The Talk Show With John Gruber

A brief holiday chat about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with a cavalcade of special guests, including Guy English and Amy Jane Gruber. Sponsored by: Igloo: The intranet you’ll actually like. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled online backup for your Mac. Wealthfront: An intelligent, automated investing service. They’ll build you a free personalized investment plan in 2 minutes. MailRoute: Hosted spam and virus protection for email. Use this link for 10 percent off for the entire lifetime of your account. Links: Writers Guild panel discussion between Lawrence Kasdan, JJ Abrams, and Michael Arndt, writers of The Force Awakens. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Rene Ritchie returns to the show for a look back at the Apple year that was: the new one-port MacBook, Apple Watch's launch, WWDC and Apple Music, the iPhones 6S, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Apple TV, iPad Mini 4, iOS 9, Mac OS X 10.11, and, of course, the most important new product of the year, the Smart Battery Case. This episode contains absolutely no Star Wars talk, except for a little. Sponsored by: uBar and the Brawer Mirage A4: Use promo code “RETINAGRUBER” and save 50% on a great Mac taskbar utility or 40% on an elegant handmade automatic watch. Hullo: Your favorite pillow, guaranteed. Automatic: The cool, clever connected-car dingus. Save $20 with this link. Harry’s: High-quality shaving products at a fraction of the price. Use promo code "TALKSHOW" and save $5 off your first purchase. Links: Debug episode 76 (iTunes, Overcast): "Don Melton, former Director of Internet Technologies at Apple, and Nitin Ganatra, former Director of iOS Apps at Apple, talk about managing teams, managing up, retention, rivalry, and more", with hosts Rene Ritchie and Guy English. The Art of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' "Obsession Times Voice": John Gruber and Merlin Mann at SXSW 2009. "A pretty good stab at a simple formula for doing it right." Princess Leia wearing what looks like an Apple Watch in Return of the Jedi. Jennifer Bailey, Apple's VP of Apple Pay. uMake -- innovative iOS 3D drawing app with rich support for Apple Pencil. Gizmodo: "Everything Apple Introduced This Year Kinda Sucked". This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi joins the show for a wide-ranging half-hour discussion about Swift — Apple’s new programming language that just went open source. Next, John Siracusa returns to the show to follow up on Federighi’s segment on Swift. Other topics include Apple’s new Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 6/6S, and our mutual (and perhaps futile) desire to head into this week’s premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens knowing as few spoilers as possible. Transcript of Craig Federighi’s interview. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code “GRUBER” for 10% off your first order. Harry’s: High-quality shaving products; great gift ideas. Use promo code “TALKSHOW” to save $5 off your first purchase. Casper: Obsessively engineered mattresses at shockingly fair prices. Save $50 with this link. Wealthfront: An intelligent, automated investing service. They’ll build you a free personalized investment plan in 2 minutes. Links: Craig Federighi talking about Swift going open source with Ars Technica, TheNextWeb, and Mashable. Siracusa’s explanation of Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) in his Mac OS X 10.7 review in 2011. Siracusa’s excellent introduction to Swift from his Mac OS X 10.10 review last year. Glyn Williams post on Quora regarding how iOS devices need less RAM than equivalent Android devices, because Android’s virtual machine uses garbage collection and iOS doesn’t. “The Curious Case of the Curious Case” — my review of Apple’s new Smart Battery Case. Michael Tsai’s link roundup on Sketch leaving the Mac App Store. Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie’s The C Programming Language, first published in 1978. Android’s Dalvik (old) and ART (new) runtimes, both of which use garbage collection. “Don’t Drink the Bacta Tea” — spoiler-free episode of The Incomparable last week, with Siracusa, Jason Snell, Serenity Caldwell, and Dan Moren talking about The Force Awakens. Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki Sci-Fi Corridor Archive. Start here, of course. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Joanna Stern returns to the show to talk about the iPad Pro, Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, what's going on with Yahoo (spoiler: not much), how best to sell old iPhones when upgrading, and Mark Zuckerberg promising to donate 99 percent of his fortune to charitable causes. Sponsored by: Wealthfront: A low-cost, automated investment service that makes it easy to invest your money the right way. MailRoute: A secure, hosted email filtering service that you can have up and running in minutes. Use this link and you’ll save 10 percent for the lifetime of your account. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled online back up for your Mac. Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code “GRUBER” for 10 percent off your first order. Links: Joanna’s reviews of the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, and the iPad Pro. Browser in Your Browser (built with Squarespace). Joanna, from back in May: “Forget Social Media! Build Your Very Own Website”. Swappa — an online marketplace for buying and selling used devices. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest John Moltz returns to the show to discuss rumors that the iPhone 7 might not have a standard headphone jack and that Apple is working on new MacBook Airs. Also: a parenting guide to the Star Wars and James Bond franchises. Brought to you by: Harry’s: High-quality shaving products; great gift ideas. Use promo code “talkshow” to save $5 off your first purchase. Casper: Obsessively engineered mattresses at shockingly fair prices. Wealthfront: An intelligent, automated investing service. They’ll build you a free personalized investment plan in 2 minutes. Igloo: An intranet you’ll actually like. Links: Rumor: “Apple May Replace 3.5mm Headphone Jack on iPhone 7 With All-in-One Lightning Connector”. Rumor: “Thinner MacBook Air in 13” and 15” Sizes Coming at WWDC 2016?”. The 5.9mm-thick Samsung Galaxy A8. Apple’s $29 Lightning-to-30-pin adapter. Amazon’s video showing their latest prototype delivery drone, narrated by Jeremy Clarkson. Fraser Speirs: “Can the MacBook Pro Replace Your iPad?” A Tesla Owner reviews a petrol-powered car. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest Jason Snell joins the show to talk about iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, how iOS still feels like *iPhone OS* at a fundamental level, and Don Norman and Bruce Tognazzini’s overwrought “How Apple Is Giving Design a Bad Name” article for Fast Company. Also: the new membership program at Six Colors. Sponsored by: Harry’s: High-quality shaving products. Use the promo code “talkshow” to save $5 off your first purchase. Warby Parker: Boutique-quality, classically crafted eyewear at a revolutionary price point. Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use promo code “GRUBER” and save 10 percent. Braintree: Easy online payments. If you’re building a mobile app and searching for a simple payments solution, check out Braintree. Links: Jason, writing at Macworld, on the iPad Pro’s keyboard shortcomings. Don Norman and Bruce Tognazzini, writing at Fast Company: “How Apple Is Giving Design a Bad Name”. Ferrite Recording Studio: a full-fledged iOS audio editing app.

