Macpreneur

The Smart Solopreneur Way to Use AI on Mac with TĂ©a Phillips

• Damien Schreurs • Season 7 • Episode 157

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🆓 Are you an AI Dabbler, AI Integrator or AI Automator? https://macpreneur.com/aistage

In this episode, you'll learn how Founder and CEO of ATS Innovations and Inventor of the MetaFlex Glove, TĂ©a Phillips, uses her Mac to streamline her business. 

Discover how mechanical webcam switches provide genuine security, how Google Workspace's Gemini offers superior research capabilities, and how custom AI tools can automate repetitive tasks from image categorization to intelligent file management.

Show notes and video version at https://macpreneur.com/episode157

Connect with TĂ©a Phillips:

Highlights:

  • [00:00] Welcome  
  • [01:05] Introduction to TĂ©a Phillips  
  • [01:55] TĂ©a's MacBook Experience  
  • [05:18] Security Concerns and Digital Privacy  
  • [12:08] Favorite Mac Apps  
  • [15:32] AI Usage and Research  
  • [20:00] Comparing AI Tools: ChatGPT vs. Gemini  
  • [25:36] Google Workspace and Gemini Integration  
  • [28:46] Exploring Google NotebookLM  
  • [37:17] Gemini in Google Sheets  
  • [43:03] Automating Tasks with Shortcuts  
  • [45:48] Improving Mac Ergonomics  
  • [48:47] Connecting with TĂ©a  
  • [50:02] Applying to be a guest too  
  • [50:27] Outro  

🎤 Want to be a guest on the show? Fill the application form available at https://macpreneur.com/apply or visit the show profile on Podmatch.

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The Smart Solopreneur Way to Use AI on Mac with TĂ©a Phillips


Welcome

Damien Schreurs: This episode was recorded on July 25th, 2025, which means that some of the tech discussed—and in particular, the AI stuff—may have evolved since then. Please keep that in mind when listening to the episode. 

Talking about AI: if you would like to know whether you are an AI doubler, AI integrator, or AI automator, then you will love my quiz available at macpreneur.com/aistage. In one word, in less than two minutes, you will discover your AI stage archetype and get three practical steps to further your AI journey. Once again, it's macpreneur.com/aistage. 

Okay. Right after the intro, we will dive into today's interview with TĂ©a Phillips.

Nova AI: Welcome to Macpreneur, the show for seasoned solopreneurs looking to streamline their business on a Mac. Unlock the secrets to saving time and money with your host and technology mentor, Damien Schreurs.


Introduction to TĂ©a Phillips

Damien Schreurs: Hello, today I have the pleasure of introducing TĂ©a Phillips. TĂ©a is the founder and CEO of ATS Innovations and the inventor of the MetaFlex Glove. MetaFlex is the world's first compression glove designed to stretch your fingers and strengthen your grip. It is designed as the easiest way to improve hand function. Welcome to the show.

TĂ©a Phillips: Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah, my pleasure. I’m really always happy when I have a fellow engineer on the show because I remember when I was still working as an engineer, the Mac was absolutely not on my radar. We had so many other machines—especially Linux and Unix machines—where we could do stuff.


TĂ©a's MacBook Experience

Damien Schreurs: So I'm curious, which Mac are you currently using to run your business?

Téa Phillips: I have a MacBook Pro that I bought in 2021—the second one I bought, because the first one got stolen, which really sucked. I was down in Miami, and someone broke into my car and stole my backpack, which had my first MacBook. That was the first MacBook I ever bought, and I purchased it to start my startup. I liked it so much that when it got taken, I got the exact same thing again.


Ergonomics and Keyboard Preferences

Damien Schreurs: And so you have a MacBook. Do you plug it into an external screen or use the built-in screen of the MacBook?

Téa Phillips: You know, I should probably get an external screen. I'm always so close to my MacBook—I’m reading and typing and I have to wear my glasses. Right now, I just use it as it is. I do have the keyboard and I have a mouse, and I actually just ordered something more ergonomic. I like this keyboard, but I wish it was different—more ergonomic—because I'm working with my hands all the time. When my fingers, joints, or wrist hurt, I really notice it. So I actually just ordered one of those creamy keyboards that sound nice when you type on them and that also lifts a little bit. But no external screen yet—I should probably invest in one next.

