Mac Power Users 841: The Robot Assistant Field Guide
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Mar 22, 2026 A custom AI robot assistant takes center stage, handling file organization, email logging, invoicing, publishing workflows, and even podcast production. There’s also a look at why managed AI agents feel different now, with better memory, safer app access, and sandboxed automation. The conversation explores tiny-task automation, browser-driven work, and a possible new interface for personal computing.
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David Switched Email Providers For MCP Safety
- David Sparks switched from Fastmail to Gmail because Gmail had an authorized MCP while the Fastmail option came from a third party.
- He judged first-party MCP safety more important than his usual preference for Fastmail's security and privacy.
Publishing And Invoicing Became Robot Work
- David Sparks taught his robot to publish across Memberful, WordPress, and Notion, removing the most tedious parts of releasing Labs videos.
- He also trained it to create FreshBooks invoices, which took supervision at first but now runs reliably.
Correct Robot Mistakes While They Happen
- When the robot misclicks, stop it immediately, state the correction clearly, and tell it to update the skill so the mistake becomes training.
- David Sparks stores editable skill files as plain text and says reliability improves after a few supervised runs.