Apple released a beta version of the Shortcuts app to developers today, coming in at version 2.2.1 beta 1. This includes fixes for Get Travel Time’s transit options, a fix for Tweetbot’s native action, a bug that prevented users from deleting items in a Choose From Menu action, and a few other minor fixes not detailed by Apple.
Last week, I came across a useful shortcut for calling into meetings, tweeted out by Matt Galligan, former founder of Circa and now CEO of Interchange1:
I hate always having to open my calendar app to find the phone number of the next meeting I need to call into. So a while back I built a shortcut to streamline the whole process, and it’s saved a bunch of time.
Here it is in case you find it useful too:https://t.co/SUjxFnEPs8
— Matt Galligan (@mg) April 12, 2019
The shortcut grabs your next calendar event, extracts the phone number, and dials it for you – with a trigger phrase set up, you can just say “Dial In” to Siri and it’ll just work.
Matt also has a neat way for sharing this and his other shortcuts: using Notion.
I have a bad habit of wasting food. I will buy groceries, eat most of it, but usually end up letting one or two things go bad just because I don’t think about it.
It’s probably because I don’t cook enough, but it’s still a problem I want to avoid with longer-term items who expiration dates I rarely think about when I buy them.
This is one of those things I genuinely try to work on, but every time I think about it I can’t remember when I bought or defrosted something.
So when earlier this week, the ground beef I had taken out of the freezer was no longer good, I got fed up with myself for doing it again and decided to change something.
So, I made two Siri Shortcuts for logging and checking expirations to make the process easier on myself, more reliable, and most of all: automated (because that part’s just fun for me too).
Developer David Smith has released a new app today called CalZones that is a combination calendar and timezone converter.
Available for $4.99 via the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, the app makes it as easy as possible to see what time it is where somebody else lives and arrange a meeting at the correct time across timezones and work schedules.
I’ve never found a calendar app that lets me have timezones presets visualized so easily, giving me the correct the information of what time it is across the world, and packing an impressive amount of utility into multiple small spaces.
Here’s how Calzone accomplishes all that.
After a meeting with someone new yesterday, I realized there was a few places where I could have used the Shortcuts app to speed up the processes around our encounter.
Before the meeting, I was headed somewhere new and needed to figure out how to get there on time.
During the meeting, I was fumbling with my phone a bit, handing it to them to type in their contact information, and didn’t have an easy way to share mine either. Plus, I dealt with everything after the meeting too – writing down notes, sharing my info, and following up later.
From all this, I noticed a few repeating patterns, that could be automated using mostly default apps – the data I need already exists or can be entered on the fly.
So, I came up with a few jobs to be done:
New episode of Supercomputer out:
This week, Alex invites a DIFFERENT Matthew onto the show to talk about their home automation setup.
While I was with family, Alex took the opportunity to chat with their spouse Mattie about home automation, which was an absolute delight of a conversation.
New episode of Supercomputer out:
Alex and Matthew review the new iPad mini! Find out where the Mini fits in their lives.
Two iPad nerds talking about the latest iPad release – my favorite type of episode to record.
Interestingly, we both came to the same conclusion…
Julia M. on her blog Rampant Procrastination:
1. Open the information tab in Overcast of a podcast you wish to log to Airtable.
2.Select the text of the information tab from the podcast title down, grabbing as much of the episode description as you would like to be included in the notes field in Airtable. Press copy to put this text on the clipboard.
3. This shortcut is used as a sharesheet extension, so press the share button and select Shortcuts, then run the shortcut to log the podcast.”
This post is a great write-up from Julia explaining a way she’s saving podcast episodes to Airtable, plus pulling from that database to play one again at random.
She has little technique for grabbing information from Overcast on the clipboard before sharing the episode, and wrote up how she’s extracting the information from once it’s in the shortcut before sending it through Airtable’s API.
Definitely subscribe to her new blog and give her a follow.
If you have a blog post about Shortcuts, always feel free to tweet me the link. I post some of them here and in my newsletter too.
New episode of Supercomputer out:
The fabulous Rosemary Orchard joins as the first guest on Supercomputer – and she blows your hosts’ minds.
We were thrilled to have our first guest on Supercomputer, and who else could it be but Rosemary Orchard from Automators.FM.
New episode of Supercomputer out:
Your hosts discuss the primary computer for most people: their phones.
In a little bit of a shorter episode than last week, Alex and I discussed how many people really only use their phone as their primary computer.
New episode of Supercomputer out:
This week, Alex shows Matthew how little he knows about video production.
This long episode is one of our first deep dives into a specific productivity topic, which I enjoyed because I benefited so much from the clarification.
Dan Moren, writing for Six Colors:
What I really wanted was for iOS to be a bit more intelligent. For example, it could realize that when I turn off my bedside light (which is a HomeKit-compatible Philips Hue bulb) I’m going to bed. And then, when I pick up my phone in the morning it could log that I’m awake, and store the resulting information in the Health app.
Alas, that functionality doesn’t exist. So I made it myself using a pair of Shortcuts.
While I was away at Disneyland, this great set of shortcuts snuck by me.
This is the exact approach I have so often – I think “why can’t my pocket computer do this?” and then Shortcuts lets me roll my own solution.
New episode of Supercomputer out:
Alex and Matthew discuss the disappearance of Control Center – and how it overlaps with Shortcuts.
Control Center is super useful, but many people don’t realize you can automate much of what’s available there.
If you’re looking to access one of your files by clicking on a URL instead of navigating through your Files app, you can copy a link to that file using the Share sheet on iOS.
New episode of Supercomputer out:
Alex and Matthew reflect on the month’s Apple-related news, giving the hot takes some room and seeing how we’re feeling after some extra context. Plus, there’s a celebrity appearance.
Continuing along with new topics, Alex and I are starting an occasional “Cold Takes” show to cover news in the last few months with some added perspective that time gives everyone.
New episode of Supercomputer out:
Alex and Matthew cover their home screens, so open the episode to check out the shots.
In episode 21, we wanted to refocus our subject matter more for each episode.
We’ll be doing an occasional cycle of shows – a good topic, some guest appearances, a look back at the news of the last few months, and more philosophical episode that takes things to a higher level.
We’re always looking for diverse and interesting guests, so please send us recommendations at [email protected].
Plus, we started a Patreon for anyone who feels like supporting the show. We’re gearing up the patronage rewards, but rest assured the show is free and it’s not required. That being said, we really appreciate everyone who’s signed up so far.
For episode 19 of Supercomputer, instead of hitting the “call” button to record, we pressed “video chat” and proceed to produce our podcast. I edited out some moments, added chapter markers for the audio file, and uploaded the video to YouTube.
This last week, for episode 20, I also added visual chapters, actually used Alex’s correct audio file, and shared our second video recording to YouTube.
But podcasts are for audio, right?
New episode of Supercomputer out:
Matthew and Alex talk about going from beginner shortcuts to the next level with the “If” scripting action, plus how this all could be a bit easier.
After last week’s livestream, I explained some of what “conditionals” are – if that sounds confusing, it’s worth listening.
Part of the episode is about breaking down barriers to concepts used in programming hidden behind fancy language, so we’ll explore more topics like this in the future.
Listen to the show:
New episode of Supercomputer out:
Matthew and Alex are here for the New Apple.
In a classic coffee rant, I got to release all the feeling I built up in our time away from the show – I am more excited than ever for the future of Apple.
Plus, I make a call for app developers to come back.
Listen to the show: