My vibe-coded Mac app is on the App Store, Gemini vs. ChatGPT, and Gemini Spark misfires

Plus, way less nutritious veggies, I revive a vintage 90s product, skip that aluminum T-track, CMYK 3D printing, and Microsoft’s cutting your storage.

Oct 12, 2026

I’m David Gewirtz. Welcome to this week’s Advanced Geekery newsletter. It’s been an exciting week. Let’s dive in.

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My articles

Here’s a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.

How I made a paid Mac app in 11 days with Claude - without writing a single line of code: Claude helped me vibe-code a Mac app and pass Apple’s review in less than two weeks. Come with me on my journey from idea to purchasable App Store product.

ChatGPT Plus vs. Google AI Pro: Same $20 price, very different perks: I use ChatGPT Plus and Google AI Pro - one for the perks, and one for the Work. Here’s how they compare on coding, creativity, storage, and automation.

I tested Gemini Spark - another Google AI fail, or its next dark horse? The AI agent handled some tasks well but also stumbled. Google’s track record gives me reason to look beyond the missteps.

Project of the week

Way back in the mid-90s, post Hyperpress, we created a very nice boxed Mac product called Icon Gallery. It sold well for a bunch of years but eventually was dropped when the Internet made boxed software irrelevant. A few months back, I found the box. Then I found the actual icon assets.

This is the story of using Claude to help turn that old collection into a fun retro Mac product that’s now available on the Mac App Store.

Must-watch YouTube

Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.

Jonathan Levi of The Next Layer YouTube channel does a deep dive into whether you can get CMYK (or gray or white) filament to truly 3D print full color. Interesting results.
This guy makes a good case for skipping all that aluminum T-track. He recommends a T-track router bit. I use a dovetail router bit, which I discuss below in our tool of the week segment.
Here’s a fun AI-generated ode to Claude Opus 5.5.

Tool of the week

Right after I picked up my inexpensive router table, I bought this system. What I like about it is that you can create tracks in just about anything, at any time. Microjig sells track guides and attachments, but I have a 3D printer. That means I can easily make just about anything I want to attach into the guides.

I do have two recommendations: get the clearance bit as well as the dovetail bit. Being able to clear out the gap before cutting the angles will give you a lot more precision. You won’t have to fight shavings that have nowhere to go once cut. Also, I bought the fairly expensive Microjig clamps because they fit perfectly. I didn’t want to fight over getting clamps to work.

Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Interesting reads

And now, some good stuff from around the Internet, well worth checking out.

JP Caparas produced a very detailed benchmark comparison of Nano Banana image generator versions.
If you waited until now to eat your veggies, you’re getting a whole lot less nutrition than your grandparents did in the 1960s.
ZDNET’s Ed Bott is reporting that Microsoft is cutting your Microsoft 365 subscription storage allocation. Because of course it is.

Send in your projects

I’d like to regularly spotlight a reader project or two here. Your project doesn’t have to be a big Kickstarter launch. If you’ve built something cool, it has some pretty pictures, and you’re proud of it, I might be able to share it here.

If you have a photogenic reader project, send an email to me at david@zatz.com with the subject “READER PROJECT,” a few pictures, and a short one-paragraph description. If you have a social media link or a link to the project, include that, too.