It’s no secret that by many accounts, app development is at a turning point. Between the rise of web apps, government-enforced App Store policy changes in territories around the world, and the growing role of AI in many coding workflows, it feels like we’re living in the moment just between “before” and “after,” and soon,...
Podcast Rewind: An AYANEO Avalanche, Minecraft Houses, and Brendon Crashes Unwind
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
NPC: Next Portable Console
This week, Federico and John go it alone without Brendon to cover Game Pass on ARM, an avalanche of AYANEO announcements, and why the TrimUI Brick Pro has shot up their most-anticipated handheld list for 2026.
On NPC XL, Federico shows off the Ayn Odin 3 and reports the results of his efforts to brute force his way to what he’s using like a Steam Deck mini.
Comfort Zone
Chris has a Creator Studio, Matt has a less official Creator Studio, and the whole gang shows off their Minecraft houses.
On Cozy Zone, we tier list iPads. Chris has never been more in his element than in this one!
MacStories Unwind
This week, John escapes the big freeze and the Club comes home to MacStories – plus, TV picks and Brendon Bigley drops in to say “hi” and share a pick.
Immersive Dog Show Series ‘Top Dogs’ Premieres on Apple Vision Pro
Pet lovers, rejoice! After debuting immersive series and specials on subjects ranging from nature and travel to music and sports on the Vision Pro over the past couple of years, Apple is now inviting viewers into the world of competitive dog showing with Top Dogs. Available now, the two-part docuseries offers a one-of-a-kind perspective on Crufts, the world’s biggest dog show, following competitors and their owners as they give their all in hopes of winning the coveted Best in Show trophy.
Let me tell you: having had a chance to see the docuseries, these are some very good dogs. Throughout the roughly 30 minutes of video, I got the chance to see tons of adorable and prim canines, some from breeds I’d never heard of before. Crufts attracts nearly 20,000 competitors each year, so there were plenty of great dogs to meet. It’s worth watching the show just for the shots of the cute pups alone.
But Top Dogs is about more than just making new canine friends. The series offers a great overview of the dog show itself, including some behind-the-scenes footage of the lower-level competitions I wasn’t familiar with from my casual viewings of dog shows in the past. The series also employs the best use of graphics I’ve seen so far in Apple Immersive Video, explaining the dog show’s various rounds with expansive 3D charts. It includes an excellent opening title sequence, too, something I didn’t realize I was missing in these immersive series up until now.
Podcast Rewind: Building Personalized Software, Steam Machine Pricing Rumors, Matt Podcasts Solo, and Ted Danson
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
AppStories
This week, Federico and John complete their tour of holiday projects with a look at the tools both of them built with the help of Claude Code, Codex, and other tools.
On AppStories+, John pushes Claude Code by building a Safari web extension that integrates with Notion.
NPC: Next Portable Console
This week, rumors swirl about the Steam Machine’s pricing, AYANEO pauses to collect itself, and GameSir’s Pocket Taco goes live – plus, the lack of foldable phone controllers and our first videogames.
On NPC XL, Federico, John, and Brendon share what they do when they’re not obsessing over handheld consoles.
Comfort Zone
Matt’s on his own for this one, as Chris and Niléane managed to both get sick at the same time. Fear not; we get to rant and rave about the latest “Xbox”!
On Cozy Zone, we roast each other’s backpacks. One’s all black, one’s full of color, and the other is just a mess.
MacStories Unwind
This week, John shrugs off a once-in-a-decade winter storm and watches a great movie, while Federico has a returning comedy series to share.
Podcast Rewind: Holiday Break Projects, CES Gaming Announcements, MagSafe Accessories, and Clawdbot
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
AppStories
This week, Federico and John are back from their holiday break, which included so many hardware and automation projects that this is part one of a two-part episode regarding Federico’s networked music automation setup and John’s new research tool.
On AppStories+, Federico shares his foldable phone experiments.
NPC: Next Portable Console
This week, a whirlwind tour of the handheld news from CES 2026, Switch 2 grips, AR glasses, new chips from AMD, the OneXSugar Wallet, and more.
On NPC XL, John got his MCON controller, Federico’s still waiting for his, and Brendon checks in after more than a month with his.
Comfort Zone
Niléane battles the modern era of smart mice, Chris has a new way of keeping up with everything everywhere all at once, and the whole gang battles it out with the best dang MagSafe accessories you’ve ever seen.
On this week’s Cozy Zone, we roast listeners’ home screens again! This one has, bar none, the weirdest home screen we’ve ever seen, and we might be cursed now.
MacStories Unwind
This week, Federico unpacks Clawdbot, a Claude-based personal assistant, and recommends an Apple TV movie, while John revisits an old favorite on the Nintendo Switch.
Apple Unveils Apple Creator Studio App Suite
Today, Apple announced Apple Creator Studio, a suite of creativity apps for the Mac and iPad combined with premium content and features for productivity apps across the company’s platforms. This collection of apps, which includes the debut of Pixelmator Pro for iPad, offers tools for creative professionals, aspiring artists, students, and others working across a wide variety of fields, including music, video, and graphic design.
The bundle includes a number of apps:
- Final Cut Pro for Mac and iPad (video editing)
- Logic Pro for Mac and iPad (music creation)
- Pixelmator Pro for Mac and iPad (photo editing and graphic design)
- Motion for Mac (video effects)
- Compressor for Mac (video encoding)
- MainStage for Mac (music performance)
It also features a new Content Hub with premium graphics and photos for Apple’s iWork suite – Pages for word processing, Keynote for presentations, and Numbers for spreadsheets – as well as exclusive templates, themes, and AI features. The company says these features will also come to its Freeform canvas app soon.
