Cubox: A Brand-New Desktop Web Version

• Platform: Web
• Keywords: Read It Later, AI Assistance

@ElijahLee: The read-it-later and knowledge management app Cubox has launched a brand-new desktop Web version, featuring an all-new visual design, multiple layout options, a powerful detail control panel, and support for AI-assisted reading.

First, the desktop Web version adopts a multi-column layout that follows common productivity software conventions. From left to right, the interface is divided into article categories, article cards, the reading area, and an information panel on the far right. The article cards themselves also offer multiple layout styles: the default single-column, dual-pane layout combining cards and reading; and a multi-column grid that lays out all articles as cards on the screen, requiring a click to enter reading mode—ideal for users who primarily filter content by titles.

In the upper-left corner of the reading area, an expand button allows you to collapse all functional panels and retain only the reader, enabling a full-screen immersive reading mode. In this state, using Command + arrow keys lets you quickly switch between the previous and next articles without returning to the multi-column layout, preserving the continuity of the immersive experience.

Cubox also integrates AI-assisted reading. By opening the right-side information panel, users can access AI-generated quick interpretations of articles, key questions, and rapid highlights. The Q&A feature enables AI-based conversational queries, allowing users to type questions or topics related to the article and quickly receive answers. The app also provides a wide range of preset prompts, such as generating a brief summary, extracting key arguments, or writing a short shareable blurb.

On the far right of the information panel is a detailed control panel that allows full customization of an article’s metadata, including the title, description, category assignment, and added headings. When you come across an interesting article, you can edit and organize it here at any time—adding it to favorites or assigning category tags to quickly save important materials for future reference or review.

Batch editing is another standout feature of the desktop Web version. When you move the cursor to the checkbox in the upper-right corner of an article card, the selection box automatically enlarges. Clicking it enters batch selection mode, allowing you to quickly select multiple articles and edit their information, add tags, or apply star ratings from the right panel. In the multi-column grid layout, batch editing becomes even more efficient: all actions are arranged at the top, and you can complete operations by dragging multiple items to the target function, making the workflow extremely efficient.

For features that users have frequently requested, the desktop Web version also introduces several improvements. These include: text items in the Inbox being marked as unread by default and disappearing automatically once reading is completed; annotation lists supporting both single-column and multi-column views, as well as batch operations. The search function retains both quick search and detailed search modes—the former for fast content location, and the latter for browsing or managing groups of items in bulk.

Overall, Cubox’s desktop Web version is optimized for web performance, supporting immersive reading, batch organization, detailed annotations, AI assistance, and real-time syncing, while setting aside some non-core features. It is well suited for high-density long-form reading scenarios, as well as for systematic organization and repeated reference later on. You can access it via the official website.

Cubox Pro is available for purchase on SSPAI, and the app supports iOS, iPadOS, macOS, Android, Windows, and more.

Updatest: One-Stop Management, Updating, and Migration for Mac Apps

• Platform: macOS
• Keywords: App Updates

@Vanilla: As Apple continues to tighten permission controls in macOS, more and more developers are choosing to distribute their apps outside the Mac App Store in order to offer more powerful features. At the same time, a large number of independent developers prefer not to pay the “Apple tax,” opting instead to distribute open-source apps through platforms like GitHub.

As a result, I’ve found that the sources of apps installed on my Mac have become increasingly fragmented—ranging from the App Store and official websites to GitHub and Homebrew. Unless an app pops up an in-app update notification, I rarely think about proactively updating these apps scattered across so many channels.

This is where Updatest comes in. It neatly solves this problem by automatically scanning all apps on your Mac and displaying real-time update information. With the exception of apps downloaded from the App Store, most updates can be completed in Updatest with a single click. Beyond that, Updatest also offers a complete solution for migrating apps between distribution channels, along with a range of other practical features.

After being granted the system “App Management” permission, Updatest can scan all installed applications and CLI dependencies on your Mac. In the INSTALLED section, you can view a complete list of installed apps under the Apps tab. The app list also shows version information for apps with available updates, and clicking the Update button allows you to update them directly. Clicking on any app takes you to its detail page, where you can update it, migrate it, add a source, or skip/ignore updates.

On the detail page, Updatest also displays the app’s release notes, update sources, app information, permission requests, and security details—much like an app page in the App Store.

