# What's New at the Blog - Shortcuts, Automation & a Dash of Humor

**Author:** Aidan Maurin-Jones


**Published:** 2025-09-29




**Canonical:** https://blog.aidanmaurinjones.com/newsletter/whats-new-at-the-blog---shortcuts-automation--a-dash-of-humor/


Hey there,

I hope this finds you well and a little curious — I’ve got a fresh batch of blog posts to 
share! Whether you’re into smart home automations, shortcuts that save time, or just a little 
bit of silliness when dealing with spam, there’s something here for you.

⸻

## 📰 What’s New

Here are the recent posts you might enjoy (plus one or two you may already have seen):

• **[Fighting Spam with Automation: A Shortcut for Writing Hilarious Replies](https://aidanmaurinjones.com/posts/fighting-spam-with-automation--a-shortcut-for-writing-hilarious-replies)**

Ever want to send snarky replies to spam—but without typing them out yourself? This post 
walks through a Shortcut that drafts sarcastic, AI-powered responses to spam, just for the 
chuckle.

• **[Automating TP-Link / Kasa Devices with Shortcuts](https://aidanmaurinjones.com/posts/automating-tp-link-kasa-devices-with-shortcuts/)**

Unlock more control over your smart plugs and bulbs by integrating them with Apple Shortcuts.

• **[Get This Week’s Events: A Smarter Calendar Shortcut](https://aidanmaurinjones.com/posts/get-this-weeks-events-a-smarter-calendar-shortcut/)**

Automate the process of extracting your week’s events and display them in the Apple Shortcuts 
app.

• **[App Store Links Made Beautiful with Shortcuts](https://aidanmaurinjones.com/posts/app-store-links-made-beautiful-with-shortcuts/)**

Turn ugly, long App Store links into clean, pretty ones (and even automate it).

• **[I Could Write This Blog in Notepad](https://aidanmaurinjones.com/posts/i-could-write-this-blog-in-notepad/)**

A reflection on how simple the publishing stack really is—plain text, Markdown, GitHub Pages, 
and some automation.

⸻

## ✨ Spotlight

**Fighting Spam with Automation** is the kind of fun-first Shortcut project I love doing: it’s 
not optimized for productivity, but it stretches the boundaries of what Shortcuts + local 
AI can do. Using AppleScript + a local LM Studio model, the setup fetches an email, crafts 
a witty (borderline absurd) reply, and drops it into a draft. I didn’t send it — mostly I 
just laughed.  

But beyond the jokes, there’s a deeper idea here: using Shortcuts to glue together different 
systems—in this case, email, scripting, and local AI. Everything is local, everything is 
private, and everything is yours to tinker with.

⸻

## 🛠️ Why You Might Try These

If any of this resonates, here are some ways you could put these posts to use:

- **Make your smart home more powerful it** --> Automate TP-Link, SwitchBot devices via 
Shortcuts + API
- **Simplify blog or web publishing it** --> Use the “Post Buttons” or “iCloud Links it --> 
Share Buttons” tricks
- **Tidy up link clutter it** --> Beautify App Store links or automate Alfred app cards
- **Laugh at spam instead of regretting it** --> Build the “roast the spammer” Shortcut
- **Understand the minimal stack behind your blog	it** --> Read the “I Could Write This 
Blog in Notepad” piece

⸻

**If you liked any of those, I’d appreciate it if you’d:**

1.	**Reply it** --> tell me which post you liked (or which one you’re going to try)
2.	**Share it** --> forward this newsletter to a friend who loves automation
3.	**Bookmark it** --> keep it somewhere you’ll revisit when you need inspiration

As always, thanks for reading. I’m already brainstorming what’s next (maybe something with 
HomeKit, or combining shortcuts + other tools you love). Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Aidan 👋

[aidanmaurinjones.com](https://aidanmaurinjones.com)

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