One Year with My Life Timeline Journal

In the latest Club MacStories Monthly Log, I got a chance to reflect on my expanded journaling practice one year on. The original story I wrote about my approach to journaling was my first contribution to the Monthly Log a year ago, so it was cool having the opportunity to revisit that and share how it’s going. I’m to a point now where I can look back on my timeline from last year in Everlog’s On This Day section, and I’m already seeing some of the benefits. I can only imagine they’ll grow with time.

You can read the full story on Club MacStories.

Watch History Journal 2.2

Recently, a reader named Chen kindly pointed out a bug in Watch History Journal that prevented the shortcut from downloading movie posters from Trakt. Version 2.2 is available now to address this issue for Trakt users.

My apologies for the trouble. I wish it were easier to both issue and install updates to shortcuts, but for now, you can install this update over your current copy of Watch History Journal and re-enter your API key to continue using the shortcut.

As always, I want to thank everyone who uses Watch History Journal. It means so much to me that others are getting value out of it. If you have any questions about it or suggestions for a future version, I’d love to hear them. Feel free to reach out to me anytime.

On Keeping Around Old Apps

Most of the apps I use are in active development and regularly receive new features. I like it that way because it keeps things fresh and fun. But there are some staples in my setup that haven’t been updated in years, including one of my most important tools: my budgeting app.

In the Club MacStories Monthly Log, I wrote about the considerations that go into the decision whether to stick with an aging app or replace it. It’s a question I ponder often but have never formally thought through until now. If you’re like me and wrestle with this issue sometimes, I invite you to check out the column.

AppStories

I had the privilege of being a guest on this week's episode of AppStories. My thanks to Federico and John for having me. It was a really fun discussion that included how and why I track different things in my life, my evolving approach to journaling, and my day-to-day use of the Apple Vision Pro as my primary computer. I also made everyone listen to me talk about Mello Yello in the members-only pre-show.

If you're into apps, technology, and Apple, I think you'll love AppStories. And if you enjoy reading what I write about here, well, this is a lot like that, but in spoken form and with better jokes courtesy of Federico and John. You can listen to the episosde in any podcast player or watch the video version on YouTube now.

Vision Pro Accessories

Aside from my visionOS 2 review, I haven't written much about the Apple Vision Pro in the year that I've had it. That's despite the fact that I really do love the thing and use it to do my professional and creative work nearly every day. I went into some of my reasons for being hesitant to write about the Vision Pro in a recent episode of Magic Rays of Light, but one year in, I feel like it's time for me to devote more of my public creative work to the device, just as it's become a bigger and bigger part of my personal computing life.

My first Vision Pro-centered piece was published yesterday as part of the Club MacStories January Monthly Log. I wrote about three accessories I've recently added to my setup to solve friction points with using the Vision Pro day-to-day. None of them have to do with comfort or fit; rather, they're focused on making the device more convenient and accessible, the way we've come to expect modern computers to be.

If that sounds interesting to you, I hope you'll check out the column. I really enjoyed getting to write about the Vision Pro, and I look forward to sharing more about how I'm using it soon.