Earlier this week, OpenAI released ChatGPT agent, a new agentic model that combines the text-focused capabilities of Deep Research with the browser-based automation of Operator into a single, well, agent that can autonomously browse the web, read webpages, and interact with web apps. OpenAI describes the (lowercase) agent as ChatGPT having its own computer.
Some Early Tests and Notes on ChatGPT Agent
Podcast Rewind: Shark Tank for Tech Accessories, the Best Shows and Films of 2025 So Far, and an Anti-Pick
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
Comfort Zone
Chris has some cool new apps, Matt made some cool new apps, and Niléane challenges the dads to do their best Shark Tank impression.
MacStories Unwind
This week, Federico’s return to Apple system apps has ended, and new workflow experiments have begun. Plus, John shares a dark comedy, and Federico has an anti-pick.
Magic Rays of Light
Sigmund and Devon return to the world of Foundation for its third season and share their favorite films and shows from the first half of 2025. Then, they recap the first season on Apple Original sci-fi comedy series Murderbot.
New Emoji Announced for World Emoji Day→
Every year, the Unicode Consortium announces new emoji that will be added in the fall and incorporated in iOS and other OSes in the months that follow. The latest batch that were announced today to coincide with World Emoji Day will be part of Unicode 17 and include:
- Trombone
- Treasure Chest
- Distorted Face
- Apple Core
- Fight Cloud
- Ballet Dancers
- Hairy Creature
- Orca
As usual, it’s an eclectic mix that rounds out certain categories and includes other emoji that are just plain fun. I look forward to Federico trying to guess these on Connected. There’s an almost one-to-one overlap between the ones I know I’ll use the most and those that I think Federico will never guess.
Ars Technica Takes CarPlay Ultra for a Spin→
Michael Teo Van Runkle, writing for Ars Technica, spent eight days testing CarPlay Ultra in an Aston Martin DB12 Volante. Van Runkle walks readers through the setup process, covers the themes available, and describes the experience of monitoring and controlling the car’s systems using Apple’s next-generation version of CarPlay.
By and large, Van Runkle’s experience was positive:
Ultra’s biggest improvements over preceding CarPlay generations are in the center console infotainment integration. Being able to access climate controls, drive modes, and traction settings without leaving the intuitive suite of CarPlay makes life much easier. In fact, changing between drive modes and turning traction control off or down via Aston’s nifty adjustable system caused less latency and lagging in the displays in Ultra. And for climate, Ultra actually brings up a much better screen after spinning the physical rotaries on the center console than you get through Aston’s UI—plus, I found a way to make the ventilated seats blow stronger, which I never located through the innate UI despite purposefully searching for a similar menu page.
That said, it was not without glitches and hiccups along the way, some of which were difficult to pin on CarPlay Ultra versus Aston Martin’s systems.
Precious few auto makers have signed on to offer CarPlay Ultra, but Kia and Porsche have said they will, too, which is a start. I remember when CarPlay debuted in 2014 with a similarly small lineup composed mostly of luxury brands like Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz. So, it’s not surprising Ultra is debuting in a car that starts at $265,000. It took years before the original CarPlay trickled down to ordinary, everyday cars. But they did, and now, with a few notable exceptions, like Tesla, Rivian, and GM EVs, you can find CarPlay in most makes and models.
I hope CarPlay Ultra follows a similar trajectory. It looks great, and I’d love to have it in my next car, which I can confidently predict now will not be an Aston Martin.
CD PROJEKT RED Publishes Mac System Requirements for Cyberpunk 2077→
Yesterday, I wrote about the upcoming release of Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition on the Mac. Today, CD PROJEKT RED published a support document, listing the game’s Mac system requirements. As I wrote yesterday, the company says the game will work on all Apple silicon Macs; however, the beefier your CPU and memory, the better.
As reported by Tom Warren at The Verge today, the support document summarizes the game’s system requirements in four categories: Minimum, Recommended, High Fidelity, and Very High Fidelity. It’s worth checking out the support document and Warren’s coverage before buying Cyberpunk 2077, which still hasn’t shown up on the Mac App Store for pre-order, because if you want the Very High Fidelity experience, you’ll need at least an M3 Ultra or M4 Max with at least 36 GB of memory.
Podcast Rewind: Apple Project Wishcasting and a Thunderbolt 5 eGPU
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
AppStories
This week, Federico and John share a grab bag of projects we’d like to see Apple pursue from software to hardware and corporate acquisitions.
On AppStories+, Federico and John take their wish list further with a bunch of gadgets they’d like to see Apple make.
This episode is sponsored by:
- Notion – Try the powerful, easy-to-use Notion AI today.
