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PowerPhotos

The Ultimate Toolbox for Photos on the Mac

Inoreader: A Smarter Way to Discover, Manage, and Streamline Content [Sponsor]

Inoreader, a trusted platform for content discovery and organization, has introduced a comprehensive redesign of its web application to enhance how users find, manage, and share content online. With a fresh and intuitive interface, this update brings powerful tools for organizing feeds, saved items, and automation—all within one centralized hub.

The redesign features an updated tab bar and dynamic sidebar for seamless navigation across feeds, saved items, custom dashboards, and other account sections. Users can now create personalized dashboards with widgets tailored to their unique needs, while the centralized Saved section consolidates everything from articles to tags in one accessible space.

With advanced content filters, improved contextual search, and a revamped audio player, Inoreader empowers users to easily find and manage what matters most. Enhanced YouTube feed tools allow filtering by video duration (Bye-bye, Shorts!), viewing video lengths directly in the article list, and staying updated on live events—all within a single interface. Additionally, Inoreader’s Free plan now offers an ad-free experience, making it even more enjoyable for new users.

Built on extensive community feedback, this new design reflects Inoreader’s commitment to delivering a top-tier reading experience that adapts to users’ evolving needs.

Discover Inoreader’s updated design and features at Inoreader.com. Engage with the content you love on mobile by downloading the app on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

Our thanks to Inoreader for sponsoring MacStories this week.

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

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

Comfort Zone

Chris breaks down Apple Intelligence, and while Matt is under the weather, he brings the good Nintendo vibes. Then we all do our best to speak a different language, with delightful results.

Magic Rays of Light

Sigmund and Devon dive into 21:9 support and the other aspect ratio options in the tvOS 18.2 beta, grade their M4 Mac predictions, and share relaxing Up Next picks.

MacStories Unwind

This week, Federico attempts to make audio unboxings a trend, plus he recommends a TV show and videogame, while I encourage listeners to try a decade-old cartoon.

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Building a Downtime Home Screen Featuring Louie Mantia’s Retro Gaming Icons

Louie Mantia has been making beautiful icons for many years, both as one of the owners of icon design studio Parakeet and as personal side projects. Recently, two of Mantia’s personal projects caught my eye because they combine my love of classic games with the technology I use every day.

The first set of icons includes eight Super Mario blocks. When these were released in October, I remembered I had an 8-bit Mario wallpaper tucked away somewhere that would work perfectly with the icons on my iPhone. I dug the wallpaper out (sorry, I don’t recall where I got it), set up four single-action shortcuts using the ‘Open App’ action, and assigned Mantia’s icons to them using ‘Add to Home Screen’ and the Files option for the images. I set the four shortcuts to open Lire, Apple Music, Play, and Readwise Reader. Then, I lined up the wallpaper to make it look like Mario was jumping to hit the last block in the row. I also added a large GameBuddy widget at the top of the screen to count down the days until the release of Mario and Luigi: Brothership.

I think the result, which you can see in the screenshot above, looks great. Mantia’s icons were designed for the Mac, which means they each have a white border around them on the iPhone, but it fits well with the wallpaper, so it worked out without any tweaking.

The second set of icons is based on Nintendo controllers, another of my obsessions. I was chatting with Federico about Mantia’s latest icon set, and he had a great idea: why not take advantage of Delta’s deep linking feature (also used by GameTrack) to create shortcuts that use Mantia’s icons to open individual classic games?

Retrieving a Delta deep link and setting up a simple shortcut with a Home Screen bookmark.

Retrieving a Delta deep link and setting up a simple shortcut with a Home Screen bookmark.

The process is simple. You can copy a deep link to a game in Delta by long-pressing it, selecting ‘Share,’ and picking ‘Copy Deep Link’ from the list of action extensions. After I did that, I set up more single-action shortcuts using the ‘Open URL’ action and again assigned Mantia’s icons to the shortcuts using the ‘Add to Home Screen’ option, adding The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Super Mario World, and F-Zero to my Home Screen. Then, so I could tell everything apart, I switched my Home Screen to use small icons so the labels I’d added to my shortcuts would be visible.

I’m pleased with the result and plan to tie this Home Screen to a Focus mode that activates in the evening for some downtime activities. I can always access other apps as needed via Spotlight Search or the App Library, but it’s sometimes nice to end the day with a simpler setup that invites me to play a game, listen to some music, read, or watch a video.

Louie Mantia’s icons are free to download, but there’s an option to make a name-your-own-price donation, which I highly recommend you do if you download these wonderful icons.

Raycast Overhauls Its Notes Feature

Raycast has always been more than an app launcher. From the start, it has included a multitude of other handy utilities, including Floating Notes. I’ve used Floating Notes now and then to park a bit of text where I knew I’d be able to find it later. Because the note floated above other windows, it was easy to access, but Floating Notes always felt a little too rudimentary to use for much more than that.

Today, Raycast released an extensive update to the feature and renamed it Raycast Notes. Your notes still occupy a floating window, but now, the window auto-resizes to fit the content by default. The window’s width is fixed, but you can always resize its height to adjust how much space it occupies on your screen.

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The Latest from NPC: Next Portable Console and AppStories

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and I are joined by Jonathan Reed to check in on the parts of watchOS 11 that he’s still using, talk about browsing the web from an Apple Watch, and dig into the apps he uses day-to-day.

NPC: Next Portable Console

On NPC’s latest episode, we have lots of smartphone gaming news, console mods, a first peek at the future of Windows handheld gaming, and more. Plus, I share my first impressions of the Ayaneo Pocket Micro, and Brendon digs into OG hardware with the Nintendo DSi and Sony PSP.

