I joined Lee Peterson on his podcast, Home Screens, for a tour of my iPhone Lock Screen, Home Screen, and Control Center pages.
The theme that ties it all together is ‘quick entry.’ Whether it’s a task, idea, link, or something else, I’ve picked apps and widgets and arranged my iPhone to make it easy to capture those things as effortlessly as possible. Hopefully, some of the ideas in the episode can help others organize their iPhones, too.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
Niléane is back and she’s brought the long-awaited Mastodon 4.3 update, Matt brought Omnivore, and Chris rounds out his new Apple product reviews with the Apple Watch Series 10. Then we see who took the best photo with an iPhone and introduce a fun new, accessible challenge.
Sigmund and Devon discuss Sigmund’s experience at London Film Festival, including the world premiere of Blitz. They also highlight this week’s release of Disclaimer and dive deep into Submerged, the first Apple Immersive Video scripted film.
This week, John shares a spooky story, Federico and he both have TV show picks, and they update listeners on their progress in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.
Yesterday, developer Alyssa Rosenzweig gave a talk at the XDC conference in Montréal, Canada about gaming on Asahi Linux installed on M1 and M2 Apple silicon-based Macs. According to GamingOnLinux:
They announced their “Asahi game playing toolkit” which brings together their Vulkan 1.3 graphics driver with, and x86 emulation with Windows game compatibility. It’s all still “Alpha” level quality, but good enough to run some AAA games now. Unlike Apple’s own macOS, Asahi Linux has the only conformant OpenGL®, OpenCL™, and Vulkan® drivers for this hardware (as Apple focus on their own API - Metal).
With Asahi Linux installed on your Mac and at least 16GB of memory to handle emulation overhead, Rosenzweig explained that demanding games like Control, Fallout 4, and Cyberpunk 2077 are all playable. That said, it’s still early days for the Ashahi game-playing toolkit, with more work to be done to support more modern AAA Windows games running at 60fps.
Still, what Rosenzweig and other contributors to the project have achieved is impressive, with more details available on Rosenzweig’s website. It’s also heartening to see developers coming up with solutions that work with commonly-used Windows graphics APIs instead of waiting for game developers to adopt Apple’s Metal framework.
We’ve begun publishing more than podcasts on YouTube. In addition to MacStories’ six podcasts, we’ve added bonus content for NPC: Next Portable Console listeners. Whether you watch the video version of the show or not, we kicked off a playlist of bonus content this week with two videos.
The first is an unboxing and closer look at the Nintendo Switch Lite Hyrule Edition. I’ve had the Switch Lite for a little over a week and love it.
We also published a short video follow-up to one of the news stories we covered on the most recent episode of NPC. It turns out that the mysterious Nintendo device that appeared in the FCC’s records wasn’t quite what we thought it might be, and Brendon got photos from the Nintendo Store in New York, which Brendon also wrote about on Wavelengths.
YouTube’s playlist feature is also a great way to put together themed sets of past episodes of shows like AppStories, which has over 400 episodes. We’re working on more of these, but this week, we added a playlist of all 43 interview episodes we’ve done so far, as well as a collection of our classic Pick 2 episodes where Federico and I spotlight recent apps we’ve been trying.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
This week, Federico, Brendon, and John cover the latest in Nintendo emulation, a mysterious Nintendo device appears at the FCC, John has a Switch surprise, Microsoft reveals its best-looking controller yet, and Federico mods his Legion Go.
This week, Federico and John share the iPhone Lock Screen and Control Center controls that they’re currently using them.
It’s been a few months, which is why it’s once again time for a setup update. This time, Federico has added several items to his desk setup. Below, you’ll find a selection of top picks from the changes he’s made, but be sure to visit the Setups page to see everything he’s currently using.
For those who have already spent time on the Setups page, welcome back. There’s a handy changelog at the top of the page just for you, with a list of everything added and removed, so you don’t have to go searching for each item.
Also, because today and tomorrow are Amazon Big Deals Days, I’ve highlighted the items on Federico’s setup list that are currently available at steep discounts on Amazon.
Part of the story of Federico’s latest setup changes is that he’s re-added a few key components that were previously removed:
But there are plenty of new items in Federico’s setup, too. The 11” M4 iPad Pro with a nano texture display and AirPods 4 are the two big Apple additions. For NPC: Next Portable Console, Federico got a white low-profile microphone arm, which looks great on the video version of the show and is currently 20% off. If you’ve listened to the latest episode of NPC, you know why he also added a Samsung 990 Pro SSD with a heat sink, which is currently 42% off on Amazon. That SSD was used to mod his Lenovo Legion Go (22% off on Amazon), for which he’s also added a Mechanism gaming pillow and universal grips.
