We’ve been hearing for a few weeks now that Apple is considering using a third party LLM for Siri, particularly Claude. I understand this is not usually the Apple way of solving a problem like this, but at least for the short term, it seems…
Continue reading →Date Archives → 2025
Mac Power Users 805: The Most MPU Possible
On this Mac Power Users feedback episode, Stephen and I answer listener questions about Apple’s current betas, revisit networking, dictation, email, going paperless, and more. This one really hits all the classic MPU topics. This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by: 1Password: Never forget…
Listen & read notes →The New Browser Wars
There’s a new browser war heating up, and it’s all about artificial intelligence. Google—assuming they’re allowed to keep Chrome—is quickly turning it into an artificial intelligence-based browser experience. They’re not alone, though. Firefox is adding experimental AI-powered link previews. Safari already has some basic…
Continue reading →ChatGPT and Image Playground
With this year’s betas, Apple has enabled ChatGPT within Image Playground. This dramatically increases its value to users. In this video, I demonstrate how this works.… This is a post for the MacSparky Labs Pathfinder and Insider members. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.
A Remarkable, Unremarkable Thing
Recently, we had a family celebration. The reason is irrelevant, but the means of our celebration was our usual. We went to Disneyland. We’re fortunate to live close, and two of the four members of my immediate family work for Mickey. So, we went…
Continue reading →A Voice-Based Future?
I’m still thinking plenty about this collaboration between ChatGPT and Jony Ive. The Frontier Model LLMs are a revolutionary technology, but perhaps there is a new hardware paradigm for using them we haven’t seen yet. Still, I think it’s going to be hard for…
Continue reading →The Lab Report for July 11, 2025
In this week’s episode of The Lab Report: Some new AI-powered browsers make their entrance, Rosemary Orchard has a new app, and I help you fix bad transcription on your clipboard.
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Liquid Glass in Beta 3
This week we got the third iOS 26 beta, and, unsurprisingly, Apple continues to tamp down a bit on Liquid Glass. In the below image, from Zac Hall at 9to5 Mac, you can see the clear trend toward legibility. This comes as a surprise to…
Continue reading →Jam Pack Nostalgia
Stephen Hackett recently wrote a delightful article on Apple Jam Packs that made me smile. If you were using Apple gear during a certain decade, saving up for and buying Apple Jam Packs was one of the delights of the platform. I remember slowly…
Continue reading →Apple’s Journal on iPadOS
Apple’s Journal app is growing up a bit and is now a much better candidate to be your journaling app of choice than it was when first released on iPhone. In this video, I take a look at Journal on iPadOS.
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