

The Talk Show With John Gruber
Daring Fireball / John Gruber
The director’s commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 29, 2020 • 2h 11min
278: ‘Dot Net Party’ With Federico Viticci
First-time guest Federico Viticci joins the show. Topics include how the coronavirus outbreak might affect WWDC, speculation on a possible March Apple event, the state of iPad keyboard (and trackpad) support, and iPadOS multitasking.
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Links:
The Information: “Apple Planning iPad Keyboard with Trackpad”.
Jason Snell: “Nine Questions About the Rumored iPad Smart Keyboard With Trackpad”.
Brydge Pro+ — upcoming iPad Pro keyboard with integrated trackpad.
MacStories-commissioned “iOS 10: Wishes and Concept Video” back in 2016.
Ryan Christoffel’s contextual-menu-based proposal for iPad multitasking.
Tommy Walton’s deceptively simple concept for a direct manipulation-based iPad multitasking UI.
iPad apps with excellent keyboard navigation: Agenda, Things, and Unread 2.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Feb 24, 2020 • 2h 43min
277: ‘Polish Stink Eye’ With John Moltz
Special guest John Moltz returns to the show. Topics include Larry Tesler and his “no modes” mantra for UI design, the state of malware on the Mac, third-party default apps on iOS, Apple and the coronavirus outbreak, and a record number of tips and tricks.
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Links:
Larry Tesler:
Tesler’s website.
Chris Espinosa on Tesler’s heuristic for smart paste.
John Markoff’s NYT obituary.
Malwarebytes’s “State of Mac Malware in 2020” report:
Michael Tsai.
Jason Snell.
Dan Goodin’s report last month for Ars Technica on scam “Adobe Flash” installers.
Mark Gurman claims Apple is considering third-party default apps for iOS 14.
How to enable the startup chime on new Mac hardware.
On Apple’s attempts to stiff retail employees for time spent waiting in bag-check lines.
The Keychron K2 mechanical Bluetooth keyboard Jason Snell convinced me to buy. (I got brown switches.)
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Feb 1, 2020 • 2h 48min
276: ‘Bring It On, Haters’ With Ben Thompson
Special guest Ben Thompson returns to the show to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the iPad.
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Links:
DF: “The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10”.
Ben: “The Tragic iPad”.
Tweetie for iPad: Loren Brichter’s iPad masterpiece from 2010.
Ben in 2013: “What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong”.
Average times to brute-force crack iOS device passcodes.
The feds got Paul Manafort’s encrypted WhatsApp texts from his iCloud backup.
Ben’s and my favorite iPad drawing app: The Iconfactory’s Linea.
Obsessive Astros fan upset by scandal logged 8,200 pitches from 2017.
Randy Johnson tipped his pitches his entire career.
Randy Johnson faces John Kruk in the 1993 All-Star game and Kruk wants nothing to do with him.
Kobe scores 62 in 3 quarters in 2005.
Kobe scores 81 in 2006.
Kobe scores 60 in his final game in 2016.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Jan 23, 2020 • 3h 1min
275: ‘Fake Faces’ With Glenn Fleishman
Special guest Glenn Fleishman returns to the show. Topics include iPhone encryption, the privacy implications of widely-available reverse image search for faces, deep-learning-powered algorithmically-generated faces, and Jeopardy’s “Greatest of All Time” tournament.
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Links:
This is Jeopardy:
Jeopardy’s Greatest of All Time Tournament.
Glenn’s analysis of matches 1–3 for Motherboard.
Glenn’s archive of articles regarding Jeopardy.
Prisoner of Trebekistan, by Bob Harris.
Ken Jennings’s excellent Twitter account.
iPhone encryption:
Jack Nicas’s New York Times column on how iPhone encryption works.
My link to Nicas’s column, with a few additional thoughts.
Algorithmically-generated faces:
The Washington Post: “Dating Apps Need Women. Advertisers Need Diversity. AI Companies Offer a Solution: Fake People”.
Glenn on deep fake faces, last year for Fast Company .
Facebook removes profiles with fake pics.
Facial recognition search:
Kashmir Hill’s stunning report for The Times on Clearview AI, a Peter-Thiel-backed company that supplies law enforcement with facial recognition search, built using a library of billions of photos uploaded to the web.
Nelson Minar on Yandex’s reverse image search for faces, which is startlingly accurate, and available to anyone.
Screenshot of Yandex search results for my own face.
Miscellaneous:
Tiny Type Museum.
Election Ride Home podcast.
The intense concentration required by grandmaster-level chess burns thousands of calories per day.
YubiKey 5Ci — 2FA dongle with Lightning and USB-C jacks ($70 though).
Loyola Maramount’s 1990 high-scoring men’s basketball team.
Have I Been Pwned? — Fantastic resource where you can search to see if you have an account that was compromised in a data breach. Spoiler: you probably do.
Kashmir Hill, writing for Gizmodo last year: “I Cut the ‘Big Five’ Tech Giants From My Life. It Was Hell”.
The New York Times: “One Nation, Tracked”.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Jan 18, 2020 • 2h 2min
274: ‘Sport Mode’ With Merlin Mann
Special guest Merlin Mann returns to the show. Topics include the renewal of U.S. law enforcement officials' disingenuous campaign against iPhone encryption, the Houston Astros cheating scandal, how that cheating scandal relates to the Trump impeachment saga, and Catalyst and the art of Mac software design. But mostly we talk about finding a good pair of slippers.
