Watch History Journal 2

Today, I'm happy to share version 2 of Watch History Journal, the shortcut I made for logging what you watch in your favorite journal app. This update includes two major additions:

• the ability to use media-tracking app Sequel as your watch history source
• advanced options to adjust the shortcut's behavior to fit your needs

These features were added based on user requests and things that I wanted to add for my own use of the shortcut. I'm really pleased with them, and I hope others will enjoy them as well.

As soon as I found out that Sequel, my favorite app for tracking what I watch, was adding Shortcuts actions, I knew that I wanted to integrate them into Watch History Journal. While Trakt is a great way to log your watch history and will continue to be supported as a source, Sequel is my preferred tracking method, and being able to use it in the shortcut was a dream come true.

Swapping in Sequel for Trakt was quick and easy, but it resulted in two different verison of Watch History Journal, one for each source. This wasn't ideal because it would mean I'd have to maintain and release two separate versions of each update going forward, and I didn't want to add confusion for those who want to use Watch History Journal. So instead, I rewrote the shortcut from scratch to add support for multiple watch history sources.

Basically, I had to split Watch History Journal into two parts. The first part grabs your watch history from your chosen source and converts it into a format the shortcut can understand; this part differs based on whether you choose Tratk or Sequel. The second part takes that information and turns it into your journal entry; it works the same way regardless of which source you choose. The whole rewrite was an exercise in modularity, and it was a ton of fun. The end result is a shortcut that's more efficient, capable, and future-proof than ever before.

My original plan was for Sequel support to be the only new feature this update. But once I started digging into Watch History Journal again, I was inspired to keep going. After all, adding support for a new watch history source would make for a boring update for those who already use Watch History Journal with Trakt. So I decided to add something fun for everyone: advanced options.

These settings allow you to easily adjust the journal entry created by Watch History Journal to make it exatcly what you want it to be. Version 2 includes the following advanced options:

• Text List: Add a bulleted list of watched titles to your journal entry in addition to images.
• Posters: Use only a title's poster as its image rather than the standard compiled journal image.
• No Images: Create a journal entry that includes only a bulleted list of watched titles with no images.
• Leading Zeros in Episode Codes: If a title's episode or season number is below ten, add a leading zero before it (i.e., S01E01 instead of S1E1).
• Yesterday's History: Create a journal entry for yesterday's watch history rather than today's.
• Split Multiple Episodes: Create separate images for each episode of a series that has multiple episodes watched in a single day.

Thanks to these options, you can now make Watch History Journal work exactly the way you want it to. Do you prefer poster images instead of the default journaling suggestion-style ones? You can use those instead. Want to log your watch history from yesterday instead of today? It's just a setting away.

Advanced options can be configured by opening Watch History Journal in the Shortcuts editor and placing an "x" in the brackets next to the option(s) you want to enable. They can be mixed and matched to create the exact journal entry you're looking for. Personally, I leave the Text List option enabled to make my journal entries easily searchable in the future.

In addition to these major new features, this update includes options to change the default text that appears in your journal entry and to create entries in multiple journal apps at once.

My hopes for this new version of Watch History Journal are that it will offer something exciting for existing users and make the shortcut a viable option for a whole new group of people who use Sequel for tracking shows and films. As I've said before, I'm a big believer in the power of journaling, and this shortcut is my way of helping people round out their journaling practice by reflecting on what they watch.

You can download Watch History Journal 2 by following this link. If you give it a try, I'd love to hear what you think of it, how you're using it, and what you'd like to see in the next update. This project is such a pleasure to work on, and that's thanks to the awesome feedback from users like you.

Thank you for reading this writeup on the update. I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed making it.

Next Portable Console and Comfort Zone →

Yesterday, we announced two new podcasts joining the MacStories family. As Federico put it:

I’m incredibly excited to introduce two brand new shows joining the MacStories family of podcasts today: Next Portable Console (or NPC), hosted by me, Brendon Bigley, and John Voorhees, and Comfort Zone, hosted by Niléane Dorffer, Chris Lawley, and Matt Birchler. You can find both shows, along with links to subscribe, on MacStories’ Podcasts hub.

NPC covers the ever-growing world of portable gaming in all its many facets, and Comfort Zone pushes its hosts – and listeners, should they choose to participate – to try new things in their tech setups each week. Both shows sound very entertaining, and I can’t wait to listen in.

As excited as I am for these shows, though, I’m even more excited to welcome my new colleagues into the fold. I have so much respect for the work that Brendon, Chris, and Matt each do, and it’s so cool to now be working on the same team as them.

You can read the full announcement post on MacStories for all the details. The first episode of NPC is out now, with new episodes coming every other Tuesday. Comfort Zone starts its weekly release schedule this Thursday, but you can get a taste of the show by checking out its trailer right now.

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Side note: With these two new shows in the mix, there’s now a new episode of a MacStories podcast out every weekday. I mean, just look at this lineup.

• Monday: AppStories
• Tuesday: Ruminate / NPC (alternating)
• Wednesday: Magic Rays of Light (hosted by yours truly)
• Thursday: Comfort Zone
• Friday: MacStories Unwind

Mystery Switch

Yesterday, while going through the usual process (read: struggle) of putting my son into his car seat, I noticed a brightly-colored object under the chair next to his. Thinking it was a toy he had dropped, I reached under the seat to pull it out. What I found left me truly baffled.

In my hands was a Nintendo Switch, complete with an attached pair of Joy-Con controllers and a copy of Super Mario 3D World inside. This wasn't my Nintendo Switch, mind you; that one, I knew, was safely sitting in its dock at home. This was someone else's Switch, and it was in my car for some reason.

