1. AirBuddy 2 for Mac recreates the quick, easy, and beautiful card-based interactions like those on iOS for all the AirPods and Beats headphones. Even more, it provides battery status and power user options for many other Bluetooth devices. [Guilherme Rambo]
2. Hush for Mac, iPhone, and iPad blocks all those annoying pop-ups on websites for you to confirm the use of cookies. Over. And over. And over again. You just set it, then forget it. [Via John Gruber]
3. HealthyShoe is a really simple app for iPhone that integrates with the Apple Health database to keep track of the miles you put on your running shoes. I used to track this with Nike+ Running, but I’ve long since gone all-in on the Apple Watch’s workout app. Just tell HealthyShoe when you started using each pair of shoes, and it automatically totals up the miles and recommends when you should replace them. No account, no personal data tracking, just a simple utility. [Via Steve Troughton-Smith]
4. Personal Best Workouts, like HealthyShoe, is an app that integrates with the HealthKit database on iPhone. This app shows you insights and metrics on your workouts like time spent, calories burned, and distance traveled. You can see your bests over selected time periods, and drill down to individual workouts. As someone who enjoys reviewing stats of all kinds, and who is getting back into fitness, these kinds of utility apps are right in my wheelhouse. [Via Club MacStories]
5. Brain.fm is an iPhone and iPad app that I’d heard of before but always passed by. I was able to use it for free this month, and I think I might subscribe. Being able to have dedicated focus “music” that doesn’t influence my actual music library recommendations has been great. It really has helped me to focus, and I like that the sounds are set on a timer, which keeps me on track throughout the day. [Via Club MacStories]
6. Robinhood captured the world by storm this week. I’m not a gambler, but I did take advantage of all the explainers this week to learn more about how the stock market actually works. Here’s a good one by The Verge on the whole fiasco. Turns out I had a free $5 stock from Robinhood that I set up a couple of years ago. So far it’s earned…$1.65! [Elizabeth Lopatto]
7. ScanThing is an app for iPhone and iPad that fills a particular need that I’ve had for a while. I used to use the Scannable app by Evernote for all my digital scanning needs, but it hasn’t seen significant development for a while. Despite the plethora of scanning apps out there, they all have more complex workflows. I really valued the simplicity of opening an app straight to its scanning mode, having it auto-capture, and then send off to another app or the file system for saving with a custom name. I’ve tried creating a custom Shortcut to solve this problem, but it never worked quite right. ScanThing does it perfectly and comes with a few other awesome bells and whistles. It automatically applies OCR, so I can search the text of a document later. It can also capture just the text of something in the viewfinder, which is perfect for copying tracking numbers from receipts and other similar situations to get text from the physical world. And, the real magic, you can “scan” objects, which automatically removes the background around the subject to great effect. I take a lot of pictures of items that I can no longer keep but don’t want to forget, and then add them to my Day One journal. ScanThing is a winner. [Pierre Liebenberg]

Bonus: Craft is a new note-taking and personal wiki app that everyone is raving about. I’m giving it a try as a place to store work-related notes for a few current projects. It hasn’t really clicked with me yet, but I might have more to say on it in the future. [Via MacStories]

7 Things Apps

The giving season has recently passed, and perhaps you also received an Apple Gift Card or two. Besides being much more versatile than the iTunes Gift Cards of the days of yore,¹ the new Apple Gift Cards are hiding an extra special secret: they also include a free sticker!

When you pull out the bit of paper with the card’s code on the back, you may notice that the spot of color than peeked through the Apple logo cutout on the front isn’t printed but is instead a removable sticker. And no residue or clinging paper tags along either — like it’s asking to be peeled off!

These aren’t just any stickers, either. I have handfuls of white Apple stickers from products bought over the years, but these are colorful and…familiar. I thought I’d seen them before, and with a quick search my theory was proven correct. Perhaps you remember back in October of 2018 when Apple sent invitations to what was rumored to be an iPad event. Rather than sending the same invitation design to each guest, as usual, this time each invitation seemed to be unique and possibly drawn on an iPad.

Lo and behold, those abstract logos have been given another purpose. In their article for MacRumors, Julie Clover linked to an album containing each of the 371 different versions.² I found the designs from my gift cards!

It’s rare for Apple to include even a Space Gray sticker in their products, and here nearly 400 colorful stickers have been hiding in plain sight.

