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MacStories Weekly: Issue 511

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The iPad Finally Becomes a Gaming Console with CloudGear

My iPad has been gathering dust. I bought it last May – an 11” M4 iPad Pro with 512GB of storage and a Magic Keyboard – mostly for writing, photo and video editing, and experimenting with Apple’s seemingly renewed focus on gaming. On paper, it excels at all of these things. While the M4 chip

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Monthly Log: April 2026

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Immersive Basketball Games Come to Apple Vision Pro on January 9

Last year, Apple announced a partnership with cable company Spectrum and the Los Angeles Lakers to stream select games in Apple Immersive Video on Vision Pro. Today, the company announced the schedule and availability of the games, which will be offered via Spectrum Front Row starting this Friday. These are the dates the games will

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Immersive Lakers Game Now Widely Available on Apple Vision Pro

Last Friday, basketball fans in the Los Angeles Lakers market got their first glimpse of an immersive live game when the Lakers faced the Milwaukee Bucks on Spectrum Front Row on Apple Vision Pro. While that experience was limited geographically and only available to Spectrum customers via the Spectrum SportsNet app, the game replay is

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Cronos: The New Dawn Showcases the Mac’s MetalFX and Ray Tracing

Top-tier games continue to roll out on Apple's platforms at a steady clip. Recently, Crimson Desert landed on the Mac on the same day as other platforms, and then last week, Control: Ultimate Edition added support for the iPhone and iPad, joining the Mac version that was released last year. Today, Cronos: The New Dawn,

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How I Revived My Decade-Old App with Claude Code

Every holiday season, Federico and I spend our downtime on nerd projects. This year, both of us spent a lot of that time building tools for ourselves with Claude Code in what developed into a bit of a competition as we each tried to one-up the other's creations. We'll have more on what we've been

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Podcast Rewind: App Gaps Filled, GameCubes Emulated, Quick Reads Released, Holidays Bridged, and Craig Hockenberry Interviewed

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories' family of podcasts: AppStories This week, John and Federico cover Apple's executive transition, follow up on OpenAI's super app, share the apps they're looking for, and give each other suggestions on how to fill their app gaps. On AppStories+, we round up the tools we've built for ourselves that

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Astropad Workbench Rethinks Remote Mac Control for AI Agents

There are a lot of ways to connect remotely to a Mac, and I've tried most of them. Today, though, I want to focus on one in particular: Astropad Workbench, an app and service for remotely connecting to your Mac that includes unique features that make it a compelling choice on the iPhone and iPad,

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Copilot Money: The Apple Editor’s Choice App for Managing Your Money [Sponsor]

Copilot Money, the only personal finance app to win an Apple Editor's Choice award, now gives you a seamless, cross-device way to manage your money across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Web. With Copilot's beautifully designed interface and powerful financial insights, you can see your spending, budgets, investments, and net worth all in one place. Everything

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Apple Unveils Apple Creator Studio App Suite

Today, Apple announced Apple Creator Studio, a suite of creativity apps for the Mac and iPad combined with premium content and features for productivity apps across the company’s platforms. This collection of apps, which includes the debut of Pixelmator Pro for iPad, offers tools for creative professionals, aspiring artists, students, and others working across a

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My Favorite Gear From CES 2026 – and Some Weird and Wonderful Gadgets, Too

It's CES time again, which means another edition of our annual roundup of the most eye-catching gadgets seasoned with a helping of weird and wonderful tech. I'm sure it will come as no surprise that robots, AI, and TVs are some of the most prominent themes at CES in 2026, but there's a lot more,

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Podcast Rewind: Black Friday Gadgets and This Year’s Best Shows and Movies

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories' family of podcasts: Comfort Zone Matt wants to give the AirPods Pro 3 a piece of his mind, Niléane has another old school music app for the Mac, and everyone brings their best Black Friday deals. (Uh, hope you got them already. ?) This week's Cozy Zone is the

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Coding Agents Are Reshaping the App Store

While I think it's fair to take reports from Appfigures and its cohorts with a large grain of salt, its latest report that the App Store is booming rings true to me. As Sarah Perez reports for TechCrunch, first quarter 2026 app releases were up 60% year-over-year. That's in line with a surge that occurred

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Podcast Rewind: Codex, GameHub, a Mouse Lament, a Peacock Invasion, and an Interview with Niléane Dorffer

