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

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.

AppStories, Episode 464, ‘Vibe Coding Your Own Productivity Tools’ Show Notes

Vibe Coding Personal Productivity Tools

Simon Willison’s blog

Harper Reed

Vibe coding apps and startups:

Vibecode

Wabi

Bitrig

AppStories+ Post-Show: Our Black Friday Purchases

Federico

77 Inch Class LG OLED evo AI G5 4K Smart TV 2025

Beelink SER9 Pro Mini PC

John

Anker SOLIX C300 Portable Power Station

GMKtec AI Mini PC Ryzen Al Max+ 395

ASUS ROG Swift 32” 4K OLED Gaming Monitor

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NPC, Episode 60, ‘Monster Handhelds and Valve’s Big Bet on ARM’ Show Notes

The Latest Portable Gaming News

ANBERNIC Officially Reveals RG477V Retro Handheld

Ayaneo Announces a Monster of a New Gaming Handheld

iiSU Alpha

Sean Hollister of The Verge interviews Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais

Retro Game Corps Reviews the Ayn Odin 3

NPC XL: A PC Shopping Spree:

John: GMKtec EVO-X2 and 32” ASUS OLED Display

Federico: Beelink SER9 Pro

Brendon: OMEN 16L Gaming Desktop TG03-0055m PC

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 79, ‘I Got a Flu From This Keyboard’ Show Notes

Main Topics

Ghost

DaVinci Resolve

Canon EOS C50

SoundSource 6

Other Stuff We Talked About

Alan Dye is leaving Apple

Colemak

Dvorak

BÉPO

Blot.im

How old is your belt?

This Year by John Darnielle

Bamboo Lab A1 Mini

LEGO U.S.S. Enterprise

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, ‘Best Videogames of 2025’ Show Notes

This episode is sponsored by:

Sequel – Track Now. Enjoy Later.

2025’s Best Videogames

Federico’s Backlog:

Ghost of Yōtei

Hades II

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Despelote

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles

John’s Backlog:

Metroid Prime 4

Hades II

Dispatch

Ghost of Yōtei

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Unbeatable

Federico’s Top Games:

Mario Kart World

Megabonk

Ball x Pit

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Donkey Kong Bananza

Federico’s No. 1 Game:

Metroid Prime 4

John’s Top Games:

Ball x Pit

Mario Kart World

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Sektori

John’s No. 1 Game:

Donkey Kong Bananza

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