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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• Wipr 2
• Apple announced new Final Cut Prto updates

• Chris on AppStories
• Calendr Mac menu bar app
• Waterfield’s new Vision Pro case
• 1Blocker
• Synology Photos
• Home Widget
• HomePaper
• Comet

• Chris on YouTube
• Matt on Birchtree
• Niléane on Mastodon
• Comfort Zone on Mastodon

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.

• Apple Intelligence
• Nintendo Music

• Niléane’s AppStories appearance
• Omnivore is shutting down
• The Verge full-text RSS feed
• Lego mugs
• Nintendo Alermo
• Apple Translate app
• Duolingo

• Chris on YouTube
• Matt on Birchtree
• Niléane on Mastodon
• Comfort Zone on Mastodon

Matt buys his first ereader, Niléane has moved to a new calendar app, and for the challenge everyone did something with Stage Manager.

• Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
• Fantastical

• The House on Mango Street
• Kobo ereaders
• Phanpy for Mastodon
• Libby
• Goodreads
• Readwise
• Dato menubar calendar (Mac App Store)

• Chris on YouTube
• Matt on Birchtree
• Niléane on Mastodon
• Comfort Zone on Mastodon

Chris has the brand new iPad mini, Matt made a big change to his RSS, and Niléane introduces a new segment: Our Tech Stories. Then we get fun, weird, and thirsty in the game picks.

• The new iPad mini

• Okay…?
• Vampire Survivors
• Gubbins

• Lichess
• Balatro
• Zenless Zone Zero
• Sonos updates the Arc and Sub
• The Apple Pencil situation is healing
• BasicAppleGuy’s colorful MacBook Air concept
• “Margin” blog post
• Razor Kishi Ultra

• Chris on YouTube
• Matt on Birchtree
• Niléane on Mastodon
• Comfort Zone on Mastodon

Niléane is fired up about the state of tech, Chris is enjoying the sweet, sweet sounds of a V12 engine, and Matt is really into a new web browser.

Some general examples of things sucking.

• Sonos Arc
• Sonos Sub
• Zen Browser

• Matt’s northern lights over NYC photo
• Sonos Beam
• Arc browser -Amazon Astro

• Chris on YouTube
• Matt on Birchtree
• Niléane on Mastodon
• Comfort Zone on Mastodon

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.

• Mastodon 4.3 is out
• Omnivore
• Apple Watch Series 10

• Niléane’s photo
• Matt’s photo
• Chris’s photo
• Tangerine UI 2.0
• Chris’s Nomad watch band
• Matt’s Nomad watch band
• MacStories watchOS 11 review

• Chris on YouTube
• Matt on Birchtree
• Niléane on Mastodon
• Comfort Zone on Mastodon

Surprise! Matt got a new iPhone (you’re shocked 😅) and Chris brings the new AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (yes, that’s the name!). Then it’s time for movie corner and a review of 2023’s film, Ferrari.

• iPhone 16 Pro
• AirPods 4

• Chrome uses a ton more battery than Safari, right? Right???
• Matt’s iPhone 16 Pro review on YouTube
• Chris on Letterboxd
• Matt on Letterboxd
• Ferrari

• Chris on YouTube
• Matt on Birchtree
• Niléane on Mastodon
• Comfort Zone on Mastodon

With Niléane out on assignment, Matt and Chris are joined by MacStories’ own John Voorhees! Chris and John bring brand new, embargoed products, while Matt brings…checking my notes here…a Thunderbolt dock from years ago (but he swears it’s cool).

• OWC Thunderbolt Dock
• iPhone 16 Pro
• Logitech MX Creative Console

• VIA
• Tailscale
• Longplay
• Things Logbook (opens in Obsidian)
• GoodTask

• Chris on YouTube
• Matt on Birchtree
• Niléane on Mastodon
• Comfort Zone on Mastodon

Matt needs to praise the iPad, Chris drops some iPadOS knowledge, and Niléane is intrigued by what window management on other tablets looks like.

• M4 iPad Pro
• Chris’s complete iPadOS 18 walkthrough
• The MacStories iOS and iPadOS 18 review
• Video of Android 15’s windowing mode

• Retro Gameboy case not linked due to…well…legal issues. You can find it if you want 😉
• Nick Cage case
• Bang!Case
• Clicks keyboard case

• Chris on YouTube
• Matt on Birchtree
• Niléane on Mastodon
• Comfort Zone on Mastodon

It’s all challenge this week as the gang brings (and defends) their phone home screens. Rules were followed by all, but of course there’s a little twist this time as well.

• Niléane’s home screen
• Chris’s home screen
• Matt’s home screen

• Matt explaining his iPhone on Home Screens

• Chris on YouTube
• Matt on Birchtree
• Niléane on Mastodon
• Comfort Zone on Mastodon