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

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

Sigmund and Devon preview Apple Intelligence, highlight new Apple Original heist flick The Instigators, discuss improvements to Continuity Camera in the tvOS 18 beta, and recap Land of Women.

Chris is absent for mysterious reasons, Niléane finds clever ways to watch the Olympics, and Matt explores his podcast app feelings.

This week, Federico returns to discuss the animal kingdom and share our E-ink device hot takes, along with a movie pick.

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The Latest from AppStories and Ruminate

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

This week, I am joined by Jonathan to preview watchOS 11, which is one of the most feature packed OSes being updated this fall.

On AppStories+, John reports on how his travel tech setup fared.

  • Setapp – the place to get apps. Use the code appstories20 at checkout for 20% off.
  • MusicHarbor – New Music From Your Favorite Artists and Record Labels.

This week, Robb is this snackplier this week, and I had a sour patch kids situation, and we both discuss Samsung’s renaming of a train station.

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GoodLinks 2.0: The Automation-Focused Read-Later App I’ve Always Wanted

One of my greatest frustrations with read-later apps is how hard most make it to get your data out on your terms. Few allow you to export links using Shortcuts or some other system, and even fewer offer to do the same with highlights – until now. With version 2.0, GoodLinks adds highlighting and note-taking combined with excellent Shortcuts support, giving users full access and flexibility to incorporate saved URLs, highlights, and notes into their workflows however they want.

Thanks to Obsidian’s deep catalog of plugins from third-party developers, it’s been possible to import highlights from read-later apps like Readwise Reader and Amazon’s Kindle app for some time. Those are good solutions when I’m working in Obsidian, but both I and our readers use lots of different apps. That’s why I was so glad to see GoodLinks (available for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac) get this major 2.0 revision that transforms it from a place to save links and articles to a more well-rounded research tool, thanks to highlighting and notes.

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Google’s Antitrust Loss, Why Apple Doesn’t Just Build a Search Engine, and What Comes Next

Yesterday, Federal District Judge Amit Mehta issued a ruling in the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google in favor of the government. Judge Mehta didn’t mince words:

Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

The Judge further explained his ruling:

Specifically, the court holds that (1) there are relevant product markets for general search services and general search text ads; (2) Google has monopoly power in those markets; (3) Google’s distribution agreements are exclusive and have anticompetitive effects; and (4) Google has not offered valid procompetitive justifications for those agreements. Importantly, the court also finds that Google has exercised its monopoly power by charging supracompetitive prices for general search text ads. That conduct has allowed Google to earn monopoly profits.

It’s a long opinion, coming in at nearly 300 pages, but the upshot of why Judge Mehta ruled the way he did is summed up nicely near the beginning of the tome:

But Google also has a major, largely unseen advantage over its rivals: default distribution. Most users access a general search engine through a browser (like Apple’s Safari) or a search widget that comes preloaded on a mobile device. Those search access points are preset with a “default” search engine. The default is extremely valuable real estate. Because many users simply stick to searching with the default, Google receives billions of queries every day through those access points. Google derives extraordinary volumes of user data from such searches. It then uses that information to improve search quality. Google so values such data that, absent a user-initiated change, it stores 18 months-worth of a user’s search history and activity.

If you’re interested in how web search works and the business deals that drive it, the opinion is a great primer. Plus, although the details already dribbled out over the course of the 10-week trial, there are lots of interesting bits of information buried in there for anyone interested in Apple’s search deal with Google.

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NotchNook and MediaMate: Two Apps to Add a Dynamic Island to the Mac

The Dynamic Island has been one of my favorite software additions to the iPhone since it was introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro lineup. The feature is a fun blend of hardware and software that turns the new pill-shaped TrueDepth camera array into a status bar that can collapse and expand to display media controls, Live Activities, and more.

While Live Activities are now also available on iPadOS, neither the iPad nor the Mac have gotten a Dynamic Island following their latest hardware and software revisions. I would argue that the latest generations of Apple silicon MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are pretty good candidates for a Dynamic Island. Both lineups feature a notched screen that currently doesn’t serve any purpose apart from expanding the display to the top edges of the laptop’s aluminum case and limiting the amount of space available for Mac menu bar apps.

Today, I’m taking a look at two Mac apps that add functionality to the notch to make it more Dynamic Island-like. Both have made me realize that, while not absolutely essential, the Dynamic Island definitely has a place on the Mac.

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Upgraded: Get a New MacBook Every Two Years. From $36.06/mo. [Sponsor]

Upgraded offers an easy way to get the MacBook you need right away — and in the future.

Choose a new MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, starting at $36.06 and $52.17 a month, respectively, then upgrade to the latest model every two years.

Interest rates start at 0%, and AppleCare+ is included. See for yourself at getupgraded.com.