Damien Schreurs: When it comes to keyboards, that's where I am absolutely not faithful to Apple. Most of the Apple keyboards stay in the box, and I'm really a fan of Logitech. They have a really nice wireless keyboard. What's also bothering me a little bit with the native Apple keyboard is the key travel. There isn’t enough travel for me to really feel that tactile feedback. Yet when you have a clicky keyboard, it can be tough during Zoom calls and stuff like that. So there's a balance.

Téa Phillips: And it's clicking. I also agree with the travel of the key; I want it to be more of a sensory experience. It's not just about moving my fingers across; it's kind of nice that it's all flat, but when I was first learning how to type quickly, it was with raised keys—it felt nostalgic and right. However, I feel like as we advance in laser technology and in the future, as we’re able to really map where things are using small laser systems, we won't have those physical buttons anymore. It will just track where your hands are moving, and so we’ll lose that sensory experience. Hopefully, whoever designs that will still make it feel nice to make those movements and be ergonomic as well for the user.


Security Concerns and Digital Privacy

Damien Schreurs: Yesterday I was giving a full day of smartphone security training and caught myself trying to tap my finger on the MacBook screen. I thought, "Maybe one day we'll be able to do that."

Téa Phillips: That would be a nice feature—to have a touchscreen on the MacBook. Also, when we were talking about Star Trek, you think of the ways they project things and how advanced their computer systems are. I can't wait until our systems are that advanced—and by that time, I’m not going to know how to use it. I imagine I'll be that old person who still clicks the X in the corner rather than using new gestures. Technology is advancing at such a fast rate—it’s really fun to be alive.

Damien Schreurs: I fully agree. I believe we are in the best technological period ever, and it's super exciting. Now, we're talking about keyboards, but do you use any dictation? Do you use your voice to interact with your Mac at all?

Téa Phillips: No, I don't like doing that. I don’t think the system is where I want it to be—it’s still a little clunky and takes too long. I feel I can type faster than waiting for it to listen, only to have it misunderstand parts of what I said. I have Hey Siri turned off on all my devices because I don't want my phone listening to me—even though I know it is. She knows everything, even when it's turned off. That’s another security concern I have, and maybe you know more about it, because I'm a mechanical engineer, not a computer scientist or IT professional. I think it's interesting, and I do want to go back to school for computer science one day, but I feel like some of these features are always on—even when you turn them off.

Damien Schreurs: For the microphone, I don’t know, but for the webcam, I know it actually has a mini mechanical switch. When you close the lid or engage that switch, you cannot activate the webcam on a Mac with pure software. The little light indicating the webcam is active is also mechanical and cannot be spoofed. That means you wouldn’t have malware activating the webcam without noticing.

TĂ©a Phillips: Thank you for clarifying. That gives me some reassurance.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah.

Téa Phillips: I do think the microphone is always on if it’s not controlled by a mechanical switch. I like having a mechanical switch along with the light indicator to show if it's on or not. I don’t think they would tell us otherwise. Data tracking and all of this are advancing so fast that the legislation here can’t keep up—and even if it could, it’s too much for our court systems. That’s going to be an interesting problem as we continue looking at and trying to solve digital privacy issues in the future.

Damien Schreurs: I was listening to Security Now recently, and there was an episode where security researchers realized that Meta and other companies were completely circumventing the privacy features of the iPhone. Even if you had said no to tracking or background access, they were still able to track you through a unique identifier. They achieved this by quickly launching a small web server within the Meta app. Any other app that knew the web server was active could simply ping it. When the researchers published the report, the company quickly apologized, saying, "No, it’s a bug; we didn’t mean to do that."

Téa Phillips: Yeah. You didn't mean to—it’s concerning from a security standpoint for personal devices. Maybe in the future, we’ll see a shift where some security experts limit what data is on which device. For instance, one device could be connected to my socials, and another could house all my personal information to keep it away from Zuckerberg or whoever.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah.

TĂ©a Phillips: Devices and the way they interact with our lives are evolving so quickly. It could be a great business opportunity for someone who wants to educate consumers and create secure devices that are user-friendly without having to be a security professional.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah.


