453: ‘What’s in Louie’s Wallet’, With Louie Mantia
Louie Mantia returns to the show to talk about the state of UI and icon design on Apple's platforms, and some speculation on Apple's trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI.
Sponsored by:
Notion: The collaborative AI workspace where teams and
agents work side by side, with a Developer Platform teams can build on.
Even Realities: Even G2, the everyday display smart glasses. Use promo code talkshow to save 10% off the R1 Ring and/or Even Clip.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Louie on the squircle: “The Shape of Apps”.
Me, linking to Louie on the squircle.
Louie on Alan Dye: “A Responsibility to the Industry”.
Me: “Bad Dye Job”.
Me, after WWDC 2025, comparing Dye’s introduction of Liquid Glass to Steve Jobs’s introduction of Aqua back in January 2000.
UI designer Chan Karunamuni’s tweet on Steve Lemay: “Steve’s been my manager for my entire 15 year career so far at Apple and I could not be more excited for this new era.”.
Karunamuni’s Twitter/X account, with links regarding Liquid Glass, the Dynamic Island, and the cool Flashlight beam UI.
Louie on The Talk Show last year.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
452: ‘A Scam Held Together With Patriotism and Golden Paint’, With Quinn Nelson
Quinn Nelson returns to the show to discuss OpenAI’s ChatGPT/Codex “native” app migration fiasco, Siri AI in Apple’s OS 27 betas, MacOS 27 Golden Gate, and the hottest new cell phone of the year, the Trump T1.
Sponsored by:
Notion: Try the powerful, all-in-one Notion AI today.
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free daily greens, with code talkshow50off.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Quinn’s hilarious but utterly fair review of the Trump T1.
Quinn: “Apple Just Fixed Mac Gaming and Said Nothing”.
John Siracusa on ATP endorsing Quinn’s idea for an Apple gaming console.
Valve founder/CEO Gabe Newell on working with Apple.
“Stupid-Americans are the New Irish-Americans, Trump is Their JFK”, by “tarltontarlton” on Reddit (and posted here on Daring Fireball).
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
451: ‘Taking Drugs to Get Fat’, With John Moltz
The great John Moltz returns to the show. Topics include Apple’s hardware price hikes in response to the global RAM/SSD shortage, and some spitballing on what we like about the UI changes in the MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta.
Sponsored by:
Coax: Defeat the tyranny of choice. Channel surf your Plex server. Relax with Coax.
Even Realities: Even G2, the everyday display smart glasses. Use promo code talkshow to save 10% off the R1 Ring and/or Even Clip.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
RAM Doubler and DiskDoubler, which came from two different developers.
StuffIt and Compact Pro.
“Apple in China” by Patrick McGee.
Patrick McGee on The Talk Show last year.
“Go Computer Now!”, Ben Zotto’s book on Sphere Computer Corporation.
Movies:
The Player
Airplane!
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
"Apple Faced Bipartisan Opposition When It Last Lobbied to Buy Chinese RAM in 2022".
Gnome, Lex Friedman's clever new animated GIF search/library utility for Mac and iOS. (Also: My link to Gnome at DF.)
Biff! -- Moltz's fun superhero TV/movie podcast cohosted with Dan Moren and Guy English.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
450: ‘Perp Walk for Selfies’, With Jason Snell
Jason Snell returns to the show for a look back at WWDC 2026, and a look ahead to Designed in California, his and Myke Hurley’s upcoming 50-episode Apple history podcast.
Sponsored by:
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free daily greens, with code talkshow50off.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.
Finalist — A daily planner for iPhone, iPad and Mac, built on proven paper-based planning methods. DF readers get six months free; see details at the link.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
“Designed in California” — Kickstarter campaign running through the end of June 2026 to fund Jason and Myke Hurley’s 50-episode Apple history podcast. If you don’t back this you’re not hooked up right.
WebKit in Safari 27 changes and notes, from the WebKit blog.
Helium — My favorite Chromium browser for the Mac. Fast, free, no bloat.
Camino — An open source Mac-assed web browser based on the Mozilla engine from the 2000s. Last updated in 2012, but, blessedly, the website still works. When it was discontinued I described it as “like a glass of ice water on a hot day for Mac users who wanted a modern but Mac-like browser in the early years of Mac OS X.”.
Photos of John Ternus and Tim Cook at Apple’s WWDC post-Keynote “Tech Talk”:
Mine.
Federico Viticci’s.
Jason on BBEdit 16, the world’s greatest text editor.
Jason, writing at Macworld, on the foundation of Apple’s OS 27 updates.
Jason, writing at Macworld, on Mac OS X Snow Leopard back in 2009. (The update cost $29 — which we thought was cheap, because previous Mac OS X updates cost $129.)
Boston College’s Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
449: ‘Live From WWDC 2026’, With Joanna Stern and Nilay Patel
Recorded in front of a live audience at The California Theatre in San Jose on Tuesday 9 June 2026, special guests Joanna Stern and Nilay Patel join John Gruber to discuss Apple’s announcements at WWDC 2026.
