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.

Inoreader: Build your own newsfeed with Inoreader

• 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

Niléane and Chris have upgraded their desk setups, but Matt didn’t get the memo and brought a hard drive or something. Then we see who can bend the rules the most to survive the challenge.

• Twelve South HiRise Pro
• BESIGN LSX6 Computer Holder Stand
• Synology DiskStation DS923+

• Photo of Niléane’s desk setup
• Photo of Chris’s stand
• Microsoft Remote Desktop
• Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition
• Microsoft Start
• Doom (2016)
• SpaceRex is a Synology guru
• MONOKEI keyboards
• lofree Flow84
• Synology BeeStation

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

Matt is trying to find the right temperature, Chris is floating on Air(table), and Niléane finds out if she’s feeling lucky about getting 10 blue links.

• Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)
• Airtable
• Lucky for Safari

• Matt’s wallpaper
• Chris’s wallpaper
• Niléane’s wallpaper (dynamic version)
• Niléane’s variant 1
• Niléane’s variant 2
• Niléane’s variant 3
• Niléane’s variant 4
• Niléane’s variant 5
• Niléane’s variant 6
• Matt’s bonus 1
• Matt’s bonus 2
• Matt’s bonus 3
• Matt’s bonus 4

• Ecobee Thermostats
• Things 3
• Notion
• SwitchBot

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

The gang shares their very sane, and not at all controversial 👀 notification preferences. Then they explore some new and interesting Obsidian plugins you might not have heard of.

(links open directly in Obsidian)

• Projects
• Commander
• Cards View
• Image Captions
• Paste Link
• Home Tab
• Trash Explorer

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

Matt has to apologize for the things he said last week, Chris tries to find out if we’re smarter than Apple Intelligence, and Niléane has a quiz nobody could predict.

• Pocket Casts
• Apple Intelligence

• Overcast
• Raycast
• Pixel Pro Golf
• Pile-up-Poker (Puzzmo)
• Star Wordle
• Coffee Golf
• Mini Metro
• Mini Motorways

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

Chris is absent for mysterious reasons, Niléane finds clever ways to watch the Olympics, and Matt explores his podcast app feelings.

• Plex
• The Olympics
• Overcast

• HDHomeRun
• Channels app
• Infuse
• VLC
• Marco on the Overcast update
• Accidental Tech Podcast with tech details
• Pocket Casts
• Castro

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

Matt is leaving you Unread, Chris is gaming on the go, and Niléane brings an addictive drug you can download from the App Store. Oh yeah, and there are several terrifying reveals.

• Unread 4 on the App Store
• 8BitDo Lite 2 controller
• Disc Brick

• Dark Side of the Moon on Apple Music
• Daft Punk on Apple Music
• Reeder 5
• feeeed
• MacStories feeeed review
• Feedbin
• Inoreader
• The Verge full-text RSS feed
• Delta emulator
• Backbone controller
• 8BitDo Micro
• Gamesir G8
• Analogue Pocket
• Firefox OS TCP
• Firefox tablet photo 1
• Firefox tablet photo 2
• Firefox tablet photo 3
• Firefox tablet photo 4
• Wordle
• Puzzmo
• Grindstone

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

Niléane reviews the AirPods Max, Matt got a new GPU, and Chris keeps things non-controversial by bringing up The Acolyte. Then we get into using the Vision Pro for something new and Niléane challenges us to bring some old tech back to life.

• AirPods Max
• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super
• The Acolyte

• Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones
• AirCover for Vision Pro
• SoloTop for Vision Pro

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

Chris can finally talk about iPadOS 18, Niléane goes on a quest for great dynamic wallpapers, and Matt brought a tea kettle for some reason. Then they all say nice things about new browsers and Chris has a "visionary" new challenge.

• iOS 18 preview on MacStories
• Dynaper
• Dynamic Wallpaper Club
• Fellow Stagg EKG Pro Electric Kettle

• Arc browser
• Vivaldi
• Firefox
• Quiche Browser

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

Niléane has a social media surprise, Matt tries to take his email to superhuman levels, and Chris blows his hair back with Wi-Fi speeds you wouldn't believe. Then we reflect on last week's very chill challenge before jumping into the next one where we must be nice.

• Twitter (X)
• Superhuman
• Deco TP-Link WiFi 7 Router

• Sidekick notepad
• Sanebox
• Mimestream
• Day One

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

Matt goes Infinite, Chris embraces Nothing, and Niléane tries to make a Frame…work. Oh, and we discover two of the hosts have sane travel bags and the other is a maniac.

Our thanks once again to ListenLater.net for sponsoring Comfort Zone and MacStories! Let them know you heard about them from us to get 20% more credits with your first purchase.

• DC Universe Infinite
• Nothing Ear (a)
• Framework laptops

• Marvel Unlimited
• Marvel Subscriptions
• Blankets
• Fairphone
• Brevite Jumper backpack
• A better Vision Pro carrying case
• Peter McKinnon backpack
• Camera cube pack
• UGREEN wall charger
• Zagg 3-in-1 charger
• 10-foot USB-C cable
• Apple's Thunderbolt cable
• Anker Power Bank
• Hema backpack
• Elago iPad accessories
• iPad sleeve
• Anker PowerCore charger

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