The Talk Show With John Gruber

Special guests Tom Watson and Daniel Agee join the show to talk about Glass, their upstart photo sharing app and community. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Mack Weldon: Radically-efficient wardrobing. Trade Coffee: Incredible coffee delivered fresh from the best roasters in the nation. Links: Glass on the web. Glass on the App Store: “No ads, no algorithms.” Special link, just for listeners of the show, for one free month on a yearly subscription. Tweet thread between Marques Brownlee and Adam Mosseri on the lack of an iPad app for Instagram. Image viewing comparison between Glass and Instagram. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest Ken Kocienda, author of Creative Selection, joins the show to talk about his years at Apple and the creation of the original iPhone. Sponsored by: Remote: Global HR Solutions for distributed teams. Retool: Build internal tools 10× faster. Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Links: Up Spell — Ken’s iOS word game. “Wallaby” iPhone prototype hardware. Steve Jobs’s quote on the wall outside Town Hall at Infinite Loop: “If you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on for it too long. Just figure out what’s next.” Kim Scott’s books: Radical Candor and Just Work. DF’s 15-year anniversary post, with word counts. Stephen King’s On Writing. Andy Hertzfeld’s history of the original Mac: Folklore.org Revolution in the Valley Humane — The totally secret startup where Ken is now working. Job openings at Humane. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Rene Ritchie returns to the show to talk about unwanted AirTag tracking, and what we expect from Apple’s rumored March product event. 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. Links: Apple Support: “Set up home theater audio with HomePod mini or HomePod and Apple TV 4K”. AirTags and Stalking: Kashmir Hill’s NYT story on tracker accuracy, based on using three brands of trackers to follow her husband. Apple Newsroom: “An Update on AirTag and Unwanted Tracking”. My take. Rene’s take. 2016 Cult of Mac story on stalking via location embedded in Instagram photos. Apple leaks “realityOS” name, again. MacRumors: “Reliable Leaker Known as ‘Kang’ Hit With Warning From Apple”. Mark Gurman’s February 20 “Power On” column on Apple’s purported March 8 event. Rene on M2 MacBook rumors. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Jason Snell returns to the show to dissect the Six Colors 2021 Apple Report Card. Also: the care and feeding of mechanical keyboards. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Remote: Global HR solutions for distributed teams. Trade Coffee: Incredible coffee delivered fresh from the best roasters in the nation. Links: Apple in 2021: The Six Colors Report Card. Breaking down the results with charts and graphs, thanks to Kieran Healy. “Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction” — Healy’s outstanding introduction to the R programming language and ggplot visualization library. Healy’s also-excellent website. My personal 2021 Apple report card. Keychron Q2 mechanical USB keyboard. My son bought this and swapped out the switches for a set of Zealio V2 62g switches. Rogue Amoeba’s SoundSource and Audio Hijack — two great Mac utilities that can’t exist on iPadOS. Clipboard managers (which also can’t exist on iPadOS): Pastebot. Keyboard Maestro. LaunchBar. Jason Snell: “Why Does the Apple TV Still Exist?” Upgrade: One of Jason’s plethora of podcasts, this one co-hosted with Myke Hurley. Last week’s Upgrade, discussing the 2021 Report Card. Floppy Emu: “a floppy and hard disk emulator for classic Apple II, Macintosh, and Lisa computers. It uses an SD memory card and custom hardware to mimic an Apple floppy disk and drive, or an Apple hard drive.” Amazing work from Steve Chamberlin. Moltz’s “The Terminator” t-shirt design. (It will not be back.) This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest: John Moltz. Special topics: Apple’s record-breaking but somehow yawn-inducing quarterly results, new features in the upcoming releases of MacOS 12.3 and iOS 15.4, the Neil Young–Joe Rogan Spotify saga, and more. 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. Mack Weldon: Radically-efficient wardrobing (with lots of warm options for winter). Links: Apple Quarterly Results: Apple Newsroom. My two cents. “This Is Tim.” MacOS 12.3 is dropping kernel extension APIs used by Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive: Stephen Hackett. Dropbox passing the buck. Microsoft says OneDrive will soon be ready. Box has been ready since October. New emojis in iOS 15.4 and MacOS 12.3. MacRumors: "Hands-On With Universal Control in iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3". Other new features in iOS 15.3 and MacOS 12.3, including Face ID while wearing a mask. Steve Jobs's backdated stock options. Former Apple CFO Fred Anderson. East India Company. They are, in fact, still a concern. Joe Isuzu. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Guy English returns to the show to talk about video games, the cold, the Heat, and the state of streaming video services. Sponsored by: Trade Coffee: Incredible coffee delivered fresh from the best roasters in the nation. 