257: I Go By Vibes, with Stephen Robles
Stephen Robles joins us to talk about reading, intentional technology use, directing AI, and the golden era of the generalist.
This episode of Focused is sponsored by:
Keeper: Get 60% off personal and family plans.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code FOCUSED.
Guest Starring:
Stephen Robles
Links and Show Notes:
Deep Focus: Extended ad-free episodes with bonus deep dive content.
Focused 257 on YouTube
Stephen's website
Riverside.fm
Stephen's YouTube channel
Treo 755p | Wikipedia
Engadget | Technology News & Expert Reviews
Mac Power Users | Relay
Range by David Epstein
The Gap and The Gain by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan
MKBHD on his 100th video | YouTube
The Talk Show Ep. 447, with Adam Lisagor
Hovercraft
The Rise of the Creative Tastemaker | Practical PKM
The Light Phone
FL Studio
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
I Am Not a Robot by Joanna Stern
Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen & Ivy Ross
100 Rules for Living to 100 by Dick Van Dyke
Creativity by John Cleese
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
The Other Side of Sadness by George Bonanno
The Violin Maker by John Marchese
Foundation | IMDb
Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday
Last Meals | YouTube
Reconcilable Differences | Relay
Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
Unreasonable Hospitality: The Secret to an Audience That Never Leaves | Nathan Barry Show #127
On B.S. by Harry Frankfurt
The Odyssey by Homer, Emily Wilson translation
Shark Slider Pico | iFootage
Plaud Note Pro
Govee Smart Cordless Table Lamp Classic | Amazon
835: Farewell, Stephen
David and Stephen celebrate the last seven years of Mac Power Users, reflecting on the topics, episodes, and community that make MPU so special. Then, Stephen Robles joins to accept the baton before his first episode as David's new cohost.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:
1Password: Never forget a password again.
Guest Starring:
Stephen Robles
Links and Show Notes:
Sign up for the MPU email newsletter and join the MPU forums. You can watch the podcast over on YouTube.
More Power Users: Ad-free episodes with regular bonus segments
Submit Feedback
The One Where I Announce I’m Stepping Back From Mac Power Users - 512 Pixels
A New Chapter for Mac Power Users - MacSparky
Mac Power Users #834: I Am The Tardis - Relay
Brett, David, and Merlin at Macworld 2012
Why I'm No Longer Practicing Law - MacSparky
Mac Power Users #485: WWDC and Interview with the Mac Pro Product Manager - Relay
Mac Power Users #500: David in the Hot Seat - Relay
Stephen Upgrading Macs at MacStock
Apple announces Mac transition to Apple silicon - Apple
Mac Power Users #472: Live in Chicago with Friends - Relay
Mac Power Users #464: Stephen... Who? - Relay
435: ‘Lincoln Bio Services’, With Stephen Robles
Special guest Stephen Robles joins the show. Topics include indie media and YouTube, Shortcuts and automation, and the state of podcasting.
Sponsored by:
Uncommon Goods: Out of the ordinary gifts, great for the holidays. Save 15% off your next purchase after following that link.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Stephen goes indie:
Stephen’s YouTube channel.
Announcement: “I Don't Have a Job Anymore, Thanks to You”.
Video: “These Shortcuts Are Magic”.
Primary Technology: Stephen's podcast, with cohost Jason Aten.
Episode 74, May 2025, with yours truly as a guest.
Apple Podcasts and AI-generated chapters:
Apple Podcasts for Creators: “Enhance Your Episodes With Chapters, Links, and More”.
Daring Fireball: “Apple Podcasts Is Adding AI-Generated Chapters for Podcasts Without Chapters”.
Primary Technology discussion.
Beard.fm: “Apple’s Losing Its Podcast Legacy”.
Downie, a fantastic Mac app for downloading local copies of videos from the web (especially YouTube).
Daring Fireball post on Downie 4, from early this year.
Transloader — Apps from Eternal Storms that allow you to initiate downloads on a Mac remotely from an iPhone, iPad, or another Mac.
F-Bomb paperweight at sponsor Uncommon Goods.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
An Apple Shortcuts masterclass
Meta's smart glasses have been a hit in part because they don't try to do too much. With the new Display glasses, though, Meta is trying to do... a lot more. The Verge's Victoria Song joins the show to tell us about her experience with the glasses, from the impressive but very first-gen hardware to the somewhat underwhelming set of things you can do. After that, podcaster and creator Stephen Robles explains to David why he's dead wrong about Apple Shortcuts. Stephen shares how he uses Shortcuts, why he's found such a big audience of Shortcuts fans on YouTube and elsewhere, and why it's worth doing the work to learn Apple's most powerful app. Finally, David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about which wireless earbuds you should buy — and why it might be the pair you already own.
Help us improve The Verge: Take our quick survey at theverge.com/survey.
Further reading:
The future I saw through the Meta Ray-Ban Display amazes and terrifies me
I regret to inform you Meta’s new smart glasses are the best I’ve ever tried
The smart glasses race is really on now
Stephen Robles' YouTube channel
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