Skylight Forecast Skylight is one of the most unique uses of weather data I’ve seen. It’s from Lux Optics, the makers of Halide, and predicts the best times and conditions for taking outdoor photographs based on weather conditions and other atmospheric data. Because it’s using weather data, the app is subscription-based, which is unusual for...
Interesting Links
[[John]] TechCrunch interviewed Kevin Systrom about his app Artifact, which hopes to become the intermediary layer between writers and their readers, a goal that has been tried many times before and never worked. (Link) In a story that we’ll likely see played out with many companies, The Verge links to a report by The Wall...
Introducing the 2023 Automation April Shortcuts Contest Winners
John: One of the things I love about judging Automation April is seeing the wide variety of problems people use Shortcuts to solve and their creativity in solving them. This year’s Automation April Shortcuts Contest was no exception. We judged well over 100 shortcuts in the following categories.
- Best Everyday Shortcut
- Best Productivity Shortcut
- Best Health Shortcut
- Best Media Shortcut
- Best Mac Shortcut
- Best Overall Shortcut
The shortcuts we reviewed ran the gamut from simple shortcuts with a few actions to complex systems for automating elaborate workflows. What all of the shortcuts we judged had in common is a dedication to problem-solving. That’s reflected not just in the ingenuity of the shortcuts created by participants but also in their willingness to work with others in the Club MacStories+ Discord community and elsewhere to work together and learn. The Shortcuts community is a vibrant and generous group of which we’re fortunate to be a part.
Like last year, the quality of submissions to the contest made it exceptionally hard to pick the top shortcuts, but with the help of Simon Støvring, Jack Wellborn, Christopher Lawley, Matthew Cassinelli, Jason Snell, and Rosemary Orchard, we have come up with winners in each category. We’ve also included a handful of honorable mentions to showcase some of our favorite shortcuts that didn’t win a category. There are some real gems among the honorable mentions, so don’t forget to check them out too.
With that, we give you the 2023 Automation April Shortcuts Contest winners and the shortcuts they’ve created.
Table of Contents
- Best Everyday Shortcut
- Best Productivity Shortcut
- Best Health Shortcut
- Best Media Shortcut
- Best Mac Shortcut
- Best Overall Shortcut
- Honorable Mentions
- Add Portrait Effect, A Shortcut to Add Background Blur to Any Photo
- Advanced System Details, a Shortcut to Retrieve iPhone and iPad Hardware Info
- Change File Date, a Hybrid Mac Shortcut to Edit File Metadata
- New Music Time, a Shortcut to Quickly Play New Music Releases
- Mature Breakfast, a Shortcut Designed to Maintain a Healthy, Varied Diet
- Feedback to Markdown, a Shortcut for Those Who File Too Many Radars
- Diceware Passphrase Generator, a Shortcut for Generating Secure Passphrases
- River Report, a Shortcut for Checking Hyrological Conditions
Our watchOS 10 and tvOS 17 Wishes
Federico
John
AppStories Episode 329 - Our watchOS 10 and tvOS 17 Wishes
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44:43
44:43
This week, Federico and John explain the changes to watchOS and tvOS that they’d like to see made in 2023.
Links and Show Notes
watchOS 10 and tvOS 17 Wishes
- watchOS 10 Wishes
- Charge Notifications on the Mac
- Widgets
- Shortcuts
- The Apple Watch Ultra’s Action Button
- The Workout App
- More Information and Guidance About Fitness Statistics
- tvOS 17
- A Floating Song Lyrics Panel
- Quadbox
- An Improved Apple Music Channel
- Live Music Event Programming
- Stage Manager on tvOS
- Siri and HomeKit Integration
- Better Home Screen Organization
- A Manual Queing System
- Add More Sources to Up Next
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Why Can’t Apps Be More Like Strawberries?
If only buying apps were as simple as buying strawberries. When I drop by our local supermarket, I know what to expect. I know that when I grab a package of strawberries, it’s probably going to be around $5. Sometimes strawberries will cost less and other times a bit more, but by and large, the...
App Debuts
Shazam Shazam now works with Apple Music Classical. If you Shazam a classical track or search for one in-app, you’ll see a button offering to open the song directly in Apple Music Classical. It’s a small change, but it’s good to see Apple Music Classical becoming more integrated with other parts of Apple’s Music universe....
Our iPadOS 17 Wishes
This week, Federico and John continue their wish list series with their wishes for iPadOS 17.
This episode is sponsored by:
- Zocdoc – Find the right doctor, right now with Zocdoc. Sign up for free.
Links and Show Notes
Our iPadOS Wishes
- Clamshell mode
- Separate Stage Manager from Multi-windowing
- Controlling Stage Manager
- Controlling Audio and Video inputs and outputs
- Universal Control
- System wishes
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.
Follow us on Mastodon
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App Debuts
[[John]] Bluesky Social Bluesky Social is a new decentralized social network that has a lot in common with Twitter. The service is still in beta and is invitation-only, but its app is available on the App Store and received some significant updates this week. Bluesky has a long way to go as an app. It...
Last Week, on Club MacStories: Raindrop, Obsidian Automation on the Apple Watch, iPad Apps on the Mac, and Too Many Genius Bar Visits
Because Club MacStories now encompasses more than just newsletters, we’ve created a guide to the past week’s happenings:
MacStories Weekly: Issue 366
- A review of what sets Raindrop.io apart from other bookmark managers
- Saving text to Obsidian from an Apple Watch using a Mac mini, Hazel, and Shortcuts
- Managing AirDrop connections
- A MenuBar Stats giveaway
- Plus:
- App Debuts
- Highlights from the Club MacStories+ Discord
- Interesting links from around the web
- A sneak peek at what’s next on MacStories’ podcasts
- and more
Monthly Log for April 2023
- Federico on an app he’s using to improve the experience of using iPad apps on the Mac
- I share what I learned about Apple retail, support, AppleCare, and living the portable Mac lifestyle after my Mac Studio was fried by lightning