Newsletters I Like: MacStories Weekly

With today’s mega-release of new Apple software, I think it’s a perfect occasion to share the next “Newsletters I Like” pick – MacStories Weekly.

On MacStories, my pal Federico Viticci and his team of experts consistently deliver thoughtful analysis and in-depth reviews of anything and everything related to Apple products. They now offer the MacStories Weekly newsletter every Friday. Think of it as a sort of end-of-the-week recap: Good articles you may have missed, app picks, interesting links, and “Tips from Ticci” himself.

You should sign up before this Friday’s edition as I’m guessing that this week’s issue will be one for the record books!1

  1. Yes – I’m aware that there are no record books for email newsletters, nor should there be. It’s just a figure of speech… Why do you always have to be so literal about these things, huh? [↩]
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The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.
Coco Chanel
(Attributed)

Newsletters I Like: Asia Tech News Review

Next up in our “Newsletters I Like” parade:  Asia Tech News Review.

As Asia Editor of The Next Web, I’ve found that Jon Russell is usually ahead of most of the tech press in anticipating new trends.

Why? Bangkok-based and with a beat that encompasses more than half the world’s population (all of whom seem to be getting online at the same time), Jon is working right in the middle of one of the most vital and, crucially, demographically-young markets for new technology. Put another way: While you were still scratching your head and wondering “Wait… When did all the smartphones get so big? And why does every app I own send “stickers” now?”, he had already figured out how the needs of people in Asia would be driving product development everywhere.

Asia Tech News Review provides “an overview of news and must-read editorial from China, India, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia” every Sunday night in the USA (or Monday morning if you’re living in Asia like me).

His newsletter is, as he puts it, a labor of love. It shows. If you want to know where technology is headed, I think you should be reading it regularly.

(Noodles provided courtesy of Jon Russell)

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Stack Social Sale Ending Soon…

If you follow as many Mac websites as I do, you’ll notice waves of people talking all at once about the same apps being on sale. Usually it’s because there’s a good affiliate program promotion going on and, you know, earning money for helping other people save money is A Good Thing™ (especially for hard-working writers).

Case-in-Point – Making its way across the Twittersphere right now are really good sales on three Mac apps via StackSocial.

Quickly, they are:

  1. Text Expander 4. Truly one of my “essentials”, TE4 has become one of those “How the hell would I live without this?” apps for me. When I use my wife’s computer and forget that she doesn’t have it installed, I groan every time I have to type something out the long way. (The fact that I haven’t convinced her to try it yet is, to date, my greatest failure of Nerd-suasion ever.) You’ll want to snap this one up ASAP as the sale ends in a few hours.
  2. Dragon Dictate 4. I’ve used Dragon Dictate for years and it keeps getting better and better. The latest version adds built-in transcription of audio files (a feature that I’ve been concocting some fun/unholy experiments with here in my secret Veritrope Lab). If you’re a creative person who sometimes can’t type as fast as you think, I think this is a fantastic tool to capture those thoughts quickly.
  3. Undercover. This is one of the better theft-recovery apps and it’s what I use for peace of mind on all my Macs. Warning: If you steal my Macbook Pro, I have the ability to track you down and/or play bad US Top 40 songs at full volume until you lose the will to live and are begging Ryan Seacrest to offer you the sweet release of death. (This is a little extreme, don’t you think? Just give me back my computer and no one gets hurt, capiche?)

I use each of these apps myself and think these prices represent a very good bargain. If you’ve been considering purchasing any – or all – of these apps, I’d buy them on sale while you can!

Newsletters I Like: Well-Tempered

I’m always looking out for good email newsletters, so I thought it might be fun to do a quick series where I share some of the ones that I subscribe to and enjoy.

First up: Well-Tempered!

“Well-Tempered” is a new effort from tech writer and all-around busy person, Jean MacDonald. Jean, who you may know as @macgenie on Twitter or from her work with App Camp For Girls, puts together 4 or 5 of her top links and stories for the week. There are only a couple of issues out at this point but, so far, the subject matter has been representative of all the things Jean knows and loves: technology, culture, gender, marketing, and (naturally) rock ‘n’ roll.

I like it already – and I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops in the weeks ahead!

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