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1. Did you know they can now be used for hardware in addition to software and services?↩︎

2. If you like the look of these logos, I can recommend a screensaver that cycles through the animated versions from the keynote’s intro video.↩︎

Greatest Hits

1. I hadn’t realized that the Vice President is sworn in first during the inauguration. Make sense so that there’s succession in place, just in case a catastrophe occurs in the first few moments of a new administration. Although, a large chunk of the succession line attended church together prior to the ceremonies this week. Wholesome…but risky. [Emily Jacobs]
2. Amanda Gorman’s poem, The Hill We Climb, which she performed at the inauguration this week was poignant and powerful. I have a feeling she’s going to be one to keep an eye on. [Via John Gruber]
3. If you’re in the mood for some incredible performance art stationed at the intersection of Magical and Moving, do yourself a favor and watch In & Of Itself on Hulu. [Via Lex Friedman}
4. Clever of the Biden Administration to put a job application call-to-action for website developers within the new WhiteHouse.gov source code. [Mitchell Clark]
5. I, like the rest of the internet, have loved the Bernie memes this week. They’re endearing in a way that most memes aren’t. It’s also super cool that Bernie turned the sensation into an opportunity to help people. [David Matthews]
6. Although not unexpected, the pandemic has now been proven to be adversely affecting the mental health of youth. The President/CEO of the American Camp Association insists that (safe) summer camps are needed now more than ever. I agree. [Tom Rosenberg]
7. After 12 years, I never expected to see a sequel to Doodle Jump, one of the OG great iOS games (and has been kept up-to-date for modern devices). But The Doodler is back in Doodle Jump 2 with some great improvements. It’s just as fun today as it was back in 2009. [Alex Guyot]

7 Things

1. Impeachment.fyi has been a succinct way to keep up with the impeachment progress this week. And full marks for the website URL. [Dan Sinker]
2. This new overhead projector-like app for video calls would have been perfect when I was doing daily activity demonstrations earlier this year. I’ll still stick it in my toolbox. [Charlie Chapman]
3. White Rhinos are on the razor’s edge of extinction. Scientists are trying to fix that problem (which we created) by making embryos before it’s too late. [National Geographic]
4. These (unofficial) Twitter and Instagram feed are simply Apple marketing photos and nothing else. It’s a fun walk down memory lane, and a reminder of how awesome Apple is at product shots. [ Archive]
5. Daniel Dale has been fact-checking Donald Trump for every day of his presidency, and these are what he believes are the President’s 15 most notable lies. I can scarcely imagine a more depressing and crazy-making job. [Daniel Dale]
6. I hadn’t known that the phrase “Designed in California” had significance beyond Apple’s iconic usage on all its products. [Diana Budds]
7. Later in 2021 will be the 10-year anniversary of Steve Jobs’s death. Steve didn’t take many interviews, but he made time for the AllThingsD Conference. After Steve’s death, AllThingsD made all his appearances available to watch (along with a collection of essays about him) available on Apple Podcasts. I still find Steve’s ideas and the way he presented them to be fascinating. [Via Robert Silvernail]

7 Things

I’ll say this upfront: I’m particular about my music collection. Back in high school, I would rip music into iTunes from every CD I could get my hands on and then spend hours making sure all of the metadata was correct and finding the highest quality album artwork to drop in. Now that all my music comes from a streaming service, triple-checking metadata is a thing of the past. But I’ve only found new ways to obsess about curating the perfect library.

Should I only add items that I’ve marked as “loved” and then discovered again?¹ Should I add the full album or only the songs that I’ve enjoyed?² Do holiday albums belong in the library, or a separate playlist so that they don’t pop up throughout the rest of the year?³ What about soundtracks and “chill out” music that I use to focus or relax?⁴

It may sound tedious — and it is — but it’s fun to go through everything from time to time and rediscover old favorites.

However, one of my biggest pet peeves about collecting music is when I have duplicates of songs hiding within the masses. Why? Because I’ve come to appreciate the data-driven playlists and insights that can come from a well-manicured collection. If I have duplicates, then play counts are split, album counts are inaccurate, and there’s too much album artwork to associate with a given track — in other words, it’s all just wrong.

This particular preference is at odds with the way many artists release their albums with a few hit singles to drum up excitement and then a full album, which includes those same singles, a little later. Since I don’t want to miss out on the new hotness, I’ll add the singles and then have to remember to carefully scour the full album track list to remove the singles’ albums that are represented there. I’ve gone so far as to sequester singles out of my library and into a specific playlist. But there’s a better way!