Apple Creator Studio will be available on Wednesday, January 28, for $12.99/month or $129/year with a one-month free trial. Students and teachers can subscribe at a discounted rate of $2.99/month or $29.99/year, and three months of Apple Creator Studio will come free with the purchase of a new Mac or iPad. The subscription also includes Family Sharing, allowing users to share the apps and features with up to five family members.
With this offering, Apple is combining several disparate offerings for creatives into a single package that looks quite compelling. Because many of these apps are also available individually – some of them for free – there are a lot of details to get into regarding what’s new, what’s included, and what’s available elsewhere. Let’s get into it.
Immersive Lakers Game Now Widely Available on Apple Vision Pro
Last Friday, basketball fans in the Los Angeles Lakers market got their first glimpse of an immersive live game when the Lakers faced the Milwaukee Bucks on Spectrum Front Row on Apple Vision Pro. While that experience was limited geographically and only available to Spectrum customers via the Spectrum SportsNet app, the game replay is now available widely and for free in the NBA app. Vision Pro users in eligible regions outside Lakers territory can download the app, sign up for an NBA ID, and stream the game replay and highlights today. The full schedule and availability of immersive Lakers games were announced last week.
Being from Arkansas and not California, I missed out on the live premiere, but I was able to check out the game replay on my Vision Pro yesterday, and the experience was fantastic. Most of the game was shown from a front-row courtside perspective, which meant I was literally turning my head from side to side as the teams moved up and down the court. It was very different from the bird‘s-eye view I’m used to watching televised sports from, and it really gave me the impression of being in the arena. At one point, when a member of the Lakers scored a point, I felt the urge to start clapping as if they could hear me, even though I was sitting in my bedroom, not at the Lakers game.
There were several other camera angles that the broadcast cut to from time to time. The behind-the-basket view was a fun way to take in the action when someone was about to score, and there was a roaming camera that brought you onto the court itself before the game and during halftime as well. The cuts were sparing, which made the whole experience feel less jarring than some of the immersive sports highlights we’ve seen on Vision Pro before, but the combination of immersive video and multiple angles offered the best of both worlds. It felt like I was actually there taking in the game, and no matter what was happening, I always got to see it from the best angle.
Even if you’re not a big fan of basketball or the Lakers, it’s worth checking out the replay to see what the experience is like. Right now, broadcasting a game in this way is a big undertaking, but I have a feeling it will only become more and more common with time. If this concept eventually expands to other sports and live experiences like concerts, theatrical performances, and more, it would make a really compelling case for the Vision Pro and the sorts of capabilities only visionOS can offer.
Podcast Rewind: Tech Predictions, A New Game Show, and Weird CES Returns
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
Comfort Zone
Last week was the annual predictions episode! The gang reflected on their predictions from 2025 and then made their Guaranteed To Be Correct Predictions for 2026. No boring predictions here; we started at Pro predictions and went all the way to Pro Max.
Last week’s Cozy Zone had everyone discussing the tricky business of streaming music and how we actually get artists paid.
And this week, Matt needs some help figuring out what browser to use, Niléane has a new game show, and Chris challenges the gang to clean up their desk area.
On this week’s Cozy Zone, the gang discusses their tech white whales. If they had unlimited funds, what would they buy? A nice camera? A beefy computer? A whole company?!
MacStories Unwind
This week, Federico and John share how they unwound during their holiday break, John has a report on CES 2026, Federico recommends Avatar: Fire and Ash, and John does a Parks and Rec rewatch and has a superhero movie deal for listeners.
Immersive Basketball Games Come to Apple Vision Pro on January 9
Last year, Apple announced a partnership with cable company Spectrum and the Los Angeles Lakers to stream select games in Apple Immersive Video on Vision Pro. Today, the company announced the schedule and availability of the games, which will be offered via Spectrum Front Row starting this Friday.
These are the dates the games will be streamed live in Immersive Video:
- Friday, January 9, at 7:30 p.m PT
- Thursday, February 5, at 7:00 p.m. PT
- Friday, February 20, at 7:00 p.m. PT
- Thursday, March 5, at 7:00 p.m. PT
- Tuesday, March 10, at 8:00 p.m. PT
- Monday, March 30, at 7:00 p.m. PT
In the press release, Apple revealed details of what viewers can expect from the broadcasts:
Spectrum Front Row in Apple Immersive is directed and produced for Vision Pro with a feed of up to 150 Mbps and seven unique viewing angles: the scorer’s table, the area beneath each basket, a high-and-wide view of the arena, the player tunnel, the broadcast booth, and a roaming courtside perspective for interviews and commentary. The broadcast team features Emmy Award-winning play-by-play commentator Mark Rogondino and three-time NBA champion and former Lakers forward Danny Green as an analyst.
Spectrum SportsNet subscribers in the Lakers regional broadcast territory (Southern California, Hawaii, and parts of southern Nevada) can watch immersive games live via the Spectrum SportsNet app or the NBA app. Viewers in other U.S. markets will have access to highlights and full-game replays later, beginning this Sunday, for free via the NBA app or in the SportsNet app with a subscription.
The games will be available in some international markets as well. Users in Japan, Singapore, and South Korea will have access to live immersive games in the NBA app, while users in Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UAE, and the UK will be able to watch replays up to 24 hours after each game has ended.
The Vision Pro’s potential for offering viewers the thrill of attending sports events has been a part of the product’s story from the very beginning, with the company including sports footage in the first demos shown to attendees at WWDC 2023. And while we’ve seen highlight videos of various sporting events released publicly since then, this collaboration marks the first time Vision Pro users will be able to experience a full game in Immersive Video. This is also the first time the format will be used for live video rather than on-demand. It’s only a handful of games from one team, but this is a step forward for Immersive Video and the Vision Pro itself that I’m looking forward to experiencing myself this weekend.






