Author: Matthew Cassinelli

Categories
Events News

Event: Join Me at the Shortcuts User Group Meetup for WWDC’24 in San Jose

Hello developers, creators, and Apple enthusiasts in the Bay Area – let’s gather together for an informal Shortcuts User Group meetup to talk post-WWDC in downtown San Jose on Tuesday, June 11 from 3-5 pm.

Let’s talk Shortcuts, WWDC, and all things Apple – plus, I’ll have gear from my Elgato partnership to give away to attendees – including the Prompter and Stream Deck Neo.

I’ve been looking at SoFA Market in downtown San Jose as the best location – they have a sizable back patio, plenty of seating in the marketplace, and multiple restaurants to choose from. There’s also a huge parking lot located directly across the street at 300 S First St, San Jose, CA 95113 as well, so parking and food are easy.

Plus, it’s located directly next door to The California Theater, where John Gruber is hosting The Talk Show live starting at 6pm and will (likely/hopefully) be interviewing Apple executives.

I’ll be giving away the Stream Deck Neos and Prompters in-person at the event, plus can answer any questions about their other gear (as I have almost all of it for testing purposes now). I’m thankful to Elgato for being open to supporting this event and the greater Apple community – it’ll be tons of fun to give these all away.

So, if you can attend, join us to talk about Shortcuts and anything WWDC, win some Elgato gear, and get snacks or an early dinner before going to your next event. 🤓

Get virtual tickets for the meetup here – please register if you plan to attend so I can anticipate how many people will come.

P.S. If you’re not able to come you in-person, you can register interest for future events, regardless of location (anywhere in the world) – I am looking into international speaking events around App Intents for the future.

P.P.S. I’ve reached out to SoFA Market to rent their back patio officially, but unfortunately haven’t heard back yet to confirm. If I’m unable to rent it out, we can essentially go anyway without the guarantee of a private space. Otherwise, I have included Academic Coffee’s location on the venue page as an alternate backup spot – they’re only open until 4pm, however, and I’d push the time earlier an hour and show up at 2pm.

Categories
Gear

The Suti PhoneBack For The iPhone 15 Pro Max – Minimal & Strong! »

From TechnicallyTee on YouTube:

The Suti Magnetic PhoneBack is the perfect solution for the minimalist crowd out there. Bringing you a range of color options with one surprising action!

🛒 PURCHASE LINK: https://geni.us/oJHu

Cool product I hadn’t heard of yet – good summary from TechnicallyTee.

View the video YouTube.

Categories
Links News

Apple iOS 18 Siri AI Update Will Let Users Control Features in Apps With Voice »

From Mark Gurman at Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. is planning to overhaul its Siri virtual assistant with more advanced artificial intelligence, a move that will let users control individual app functions with their voice, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The new system will allow Siri to take command of all the features within apps for the first time, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the initiative isn’t public. That change required a revamp of Siri’s underlying software using large language models — a core technology behind generative AI — and will be one of the highlights of Apple’s renewed push into AI, they said.

Additional context from Joe Rossignol from MacRumors on Threads:

An aspect of Mark’s report that stood out to me: iOS 18’s smarter Siri features seemingly aren’t launching until an iOS 18.x update in 2025. I’m sure Apple will preview this at WWDC, and then the features will probably have a “coming in early 2025” label on Apple’s website.

View the original (via 9to5Mac).

Categories
Gear

Keychron launches ‘Ultra-Slim’ keyboards for Mac w/ 1,200-hour battery life, USB-C, 2.4GHz wireless »

From Michael Potuck at 9to5Mac:

The new Keychron Ultra-Slim keyboards come in ivory white or space gray with a 100% layout with numpad or a 75% compact model without numpad.

One thing you lose compared to Apple’s Magic Keyboard is the option for Touch ID, but you get a number of benefits Apple doesn’t offer like 2.4GHz connectivity, much longer battery life, and USB-C at less than 50% of the cost.

I’ve long had a Keychron mechanical keyboard – might need to try one of these compact models as for a portable setup…

View the original.

