Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
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.
This week, Federico and John reflect on their preparations for the fall review season, how dealing with design changes is different than new features, and explain some of the tools their using for research and writing this year.
On AppStories+, John answers the question “What if the Stream Deck was $20 and fit in the palm of your hand.”
This week, Federico records entirely on his iPad Pro using the new local capture feature in iPadOS 26. He and John discuss how this system feature changes remote podcasting, their experiences and experiments with macOS Tahoe and the new Spotlight, and why both have returned to Apple’s Reminders app—thanks in part to Apple Intelligence and AI automation workflows. Also covered this week: AirPods get better recording quality in the latest beta, MCP integrations with native apps, and early thoughts on Workout Buddy in watchOS 26.
On AppStories+, Federico explores Perplexity’s system-level integrations and publishes from Notes, while John explores a new Focus mode combination thanks to iOS 26.
John](https://cdn.macstories.net/banneras-1629219199428.png)
