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July 6, 2024

MacStories Weekly: Issue 425

In this issue: John shares a date formatting shortcut and Jonathan has tips for setting up and using CarPlay, plus the usual Links, App Debuts, the latest happenings in the Club MacStories+ Discord community, a recap of MacStories articles, and a preview of next week’s episodes of AppStories and Magic Rays of Light.

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June 29, 2024

MacStories Weekly: Issue 424

In this issue: This week, Jonathan reviews Seasons, a subscription-focused streaming video tracker, John shares a Tot and Things-focused scratchpad workflow, plus the usual Links, App Debuts, the latest happenings in the Club MacStories+ Discord community, a recap of MacStories articles, and a preview of next week’s episodes of AppStories and Magic Rays of Light.

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June 22, 2024

MacStories Weekly: Issue 423

In this issue: Federico explains how to link to Mail messages with Shortcuts, Jonathan reveals how to get some features of Apple’s upcoming operating system updates now, John reviews Logitech’s Keys-To-Go 2 keyboard, Devon shares two ways he’s using the Collections app day-to-day, plus the usual Links, App Debuts, the latest happenings in the Club MacStories+ Discord community, a recap of MacStories articles, and a preview of next week’s episodes of AppStories and Magic Rays of Light.

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June 15, 2024

MacStories Weekly: Issue 422

In this issue: Jonathan shares which WWDC announcements surprised him most, John comes down from Hype Mountain, Federico breaks down the winners and losers of iOS and iPadOS 18, plus the usual Links, App Debuts, the latest happenings in the Club MacStories+ Discord community, a recap of MacStories articles, and a preview of next week’s episodes of AppStories and Magic Rays of Light.

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June 8, 2024

MacStories Weekly: Issue 421

In this issue: Jonathan has a collection of small changes he’d like to see at WWDC, Federico shares his iPad Home Screen, John interviews the producer of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which debuted on the iPhone and iPad this week, plus the usual Links, App Debuts, the latest happenings in the Club MacStories+ Discord community, a recap of MacStories articles, and a preview of next week’s episodes of AppStories and Magic Rays of Light.

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June 6, 2024

Automation Academy: How I Reimagined Apple Music Discovery and Recommendations with Marvis Pro's Custom Sections

My Marvis setup.

If you’re anything like me, you probably like Apple Music a whole lot more than Spotify, but you’re in a perennial state of jealousy regarding one advantage Spotify has over Apple Music: discovery of new music.

I’ve struggled with this a lot over the years, and I’ve come to accept the reality that I just can’t use the Spotify app and find its blend of podcasts and music on the homepage confusing and cumbersome. I like everything about Apple’s Music app more than Spotify, and I believe folks at Apple genuinely care about the experience of listening to music in whatever form that may be – whether it’s via AirPods, HomePods, or wired headphones for lossless music. Still, every time I use Spotify, I come away impressed by how accurate its algorithm can be for personalized discovery, as well as how effective Spotify can be at recommending new artists and songs throughout playlists and other sections of the app.

A few months ago, that got me thinking: would there be a way for me to at least replicate the feeling of new music discovery I experience in Spotify while using Apple Music instead? Of course, I know I can’t come up with own algorithm to enhance Apple Music’s recommendation engine. But I wondered: what if I could figure out a system to surface different patterns from my Apple Music listening history or aggregate Apple’s own curated playlists in a new way?

The answer, dear members, is my brand new setup in Marvis Pro, which I’ve been refining for the past few months and am now ready to share in this special edition of the Automation Academy. Given how I was able to take advantage of Marvis’ advanced smart filters and collections to rethink Apple Music discovery, I thought it was best to share this in the Academy and explain how it all works behind the scenes.

Let’s dive in.

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June 1, 2024

MacStories Weekly: Issue 420

In this issue: The MacStories team interviews Federico, Jonathan creates his own Joy-Con-based iPhone game controller, plus the usual Links, App Debuts, the latest happenings in the Club MacStories+ Discord community, a recap of MacStories articles, and a preview of next week’s episodes of AppStories and Magic Rays of Light.

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May 25, 2024

MacStories Weekly: Issue 419

In this issue: John has a tip about how he uses Marked and Obsidian for converting Markdown to rich text, Jonathan argues that the Apple ecosystem should be less iPhone-centric, plus the usual Links, App Debuts, the latest happenings in the Club MacStories+ Discord community, a recap of MacStories articles, and a preview of next week’s episodes of AppStories and Magic Rays of Light.

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