Favorite Mac Apps

Damien Schreurs: Let's move to the next segment of the show—your favorite Mac apps. Which apps are you absolutely unable to live without on your Mac today?

Téa Phillips: Right now, it's my Calendar. I'm busy, so I'm on my calendar all the time. I also like that my Messages sync between my computer and my phone. I remember being in college and seeing people with Macs, texting and taking notes—I was so jealous because I had a Dell at that time, which was really good for running my engineering software. I also use Zoom, Slack, and Spotify for music, so I can take a little break. I just downloaded a software called CLO, which is a fashion design software, because I design gloves. The glove already functions really well, and now the next step is tweaking the design to make it prettier or more techie-looking. Those are my favorites right now.

Damien Schreurs: Is it a native Apple Mac app?

TĂ©a Phillips: That app was a download.

Damien Schreurs: So it's a Mac app.

TĂ©a Phillips: My favorite is definitely Calendar.

Damien Schreurs: I remember the challenge was finding applications that ran both on Windows and on the Mac. Often, you get stuck with Windows-only applications. Then you have to find a way to make those run on the Mac. But you found a Mac app—something you installed.

TĂ©a Phillips: Yeah. Kudos to both. Slack is really important for my team, and it's available on multiple platforms, including Mac and other PCs.

Damien Schreurs: Did you install the Mac app for Slack, or do you just connect via the browser?

Téa Phillips: I have the app. It makes it easier because it gives me notifications so I can quickly click into it. I always have too many tabs open, and if it were just in my browser it wouldn't work as well. I also have it on my phone, so if I get a notification in the middle of the night, I can check it there. And with Calendar, I’m constantly planning my personal life—dinner with friends or a podcast recording in the middle of the night. I even meet with my manufacturer in different time zones, so my calendar is something I use multiple times a day, every day.

Damien Schreurs: Very good.


AI Usage and Research

Damien Schreurs: Let's talk about AI a little bit. What AI systems or applications are you using at the moment?

Téa Phillips: I'm going to be different than most people you talk to—I don't use AI much. I really don't. I haven't found a solid use case, except sometimes when I need to do some quick research. For example, I recently put out a job application to hire an executive assistant, and I quickly typed into ChatGPT questions like, "What are the average salary ranges in my area, my state, or the entire country?" so I could offer competitive pay. But other than that, aside from those little quick research tasks—I’m not doing medical research, legal research, etc.—I don't trust the system. I know it generates its own conclusions based on other research sources, and while sometimes those conclusions are right, I can't cite them when advising people with arthritis, for example. Hopefully, in the future, as AI becomes more trustworthy for research, it will become standard practice. For now, I use it just for quick data gathering.

Damien Schreurs: And when you say research, is it just the search capability where it crawls the web to pull a few articles, or is it deep research mode—where it goes for a few minutes and then returns with a report?

Téa Phillips: I haven’t used it in the deep research mode. I’ve only used it to pull salary ranges. I have experimented with it for other things, and I can tell when emails I receive—like bullet points with emojis after I posted an executive assistant position—are not actually written by a person. I worry that chronic users could lose their reasoning and logic skills by letting ChatGPT do all the thinking for them.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah.


Comparing AI Tools: ChatGPT vs. Gemini

Damien Schreurs: I've used deep research myself. For instance, one of my plans is to expand internationally. At the moment, I offer my training services only locally in Luxembourg. Since I teach mostly in English—and I was thinking about reaching the UK, maybe Canada, because I'm also French-speaking in Quebec—I looked into this. Quebec is six hours behind New York; so when it’s their morning, it’s the beginning of my afternoon. I could teach a three-hour session during my afternoon, which would be their morning when their minds are fresh. But then I started asking questions about tax perspectives. With the UK now outside the EU because of Brexit, things changed regarding VAT and related issues. I launched deep research using both ChatGPT (with a Plus subscription) and Gemini. Both took about 10 to 15 minutes to pull articles from various sources across three countries. In the end, the conclusion was the same—a green flag to proceed with the UK as long as you stay B2B, avoid Canada due to tax nightmares, and for the US, certain states like Delaware were okay while others were not.

