MacStories Team

382 posts on MacStories since July 2011

Articles by the MacStories team.

Founded by Federico Viticci in April 2009, MacStories attracts millions of readers every month thanks to in-depth, personal, and informed coverage that offers a balanced mix of Apple news, app reviews, and opinion.

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FirstSeed Calendar: Manage Events and Reminders on iPhone, iPad, and Mac [Sponsor]

Whether you work on iOS, a Mac, or both, FirstSeed Calendar takes advantage of the unique features of each platform providing a seamless experience that anyone with a busy schedule will appreciate.

The app has a comprehensive month view that makes viewing, adding, editing, deleting, moving, and duplicating events a breeze and an innovative week view. Most calendar apps require scrolling to see a full day’s events in week view. FirstSeed provides a grid view of the core of your day and shows any other activities as a list view, making it possible to see everything at a glance. There’s a list view, day view, and reminder support too.

FirstSeed Calendar packed with clever features. There’s a clock interface for intuitive event editing, a dedicated button to quickly switch between views and a continuous month view that takes advantage of every pixel on your screen.

The app has natural language support for English and Japanese too. Just type events as you would typically describe them and FirstSeed populates your calendar like magic.

FirstSeed is designed with each platform’s hardware in mind. On iOS, the app’s emphasis on one-handed operation makes it the perfect choice for working on the go. The iOS versions of FirstSeed support keyboard shortcuts too. On the Mac, FirstSeed uses the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar and includes a menu bar app for quick access to your schedule.

Managing your calendar doesn’t have to be hard. Take control of your schedule today with FirstSeed Calendar.

Learn more here, or go straight to the App Stores and download FirstSeed Calendar for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac today.

Our thanks to FirstSeed Calendar for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Tame Your Inbox with SaneBox’s Customizable Tools [Sponsor]

At its core, SaneBox is about making sure that only your most important messages hit your inbox. Other messages are safely stored in automated folders like the @SaneLater, @SaneBulk, and @SaneNews folders for reviewing later.

But email sorting is just the tip of the iceberg. With custom folders, custom snooze settings, and @SaneReminders, SaneBox takes email management to the next level.

Set up a custom folder and train it by dragging in a few messages. SaneBox will send all messages from the senders to your new folder. It’s a painless way to organize messages for a special project.

SaneSnooze folders can be customized to defer messages anywhere from hours to weeks. SaneBox comes with default snooze folders like @SaneTommorrow and @SaneNextWeek, but adding custom snooze folders lets you set when messages reappear in your inbox with precision.

SaneReminders are a great way to keep on top of tasks. Send yourself a reminder to do something later or get a reminder that someone hasn’t responded to a messages. For example, blind copy [email protected] and the message will show up back in your inbox only if the recipient doesn’t reply within 3 days.

Also, don’t forget that SaneBox works on top of your existing email setup. There’s no app to download or new email account to set up. You can use any email client you want.

Sign up today for a free 14-day SaneBox trial to take back control of your email. MacStories readers can receive a special $25 credit automatically by using this link to sign up.

Our thanks to SaneBox for sponsoring MacStories this week.

LumaFusion: Professional Mobile Video Editing [Sponsor]

LumaFusion is the most powerful multi-track video editor ever created for iOS devices. Used by journalists, filmmakers, music video artists, and professional video producers to tell compelling visual stories, LumaFusion delivers affordable power and flexibility in an intuitive mobile interface.

The functionality packed into LumaFusion is remarkable. The app is full of features that match or exceed expensive desktop apps like Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premier. LumaFusion delivers because it’s built by professionals who understand video editing. Terri Morgan and Chris Demiris, who met at Avid and founded Luma Touch in 2013, have had long careers in the video industry, which made them the perfect pair to bring sophisticated video editing to iOS.

Since its introduction in 2016, LumaFusion has attracted a loyal following among video artists. The app allows users to create complex multi-track stories with up to three video/audio tracks in resolutions up to 4K, up to three additional audio tracks, and dozens of transitions. Titler functionality allows you to create unlimited layers of text, shapes, and imported graphics too.

Users have quick, direct access to color correction, multiple key-framed effects on every clip, and professional features like Insert and Overwrite mode, Clip Linking for sync management, and much more. There’s support for audio channel mapping too, which allows users to shoot with separate background and voice microphones and then separate the stereo file into two mono tracks for independent control of each track.

This past spring, LumaFusion introduced a custom integration with GNARBOX, which allows users with large amounts of media to wirelessly preview and edit media from GNARBOX right inside LumaFusion while importing media that’s added to a timeline in the background. Later this summer, LumaFusion will introduce a Pro I/O Pack with professional features like external monitor support, batch export, and .xml project export.

For more details about LumaFusion, visit the Luma Touch website and watch their video tutorials. For a limited time, you can get started with LumaFusion for just $19.99 (regularly $39.99), which is a small fraction of the cost of comparable desktop apps.

Our thanks to LumaFusion for sponsoring MacStories this week.

