The Talk Show With John Gruber

John Moltz returns to the show. Topics include: 🐩💨, iPad vs. Mac for productivity (and why the iPad isn’t a self-sufficient platform), nostalgia for System 7, speculation on this year’s upcoming new iPhones, and more. Alternative title for this episode: 🏢🍆. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your next move. Make your next website. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Setapp: An “Unstore” Alternative to the Mac App Store. Casper: An obsessively engineered mattress at a shockingly fair price. Use code thetalkshow for $50 toward your mattress. Links: DF: “Comparing the First Seven Years of the iPad and Mac”. Why isn’t there a version of iBooks Author for iPads? Tim Cook, introducing the iPad Pro in September 2015: “The iPad is the clearest expression of our vision of the future of personal computing.” Ulysses, a great project-based app for writers, with cross-platform iOS and Mac versions. Ken Case’s Omni Group year-in-review post, with a tease at their upcoming cross-platform JavaScript-based automation system. Two stories on the same rumor about this year’s new iPhones: Mark Sullivan, writing for Fast Company. KGI analyst Ming Chi Kuo. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show. Topics include Apple’s Q1 2017 financial results (including record iPhone sales and continuing cooling iPad sales), issues with LG’s new 5K UltraFine display (not so fine if you use it near a Wi-Fi router), the tech industry’s response to Trump’s immigration ban, and the highlights at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your next move. Make your next website. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Ministry of Supply: Performance dress clothes for men and women. Use this link and get a free pair of socks. Audible: With Audible, you’ll find what you’re looking for. Get a free 30-day trial. Links: Apple’s just-announced Q1 2017 results. LG’s new 5K display can have problems if used near a Wi-Fi router. Steve Jobs set the goal of 10 million iPhones sold in the first year (1 percent market share). Tim Cook’s response to Trump’s immigration ban. Google employees rallied against the ban. Sergey Brin went to SFO to join the protests. Steve Bannon suggested there are too many Asian CEOs in Silicon Valley. Movies that debuted at Sundance: The Big Sick Marjorie Prime This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Ben Thompson returns to the show. Topics include the state of the Mac (and our shared belief that it’s death has been greatly exaggerated), the NFL playoffs, Chris Lattner leaving Apple for Tesla (and the general problem of talent retention), ruminating on the origins of the word “podcast”, and more. Sponsored by: Casper: An obsessively engineered mattress at a shockingly fair price. Use code thetalkshow for $50 toward your mattress. Eero: Finally, Wi-Fi, that works. Use code thetalkshow for free expedited shipping. Away: First-class luggage at a coach price, including built-in USB chargers. Links: “America’s slow but very real decline into a fascist state as told by the Milwaukee Bucks logo.” Pittsburgh cab driver says John Elway is the best quarterback in history, not know that Elway was sitting in the back seat. Yours truly back in 2005: “Is That a Podcast in Your Pocket?” MPW, Apple's classic-era IDE. Pastebot, a great new clipboard utility from Tapbots. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Jim Dalrymple returns to the show for the first episode of 2017. Topics include New Year’s Eve, Siri/Alexa/Google Assistant, Apple’s aging AirPort and Mac Pro lineups, the future of desktop Macs, Apple Watch battery life, and rumors of upcoming new iPads. Sponsored by: Mailchimp: MailChimp: send better email, sell more stuff. Squarespace: Make your next move. Make your next website. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Harry’s: An exceptional shave at a fraction of the price. Use code talkshow for $5 off your first purchase. Links: Chuq Von Rospach: “Apple’s 2016 Year in Review”. My follow-up, specifically on the AirPort and Mac Pro hardware. Matt Birchler: “Siri vs. Google Assistant”. Dave Mark, on the slew of Alexa-related products at CES this year: “Alexa Is Everywhere”. Chris Adamson, on why he just bought a “new” Mac Pro. Apple, The New York Times, and China. Photos from inside Harry’s razor blade factory in Germany. Rumors about upcoming new iPads, including a new bezel-less edge-to-edge design. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Rene Ritchie returns to the show. Topics include Siri vs. Alexa, and whether Wynn Las Vegas’s announcement that they’re putting Amazon Echos into their 4,700+ guest rooms is a sign that Amazon is building a meaningful long-term lead in the nascent voice assistant market; Mark Gurman’s week-ago piece for Bloomberg, “How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists”; Consumer Reports’s bizarre but widely-publicized battery test results for the new MacBook Pros; and a brief year in review look at our favorite new Apple products from 2016. Sponsored by: Casper: An obsessively engineered mattress at a shockingly fair price. Use code thetalkshow for $50 toward your mattress. Audible: With Audible, you’ll find what you’re looking for. Get a free 30-day trial. Warby Parker: Boutique-quality, vintage-inspired glasses at a revolutionary price. Try up to five pairs at home for free. Links: Super Mario Run only needs to be purchased once per iTunes account for use on multiple devices, but can only be played on one device (per iTunes account) at a time. Wynn Las Vegas is going to put Amazon Echos in its 4,700+ hotel rooms. Wynn has not one but two resorts in Macau — Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace — neither of which can use Amazon Echo until Amazon adds support for Chinese. Digital Trends: “A Holographic Virtual Girl Lives Inside Japan’s Answer to the Amazon Echo. Tim Cook, in a company-wide Q&A: “Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we’re committed to desktops. If there’s any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that.” Bret Victor: Touch Bar development started at Apple eight years ago. Follow-up tweets here, here, and here. Mark Gurman, writing for Bloomberg: “How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists”. Consumer Reports: “New MacBook Pros Fail to Earn Consumer Reports Recommendation” Me: “That’s absolutely bonkers.” Rene Ritchie: “Consumer Reports Fails to Earn MacBook Pro Credibility”. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Craig Hockenberry returns to the show with his gigantic fleshy palms. Topics include Donald Trump's highly publicized meeting with a handful of U.S. tech company leaders (including Tim Cook), the release of Nintendo's Super Mario Run for iPhone, Uber's autonomous car that was caught cruising straight through a red light in San Francisco, and Craig's excellent new book, Making Sense of Color Management. Sponsored by: Squarespace: The best way to create your own website. Use code talkshow for 10 percent off your first order. Harry's: An exceptional shave at a fraction of the price. Use code talkshow for $5 off your first purchase. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled online backup for your Mac, for just $5 per month. Links: Craig's excellent new book, with a foreword by yours truly, Making Sense of Color Management, from A Book Apart. More from Craig on the story behind the book. Uber's carefully-worded PR spin on their autonomous car that was captured on video running a red light. Trump's tech summit meeting, and the look on Tim Cook's face. Poll shows U.S. Republicans rate Vladimir Putin 67 percent more favorably than Hillary Clinton, and 54 percent more favorably than Barack Obama. (Source.)

