Podcast Rewind: AI Fragmentation, Joy-Con Alternatives, Pitching Vivaldi, and an Interview with Riley Testut

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of 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.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, the confusing state of Switch 2 Joy-Con replacements, more on emulating PC games on Android, and we place our bets on the future of Valve’s Steam Machine.

This week on NPC XL, we follow up on last week’s discussion of the death of Xbox with its reincarnation as Project Helix.

First, Last, Everything

Jonathan is joined by Riley Testut, an iOS developer best known for building the Delta game emulator and AltStore, expanding how apps can be distributed and enjoyed outside of Apple’s App Store.

Comfort Zone

A budget laptop is the hot tech product of 2026, and the whole gang has thoughts. Then, everyone evangelizes Vivaldi with varying levels of success.

On Cozy Zone, Chris and Matt teach Niléane the real rules of the road right before her driver’s test. They’re pretty sure it was a lot of help.

MacStories Unwind

This week, John argues that it’s time to bring Xcode to the iPad and iPhone before he and Federico share a hardware and TV pick for the weekend. Plus, a quirky movie pick for your weekend unwind.

AppStories, Episode 476, ‘The Fractal Fragmentation of AI Tools’ Show Notes

This episode is sponsored by:

Vitally: Your Copilot for AI-Powered Customer Success. Get a free pair of AirPods Pro when you book a qualified meeting.

The Fragmented World of AI Tools

Anthropic’s Claude

Claude for Mac

Claude Cowork

Claude Code

Claude Code on the web

Claude Code Remote Control

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

OpenAI’s Codex

ChatGPT for Mac

Codex for Mac

Codex CLI

GPT-5.4

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

Cerebras

Codex Skills GitHub Repository

Also mentioned:

Playwright

Todoist

Notion

Gmail

Pushover

Linear

GitHub

Brrr

AppStories+ Post-Show:

iZotope RX 11

Hush

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 72, ‘Third-Party Switch 2 Controllers Check-In’ Show Notes

Switching Back to Windows for Marathon

Marathon

Bazzite

SteamOS

Switch 2 Third-Party Joy-Con Controllers

Mobapad M12 HD / M12S Switch 2 Joy-Con

NYXI Hyperion 3 Switch 2 JoyPad

HORI Split Pad Pro

Android Gaming & PC Emulation on Phones

Red Magic 11 Pro

GameHub

GameNative v0.8 update

Slay the Spire 2 on Steam

AYN Thor

Gaming Tablets

Red Magic Astra tablet

Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5 / Y700 (2026)

Xiaomi 17 Ultra

Steam Machine Delay

Valve Steam Machine delay

Valve reaffirms 2026 launch

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.

First, Last, Everything, Season 2, Episode 2, ‘Riley Testut - AltStore Creator’ Show Notes

Riley’s Work

Delta

AltStore Pal

GBA4iOS

Clip

Riley’s Picks

Riley’s ‘First’: NES

Riley’s ‘Last’: Fediverse

Riley’s ‘Everything’: Kingdom Hearts Series

‘Something’

Amstrad Em@iler

Follow Riley

Website

Mastodon

Bluesky

Threads

Patreon

Comfort Zone, Episode 92, ‘The MacBook Neo Is My Mistress’ Show Notes

Things Discussed

First, Last, Everything Season 2

MacBook Neo

Niléane pitches Vivaldi

Matt pitches Vivaldi

Chris pitches Vivaldi

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, ‘Xcode for Mobile: It’s Time’ Show Notes

Xcode on Mobile

First Look: Hands-On with Claude Code’s New Telegram and Discord Integrations

Picks

Federico’s Pick: MCON by OhSnap (Currently $50 off)

John’s Pick: The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins on NBC/Peacock

Trailer

Also available as a Season Pass on Apple TV

Unwind Deal

Dust Bunny: $9.99 on Apple TV

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.