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

Jun 28, 2022 • 2h 34min
350: ‘Your Sack of Meat With Teeth’, With Jason Snell
Jason Snell returns to the show to discuss the biggest threads from WWDC 2022 — in particular, Stage Manager and the M2 MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook “Pro”. No sports talk (unless you count soccer).
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RevenueCat: In-app subscriptions made easy.
Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
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Kolide: Endpoint Security for teams that Slack. Try Kolide for free today; no credit card required.
Links:
The Talk Show Live From WWDC 2022. Like and subscribe, baby.
Twitter thread pondering whether reaction to iPadOS’s M1-or-better requirement for Stage Manager would have gotten a different reaction from owners of older iPads if the feature had debuted with the M1 iPad Pros last year.
Jason’s review of the new M2 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple’s announcement of its 10-year Major League Soccer streaming deal.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Jun 7, 2022 • 1h 25min
349: ‘Live From WWDC 2022’, With Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak
Special guests Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak join me to discuss the news from WWDC 2022, in front of a live audience at the new Apple Developer Center at Apple Park.
Sponsored by:
MacStadium: Private Mac clouds built by developers, for developers.
Atoms: The ideal everyday shoe.
Links:
This episode, in video, on YouTube.
The WWDC 2022 Keynote.
“Computers Are Fun and Useful”
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Jun 1, 2022 • 1h 21min
348: ‘Joe Biden’s Gum’’, With John Moltz
Very special guest: John Moltz. Very special topics: flat Apple Watches, USB-C iPhones, and more.
Sponsored by:
Alex Weinstein: We’re all storytellers. And as a storyteller, you know that music is one of your essential tools.
Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order.
Kolide: Endpoint Security for teams that Slack. Try Kolide for free today; no credit card required.
Mack Weldon: Radically-efficient wardrobing.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

4 snips
May 15, 2022 • 2h 7min
347: ‘After Steve’, With Tripp Mickle
Special guest Tripp Mickle joins the show to talk about his new book, After Steve, reporting on the last decade at Apple.
Sponsored by:
Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
Memberful: Monetize your passion with membership. Start your free trial today.
Kolide: Endpoint Security for teams that Slack. Try Kolide for free today; no credit card required.
Links:
After Steve.
Amazon.
Bookshop.
Apple Books.
“How Technocrats Triumphed at Apple” — excerpt from After Steve that ran in The New York Times on May 1.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

May 9, 2022 • 2h 28min
346: ‘Like Neo Dodging Bullets’, With Zach Gage
Zach Gage joins the show to talk about game design and creativity, including his new game Knotwords.
Transcript.
Sponsors
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Links
Knotwords.
Zach Gage’s portfolio website, with a full list of games.
Really Bad Chess, which is actually, of course, really good.
SynthPod, Zach’s first iPhone app.
HyperStudio — a classic developer tool like HyperCard, but with color support.
Apple’s original “Cocoa” — Stagecast Creator/KidSim.
Zach Lieberman’s OpenFrameworks project from 2010.
Lights Off — the first native iPhone game, nearly a year before the App Store. (I mistakenly called it “Lights Out” during the show.)
CandyBar — Mac utility for customizing icons, including, back in the day, the icons for the system itself.
Threes, a great puzzle game of iOS from 2014. (App Store link.)
2048, a free Threes knockoff.
Texas Instruments TI-83 Graphing Calculator, and games written for it.
PICO-8 fantasy console.
Playdate Pulp, and Bitsy, Pulp’s inspiration.
Sol LeWitt, conceptual artist.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

