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The Single-Amorphous Edition Wednesday, October 27, 2021

macOS Monterey Review: Seeking Harmony, But A Work In Progress, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

Despite all the worry among Mac users the past few years that Apple might be attempting to collapse Mac, iPhone, and iPad into a single amorphous product, macOS Monterey still feels unreservedly like a Mac. While Apple wants its platforms to share features, it also recognizes that each serves a different (albeit overlapping) audience.

Shortcuts For Mac: 27 Of Our Favorite Third-Party Integrations, by John Voorhees, MacStories

To get you started, I’ve rounded up some of the most interesting Shortcuts integrations I’ve found so far. Some of these will be familiar if you’ve used these apps’ counterparts on the iPhone or iPad, but many are brand new to any platform, while others are Mac-exclusive.

M1 Pro Vs. M1 Max: Why The Fastest MacBook Ever Might Be Overkill, by Jason Snell, Macworld

If you know your work involves diabolical multi-threaded CPU-taxing software, be sure you get the 10-core model. If you know you need GPU or ProRes power, or enormous amounts of memory bandwidth–and if you don’t know, you probably don’t!–then the M1 Max is a better choice.

Hundreds of Glances

How The Larger-screen Apple Watch Is Leading To New Ideas, by Scott Stein, CNET

"It isn't about the 30 minutes you're spending looking at your phone and social media, or the hour on your Mac working on a document," says Ng. "The power of Apple Watch is in those hundreds of glances a day that might give you information that you need right at that moment." Ng sees the larger screen as mainly being about being able to "consume that information faster and easier."

Stuff

Apple Releases iOS 14.8.1 And iPadOS 14.8.1 With Security Updates, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

According to Apple’s security support document, the update addresses a number of vulnerabilities with Sidecar, WebKit, Voice Control, the Status Bar, and more.

Apple News Expands Local News Coverage To Three New Cities In The US, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

Apple says Apple News editors will highlight “coverage of topics that are important to local communities, from restaurant openings and real estate trends to big policy decisions.”

Best Pedometer Apps For iPhone, by Jack Martin, Florida News Times

Using a pedometer app can be a great idea to boost your walking exercise. This way you can easily see how active you really are, you can visualize your progress in time, set and adjust goals depending on your fitness level and find the necessary motivation to stick to your routine.

6 Best Cocktail Apps For Beginners And Home Bartenders, by Advanced Mixology

Enjoying mixed drinks at the bar is fun, but making your cocktails at home is priceless!

But you do not have to be a professional bartender to make delicious cocktails at home.

Native Union Celebrates iPod 20th Anniversary With iPod Socks-inspired AirPod Beanies, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

Inspired by the classic iPod Socks, the new AirPods Beanies work with all AirPods cases (and more) and come in a colorful 4-pack.

Pikmin Bloom Hands-on: A Cute App That Tries To Make Walking A Little More Magical, by Andrew Webster, The Verge

There’s something strangely satisfying about leaving a trail of colorful flowers in your wake as you explore a neighborhood. It’s also one of the main hooks of Pikmin Bloom, the next release from the creator of Pokémon Go, and another app designed to get you moving in the real world.

Bottom of the Page

Either the pro products are getting more pro (read: more expensive), or the non-pro products are getting so much better these days, that I don't see myself buying a pro device from Apple anytime in the near future.

The only exception, perhaps, is the AirPods Pro. But given the strange times we are in, and, more importantly, the lack of going-out, I am not using my AirPods Pro that often anyway. (I used it mainly for outdoor listening, where I need to block out the train noise so that I can focus on my audioboks.)

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Thanks for reading.