NPC: Next Portable Console
This week on NPC, lots of follow-up about microSD Express cards, the Switch 2 Dock, XR glasses, and the dbrand Killswitch – plus, Retroid’s second screen accessory, Windows handhelds, a new eGPU, and more.
On NPC XL, John automates his Mac with the 8BitDo Micro, Brendon finally finds a Switch 2 Pro Controller, and Federico acquires a cozy PC controller.
Longplay for Mac Launches with Powerful AI and Shortcuts Integration
Longplay by Adrian Schönig is an excellent album-oriented music app that integrates with Apple Music. The app started on iOS and iPadOS, then later added support for visionOS. With today’s update, Longplay is available on macOS, too, where it adds unique automation features.
If you aren’t familiar with Longplay, be sure to check out my reviews of version 2.0 for iOS and iPadOS and the app’s debut on the Vision Pro. I love the app’s album art-forward design, collection and queuing systems for navigating and organizing large music libraries, and many other ways to sort, filter, and rediscover your favorite albums. Here’s how Adrian describes Longplay in a post introducing the Mac version:
It filters out the albums where you only have a handful of tracks, and focusses on those complete or nearly complete albums in your library instead. It analyses your album stats to help you rediscover forgotten favourites and explore your library in different ways. You can organise your albums into collections, including smart ones. And you can go deep with automation support.
With the introduction of Longplay for Mac, the app is now available everywhere, with feature parity across all versions. Plus, Longplay syncs across all devices, so your Collections and Smart Collections are available on every platform.
Cyberpunk 2077 for Mac Arrives Thursday
Last fall, alongside the announcement of the M4 MacBook Pro, Apple and CD PROJEKT RED said that Cyberpunk 2077 was coming to the Mac in early 2025. But when WWDC rolled around last month with no more news about when the game would come to the Mac, I thought it might slip to the fall when macOS Tahoe is expected to be released with Metal 4 and other game-friendly features.
So it was a pleasant surprise to find out that Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, which includes the Phantom Liberty DLC, will be out this Thursday on the Mac App Store, as well as on GOG.com, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. Cyberpunk, a notoriously demanding game when it comes to system resources, will run on any Apple silicon Mac with 16GB of memory that is running macOS Sequoia (or the Tahoe developer beta).
To support every 16GB Apple silicon Mac since the M1 MacBook Air, Cyberpunk relies on the latest Metal technologies, including Tile-Based Deferred Rendering and tools like Metal’s C++ interface and the Metal Shader Converter, to optimize for Apple GPUs. The game also takes advantage of Apple’s MetalFX Upscaling.
CD PROJEKT RED has gone all out with other compatibility features to make its game feel at home on the Mac, too, including:
- “For This Mac” graphics presets that are optimized for the Apple silicon hardware running the game, which promises to take the guess work out of configuring graphics settings;
- AMD FSR upscaling and frame generation optimized for Apple silicon Macs;
- Support for Spatial Audio and head tracking for those playing with AirPods;
- HDR support that is dynamically optimized for Apple’s XDR displays and HDR output for calibrated external displays;
- Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and controller support; and
- Cross-progression across all platforms.
In the fall, Apple says Cyberpunk will get a boost from the videogame technologies announced at WWDC 2025. Those include MetalFX Frame Interpolation to increase and stabilize frame rates, which Apple says will allow the game to hit 120 fps using the game’s Ultra settings when combined with MetalFX Upscaling. Cyberpunk will utilize MetalFX Frame Denoising to clean up the noise produced by its path-tracing renderer, too.
I’m looking forward to trying Cyberpunk on the Mac. I already own it on Steam and have played it on the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch 2, both of which should be excellent points of comparison to the wide range of Macs that Apple says will run Cyberpunk 2077.
The Mac version of Cyberpunk 2077 will debut this Thursday, July 17. There is no additional charge for the Mac version if you already purchased the game from one of the stores that offers it. Alternatively, you can purchase the game from the Mac App Store, where Cyberpunk 2077 is making its debut.
Two-Day Indie App Sales Event Begins Today with Over 250 Apps
Matt Corey has once again gathered indie developers to organize a huge sale today and tomorrow. Corey, the maker of Bills to Budget and Signals, has organized a collection of over 250 apps that will be offered at a discount through Wednesday. The list is too long to publish here, but it includes many apps we’ve covered here on MacStories and on Club MacStories in the past, including:
- Plinky
- Gamery
- HoudahSpot
- Kaleidoscope
- Longplay
- Quick Capture
- PowerPhotos
- Sunlitt
- Text Workflow
- Cardiobot
- Everlog
- Every Word
- Gentler Streak
- HomePass
- Launcher
- Lingon Pro
- MusicBox
- TV Remote
There are a lot of great deals, with many apps discounted 50% or more. What’s listed above is a small fraction of the participating apps, so be sure to visit Indie App Sales and support these great indie apps.