This Week's Sponsor:

Soulver 4

The Notepad Calculator for Mac, iPad, and iPhone — Biggest Update in 7 Years

Inside OpenAI’s Codex with Andrew Ambrosino→

On today’s episode of AppStories, Federico and I interview Andrew Ambrosino, the project lead for Codex. It’s a great conversation that covers a lot of ground, including:

  • the long history and many iterations of Codex,
  • the merging of Codex into a new version of ChatGPT based on web technologies,
  • Computer Use and Computer History, which came along with OpenAI’s acquisition of Sky last year, and
  • what goes into designing for user trust.

Then for AppStories+ subscribers, we dug into Andrew’s Mac origin story and some of his favorite Mac apps.

AppStories is available on Apple Podcasts and all your favorite podcast players, as well as YouTube. AppStories+ is a special ad-free, extended version of AppStories that’s delivered a day early in high-bitrate audio for $5/month or $50/year by itself or as part of a Club MacStories Premier membership that adds our weekly and monthly newsletters, app discounts, and other perks for $12/month or $120/year.

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Parker Ortolani’s First Impressions of the Pebble Index AI Smart Ring→

Parker Ortolani on the Pebble Index, the recently released AI smart ring:

Ambient computing is here at home on speakers and in the workplace with apps like Wispr Flow, it’s only a matter of time before we carry it with us everywhere.

The Pebble Index is the best preview of that future. The simple gesture of pressing your thumb to your index finger is unbelievably natural. Especially for quick interactions. I’ve found myself setting more reminders, recording ideas, and keeping lists up-to-date. And I know that everything is being logged on my phone in the Pebble app. Better yet, you can connect the Pebble Index to your other AI tools using MCP. There’s also no reason for skeptics to fret, it’s not always listening for hot words or logging everything it hears.

As Ortolani explains, the device ticks a lot of boxes that other AI gadgets just don’t:

The thing that I think strikes me hardest with the Index is that it’s just so socially inoffensive. It’s a form factor people already love, it’s not distracting, it’s not always listening, and it’s affordable. It could be the first truly noncontroversial AI-first hardware.

I ordered a Pebble Index months ago and it should be coming within the next week or so. I bought it for many of the features Ortolani mentions. It’s on-demand, discreet, and a form factor that doesn’t look out of place. The hardware and software matter a lot with a device like this, but if Pebble has nailed it, I can see it becoming my go-to way to jot down brief notes. I’m excited to give it a try and report back.

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Soulver 4: The Notepad Calculator for Mac, iPad, and iPhone — Biggest Update in 7 Years [Sponsor]

Dear MacStories reader,

It’s Zac here, the developer of Soulver — a notepad calculator you might have heard of. You type your thinking in plain text, and live answers appear in a column alongside as you go.

I started working on Soulver all the way back in 2005. The reason I’m still improving it 20 years on is the enthusiasm of the people who use it: nearly every day, someone writes to tell me how useful it is in their daily work. For many of them it’s one of those apps that stays open all day — for every budget, quote, and what-if.

This summer I released Soulver’s biggest update in 7 years, with 50+ new features. My favorite is trip planning: write out how many nights you’d like to spend in each destination, and Soulver works out the dates of every leg. Rearrange the itinerary and the dates update. There’s nothing quite like it.

Soulver continues to be a one-time purchase, not a subscription. By popular request, it’s now also a universal purchase: buy it once and it’s yours on Mac, iPad & iPhone. And this week, MacStories readers can get Soulver for $20 off: $39 instead of $59. The offer runs through September 11.

Soulver isn’t for everyone. But if you’re the kind of person who likes to think through problems with numbers step by step, give it a try — there’s a free 60-day trial, so you can see if it clicks for you.

Get Soulver 4 for $39 — $20 off for MacStories readers through September 11

Our thanks to Soulver for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Experiencing Apple’s Live Yankees–Red Sox Immersive Baseball Broadcast

Last night, I sat down with my Vision Pro and caught the first part of the Yankees–Red Sox game live in Immersive Video. I wouldn’t call myself a baseball fan these days, but I have fond memories of many summer evenings at Tiger Stadium and Wrigley Field, and I was keen to see how Apple’s immersive broadcast compared.

