John Voorhees

Managing Editor

Mastodon: @johnvoorhees@macstories.netEmail: voorhees@macstories.net

John, MacStories’ Managing Editor, has been writing about Apple and apps since joining the team in 2015. He also co-hosts MacStories’ podcasts, including AppStories, which explores of the world of apps, MacStories Unwind, a weekly recap of everything MacStories and more, and MacStories Unplugged, a behind-the-scenes, anything-goes show exclusively for Club MacStories members.

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490 — November 14, 2025

Voting Deadline: 5:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time for the MacStories Selects Readers’ Choice Award

John

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 and into early next week. If you’re a Club Plus or Premier member you can vote today by visiting the post in the Announcements section of Discord.

And remember: one vote per member. I’ll be checking. 👀

490 — November 14, 2025

App Debuts

APP DEBUTS

Noteworthy new app releases and updates, handpicked by the MacStories team.

Federico

SuperWidget

SuperWidget is a utility that lets you build custom widgets using data from Apple’s Shortcuts app or third-party APIs. What makes SuperWidget particularly interesting is how it bridges the gap between Shortcuts automation and data sources from external APIs; you could, for instance, create a widget that displays your website’s visitor count, your smart home’s current temperature, or any other data accessible through a REST API. I’ve always wished that Apple would allow me to design custom widgets powered by Shortcuts data, and this is an interesting third-party take on the idea that reminds me of designing a custom dashboard for the TRMNL as well as Panic’s old Status Board app.

490 — November 14, 2025

Interesting Links

INTERESTING LINKS

Great reads and links from around the web.

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 system. Its latest move is adding Siri support, theoretically allowing you to kick off routines with Siri commands. (Link)

490 — November 14, 2025

WK46: Why I Organize by Weeks, Not Days

John

THE EXTENSION

Exploring topics beyond our day-to-day coverage.

WK46: Why I Organize by Weeks, Not Days

John

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, it’s great.

My obsession with week numbers started in Obsidian. Searching for documents by date is often one of the easiest ways to find something, but the trouble is that I generate a lot of documents. Searching by month returns too many documents, and searching by a single date is too precise because my work isn’t organized to that extent. I may have weekly deadlines that rarely move, such as when a podcast is published or this newsletter goes out, but the timing of when I start preparing the documents related to those things varies week to week.

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489 — November 7, 2025

Interesting Links

INTERESTING LINKS

Great reads and links from around the web.

Federico

Rolling Square’s new inCharge Life is a modular 240W USB-C cable kit that comes with a lifetime replacement program – which sounds too good to be true to me. However, the cables look pretty sweet. (Link)

The team behind the Model Context Protocol spec has approved a “tasks” primitive to enable better handling of long-running operations. Once this gets officially implemented in the shipping version of MCP, expect AI agents to be able to asynchronously kick off tasks on remote connectors that will continue in the background. (Link)

489 — November 7, 2025

Have Subscriptions Spoiled the Fun of Trying New Apps?

John

THE EXTENSION

Exploring topics beyond our day-to-day coverage.

Have Subscriptions Spoiled the Fun of Trying New Apps?

John

I’ve been trying a lot of new apps and web services lately, and it’s gotten me thinking about subscriptions again. In particular, I’ve been thinking about how subscriptions change my behavior as a consumer when I see something I’d like to try. What I’ve concluded is that many developers could do a better job with subscriptions than they currently do.

Before I go any further, I want to stress that I am not against subscriptions. That’s not to say that I have infinite tolerance or budget for subscriptions. My tolerance may be higher than others’, but I make the same judgments about an app’s value that anyone does. However, I don’t get angry because a subscription is more than I want to pay.

489 — November 7, 2025

App Debuts

APP DEBUTS

Noteworthy new app releases and updates, handpicked by the MacStories team.

Federico

Alive AR Experience

This app is the kind of AR experience that makes the Vision Pro worth showing off to friends and family. Alive brings three environments into your physical space, each populated with different creatures that react to your movements and surroundings. In the Aquarium mode, colorful fish swim around your furniture and between your hands while avoiding a shark; the Cavern fills your room with giant spiders that chase ants up your walls and leap from the ceiling (and apparently react to clapping, which I’m both curious and terrified to test); and the Meadow creates a peaceful scene with butterflies that flutter around your head and can land on your hand. I love this idea, and I kind of wish Apple provided users with a similar demo experience beyond a dinosaur that wants to kill you.