Podcast Rewind: Dream Apps, Steam Hardware Announcements, Planning Weekend Excursions, and Come See Me in the Good Light

Matt has a mouse that looks like a zebra, Niléane quotes some cool new stuff in the Mastodon world, and everyone pitches their dream app. (One of them may already exist!)

On Cozy Zone, the gang roasts their very lovely listeners’ desk setups.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week in a special early release of NPC, the guys dig into Valve’s announcement of the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Stream Controller, a trio of SteamOS devices poised to make a big splash in 2026.

On NPC XL, Federico, John, and Brendon cover the Steam Frame but are mostly excited about it means for Windows gaming on ARM.

MacStories Unwind

This week, John shares how he plans weekend activities with Instagram and Apple Maps, Federico tests dictation apps, and both share their first impressions of the new Apple TV show Pluribus.

Magic Rays of Light

Sigmund and Devon highlight Apple Original documentary Come See Me in the Good Light and return to Palm Beach for the second season of Palm Royale. Then, they discuss changes coming to profiles in tvOS 26.2.

Comfort Zone, Episode 75, ‘Klack to the Extreme’ Show Notes

Main Topics

Pulsar X2 CrazyLight Mini Gaming Mouse

Boardzy Edition

Mastodon quote posts

Phanpy

Other Stuff We Talked About

Nintendo Store iOS app (and Android too)

BALL x PIT

The Gulf livery mouse

Pulsar web app

Mouse fluidity consistency

Mice get super light

Keycron M6

Razer Basilisk V3 Pro

Best-o-Masto

lire RSS

Hush

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.

NPC, Episode 57, ‘SteamOS Goes Wide: From a Cube to the Frame’ Show Notes

Valve’s Announcements

Valve’s Announcement of the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller

More on the New Hardware

The Steam Machine is the Future | Wavelengths

Valve enters the console wars

Our first look at the Steam Machine, Valve’s ambitious new game console

Valve is welcoming Android games into Steam

Valve rejoins the VR hardware wars with standalone Steam Frame

Steam Deck minus the screen Valve announces new Steam Machine, Controller hardware

Cary Colomb on X

NPC XL

FEX-Emu – A fast linux usermode x86 and x86-64 emulator

Hands-On: Valve Steam Frame Virtual Reality Headset!

Valve thinks Arm has ‘potential’ for SteamOS handhelds, laptops, and more

Hands-on with Valve’s new Steam Frame headset — Arm-powered, mixed-mode device uses Fex translation layer for traditional x86 games

Chris Person on Bluesky

Valve’s new VR streaming trick won’t just work with its own headset

The Steam Frame is a surprising new twist on VR

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.

MacStories Unwind, ‘Workflows and TV: Weekend Excursions, Dictation Apps, and Pluribus’ Show Notes

John’s Weekend Excursion Workflow

Instagram + Apple Maps Guides and the beta Places You’ve Been feature

Federico’s Dictation App Experiments

Drafts

Wispr Flow

Raycast for iOS

Joint Pick

Pluribus on Apple TV

Unwind Deal

Dunkirk is just $7.99 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.

Magic Rays of Light, Episode 189, ‘Come See Me in the Good Light and the Return of Palm Royale’ Show Notes

Pre-Roll

Apple and ISSEY MIYAKE Introduce a Limited-Edition iPhone Pocket

The Forgotten iPod Sock | 512 Pixels

Highlights

Come See Me in the Good Light

Q&A Come See Me in the Good Light | Andrea Gibson | Ryan White | Megan Falley

Palm Royale

Profile Changes in tvOS 26.2

tvOS 26.2 Lets You Create Apple TV Profiles Without an Account, Adds Dedicated Kids Mode | MacRumors

Apple TV News

PlayStation VR2 Sense Controller & Charging Station

Apple Original News

Eddy Cue, Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht Interview with Screen International

Releases

Flight Ready

Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Extras

Pluribus — Another Take with Vince Gilligan and Rhea Seehorn

‎Fitness+ Artist Spotlight: Taylor Swift

Up Next

Freakier Friday

One Battle After Another