Transit Can Now Track Underground Trains without GPS→

Source: Transit

Source: Transit

Earlier this month, Transit, one of my favorite apps of all time, gained an impressive new feature: the app is now able to track your train and warn you when you are about to reach your destination even when your train is underground. Previously, Transit had to rely on GPS and cellular service to precisely locate your train on its route, which meant it couldn’t reliably function as soon as you entered a subway tunnel.

The way they have been able to achieve this is fascinating. Transit now utilizes the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer and analyzes its patterns to identify when the vehicle you boarded is in motion, and every time it reaches a station. The company’s account of the whole process is nothing short of impressive. The team spent a week riding buses and trains to collect data and proceeded to create an entirely new prediction model that is able to count down the underground stations that you will need to ride through to reach your destination. Transit says the model works completely offline and on-device.

I know I’m going to give this new feature a try as soon as I get a chance to ride the Paris Métro next week.

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The Latest from Comfort Zone, Magic Rays of Light, and MacStories Unwind

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

Comfort Zone

Niléane has a fancy new way to block ads and annoyances, Chris has our first look at a bunch of Final Cut Pro updates, and then we all judge the best apps on the App Store with Orange icons.

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Magic Rays of Light

Devon and Jonathan highlight the sophomore season premiere of Bad Sisters and discuss the power of TV-tracking with Trakt.

MacStories Unwind

This week, I melt an appliance and Federico goes big with a battery, plus two videogame recommendations and a movie bargain.

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The Mac mini Excels as a Videogame Emulation System→

Over at Retro Game Corps, Russ Crandall put the new M4 Mac mini through its paces to see how it handled videogame emulation. As Crandall’s video demonstrates, even the base model version of Apple’s tiny Mac did very well:

Crandall walks viewers through the basics of setting up Emulation Station Desktop Edition on a Mac, which serves as a front-end that uses a variety of emulators to play classic systems. It’s not surprising that the M4 mini didn’t break a sweat emulating the oldest systems like Nintendo’s NES and Game Boy. However, it also did well with more modern systems like GameCube, running at six times the native resolution at 4K.

The mini struggled at times with the most modern systems Crandall tested, like Xbox, but the takeaway is clear: the Mac mini is a capable videogame emulation system. That will be true for other M4 Macs, too, but what’s unique about the mini is its size. The computer’s small footprint lends itself to sitting under a TV or pairing with a portable monitor to play games wherever you have the space.

Uses like Crandall’s are what make the Mac mini such a compelling update. It’s always been small, but by shrinking the mini even further and significantly improving its power, Apple has opened up new possibilities for its smallest Mac.

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Apple Releases Updates to Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for the Mac and iPad

The Magnetic Mask. Source: Apple.

The Magnetic Mask. Source: Apple.

Today, Apple revealed the latest updates to Final Cut Pro for the Mac and iPad, with both offering a variety of new features and simplified workflows.

Final Cut Pro 11 for the Mac has added magnetic masks, extending the “magnetic” metaphor used for clips placed on your timeline. Apple says the new feature will allow you to quickly mask people and objects in a shot to color grade them or add effects separately from the rest of a scene.

Final Cut Pro for Mac creating closed captions. Source: Apple.

Final Cut Pro for Mac creating closed captions. Source: Apple.

The app can automatically generate closed captions now, too. The feature, which was briefly shown off in a video published alongside the announcement of the new Mac mini, uses artificial intelligence to convert dialogue into text.

Final Cut Pro 11 is also now capable of editing spatial video for the Apple Vision Pro. In its press release, Apple says:

Final Cut Pro 11 now supports spatial video editing, allowing editors to import their footage and add effects, make color corrections, and enhance their projects with titles. The depth position of titles and captured footage can also be adjusted during the editing process. Spatial video clips can be captured directly with Vision Pro, or on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, and Canon’s new RF-S7.8mm F4 STM DUAL lens paired with Canon R7.

Enhance Light and Color in action. Source: Apple.

Enhance Light and Color in action. Source: Apple.

Final Cut Pro for the iPad has been updated to version 2.1 with several new features. I’ve been using Final Cut Pro more regularly since we started the MacStories YouTube channel, and one of the limitations I noticed immediately is that the color correction tools in the iPad version weren’t nearly as good as on the Mac. The iPad’s color tools still aren’t as sophisticated as what’s available on the Mac, but this update does add new color grading presets as well as a new Enhance Light and Color feature that intelligently applies color, contrast, brightness, and color balance to a video and works with SDR, HDR, RAW, and Log-encoded media.

One of Final Cut Pro for iPad's new brushes. Source: Apple.

One of Final Cut Pro for iPad’s new brushes. Source: Apple.

Live Drawing on a video has been expanded with new brushes, too. There are new watercolor, crayon, fountain pen, and monoline pen brushes, letting users create a greater variety of looks for their videos. Other new effects include a picture-in-picture effect, callouts, and a set of built-in soundtracks. I’m eager to try picture-in-picture, which should be a good way to create tutorials and other types of videos and callouts; it’s an effect available from multiple third-party effects vendors on the Mac, but new to the iPad.

The iPad version of Final Cut Pro is also adding a host of other new features, including:

  • the ability to expand clips in the timeline vertically with a pinch gesture,
  • dynamic adjustments to the size of the picture-in-picture window,
  • support for editing high-frame-rate video, and
  • Apple Pencil Pro haptic feedback for timeline scrubbing and dropping effects onto the timeline.

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Kino 1.2 Adds Camera Control Support and Higher Resolution and Frame Rate Recording

Source: Lux Camera.

Source: Lux Camera.

Lux Camera’s video camera app Kino has been updated to version 1.2, bringing a variety of new features and a redesigned icon. I covered the debut of Kino back in May and have been using it a lot lately because its design makes taking great-looking video so easy.