Under the Adoptable tab, you can see apps that are suitable for migration to Homebrew for unified management. Updatest intelligently matches these apps with their corresponding Homebrew cask names, saving you from manual searching or guesswork. Before migrating, you simply need to ensure the app is updated to the latest version, select your preferred version under Cask Options, and then click Adopt to complete the one-click migration. Once migrated, apps installed from other sources can be managed and updated through Homebrew going forward. All app data is preserved during the process, so there’s no need to start from scratch.

In the CLI tab, you can view all dependency packages installed on the machine. If you do development work on this Mac, or use services that rely heavily on CLI tools, it’s easy to accumulate a large number of dependencies. Through Updatest’s interface, you can inspect each dependency’s details and relationships, and perform actions such as refreshing, ignoring, or uninstalling them.

The UPDATES and SOURCES sections are essentially extensions of the INSTALLED section. The former filters out apps and Homebrew formulae that currently have updates available, while the latter categorizes all apps by source—including App Store, Homebrew, Sparkle, Metadata, Electron, GitHub, and Manual—making it easy to quickly review and manage them in batches.

Updatest can be downloaded for free from the official website, or installed via Homebrew:

brew tap updatest/tap https://github.com/updatest/tap.git && brew install –cask updatest

After the initial installation, Updatest offers a 14-day free trial. Once the trial expires, a one-time license purchase is required: a personal license costs $12.99 and supports up to three Macs; a family license costs $24.99 and supports up to ten Macs; enterprise licenses require contacting the developer directly for pricing.

Repo Store: A GitHub-Style Google Play

• Platform: Android
• Keywords: App Store

@大大大K: Not long ago, we introduced GitHub Store, an “app store” that aggregates open-source app projects published on GitHub, making them easier for users to discover and install, while also helping developers promote their work. The app we’re introducing today—Repo Store—is a similar project, but with more effort put into its UI.

At first glance, Repo Store looks exactly like an old version of Google Play. The UI structure of the “Apps” tab in particular—the search bar, category tabs, and bottom navigation bar—feels almost like a 1:1 recreation of the previous-generation Google Play design. The layout of the content area is also strikingly similar.

That said, as a new product, its content is still relatively sparse, and there are no custom banner images. But this doesn’t mean Repo Store is just a pretty shell with no substance. Even without an “editor’s picks” section, you can still use the search function to find any project on GitHub that has a release. Just like GitHub itself, Repo Store lets you view the content of a project’s homepage. With a README.md serving as a built-in introduction, who understands an app better than its own developer?

If you plan to use Repo Store as your primary tool for discovering open-source apps, it’s recommended to authorize GitHub access in the settings to avoid hitting API rate limits. Repo Store also supports GitHub mirror proxies—simply enable the proxy option in the download settings and enter the address.

If you compare Repo Store with GitHub Store, the latter does feel more “down to earth,” as it directly pulls curated project lists and saves users the trouble of manually browsing recommendations. Repo Store, on the other hand, seems to have ambitions to grow bigger and stronger—given time, it might truly become a “GitPlay Store.” If this app store interests you, you can download it for free from GitHub or IzzyOnDroid, and users of the Obtainium manager can add it directly as well.

BooxReader: A Local E-Book Reader App by Boox

• Platform: Android
• Keywords: E-reader

Taking advantage of the tail end of the recent Double 11 sales, I bought a Boox Leaf 5 and started a very pleasant reading journey. After importing a few books into the device, I was pleasantly surprised by how good Boox’s built-in local reader felt, and ended up alternating between it and WeChat Reading. Recently, I learned that Onyx Boox has also developed a local e-book reader app for Android, so I decided to download it and give it a try—mainly to see whether it can deliver a good reading experience even without buying a Boox e-ink device.

At the moment, BooxReader can be downloaded from the Play Store and various Chinese app marketplaces, though there is no obvious promotion on Boox’s official website. After installation, books can be added to the bookshelf either from within the app or by sharing them from other apps. In-app book importing supports automatic scanning, manual selection of local files, and even Wi-Fi transfer. The Wi-Fi transfer feature makes it easy to share books from other devices over the network, offering both browser-based transfer and QR-code transfer options, which work well whether you’re using a computer or another mobile device.

For books on the bookshelf, you can choose between a list view and a cover view. You can also create book collections to better manage different categories. Tapping into a book’s detail page shows information such as reading progress, number of notes, and total reading time.