Categories
Gear

Satechi Launches Thunderbolt 4 Multi-Display Docking Station »

From Juli Clover at MacRumors:

Made from a space gray aluminum that is meant to match Apple devices, the hub supports up to four extended monitors at 4K/60Hz resolution, or one display at 8K/60Hz. With four displays, two can be connected through Thunderbolt 4 and two through HDMI. Satechi says that this feature is designed to address the single display limit of M1, M2, and M3 chips. ‌M1‌, ‌M2‌, and M3 MacBook Pro models support up to three displays with Satechi’s dock, while the M3 MacBook Air supports four when in clamshell mode. Machines with Pro and Max chips support up to four displays through the hub.

Yes, it’s $300. But if you read about all the features, this thing looks like it packs a punch.

View the original.

Categories
Gear

Elgato Facecam Pro is a True 4K60 Webcam »

From @elgato:

True 4K60 webcam. 😎

Learn more about Facecam Pro: https://elgato.sjv.io/mjc-prompter

Alright fine, the Facecam Pro is my next webcam – looking forward to a little more control in the Camera Hub app for my main shot.

View the post and get the Facecam Pro from Elgato.

P.S. You can use my Elgato Partner code ZZ-CASSINELLI for 5% off at checkout.

Categories
News

Apple’s WWDC’24 starts June 10

From Apple Newsroom:

Today, Apple unveiled the lineup for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, including Keynote and Platforms State of the Union, and shared more information about what developers will learn and experience all week. The free online conference brings the global Apple developer community together to provide them with insights into the latest technologies, tools, and frameworks coming to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS. Throughout the week, developers will be able to hear from Apple engineers, designers, and other experts through more than 100 technical sessions, in-depth consultations, and live forums for guidance on building even more innovative and platform-differentiating apps and games across all Apple products.

View the original.

 

Categories
Gear

Stream Deck + Pairs Perfectly With the Elgato Prompter »

From @elgato:

Stream Deck integrates seamlessly with Prompter:

🏃‍♂️ Control Scroll Speed

⚙ Text size ⏯ Pause/Start/Stop

↕️ Scroll up and down with dials

🔘 Turn Prompter On/Off

🛒: https://elgato.sjv.io/mjc-prompter

[Video]

I have posted before about controlling the Prompter from the Stream Deck +, but now that I’ve had actually had both for a while it’s been excellent to actually use it in practice – the Stream Deck + is basically a must-have for the Prompter because it makes working with scripts so much better.

View the post and get the Prompter and the Stream Deck + from Elgato.

P.S. You can use my Elgato Partner code ZZ-CASSINELLI for 5% off at checkout.

 

Categories
Newsletter

What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue 105

From Issue 105 of my Shortcuts newsletter:

WWDC is just two weeks away and iOS 17.5 has been out along with new iPad Pros for a bit now, bringing new Shortcuts actions for Puzzles in Apple News, a Squeeze gesture for Apple Pencil Pro that can run a shortcut, and Vocal Shortcuts coming as an accessibility feature next year.

On my front, I’ve been guesting on MacRumors and Automators to wrap up the end of the year, gave a big presentation to the iOS Developer Happy Hour group about App Shortcuts for developers, and set up a variety of folders in the Shortcuts Catalog.

I also don’t normally like to tease stuff, but I’ve been reaching Peak Home Screen and Peak Stream Deck, with lots more in store for the summer – I have Elgato gear to give away at WWDC too 😈.

Read the full issue on MailerLite.

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Arc Search shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Arc Search shortcuts for making quick use of the iPhone app.

Activate regular or voice search, pass in your query with the keyboard or dictation, ask Arc to browse for you, or call in to get help:

  • Activate Arc Search: Opens Arc Search with the keyboard active.
  • Activate Voice Search: Opens Arc Search and activates the voice search mode (available by long-pressing on the + button in the app).
  • Search the web with Arc: Asks you to enter a query, then passes it to Arc Search and opens the results.
  • Browse for me: Asks you to enter a query, then passes it to Arc Search with “Browse for me” enabled to collect links and summarize results automatically.
  • Dictate to Arc: Starts dictation, then stops after you pause and passes your dictation to Arc Search as a query.
  • Call Arc: Opens Arc Search and activates the “Call” feature that lets you talk to Arc like it’s a virtual directory assistance helper.

