Unbelievably, this is our last Weekly Wrap before Thanksgiving (“Siri, explain to me how November flew by so fast”). So we thought this we’d focus on stories from the past week that relate to things we’re feeling thankful for—specifically iTunes Match, iOS, and the Mac.
Matchmaker
Apple promised it would release iTunes Match by the end of October, and indeed, this past October 45th, the company unveiled its new $25 per year music service. And after all the waiting, we definitely got a bit excited: We went hands-on with the service, we praised it, we worked around its 25,000 song limit, and we complained about its 25,000 song limit.
But we didn’t stop there. We podcasted about iTunes Match, we told you what you need to know about iTunes Match, and then also a few iTunes Match secrets that quite frankly you don’t need to know, but still, we think they’re pretty interesting. We showed you how to upgrade your tracks quickly with the service, how to fix Match errors, how to manage multiple Apple IDs with the service, how to toggle between Match and iTunes syncing, and how to interpret what all the different iTunes Match statuses mean. The one article we didn’t write—because we lack the expertise—is how to stop obsessing over iTunes Match.
Yes, yes, iOS
Perhaps no other operating system has been so good at helping you get things done while simultaneously offering oodles of options to distract you from getting things done. For when you need your iPhone to alert you about really important emails, don’t miss Jason Snell’s video guide to using Boxar’s email alerts. And for keeping your battery full despite all the hours of iPhone games you’re playing, check our review of the PhoneSuit Elite battery case.
As always, we covered a slew of apps. Among them:
- Verbs—which necessitated some adjectives;
- Gmail—which, after a brief respite, bounced back into the App Store like an invalid email address
- Mailing Desk—for sending fancier Gmail email to males or females;
- Next—a task management app that I told to remind me to add a joke here at some point;
- and Mighty Fin—a fish-themed game we reviewed just for the halibut.
We can’t let a week go by without covering at least a few iOS accessories, either. We reviewed the Arexit A-Fold iPad stand, though sadly our review doesn’t include advice on pronouncing the company’s name. We also reviewed the Incase Origami Sleeve. And we published our Gear Guide for iPhones and iPads.
Daddy Mac
On the Mac side, we reviewed Logitech’s solar-powered keyboard. (Or should I say we shed some light on it?)
Elsewhere, we shared six unexpected uses for the Application Switcher, along with five unexpected uses for the Escape key. This proves our long-held theory: Escape key behavior is ever-so-slightly more expected than Application Switcher behavior. Our work here is done.
And so too is our Weekly Wrap done as well. We hope your Thanksgiving you leaves you feeling no more stuffed than your turkey, and that no part of your holiday turns fowl. And we’ll be back to wrap your week again in early December.