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Dave Lee Reveals the Old-School Technology and Flaws Behind the tinyPod→

Announced back in May, the tinyPod is a plastic case that turns your strapless Apple Watch into an iPod-like phone. The company claims the case can make a cellular Apple Watch your “phone away from phone” with core apps like Messages, Phone, Music, Maps, and more. You can even use an app like μBrowser – which I talked about on this week’s AppStories – to stay connected to the web as well.

When the tinyPod was announced, I wasn’t sure whether this was incredibly silly or genius, but I was certainly intrigued to hear how it worked out. Units have now started appearing in the wild, and YouTuber Dave Lee (aka Dave2D) got ahold of one to test out.

Unfortunately, it seems like the quality of the case is poor, and the button in the middle of the scroll wheel is non-functional. Going back and looking at the promotional videos, I can now see that this was a deliberate choice.

What’s most intriguing about this accessory, however, is the mechanism the folks at tinyPod constructed to allow the scroll wheel to turn the Digital Crown. I’ll let Dave show you in detail, but suffice it to say it’s weird, old-school, and flawed – but I kind of love it. Crucially, though, it’s not enough to make me want one.

While the tinyPod seems like a no-go, I do admire people trying crazy ideas like this because every now and then, one of them sticks the landing.

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Michael MJD Revisits the Short-Lived HP TouchPad and Its Precursor Multitasking UI→

On YouTube, the fantastic Michael MJD—known for exploring the history of tech devices and software—recently revisited the 2011 HP TouchPad.

This short-lived tablet is quite fascinating. It originally shipped with webOS, an operating system which was ahead of its time, featuring a gesture- and card-based multitasking interface. In many ways, it resembled the iOS and iPadOS interfaces we’re all familiar with today.

Much like today’s iOS and iPadOS, webOS on the HP TouchPad allowed users to navigate the interface and switch between apps through swipes on the Home Screen, which hosted an overview of all your open apps.

I remember reading about the excitement surrounding the HP TouchPad when it launched—only to be discontinued a mere 49 days later. Watching Michael MJD explore its OS and unique UI truly felt like time travel to a time when the iPad was just beginning to take off as a computer for power users. I highly recommend checking out his walkthrough.

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Mac Hacks: Everyday Tailscale Uses for People Who Aren’t Network Administrators→

During our Club MacStories Fall Membership Drive, I published my Mac Hacks column, an exclusive perk of Club MacStories+ and Club Premier. Mac Hacks is about exploring new ways of using the Mac and integrating it with other devices and novel workflows.

My latest column is all about Tailscale. As I explain in the story:

I’m a big fan of Tailscale, but it has two big problems that can make it confusing. The first issue is also one of Tailscale’s greatest strengths: its flexibility. The service has several built-in features that are useful as standalone tools, which is a good place to start. However, the ability to connect a disparate collection of devices without regard for their operating systems opens up a vastly larger universe of possibilities that’s only limited by your imagination. That makes it incredibly powerful – but a lot to wrap your head around, too.

So, to make Tailscale a little more accessible, I walked readers through how I’m using it to:

  • Share large files across my home network
  • Provide an added layer of security when using an unfamiliar Wi-Fi network
  • Move files from the Mac, iPhone, and iPad to Windows and Android devices
  • Remotely log into Macs
  • Directly access files on multiple Macs from my iPhone and iPad

Plus I cover using Tailscale to manage an over-the-air TV DVR, Plex server, and more.

Mac Hacks is just one of the many perks of Club MacStories.

Mac Hacks is just one of the many perks of Club MacStories.

Automation Academy is just one of many perks that Club MacStories+ and Club Premier members enjoy including:

  • Weekly and monthly newsletters 
  • A sophisticated web app with search and filtering tools to navigate eight years of content
  • Customizable RSS feeds
  • Bonus columns
  • An early and ad-free version of our Internet culture and media podcast, MacStories Unwind
  • A vibrant Discord community of smart app and automation fans who trade a wealth of tips and discoveries every day
  • Live Discord audio events after Apple events and at other times of the year

On top of that, Club Premier members get AppStories+, an extended, ad-free version of our flagship podcast that we deliver early every week in high-bitrate audio.

Use the buttons below to learn more and sign up for Club MacStories+ or Club Premier.

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iPod Fans Are Trying to Preserve Lost Click Wheel Games→

I last wrote about iPod click wheel games here on MacStories in…2011, when Apple officially delisted them from the iTunes Store. Thirteen years later, some enterprising iPod fans are trying to preserve those games and find a way to let other old-school iPod fans play them today.

Here’s Kyle Orland, writing at Ars Technica:

In recent years, a Reddit user going by the handle Quix used this workaround to amass a local library of 19 clickwheel iPod games and publicly offered to share “copies of these games onto as many iPods as I can.” But Quix’s effort ran into a significant bottleneck of physical access—syncing his game library to a new iPod meant going through the costly and time-consuming process of shipping the device so it could be plugged into Quix’s actual computer and then sending it back to its original owner.

Enter Reddit user Olsro, who earlier this month started the appropriately named iPod Clickwheel Games Preservation Project. Rather than creating his master library of authorized iTunes games on a local computer in his native France, Olsro sought to “build a communitarian virtual machine that anyone can use to sync auth[orized] clickwheel games into their iPod.” While the process doesn’t require shipping, it does necessitate jumping through a few hoops to get the Qemu Virtual Machine running on your local computer.

Olsro’s project is available here, and it includes instructions on how to set up the virtual machine so you can install the games yourself. Did you know that, for example, Square Enix made two iPod games, Crystal Defenders and Song Summoner? Without these fan-made projects, all of these games would be lost to time and link rot – and we unfortunately know why.

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