Author: Robby Burns

BBEdit 16

I use BBEdit as my default text editor. I’m using about .00001% what it’s capable of, but it’s still great for the simple stuff. Glad to see it’s getting these new Shortcuts actions.

BBEdit 16 offers speed boosts and Shortcuts and Emoji upgrades – Six Colors:

The latest version of Bare Bones Software’s venerable text editor, BBEdit, arrived on Thursday. Version 16, the first full-version update in more than two years, offers an array of new features including dramatic performance improvements, much greater Shortcuts support via App Intents, and even support for vi keybindings.

Keep reading here…

Two New Apps: Indigo and Gnome

A couple of recent app discoveries I am enjoying…

Indigo is a new cross-platform client that handles both Mastodon and Bluesky in one place. With most of my “social scrolling” split across the two, having a single client that speaks both protocols natively is a no brainer. It is so well implemented that I barely notice I am using two networks at once.

Gnome is a new Mac app for searching and pasting GIFs. Having a fast, focused tool for this rather than digging through a browser tab or a Slack reaction picker is exactly the kind of small utility that earns a permanent spot in my menu bar.

It’s not every week I come across two new apps I enjoy this much.

Music Ed Tech Talk Episode 95 – Dr. Evan Tobias

Robby chats with Evan Tobias (Associate Professor of Music Education at Arizona State University) about imagining new possibilities for music teaching in a rapidly shifting digital landscape–from rethinking what curriculum even means, to the everyday tools that power his research, writing, and thinking.

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Chapters and Notes

00:00:00 Greetings first

00:08:41 Introductions second

Evan Tobias, Arizona State University

YouTube

TikTok

Instagram

Podcast

AT Protocol

Cory Doctorow’s Book

00:26:04 What possibilities that exist when music teachers use technology in different ways

Obsidian

Weight of Light: A Collection of Solar Futures

00:54:38 What is curriculum?

Podcast Episode 4: Music Curriculum Perspectives with Brian Laakso

Hal Leonard Modern Band Series

littleBits

01:11:25 Research and writing tools: writing, interviews, reading…lots! Connecting ideas across many mediums…

Scite.AI – used to scan across databases, answer questions

Hazel – file management

DEVONthink – store, organize, work

zotero – collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research

PDF Expert – PDF editing

TextSniper – extract text from images

01:26:07 Surveys

Qualtrics – creating surveys

Calendly – scheduler that integrates with calendars

TextExpander – type a keystroke that fills in email body or other text

Keyboard Maestro – automate applications or websites

Fantastical – give your calendar superpowers

Craft – you know it, you love it

01:42:35 Interviews

Descript – record, edit, transcribe

Snipd – AI-powered podcast app

Airtable – database to help keep track of where people are in the project

Notion – database in place of Google Doc

OmniFocus – Task management

ClickUp – Task and project management

Readwise

Reader – PDF reader

Raindrop.io

Speechify – listen to text/PDF files

Please don’t forget to rate the show and share it with others!

Introducing the Assessment Library in the MusicFirst Classroom — Dr. James Frankel

This is such a great idea and addresses one of the huge pain points of using learning management software. I’m happy to see MusicFirst doing this.

Introducing the Assessment Library in the MusicFirst Classroom — Dr. James Frankel:

Today I am thrilled to announce that we launched one of the most all-time requested features in the MusicFirst Classroom last week – the Assessment Library. This new feature allows teachers to save and pull questions from a question bank – something we’ve called the Assessment Library. That means that rather than writing new questions from scratch every time OR re-using a previous assessment, you’ll be able to pull any questions from the library into your new assessment – saving you TONS of time. To access this new feature, click on the Grading tab from the left menu, and then select Assessment Library. Once there you can Create a new assessment template and add questions to it. After you’ve saved that assessment, the full assessment and/or the individual questions will be available in the Assessment Library to use in any future assessment you create> Keep reading here…

Apple Stops Selling $200 ‘Pro Apps’ Bundle With Final Cut Pro and More

This is so disappointing and all but confirms to me that, long term, Apple will be phasing out the stand-alone paid versions of these apps.

Apple Stops Selling $200 ‘Pro Apps’ Bundle With Final Cut Pro and More – MacRumors:

Following the launch of Apple Creator Studio this week, Apple has quietly stopped selling its valuable “Pro Apps Bundle for Education” (archived link).

Keep reading here…

Apple Creator Studio Is Out

I’ve been playing with Apple’s new Creator Studio bundle. I will have some early reactions to share on an upcoming episode of the podcast. I think Jason Snell over at Six Colors has some insightful takes.

There are also lots of good video first looks out there too.

Hands on with Apple Creator Studio: A bittersweet bundle – Six Colors:

I dislike Apple’s choice to roll its “iWork” suite of apps into this bundle, not just because it turns a set of free products into freemium products with upsell, but because there are plenty of users of Pages, Keynote, Numbers, and Freeform who do not need the powerful features of Final Cut, Logic, and Pixelmator.
Keep reading here…

Podcast Episode 92 – Hamburgers All the Way Down, with Will Kuhn and Jaye Mateyko

Will and Jaye join the show to review 2025 and look forward.

Show Notes:

00:00:00 Welcome, Intros, and a TI:ME Feature

00:10:25 Listener Question – what sources do you follow to stay afloat on tech tools and ongoings in and outside the field of music education?

RobbyBurns.com

cdm

The Verge

Techmeme

Six Colors

Daring Fireball

Mac Stories

Off the Beaten Path

00:16:55 Chart-Topping AI Country Song

Using Suno* to make demos

00:27:03 Automation Station

Craft – a PKM that’s hot

Drafts – working with Craft

Loop – Nice lookin’ Google Doc

00:33:20 Segue: Tahoe Issues, iOS 26 Issues, System Issues

00:35:47 Favorites of 2025

01:14:15 Predictions! No show note spoilers…

01:20:48 Tired/Wired Lightening Round

Unpressable Buttons

Marco Polo

Introducing Apple Creator Studio, an inspiring collection of creative apps – Apple

Introducing Apple Creator Studio, an inspiring collection of creative apps – Apple:

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today unveiled Apple Creator Studio, a groundbreaking collection of powerful creative apps designed to put studio-grade power into the hands of everyone, building on the essential role Mac, iPad, and iPhone play in the lives of millions of creators around the world. The apps included with Apple Creator Studio for video editing, music making, creative imaging, and visual productivity give modern creators the features and capabilities they need to experience the joy of editing and tailoring their content while realizing their artistic vision. Exciting new intelligent features and premium content build on familiar experiences of Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and later Freeform to make Apple Creator Studio an exciting subscription suite to empower creators of all disciplines while protecting their privacy.
Keep reading here…

Interesting and exciting news from Apple. I’ll have more to say about this in the next podcast episode, but for now I think it’s worth noting that…

  • The teacher/student price is a pretty great deal
  • iWork apps remain free; only the new AI features are included in the paid subscription
  • Existing versions of these apps will remain on the App Store for one-time purchases

It’s unclear whether the standalone purchases will continue to get the same updates as the subscription versions, at what pace, and for how long.

Pixelmator on the iPad is exciting. Logic and Final Cut on iPad haven’t proven too useful for me as they’re missing a lot of quality-of-life features the Mac versions have, like robust keyboard shortcuts, just to name one. I can see myself using Pixelmator, though, since editing photos with touch (or Apple Pencil) is already something I do.