Having sampled Apple’s other Immersive Video content, but very little of its sports coverage, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Sitting down to watch, I was surprised by how much it felt like I was at Yankee Stadium. Before the first pitch was thrown, the broadcast focused on the Yankees’ starting pitcher as he warmed up. Periodically, the camera angle switched, giving viewers other angles on the pre-game preparations, while the announcers chatted about each team’s season leading up to the game.

Once the game started, the camera switched to positions near each team’s batting circle depending on which team was at bat, occasionally switching to shots behind home plate and in right-center field. During each at bat, a virtual scoreboard showed a 2D feed of the game like you’d see on a regular broadcast bounded by statistics. The additional angle and information were useful for fans, but as someone who was there primarily for the experience, it took away from the immersiveness a little to see a fake scoreboard floating in the sky over the stadium’s right field wall.

That said, the immersiveness was impressive. I found myself looking all around the stadium taking in the sights and spatial audio sounds. The detail was incredible. Fully surrounded by the stadium, I watched as a family walked by with popcorn and drinks and could even read the Poland Spring label on a water bottle in the bullpen.

Then, as I watched the Yankees at bat, I could see someone off camera spitting sunflower seeds in the dirt along the dugout. That sort of minute detail added to the immersiveness of the experience every bit as much as being surrounded by the video feed and soundscape, to the point that when a player entered my view from off camera, I instinctively tucked my legs under me to avoid him tripping over me.

At times, though, I also felt a little too close to the action. It was like I had slipped into a restricted area, an invisible participant, spying on unsuspecting people on the field, waiting for security to discover me and kick me out of the stadium. That feeling was probably driven by the combination of knowing that the broadcast was live and not having watched a lot of Apple immersive sports content, but it was still a little unsettling at first.

As for the game, I didn’t pay very close attention. I don’t follow either team, but it was still fun to watch the game unfold from up close. The dugout camera angles made it slightly harder to see the pitches as they were thrown than it would be from a more traditional outfield camera viewpoint, but it really didn’t take away from the experience.

Ultimately, I only lasted about a half hour. The experience was excellent, but baseball’s pace is just too slow for my taste, so ultimately, I packed up my Vision Pro and caught up on Silo instead.

If you missed the game, it’s available to replay in full along with highlights in the TV app on Vision Pro.

NotesCTL: A Club MacStories Preview of Federico’s Advanced Apple Notes CLI Tool

Throughout 2026, Federico and I have been working on a series of software projects and apps with the help of tools like Codex and Claude Code. Some of those are internal tools, but others are the sort of productivity apps from which anyone can benefit. It’s taken a while because we’re picky (and careful), but the time has come to start releasing the apps we’ve been working on.

Federico actually kicked things off earlier this year with RemCTL, an open-source command-line tool that makes every feature of Apple’s Reminders app available from a terminal. That makes it easy to integrate with automation workflows and agents. I’ve been using RemCTL since before it launched publicly, and it’s now deeply embedded in my everyday Codex workflow.

NotesCTL is perfect for complex research reports generated by agents.

NotesCTL is perfect for complex research reports generated by agents.

Today, Federico released a Club MacStories+ and Premier preview of NotesCTL, a command-line tool for Apple’s Notes app that is available in the Club Discord community and on the Club Downloads page. Over the past couple of months, he’s reverse-engineered every aspect of how Notes works from the ground up. The result is a command-line tool for power-users that exposes every Notes feature for use with scripts, Shortcuts, and, of course, agents, including:

  • tags,
  • subfolders,
  • pinning,
  • rich links,
  • attachments,
  • checklists,
  • headings,
  • tables,
  • audio recordings, and
  • highlights.
NotesCTL's Markdown Exporter.

NotesCTL’s Markdown Exporter.

With the help of an agent, NotesCTL is great for assembling deep research reports. And with its PencilKit support, you can turn SVGs into native drawings that you can edit and color with an Apple Pencil. It’s great for simple mockups and coloring pages for kids. NotesCTL can also transcribe audio recordings from the Notes app and then search the results. Plus, writers will appreciate the app’s Markdown Exporter.

NotesCTL can even create coloring pages for your kids to fill in with the Apple Pencil.

NotesCTL can even create coloring pages for your kids to fill in with the Apple Pencil.

