Podcast Rewind: Automation Wishes, RG Rotate Impressions, Lessons from Shipping Apps, and Heading to Apple Park

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John share their WWDC automation wishes.

On AppStories+, they share more details on their research setups for the summer.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, we update listeners on the SN Operator and consider what the Steam Deck price hike means for the handheld gaming industry before sharing our first impressions of Anbernic’s RG Rotate.

On NPC XL, Brendon takes the wraps off of overworld.vg, a new game news aggregation site that he built and Federico and John have been testing.

Comfort Zone

Niléane has a cool new mouse, Matt wants to reflect on what they’ve learned shipping apps to the public, and they both reflect on joining cults.

On Cozy Zone, the gang has to guess and then tier list Google’s dead apps.

MacStories Unwind

This week, Federico and John talk about what makes WWDC special, share some memorable moments from past years, and think about how to spend their in-flight downtime.

AppStories, Episode 487, ‘Our WWDC Automation Wish List’ Show Notes

This episode is sponsored by:

Things: The award-winning to-do app.

Our WWDC Automation Wish List

Apple Intelligence and the Cloud Model

Apple Intelligence

Private Cloud Compute — Apple Security Research

Google Gemini

Model Context Protocol

Siri and App Intents

App Intents — Apple Developer Documentation

Apps mentioned:

Spark

Working Copy

GoodLinks

Readwise Reader

Shortcuts and Natural Language Automation

Shortcuts Playground

Developer Tools, APIs, and Agents

WeatherKit — Apple Developer

Xcode

OpenAI Codex

Claude Code

Perplexity

AI Security Research

Simon Willison

Google CaMeL

AppStories+ Post-Show

Research and Productivity Tools Discussed

Obsidian

Obsidian Web Clipper

Obsidian Bases

Feedbin

Unread

Defuddle

Capture

Monologue

Subscribe to AppStories+

Visit AppStories.net to learn more about the extended, high bitrate audio version of AppStories that is delivered early each week and subscribe.

NPC, Episode 83, ‘The RG Rotate Is the Real Deal’ Show Notes

The Latest Portable Gaming News

Epilogue SN Operator

Wulff Den on YouTube

Steam Deck OLED Price Increases

The Golden Age of Handheld Gaming Is Already Over

Anbernic RG Rotate

Anbernic RG Rotate

Emulation Front-Ends

Cocoon

EmulationStation DE (ES-DE)

Knulli

NPC XL

overworld.vg

Subscribe to NPC XL

NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here.

Comfort Zone, Episode 103, ‘They’re Putting AI in the Mice’ Show Notes

Things Discussed

Here’s what I use my Apple Newton for in 2023

RAD Weather

Keychron M6

MOS for Mac

Quick Reads

TinyStart

Bevel

Bevel 3.0 announcement video

Cozy Zone

For even more from the Comfort Zone crew, you can subscribe to Cozy Zone. Cozy Zone is a weekly bonus episode of Comfort Zone where Matt, Niléane, and Chris invite listeners to join them in the Cozy Zone where they’ll cover extra topics, invent wilder challenges and games, and share all their great (and not so great) takes on tech. You can subscribe to Cozy Zone for $5 per month here or $50 per year here.

MacStories Unwind, ‘Apple Park Anticipation’ Show Notes

Returning to WWDC

A look at how the conference has changed, how we spend our days there, and how we plan to spend our long trips to California.

Mentioned

Widow’s Bay

Your Friends and Neighbors

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

007 First Light

RG Rotate

Legion Go 2

Switch 2

Unwind Deal

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: The classic ‘80s comedy about a trio of friends ditching high school is just $4.99 in the TV app.

MacStories Unwind+

We deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free with high bitrate audio every week. To learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.

MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Comfort Zone, NPC: Next Portable Console, and First, Last, Everything that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.

If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.