I even asked both systems to create a table listing the most attractive to least attractive states in the US. They both did a great job, but there was one anomaly: ChatGPT put California way higher compared to Gemini. I double-checked ChatGPT’s source, and it didn’t even mention California. On the other hand, Gemini was super accurate with its sources. Now I have much more confidence in Gemini than in ChatGPT. 

I’m not sure—do you have a Google account? Is it a free personal account or a Google Workspace for Business account?

TĂ©a Phillips: We use Google Workspace for Business.

Damien Schreurs: So you might have access to Gemini for Business, which is included in your plan. You just need to visit gemini.google.com and you can do everything without giving away any data to OpenAI. That’s number one. From my experience over the past months, having compared ChatGPT and Gemini—including Gemini 2.5 Pro and various ChatGPT models—I can say Gemini 2.5 Pro is much better, especially in the way it responds. ChatGPT can sometimes be overly agreeable or contrarian and push me in a direction I didn’t ask for. I appreciate having a system that sticks closer to my intended direction.

Téa Phillips: I do have those little prompts at the end. I’ve never compared the two, so thank you for telling me—I’ll look into Gemini. It seems that while ChatGPT collects and compiles data, Gemini verifies it and provides conclusions that actually match the sources.

Damien Schreurs: Exactly.


Google Workspace and Gemini Integration

Damien Schreurs: Gemini was integrated very well into my workflow. Because I also have a Google Workspace for Business account, once Gemini finished its deep research, a button appeared that said “Save as Google Doc.” I didn’t even need to copy or create a new document—just one click and boom, a new Google Doc was created. I just had to file it somewhere.

TĂ©a Phillips: Google is on top of innovation.


Innovation and Staying Ahead

Téa Phillips: On top of innovation—they’re absolutely on top. I wonder who owns Alphabet; I haven’t looked into it. Who is this billionaire trillionaire? Everyone uses Google as a search engine, and with Gemini it’s just another way to search—but with better results than ChatGPT. That means they’re going to be the premier AI tool, collecting even more data because they’ve been on top for a while and are staying there with next-level products that everybody needs.

Damien Schreurs: I was afraid for a while that it would be another Kodak moment—like Kodak invented the digital camera but then disappeared because they didn’t want to kill their existing product line.

TĂ©a Phillips: If you're going to stay on top of innovation, you have to keep innovating and cannot be married to the product you have right now.


MetaFlex and Tech Innovations

Téa Phillips: One of the things we’re experiencing at MetaFlex is that we take user feedback and continuously improve our product. That might mean that some older products get discontinued. I’m always looking into the future and thinking about how people like things best. To me, that’s exciting. I don’t know what’s going on with Kodak—I need to grab my charger because my computer’s almost dead. I haven’t had it plugged in; I’ve been traveling so much. We just came back from Indy, where we did WNBA All-Star Weekend and started presenting FL to all these all-star basketball players. It’s been a good time. I also think a bunch of tech nerds, like professional gamers, would really benefit from using MetaFlex—not only for training (since you can wear it while gaming and its resistance can improve your keystroke speed) but also for recovery when their hands hurt.

Damien Schreurs: Yep. Yep. And yeah.


Exploring Google NotebookLM

Damien Schreurs: Coming back to Google Workspace for Business—have you ever played with NotebookLM?

Téa Phillips: No, I haven’t.

Damien Schreurs: I think when you mentioned not fully trusting an LLM for doing deep research or literature work, I fully agree because there is always the risk of hallucination. But NotebookLM is different. I’ve started using it more and more. Notebook is powered by Gemini in the sense that you can interact with it using natural language, but it uses a method called “drag retrieval augmented generation.” With Notebook, you can supply up to 350 sources—Google Docs, web pages, PDFs, even audio and video files. It creates a knowledge graph in the background, and whenever you query it, it only pulls from those sources. This dramatically reduces the probability of hallucinations compared to typical ChatGPT or even normal Gemini. I’ve been astonished by what it can do. I gave it two EU tax documents (which even legal experts would find challenging), asked very simple questions, and received very good answers with citations. I could click on a citation and see the related article.