This glass of ice water in the hell of music management is a feature born of streaming services: the “Upcoming Album”. Evidently, an artist can choose to release an album to the public without the full track list, and then release single tracks over time but which live in the upcoming album, not in their own album. When the full album is ready, the rest of the tracks join the singles as a cohesive whole.

This approach has several advantages. First, it keeps me sane. Second, anyone can add the pre-release album to their library ahead of time so that they automatically get the new music (and notifications) as it’s available. I’m sure that’s good for first-week stream counts. Third, from personal experience, I can say that I’m far more excited by a tantalizingly grayed-out track list with a release date than from a mess of singles in my library.

I hope more artists take advantage of this option for releasing tracks from their new album over time. There’s certainly a place for singles that don’t make sense in an album — covers, for example — but an Upcoming Album takes advantage of streaming as a medium in a helpful way.

Music

Chance Miller, writing at 9to5Mac:

Notably, CBS This Morning host Gayle King also teased that more of the interview will air tomorrow, as Apple is expected to make a “big announcement” of some sort — but it’s “not a product.”

My money is on a pandemic-related announcement. Perhaps mapping out testing centers, or a vaccination ID in Health Records on iPhone or Apple Wallet.

It’s odd for CBS to pre-announce an Apple announcement. Not long left to wait.

Read the article on 9to5Mac.

UPDATE: I would have lost my money. Turns out it was a few new major projects for Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative. The Apple Developer Academy courses in Detroit, and the Propel Center look particularly interesting.

Linked

Jason Snell, who recently finished the incredible 20 Macs for 2020 project on Six Colors:

Now, note my choice of words there: notable. I’m not saying these are my favorite Macs—a bunch of them I only knew in passing and never used myself. I’m not saying these are the best Macs ever—a difficult thing to measure, since (with a few obvious exceptions) the best Macs made are the most recent ones, otherwise we’d all still be using G3 iMacs.

If you’re an Apple nerd like me, you’ll appreciate the depths to which Jason dug to put together these 20 stories, podcasts, and videos. Sometimes I forget that the Mac was introduced way back in 1984 — 10 years before I was born¹ — so I looked forward to learning a little more of the full story each week. With the introduction of the M1 Macs a few months ago, I have to believe the Mac’s best years are ahead of it, and I’m thrilled to be along for the ride!

I have owned three Macs so far, with the fourth, an M1 Mac mini, arriving later this month. The first was an original Intel MacBook Pro in high school, then a 2011 iMac throughout college, and finally a 2016 MacBook (Adorable) which is still kicking around as my daily driver. The most notable of that collection has to be the MacBook Pro. It was one of the first with that sleek all-metal enclosure that still informs laptop design to this day, and was my gateway drug into the Mac ecosystem.²

Linked Podcasts

1. People have timed out how to watch movies so that their climax happens exactly at midnight. I bet there are more examples out there. I’ll file this away for next New Year’s Eve. [David Sparks]
2. At least anecdotally, the volume of subscribers and payout for building apps as a side project is much lower than I expected. [Becky Hansmeyer]
3. I should probably get some bottled water stashed away. [Stephanie Czekalinski]
4. The idea of circular time vs. linear time. But I particularly enjoyed the picture at the bottom of the post which shows how to think about time in a more human, rather than analytical, way. [Austin Leon]
5. Could be just me, but I always thought that the US Postal Service was largely funded by tax dollars. Turns out not at all for operating expenses. [USPS]
6. Not even during the Civil War did the Confederate Flag make it across the Capitol’s threshold, but it was flaunted by the terrorists who stormed the Capitol this week.¹ The whole ordeal was disgusting, and I hope eye-opening as to the intentions of the MAGA group. [Maria Cramer]
7. This app, Longplay, should help with my recent habit of listening to albums straight through to appreciate their stories. [Jason Snell]

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1. Excepting, of course, that its symbolism was featured on the Mississippi state flag until it was finally changed last summer. Better late than never, I suppose.↩︎

7 Things

I’ve spent some time with the AirPods Max after a long wait, and I could wax rhapsodic about how much I like them. But M.G. Siegler, writing at his site 500ish, wrapped it up better than I ever could in the title of his post alone: ‘Pretty Great, Pretty Loud, Pretty Expensive, Pretty Heavy, and Pretty’:

That leads back to the main purpose of these things: the sound. Again, I’m hardly the person you should listen to in this regard, but they are fantastic to my ears. Yes, better than the QC35s and certainly than the smaller AirPods (as you might hope given the price). I’ve turned them up loud, they not only get loud, they do not seem to distort.

