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Tech News
Perplexity has updated the voice mode in its Mac app and web version to run on OpenAI's gpt-live-1 model, which can listen while it speaks. The update, available now to Pro and Max subscribers, lets users manage multiple Computer sessions, start new tasks, and handle Projects within a single voice session.
A third-party macOS utility called Open Sound Connect now allows direct control of Sony's WH-1000X and MDR-1000X headphone line from a Mac, covering noise cancellation, sound settings and custom scenes via a menu bar panel. The app requires no Sony account or phone pairing, and is distributed through a direct download with a license key, with a Mac App Store version still forthcoming. Licenses permit up to two active installations managed through a user account.
Perplexity has introduced a local-first option for its Computer agent in the Mac app, allowing both the AI model and the task-directing agent to run entirely on-device, including offline. The feature lets Computer plan, reason and process files locally, working with apps like Notes, Messages, Mail and Numbers, and only sends data to the cloud with user approval.
Pulse Local, a new Mac budgeting app shown on Hacker News, downloads about 2.9GB of AI models to the user's machine so that financial questions are processed locally rather than sent to a remote server. When syncing accounts, the app fetches transactions via Plaid through Pulse's servers, but the developer says the data passes through server memory without being stored, leaving only connection metadata like institution name and last sync time on the backend.
Google unveiled EmbeddingGemma 2, a 740-million-parameter multimodal AI model built on the Gemma 4 architecture and released under an Apache 2.0 license, designed to run locally on devices like Pixel phones using minimal RAM. The company also launched Google AI Edge Foresight, a Mac app that uses the model to transcribe meetings, expand shorthand notes into polished text, and answer questions by searching local files, calendars, and Google Drive content—all processed on-device.
A software developer created and published a Mac application to the App Store without writing any code himself, instead directing Anthropic's Claude AI through 502 separate prompts over about a week. The project, inspired by an old icon library product he had built decades earlier, was submitted to Apple on Sept. 27 and approved four days later.
Meta is letting users request early access to newly announced Muse features by typing a specific prompt into the Muse app itself, rather than filling out a traditional signup form. The features, unveiled at Connect 2026, include a video-chat digital avatar, expanded shopping integrations, a more capable Mac app, and support on Meta's AI glasses.
Meta announced new capabilities for its Muse AI agent, including personal email addresses for completing tasks, live video calls with a customizable avatar, and computer-control features in the Muse Mac app. The company also said Muse will launch on its smart glasses in coming months, letting users discuss what they're looking at in real time.
A journalist testing Meta's Muse AI assistant on its new Mac app found it referencing contents of his Messages conversations, despite believing he hadn't granted access. When questioned, Muse gave a confused and inaccurate explanation, claiming it only saw notification previews synced through the paired Mac app. Meta executive David Singleton later clarified that Muse only accesses Messages data after a user explicitly opts in, and that the assistant's own explanation of its capabilities was simply wrong.
Programmer Yevhen Kharkivskyi has released Tasks.txt, a free Mac application built around Gina Trapani's todo.txt system. Instead of complex features, it organizes tasks into three simple sections—Next, Backlog, and Done—stored in a single text file and fully operable via keyboard shortcuts.
Meta has launched a Mac version of its AI assistant Muse, allowing it to interact directly with a user's files, messages, calendar, notes and mail within their native apps. The desktop release follows Muse's earlier debut on mobile and web this month, where it quickly climbed to the top of U.S. App Store rankings.
Meta AI has released Muse, a personified AI agent app for iPhone, with a companion Mac app added nine days later and web access at muse.ai. Users can customize the agent's name and avatar, and while the app is free with weekly usage limits, paying subscribers get expanded access. The Mac version can work across apps, files, calendar, notes, and messages, with user-controlled permissions.