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories' family of podcasts: AppStories This week on AppStories, John shares a tip for moving files with Taildrop before he and Federico dig into Codex and its unique capabilities. On AppStories+, Federico and John have both returned to Apple Reminders and discuss why and how they're using it. NPC: Next

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Spotify CLI Turns Personalized Audio into a Podcast Feed

Spotify introduced a new feature called Personal Podcasts today that's really clever. It's a CLI, a set of agent skills, and a Claude plugin available from GitHub that, once installed, lets users prompt AI agents to create personalized audio that can be listened to like a podcast. Here's how Spotify explains the feature: People are

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Coming Soon: What’s Next on Apple TV and Apple Arcade in May 2026

It’s a new month and it's F1 season, which means it's time for a roundup of everything coming to Apple TV and Apple Arcade in May 2026. This month we're adding F1 and other sports airing on Apple TV this month, starting with tomorrow's Miami Grand Prix, and continuing below with the Canadian Grand Prix

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Apple Introduces New and Improved AirTag

In a press release today, Apple launched a second-generation AirTag that features an upgraded components, making it easier to locate than the original 2021 AirTag. The new AirTag features a bunch of new hardware packed into the same design as the original version, including: the same second-generation Ultra Wideband chip found in the iPhone 17,

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Apple’s Executive Leadership Transition Announced

Apple today announced major changes to its executive leadership team. In short, John Ternus will become CEO, Tim Cook will become the Executive Chairman of the company's board of directors, and Johny Srouji is chief hardware officer effective immediately. Ternus, who is Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, will fill the CEO role beginning

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OpenClaw Showed Me What the Future of Personal AI Assistants Looks Like

Update, February 6: I've published an in-depth guide with advanced tips for secure credentials, memory management, automations, and proactive work with OpenClaw for our Club members here. For the past week or so, I’ve been working with a digital assistant that knows my name, my preferences for my morning routine, how I like to use

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Apple Reports Q2 2026 Revenue of $111.2 Billion

Today, Apple reported its 2026 Q2 earnings, posting quarterly revenue of $111.2 billion. Apple CEO Tim Cook had this to say of the results: Today Apple is proud to report our best March quarter ever, with revenue of $111.2 billion and double-digit growth across every geographic segment. iPhone achieved a March quarter revenue record, fueled by

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GameHub’s Desktop Beta Promises to Expand Mac Gaming

If you follow our show NPC: Next Portable Console, you probably know about GameHub, an app from controller maker GameSir. GameHub first appeared on Android, where it has become one of the hottest recent developments in handheld gaming because it lets you play Windows PC games on Android devices. That's not something that's possible on

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How I Used Claude to Build a Transcription Bot that Learns From Its Mistakes

[Update: Due to the way parakeet-mlx handles transcript timeline synchronization, which can result in caption timing issues, this workflow has been reverted to use the Apple Speech framework. Otherwise, the workflow remains the same as described below.] When I started transcribing AppStories and MacStories Unwind three years ago, I had wanted to do so for

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Apple Confirms AI Partnership with Google

Apple has confirmed to CNBC that it has entered into a multi-year partnership with Google to use the search giant's models and cloud technology for its own AI efforts. According to an unnamed Apple spokesperson: After careful evaluation, we determined that Google’s technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we’re excited

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Podcast Rewind: Building Personalized Software, Steam Machine Pricing Rumors, Matt Podcasts Solo, and Ted Danson

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories' family of podcasts: AppStories This week, Federico and John complete their tour of holiday projects with a look at the tools both of them built with the help of Claude Code, Codex, and other tools. On AppStories+, John pushes Claude Code by building a Safari web extension that integrates

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Podcast Rewind: Apps in 2026 and The Best Handhelds of the Year

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories' family of podcasts: AppStories This week, Federico and John look ahead to 2026 and what it will mean for apps, smarter Siri, and more. On AppStories+, Federico and John update listeners on their latest app experiments and holiday hardware projects. NPC: Next Portable Console This week, Brendon, Federico, and

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Coming Soon: What’s Next on Apple TV and Apple Arcade in January 2026

To ring in the new year, Apple has a great lineup of returning Apple TV shows and brand-new Apple Arcade games on the way, with everything kicking off later this week. Here are the highlights. Apple Arcade Games (January 8) On January 8th, Apple will release four new games: True Skate+: a skateboarding simulator with