May 1, 2022 • 1h 47min
345: ‘A Fake Crank on the Web’, With Michael Simmons
Michael Simmons returns to the show to talk about the Studio Display’s camera (and this week’s beta firmware update to tweak its quality), how things have gone two years into Flexibits’ move to subscription pricing for Fantastical and Cardhop, and Panic’s now-shipping Playdate.
Sponsored by:
Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
Retool: Build internal tools 10x faster.
Iodyne: Introducing the all-new Pro Data.
Links:
Flexibits:
Fantastical.
Cardhop.
Daring Fireball: “Fantastical Adds Web-Based Scheduling Features”.
Jason Snell: “Fantastical Update Adds Cloud-Based Scheduling Features”.
Playdate:
Playdate Pulp — fun and surprisingly powerful web-based game IDE.
Playdate C and Lua SDKs.
Pinball Construction Set.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Apr 26, 2022 • 1h 41min
344: ‘Devastation, Pessimism, and Rage’, With Glenn Fleishman
Glenn Fleishman returns to the show to talk about Elon Musk's impending acquisition of Twitter, Apple's credibility problem when arguing against being required to allow sideloading on iOS, and Glenn's new (and much-needed) book, Take Control of Untangling Connections.
Sponsored by:
Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
Hello Fresh: America’s #1 meal kit.
Mack Weldon: Radically-efficient wardrobing.
Links:
“Take Control of Untangling Connections” — Glenn’s new $10 book that explains everything there is to know about USB-C connectors and ports and adapters.
Glenn’s personal website, with a fun new URL.
Elon Musk is probably going to buy Twitter and take it private.
Matt Levine’s excellent Money Stuff column/newsletter for Bloomberg.
Ryan Broderick’s Garbage Day, another outstanding email newsletter/column.
Apple Newsroom: “Apple TV+ Partners With Idris Elba on New Thriller ‘Hijack’”.
My quip.
Tim Cook’s speech stating Apple’s opposition to mandatory sideloading.
Sam Biddle (of The Intercept)’s response.
Matt Stoller’s response, which is even more deeply cynical than Biddle’s.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Apr 15, 2022 • 2h 45min
343: ‘Fussy Typography Improvements’, With Paul Kafasis
Paul Kafasis returns to the show to talk about Friday Night Baseball, Rogue Amoeba’s new Audio Hijack 4 release, and a bit of speculation on WWDC.
Sponsored by:
Drafts: Where text starts. Special 10th anniversary offer: get Drafts Pro for just $4.99 for the first year. The whole year. Seriously.
Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order.
Memberful: Monetize your passion with membership. Start your free trial today.
Trade Coffee: Incredible coffee delivered fresh from the best roasters in the nation
Links:
Audio Hijack 4.
Audio Hijack 4 Scripting Center — documentation, how-tos, and examples.
Jason Snell’s first impressions of “Friday Night Baseball”.
“Friday Night Baseball” commentator Chris Young’s Wikipedia page, with details on the sign-stealing-via-Apple-Watch scheme he devised while playing for the Yankees and Red Sox.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Apr 1, 2022 • 2h 4min
342: ‘Doggy Lake’, With Matthew Panzarino
Matthew Panzarino returns to the show to talk about Apple's new Mac Studio and Studio Display.
Sponsored by:
Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order.
Memberful: Monetize your passion with membership. Start your free trial today.
Backblaze: Backblaze makes backing up and accessing your data astonishingly easy.
Trade Coffee: Incredible coffee delivered fresh from the best roasters in the nation.
Links:
Panzarino’s interview with Apple execs Tom Boger, Shelly Goldberg, and Xander Soren, on the thinking behind the Mac Studio and Studio Display.
TechMeme roundup of Studio Display and Mac Studio Reviews.
Vin Diesel’s masterpiece, “xXx”.
“I want all that, in here.”
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Mar 27, 2022 • 2h 23min
341: ‘A Cold Glass in Hell’, With Casey Liss
Special guest Casey Liss joins the show to talk about Apple's new Studio Display and what makes a good martini.
Sponsored by:
Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
Memberful: Monetize your passion with membership. Start your free trial today.
Remote: Global HR solutions for distributed teams.
Links:
Studio Display:
Casey’s summary of the state of external retina displays in December 2021.
My Review of the Apple Studio Display.
Matthew Panzarino: “Apple Execs on Developing Mac Studio and Studio Display for the Other Pros”.
TechMeme roundup of Studio Display and Mac Studio Reviews.
Apple’s $40 0.8m Thunderbolt 3 cable and $160 3m Thunderbolt 4 cable.
MaskerAid:
Announcing MaskerAid.
MaskerAid Follow-Up.
MaskerAid on the App Store.
The Martini FAQ, by Brad Gadberry.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
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