Check out the folder of Arc Search shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.

Categories
Apps

Arc Search Lets You “Call” For Answers (And Comes With Action Button Shortcuts)

Today, the Browser Company launched an update to their Arc browser for iOS that adds a new “Call” feature, as well as Apple Shortcuts support in the form of three App Shortcuts designed for the iPhone action button.

Arc’s new “Call” feature is a clever mobile interaction for the act of look something up online using AI, but framed as calling Arc, asking your question, getting waiting music while it finds the answer, and getting a response back – it’s like dialing a phone directory, but for the entire internet.

Plus, you can just raise the device to your ear to activate the voice mode – such a good idea.

 

Post by @chris
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For its Shortcuts support, Arc has added three App Shortcuts for Call, Search, and Voice Search that let users ask Siri, search in Spotlight, assign as their action button, or run via Shortcuts in the multitude of ways available – a great way to build new browsing habits with Arc.

I’ve had a somewhat lukewarm reaction to the Browser Company so far – we seem to agree that computing is fundamentally changing, but I’m not fully sold that one better browser fixes all the things. But I can’t lie, adding Shortcuts support is a good way to get me to actually try it out, and this new Call feature is also drawing me in – I am very glad people are thinking uniquely in this space, especially with the Action button as a new interface for any app, and raise-to-speak as a UI paradigm.

Get Arc Search for iPhone on the App Store and Arc for desktop on the web.

Categories
Developer Guest appearances

iOS Dev Happy Hour: May 2024 (Matthew Cassinelli – App Intents & Shortcuts) »

From iOS Dev Happy Hour on YouTube:

Matthew Cassinelli is an expert on Shortcuts that has been writing articles and making YouTube videos about the subject for years. He was nice enough to give a presentation on App Intents and Shortcuts for developers at our May event.

iOSDevHappyHour🍻 is a place where current and aspiring iOS devs can come together and enjoy a good time once a month.

Join us on Discord also: https://links.iosdevhappyhour.com/

Matthew’s Info:

YouTube: @MatthewCassinelli

Website: https://matthewcassinelli.com/

Matthew’s Slide Deck: https://tinyurl.com/5dp5h4u3

Check out my presentation from iOS Dev Happy Hour last Saturday where I dove into everything to know about App Intents for 30 minutes.

View the video YouTube.

P.S. I didn’t realize until publishing that I went twice as long as my allotted 15-minute time 😅.

 

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: ChatGPT shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of ChatGPT shortcuts that take advantage of ChatGPT’s native actions for Shortcuts.

You can use these to start voice conversations, have back-and-forth chats with any model, create custom GPTs, or save your prompts and responses elsewhere:

  • Start voice chat: Opens ChatGPT and activates the voice conversation feature, letting you talk hands-free with ChatGPT and have it respond with voice.
  • SiriGPT: Talk to ChatGPT using the OpenAI API.
  • Start conversation with ChatGPT-4o: Starts a new continuous chat with ChatGPT-4o, where it will prompt you to start a conversation and replies until you stop responding.
  • Ask ChatGPT-4: Prompts you to enter a query, then asks ChatGPT your given message using GPT-4, the shows you the response after copying it to your clipboard for pasting elsewhere.
  • Chat with GPT-4: Starts a new continuous conversation with ChatGPT-4, starting with a prompt of your own.
  • Spell check with ChatGPT: Accepts text from the shortcut input and asks the default ChatGPT-3.5 model to spell check the text, returning only the corrected text.
  • Summarize with ChatGPT: Accepts text from the shortcut input and asks the more-advanced ChatGPT-4 model to summarize the text, returning only the summary.
  • Rewrite with ChatGPT: Accepts text from the shortcut input, asks you to type out your preferred style, then asks ChatGPT-4 to update your text, returning only the summary.
  • Capture ChatGPT response: Asks you to enter a prompt for ChatGPT-4, then saves the prompt, response, and date into a new note in Bear.
  • Start new convo with ChatGPT: Starts a new continuous conversation with ChatGPT, asking you to pick which model before starting the chat.

Check out the folder of ChatGPT shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library. Plus, check out my shortcuts for ChatGPT for Mac.

