Here’s what we covered in the MacSparky Labs this week including the week’s new videos and podcasts, a few of the conversations happening in the member community, and what’s coming next week.
Most of those links lead straight into the Labs community on Circle, so they’ll only open if you’re a member. If you’re a Labs member who hasn’t set up your Circle access yet, send me a note and I’ll get you in. For members, this is your week at a glance. If you’re not one yet, it’s a peek at what you’re missing.
The Week’s Releases
August Deep Dive – Sparky’s Analog Stack
Deep Dive · August 20 · Pathfinder
This month’s Deep Dive was the paper side of my setup. Why analog tools still earn a place in a very digital workflow, and which ones I actually reach for. Recording to follow. After we finished recording, we stuck around for an informal meet-up where we talked about new iPhones and dictation apps. The recording is getting edited and will go up next week.
A Tour of MacSparky’s Stream Deck
Video · August 21 · all tiers
I’ve been messing with my Stream Deck buttons and wanted to show you where things stand: a Stream Deck XL and a Stream Deck Plus, wired into Obsidian, HomeControl, Keyboard Maestro, and a growing stack of AI-designed button art.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
The Lab Report for August 21, 2026
Podcast · August 21 · all tiers
Apple patched a screen-sharing hole in macOS that attackers were already using to get root, so this one is an update-today situation. The editorial is the Apple Home lineup and why it took two years to show up.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
In the Community
Stream Deck Button Icons (Labs Discussion Board)
Good timing on this one. A member with two Stream Decks and 23 profiles got tired of hand-building SF Symbols icons, so he started generating them with ChatGPT and eventually built a custom GPT seeded with his ten best icons so everything new comes out in the same bronze-and-black style. The thread turned into a show-and-tell with screenshots of redesigned decks. The useful detail buried in the replies: a custom GPT holds the style tighter than a Project does, and it’s worth asking for bigger, higher-contrast text so the buttons stay readable at a glance.
Lab Browser Discussion (Labs Discussion Board)
The browser conversation from the August meetup picked itself back up here. One member wrote out the four browsers he keeps open all the time and why each one gets its own job, and the first reply added DuckDuckGo and DEVONagent Pro to the pile. This is the raw material for the September jam session, so add yours now.
Golden Gate beta experiences (Labs Discussion Board)
A member running the developer beta across three Macs had one thing break. Colorbyte’s ImagePrint stopped seeing an Epson P900, and the vendor confirmed it as a driver conflict. He came back this week with the fix. Manually installing Rosetta 2 got it working on beta 5.
If you’re a Labs member and haven’t joined the Circle community yet, let me know and I’ll get you set up.
Coming Up
The calendar is loaded out through the end of the year. Here’s what’s on deck through the middle of October.
Labs September Meetup (After Dark) · September 10, 18:00 Pacific · Pathfinder + Insider
September Deep Dive – The Mac Studio Home Server · September 17, 12:00 Pacific · Pathfinder
Labs Jam Session – Browsers · September 24, 12:00 Pacific · Pathfinder + Insider + Member
Q4 Quarter Planning Meetup · October 1, 10:00 Pacific · Pathfinder
Labs October Meetup · October 8, 14:00 Pacific · Pathfinder + Insider
October Deep Dive – Local and Private AI on a Mac · October 15, 12:00 Pacific · Pathfinder
Links of Interest
- Build vs Buttle With Your AI. Stephen Millard on using AI to build a repeatable process instead of asking it to do the same job by hand every time.
- My Browser Family. Thomas Vander Wal runs four browsers on purpose, each with its own job, routed through Choosy.
- Stop Worrying About Having Original Ideas. Mike Schmitz argues that a creative block is usually an idea-management problem rather than an originality problem.
Join the Labs
The videos, podcasts, and live sessions above are inside MacSparky Labs. Join at macsparky.com/join.
I write about getting more from your Apple gear. If this was useful, go deeper in the Labs or grab the weekly newsletter.