Glenn Fleishman returns to the show. Topics include indoor plumbing, a spoiler-free discussion about HBO’s excellent “Westworld”, our favorite beverages, Apple’s AirPods launch debacle, Apple TV single sign-on, and more. Sponsored by: Mailchimp: MailChimp: send better email, sell more stuff. Fracture: Your photos, printed directly on glass. MailRoute: Hosted spam and virus protection for email. Use this link for 10% off for the life of your account. Links: HBO’s post-Westworld Easter Egg laden site for Delos Inc.. Ask Siri about “Westworld”. “A History of the World in Six Glasses”, by Tom Standage. Interesting New York Times story from January on Donald Trump’s brother Freddy, who drank himself to death in 1981. Glenn’s review of NewerTech’s $49 NuPower 60-Watt dual USB-A/USB-C charger — a single charger that can charge both a MacBook and iPhone at the same time. Tim Cook purportedly emails customer saying AirPods should ship over the “next few weeks”. Yours truly on what’s going on with the AirPods delay: unexpected manufacturing problems. Thoroughly Considered: the Studio Neat podcast. John Paczkowski summarizing the inauspicious partner list at the launch of Apple’s single sign-on service for TV content. Farhad Manjoo explains why he thinks gadgets are dying as a category: smartphones, probably. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Joanna Stern returns to the show to talk about the new MacBook Pros (and their keyboards), stockpiling old MacBook Airs, dongles, Touch ID, SnapChat Spectacles, and more. Sponsored by: Eero: Finally, Wi-Fi, that works. Use code thetalkshow for free expedited shipping. Audible.com: With Audible, you’ll find what you’re looking for. Get a free 30-day trial. Fracture: Your photos, printed directly on glass. Buy now to get them in time for the holidays. Links: Joanna’s review of the new MacBook Pros. My review. Joanna and Walt Mossberg talking crazy about stockpiling MacBook Airs. Joanna’s guide to the adapters and dongles — lots and lots of dongles — you might need for a new MacBook Pro. Joanna’s review of SnapChat Spectacles Mark Gurman’s reports on Apple getting out of the AirPort base station market and Amazon making a new Echo with a built-in 7-inch display for the kitchen. Adam Geitgey: “The New MacBook Pro Is Kind of Great for Hackers”. Monoprice. Griffin’s Breaksafe, a dongle-plus-nubbin replacement for MagSafe on USB-C equipped MacBooks. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Jason Snell returns to the show to talk about the new MacBook Pros and the Touch Bar, and Apple’s new book chronicling the last 20 years of their industrial design, Designed by Apple in California. Sponsored by: Backblaze: Online backup for $5/month. Native. Unlimited. Unthrottled. Uncomplicated. Harry’s: An exceptional shave at a fraction of the price. Use code talkshow for $5 off your first purchase. Casper: An obsessively engineered mattress at a shockingly fair price. Use code thetalkshow for $50 toward your mattress. Links: Jason’s review of the new MacBook Pros with Touch Bar. My review of the same. The Glif iPhone tripod mount. BBEdit. PCalc. James Thompson’s Easter egg idea for PCalc’s Touch Bar support. Jeffrey Friedl’s Mastering Regular Expressions, the greatest book that ever was or will be written on regular expressions. Sal Soghoian’s automation site for AppleScript, Automator, and more. My Title Case Script. Control Strip from classic Mac OS. Bartender utility for today’s MacOS. Horace Dediu: “Wherefore art thou Macintosh?” Yours truly on Microsoft and the word “compromise” back in 2013. Iconic, Jonathan Zufi’s excellent 2013 book on Apple’s design work. Designed by Apple in California. Taschen, coffee table book publisher extraordinaire. Jony Ive’s interview with Wallpaper on Designed by Apple in California. “I said, ‘Get it away!’ and I shipped all that shit off to Stanford.” This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Merlin Mann returns to the show to discuss the election, by which I mean we mostly talk *around* the election. I hope we never do another show again with such heavy hearts, but whatever you think about this election, I think you'll like this show. Sponsored by: * [Squarespace](http://squarespace.com/gruber): Build it beautiful. Use code __talkshow__ for 10 percent off your first order. * [Automatic](http://automatic.com/talkshow): Your smart driving assistant. Get $20 off with this link. * [Circle](http://meetcircle.com/): Disney's new way for families to manage content and time across devices. Use code __thetalkshow__ to get free shipping and $10 off. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by [Caleb Sexton](https://twitter.com/calebsexton).