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: ChatGPT for Mac shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of ChatGPT for Mac shortcuts for controlling the desktop experience of ChatGPT.

Use these to control the main window size and position, open or collapse the sidebar, and open new chats as needed.

  • Set up ChatGPT: Opens the ChatGPT app for Mac, resizes it to a default 980×658 dimensions, then moves it to the middle left (with 18px of padding against the edge of the screen).
  • Activate ChatGPT launcher: Runs AppleScript to press the key code for Option + Space, the keyboard shortcut for ChatGPT’s launcher.
  • Open new chat: Runs AppleScript to activate the keyboard shortcut Command + N to create a new chat in the ChatGPT app for Mac.
  • Open new temporary chat: Runs AppleScript to activate the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + N to create a new temporary chat in ChatGPT that doesn’t get saved.
  • Toggle ChatGPT sidebar: Runs AppleScript to open ChatGPT for Mac, then activates the keyboard shortcut for Command + S to toggle the Sidebar for the app.
  • Open ChatGPT in single-thread mode: Opens ChatGPT, toggles the Sidebar, waits for it to resize, then shrinks the window to the smallest possible 400px wide and 658px tall on the left side – for a better single-chat experience
  • Make ChatGPT full-screen: Opens the ChatGPT app for Mac and uses AppleScript to press Command + Option + Control + F to Enter Full Screen.
  • Open ChatGPT settings: Runs AppleScript that opens the ChatGPT app and activates the keyboard shortcut for Command + , (which opens the Settings page for the app

Check out the folder of ChatGPT for Mac shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library. Be sure to check out the main ChatGPT folder as well.

Categories
Gear

Comparing Elgato’s Facecam Mk. 2 and Pro Models »

From @elgato:

Which webcam should you get, Facecam MK.2 or Facecam Pro?

Here’s what you need to know:

I recently got the Facecam Mk. 2 and it’s actually quite good – a big step up from the Mk. 1 which I had trouble getting to a place I liked.

Since I really only need 4K on the main webcam, I’m still using my old webcam there for now and the Mk. 2 for my picture-in-picture stream camera off to the side.

View the post and get the Facecam Mk. 2 and the Facecam Pro from Elgato.

P.S. You can use my Elgato Partner code ZZ-CASSINELLI for 5% off at checkout.

Categories
Gear

Elgato’s Key Light Mini Can Attach Magnetically »

From @elgato:

Four things we love about Key Light Mini?

🔋 Built-in battery and magnets

☀️ Adjustable brightness and warmth

🔌 Sleek USB-C cable

🖥️ Studio mode for at home

Learn more: https://elgato.sjv.io/key-light-mini-mjc

[Video]

For a past shoot, I magnetically attached my Key Light Mini to a rolling cart I got from IKEA – very handy when you need it 👌

View the post and get the Key Light Mini from Elgato.

P.S. You can use my Elgato Partner code ZZ-CASSINELLI for 5% off at checkout.

 

Categories
News Shortcuts

Vocal Shortcuts Will Let You Create Voice Triggers For Any Command (Without Saying Siri)

In their annual announcements for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), Apple announced a teaser for iOS 18 for Vocal Shortcuts, a new feature that lets you create custom voice commands like Accessibility features and custom shortcuts, bypassing the need for a “Siri” trigger phrase and using the vocal shortcut itself as the trigger.

Currently, Shortcuts does already allow users to run their shortcuts by speaking the custom name of the shortcut to Siri – however, it requires an activation phrase (or pressing the physical button).

Now, with Vocal Shortcuts as a feature, they can bypass the trigger entirely and use their Vocal Shortcut name as the complete trigger + action command. For example, rather than saying “Siri, turn the lights to 100%,” users could create a shortcut that sets the lights accordingly, and create a vocal shortcut to trigger anytime you say “Light Bright” – even without saying Siri first.

