One of the greatest advantages of the iPhone’s camera hardware is that it’s easy to take photos wherever you are. That’s also a bit of a curse because there’s probably no greater friction in managing a photo library than sifting through a large stack of images looking for the ones you want to keep. The convenience quality of the iPhone’s camera means that I take more photos than ever, many of which aren’t shots I want to keep long-term. With today’s release of Darkroom 5.2, the photo editor that we’ve covered on MacStories before takes a significant step forward in making the process of culling the best images from an extensive photo collection easier.
Darkroom 5.2 Improves Photo Management with New Flag and Reject Functionality
Apple at Home
Federico
John
This week, Federico and John scrutinize Apple’s home strategy from its discontinued Airport routers and HomePod to the Apple TV, HomePod mini, HomeKit routers, the Home app, and more, plus ongoing browser and calendar experiments, and the hunt for an elusive keyboard continues.
Concepts: Sketch, Note, Draw [Sponsor]
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Everything you draw in Concepts is a flexible, editable vector. Nudge, edit and reorganize your ideas with natural finger gestures. Drag+drop images and objects onto the canvas for fast ideation and reference, use layers and grid layouts to organize your work, mark up PDF documents, and apply real-world scale for professional design projects. Export and share standard, high-res and vector file types for flexible work between teams and apps.
Concepts’ built-in Presentation Mode lets you connect with others for live sharing and graphic discussion. Whiteboard virtually with teams and clients using apps like Zoom, then instantly share your discussion.
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Our thanks to Concepts for sponsoring MacStories this week.
MacStories Unwind: Mac OS X Turns 20, Shortcuts Links Temporarily Break, and a Big Reflector Update
Sponsored by: Ulysses – The Ultimate Writing App for Mac, iPad and iPhone
This week on MacStories Unwind:
MacStories
- Recently-Created Shortcuts Links Are Currently Broken
- 20 Years Ago, Mac OS X Set the Stage for Today’s Apple
- Spotify Updating Home Hub with Recently Played Section, Deeper Podcast Integration
- The Pleasures of Conversing via Voice Text
- Reflector 4 Updated with Modern UI and M1 Mac Support
Club MacStories
- MacStories Weekly
- Federico experiments with Firefox on iOS
- John builds PDF-based read later workflow with three-shortcuts
- MacStories Recommends: Calendar 366
AppStories
Unwind
- Arcade Preview:
- Hitchhiker is out
- Fantasian will be a two-part game
- Wonderbox is coming soon
- Federico’s Picks:
- Titanfall 2 on Xbox Game Pass
- John’s Pick:
- John bought Okami HD
- The Head on HBO Max
MacStories Weekly: Issue 265
This week, in addition to the usual links, app debuts, and recap of MacStories' articles and podcasts:
Recently-Created Shortcuts Links Are Currently Broken
iCloud links to shortcuts broke sometime in the past 24 hours. Instead of opening the Shortcuts app and allowing users to install a shared shortcut, tapping a shortcut link displays an alert with the message ‘Shortcut Not Found,’ explaining that the link may be invalid or the shortcut may have been deleted. Based on our internal testing, the issue appears to affect all shortcut links created before yesterday.
The problem with shortcut links first surfaced in the Shortcuts subreddit late yesterday and early today on Twitter. Yesterday also saw the release of OS betas by Apple, but there is currently no evidence that the two events are linked. It’s also unknown whether the change was intentional or not. However, given that URLs can still be created and shared for new shortcuts, it seems more likely that the issue is related to a bug. We have contacted Apple seeking clarification about the situation but haven’t received a statement from the company.
The issue affects everyone who has shared shortcuts, from individual users to publications like MacStories that have shared shortcuts online. As a result, none of the shortcuts shared in the MacStories Shortcuts Archive currently work. That’s also true for other sites like RoutineHub and the shortcuts subreddit and writers and YouTubers like Chris Lawley and Matthew Cassinelli who have shared many of their own shortcuts.
Unfortunately, as this story is published, we don’t yet know if or when shortcuts links will begin working again. We will update this post as new information surfaces.
Update: Late yesterday, we received the following statement from Apple about the problem with previously-shared shortcuts links:
We are aware of an issue where previously shared shortcuts are currently unavailable. Newly shared shortcuts are available, and we are working to restore previously shared shortcuts as quickly as possible.
This is great news for shortcuts users. We don’t know yet when previously-shared shortcuts will be available, but we’ll let you know as soon as they are, so keep an eye on MacStories for further updates.
20 Years Ago, Mac OS X Set the Stage for Today’s Apple
It’s hard to believe that it’s been two decades since Mac OS X was released. I wasn’t a Mac user in 2001, but as a tech fan, I followed the release of OS X and the later switch to Intel closely, which was what finally convinced me to buy my first iMac.
Today, with Mac OS X gone and Intel chipsets not far behind, I thought it would be fun to look back at OS X and the transition to it compared to the recent switch to macOS 11 Big Sur. I started by watching Steve Jobs’ introduction of Mac OS X at Macworld Expo in 2000, which was a perilous time for the Mac. The company was just two and a half years into Jobs’ return as iCEO and had recently filled out its simplified product grid, adding the iBook to the iMac, Power Mac G4, and PowerBook lineup.
AppStories, Episode 210 – Imagining the Perfect Read-It-Later App→
This week on AppStories, we discuss the features and approaches we’d like to see in the ideal read-it-later app.
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- DEVONthink – The one place for storing and working with all your documents, snippets, and bookmarks
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- Pinstachio – A modern Pinboard app for your iPhone and iPad
Spotify Updating Home Hub with Recently Played Section, Deeper Podcast Integration→
As announced by Spotify last week, the company is rolling out a refreshed home hub in its mobile app featuring a new Recently Played section, an easier way to stream new releases from your favorite artists, and shortcuts to play and resume podcast episodes with one tap:
About a year ago, we reworked the Spotify mobile experience to refresh our Home interface. Since then, Spotify users have been able to access the content they love more quickly and easily—and maybe even discover something new straight from their home screen. But the ease and discovery don’t stop there. This month, we’re announcing a series of updates that will make the Home experience even more personalized for each and every listener.
We’re constantly working on ways to improve our user experience. Through this latest update, we’ll be rolling out several advancements on the mobile Home hub designed to make finding the audio you love easier and more intuitive. These will roll out to users globally on iOS and Android this month.
The redesigned home hub is the latest announcement in a series of recent product updates, including genre and mood filters for liked songs, real-time lyrics, and the upcoming lossless tier.
In my tests with Spotify this year, I’ve been positively impressed by the company’s pace of updates. What I find particularly intriguing in the refreshed home hub design is the integration with podcasts: I was very skeptical of blending music and podcasts in the same app when I switched to Spotify at the end of last year, but the more I use it, the more I understand why podcast listening in Spotify is growing rapidly. There’s something about making both kinds of audio content accessible in one place that works well for removing friction from having to choose what I want to listen to. I’m curious to see how Spotify will balance music and podcast episodes in new home hub (which I don’t have in my Spotify app yet).