It was another fun week in the MacSparky Labs. A highlight for me was the Q4 Planning session where we talked about our plans for the final quarter of the year.
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
September Deep Dive – The Mac Studio Home Server
Deep Dive Recording · September 28 · Pathfinder
The recording of last week’s home server deep dive is up. It has 15 chapters so you can jump straight to the part you care about, plus the big ideas in a short list, grouped resource links, the handout, and the Zoom transcript and chat as a download.
2026 Q3 Q&A
Q&A Video and Podcast · September 29 · all tiers
It’s quarterly Q&A time again. This one covers Siri AI and the new operating systems, my one-laptop setup and Mac server plans, what the robot is actually doing, Endor Fieldbook, the move to Circle, our newly empty nest, and plenty more. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
Set Up Your Apple Legacy Contact
Post · September 30 · all tiers
Apple’s Legacy Contact setting gives someone you trust a way into selected Apple Account data after you die. It’s easy to put off because you don’t need it today. This post walks through picking the right person and getting it set up in a few minutes.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
This Month in the Labs – September 2026
Monthly Recap · September 30 · all tiers
September’s recap gathers the month’s Labs posts, videos, and live sessions in one place, with a version for each membership tier. Handy if you want to catch up on something you missed.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
Your New Labs Podcast Feed
Member Announcement · September 30 · all tiers
The Labs private podcasts are moving to new feeds. Use the personal link in your Transistor email to add your new feed to your podcast app, and make the switch before the old feeds close at the end of October. The community post has screenshots to walk you through it.
Fast Website and File Navigation with Keyboard Maestro
Video · October 1 · Pathfinder & Insider
I use Keyboard Maestro conflict palettes to jump straight to websites and folders, and to copy selected files to a destination. This video shows the three actions behind the system and includes a starter set of macros you can make your own.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link
Q4 Quarter Planning Meetup
Live Meetup · October 1 · Pathfinder
The quarter-planning session was on the calendar for Thursday morning, giving Pathfinders a chance to work on the last quarter of the year. The link below leads to the event page; the recording will follow.
The Lab Report for October 2, 2026
Podcast · October 2 · all tiers
Apple has a fix for those unexpected iPhone restarts, and the iPhone Duo preorder process starts soon. I also look at Final Cut Camera’s new controls, Freeform folders, and Apple’s guide to family digital habits.
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link
In the Community
Am I Taking This Too Far? (Labs Discussion Board)
One member has built five personal apps in a couple of weeks and shares the latest, a simple dashboard they’d wanted for years. It’s a good reminder that an app can be useful even if it never goes near the App Store.
Follow-up from Browser meet-up (Labs Discussion Board)
After last week’s browser jam session, one member put Claude to work on a bookmark pile through the bookmarking service’s MCP connection, tagging and pruning thousands of saved links. A nice example of turning a meetup idea into an afternoon project.
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
Two more October sessions are coming up.
Labs October Meetup · October 8, 2:00 PM Pacific
Pathfinder Link | Insider Link
October Deep Dive – Local and Private AI on a Mac · October 15, noon Pacific
Links of Interest
- Donald J. Robertson connects Stoic virtue ethics with behavioral activation, arguing that values-guided action can move forward even when anxiety comes along for the ride.
- Massimo Pigliucci takes on Mary Beard, Emily Wilson, and what classicists get wrong about Stoicism, part one of a series.
- Chris Bailey argues that handing every task to AI gives it more of your work to learn from, while hands-on, offline work helps preserve judgment and agency.
- Cal Newport calls for Congress to examine frontier-lab experiments, safety procedures, and the ideas guiding the people making consequential AI decisions.
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.