The Talk Show With John Gruber

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.

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.

Zach Gage joins the show to talk about game design and creativity, including his new game Knotwords. Transcript. Sponsors 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. Kolide: Endpoint Security for teams that Slack. Try Kolide for free today; no credit card required. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.