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320 — May 13, 2022

Behind the Scenes of Automation April

MACSTORIES EXTRAS

More stories for Club members.

Behind the Scenes of Automation April

With Automation April wrapped up and the Shortcuts Contest winners chosen, it feels like the right time to take a look at the technology we built out for this month-long event. It won’t surprise Club members to know that our Calliope platform was behind the scenes here.

If you read my last post on Calliope, it discussed our new ability to easily spin up independent web servers that share code and integrate with our authentication service. We used this to create the Automation April website (our 12th microservice!), which I was able to build in just a few weeks thanks to all the groundwork that we laid in Calliope 1.2.0.

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312 — March 18, 2022

Calliope 1.2.0

MACSTORIES EXTRAS

More stories for Club members.

Calliope 1.2.0

This week the MacStories team released the biggest update to our “Calliope” software platform since we launched it back in August (if you’re new around here and interested in how our platform is made, you can read the juicy technical details here). Alas, this release consists mostly of architectural changes, so you’ll have to wait a little while before you see the full benefits of Calliope 1.2.0. That said, I’ll still detail what we’ve been working on for those who are curious.

This release laid a lot of groundwork for our future plans. In particular, it solved a big problem that we had with using multiple websites that are all authenticated through Memberful.

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Monthly Log — October 31, 2021

Two Months Later: Iterating on Calliope

Two Months Later: Iterating on Calliope

Launching the new Club MacStories was a major milestone for the MacStories team. We’d been working on Calliope full-time for nearly a year, plus thinking about and planning it for years prior. To have a successful launch after pouring ourselves into this project was an incredible experience. As with most software products though, launching was only the beginning.

It’s been two months since launch day, and we’ve continued to iterate on Calliope to bring even more features to our Club members. We’ve also been working to smooth out some minor growing pains in the platform.

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262 — March 5, 2021

MagSafe Charging Docks

MACSTORIES COLLECTIONS

MagSafe Charging Docks

Apple’s MagSafe charger is a great new technology for charging our iPhones, but it can be a bit inconvenient when used on your desk or nightstand. Detaching the phone from the charger is a bit of a hassle to do one-handed, and the situation can be exacerbated by the short one-meter cable length. Unsurprisingly, third-parties are already stepping in with solutions: MagSafe charging docks.

These docks don’t have MagSafe built-in. Rather, you need to thread your own MagSafe charger into each dock. Once you’ve done so, though, the docks work to secure your phone into a more convenient charging position. I’ve picked up five of these docks recently in an effort to track down the best one, but ultimately they’re so different that it really just comes down to personal preference. If you’re in the market for a MagSafe charger, hopefully, the details below can help you determine the best choice for you.

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Monthly Log — February 28, 2021

The Tragedy and Vision of Simple's Banking Revolution

The Tragedy and Vision of Simple's Banking Revolution

Banking is not an industry known for technical innovation. The apps from most major banks feel like thinly veiled web views, and updates with major new features are few and far between. I think we’re mostly just accustomed to this reality and don’t spend much time thinking about how much a great banking app could change the way we interact with our finances. That’s why Simple bank has been so extraordinary.

Simple is an online-only bank that started in 2010. It was founded on some radical ideas (for a bank), such as zero fees, built-in budgeting tools, accessible customer service, and a first-class app. Starting a new bank is not an easy task, but the Simple team pulled it off. They ignited their revolution, and for over a decade, Simple provided its users with a banking experience unlike anything else in the industry.

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261 — February 26, 2021

Broadcasts →

MACSTORIES RECOMMENDS

Great apps, accessories, gear, and media recommended by the MacStories team.

Broadcasts

Broadcasts is an app for listening to streaming Internet radio by developer Steven Troughton-Smith. The app is quite simple, and is specifically designed to do its one task well.

The main screen in Broadcasts is a scrolling grid of radio stations. Tapping on a station will immediately connect and start streaming it live. While listening to a station you’ll see a now playing bar at the bottom which includes the station name and art, as well as the title of the current song or segment that’s playing. This bar also includes a play/pause button, but no further playback controls since the app revolves around live streaming.

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260 — February 19, 2021

Diagramming and Mind Mapping Apps

MACSTORIES COLLECTIONS

Diagramming and Mind Mapping Apps

Mind maps and diagrams are extremely helpful tools for organizing thoughts and ideas. Whether you’re planning your next project, preparing a presentation for work, or just brainstorming an idea, having a good mind mapping app on hand can be vital. The App Store is full of options for this use case, but to help you narrow your search, here are some of our favorites at MacStories.

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259 — February 12, 2021

App Debuts

APP DEBUTS

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

Craft

My favorite note-taking app was updated earlier this week with a new ‘Toggle List’ mode which, in theory, brings basic outlining capabilities to the text editor with the option to expand and collapse indented lists. In practice, I’ve found the implementation somewhat fiddly and not as intuitive as “traditional” folding in apps like OmniOutliner or Editorial, so I hope the Craft team will take some time to refine its interactions. Additionally, Craft also received support for exporting notes to DEVONthink, and the app now properly resumes where you left off.

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259 — February 12, 2021

GameTrack →

MACSTORIES RECOMMENDS

Great apps, accessories, gear, and media recommended by the MacStories team.

GameTrack

GameTrack is a great universal app for tracking the videogames you’re playing, have played, or want to play. We’ve covered GameTrack on MacStories before, and awarded it the runner-up for best app update in our 2020 MacStories Selects. Since then, developer Joe Kimberlin-Wyer has added even more to the app, including a ‘Year in Review’ and calendar views for GameTrack+, manual sorting of lists, and more.

Personally, I tend to get really into one game at a time, and put a lot of time and energy into that for a while. This last year that game has been League of Legends, and the year before it was Super Smash Bros Ultimate. I still pick up smaller games off and on for shorter periods each year, but when I look back on the year I usually struggle to remember which of these I played. GameTrack has been helping me out a lot with that, as well as with keeping track of games that I do want to check out.

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258 — February 5, 2021

Downie →

MACSTORIES RECOMMENDS

Great apps, accessories, gear, and media recommended by the MacStories team.

Downie

: Downie is a very nice Mac app for downloading videos from the internet to your computer. Built on the popular FFmpeg library, Downie provides access to these advanced functions via an easy-to-use interface. You can use Downie to download video content from thousands of websites, including YouTube and Vimeo.

On first launch, Downie will prompt you to configure some basic settings, such as the folder for downloaded videos to go into, the preferred level of quality (it supports up to 4K video resolution, but you might not want or need your downloads to take up that much space), whether to include subtitles in your downloads, and whether to post-process videos (such as converting them into MP4s, extracting the audio, and more). If you use a web browser other than Safari, it will also help you get the Downie browser extension installed.

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