I instantly started forming a list of every person who had ridden in my vehicle recently. It's a short list, and it's even shorter if you only count the number of people who've sat in the back seat. I just couldn't fathom where this thing might have come from.

Then my mind was flooded with a series of questions: Am I in the right car? (I obviously was.) Is this a weird prank? Could someone be using this device to spy on me somehow?

I may have been making some pretty big logical leaps here, but you have to understand just how out of sync with reality this discovery was. It felt like this device had fallen into my car from a different dimension.

The Switch's battery was dead, so I couldn't check the profile name or settings to try to figure out who it belonged to. Instead, I drove home with the foreign object in the passenger seat next to me, glancing over at it every once in a while just to make sure I hadn't imagined the whole ordeal.

When I got home and was able to connect it to power, the device didn't immediately offer any obvious clues as to its owner. The profile name was a gamer tag, and I couldn't check the email address on the Nintendo eShop account because I was afraid to give the thing access to my network. Finally, I went into its WiFi settings and was able to deduce where it came from based on some of its previously-connected networks.

The Switch belonged to one of my nephews or nieces. I couldn't be sure which one, so I gave my sister a call to see if anyone had reported a missing Switch. She said that yes, one of her sons had misplaced his, and they'd looked everywhere for it with no luck. I told her where I found it, and that's when the story finally made sense.

My nephew's Nintendo Switch had been sitting in the back of my car for over six months, since it was mistakenly left there when my sister's family rode with me to Thanksgiving. Through some combination of interior vehicle design, physics, and my lack of awareness of the world around me, it sat there undiscovered – until yesterday.

Thankfully, the device seems to have survived its half year of neglect without suffering any physical or functional damage. It's now back on its way to its rightful owner, who I'm sure will be thrilled to be reunited with it after all this time. Good on ya, kid.

Even at my age, life is still finding ways of surprising me, and of reminding me that there is such a thing as a story with a happy ending.

Wallflower Creative

I tend to be most comfortable working behind-the-scenes. At my job, I spend the majority of my time in the sound booth, at the back of the room, doing my best to stay invisible because that means I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. It’s the same way with my creative work: the parts of the process I enjoy most are often the ones most people will never notice.

I find it fulfilling – and, frankly, just more my style – to stay in the background and let other people be front and center. I don’t necessarily need my name on everything.

Of course, there are times when I do need to be center stage, regardless of my comfort level. Making cool things can’t always be done from the shadows. And at different times, the balance between being behind-the-scenes and out in front shifts depending on what’s needed of me.

All of that to say, I know it’s been quiet here for a bit. I’ve been more focused on the behind-the-scenes work than the stuff where I’m at the forefront. But I’m loving what I’m doing and proud of it, too.

The balance will inevitably shift back; it’s the way it goes. I have plans for things I want to write about, so hopefully it won’t be quite so quiet here before long. Regardless, I’m happy with the things I’m making, and I so appreciate everyone who takes the time to check them out.

Thank you for reading. Talk soon!

Watch History Journal 1.1

When I released Watch History Journal, my shortcut for logging TV shows and films in your preferred journaling app, I had no idea if anyone else would find any use for it. To my pleasant surprise, a lot of people have reached out to let me know that they're using and enjoying the shortcut. Turns out, we love journaling about the shows and films we watch.

To help make that experience the best it can be, I’ve continued working on Watch History Journal, and I’m excited to release its first update today. Version 1.1 includes a few changes:

• Image Sorter: Title images are added to your journal app in watch order.
• Adjusted character counts for show and movie titles to allow for longer titles.
• Revamped time zone logic to work for all regions.

Image Sorter was the first thing I added to the shortcut after its release, and it came from my own experience using it. I noticed that my journal entries weren’t displaying title images in the order I watched them; in fact, they were showing in reverse. I added a small loop to reorder them, and now, shows and films appear in watch order as they should.

While using the shortcut, I also noticed that some titles were being shortened unnecessarily. It’s hard to know exactly when to cut off a title because not every character is the same width on the image. But there was certainly some wiggle room, so I upped the limit.

The final improvement in this version came after I mentioned Watch History Journal in my recent column for the Club MacStories Monthly Log. Club member Vlahn reached out to let me know that the shortcut wasn’t returning any results even though there were a couple of episodes logged for that day. Thanks to Vlahn's kind help, I was able to narrow down the problem to a time zone issue, and I realized that Watch History Journal wasn’t compatible with certain time zones.

This led to a complete redo of the way the shortcut handles time zones, as well as a thorough testing process. I wanted to ensure that no matter where you are in the world, Watch History Journal will return the titles you watch on a given day in your location – something it was intended to do all along. I believe this version delivers on that.

These are just a few little fixes that make the experience of using the shortcut a bit better (and a possibility at all for those in affected time zones). This update is an iterative one, but I hope it will be the first of many. I’ve never put out a tool for other people to use like this before, much less followed up on it, and I quite enjoy the whole process.

You can download Watch History Journal 1.1 here. Once installed, it will require you to go through the setup process again, so be sure to have your Trakt API information handy. (I suggest copying it over from the previous version.) If you ever wonder which version of Watch History Journal you’re running, just tap the … button on its listing in the Shortcuts app, and the very first text action will list the version number.

My thanks to everyone who’s tried Watch History Journal, and especially to those who’ve let me know how they’re using it. It makes me happy to know that other people are out there reflecting on what they watch, too.

I love working on this shortcut and plan to continue doing so. I’ve got a couple of ideas of thing I’ll try to add next. If you have any thoughts on what you’d like to see in a future update, be sure to let me know!