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Posts tagged with "appstories"

Podcast Rewind: Apps in 2026 and The Best Handhelds of the Year

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John look ahead to 2026 and what it will mean for apps, smarter Siri, and more.

On AppStories+, Federico and John update listeners on their latest app experiments and holiday hardware projects.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, Brendon, Federico, and John pick their top handheld consoles of 2025.

On NPC XL, Federico, John, and Brendon share their HOTY Honorable Mentions and trends they expect for 2026.

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Podcast Rewind: The 2025 MacStories Selects Awards, John’s Journey into Bazzite, Techy Clothes Shopping, and The Best Music of the Year

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John reveal the winners of the 2025 MacStories Selects Awards, which celebrate the exceptional design, innovation, and creativity of apps across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch.

On AppStories+, John has some Apple Music discovery tips for Federico, and they reveal the iPhone features they don’t use.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, handhelds are shipping for the holidays, AYANEO makes a bold bet on a phone, a new Strix Halo tablet one-ups the ASUS ROG Flow Z13, and John dips a toe in the Bazzite waters.

On NPC XL, Federico jumps into the Bazzite mini PC world, while Brendon is revisiting the iPod on handheld consoles.

Comfort Zone

Chris reflects on a big year of changes, Matt has turned his garage into a mini-factory, and the gang buys clothes, but in a techy way.

On Cozy Zone, we draft fonts…for real this time!

MacStories Unwind

This week, Federico and John close out the year by sharing their favorite music of 2025.

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Podcast Rewind: Vibe Coded Tools, Reading the Steam Tea Leaves, New Keyboard Layouts, and the Best Videogames of the Year

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John explain how they go about creating personal productivity tools with the assistance of AI and walk through some of what they have created.

On AppStories+, we talk about our Black Friday tech purchases.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, AYANEO goes big – very, very big – and we read the tea leaves from Sean Hollister’s interview of Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais.

Then on NPC XL, no one could resist Black Friday, so everyone wound up with a new PC.

Comfort Zone

Chris is making a bunch of changes going into 2026, Niléane has another snazzy audio app update, and everyone navigates the pain of trying to use a new keyboard layout.

In the Cozy Zone, the gang drafted fonts. As you can image, strong opinions were felt.

MacStories Unwind

This week, Federico and John share their favorite videogames of 2025.

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Podcast Rewind: Apps with Liquid Glass and SteamOS Plans

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John dig into some of their favorite apps that have adopted Apple’s Liquid Glass design language.

On AppStories+, it’s John’s 10th anniversary at MacStories, so he and Federico look back at the last decade.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, the Retroid G2 and Anbernic DS look like duds, the Xbox full-screen experience for PCs is out to more users, and John flirts with the idea of a mini PC for SteamOS.

On NPC XL, Federico rearranges his living room and plans a SteamOS-ready living room gaming setup.

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Podcast Rewind: App Evolution, Odin 3 Emulation, Window Management, and TV Affiliates

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John explore current changes to the world of apps through the lens of its past evolution.

On AppStories+, we build “money’s no object” holiday wish lists for ourselves.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, Brendon, Federico, and John catch up on a grab bag of news before diving deeper into the Ayn Odin 3’s emulation and streaming potential, the possibility that the rumored TrimUI Smart Pro S could become the default budget recommendation for horizontal handhelds, and the 11” 3D Abxylute 3D One.

Then on NPC XL, John and Federico are tempted to build their own Steam Machines, while Brendon went ahead and did it already by converting his Windows Mini PC.

Comfort Zone

It’s the window management episode! Chris has even more iPad news, and AeroSpace nearly tears the gang apart.

This week’s Cozy Zone is an Apple accessory tier list, and dear listener, the knives come out.

MacStories Unwind

This week, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, Federico is curious about American TV and has a TV pick, while John follows up on a couple of TV shows and other media he’s looking forward to in the coming weeks.

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Podcast Rewind: Experiment Season, A Plain Text Challenge, Tech Nostalgia, and Audiobooks

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John kick off their holiday app and automation experimentation season a little earlier than usual with a mix of apps, automations, and services.

On AppStories+, they look ahead, considering the future of Shortcuts and automation.

Comfort Zone

Niléane is getting bold with laptop appendages, Chris is nostalgic about the iPad Pro, and everyone gets weird with text files.

This week’s Cozy Zone is a deep dive into 2012’s Les Misérables film.

MacStories Unwind

This week, Federico and John explore tech nostalgia and the importance of tech history before picking a new TV series and music artist.

Magic Rays of Light

Sigmund and Devon discuss Devon’s new audiobook listening habit and what it’s taught him about adaptations. Then, they share gift ideas for the Apple TV fan in your life.

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Podcast Rewind: Digital Decluttering and Liquid-Cooled Mobile Gaming

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, John and Federico spin a Saturday morning of iPhone app cleanup into a full blown digital declutter across all devices with the help of some of their favorite apps.

Then on AppStories+, Federico has more to share from his ongoing Typing Mind experiments, and John explains how he’s using Claude Code to crunch spreadsheets with one million rows.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week on NPC, Brendon, Federico, and John explore where mobile phone gaming is heading and reflect on what Nintendo’s latest earnings report means for the Switch 2, before Brendon shares his first impressions of the Miyoo Mini Flip

On NPC XL, Federico, John, and Brendon explore what’s behind the sudden surge of innovation in mobile phone controllers and where mobile gaming may be heading.

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Podcast Rewind: AI Browsers and the Return of Thor

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John look at the hype surrounding AI browsers to see if there’s any there there.

On AppStories+, Federico explains his experiments with lightning fast alternative AI models in Typing Mind.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, the big story is Retroid’s dual announcement of the Pocket 6 alongside the Pocket G2 and the ensuing drama. Then, the guys return to the Ayn Thor for Brendon and Federico’s first impressions.

This episode is sponsored by:

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On NPC XL, Brendon is grilled by John and Federico about the MCON mobile phone controller that looks like a PSP Go.

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Podcast Rewind: The M5 iPad Pro, AYN Thor First Impressions, and an Interview with Brendon Bigley

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John consider whether Apple made the case for running local LLMs and gaming on the M5 iPad Pro and discusss who should consider buying it.

On AppStories+, we explain how Claude Skills work and why they are one of Anthropic’s most exciting features in a while.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, a Retroid tease, the Miyoo Mini Flip goes on sale, and John is the first of the gang to get the Ayn Thor.

This week on NPC XL, the crew shares their experiences using GameHub.

First, Last, Everything

This episode’s guest, Brendon Bigley, is, in his words, extremely online. He helped build the podcasting platform Anchor, which was acquired by Spotify in 2019, and he worked for Marvel, overseeing its presence on YouTube and other platforms. But what most people know him for is his opinions and passion for gaming and tech in general. He co-hosts the gaming podcasts Into the Aether and NPC, and he blogs and publishes videos under the Wavelengths banner.

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