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. Links: “Heat 2”: “Heat”. Michael Mann’s tweet announcing “Heat 2”. I almost plotzed. Michael Mann on The Rewatchables in November 2021, talking about “Heat”. Roger Ebert in 2010: “Video Games Can Never Be Art”. Me, in 2014: “I really wish [Ebert] had lived to see ‘Firewatch’.” “The Making of N64 Goldeneye: A 90s Video Game Masterpiece”. Rogue Amoeba: Audio Hijack. Yours truly speaking at XOXO 2014, on how Google Reader shutting down gave me the idea that has funded Daring Fireball ever since. BeOS screenshots — were those just-wide-enough-for-the-title window title bars a good idea or a gimmick? Netflix Chicken Littles. “Biff” podcast on The Incomparable — “Dan Moren, John Moltz, and Guy English discuss superhero TV shows and movies in the inimitable style that their loyal readers have come to love.” This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Dieter Bohn joins the show to talk about his excellent new documentary, Springboard: The Secret History of the First Real Smartphone -- a history of Handspring and the creators of the original PalmPilot. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Hello Fresh: America’s #1 meal kit. Earnest: Freedom of choice meets student loans. Links: “Springboard: The Secret History of the First Real Smartphone” — the full 30-minute documentary. (That same link has Dieter’s bonus material, too, including his corrected version of Ed Colligan’s infamous December 2006 quip about the then-imminent iPhone.) “The Zen of Palm” (PDF) — Palm’s HIG and design philosophy. Palm OS’s Graffiti handwriting system, including an illustrated cheatsheet of the gestures. PalmOS devices: PalmPilot Jeff Hawkins’s wooden prototype for getting the size right Handspring Visor Sony Clié Harry McCracken’s look back at Palm devices for Fast Company in 2018 The Palm Pre — Palm’s answer to the iPhone in 2009. TreoCentral and VisorCentral — both sites long defunct, but still available online. BlackBerry-esque prototype Android devices from before Google saw the iPhone. HTC’s G1 — The first commercial Android phone (a real turd). This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Apple’s 2021 year in review, with special guest Rene Ritchie. 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. Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit. Links: January: John Ternus becomes SVP of hardware; Dan Riccio takes over VR/AR. February: iOS 14.5 and unlocking with Apple Watch while wearing a mask. March: HomePod canceled. “Intel Goes Long”. April: “Spring Loaded” event. Apple Podcasts changes. May: Epic v. Apple court case. App Store: The Schiller Cut. New Apple TV 4K and Siri Remote. M1 iPad Pros. 24-inch M1 iMacs. June: WWDC 2021. Safari tabs saga. August: Child safety initiatives. September: “California Streaming” event. iPhones 13 Rene’s review. My review. iPad Mini Rene’s review. My review. iOS 15 and WatchOS 8. Kevin Lynch takes over “TitanOS”. October: Apple Watch Series 7 Rene’s review. My review. M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pros Rene’s review. My review. MacOS 12 Monterey Shortcuts. November: Federighi’s anti-sideloading keynote at Web Summit in Lisbon. December: The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Emmy Award-winning Joanna Stern returns to the show. Topics include: Apple’s new iCloud “legacy contact” feature, the current state and future of VR headsets, Elon Musk, and more. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. RevenueCat: In-app subscriptions made easy. Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit. Links: Joanna on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last week. (Really fun!) Gita Mini by Piaggio — the follow-along robot demoed on The Tonight Show. “Stuck in the Metaverse for 24 hours” — Joanna spends 24 hours alone in a hotel room wearing an Oculus Quest 2. “E-Ternal: A Tech Quest to Live Forever” — Joanna’s Emmy-winning documentary. Joanna’s “new roommate”. iOS 15.2’s “Legacy Contact” feature. “Springboard: The Secret History of the First Real Smartphone”. “General Magic: The Movie.” Joanna Stern interviews Elon Musk at the WSJ CEO Council Summit — video and transcript. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Merlin Mann returns to the show to discuss two brief topics (with a few asides): my dream of opening a steakhouse, and Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary Get Back. Sponsored by: Mack Weldon: Radically-efficient wardrobing LinkedIn Talent Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit. Links: Who’s who in “Get Back”? A guide to the non-Beatles in Peter Jackson’s documentary. “And Your Bird Can Sing” (Take 2) April 20, 1966. Amazon.com: iSi Classic MeshSodamaker for Making Carbonating Beverages, 1 Quart, Stainless Steel: Industrial & Scientific. American Giant. Farhad Manjoo: “This Is The Greatest Hoodie Ever Made”. YKK Zippers. Bern’s Steak House in Tampa. Jamie Zawinski. DNA Lounge. “Now you have two problems.” The Sharper Image’s Bacon Express Toaster. Helen Rosner in The New Yorker: “Pellet Ice Is the Good Ice”. Hal’s New York Seltzer Water. “What makes Ringo a Great Drummer”. “World’s Great Drummers Salute Ringo Starr”. ‎David Sims, Letterboxd one-sentence reviewer extraordinaire. “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle”. “Free Solo”. “A Quiet Place”. RoboCop: Blank Check with Griffin & David. Amanda Hess in the NYT: “The Sublime Spectacle of Yoko Ono Disrupting the Beatles”. “Futura and Wes Anderson: A Love Story”. Atkinson Hyperlegible — an accessibility typeface. Hop Sing Laundromat: Hop Sing on Twitter. Lê on Twitter. Rare photos from inside. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.