John Voorhees

5631 posts on MacStories since November 2015

John is MacStories' Managing Editor, has been writing about Apple and apps since joining the team in 2015, and today, runs the site alongside Federico. John also co-hosts four MacStories podcasts: AppStories, which covers the world of apps, MacStories Unwind, which explores the fun differences between American and Italian culture and recommends media to listeners, Ruminate, a show about the weird web and unusual snacks, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about the games we take with us.
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@johnvoorhees.macstories.net
voorhees@macstories.net

OpenAI Bets Big on Building an Everything App→

OpenAI is making a big bet. One as old as time – at least time as measured by the course of app history. Having abandoned Sora and SmutGPT, the company has put all of its chips on an everything app, raising $122 billion to build it and fund its other operations.

If you listen to AppStories, you know this is a topic that goes back to our earliest episodes. Everything apps, known more commonly these days as superapps, have beguiled companies big and small forever. The temptation of “what if we stuffed so much in our app that nobody would leave” is hard to resist, but often fails. Just ask Mark Zuckerberg.

OpenAI is up front about its ambitions:

As models become more capable, the limiting factor shifts from intelligence to usability. Users do not want disconnected tools. They want a single system that can understand intent, take action, and operate across applications, data, and workflows. Our superapp will bring together ChatGPT, Codex, browsing, and our broader agentic capabilities into one agent-first experience.

Maybe. Look, I think AI is one of the most significant innovations of my lifetime, but for my money, I also think this a classic example of the mismatch between what users sometimes say they want and what companies want to hear.

However, I’m willing to entertain the idea that AI might be different. After all, it’s closer to a natural language OS than your typical productivity app in just enough ways that it may just work as a sort of super-layer that sits on top of “real” OSes like macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android.

Part of what OpenAI is imagining is straight out of the iOS playbook:

Our consumer scale becomes the front door for enterprise usage, as familiarity in daily life drives adoption at work.

I remember when my old law firm finally caved and swapped Blackberries for the iPhone its employees were demanding. So, it’s not unprecedented that consumer demand can drive enterprise adoption, but historically, it’s rare.

And, while I agree with OpenAI that “Moments like this do not come often,” its comparison of its product to electricity and highways strikes me as a bit much. Will the app that OpenAI is imagining be something that will fundamentally reshape your life or will it be just another thing that competes for your attention, like TikTok? That’s the $122 billion bet OpenAI is making, and based on my experience with everything apps, I’ll take the other side of that bet.

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Here’s to 50 More

In 2022, I walked into the Oakbrook Mall Apple Store toting a 2007 Intel-based iMac and other miscellaneous gear that had no trade-in value. We were about to leave Illinois for North Carolina, and I wanted to recycle as much of my old computer hardware as possible. The person who helped me had just one...

The MacBook Neo Takes on Retro Gaming→

I love when my interests collide, and today, thanks to Russ Crandall, that’s exactly what happened. You see, Crandall runs Retro Game Corps, a YouTube channel covering the world of videogame emulation, handheld consoles, mini PCs, and more. It’s an excellent channel that we’ve covered multiple times on NPC: Next Portable Console, and yesterday, Crandall made a video exploring the MacBook Neo’s emulation capabilities.

It turns out that the Neo pulls its weight with more than productivity apps. It’s also does quite well with game emulation, some Steam titles, and streaming, with a couple of caveats.

Seeing is believing when it comes to emulation, so it’s worth seeing how your favorite systems fare before diving into emulation on the Neo yourself, but I was surprised to see how well the Neo did even on systems as recent as the Nintendo Switch 1. Beyond the GameCube, it’s hit or miss what will run well, but older systems like NES, Game Boy, GBA, SNES, PS1, PSP, 3DS, PS2, Dreamcast, and Saturn games all ran well and in most cases at upscaled resolutions and with shaders applied.

Probably the biggest limitation Crandall ran into is when he tried running games from more recent systems on external storage over the Neo’s USB-C 2 port, while using the USB-C 3 port for a capture card. Games from more recent systems are larger, so for anyone who wants to stream their gameplay, the Neo’s 256GB or optional 512GB internal storage could be a limitation.

That said, I was pleased to see how well the MacBook Neo handled emulation. Paired with lighter-weight Steam games, streaming on services like GeForce NOW, thanks to the Neo’s Wi-Fi 6E, and the App Store’s own catalog of native games, the Neo offers a lot of options for your downtime too.

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Deals Worth Checking Out Before Amazon’s Big Spring Sale Ends

Sonos Ace Headphones, The Aqara Hub G5 Pro, and MOFT's Magnetic Wallet Stand.

Sonos Ace Headphones, The Aqara Hub G5 Pro, and MOFT’s Magnetic Wallet Stand.

Amazon’s Big Spring Sale is wrapping up tomorrow, but there is still time to take advantage of some great deals. There are deals across every category, but the smart home and headphones dominate this year’s sale, including some favorites from the MacStories Setups page such as the Aqara Hub G5 Pro outdoor camera that I reviewed last year.

Other great smart home gear on sale includes:

AirPods Pro 3 and Beats Studio Buds+.

AirPods Pro 3 and Beats Studio Buds+.

Headphones, especially Beats, are well-represented, too:

Insta360 Link 2C and WITHINGS Body Smart Scale.

Insta360 Link 2C and WITHINGS Body Smart Scale.

Finally, I wanted to highlight a few other gadgets and accessories I love that are on sale:

That’s it for another Amazon sale season. For hand-picked deals throughout the year, be sure to follow MacStories Deals on Bluesky or Mastodon.

AppStories - Ep. 478 - 35 minutes

An Orchestra Without a Conductor, Apple’s AI Dilemma

FedericoJohn

This week on AppStories, Federico and John draw from their experiences using AI agents to imagine the sort of agent Apple could build with tight hardware and software integration if it had a LLM to orchestrate the pieces already in place.

On AppStories+, John asks where artificial intelligence falls on the spectrum of historical technology milestones.

Also available on YouTube here.

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

AppStories Episode 478 - An Orchestra Without a Conductor, Apple’s AI Dilemma

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

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Building Lil Linky.

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