Other additions include:
That’s it for the time being for our setups. I’ll also be back soon with updates on what I’ve been using for work and play.
Amazon Prime’s Big Deal Days runs today and tomorrow, so just as I did for Prime Day before it, I’ve scoured the thousands of available deals for the best gear that I’ve used, tested, and love. For more of the gear that Federico and I use, check out our Setups page, too.
Here are my top Prime Big Deal Days picks:
Apple’s Studio Display has been out for quite a while now, so it’s a regular among Amazon deals. I’ve been using mine for over two years, and it’s the perfect Mac or iPad compliment if you want a big, bright, and crisp display at your desk.
Apple recently updated its MagSafe charging puck that I use with my AirPod Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The updated charger, which is Qi2 compatible, allows my iPhone to charge more quickly than was possible with earlier iPhone and charger pairings.
The Apple Pencil Pro isn’t an accessory that I use every day, but between Smart Script and the radial menu that appears when you squeeze the Pencil’s barrel, I’ve found myself using it more and more for taking notes, editing video in Final Cut Pro, and navigating the web.
Apple has announced that the 2025 Swift Student Challenge will be held for three weeks in February 2025. According to Apple’s press release:
Students, educators, and their advocates can find out how to prepare for the challenge and sign up to be notified when applications open at developer.apple.com. Apple will recognize a total of 350 Swift Student Challenge winners whose submissions demonstrate excellence in innovation, creativity, social impact, or inclusivity. From this esteemed group, 50 Distinguished Winners will receive additional recognition and be invited to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino next summer.
The company has also updated its Swift Coding Club, a website with resources for students preparing for the annual Challenge, and added new Develop in Swift Tutorials.
I’m sure we’ll hear more about the Swift Student Challenge in February when it kicks off and then again closer to WWDC as we did this year. I’m glad Apple has extended the timeline for publicizing the Swift Student Challenge, which I’m sure will give students and educators more time to prepare for the event and submit their best work.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about and showed off Logitech’s MX Creative Console, a two-piece device made up of a keypad and dialpad, that takes the Elgato Stream Deck head-on. Well, today, Logitech is back with a slightly different approach in the form of its POP Icon Keys keyboard, which borrows some tricks from the Creative Console.
The $49.99 keyboard, shipping later this month, is solidly built and low-profile. It weighs 530g and has four big rubber pads on the bottom corners, giving it a sturdy, stable feel on my desk. The keys use scissor switches and feature aggressively rounded corners, and they’re quiet and have more throw and resistance than an Apple Magic Keyboard, but are easy to adapt to if you’re used to Apple’s keyboards. I particularly like the texture of the keys – which could be partially due to the fact that I’ve been using a worn-down Magic Keyboard – but the keys have a nice feel and don’t show fingerprints.
The body of the keyboard is made of a similar plastic, and the keys are surrounded by a strip of glossy, transparent plastic that adds a little flair to the entire package. The color options available for the POP Icon Keys are fun, too. I’ve been testing a black keyboard with neon yellow accents for about a week, and I like it a lot, but there are other color combinations available, including pink, orange and white, and a purpleish-blue color scheme. Also, the POP Icon Keys runs on two AAA batteries, which Logitech says can provide 36 months of operation thanks to the keyboard’s onboard power management.
If that’s where the story ended for the POP Icon Keys, I’d recommend it because it’s a very good keyboard for the price. What sets the POP Icon Keys apart, though, is that it goes a step further, adding automation features similar to those found on the more expensive MX Creative Console.
Logitech has designated the Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, F4-F12, and brightness keys as programmable via its Logi Options+ app. Among other things, you can use these keys to control system settings, execute keyboard shortcuts, and run multiple actions combined into macros. The keys’ original functionality remains available, too, if you hold down the function button. The POP Icon Keys also shares the MX Creative Console’s ability to set up app-specific profiles, meaning you can program keys to perform different tasks depending on which app is active.
For example, you could use the Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down buttons to open different sets of apps for work, a special project, or relaxing with a game. Or you could use the function keys to trigger keyboard shortcuts in your favorite apps or Shortcuts automations.
There are a couple of things I love about this functionality. First, the flexibility is fantastic, especially since you can access the programmable keys without taking your hands off the keyboard, which is an advantage over the MX Creative Console. Second, for just $50, the POP Icon Keys is a great entry point into the world of push-button automation. If it turns out that keyboard-driven automation isn’t your thing, you still have an excellent keyboard, but if it is, you can go a long way with the POP Icon Keys’ options before you graduate to the MX Creative Console or another similar device.
All in all, I like the POP Icon Keys a lot. It’s nicely built and a great way to get started with keyboard automation or supplement other automation workflows you already use. The device is available directly from Logitech and Amazon.
