FedericoBasicAppleGuy investigates the mysterious “Lil Finder Guy” that appeared on Apple’s unhinged new TikTok account, spawning fan art and 3D models of the adorable character. (Link) Spigen released a $30 AirPods Pro case that transforms the charging case into a miniature replica of the classic Macintosh mouse. If only I had a friend who...
Proofreading via Zed
I wanted to share a quick tip about a developer-oriented text editor called Zed and how I’ve been using it for proofreading articles. There are plenty of ways to check spelling and grammar with Obsidian plugins, but I prefer the speed and no-nonsense approach of Zed, which, like Obsidian, can open any Markdown file. To...
This Week on MacStories Podcasts
This week on MacStories podcasts: AppStories This week, Federico and John look at the confusing array of tools and naming conventions used by Anthropic and OpenAI. On AppStories+, John explains how he automated two unautomatable Mac apps. Listen on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Pocket Casts Castro Spotify YouTube NPC: Next Portable Console This week, the confusing...
Previously, On MacStories
First Look: Hands-On with Claude Code’s New Telegram and Discord Integrations A Developer’s Month with OpenAI’s Codex Comet Is the First Agentic Browser for iOS Worth Trying Hands-On with Claude Dispatch for Cowork A New iPad Browser and Testing Perplexity Computer The iPhone Fold Doesn’t Need iPadOS to Be a Great “Tablet” MotionVFX Team Joins...
App Debuts
FastScrobbler FastScrobbler is a new utility for folks who still use Last.fm to track their listening habits (hello!). The app connects to your Last.fm account and automatically scrobbles tracks as you listen to Apple Music, updating your Now Playing status as soon as playback is detected. The app has a manual scrobble button if...
A Little Friction Goes a Long Way
Starting agentic coding projects is too easy. That may sound like a complaint about the very thing that makes agents useful, but stick with me, because it’s not. Over the past few months, I’ve built a bunch of web apps and a few native Apple platform apps. Many are finished, and a handful are works...
First Look: Hands-On with Claude Code’s New Telegram and Discord Integrations
Late yesterday, Anthropic announced messaging support for Claude Code, allowing users to connect to a Claude Code session running on a Mac from a mobile device using Telegram and Discord bots. I spent a few hours playing with it last night, and despite being released as a research preview, the messaging integration is already very capable, but a little fiddly to set up.
Let’s take a look at what it can do.
Hands-On with Claude Dispatch for Cowork
Today, Anthropic launched a new Cowork feature called Dispatch as a research preview that allows you to control a Mac-based, sandboxed Cowork session from a mobile device. Currently, the feature is only available to Max subscribers, but Anthropic has promised Pro users will get Dispatch within a few days.
Dispatch is a close cousin of Claude Code’s recently-released Remote Control feature, but for Cowork. Remote Control requires a Claude Code session to be active in Terminal on your Mac. Similarly, Dispatch requires that your Mac be awake with the Claude app open.
MotionVFX Team Joins Apple→
Earlier today, MacRumors reported that MotionVFX was acquired by Apple. Based in Poland, MotionVFX has been a go-to resource for YouTubers and other creators for years with its highly-regarded plugins, templates, and tools for Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and other apps.
According to MotionVFX’s note:
For over 15 years, we’ve been on a mission to create world-class, visually inspiring content and effects for video editors. From the very beginning, we’ve been all about quality, ease of use, and great design. These are also the values that we admire most in Apple’s products, and we’re thrilled to be able to embrace them together.
This is exciting news for anyone who uses Final Cut Pro. My hope is that the acquisition will result in MotionVFX’s plugins making their way into Creator Studio and being extended to the iPad. For the Mac, that would add a lot of value to Creator Studio. For the iPad, it would add plugin support for the first time, a feature I expected Apple to have shipped by now.