John Voorhees

John Voorhees

@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

I write and podcast at MacStories.net with @viticci.macstories.net and the MacStories team where we cover Apple, apps, videogames, and more. My podcasts: @appstories.macstories.net, @npc.macstories.net, @unwind.macstories.net, and @ruminate.macstories.net

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John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

Also from me today, a new chapter for the Apple Watch starts with watchOS 27. I have all the details on MacStories: www.macstories.net/stories/watc... Next up later today, a special AppStories all about iOS and iPadOS 27.

macstories.netwatchOS 27: The MacStories ReviewI haven't been this excited about an Apple Watch in a long time. Last week, Apple introduced the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, which will be available at the end of the week. The new…
John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

It's been a busy morning in Appleland. New iMac www.macstories.net/news/apple-... New MacBook Pro www.macstories.net/news/apple-... Upcoming Creator Studio Updates www.macstories.net/news/apple-...

macstories.netApple Updates the iMac with the M6, Starting at $1,499Apple's daily hardware drops continued today with a refresh to the iMac. The new iMac upgrades from an M4 to an M6 chip, with the base model starting at $1,499 and available in blue, green, pink, yellow, purple, orange, and silver. There are two M6 configurations. The first has a 10-core CPU and a 10-core
John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

On AppStories this week, I sat down with @viticci@macstories.net after a couple of whirlwind day trips to New York and London, to swap stories about the iPhone Duo apps we saw and share our first impressions of Apple's new foldable iPhone. www.macstories.net/linked/toda...

macstories.netToday on AppStories: iPhone Duo First Impressions and AppsToday on AppStories, Federico and I share our first impressions of the iPhone Duo and share our experiences in New York and London, where we learned more about the Duo and met with developers for demos and conversations about their apps. It's an excellent episode and just the start of a lot of iPhone Duo
John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

The new iPad mini is slightly smaller (mini-er) and lighter than the one it replaces. www.macstories.net/news/the-ne...

macstories.netThe New iPad mini Adds OLED with a Larger 8.5-Inch DisplayApple today announced an update to the iPad mini, one of my favorite iPads. The new mini features an 8.5-inch OLED display, a landscape Center Stage camera, and many other updates throughout. This is a big update, so let's dig into the details. The revised iPad mini has the same overall footprint at 5.4mm thin,
John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

MacStories Weekly will be out Saturday for Club MacStories members instead of today. It's been a busy week, so we're taking an extra day to catch up and gather our thoughts. See you soon!

John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

It was a real treat to talk to a bunch of developers in New York yesterday about the experience of bringing their apps to the iPhone Duo. I could talk about this stuff all day long with developers and shocking no one, I was the last one to leave. www.macstories.net/stories/buil...

macstories.netBuilding for iPhone Duo, in App Developers’ Own WordsI spent yesterday in New York City interviewing developers about their iPhone Duo apps and the experience of building for such a new and different device. The depth and breadth of developers Apple ass...
John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

Folded it fits perfectly into my not so big hands and the folded thickness gives it a substantial feel that works. The nano texture on the inside screen is incredible. With sun streaming in the windows during an Ungodly video game demo, the sun landing on the screen didn’t matter.

John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

The blue is deeper than the blue of the iPhone 17 Pro and looks very ‘pro.’ The Duo fits neatly in a typical men’s shirt pocket and because it’s shorter but not too wide, that should be true for more pockets than ever.

John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

Sometimes as a parent you just have to brag on your kids, so I’m going to let it rip and just say it was very cool to see Detail, which @finnvoorhees works on, included in the handful of demo Duos at today’s NYC event.

John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

I’m blown away by the apps developers have built for the iPhone Duo. Had a chance to talk to @viditb about DeckMan, Netflix, Notewise, Ungodly, Instagram, any Times Cooking and more. More to come. Me and the one and only Vidit.

John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

One thing I learned from @viticci - don’t be too precious about your writing environment. Crammed on a small plane with no Wi-Fi, I banged out a post for Friday on my phone and sent it home later via my ChatGPT Dot for proofing and pinning in Obsidian, ready for me when I get home.

John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

Here's a first look at my Apple Reminders 'rescheduler' app that makes it simple to balance your workload visually. It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, shows you your calendar events to help with scheduling, and handles bulk rescheduling.

John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

It's nice to have options... Last month, Perplexity introduced Hybrid Computer - start in the cloud and leverage local models. Now they've flipped it - start in local mode and only hit the frontier models in the cloud as needed. More on MacStories: www.macstories.net/news/perple...

macstories.netPerplexity Computer’s Local-First Approach to AgentsToday, Perplexity announced a local-first mode for Computer where the model and agent work entirely on your Mac whether you're online or not, sending data to the cloud only with the user's approval. The new local mode complements Hybrid Compute, which was introduced last month and uses a combination of local models and cloud-based frontier
John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

I’ve set my iPhone’s Action button to call my Dot. The experiment: talk through research ideas while I’m out for a walk and see whether that gives me a head start when I get home. ChatGPT’s new Shortcuts actions make the setup simple. www.macstories.net/reviews/cha...

macstories.netChatGPT Dots Gain Widget and New Shortcuts ActionsLate Friday, OpenAI updated the ChatGPT app on iOS and iPadOS with a new widget for your Dot and Shortcuts actions that let you control it three ways. The implementation is really well done and adds automation options worth considering. First of all, the Dot widget is about as simple as it gets, but also
John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

Very pleased to report that our very own @viticci will be in LA next week for the just-announced Apple event. www.macstories.net/news/apple-... Less pleased that the news dropped while I was out running. 🥵🏃‍♂️

macstories.netApple Announces October 28 “Pro and Tell” EventIn a post by Greg Joswiak on X, Apple has said it will hold an ‘Pro and Tell’ in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday, October 28 at 10:00 am Pacific. Judging from the 'Pro' in the tagline, I wouldn't be surprised if we see the much rumored touch-screen MacBook Pro at the event. Other rumors
John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

Good example of how "Describe a Shortcut" can fall short: I wanted a new Safari window to open with URLs in separate tabs. Shortcuts can handle the tabs and URLs but insisted that there was no way to open a new window.

John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

Second - MacStories Unwind is out and like a middle schooler, I was subjected to Yondr bags at a recent concert. Plus, we cover the Oasis documentary and Disclosure Day. www.macstories.net/podcasts/un...

macstories.netUnpacking 20,000 iPhonesThis week on MacStories Unwind, John has his iPhone confiscated by Phoebe Bridgers (sort of), Federico and Oasis get emotional, and Stephen Spielberg's aliens make a return. Also available on YouTube here. Links and Show Notes Phone Free Concerts Yondr Phoebe Bridgers Announces Phone-Free 2026 Arena Tour Opening Band: Alex G Picks Federico’s Pick: Oasis:
John Voorhees
@johnvoorhees.macstories.net

- Meta Releases Muse Spark Open, an Over 800 Billion Parameter Model That Can Run Locally on Multiple M5 Ultra Mac Studios www.macstories.net/news/meta-r...

macstories.netMeta Releases Muse Spark Open, an Over 800 Billion Parameter Model That Can Run Locally on Multiple M5 Ultra Mac StudiosMeta just released the weights for Muse Spark Open, a multimodal large language model with a mixture-of-experts architecture. It has over 800 billion parameters in total, with 40 billion active per token, and it can run on the latest Mac Studios. Meta worked closely with Apple to make that happen specifically on the M5 Ultra