The Talk Show With John Gruber

Special guest Christa Mrgan joins the show to talk about Yosemite UI design, Apple TV’s aesthetics (and its shitty IR remote control), Apple Watch speculation (including using it as an Apple TV remote), the Watch’s new San Francisco font, bling in icon design, and more. It’s a Thanksgiving week design-focused spectacular. Sponsored by: lynda.com: Online video training and tutorials. Use this link for a 7-day free trial. Hover: The world’s best domain registrar. Use coupon code “vodka” and save 10 percent on any order. Igloo: The intranet you’ll actually like. Links: Christa Mrgan on Twitter. Rogue Amoeba software (and Piezo in particular). Super Bowl 50.

Who else but very special guest John Moltz to ring in The Talk Show’s centurial episode. Topics include iPhone display sizes (and in particular, our mutual preference for the old 5S 4-inch size over the 4.7-inch iPhone 6); the new book Moltz co-wrote, The Visual Guide to Minecraft; writing tools, including word processors and Markdown; shopping for gaming PCs as a Mac person; Microsoft Office going free on mobile platforms; Twitter’s stilted strategy statement; President Obama’s statement on Net Neutrality; and Tim Cook’s eloquent essay announcing that he’s gay. Sponsored by: Igloo: The intranet you’ll actually like. Harry’s: Quality men’s shaving products. Use code “talkshow” and save $5. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled online backup for your Mac, for just $5/month. Squarespace: Start here. Go anywhere. Use code “jg” and save 10 percent. Links: The Visual Guide to Minecraft, co-written by Moltz. Twitter’s “strategy statement”. Tim Cook: “I’m proud to be gay.” David Sparks’s Markdown Field Guide Fountain — a Markdown-inspired plain text format for screenplays. Highland — A Fountain viewer/editor. Slugline — A more WYSIWYG-style Fountain editor. Punch-cutting double-density (800 KB) 3.5-inch floppy disks to make them work as high-density (1.4 MB) disks The CocoaLove conference in Philadelphia President Obama on Net Neutrality Paul Lynde

Very special guest Merlin Mann returns to the show to talk about Comcast customer service, cable-cutting, Marlins Man (no relation) and his showboating-spectator predecessors, and the state of podcasting today. Also: daylight saving time and Roman numerals. Sponsored by: Need: A refined retailer and lifestyle magazine for men. Warby Parker: Stylish high-quality eyewear at revolutionary prices. Igloo: The intranet you’ll actually like. Squarespace 7: Build your own website. Links: Xfinity’s amazing illustration for a service outage The Kansas Royals tried to get Marlins Man to move seats during the World Series “Fan Man” James Miller Rockin’ Rollen Stewart, a.k.a. Rainbow Man, a.k.a. John 3:16 Guy Roderick on the Line

Special guest John Siracusa returns to the show to discuss last week’s Apple event (introducing the iPad Air 2), and OS X Yosemite (and his review thereof). Sponsored by: Casper: Premium mattresses for a fraction of the price. Squarespace 7: Everything you need to create an exceptional website. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled online backup for Macs. Links: Siracusa’s Yosemite review. Meta post about his Yosemite review. ATP Application Enhancer. Quora thread on garbage collected systems (like Android) needing more RAM than non-GC systems (like iOS). Daniel Jalkut on creating status bar icons that work with Yosemite’s dark menu bar. FTL: WebKit’s LLVM based JIT. Secrets: A database of hidden settings for Mac OS X. Crystal Quest for Xbox.

Special guest Guy English returns to the show to talk about iOS 8 quality concerns, and whether Apple’s annual software cycle is stretching the company too thin. Then things devolve into a bitter argument over the merits of file name extensions. Sponsored by: Harry’s: High-quality men’s shaving products. Backblaze.com: Unlimited, unthrottled online backup for the Mac. uBar: A taskbar for the Mac. Save 50 percent with code “GRUBEREDITION”. Links: iOS 8 adoption rate lags behind iOS 7 and 6 “Note to Self: It’s the Storage Space, Stupid” Businessweek’s unflattering portrait of Gene Munster From the DF Archive: “The Good, the Bad, and the Avie” Donnie Baseball grabs some popcorn

Special guest Ben Thompson joins the show for an Apple Watch discussion: what it’ll cost, what it’ll do, how it will be sold, and more. Other topics include “Bend-gate”, Apple’s growing prowess in mobile chip design, and Derek Jeter. Sponsored by: uBar: A taskbar for the Mac. Save 50 percent with code “STANDARDGRUBER”. Need: A refined retailer and lifestyle magazine for men. Fracture: Your photos printed directly on glass. Save 20 percent with code “GRUBER”. Links: Apple Spotlight: A Brief History of iPhonegates Derek Jeter’s 2001 “flip play” AnandTech benchmarks show year-old iPhone 5S is still a top-five phone

What else? The iPhones 6, iOS 8, and last week’s special event at the Flint Center in Cupertino. Sponsored by: Hover: The best way to buy and manage domain names. Promo code: “chowder”. Harry's: High-quality men's shaving products. lynda.com: Easy and affordable online learning. Drobo: Smart storage to protect what matters. Links: Rene's epic review of iOS 8.

Special guest Jason Snell joins the show on the cusp of Apple’s September 9 event, where the company will purportedly introduce two new iPhones and a breakthrough wearable device. Topics include the purpose and advantages of a 5.5-inch iPhone, why only the 5.5-inch iPhone will (I think) get an @3x retina display, speculation on the nature and purpose of an Apple wearable/watch, the intrigue surrounding the event’s venue, and more. Sponsored by: Hover: The world’s best domain registrar. Fracture: Your photos printed beautifully on glass. File Transporter: Your own private cloud. Igloo: The intranet you’ll actually like.

Speculation on the purportedly-imminent new 4.7- and 5.5-inch iPhones, and the rise of adaptive user interface layout and design on iOS. @3x, here we come. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Build your own website. Casper: Premium mattresses at great prices. Hover: The best way to buy and manage domain names. Promo code: "chowder". Warby Parker: Stylish high-quality eyewear at revolutionary prices. Links: Craig mocking up the big displays.

Topics include Joanna’s recent review of over 20 laptops; the HTC One M8 for Windows Phone; why Windows Phone is still struggling to gain traction; the role of Microsoft Office in today’s world; and speculation on Apple’s upcoming iPhone event. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Build your own website. lynda.com: Easy and affordable online learning. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled backup for $5/month. Warby Parker: Stylish high-quality eyewear at revolutionary prices. Links: Joanna’s epic laptop roundup “HTC One for Windows: Another Great Phone You Probably Won’t Buy”