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Links:
Trump’s tweet (what else) excoriating Apple for “refus[ing] to unlock phones used by killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements”.
Scaring people into supporting backdoors.
Wired: “Encrypted Messaging Is Essential, But It Isn’t Magic”.
Merlin on Back to Work, speculating on how many Apple employees today have grown up more on iOS than MacOS, and how that might be starting to shape MacOS:.
Great video from the always-great CGP Grey: “Should all locks have keys? Phones, Castles, Encryption, and You.”.
Mack Weldon’s One-Mile Slipper.
Professional-Grade Crocs.
Something pretty similar to the coffee filter cone I’ve been using for 20 years (but I only paid like $4-5 for mine).
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Jan 1, 2020 • 1h 59min
273: ‘My Cousin Hans’ With Rene Ritchie
It’s the last show of the decade. Special guest: Rene Ritchie.
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Links:
Rene's gadget of the decade: Apple Watch.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Dec 24, 2019 • 1h 59min
272: ‘The Save Twitch’ With Rich Siegel
For your holiday listening enjoyment, very special guest Rich Siegel joins the show to talk about BBEdit’s past, present, and future, the state of developing for the Mac, and more.
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Links:
My “Uses This” interview from 10 years ago.
Andy Baio’s ten-years-delayed “Uses This” interview.
Rich Siegel on Twitter.
BBEdit’s public debut in April 1992.
BBEdit’s 20th anniversary — nine years ago.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Dec 13, 2019 • 2h 46min
271: ‘A Perfect Wheel’ With Jason Snell
Special guest Jason Snell returns to the show for a brief chat about the new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR, which are both — dare I say — finally available for ordering. Also: Ming Chi Kuo’s intriguing rumors on the 2020 and 2021 iPhone lineups.
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Links:
Jason at Macworld: “The Mac Pro Is an Important Symbol, but You Probably Shouldn’t Buy It”.
Greg Joswiak and Craig Federighi on stage at this year’s The Talk Show Live From WWDC, on the price of the Mac Pro’s optional wheels.
The new Mac Pro has unique keyboard, trackpad, and mouse — black keys/glass and silver aluminum bottoms. It even comes with a black USB-C to Lightning cable and black power cable.
Marques Brownlee’s Mac Pro review on YouTube. Also: Pro Display XDR.
Justine Ezarik’s Mac Pro review on YouTube. Also: Behind the scenes.
MacStories’ roundup of other Mac Pro / Pro Display XDR reviews and first impressions.
Ming Chi Kuo’s 2020 iPhone roadmap.
New iPhone “SE” to be called iPhone 9?
Upgrade 275: “Remove All of the Holes”.
The Mac IIfx debuted in March 1990 at a price of $9,900. Inflation adjusted, that’s $19,400 — give or take — in today’s dollars.
Spectre, the greatest Mac game of all time (come at me).
The language formerly known as “Perl 6” — first announced in July 2000 (!) — is now Raku. And Perl 5 — the one true Perl — is up to version 30.
“Kotoba: The Best iOS Dictionary App You’ve Never Heard Of”.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Nov 28, 2019 • 1h 59min
270: ‘Talking About Crimes’ With Matthew Yglesias
Very special guest Matthew Yglesias joins the show to talk about Tim Cook cozying up to Trump for tariff relief and more.
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Links:
Tim Cook interview with Brian Williams in 2012 announcing Mac Pro would be assembled in USA.
Tesla Cybertruck.
New iPhone 11 battery cases.
Weeds Podcast.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Nov 19, 2019 • 1h 50min
269: ‘Maximally Thin’ With Casey Johnston
Very special guest Casey Johnston joins the show to talk about the butterfly MacBook keyboard saga and the just-released 16-inch MacBook Pro, with its all new scissor-switch keyboard design.
Links:
Casey Johnston on Twitter.
“Ask a Swole Woman” — Casey’s column for women on fitness and health, now at Vice.
Marco Arment’s first-look review of the 16-inch MacBook Pro, with a nifty graph illustrating the differences in key travel and spacing of various keyboards.
Dr. Drang’s gentle improvement of Marco’s graph.
The saga of Casey’s writing regarding MacBook keyboards:
Oct 2017: “The New MacBook Keyboard Is Ruining My Life”.
Apr 2018: “Don’t Buy the MacBook Pros Even on Sale, in My Opinion” — Casey sold her MacBook back to Apple.
(My link to that article.)
May 2018: “Apple Knew Its Computers Were “Defective,” Sold Them Anyway, Suit Alleges”.
June 2018: “Apple Admits Its Computers Are Broken” — the beginning of the Keyboard Service Program.
Apple’s Keyboard Service Program.
My quip: “I can’t recall any Apple related story that one writer has owned the way Johnston has owned this MacBook keyboard story.”.
March 2019: Joanna Stern: “Appl Still Hasn’t Fixd Its MacBook Kyboad Problm”.
April 2019: “Apple Owes Everyone an Apology and It Should Start With Me, Specifically” — Casey bought a 2018 MacBook Air.
May 2019: third-generation butterfly design with “material” change.
Apple’s support document on how to use compressed air to maybe hopefully fix a butterfly-switch MacBook keyboard.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.