Here’s how it works

  1. Choose your new MacBook. Select anything from an entry-level Air to a fully-loaded Pro. AppleCare+ is always included.
  2. Enjoy low monthly payments. The cost is spread over 36 months, with the option to upgrade after 24 payments.
  3. Get upgraded every two years. Select a new MacBook, transfer your data, and send the old one back to Upgraded. They’ll refurbish it and give it a new life, saving you the hassle of selling it yourself.

Don’t want to upgrade? You can continue paying off the remaining 12 months to keep it instead.

Trusted partners

Check if you’re eligible to join without impact to your credit score.

Check if you’re eligible to join without impact to your credit score.

Behind the scenes, Upgraded works with trusted partners to make sure everything runs smoothly.

  • The upgrade program is financed through Citizens Pay, the same bank used by Apple for the iPhone Upgrade Program.
  • GatorTec, an Apple Premier Partner, ensures fast delivery from Apple warehouses across the country.
  • All devices come with AppleCare+, meaning insurance and support are covered by Apple if needed.

Upgraded may be a new name in the States, but they’ve been helping large retailers in Europe create similar programs since 2016 and have already served over 200,000 customers worldwide. Early investors include Y Combinator and OpenAI’s Greg Brockman.

Get upgraded today

With low monthly payments, bundled insurance, and effortless upgrades, Upgraded makes it easy to keep your gear up to date. And MacBooks are just the beginning: The company plans to offer more devices soon. See all available options at getupgraded.com.

Designing for Today’s App Interactions→

Yesterday, Vidit Bhargava, the developer of LookUp, Word of the Day, and other apps, published an excellent story on Pixel Posts about designing for today’s app interactions. Vidit makes the excellent point that the way we use apps is changing. They’re no longer iPhone-only islands that are siloed off from other apps and devices. As Vidit explains:

Not only is the iPhone app not the center of a user’s interaction on the phone. It’s increasingly becoming one of the many parts of an ecosystem where apps are expected to scale both in terms of interface and functionality starting from something as small as an Apple Watch and going all the way up to an unbounded experience like Vision Pro.

Not only do apps exist in the larger ecosystem of products, they are constantly interacting and communicating between them.

I couldn’t agree more. Today, I expect apps to be available on every device I use and to let me move my data between apps.

Vidit also explores the practical effect of the evolution of apps, arguing that it no longer makes sense to start by designing for the iPhone. Instead, Vidit suggests that we:

…think of “apps” as clusters of actions that help us reach or present information, and carry out processes (i.e. other actions).

The post is full of practical examples that are worth browsing through and an exploration of how to effectively design for actions. Vidit’s apps are among the best-designed apps I use, so I consider this post is a must-read for developers, designers, and anyone who is interested in where app design is heading.

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

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

This week on Magic Rays of Light, Sigmund and Devon are joined by developer Devin Davies to chat about Crouton, summer movie snacks, and more. They also highlight the debut of Women in Blue and recap season one of Presumed Innocent.

This week, on Comfort Zone, Matt is leaving Unread, Chris is gaming on the go, and Niléane brings an addictive drug you can download from the App Store. Oh yeah, and there are several terrifying reveals, too.

This week on MacStories Unwind, I am joined by Devon Dundee to talk about media tracking strategies and share three TV series picks.

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Apple Reports Q3 2024 Financial Results

Last quarter, Apple reported revenue of $90.8 billion, which was a 4% year-over-year drop. The decline reflected weak iPhone sales in China, which were somewhat mitigated by increases in the company’s services business.

Today, third-quarter earnings are out and Apple reported revenue of $85.8 billion, a 5% year-over-year gain.

Quarterly Revenue.

Quarterly Revenue.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook:

Today Apple is reporting a new June quarter revenue record of $85.8 billion, up 5 percent from a year ago. During the quarter, we were excited to announce incredible updates to our software platforms at our Worldwide Developers Conference, including Apple Intelligence, a breakthrough personal intelligence system that puts powerful, private generative AI models at the core of iPhone, iPad, and Mac. We very much look forward to sharing these tools with our users, and we continue to invest significantly in the innovations that will enrich our customers’ lives, while leading with the values that drive our work.

Revenue by region.

Revenue by region.

Going into today’s earnings call, Reuters reported that analysts expected a 2.2% decline in iPhone sales, which is substantially less than the 10.5% decline the previous quarter. The same report also explained that analysts expect the iPhone 16 to sell well this fall, driven, in part, by iOS’s upcoming artificial intelligence features.

Services revenue continues to grow.

Services revenue continues to grow.

This fall will be an interesting one for the iPhone. Many of the Apple Intelligence features that were shown off at WWDC are unlikely to ship with the iPhone 16. That could have a negative impact on the bump in iPhone 16 sales that analysts are expecting. However with iOS 18.1 already in developer beta, I expect Apple will be able to deliver enough of its promised AI features to keep Wall Street happy for another quarter.