Newton email for Mac and iOS is shutting down

Recently, more and more developers have switched to subscription pricing. Folks hate this model (including me) and seek out alternatives. Newton email is a casualty of the pricing model. Long term I think this model will fail for a lot of developers.

Juli Clover, writing for MacRumors

Newton, a popular email service for iOS and Mac, is shutting down on September 25, the company’s founder Rohit Nadhani announced today.

Newton is a subscription-based app that costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, a business model that did not end up being successful. Nadhani says that the company explored “various business models” but wasn’t able to “successfully figure out profitability & growth over the long term.”

Web Finds for August 7, 2018

Web Finds are from my web surfing travels. You’ll find some unique and informative news, apps and websites that you may have never known existed. Enjoy!

Mac for Seniors: How to Set Up a Simplified Mac for the Elderly
You probably think that a Mac makes it easy enough to find your own way around, but someone who isn’t tech-savvy might disagree. Especially if that someone is a senior citizen.

The good news is that you can make their Mac experience as enjoyable as yours by simplifying it for them. And that’s where the following list of macOS tweaks comes in handy.
Via MakeUseOf

How to Prepare Your Digital Legacy
What will happen to all the digital content you own after you die? Will a loved one be able to access your Dropbox folder to get copies of your personal documents? And how can your next of kin get access to your iCloud account to save copies of your photos? What will happen to your music collection when you pass? These are all great questions that I’ll answer in this article, including your options for securing your digital assets and passing them on to your family.

Here’s how to prepare your digital legacy and ensure that your loved ones can access your information left online after you die.
Via Intego Blog

Monitor Your Social Media Time With New Tools From Facebook and Instagram
On Facebook, you’ll go to your settings page and choose “Your Time on Facebook.” On Instagram, you’ll tap Settings->Your Activity. The tools in both apps are essentially the same.
Via lifehacker

Few Alexa owners use voice to shop, despite big projections
Analysts have been aggressively optimistic in their predictions about the growth of consumer shopping via virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, but a new report claims that only a small fraction of Alexa device owners shop with voice commands. And most of those who do only try it once or stick to a limited range of products.
Via ars Technica

Previous Web Finds are here.

Switching between multiple open windows in the same application

Switching between multiple open windows in the same application has always been a pain point for me. Go to Window in the application Menu Bar and then select the window I want from the list of open windows. Or right click on the application in the Dock and select the window from list of open windows.

I just learned that there’s an easier way. Use the keyboard shortcut ⌘ + Tilde to quickly switch between open windows in the same application. So, for example, there are times when I have several Safari windows open at the same time. I can quickly sort through them with this keyboard shortcut.

Next time you have several windows open in the same application give it a try.

Apple removes apps from their Affiliate Program

Members of the iTunes Affiliate Program (myself included) received an email from Apple yesterday that announced iOS and Mac apps would no longer be included:

Affiliate Program App Store Updates

Thank you for participating in the affiliate program for apps. With the launch of the new App Store on both iOS and macOS and their increased methods of app discovery, we will be removing apps from the affiliate program. Starting on October 1st, 2018, commissions for iOS and Mac apps and in-app content will be removed from the program. All other content types (music, movies, books, and TV) remain in the affiliate program.

For more information on commission rates, please see our Commissions and Payments page on the Affiliate Resources site.

If you have questions, please visit our Helpdesk.

This is a disappointing development. When someone buys an app using one of the links on this site I earn a small commission. It’s not a lot of money but it does help cover some of the annual cost of operating this site. This loss of income won’t impact me much but there are bigger blogs and websites that will most likely be severally impacted by this change.

I think Apple may be overestimating the value of the new Mac and iOS App Stores. I can say that without a doubt the majority of the apps I’ve purchased have been the result of articles or reviews on sites such as The Sweet Setup, MacStories, Brett Terpstra, MacDrifter and the Mac Power Users podcast not the App Store.

Delete GarageBand hidden folders to save gigabytes of Mac storage

The other day I was checking the available storage on my 2015 13” MacBook Pro which only has 128 GB of flash storage. While doing so, I noticed something strange. In the Storage tab of About This Mac GarageBand was using 2 GB of storage. I found that odd since I don’t have GarageBand installed on this Mac.

With only 128 GB of flash storage, I wanted to reclaim the space. This TekRevue article by Jim Tanous, Delete GarageBand to Save Gigabytes of Mac Storage, helped me find some hidden GarageBand folders. After I removed them, High Sierra doesn’t show anymore GarageBand content in About This Mac.

These are the folders that I deleted.

  • HD/Library/Application Support/GarageBand (995MB)
  • Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Logic (880MB)
  • Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Apple Loops (up to 10GB)

You should read the article and follow the instructions before deleting these folders.

My cycling tech

I’ve been an avid cyclist for many years. This includes endurance events as well as racing as an elite master at the State and National Level.

I stopped racing and endurance riding in 2010 after having open heart surgery to correct a severally leaking mitral valve and an enlarged atrium.

These days I ride for pleasure and staying fit. The truth is, I really just enjoy riding especially now that we live in central New Jersey. I love riding on all the open country roads.

Here’s the tech I’m using.

Forerunner 35
The Forerunner 35 is an easy-to-use GPS Watch with Wrist-based Heart Rate and records my daily steps, occasional runs, walks, bike rides, calories, and weight.

Garmin Connect
Garmin Connect is my online training tool to store, analyze all my fitness activities. There is also a Garmin Connect app for iOS.

Strava
Strava is my secondary online training tool to store, analyze and share all my fitness activities with my friends. There is also a Strava app for iOS. Here’s my Profile Link.

Living in California my tech was the same winter or summer because in California it’s always summer. But now that we live in New Jersey that’s all changed. I’ll be spending a fair amount of time on my indoor trainer since the weather tends to be unpredictable in the summer and cold with snow and rain in the winter.

For those days that I’m not going to be able to get outside to ride, I’ll be using my Kinetic T-2700 indoor trainer with the iOS Kinetic Fit app for recording my activities. The Fit app shares my completed workouts with Strava but I have to manually enter them into Garmin Connect.

That’s it, folks. Reach out to me if you have any cycling related questions.

Instapaper breaks away from Pinterest

Instapaper Blog: Instapaper is going independent

Today, we’re announcing that Pinterest has entered into an agreement to transfer ownership of Instapaper to Instant Paper, Inc., a new company owned and operated by the same people who’ve been working on Instapaper since it was sold to betaworks by Marco Arment in 2013. The ownership transfer will occur after a 21 day waiting period designed to give our users fair notice about the change of control with respect to their personal information.

We want to emphasize that not much is changing for the Instapaper product outside the new ownership. The product will continue to be built and maintained by the same people who’ve been working on Instapaper for the past five years. We plan to continue offering a robust service that focuses on readers and the reading experience for the foreseeable future.

So, the first thing I’m wondering is if Marco is part of the new company?

This is good news for us loyal Instapaper users. It gives me confidence that one of my most used apps will continue to exist.