Bloomberg reports that Apple has lost a fourth person from their foundation models group to Meta. Apple is giving raises to the existing team members but they likely pale in comparison to Zuck’s poaching offers (some reportedly in the hundred million range).
Apple is not in the frontier model race, but they still need to be developing their own models for a lot of reasons. To me this feels like just further evidence that Apple needs to make some sort of deal to partner with a frontier model (as Microsoft did with ChatGPT) or start making some acquisitions if, for nothing else, the talent.
I think Apple should be willing to license somebody else’s model if that’s what it takes to fix Siri, even temporarily. In light of all of this poaching, I expect that is only more the case now.
In this week’s episode: Rest in peace, Chuck Mangione, Skechers put AirTag in kids’ shoes, and I hope my next iPhone is ORANGE!
… This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.
July was a busy month in the MacSparky Labs, with members diving deep into productivity workflows and Apple’s latest features. We spent considerable time exploring Apple Reminders, including a dedicated deep dive session and hands-on videos covering the new quick capture features in iOS 26.
The monthly book club continued with our exploration of “Tiny Experiments,” while our regular Jam Sessions tackled career discussions—a topic that clearly resonated with the community. Members also got early access to beta experiences and explored creative uses for familiar apps like Voice Memos for transcription and Apple’s Journal app on iPadOS.
Beyond the Apple ecosystem, we experimented with AI tools like ChatGPT and Image Playground, tested alternative browsers like Dia, and even discussed unconventional productivity approaches like using glass boards for accountability.
The regular Lab Reports, meetups, and quarterly planning sessions kept everyone connected and focused on what’s working in their personal productivity systems. It’s exactly the kind of collaborative exploration that makes the Labs community special—taking both new releases and established tools and finding better ways to make them work for real people.
We’ve all been there: you copy something important—a password, a snippet of code, that perfect turn of phrase—and then accidentally copy something else. Poof. Gone forever. It’s one of those small, daily frustrations that adds up over time.
That’s exactly why Quip caught my attention. It’s an AI-powered clipboard manager that remembers everything you copy, and it does it with the kind of thoughtful design that makes you wonder how you lived without it.
What sets Quip apart isn’t just that it stores your clipboard history (though it does that beautifully across Mac, iPhone, and iPad via iCloud sync). It’s the intelligence behind it. The app uses completely local AI to automatically clean up your clipboard—removing duplicate entries, normalizing text formatting, stripping tracking parameters from URLs, and even filtering out those random 2FA codes that would otherwise clutter your history.
I’ve been testing Quip for the past few weeks, and the “Super Shortcuts” feature alone has changed how I work. You can turn any clipboard item into a text expansion trigger. Type “sig” and your entire email signature appears. Type “bugfeedback” and that canned customer service response is ready to go. It’s like having TextExpander built right into your clipboard manager.
The OCR capability is particularly clever—hit ⌘⇧2 and you can capture text from presentations, locked PDFs, or even video calls. No more manually transcribing meeting notes from a shared screen.
Quip is built by BZG Apps, the same developer behind Unite 6 (which turns websites into native Mac apps), and you can tell they understand the Mac ecosystem. Everything feels native, from the keyboard shortcuts (all customizable) to the way it integrates with Continuity features.
If you’re tired of losing important clipboard items or want to streamline your text expansion workflow, Quip is worth checking out. It starts at $19.99 for a standalone macOS license, with iOS and iPadOS apps included for the full ecosystem experience.
I’ve got my hands on Perplexity’s new Comet browser and its AI feature is pretty impressive. In this example I send it off to the Internet to do some shopping for me and it largely gets the job the done.… 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.
2025 is already halfway gone! It’s time to reflect on Q2 and make the most out of Q3. A few Pathfinder Labs members and I did just that recently; this is the edited video of that call.… This is a post for the MacSparky Labs Pathfinder members. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.
Delta has a long-term strategy to boost its profitability by moving away from set fares and toward individualized pricing using AI. The pilot program, which uses AI for 3% of fares, has so far been “amazingly favorable,” the airline said. Privacy advocates fear this will lead to price-gouging, with one consumer advocate comparing the tactic to “hacking our brains.”