On top of that, you can easily create a mind map or even generate a small podcast. The interface has three panes: the left pane shows your sources, the middle is the chat conversation area, and the right side is the studio where you can generate a podcast. You can choose between short (five to ten minutes), medium (20 to 40 minutes), or long (an hour or more) podcasts. Plus, you can prompt the two podcast hosts—a male and a female—according to your needs. There are also predefined artifacts like a mind map, FAQ, and timeline. For instance, if you provide a bunch of documents, it can pull all the dates and generate a timeline complete with citations. At any time, you can click a button to see exactly where each citation comes from. It’s not just pulling from an LLM—it’s pulling from the sources you provided.

I think you could provide a bunch of online studies, let NotebookLM do the research, and then even search for sources within Notebook to import them automatically into your workspace. Previously, you had to import everything manually. Now, you can conduct a mini-research within Notebook, select what you want to keep, and work from there. That’s notebook.google.com. And since you have a Google Workspace for Business account, you get the premium version of Notebook with all its capabilities. You can also share a Notebook with your team—one use case I’ve explored with a friend is putting all their SOPs and documentation in a NotebookLM, then sharing it with the team. You can either grant full access so they can tweak the sources, or restrict it so they only have access to query the Notebook.

Téa Phillips: Oh, so you can store all your SOPs in one place and simply ask, “What’s the process for da, da, da?” That’s amazing. I’m definitely going to do that since we’re writing all our SOPs as we bring a team on board.

There are so many cool new apps and software coming out right now.

Damien Schreurs: And I almost forgot one more thing about NotebookLM: you can pull Google Docs from Google Drive, and there’s a sync button. This means if you update your SOP in Google Docs, you can simply refresh the Notebook to pull in the new version. It’s clear they really thought about the user experience.

TĂ©a Phillips: I'm taking notes. This is like a masterclass.

Damien Schreurs: And I think that’s it for everyone listening today. If you have a Google Workspace for Business account, explore what you can do with NotebookLM. Google has really been on the ball.


Gemini in Google Sheets

Damien Schreurs: Something else I’ve been using more and more is Gemini inside Google Sheets. You can have a large spreadsheet with a lot of data. I had results from a quiz—a questionnaire with unstructured text responses—and I was curious about the correlation between two answers. Gemini analyzed the unstructured data, converted it to structured data, displayed a graph with the numbers, and I could visualize that there was no correlation. I was skeptical at first, so I cross-referenced by searching Wikipedia for those two variables, and it all checked out. Using the right methodology, Gemini analyzed hundreds of lines of responses accurately.

Téa Phillips: There’s something I need to do that will take a lot of time, and I would love if there were an already-built system for that.


Organizing Media Files with AI

Téa Phillips: The organization of media files—photos and videos for our brand—is a challenge. We’re importing so many files, and I know we need a Sheets document categorizing our photos by category, model, and linking them appropriately so you don’t have to scroll through everything to find that one photo you’re looking for. I’m thinking there might be a system that can automatically look through all those photos and videos, categorize them, and create its own categories. Do you know if anything like that exists?

Damien Schreurs: I’m not aware of an off-the-shelf solution, but my mind immediately goes to creating a “gem” on Google. Since you have a paid account, you have access to gems—a custom GPT. By going to gemini.google.com, you can create a new gem. You simply give it a name, instructions, and some knowledge. For instance, you could instruct it, “Please help me categorize images. You are an image categorizer; these are the types of images you can expect. Refer to the examples below for product categories.” You can even provide a Google Doc with a two-column table: one for the image and one for its category. Then, when you upload new images, the gem can categorize them automatically.

Alternatively, you could create a gem and then use Google Sheets. In a column, list all the images that need categorization. Then, in Google Sheets, you can invoke a Gemini panel on the right side and say, “Hey, image categorizer, please look at the images in Column A and put their category in Column B.” If that doesn’t work, you can use an AI function directly in Google Sheets with a formula like =ai("your prompt", range).

Téa Phillips: Beautiful, beautiful. I'm definitely going to start using Gemini for that. That’s amazing because it’s exactly what AI was built for—handling repetitive, time-consuming tasks that don’t require intensive logical thinking.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah.


