Wow! A busy week for me. Coming off a cold, I did four podcasts and three webinars this week. Below you’ll find 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
The Apple Refurb Store Is a Best-Kept Secret
Post · September 21 · all tiers
Apple barely admits the refurb store exists. It’s a link buried at the bottom of the store page, and the discounts are real, like $100 off an Apple Watch Ultra 3 the day I wrote this. A short post on why it should be your first stop before you buy new.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
A Deeper Dive into Siri AI
Video · September 22 · all tiers
Siri AI has been out long enough to move past first impressions, and it is much better than many people think. This hands-on video puts it through ordinary tasks involving calendars, messages, music, and visual intelligence.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
A Five-Minute Backup Check
Post · September 23 · Pathfinder & Insider
A short exercise to play along with. Check the date on your last completed backup, then pull one expendable file back out of it to prove the restore works. Five minutes now beats a very bad afternoon later.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link
September Deep Dive – The Mac Studio Home Server
Deep Dive · September 23 · Pathfinder
I came into this one with a plan to keep my old Mac Studio around as an always-on server, and I left seriously considering a Mac mini in its place. We worked through what jobs belong on a machine that never sleeps, how to get back in after a reboot, and the small self-hosted tools that make a server worth having. The recording is in the edit and lands September 30.
Airversa QliQ Thread Smart Button
Video · September 24 · Pathfinder & Insider
I wanted a way to control the blinds and recording scenes in Endor Studios without waking up my Mac. In this video, I set up the Airversa QliQ, a rechargeable three-button Apple Home remote, for a spot under my desk.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link
Labs Jam Session – Browsers
Jam Session · September 24 · all tiers
An hour of open conversation about browsers, Thursday at noon Pacific. Every tier has a seat at this one.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
The Lab Report for September 25, 2026
Podcast · September 25 · all tiers
The 27.2 public betas are out, and the new Mac mini gives up its removable storage module. I also spend a few minutes on John Ternus’s case for giving Vision Pro time to find its job, and this week’s pick is Mayday on Apple TV.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
In the Community
You Guys. Opus 5.5 is AWESOME. (Labs Discussion Board)
First-day impressions of Claude Opus 5.5 from a member who found it faster than the last two versions and easier on the weekly token budget. The question at the end, whether anyone else has tried it, pulled in eight replies.
Mail message links (Labs Discussion Board)
A member wants an agent to triage email and create OmniFocus tasks that link back to the original message, working across Mail.app with iCloud and Fastmail. They’re open to switching mail clients if that’s what it takes, and the thread has some ideas.
New “Health Age” (Labs Discussion Board)
A screenshot of the new Health Age readout in the 27.2 beta, with a question about who at Apple takes the complaint if it turns out to be wrong. Light thread, but a fun one.
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
October opens with planning and closes the first half with another deep dive.
Q4 Quarter Planning Meetup · October 1, 10:00 Pacific
Labs October Meetup · October 8, 14:00 Pacific
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link
October Deep Dive – Local and Private AI on a Mac · October 15, 12:00 Pacific
Links of Interest
- Mike Schmitz answers the critique that PKM has produced nothing measurable by arguing the point is the thinking you do while writing, not the archive.
- Massimo Pigliucci walks through Plato’s Hippias Major and why a dialogue that ends without an answer still teaches something.
- John Ternus compared Vision Pro with the early days of personal computing, and 9to5Mac calls it the best defense of the headset yet.
- If a Mac mini is on your server shortlist after Wednesday’s deep dive, note that the new one drops aftermarket storage upgrades.
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.