you can create your own fundraising campaign to help Relay FM achieve its goal and earn limited edition rewards in the process.

Thanks in advance for checking out Relay FM’s fundraiser for St. Jude and to all who donate.