Automating Tasks with Shortcuts

Damien Schreurs: The last automation I've implemented on my Mac using Shortcuts and ChatGPT is renaming screenshots based on the text contained within them.

Téa Phillips: That's amazing. That's so smart—I have so many screenshots.

Damien Schreurs: Exactly. I once had 300 such files. I set up an automation that moves them from the Desktop to the Downloads folder at 11:00 PM, so that they wouldn’t clutter my Desktop. Each screenshot had a date and time in its name, but I needed a way to rename them based on their content. I fired up Shortcuts—Apple’s built-in app on the Mac—and found an old script that invoked or sent a prompt to ChatGPT via its API. The first step of the script extracts text from the image; if there’s no text, the process exits (since it might just be my face). If there is text, the system prompt (my prompt) is sent to ChatGPT, asking: “Based on the text in the image, please provide a name below that is 30 to 40 characters long.” I didn’t want something too long. Then I prepend the date the screenshot was taken (formatted as Year-Month-Day) to the name provided by ChatGPT and add the appropriate file extension (PNG or JPEG). The file is then tagged so it isn’t processed again. All of this happens automatically as soon as a screenshot lands in the Downloads folder.

TĂ©a Phillips: Nice. I need to dive into Shortcuts and play around with it.

Damien Schreurs: Okay, so we are almost at the end of the show.


Improving Mac Ergonomics

Damien Schreurs: If you were in charge of the Mac division at Apple, what would be your first priority?

Téa Phillips: I would make it touchscreen. I would look into it—I'm sure they've thought about it, but probably decided against it due to longevity concerns or something similar. The iPhone is touchscreen, so why not the Mac? Additionally, I want the keyboard to be more ergonomic and the mouse more comfortable as well. The current design just doesn’t move in a way that makes your hands feel good. I get so tired of typing all day. I think if we could have the hands in a more natural, optimal position—elevated, rather than low—it would make a huge difference.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah, I'm sure they can do that. I think it's just a matter of principle at this point. Back in the day, Mac design was driven by functionality, but I have the impression that aesthetics have overtaken ergonomic functionality. The mouse, for example, is a beautiful object, but when you try to use it for extended periods, it’s just not comfortable.

TĂ©a Phillips: They have stepped away from functionality. Sure, it looks pretty, but originally it was innovative and user-friendly. Now, someone else could come along and design something that is even more ergonomic and user-friendly, which might eventually outpace Apple. With increasing health research, people will care more about protecting their well-being while working long hours at the computer. If that were me, ergonomics would be my priority.

Damien Schreurs: I fully agree. Well, thank you very much—it's a pleasure having you on the show.

TĂ©a Phillips: Happy to be here. It was so much fun.


Connecting with TĂ©a

Damien Schreurs: Where can people find you online?

Téa Phillips: You can go to metaflexglove.com (M-E-T-A-F-L-E-Xglove.com) to learn about the MetaFlex Glove and our story. You can also follow me on LinkedIn. I should be more active there, but I do share thoughts and updates about the company. I’d be happy to talk to anyone—budding entrepreneurs or tech enthusiasts—and help with anything I can. Also, MetaFlex is on all major social media accounts—Instagram, Facebook, TikTok—and we’re expanding to other platforms. If you want to see us elsewhere, please visit the contact page on metaflexglove.com and let us know where you’d like us to be. Thanks for listening to the show.

Damien Schreurs: I will include multiple links in the show notes so that our viewers—especially those on YouTube—can contact you online. Very good.


Applying to Be a Guest Too

Damien Schreurs: And if, like TĂ©a, you would like to share how you are using your Mac to run your business, it's simple. Just visit macpreneur.com/apply. If you are already on Macpreneur, just click the button; you'll be taken to the show profile. Otherwise, fill out the application form and I will get back to you within a few days. Once again, it's macpreneur.com/apply.


Outro

Damien Schreurs: If you found this episode helpful, please share it with fellow solopreneurs and tag both TĂ©a and me on Instagram. Until next time, I'm Damien Schreurs wishing you a great day.

Nova AI: Thank you for listening to the Macpreneur Podcast. If you've enjoyed the show, please leave a review and share it with a friend right now.