It’s well worth a read.

Other reviews that I’ve read or watched and largely agree with:

• Heavy is the Head the Wears the AirPods Max by John Gruber at Daring Fireball
• AirPods Max Review: An Audiophile’s Perspective by Quinn Nelson at Snazzy Labs
• Apple AirPods Max review: luxurious sound for a luxury price by Chris Welch writing at The Verge
• AirPods Max Review: Luxury Listening! by Marques Brownlee at MKBHD

Linked Gear

With everyone and their brother starting a streaming service in the past few years, it has never been easier to consume amazing television. Budgets are bigger, special effects better, and great writing bountiful. Here’s my list of favorite TV shows that I discovered in 2020.

I’m pretty specific about how I watch TV, which drives my wife crazy. It’s hard for me to keep track of a bunch of plot lines, so I prefer only a few going at once and to watch them all the way through before starting a new series. Thankfully, streaming services make that possible, but it means that my “up next” queue grows rapidly.

Ted Lasso (Apple TV+, 2020)
As I mentioned in my personal Upgradies picks for 2020, Ted Lasso was my TV Show of the Year. Reading the tin, you’d think it was a classic fish-out-water story about a clueless American hired to coach professional soccer (football) in England. But it’s so much more.¹

Released in the midst of the pandemic and social unrest in the United States, this show was the right show at the right time. I think Ted’s optimism in the face of challenge helped a lot of us get through tough times. It was refreshing to see a strong male figure work through problems with kindness, care, and respect rather than with classic toxic masculinity.

Ted Lasso has it all: lovable characters who grow throughout the season, many laugh-out-loud bits in every episode, endearing and frankly tear-jerking moments of vulnerability, and an awareness for the real world that navigates actual challenges people face in the best ways without overdoing it. Don’t underestimate Ted Lasso — it’s hilarious and heartfelt, and I’m thrilled that it’s been renewed for a second and third season.

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix, 2020)
I recall discovering The Queen’s Gambit organically through Netflix’s banner almost the same time it exploded in popularity. My wife and I looked at each other and agreed it looked interesting enough to add to the queue. As mentioned above, I don’t like to have a ton of shows going at once, so it sat for a couple of weeks until I heard its praises sung often enough that we just had to start. The fans weren’t wrong — it’s exquisite television.

Beth Harmon is a child chess prodigy and singularly commanding force. Beth is played by Anya Taylor-Joy — though that does a disservice to her incredible performance. Anya captures Beth’s character with the confidence and grace of a jungle cat on the prowl. The series follows Beth through her young life fraught with addiction to tranquilizers and alcohol, which Beth uses to cope with her gift of genius. Though there are dark parts concerning Beth’s relationship with her birth parents, the orphanage she grew up in, and spiraling as a young adult — but I don’t think I could describe The Queen’s Gambit as a dark show. It uses humor and fun to take the edge off.

Equally impressive to Anya’s performance is the writing and camerawork for The Queen’s Gambit. Despite chess being a largely silent game, the writers snuck in enough dialog to inform and engage the viewer without being conspicuous. As someone who appreciates the details of cinematography, what this show does with lighting and framing is breathtaking. It all works together to transform chess, a typically slow game, into a dramatic battlefield that kept me on the edge of my seat. I’ve even gotten back into playing casually after watching this show.

The soundtrack is also excellent, and makes great focus music.

Central Park (Apple TV+, 2020)
Central Park, developed by Josh Gad, is simply a delight. It’s an animated series in the style of Bob’s Burgers, and brought together an all-star cast. You might recognize Leslie Odom Jr. and Daveed Diggs of Hamilton fame, Titus Burgess, Kristen Bell, Stanley Gucci, and Katheryn Hahn (whom I know from Parks and Rec). Josh Gad rounds out the cast as the zany narrator.

I don’t know that I could adequately explain the plot of Central Park, but it’s ultimately unimportant. What you’ll love from this show are the catchy musical numbers, and the general hilarity that ensues between the family living in the park and the mega-rich villain on a quest to purchase and flatten it. I ended each show wearing a smile, and my wife immediately restarted the series when we finished it.

Trying (Apple TV+, 2020)
Trying is a British comedy series that follows a couple along their journey seeking the adoption of a baby. Nikki and Jason are certainly no perfect couple, but they’re lovable and real. “Trying” was the perfect title as they work through their shortcomings in an effort to be accepted by the adoption agency. I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end and eagerly await season two. Oh, and I’ve only known Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter, so it was a shock to love her as Penny, the adoption social worker.