NotesCTL is nearly ready for public release, but if you don’t want to wait, you can access it today by joining Club MacStories+ or Premier. NotesCTL is the first software project that we’ll be releasing as a beta preview exclusively for Club members, but it won’t be the last. Software never seems ready to ship until, suddenly, it is, and we’ve been working on multiple parallel projects all year that are coming together nicely and will also be released early to Club MacStories+ and Premier members.

We’re excited to share everything we’ve been working on at MacStories for the past several months. NotesCTL is the perfect place to start, especially after RemCTL. Apple’s system apps are excellent, but for power users, they can sometimes feel limiting. Federico’s growing collection of CLIs is MacStories’ answer to those frustrations, one that lets power users enjoy the day-to-day elegance of Apple’s system apps, while extending the apps’ utility when you need it.

NotesCTL is currently available in the MacStories Software section of Discord and on the Club Downloads page where you’ll find it listed under “(2026) NotesCTL Beta Preview” for Club MacStories+ and Premier members and will be released publicly later this fall as an open-source project.

Relay Launches Its 2026 Campaign to Benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital→

Today, Relay kicked off its annual fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help combat childhood cancer. In the seven years since the fundraiser began, Relay and its dedicated community of listeners have raised over $4.8 million; a truly amazing figure.

We’d love it if readers joined us in supporting this cause again this year. You can make a donation by visiting here.

The Podcastathon is a big part of the annual fundraiser as Myke Hurley explains on The Enthusiast:

Every year, the Podcastathon for St. Jude is a huge part of our fundraising mission, and we’ve decided that this year we want to turn it into a full-on celebration by having the 12-hour event close out our campaign. So this year we’ll be streaming live on Friday, October 2nd, from the campus of St. Jude.

Also, if you’re not familiar with the story behind Relay’s annual St. Jude Fundraiser, be sure to visit 512 Pixels for the details.

Thanks in advance for checking out Relay’s fundraiser for St. Jude and to all who donate.

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Anthropic Introduces an In-App Browser for Claude Cowork

Hot on the heels of OpenAI’s addition of a cloud-based browser to ChatGPT Work, Anthropic has added an in-app browser to Claude Cowork in its desktop app. What’s interesting about the two browser implementations is that while both ChatGPT Work and Claude Cowork are meant to be used for general knowledge work, Claude Cowork’s browser is something of a hybrid that mixes aspects of OpenAI’s Codex built-in browser with its ChatGPT Work cloud-based browser.

First of all, I do not yet have access to Claude’s in-app browser, so the following is based solely on Anthropic’s announcement and other documentation. Still, the differences are worth understanding since the tools are aimed at different workflows.

Like Codex’s in-app browser, Claude Cowork’s in-app browser is built into the desktop app itself. That ties Claude’s browser to the instance of its app running on your Mac. Turn your Mac off or close the Claude app, and the browser becomes unavailable. Leave the Claude app running, and you’ll be able to control the browser session remotely through the Claude mobile app or the web.

From there, however, the browsers diverge. As you’d expect, the Codex implementation is developer-oriented, with tools to build, inspect, and annotate web pages along with access to a terminal, repos, and diffs. In contrast, Claude Cowork’s in-app browser opens automatically as needed for general-purpose web tasks instead of development tasks.

Also, while both ChatGPT Work’s and Claude Cowork’s browser implementations benefit from being isolated from your other day-to-day browser use outside those apps, their handling of login credentials is a little different. As I wrote in greater detail yesterday, ChatGPT separates the login process from the model’s activity and evaluates the login page for things like phishing schemes. Claude Cowork’s in-app browser offers two ways to log in: manually, or by importing cookies from logged-in sessions in another browser. Currently, Claude supports cookie imports on the Mac from Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, but not Safari. In addition to the security benefits that come with a browser that runs isolated from your everyday browser, Claude also requests permission before acting on a site for the first time, blocks high-risk sites, checks actions against the your requests, and uses the same prompt injection protections as its Chrome extension.

My first-run experience with ChatGPT Work’s cloud browser was a mixed bag but showed promise. Although I haven’t tried Claude Cowork’s browser yet, I’m glad to see Anthropic moving in the same direction as OpenAI here. Isolating agent browsing by bringing the browser into Claude and ChatGPT doesn’t solve every security issue, but it’s a good starting point. I expect we’ll see both Anthropic and OpenAI iterate quickly on this theme in the coming months.