Here’s how Apple describes it in their announcement, alongside the Listen for Atypical Speech feature:

With Vocal Shortcuts, iPhone and iPad users can assign custom utterances that Siri can understand to launch shortcuts and complete complex tasks. Listen for Atypical Speech, another new feature, gives users an option for enhancing speech recognition for a wider range of speech. Listen for Atypical Speech uses on-device machine learning to recognize user speech patterns. Designed for users with acquired or progressive conditions that affect speech, such as cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or stroke, these features provide a new level of customization and control, building on features introduced in iOS 17 for users who are nonspeaking or at risk of losing their ability to speak.

Plus, Vocal Shortcuts can be assigned to any Accessibility feature, no shortcut required – adding in Shortcuts lets users take the feature to the next level and execute multiple actions, not just the one pre-assigned command.

In many ways, Apple has been learning from features introduced in the past to make this possible – the introduction and improvements to Sound Recognition have surely helped, as well as the recent dropping of “Hey” from “Hey Siri.”

Check out the rest of Apple’s announcements for Global Accessibility Awareness Day, including the very cool Eye Tracking and and Music Haptics coming this year.

Categories
Gear News

Apple Pencil Pro Lets You Run A Shortcut With A Squeeze

Screenshot

Apple’s newly-launched Apple Pencil Pro for the M4 iPad Pro includes a special squeeze gesture that activates a special palette or unique commands depending on your app – in a new change for Apple Pencil, “Shortcut” has been added to the list, letting M4 iPad Pro activate a shortcut from anywhere by squeezing the Pencil.

Chris Lawley, iPad expert on YouTube, shared the demo in this clip from his M4 iPad Pro review:

This update is super exciting for iPad Pro users who take advantage of Shortcuts, letting them map any command to the Apple Pencil and trigger it with a quick gesture – and more than one action can be assigned using Scripting actions like Choosing From menu or If to change the purpose depending on certain conditions.

As YouTuber Stephen Robles quipped on his podcast Primary Technology, “It’s an Action Button for iPad!” – the first time iPad users have universal access to a hardware control to trigger Shortcuts, a feature that’s been available on Apple Watch Ultra and the Pro lines for iPhone in recent years.

Assigning the squeeze gesture to a shortcut is a great update for Apple Pencil with the new Pro line and definitely gives power users a reason to upgrade – I’m looking forward to playing around with shortcuts from my Shortcuts Library and seeing what clever techniques I can come up with.

Learn about the new Apple Pencil Pro and M4 iPad Pro from Apple.

 

Categories
Announcements

Upcoming Speaking Appearance – iOSDevHappyHour: May 2024!

From iOS Dev Happy Hour:

The goal of #iOSDevHappyHour is to allow current and aspiring iOS Developers a place to share experiences, share knowledge, simply hang out, build community, and even enjoy a drink or two online. Join us at this month’s event!

This month’s event includes:

  • Community guest speakers
  • Three breakout rooms (topic-based and random assignments)
  • An Apple gift card giveaway (must be present!)

From their announcement on Mastodon:

Next up in our series of expert speakers: Matthew Cassinelli is going to be giving a talk about App Intents at our May event!

I’ve got 15 minutes on App Intents – hope to see you there!

Sign up for the event.

Categories
Apps Shortcuts

iOS 17.5 Adds Quartiles to Apple News: Get These Puzzles Shortcuts

Today, Apple has released iOS 17.5 to the public, bringing with it a new game to the Apple News+ Puzzles section: Quartiles.

Quartiles divides a word into four parts, letting you select from the available tiles to form a word – each game has five rows, letting you adding up your score for each row to get the highest points possible.

Once you’ve visited the Puzzles, Crosswords, Crossword Mini, or Quartiles sections of the Apple News app (available for Apple News+ subscribers), the News app will “donate” suggested actions to the Shortcuts app for each section, which you can add to your custom shortcuts and run to quickly jump into the corresponding part of the News app again.

I’ve collected all four sections as individual shortcuts, which you can get in the Apple News folder of my Shortcuts Library. You can place this in a Shortcuts widget, add these to any of your Home Screens, or even open them from the menu bar on Mac – that puzzle is yours to figure out.

Quartiles is quite fun and, being so Wordle-adjacent, could attract casual gamers who might not be drawn to the Crosswords or Crossword mini features of Apple News – I’m sure Apple wouldn’t mind, since gaming is a fairly significant driver of revenue for the news business.

Happy gaming!