[[john]] Not all Philips bulbs are smart bulbs. This week, the company debuted a new light of highly-efficient LED bulbs that use around 40% less energy and last 50 years, lightening the load on your wallet and the planet. (Link) Strava introduced Spotify integration this week, allowing users to control playback directly from the Strava...
Last Week, on Club MacStories: The Making of S-GPT, Our First Automation April Workshop, a Club-wide Discount, and Lots of App Coverage
Because Club MacStories now encompasses more than just newsletters, we’ve created a guide to the past week’s happenings:
The Making of S-GPT, Part 1: Using the ChatGPT API with Apple’s Shortcuts App to Have Conversations with OpenAI’s Assistant
Last week saw the return of Federico’s Automation Academy column for Club MacStories+ and Premier members. The latest edition dug into the techniques Federico used to build S-GPT, his shortcut that integrates OpenAI’s Chat-GPT with Apple’s OSes.
Federico’s column is a deep dive into working with web APIs in shortcuts, navigating JSON dictionaries, and the clever way S-GPT stores its ongoing conversation in a variable. Whether you’re working with ChatGPT’s API or another web API, the column is a great place to learn how to to hook your shortcuts up to web APIs.
Automation April: Shortcuts Workshop, Part 1
Last week we also held our first Automation April workshop where Federico and I were joined by Jack Wellborn, who won Best Overall Shortcut in last year’s Automation April Shortcuts Contest, to talk about tips for coming up with shortcuts ideas, our recent shortcuts experiments and projects, incorporating AppleScript and other techniques into Mac-based Shortcuts, and more.
Alerty: A New Club-Wide Discount
In MacStories Weekly 364, we announced a new Club-wide discount from our friends at Alerty, a push notification service. Alerty’s incredibly easy-to-use web API allows you to generate rich push notifications to any of your Apple devices. They can be used to extend Shortcuts’ notification system, triggered by server events, and more.
Members can get 50% off on a monthly or annual subscription by visiting the Club Discounts page.
MacStories Weekly: Issue 364
- A review of Button Creator for Stream Deck
- Apps to extend your Shortcuts experience on Mac
- A GoodLinks giveaway
- A tip on how to read the contents of Markdown files in Shortcuts
- 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
Automation April: Third-Party Apps with Great Shortcuts Support
Federico
John
AppStories Episode 325 - Automation April: Third-Party Apps with Great Shortcuts Support
0:00
36:50
36:50
This week, Federico and John dig into third-party apps with excellent shortcuts support.
This episode is sponsored by:
- Viso – Beautiful minimal image viewer for macOS.
Links and Show Notes
Automation April Update
- S-GPT 1.0.2 Brings Date and Time Awareness, Integration with macOS Services Menu, Passthrough Mode, Better HomePod Support, and More
- Automation April: The Loupedeck Live S Is a More Portable and Affordable Automation Control Panel for the Mac
- S-GPT 1.0.1
Apps with Excellent Shortcuts Support
- Bike Outliner
- FoodNoms
- Actions for Obsidian
- Things 3
- Actions
- Albums
- Fantastical
- Book Tracker
- Anybox
- MusicBox
- Crouton and Pestle
- Calory and WaterMinder
- Surfed
](https://cdn.macstories.net/banneras-1629219199428.png)
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Button Creator
When I first got a Stream Deck and later a Loupedeck Live, I realized very quickly that setting up those devices can quickly turn into an unproductive time sink. There’s the question of which automations to turn into a button, plus the layout and look of the buttons to consider. If you’re not careful, it’s...
Extending Shortcuts for Mac with Third-Party Apps
Automation April has reacquainted me with the many bugs in Shortcuts for Mac. It’s incredibly frustrating to hit a wall when you have an idea for an automation that should work but doesn’t because of a bug. I have a long list of wishes for Shortcuts actions, but I’d take stability over any of them....
App Debuts
[[federico]] SwiftKey Keyboard Microsoft’s third-party keyboard for iPhone is the latest of the company’s products to receive integration with AI-powered Bing chat, but don’t expect to be able to access the ChatGPT-based service from inside the keyboard view on your phone: when you tap the ‘Chat’ button above the keyboard, you’ll be taken into a...
Deadline Extended for Automation April Shortcuts Contest to April 21st
As we head into the weekend, we wanted to let everyone know that we’ve extended the Automation April Shortcuts Contest to Friday, April 21st, at 5:00 PM Eastern US time. That gives you four extra days to finish your shortcuts and submit them.
Remember:
- You can submit up to two shortcuts for consideration in any of the six categories
- You can edit your submissions until the deadline on April 21st
- Shortcuts do not have to be complex to win the contest; originality and utility are key factors in the judges’ decisions
- We have tons of great prizes, including a Loupedeck Live S and CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 4 for the winner of the Best Overall Shortcut, plus Club MacStories memberships
For the complete rules, be sure to read our post from last week.
Good luck, and use the extra time wisely!
You can also follow MacStories’ Automation April coverage through our dedicated hub, or subscribe to its RSS feed.
Automation April: A Link Management Workflow and S-GPT
AppStories Episode 324 - Automation April: A Link Management Workflow and S-GPT
0:00
49:43
49:43
This week, John explains his new link management workflow, combining a series of apps and shortcuts, and Federico shares more about his S-GPT shortcut that integrates ChatGPT with Apple’s OSes.
This episode is sponsored by:
- Zocdoc – Find the right doctor, right now with Zocdoc. Sign up for free.
Links and Show Notes
Link Management and Integrating ChatGPT with Apple’s OSes
- Automation April: Thinking About Linking
- Linking Apps:
- Introducing S-GPT, A Shortcut to Connect OpenAI’s ChatGPT with Native Features of Apple’s Operating Systems
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.
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Interesting Links
Kobo announced a new 10.3-inch e-ink reader that will be available on April 19 for $399.99, which includes an improved stylus and software refinements to its note-taking and highlighting features. (Link) Speaking of e-ink readers, Engadget had a nice roundup of the options available this week if you’re looking for one to take to the...