Ten years ago this Sunday, I published my first article on MacStories. I’ve told the story of how I got started before, so today, I thought I’d see if I could come up with 10 things I’ve learned over the past decade. Carve Your Own Path. Success comes in many shapes and often has as...
The Ever-Changing App Store
Federico
JohnThis week, Federico and John explore current changes to the world of apps through the lens of its past evolution.
On AppStories+, we build “money’s no object” holiday wish lists for ourselves.
Also available on YouTube here.
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AppStories Episode 462 - The Ever-Changing App Store
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32:35
32:35
Links and Show Notes
The Evolving App Store
- Some of our 2025 coverage about the changing app environment:
- Apple Recreated the App Store on the Web with No Way to Download or Buy Apps
- Apple Removes ICEBlock and Similar Apps From the App Store Under Pressure From the DOJ
- EU Sets DMA Compliance Deadline in App Store Anti-Steering Dispute
- Developers and Platforms React as App Store Rules Change in the U.S.
- A Breach of Trust Apple Held in Contempt Over App Store Rules
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Interesting Links
[[John]] The Cloudflare outage bit a lot of websites this week, including MacStories. The company’s explanation is a good example of transparency but also a fascinating look at how the simplest of bugs – in this case, the size of a file – can bring down complex systems. (Link) I love a good heist story....
App Debuts
[[federico]] Willow Willow is another AI-powered voice dictation app that launched on the Mac a while back and, earlier this week, came out on iOS. (The developers have been kind enough to offer Club MacStories members 200 codes for a one-month free trial; you can find the details in this issue of the newsletter). I’ve...
A New Sort of Automation
One of the problems with all the AI hype is that it tends to fall into the trap of selling AI as a way to be lazy. Even Apple succumbed to this, although the ads showing workers using Apple Intelligence to be lazy have since been removed from YouTube. But AI at its best allows...
Our Latest App and Automation Experiments
This week, Federico and John kick off their holiday app and automation experimentation season a little earlier than usual with a mix of apps, automations, and services.
On AppStories+, Federico and John look ahead, considering the future of Shortcuts and automation.
We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week.
To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ.
AppStories Episode 461 - Our Latest App and Automation Experiments
0:00
38:52
38:52
Links and Show Notes
App and Automation Experiments
- Follow Up
- Federico’s Ongoing AI Testing
- John’s App Experiments
- Federico’s Service Experiments
- John’s Claude Code - Python - Notion Experiments
- Federico’s Drafts and Readwise Reader workflow
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WK46: Why I Organize by Weeks, Not Days
Federico likes to poke fun at my obsession with the week number. For context, he’s forever running into YAML metadata or titles of documents I create that reference the week number. From the outside looking in, coming across a “2025-WK46” in a document may look a little weird, I’ll admit. However, from an organizational standpoint,...
Voting Deadline: 5:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time for the MacStories Selects Readers’ Choice Award
Today’s the final day to vote for the 2025 MacStories Selects Readers’ Choice Award. Thanks for partcipating again this year. As we publish today’s issue of Weekly, the tally is very close between multiple apps. Voting closes at 5:00 PM Eastern U.S. time today, and if necessary, we’ll do a runoff election over the weekend...
Interesting Links
[[John]] Insta360 has new accessories that add a grip with shutter button and a portable printer to its Ace Pro 2 action camera, which strike me as smart additions that should expand the market for the camera beyond the traditional uses for action cams. (Link) Samsung is still plugging away at its SmartThings home automation...