Tag: Apple Watch

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What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 34

Originally posted as What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 34 – sign up for the newsletter here.

Welcome to Issue 34 of “What’s New in Shortcuts?”

Hello folks,

This week we’re in the shortcut dip between new Apple products shipping – but that just leaves more room for Shortcuts fun really.

Next week I’ll have more fun stuff to share, especially as we head towards the summer beta season – and be on the lookout for new streams in the calendar too.

🆕 NEW FROM ME THIS WEEK

My video on what’s beyond the surfaces of AirTags, a shortcut for importing Castro’s OPML to podcasts, and one of my first Mac shortcuts:

  • The AMAZING AirTags feature Apple hasn’t added (yet?)
    My new video on the automation possibility with AirTags and the U1 chip is up on YouTube – I’m calling it “Spatial Awareness for Siri.” Check out the short video and let me know what you think in the comments!
  • Export podcasts \> Podcasts
    I came across this thread between Stephen Aquino (Accessibility writer at Forbes) and Oisin Prendiville (co-founder of Supertop) talking about a possible method of moving from Supertop’s podcast app Castro into the main Podcasts app using the OPML file and built a shortcut to solve the problem. I was hoping Shortcuts could automatically parse the OPML with a simple file rename, but that didn’t work, so I built a somewhat-shaky converter that just scrapes the RSS feeds out and passes them into “Subscribe in Podcasts” – and it worked! I’m going to build a more universal version, but feel free to try it out now if you use Castro.
  • Open the Mini Player
    I’ve spent some time setting up my own versions of Federico’s Mixed Automation shortcuts for Mac, mostly around opening specific apps as well as a few URLs in specific browsers – members can access one of my first tests that opens the Mini Player of the Music app on the Mac, which simulates key presses in combination to activate the keyboard shortcut.
Continue reading “What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 34”
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Newsletter

What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 12

Originally posted as What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 12 – sign up for the newsletter here.

Welcome to Issue 12 of “What’s New in Shortcuts?”

In the wake of last week’s awesome “Add to Home Screen” update, I’ve been sharing lots on podcasts – make sure to catch both the latest Smart Tech Today and my appearance on Clockwise for my more-detailed take on the news.

Plus, members get to see how I went all out on my Home Screens – but first, here’s what’s new:

🎄 THE HOLIDAYS ARE UPON US

We’re in the endgame of 2020 now and this seemingly never-ending year is actually coming to a close – here’s how I’m using Shortcuts this December:

Continue reading “What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 12”
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Newsletter

What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 4

Originally posted as ”What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 4” – sign up for the newsletter here.

Welcome to Issue 4 of “What’s New in Shortcuts?”

Since iOS 14 dropped, I’ve completely changed my Home Screens, Apple Watch faces, and Shortcuts folders – why not a new office layout too? When everything is in flux, sometimes it’s just nice to control your own space…

Here’s what’s new in Shortcuts this week – new issues coming every Sunday going forward!

📰 HOW TO KEEP UP WITH THE NEWS

This month has been a intense – and we’re only done with the first week. Here’s a few ways you can use Shortcuts to stay up-to-date on the latest news:

Continue reading “What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 4”
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Newsletter

What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 3

Originally posted as ”What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 3” – sign up for the newsletter here.

Welcome to Issue 3 of “What’s New in Shortcuts?”

Home Screen customization is the biggest trend now that iOS 14 has been out – it started with widgets but, funnily enough, went full-steam ahead thanks to Shortcuts’ Add to Home Screen feature.

From my Twitter – What a shame I never made a video out of this…

Let’s look at some ways you can approach your new Home Screen setup with Shortcuts in mind today:

📲 HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOME SCREEN AESTHETIC AF

Sick of that joke yet? After this TikTok went viral and pushed Widgetsmith to on the App Store, you’ve probably heard me make it a few times – but this trend of super-customized Home Screens trend is undeniably the most popular part of iOS 14:

Continue reading “What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 3”
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Newsletter

What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 2

Originally posted as What’s New in Shortcuts? Issue 2 – sign up for the newsletter here.

Welcome to Issue 2 of “What’s New in Shortcuts?”

iOS 14, iPad OS 14, and watchOS 7 are finally here! There’s so much new, let’s get into it right away:

🏋️ APPLE’S FITNESS+, IPAD AIR, & APPLE WATCH EVENT

Apple launched a workout video service that syncs across devices, a new iPad Air that looks like a great choice for anyone who doesn’t need an iPad Pro, and the Apple Watch Series 6 & SE:

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Podcasts Offsite

Smart Tech Today #26: Troubleshooting Your Smart Lights

Play

On this episode of Smart Tech Today, Mikah and I talked about:

Continue reading “Smart Tech Today #26: Troubleshooting Your Smart Lights”
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Siri Shortcuts Links

How far did I walk today?

Today’s new shortcut is How far did I walk today? is designed for CES attendees but is also good for anyone really:

Looks at the Health app for total steps and distance for today, then formats the information to display in an alert or be spoken back from Siri.

Uses only the Apple Watch as the main source of data so no information is duplicated from the phone.

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Siri Shortcuts Links

Log your sun exposure with an Apple Watch automation ⌚️

Shows a screenshot from the Shortcuts app with “Get Current Weather,” “Get the Device name,” an “If” action set to “If Device Name contains iPad”, then “Show Result,” otherwise “Log Health Sample” and then “Show Alert.”

Here’s a Personal Automation for Apple Watch that I’m running automatically at the start of my Walking workouts – Log UV index:

Gets the current weather at the current location and logs the UV index for the hour into the Health app, then displays it or speaks it back when run via Siri.

Includes “Get Device Name” and an “If” action to account for being run on the iPad, which does not have the Health app and would otherwise fail.

Shows a screenshot from the Shortcuts app with “Get Current Weather,” “Get the Device name,” an “If” action set to “If Device Name contains iPad”, then “Show Result,” otherwise “Log Health Sample” and then “Show Alert.”

Continue reading “Log your sun exposure with an Apple Watch automation ⌚️”
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Apps Links

Transit’s Apple Watch app returns after two-year hiatus

Jon Fingas, writing for Endgaget about Transit for iOS releasing a new version of their Apple Watch app:

The popular public transportation tool is now a native app, of course, but it also gives you considerably more detail than just arrival times, including future arrivals and a map indicating where to go. 

I’m glad to see more apps slowly returning to the Apple Watch (or adopting it for the first time). Will be trying this out over the weekend ?.

Read the full article.

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Links

watchOS 6: the BirchTree review | Matt Birchler

Matt Birchler on the Apple Watch’s latest operating system update:

watchOS continues to grow up, and each year it gets objectively better than the year previous. The team behind this product have done a fantastic job of maintaining its simplicity all while adding on genuinely useful features that don’t always feel like much at the time, but have added up to an improved platform in almost every way.

Matt does these reviews every year, and this one summarizes the changes nicely. Also, I’m totally using the list of available workouts as a reference for future Shortcuts posts.

Read the full review on BirchTree.