New Software Updates from Apple! (iOS17, macOS Sonoma, watchOS 10), with Craig McClellan

In bringing this back to software, it’s evident that – again, historically – Apple doesn’t believe in art as a veneer to make something “look good”. Art – whereby “art” we refer to the human care behind the design of software – is intrinsically tied to the technology that powers the computer. It’s the intersection of technology and liberal arts: skew toward one side more than the other, and you risk of losing the balance many of us like about Apple. Art in Apple’s software isn’t some secret ingredient that can just be added at the end of the process, like a spice: great design _is_ the process itself. Case in point: the Dynamic Island.

Federico argues that the iPad is not striking a balance between beautiful and useful. I agree with this point. After trying to use it like an equal counterpart to macOS in 2016-2019, I have been back to the Mac (so to speak) ever since.

The iPad makes a great digital piece of paper. And I think I am leveraging its strengths best when I use it exactly like that.

Free Form Released with iOS 6.2

The Freeform app from Apple is now out with the iOS 16.2 update. It is an infinite whiteboard/canvas kind of app that combines…

some of the intuitive and rock solid formatting tools from the iWork Suite
the iOS Apple Pencil scribbling features I have come to love in Apple Notes
some of the recent collaboration updates from Apple’s operating systems

Like many of Apple’s apps, it is nice for most people but if open canvas apps are something you need particular features from, I wouldn’t count on Apple’s version to do everything you want.

MacStories has a good review of it (see below).

Freeform Leverages the Freedom and Flexibility of a Blank Canvas – MacStories:

Freeform is a brand new iPhone, iPad, and Mac app from Apple that lets users create multimedia boards on an infinite canvas that include text, images, drawings, links, files, and more. It’s an ambitious entry into a crowded category of apps that take overlapping approaches, emphasizing everything from note-taking to collaborative design to whiteboarding.

As is so often the case with Apple’s system apps, Freeform falls squarely in the middle of the landscape of existing apps. Freeform isn’t going to replace apps that are deeply focused on a narrow segment of apps in the blank canvas category. Instead, Freeform is targeted at a broader audience, many of whom have probably never even considered using this sort of app. For them, and for anyone who has felt constrained by more linear, text-based ways of exploring ideas, Freeform is a perfect solution.

At first blush, Freeform’s spare interface may give the impression that it’s a bare-bones 1.0 release, but that’s not the case. The app is easy to use and impressively feature-rich for a new release. So, let’s dig into the details to see what it can do.

The Alfred Gallery

On the most recent episode of my podcast, I mentioned that my Mac feels broken if CleanShot isn’t installed on it. Another app I feel that way about is Alfred. It is a replacement for the Spotlight feature of macOS that adds a whole lot of intuition and power for free, but which allows the installation of user-created workflows on the paid version.

Installing these workflows is about to get way easier with their new gallery which you can browse through here.

New Software Coming from Apple

Tim Chaten, host of the iPad Pros podcast, joins the show to talk about Apple’s announcements at their WWDC Keynote this month.

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Thanks to my sponsors this month, Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks.

Show Notes:

Where to Find Us:
Robby – Twitter | Blog | Book
Tim Chaten – Twitter | Website

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Music Ed Tech Talk #52 – Dorico Updates! with Daniel Spreadbury

Daniel returns to the show to discuss the release of Dorico 4 for desktop, Dorico 2 for iPad, Steinberg licensing, and other updates!

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Show Notes:

Dorico 4
Dorico 2 for iPad
Dorico YouTube Channel
Introducing Steinberg Licensing
Scoring Notes Review of Dorico 4
Dorico 4 | Music Ed Tech Talk
Previous Appearances on this show from Daniel – Dorico | Dorico for iPad
Club MacStories

App of the Week:
Robby – Audible
Daniel – Raycast

Tech Tip of the Week:
Robby – Whispersync
Daniel – Pi-hole

Where to Find Us:
Robby – Twitter | Blog | Book
Daniel – Twitter | Website

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

Tweetbot for Mac and iOS is the sanest way to use Twitter

Do you have a love/hate relationship with Twitter?

Perhaps you enjoy interacting with people from various circles all over the world, connecting professionally, and learning things from other music educators?

Perhaps you also hate the constant dumpster fire of negativity and hatred that can be seen on the service. Or, if you are like me, you are burnt out on algorithmic social timelines and would prefer to curate your own online experiences.

I’d like to recommend Tweetbot for iOS and Mac. It displays the tweets of the people you follow, in the order they tweet them. It has great mute filters, does not show ads, and doesn’t show recommendations or “liked tweets.” This is not to mention that it has a beautiful user interface.

Twitter used to not allow third party Twitter clients to do a lot, but this is recently changing. Tweetbot is a viable Twitter experience these days and does not lack any major features that I miss on a daily basis. And they are constantly iterating. Version 7 came out recently and adds statistics. You can read more about it here.

The Tunable Mac App is my Preferred Tuner on macOS

I have said a lot of positive words about the Tonal Energy Tuner app. Every day I yearn for them to release a Mac version of the app.

Playing just intonation tuning drones in combination with a metronome is one of my most common technology uses in the band classroom. Though I have a phone and a Mac wired into the sound system, my Mac is where I am most comfortable playing audio in class. In a few of my classrooms the Mac is my only device plugged into a sound system.

I’d like to give Tunable some love. Software developer Seth Sandler is killing it with this app. After speaking with him on the Music Ed Tech Talk podcast, he reminded me that there is a Mac version.

I have been using Tunable in my classes for the past few months and I really like it. It has great drones, metronome, multiple tuning systems, and design elements that make it feel like it lives on macOS.

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