Writing about things that matter (to me)
I was slightly terrified when Federico asked me to cover Apple Music’s new Sound Therapy feature because music isn’t a topic I write about often. Trying to explain and test scientifically enhanced songs that are supposed to help you focus was certainly a new challenge. But I enjoyed diving into the feature and actually found it to be beneficial; I might even stick with it now that my testing is over.
You can read my full impressions of Sound Therapy over at MacStories.
I wrote an actual Mac story! In the latest Club MacStories Monthly Log, I shared my approach to automating the Mac.
I’ve mostly sat on the sidelines of the conversation when it comes to Mac utilities because those tools aren’t available on my platforms of choice. But thanks to the persistent influence of my colleagues who are always finding interesting new tools for their computers, I recently started dipping my toes into the world of Mac automation.
I haven’t used a Mac as my primary computer in a really long time, but it’s still an important part of my work at the church. Rather than optimizing my Mac for getting everyday work done, I’ve created automations that help me oversee the tech side of services and stream events live. It’s been a fun new area to explore, and I enjoyed getting to write about it.
You can check out the full article on Club MacStories if you like. Thanks as always for reading!
I had the privilege of being the first guest on Joshua Wold’s new podcast Friend of the Show! The episode covers a wide range of topics: online friendships, faith, the role of luck in our career paths, our shared love of Neopets, and more. It was a great chance to chat with Joshua, whom I met a couple of years ago on Mastodon but haven’t had a chance to connect with beyond text chat. And if other people enjoy listening in, that’s even better.
You can listen to the episode here. My thanks to Joshua for having me.
One last link post today, I promise. My effort to write more about the Vision Pro continues, this time with an article at MacStories detailing the changes to Guest User mode in visionOS 2.4. Guest User has been a significant pain point for me personally and for the Vision Pro user base as a whole since the device’s launch, so it’s refreshing to see the feature improved so much in this update. I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, but it’s certainly come a long way, making the Vision Pro much more sharable in the process.
Writing this article was a reminder to me of how different it is covering visionOS than any other operating system. Testing Guest User required me to recruit Katherine as an assistant – at least, until I figured out how to trick Optic ID by squinting my eyes. Also, the screenshot you see at the top of the article took way more effort than you might think. It involved an Xcode update, changing out the physical strap on my Vision Pro, and trying to hold my head just right to catch the window level and straight on. It made me appreciate the ease of screenshots on my other devices, for sure.
I’ll just consider this article a warmup for my summer coverage of visionOS 3, which by all indications seems like it’s going to be a big update.
Tim Chaten was kind enough to have me back on the most recent episode of Vision Pros to talk about visionOS 2.4 and changes to my Vision Pro setup. It’s always a pleasure to chat with Tim, especailly regarding a platform we’re both so enthused about. If you’re interested in what’s happening with the Vision Pro, his podcast is a great place to start. You can listen to our conversation in your podcast player or on YouTube.