The Talk Show With John Gruber

Joanna Stern returns to the show to talk about the new M1 MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro. Sponsored by: Feals: Premium CBD delivered directly to your doorstep. Get 50% off your first order with free shipping. Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $20 credit. Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Links: Joanna Stern in the WSJ: “Apple’s M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Review: The Laptop’s Biggest Leap in Years”. And on YouTube: “Goodbye, Fan Noise”. My review of the M1 MacBook Pro. Joanna’s and my joint appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Alley, which started the webcam-gate scandal. Joanna’s epic breakdown of the best available USB-C chargers. Aukey’s adorable $50 90-watt 3-port charger, and their even smaller $45 65-watt 2-port charger. Joanna, back in July: “Quit Chrome. Safari and Edge Are Just Better Browsers for You and Your Computer.” Camo — excellent app that lets you use your iPhone or iPad as a Mac webcam. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Another election. A different result. Let’s talk around it. Sponsored by: Mack Weldon: Reinventing men’s basics with smart design, premium fabrics, and simple shopping. Get 20% off your first order with code talkshow. Atoms: Say hello to your dream shoes. Free face mask with promo code DF at checkout. Links: Holiday Party (2016).

Jason Snell returns to the show to talk about the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, the new iPad-Pro-style iPad Air, the remarkable state of the Mac, and David Letterman’s battery-shopping trip to CVS. Sponsored by: Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $20 credit. Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Stitch Fix: A personal styling company that makes getting the clothes you love effortless. Save 25% when you keep everything in your Fix. Links: The 20 Macs for 2020 podcast project. Jason’s chart-based speculation on what we might expect from Apple Silicon Macs. My review of the new iPad Air. Jason’s review of the new iPad Air. Jason’s review of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro. My iPhone 12 review, and my event wrap-up with analysis of pricing. Dave Itzkoff’s profile of David Letterman for The New York Times, regarding season 3 of his Netflix show “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction”.

MG Siegler returns to the show to talk about Apple Watch, the future of premium TV and movies, and a preview of next week’s “Hi, Speed” Apple event. Sponsored by: Nest Payroll: Easily pay your nanny, caregiver, or housekeeper quickly and legally. Use promocode talkshow30 to get your first 30 days free. Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Feals: Premium CBD delivered directly to your doorstep. Get 50% off your first order with free shipping. Links: MG on Apple Watch Series 6, and why he swapped Graphite stainless steel for blue aluminum. MG on App Clips and the Clip demo of the game Phoenix 2. “Apple, Influence, and Ive” — Ben Clymer’s 2018 profile of Jony Ive for Hodinkee. The seminal 2018 town hall meeting led by John Stankey, the longtime AT&T executive who now oversees HBO, that foreshadowed HBO’s decline. Christopher Nolan’s work on the 2018 50th anniversary “unrestored” print of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Nolan’s ill-advised decision to force Tenet into theaters amidst the COVID pandemic. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol — perhaps the best film in a great series, directed by Brad Bird. Cary Joji Fukunaga — director of the astounding first season of True Detective and the upcoming No Time to Die James Bond film. Michael Clayton — quietly great movie by Tony Gilroy, starring George Clooney. DisneyQuest, the aborted urban entertainment center in Philly that Disney never built in the late 1990s. United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. — 1948 Supreme Court antitrust case that resulted in movie studios being banned from owning theaters. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest “Underscore” David Smith joins the show to talk about iOS 14 widgets, WatchOS complications, sleep tracking, and his App Store chart-topping hit Widgetsmith. Sponsored by: Eero: We’re asking a lot of our Wi-Fi. Eero can help yours do more. Enter code thetalkshow at checkout to get free next-day shipping. Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Mint Mobile: Get your new wireless plan for just $15/month with free shipping. Underscore’s apps: Widgetsmith Watchsmith Sleep++ Pedometer++ And a lot more. Seriously, he makes a lot of apps. Other links: Under the Radar — Underscore’s weekly podcast with Marco Arment. Daring Fireball: “‎Widgetsmith and The Case of the Missing App Store Bunco Squad”. National Weather Service. Weatherline. Michael Ward’s classic 2004 piece for McSweeney’s: “E-Mail Addresses It Would Be Really Annoying to Give Out Over the Phone”. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest Michael Simmons joins the show. Topics include the release of iOS 14, widgets and home screen customization, pricing models for indie apps in the App Store era, and, of course, flying robot cameras. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Feals: Premium CBD delivered directly to your doorstep. Get 50% off your first order with free shipping. Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $20 credit with code talkshow20. Links: Fantastical’s iOS 14 update with customizable widgets galore. Apple gave developers less than 24 hours notice that iOS 14 was about to ship, despite spending all summer encouraging developers to be ready with iOS 14 features at launch. Nova — Panic’s new code editor/IDE for Mac. Sketch — excellent Mac design and prototyping tool. Agenda — excellent notes/planning app for Mac and iOS. @mcharo on Twitter customized all his apps with icons of their company CEOs (or indie creators). IEEE Spectrum: “Why You Should Be Very Skeptical of Ring’s Indoor Security Drone”. Mac desktop customization memory lane with Greg Landweber’s utilities: Greg’s Browser — NeXT-style column view file manager for classic Mac, worked wonderfully alongside the classic Finder. Greg’s Buttons — Control Panel to customize the interface of System 7, turned flat black-and-white buttons into cool 3D buttons. Now we’ve turned all our cool 3D buttons into boring monochromatic flat buttons. Aaron — brought the then-future Platinum appearance to System 7. BeView — made your Mac look like BeOS. Kaleidoscope — the masterpiece of the genre, from Landweber and Arlo Rose. A full-on custom theme engine for an OS that was not designed with system-wide theming as a feature. The golden age of interface customization hacks. Appearance Manager — Apple’s officially supported theming engine that wound up shipping with just one theme. Info on Apple’s Hi-Tech, Gizmo, and Drawing Board themes. August 2000 ATPM story by Christopher Turner on Kaleidoscope and Appearance Manager. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Peter Kafka returns to the show to discuss the news from Apple's "Time Flies" event -- new Apple Watches, new non-Pro iPads, and particularly the Apple One services bundle. Sponsored by: Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $20 credit with code talkshow20. Mack Weldon: Reinventing men’s basics with smart design, premium fabrics, and simple shopping. Get 20% off your first order with code talkshow. Links: “Ricky Jay’s Magical Secrets” — Mark Singer’s wondrous profile for The New Yorker in 1993. I just burst out laughing when I re-read this snippet I quoted from that piece for DF. The complete Ricky Jay archives at DF. Spotify’s statement griping that Apple One constitutes anticompetive behavior. The latest episode of Peter’s own podcast, Recode Media, with special guest Ben Thompson. Apple’s “Time Flies” event video. My thoughts and observations on the event and announcements. “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” — Apple’s new retro style commercial for Apple Watch Family Setup. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