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Remodex Is the Best Codex Remote Client for iOS (Until OpenAI Releases an Official Codex Mobile App)

Various OpenAI employees and members of the Codex team have been hinting at a native Codex app for iOS lately. While I very much hope that’s in the cards – especially if the project involves connecting to a remote Mac running the full Codex app – I wanted to highlight an indie utility I’ve been

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Apple Releases Watch Band, Watch Face, and Wallpapers to Celebrate Pride Month

Apple has released its annual Pride Collection, including a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Sport Loop band, watch face, and iPhone and iPad wallpapers celebrating LGBTQ+ communities. The commemorative Sport Loop uses 11 colors of nylon thread that blend the colors together in a unique way. As Apple's press release puts it: The intricate weaving

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WinterFest 2025: The Winter Festival Of Artisanal Software [Sponsor]

WinterFest 2025: The Festival of Artisanal Software is back with a fantastic new collection of carefully crafted software for writing, research, and thinking. Innovative software often comes from small teams, crafted with imagination and a vision of a better way to work. There are no bundles, games, or prices that are too good to be

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Podcast Rewind: Steam Controllers on a Boat, Life with the MacBook Neo, North Carolina BBQ, and an Interview with Nate Parrott

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories' family of podcasts: AppStories This week, we draw from Federico's experience creating the Apple Frames 4 shortcut and CLI to discuss the multiplier effect that AI agents can have in the hands of someone with deep domain expertise. On AppStories+, we share our AI agent mishaps and horror stories

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The Iconfactory Launches Kickstarter to Expand Ollie’s Arcade with Frenzic

Ollie's Arcade was launched in 2023 by The Iconfactory with three mini-games reminiscent of beloved classic videogames. Today, the company launched a Kickstarter campaign with the goal of raising $20,000. If reached, The Iconfactory will make Ollie's Arcade free and bring its game Frenzic to the bundle. Frenzic was one of the earliest iOS game

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Podcast Rewind: Holiday Break Projects, CES Gaming Announcements, MagSafe Accessories, and Clawdbot

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories' family of podcasts: AppStories This week, Federico and John are back from their holiday break, which included so many hardware and automation projects that this is part one of a two-part episode regarding Federico's networked music automation setup and John's new research tool. On AppStories+, Federico shares his foldable

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iOS 26.5 Adds RCS Encryption in Beta Starting Today

Apple announced that beginning today, users on iOS 26.5 will be able to send encrypted RCS messages to Google Messages users who are on the latest version of that app. Apple says that means a message that is intercepted in transit is unreadable. You'll be able to tell if your messages are encrypted by a

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New Year, New Audio Setup: SoundSource from Rogue Amoeba [Sponsor]

If better Mac audio is on your list of resolutions for 2026, the folks at Rogue Amoeba have you covered with SoundSource, their essential audio control app. SoundSource provides audio control so useful, it ought to be built in to MacOS. Get instant access to your Mac’s audio settings right from the menu bar, with

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OpenAI Targets Coding and Knowledge Work with Its New GPT-5.5 Model

OpenAI announced GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.5 Pro today, which it says are faster and able to work more autonomously than the company's previous models. It's a message that is sure to interest business users whether their goal is accelerating software development or increasing productivity more generally. Some of the areas that OpenAI says GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.5

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MacStories Weekly: Issue 510

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MacStories Weekly: Issue 512

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A Look at Apple’s 2026 Swift Student Challenge Winners

Earlier today, Apple profiled the accomplishments of Swift Student Challenge winners. The 350 students who built the winning app playgrounds come from 37 countries and were chosen from the largest pool of participants ever. Susan Prescott, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations said of the competition's entries: The breadth of creativity we see in

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Podcast Rewind: Tech Predictions, A New Game Show, and Weird CES Returns

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories' family of podcasts: Comfort Zone Last week was the annual predictions episode! The gang reflected on their predictions from 2025 and then made their Guaranteed To Be Correct Predictions for 2026. No boring predictions here; we started at Pro predictions and went all the way to Pro Max. Last

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Pedometer++ 8: Glimmers of an Apple Wrist Renaissance

Today, when you mention David Smith's name, most people probably think of Widgetsmith, his runaway success that caught fire on TikTok and is still going strong today. But for me, Pedometer++ is what comes to mind first. Still a couple of years away from releasing my own apps or writing at MacStories, I was fascinated