At the heart of Kino’s 1.2 update is support for the latest iPhones. Kino now works with the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro’s Camera Control for making adjustments that previously were only possible by touching your iPhone’s screen.

Kino Instant Grades. Source: Lux Camera.

Kino Instant Grades. Source: Lux Camera.

On the 16 Pro, the app also supports 4K video at 120fps with its Instant Grade feature enabled. That’s the feature that lets you pick a color grading preset created by video experts, including Stu Maschwitz, Sandwich Video, Evan Schneider, Tyler Stalman, and Kevin Ong. Version 1.2 of Kino lets you reorder those grades in its settings to make your favorites easier to access. Finally, Kino has added support for the following languages: Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

If you haven’t tried Kino before, it’s available on the App Store for $9.99.

Apple Announces New Games Coming to Apple Arcade

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Apple has announced fifteen games coming to Apple Arcade between December 5 and January 9, ranging from all-new titles to App Store games making the jump to Arcade.

Snowman is making another Skate City game dedicated to New York. The original Arcade title takes place in cities around the world, but on January 9, Skate City: New York will take Arcade subscribers on a tour of the Big Apple.

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Arcade is getting three Final Fantasy titles too. Apple describes Square Enix’s Final Fantasy IV (3D Remake)+ as:

beautifully revived with updated graphics, and improved gameplay and voice acting for event scenes. The hit fourth game in the iconic FINAL FANTASY series is also the first title to introduce the Active Time Battle system that players have come to love in the franchise.

The game, which will be out on December 9, looks similar to what is available for Windows on Steam. FF IV: The After Years+ will also debut on Arcade December 9.

Then on January 9, Apple Arcade will get Final Fantasy+, which is the first of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster games that are currently available as paid upfront games on the App Store and other platforms.

Apple also announced Gears & Goo, a Vision Pro exclusive game by Resolution Games. It’s a colorful tower defense game that plays out in front of you and will release on January 9.

Apple announced the following games, too:

That’s a lot of games for the holiday season with a nice variety that should appeal to a wide audience. I’m looking forward to dipping into a few of these games soon.

App Store Connect Adds New Tools for Developers to Promote Their Apps

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

App Store Connect, the web app that developers use to submit their apps to Apple’s App Store and manage them, was updated yesterday with new tools developers can use to promote their apps.

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Developers have been able to submit promotional requests to Apple for quite some time, but the new Featuring Nomination process is now baked right into App Store Connect. Developers can submit nominations from App Store Connect where they will be asked for information about their app. Nominations can be made for events such as a new app launch or adding in-app content and features. When an app is chosen by the App Store editorial team for a feature, developers will be notified in App Store Connect, too.

App Store Connect has also added the ability to generate promotional materials. The assets created can be used on social media and other platforms to promote app launches and other significant events.

These new App Store Connect tools promise to make promoting apps more convenient by including the Featuring Nomination process alongside other aspects of app submission. However, I expect it’s the ready-made promotional assets that are the more significant addition for smaller developers who may not have the budget or skills to create the materials themselves.

The Latest from AppStories and Ruminate

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and I are joined by Chris Lawley for a fun defense of his taste in music and beverages, plus a discussion of Apple’s acquisition of Pixelmator, working on the iPad, Final Cut Pro for iPad, and the apps Chris uses for his daily work.

On AppStories+, how Chris Lawley got started on YouTube.

This episode is sponsored by:

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Ruminate

Snack news has some cactis candy and cereal, I follow up on Godspeed, and we discuss Apple’s very small history of book publishing.

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Pre-Orders Begin for Book Commemorating Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums

Apple Music has teamed up with Assouline, a book publisher based in Paris and London, to sell a $450 book that commemorates Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums of all time. If you haven’t heard of Assouline before, it’s known for its high-end books and other items:

Today, through its exceptionally crafted books, home fragrances, and objets d’art, Assouline invites the intellectual and curious into a world of beauty.

Source: Assouline.

Source: Assouline.

The book, which is available for pre-order is estimated to ship on November 25, 2024, and as the listing says, it’s:

A celebration of Apple Music’s inaugural list of the greatest records ever made, Apple Music: 100 Best Albums is a lasting companion piece to the digital initiative, which launched on the streaming service in 2024. With a release limited to 1,500 copies, the books are housed in sleek, transparent acrylic slipcases, each individually etched with its edition number. Inside, readers will find the featured albums, selected by Apple Music’s team of experts alongside an exclusive group of artists including Maren Morris, Pharrell Williams, J Balvin, Charli XCX, Mark Hoppus, Honey Dijon, and Nia Archives, as well as songwriters, producers, and industry professionals. The list is a wholly editorial statement that does not fit any neatly defined criteria—and is fully independent of any streaming numbers. In effect, it’s a love letter to the records that have shaped the world music lovers live and listen in.

This isn’t Apple’s first book. Notably, the company created and sold a book celebrating its hardware design in 2016, which it sold in a small $199 format and a larger $299 format.

Source: Assouline.

Source: Assouline.

The book includes what looks to be the editorial content created for Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list, along with artwork for each of the 100 albums that Apple Music included in its list. There’s also a foreward by Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.

When Apple’s hardware design book was released, it was just as unexpected as this book. However, that book was sold by Apple and paid tribute to the company’s rich history of hardware innovation. A list of 100 albums picked by Apple Music’s editors and others lands a little differently. It doesn’t carry the same weight as decades of hardware design. At the same time though, as someone whose writing exists in an ephemeral format online, I understand the desire to collect it in a physical format. So, while this book isn’t for me, for fans of Apple Music’s album picks with the wherewithal, this looks like a beautifully designed eight-pound book.