MacStories
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MacStories has become one of the leading publications in the Apple-related scene, with staff members based in the United States, Italy, and Australia working to bring quality content to a growing global readership. MacStories' audience includes creative, professional, and tech-savvy readers who care about quality software designed for Macs, iOS devices, and the web, as well as detailed..
MacStories
14h ago
When Major League Soccer’s season began last month, Apple announced that it would release a highlights film of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs that was captured in Apple Immersive Video. Well, Apple now says that the film, called 2023 MLS Cup Highlights, will be available later today on the Vision Pro. The film should be available at around 9 PM Eastern US time.
I’m excited to watch the film. I’m not an MLS fan, but I haven’t had a chance to see what it’s like to experience sports in an immersive environment yet. Sports and music concerts are areas I expect we’ll see a lot more of on the Vision Pro ..read more
MacStories
14h ago
My custom Vision Pro setup. This is the stand I’m using.
Vision Pro Chronicles is a MacStories series about our journeys with the Vision Pro. In this series, we’ll explore the potential of visionOS as a brand new platform in our workflows and personal lives, share how we’re using the Vision Pro on a daily basis, and cover interesting apps and accessories for the device.
You’ll be shocked to learn that I’m not using the Vision Pro in any of the default Apple configurations.
After two months spent testing a variety of different options for bands, straps, and other “mounting” solutions, I’ve fo ..read more
MacStories
14h ago
A few weeks ago on AppStories, Federico and I surveyed recent Apple system app updates to get a sense of where the design of iOS is heading. Part of the inspiration for that episode was a thread that Lickability posted on Mastodon, breaking down Apple’s recently-released Sports app.
Yesterday, Lickability’s Sam Gold expanded on that thread with a post on the company’s blog that’s a must-read for anyone interested in iOS design trends because, as Sam says:
We once heard someone say, “design your app for the current iOS version + 1.” So with that lens, we’ve been looking at what the design of A ..read more
MacStories
2d ago
Last November, we created the MacStories Setups page. It’s a collection of the gear, apps, and services that Federico and I use for work and play. We knew when we created the page that it would change regularly, and it has. Today, we’re introducing our third update in four months, which collects changes related to Federico’s MacPad setup and some smaller adjustments that we’ve both made recently.
The MacPad additions to Federico’s setup include:
The 11” iPad Pro
The GameSir G8 Galileo game controller
A JETech laptop sleeve
The Opal Tadpole webcam
However, Federico isn’t living a MacPad-only ..read more
MacStories
3d ago
Ian Hamilton writing for UploadVR about his experience playing Half Life: Alyx with Nintendo Joy-Con and the Apple Vision Pro:
The tracking quality is far from ideal and I couldn’t get the gravity gloves to pull objects. Those limitations make much of Half-Life: Alyx still off-limits at present. The hand tracking is so sluggish, for example, I wouldn’t want to engage in combat like this. Still, I enjoyed exploring a laid back look through the early parts of Half-Life: Alyx on Vision Pro’s untethered system with developer commentary turned on. And that this works at all is a remarkable testame ..read more
MacStories
3d ago
Source: Retroplace.
We’ve covered videogame emulation on Apple devices many times over the years, but today, I have a fun story from the archives about the Mac and emulation.
As Chris Brandrick explains on overkill.wtf, the Mac played a pivotal role in developing the U.S. case law that holds that emulators are ‘fair use’ under copyright law:
Believe it or not, but back in 1999 Apple’s Steve Jobs went on national TV and spoke glowingly about a new piece of emulation software that made playing PS1 games on your Macintosh a reality.
Yes, then iCEO Jobs not only took to the airw ..read more
MacStories
3d ago
The European Commission (EC) has opened non-compliance investigations against Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon in connection with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). With respect to Apple, the EC is investigating the company’s approach to uninstalling system apps, changing default settings, and prompting users to pick alternate services, including browsers and search engines.
According to the EC’s press release:
The Commission is concerned that Apple’s measures, including the design of the web browser choice screen, may be preventing users from truly exercising their choice of services within the A ..read more
MacStories
3d ago
This week on AppStories, we take a hard look at Shortcuts to discuss what needs fixing and the new features we hope to see Apple announce at WWDC this year.
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MacStories
4d ago
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice, 15 states, and the District of Columbia sued Apple for alleged federal and state antitrust violations. Apple issued an immediate response, and before anyone had time to read the DOJ’s 88-page complaint, the Internet was overrun with hot takes.
However, the thing about lawsuits – and especially big, sprawling, high-stakes ones like the DOJ’s – is that they’re the proverbial tortoise to the Internet’s hare. Barring a settlement among the parties, the case against Apple isn’t likely to go to trial anytime soon. Add to that appeals, and this process is g ..read more
MacStories
4d ago
When MGM Resorts suffered a $100 million hack in September, CEO Bill Hornbuckle wasn’t too worried about the lost revenue, because cyber insurance would cover the tab. “I can only imagine what next year’s bill will be,” he joked.
Weeks later, on a call with analysts, Hornbuckle complained about the “staggering” rise of insurance costs in the past few years.
This story neatly illustrates the crisis in cyber liability coverage. For years, companies have invested more in security insurance than in actual security. The result has been a tidal wave of data breaches that have driven up the cost of ..read more