Special guest Adam Lisagor returns to the show. Topics include the new Apple TV (why we both love it, despite several 1.0 flaws), 4K video, 3D movies, and Adam’s excellent new series “Computer Show”. Sponsored by: Automatic: The cool, clever connected-car dingus. Save $20 with this link. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled online backup for Mac. 30-day free trial. Fracture: Your photos, printed directly on glass. Awesome gift idea. Use promo code “DARINGFIREBALL” and save 15 percent. Wealthfront: A low-cost, automated investment service that makes it easy to invest your money the right way. Links: The photo I sent to Adam at the start of the show. FireCore aTV Flash. Computer Show. The Computer Chronicles. Pako — the silly little car chase game I’m digging on Apple TV. Faces of Death. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest Guy English returns to the show for an in-depth discussion about the new Apple TV. Sponsored by: Hullo: Your favorite pillow, guaranteed. Casper: Obsessively engineered mattresses at shockingly fair prices. Save $50 with promo code “THETALKSHOW”. MailRoute: Hosted spam and virus protection for email. Use this link for 10 percent off for the life of your account. Harry’s: High-quality shaving products and the official partner of the Movember Foundation. Save $5 off your first order with promo code “TALKSHOW”. Links: Christina Warren’s review of the Apple TV for Mashable. Serenity Caldwell’s list of six ways the new Apple TV could be improved. Steel Series Wireless Gaming Controller — $50 gaming controller compatible with Apple TV. Scriptnotes — John August and Craig Mazin’s excellent podcast about screenwriting and things interesting to creative people. Manticore — Ambitious 3D space shooter for Apple TV. NetNewsWire Today for Apple TV. VentureBeat: “Storehouse’s Apple TV app turns your television into a slideshow screen”. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Serenity Caldwell returns to the show. Topics include this week’s new iMacs; the new “Magic” mouse, trackpad, and keyboard; an overview of Apple Music and iCloud Photos; Facebook’s outrageous background battery usage on iOS; Elon Musk’s gibes on Apple getting into the car industry; and my take on the new Steve Jobs movie. Sponsored by: Harvest: A beautiful business tool for tracking time spent on client projects, from the web, desktop, or mobile. After your 30-day free trial, use promo code “THETALKSHOW” and save 50 percent on your first month. MailRoute: Hosted spam and virus protection for email. Use this link for 10 percent off for the entire lifetime of your account. Automatic: The cool, clever connected-car dingus. Save $20 with this link. Harry’s: High-quality razors and blades for a fraction of the price of the big razor brands. Save $5 on your first order with promo code “THETALKSHOW”. Links: The Incomparable Radio Theater — “a series of original radio plays that pay homage to the classic radio serials of the 20th century, along with nods to modern pop culture”. Really fun, and Serenity is one of the players. “Exploring Apple’s 3D Touch” — interesting look at Apple’s new pressure-sensitive touch APIs by R. Kevin Nelson. Apple's new @AppleMusicHelp Twitter account. Federico Viticci on Facebook's atrocious background behavior on iOS. Elon Musk on Apple getting into the car game. Elon Musk on nuking Mars. Zane Lowe on being unsure whether Apple Music needs Beats 1. A photo of my trusty, beloved old Logitech mouse.

Marco Arment joins the show for a brief chat on ad blockers, advertising in general, and the new iPhones 6S. Sponsored by: uBar and the Brawer Mirage A4: Use promo code “RETINAGRUBER” and save 50% on a great Mac taskbar utility or 40% on an elegant handmade automatic watch. Justworks: Payroll, benefits, compliance and HR — let Justworks handle these for your business. Save 10% for a year with code “TTS”. Fracture: Your pictures, printed directly on glass. Photo, frame, and mount, all in one. Save with code “DARINGFIREBALL”. Igloo: The intranet you’ll actually like. Links: Marco on pulling his content blocker, Peace, from the App Store. “Underscore” David Smith on the available free space of 16 GB iPhones in actual usage. The New York Times measures the real-world benefits of iOS ad-blocking on 50 top news sites. Hello Internet. Episode 56 of Jason Snell and Myke Hurley’s Upgrade, wherein they discuss just how much of a pain in the ass it is to upgrade to a new iPhone.