A Roundup of CES Home Automation and Apple Accessory Announcements

CES is a big, messy spectacle that has everything from vaporware and products you didn’t know you needed – and probably don’t – to truly cool new gadgets. We’ve been following the announcements this week and have rounded up a collection of the most interesting and promising gear we’ve seen so far. Many of these products have not shipped yet, so we haven’t had an opportunity to try them, but these are gadgets we will be watching closely throughout 2018 and that are likely to turn up again on MacStories later this year. CES doesn’t end until Friday, so be sure to check back for updates on any additional announcements that catch our eyes.

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Our Favorite Gear and Accessories of 2017

For each of us, iOS devices or Macs dominate our day-to-day computing, but they don’t tell the full story. Whether it’s a battery pack to keep a device charged, the latest game console for kicking back and relaxing, or a comfortable chair for sitting at a desk while writing, we use a wide variety of other products for work and play. So, with 2017 coming to a close, we compiled a list of our favorite gear and accessories that we used this past year.

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#MacStoriesDeals Holiday Edition 2017: The Best Deals for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Apps & Games

Every year, thousands of iOS and macOS app deals are launched for the holidays. At MacStories, we handpick the best deals for iOS and Mac apps and collect them in a single roundup with links to buy or share discounted products directly. You don’t have to be overwhelmed by app deals; we take care of finding the best ones for you.

Bookmark this post and come back to find updated deals starting today through the rest of the week. Updates will be listed as new entries at the top of each section.

For real-time updates, you can find us as @MacStoriesDeals on Twitter.

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#MacStoriesDeals Black Friday 2017: The Best Deals for iPhone & iPad Apps, Games, and Accessories

Every year, thousands of iOS and macOS app deals are launched for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. At MacStories, we handpick the best deals for iOS and Mac apps and collect them in a single roundup with links to buy or share discounted products directly. You don’t have to be overwhelmed by app deals; we take care of finding the best ones for you.

This year, in addition to app deals, we’re expanding our Amazon coverage with deals on accessories that work with Alexa, HomeKit devices, 4K TVs (great for modern gaming and the latest Apple TV), and more. You can find hardware deals (with links to Amazon.com) at the end of the list.

Bookmark this post and come back to find updated deals starting today through Monday. Updates will be listed as new entries at the top of each section; iOS apps are organized in sub-categories for easier navigation.

For real-time updates, you can find us as @MacStoriesDeals on Twitter.

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MacStories Sponsorship Changes for 2017

Many readers may not know this, but for the past few years, MacStories sponsorships were sold by a third party. The arrangement worked well, but for a variety of reasons, it makes sense to manage sponsorships internally now. So, starting today, MacStories.net sponsorships will be handled in-house by MacStories contributor John Voorhees.

As in the past, we will offer exclusive, week-long sponsorships that highlight a sponsor’s product in a sponsored post on MacStories.net. However, we have instituted a new two-tier sponsorship structure. Most of the features of previous MacStories sponsorships are now included in our Basic Sponsorship package. A second tier called the Plus Sponsorship incorporates additional features, including some not previously offered as part of any MacStories sponsorship.

The Basic Sponsorship package includes:

  • A sponsored post at the beginning of the week published on MacStories’ homepage and to its RSS feed describing the sponsor’s product and including an image. The post copy can be provided by the sponsor or written by us if the sponsor prefers.
  • A link to the sponsor’s website at the top of every page of MacStories.net, throughout the week.
  • A thank-you tweet from the MacStories Twitter account sent at the beginning and end of the week.

The Plus Sponsorship package includes:

  • A sponsored post like the Basic package, but with the option to add an embedded video in the post.
  • The option to include a banner image and link at the top of every page of MacStories.net, throughout the week.
  • Thank-you tweets from the MacStories, Club MacStories, MacStories Deals, and Federico sent at the beginning and end of the week.

If you are interested in sponsoring MacStories, please contact John Voorhees for rates and to check availability.

In connection with bringing sponsorship sales in-house, we have created a sponsorship policy for MacStories.net. Our readers’ trust is something we work hard to earn and maintain every day, so we feel we owe it to them and to our future sponsors to articulate how we will handle sponsorships.

The full policy and additional background are accessible from the ‘Advertise’ section of the site but, in summary, the policy is as follows:

  • We only accept sponsorships for products that we are comfortable recommending to our readers.
  • Product reviews are not for sale. A sponsorship of MacStories is not an agreement to review a product.
  • The decision of whether to review a product is made separately from whether to accept a sponsorship.
  • MacStories retains the final say over the content of sponsored posts, banner images, and any other content that appears on MacStories.net, its social media accounts, and its other publication channels.
  • To minimize actual and perceived conflicts of interest, we will not accept sponsorships from app developers, hardware makers, or online services for two weeks following the launch of a major new product or update covered by a MacStories review.

We hope you appreciate that we take the trust of MacStories readers seriously and will continue to do our best to honor it with every editorial and business decision we make. If you ever have any questions or concerns about these policies, feel free to get in touch.

#MacStoriesDeals – ‘Get Productive’ Sale

We’ve collected the best #MacStoriesDeals for January 28, 2015, so be quick and get them! Today, a lot of productivity-related iOS and OS X apps went on sale in what appears to be an organized promotion across the App Store. If new deals become available, we’ll include them at the top of each section.

For more deals, you can find us as @MacStoriesDeals on Twitter.

Update, January 29: Apple has confirmed the App Store sale with a special section called ‘Get Productive’.

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