When you enter the reading interface, the app’s onboarding is very minimal, covering only basic page-turning gestures and settings. Tapping the center of the screen brings up the settings panel. BooxReader includes four built-in reading themes—Default, Vintage, Focus, and Relax—each with its own preset font size and line spacing. You can select a theme and then further customize it. The customization options are quite rich and are almost identical to those found on Boox’s e-ink readers.

Font selection, which has a significant impact on the reading experience, is another strong point. BooxReader comes with 18 built-in fonts, including six Chinese fonts such as Jinghua Old Song, Hanchan Regular Script, and Zhuque FangSong, all of which are also available on Boox devices. Some additional supplementary fonts are included as well. If these still don’t meet your needs, there is also a font import option, although at present it doesn’t seem possible to directly import fonts already downloaded locally.

Beyond appearance, BooxReader offers a wide range of settings related to reading habits, allowing you to fine-tune the experience until it feels just right. Outside of reading, BooxReader also includes a text-to-speech feature. It supports multiple languages and offers different voices for each. When your hands or eyes are occupied, listening to a book can be a good alternative—provided you’re willing to spend a bit of time getting used to the machine’s flat, emotionless delivery.

If you’re interested in BooxReader, you can download it from the Play Store or your phone’s built-in app marketplace and give it a try. The app is currently completely free to use.

LiveGrab: Make Your Own Live Photos

• Platform: iOS
• Keywords: Live Photos

@化学心情下2: Recently I came across a small utility app called LiveGrab. Its core features are extracting high-resolution still images from videos, and turning video clips into Live Photos.

The app’s functionality is split into two parts: extracting HD photos and creating Live Photos. Extracting HD photos essentially means capturing specific frames from a video. You can choose the default preview album view, or tap the “Frame View” at the bottom to select frames. Personally, I prefer the frame view—it feels more like picking shots from a strip of photographic film.

Once you’ve chosen a frame you like, simply tap Export in the bottom-right corner to share the extracted frame. You can save it to the system photo library, or send it to other devices or third-party apps for further editing.

Creating a Live Photo works much like selecting a clip from a video. After choosing a video from your photo library, you can select a segment in the slicing window at the bottom. You can also drag the ends of the clip selection to adjust the range and duration. In the editing area above, you can control options such as whether to keep the audio and whether the clip should loop.

You can download LiveGrab from the App Store.

Desktop Composer: One-Click macOS Appearance Switching

• Platform: macOS
• Keywords: Desktop Themes

@Snow: Desktop Composer is a theme-switching app for macOS. Unlike most similar apps that only change wallpapers and toggle light/dark mode, Desktop Composer lets you preset a wide range of appearance options within a theme—including wallpapers, system appearance, liquid glass effects, accent colors, icon styles, folder colors, and more. It even supports personalized theme color management for third-party apps such as Alfred and Bear.

Desktop Composer divides its configuration into four columns. The first column is dedicated to wallpaper management. The app includes 23 built-in wallpapers across three categories—color blocks, solid colors, and gradients. You can also import custom wallpapers in advance based on these categories, making them easy to call up later when configuring themes.

The second column focuses on system appearance adjustments. It covers most options found under “System Settings → Appearance,” including system appearance, liquid glass effects, accent colors, icon and widget styles, and folder colors. In this section, Desktop Composer also provides the Stage Manager toggle from “System Settings → Desktop & Dock,” along with various Dock-related settings. You can also choose whether to automatically hide the menu bar.

The last two columns primarily serve third-party apps. Desktop Composer currently supports 10 apps, including Alfred, Bear, and Obsidian. If these apps are installed on your macOS system, you can customize their color schemes for the current theme under the Apps or Tools sections.

Desktop Composer comes with nine built-in theme presets, and you can click the “+” button in the left sidebar to add new themes. After selecting a theme, simply click the activate button in the top-right corner of the configuration page to apply it instantly. The app also offers a menu bar shortcut: click the menu bar icon and select the desired theme from the pop-up window. If your daily work or study routine follows a relatively fixed schedule, you can set up timed automation in the app’s settings to switch themes automatically based on the time of day—useful both for adapting to different workflows and for avoiding being blinded by a light theme late at night.

Desktop Composer is currently priced at $19.99 on the official website and offers a 30-day free trial. Since changing appearances is not a frequent need for most users and the app’s price is relatively high, it’s recommended to try it out first before deciding whether to purchase. Desktop Composer is also available on Setapp—if you’re already a Setapp subscriber, you can use it at no additional cost.

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