Little Voice (Apple TV+, 2020)
When I finished Little Voice, I wouldn’t have placed it on my favorites list. The plot was fraught at times, and I had frustrations with some characters’ actions. But as time passed, I couldn’t get this show out of my mind and I realized that it made an achievement: I had grown to care for the characters. Little Voice follows Bess as she struggles to kickstart her musical career, while also being a caretaker to her family.

The music, written by Sara Bareilles and performed beautifully by the cast, made it onto my most played playlist. Seriously, even if you don’t watch the show you should listen to the soundtrack.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Hulu, 2013)
I’m late to the game on Brooklynn Nine-Nine, but I’ll concur that it has earned the praise I’ve heard over the past seven years and seasons. It’s so funny, and I like all the characters. Brooklyn Nine-Nine joins Parks and Rec, The Office, and How I Met Your Mother on the list of shows that I initially resisted and ultimately loved.

I’m Sorry (Netflix, 2017)
My wife discovered this show, and I’m so glad she did. Created by and starring Andrea Savage, I’m Sorry had me in stitches every episode. In the show, Andrea and her husband Mike navigate parenthood with a lightheartedness and confidence that, frankly, I admire. The openness they have with their daughter got them into some sticky situations, but the fun in the relationship between Andrea and Mike is worthy of #MarriageGoals. I’m sad that I’m Sorry won’t be coming back for a third season, but I now have more incentive to finally start Veep, which also stars Andrea Savage.

Schitt’s Creek (Netflix, 2015)
Yep, I jumped on the Schitt’s Creek train this year. I was unsure about continuing on after the first season, but ended up drawn in by the ridiculousness of it all. Each season was better than the one before, and the Rose family developed from spoil and grievance into truly decent people in a way that I did not expect. The absurd situations were complemented by heartfelt compassion resulting in my own teary eyes more times than I’m willing to admit. Patrick singing to David in their apothecary gets me every time.

Letterkenny (Hulu, 2016)
You’ve likely noticed that this list is dominated by comedies, and for that I have no regrets. 2020 was a difficult year, and it was a relief to escape into shows that made me laugh. There was no show that had my eyes watering from laughter more than Letterkenny. A fast-talking sitcom, Letterkenny started as a YouTube series based on creator Jared Kesso’s experiences of local rivalries in small-town Canada. Letterkenny straddles the intersection of slapstick, profanity, and morality — a weird place, to be sure — but it’s a joy. I’m through six of nine seasons, and it keeps getting better. Oh, and cute puppies make regular appearances.

If you want to get a sense of if you’ll like Letterkenny, do yourself a favor and watch the season cold-opens on YouTube for a taste.

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It’s true that Apple TV+ shows make up much of this list. As a completionist², it brings me a small amount of joy to know that I’ve tried almost everything on their service. But it’s not just that point of pride, I’m genuinely impressed by what Apple was produced in their first year. I agree with those who say after the fiasco of HBO Max that Apple TV+ has the opportunity to take up the mantle of prestige television, and I’ll be continuing on with many of the second seasons.

Having a never-ending stream of great television to pass time during quarantine was a blessing this year. With so much great stuff coming out it’s difficult to keep up, but no complaints here. If you enjoyed these shows, you can check out what else I’ve been watching and other years’ favorites on my Trakt.tv profile.

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Just tonight as I was finishing up this list, I learned from 9to5Mac that Apple is premiering season two of Dickinson tomorrow and anyone is invited! Dickinson was one of my favorites from 2019, and I’ve watched the first season through twice. It will be a thrill to experience a true premiere — and for a show that I’ve been eagerly awaiting! I’ll report back about the whole affair.

UPDATE: I tried to get in on watching the premiere tonight. I was on time with iPad in hand and ready to test out Spatial Audio at the same time. The count tick down to zero and then…black screen. It never started for me. #Dickinson on Twitter indicates that it’s great a return. I can’t wait to watch tomorrow.

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1. The show’s backstory is pretty cool if you haven’t heard it yet. Basically, the character of Ted Lasso started as a commercial for the Premiere League coming to NBC. But then Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt drafted the series only to be repeatedly passed over before getting picked up by Apple and becoming their breakout hit.↩︎

2. For keeping track of shows and seasons, I can’t recommend TV Forecast highly enough. It works with a Trakt account, has a great design, and does the job efficiently without too many bells and whistles.↩︎

Favorites TV Shows