John Moltz returns to the show. Poodles are great dogs. Windows stinks worse than ever. Everyone should watch Ted Lasso. Sponsored by: Hello Fresh: Get fresh, pre-measured ingredients and mouthwatering seasonal recipes delivered right to your door with Hello Fresh, America’s #1 meal kit. Backblaze: Unlimited cloud backup for just $6/month. Start a free 15-day free trial today. Links: How to Solve the “Code 43” Nvidia GTX10xx or RTX20xx GPU Problem. Me on pricing the “Apple One” services bundle. “Ted Lasso” renewed for second season. Cabel Sasser’s tweet on kids and software pricing. WinToUSB — $30 utility for installing Windows on an external USB drive. Avery — the printer label company whose name I couldn’t think of. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest Anil Dash joins the show. Topics include the 25th anniversary of Windows 95, and the parallels between the cyber era of computing and today’s App Store controversies. Sponsored by: Honeybadger: The web developer's secret weapon. It only takes a few minutes to set up Honeybadger’s total monitoring suite. Try it free for 15 days. Eero: We’re asking a lot of our Wi-Fi. Eero can help yours do more. Use code thetalkshow at checkout for free next day shipping. Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $20 credit with code talkshow20. Links: Anil on Windows 95. Jason Snell with the Mac user’s (and MacUser’s) take on Windows 95. My take on Snell’s take. Microsoft’s Windows 95 “Start Me Up” commercial. Francisco Tolmasky’s observation on Apple’s control over iOS stifling innovation. Glitch. Boscov’s. How 728,000 “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial” Atari 2600 cartridges wound up in a landfill. Vectrex, the vector-display home video game system I nearly pissed my pants to play. Classic Mac OS’s curiously-named built-in text editor TeachText and its successor, SimpleText. OS/2 Warp. OS/2 Frequently Launched Criticisms. Michael Sippey demoing TypePad for iPhone at WWDC 2008. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Rene Ritchie returns to the show. Topics include Phil Schiller advancing to Apple Fellow, Microsoft’s simmering spat with Apple over Xbox Game Pass and the App Store’s ban on game streaming services, and Epic’s sizzling spat with Apple over, well, the entire concept of iOS as we know it. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Feals: Premium CBD delivered directly to your doorstep. Get 50% off your first order with free shipping. Raycon: The next wave in wireless audio. Save 15% with this URL and code talkshow. Links: Beats 1 is now Apple Music 1 (and the Beats brand is probably not long for this world). Apple Newsroom: Phil Schiller advances to Apple Fellow. The Curious Editing of 'Artemis Fowl'. John August’s Arlo Finch series, which is unrelated to Artemis Fowl but very cool nonetheless. Rene on Apple’s decision not to allow Xbox game streaming on iOS. Epic goes to war with Apple over the App Store. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.