Video: This show is available to watch on YouTube.
3D video with spatial audio: Exclusively in Sandwich Vision's Theater on Vision Pro, available on the App Store.
Sponsored by:
DetailsPro — Design with SwiftUI anytime, anywhere: on iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Vision Pro. Get one year of DetailsPro Premium for $26 (normally $59.99) with this link.
Flighty — The world’s best flight tracker and travel app. Now hiring one Senior Product Designer and one Senior Full-Stack iOS Engineer.
Finalist — A daily planner for iPhone, iPad and Mac, built on proven paper-based planning methods. Use this link to get six months free.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Apple’s WWDC keynote and State of the Union videos.
New Things — Joanna’s new thing.
Joanna’s first take on Apple’s announcements.
I Am Not a Robot — Joanna’s new bestselling book on consumer AI.
Sandwich — the team behind the video version of this show.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
448: ‘Twins Named John’, With Stephen Hackett
Stephen Hackett returns to the show to help me make sense of a problem that is hard even to describe, let alone solve, regarding Apple One, family sharing, a separate Media & Purchasing account, and iCloud storage space. Also: what we’re expecting from WWDC 2026.
Sponsored by:
Notion: Try the powerful, all-in-one Notion AI today.
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free daily greens, with code talkshow50off.
Even Realities: Even G2, the everyday display smart glasses. Use promo code talkshow to save 10% off the R1 Ring and/or Even Clip.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Cross Forward — David Smith’s suite of iOS apps, where Stephen is now managing director.
512 Pixels.
Connected — The weekly podcast Stephen co-hosts with Myke Hurley and Federico Viticci.
Apple Support:
Migrate purchases from one Apple Account to another Apple Account.
What happens to your iCloud storage when you sign up for Apple One.
Stephen’s post on the restrictions around Apple Account migration.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
447: ‘A Sociopathic Father’, With Adam Lisagor
Adam Lisagor returns to the show to talk about Hovercraft, his new virtual presentation camera app for Mac, and how he's developing it with AI coding tools. Also, delicious Japanese spite sandwich cookies.
Sponsored by:
Parcel: Track your packages in one place, with native apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.
Scribe: Instantly capture and optimize workflows so your teams and AI agents do their best work.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Hovercraft — A virtual presentation camera for Mac.
Adam’s intro video, on Twitter/X.
Version 1.1 is already out with some cool new features.
Theater — Sandwich Vision’s theater experience app for VisionOS.
Television — Sandwich’s, well, television experience app.
Cursor — Adam’s preferred coding agent.
Birdhouse, Adam and Cameron Hunt’s “Notepad for Twitter” from 2009.
The Birdhouse launch video, which launched Sandwich Video.
Daring Fireball: Birdhouse — A Notepad for Twitter.
Noir — Delicious Japanese spite sandwich cookies.
Allen Pike.
Allen on The Talk Show, back in December 2024.
Yojimbo.
The graph I generated, using AppleScript and Numbers, of the new Yojimbo items I’ve created per year.
Canon’s XL1 digital video camera from 1998.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
446: ‘Food and Beverage Director’, With MG Siegler
MG Siegler returns to the show to discuss Apple’s announcement that Tim Cook is stepping aside (into the role of executive chairman) and John Ternus will become CEO.
Sponsored by:
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.
Drafts: The Swiss Army knife for text on all your Apple devices. Act now to get your first year of Drafts Pro for 50% off.
Finalist: A daily planner for iPhone, iPad and Mac, built on proven paper-based planning methods. Use this link to get six months free.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Apple Newsroom:
“Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman; John Ternus to become Apple CEO”.
“Johny Srouji named Apple’s Chief Hardware Officer”.
MG, at Spyglass:
“A Cook’s Tour”.
“John Ternus’s Magic Show”.
Yours truly:
“Another Day Has Come”.
“Time to Serve Some Delicious Claim Chowder Regarding the Cook-Ternus CEO Transition”.
“The New York Times Printed the Wrong Crossword Grid Last Sunday, and I Find That Timing Serendipitous”.
Steven Levy:
“Apple’s Next CEO Needs to Launch a Killer AI Product” (paywall-busting Apple News+ link).
2008: “Joe Nocera Gets a Call From Steve Jobs”.
2010, regarding Mark Papermaster, whom Steve Jobs fired just weeks after the iPhone 4 antennagate press conference: “Papermaster and That Damn Antenna.”
“Look at how many blueberries your muffin has, and how many mine has. Yours is falling apart. I have nothing.”
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
445: ‘Apple at 50’, With John Siracusa
Who better to join the show to commemorate Apple’s 50th anniversary than John Siracusa?
Sponsored by:
Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Use code TALKSHOW for $80 in free credits.
Notion: The AI workspace where teams and AI agents get more done together.
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
The Commodore VIC-20.
Apple’s looks-good-to-this-day “Snow White” hardware design language from the 1980s, created in collaboration with Frog Design.
The Apple IIc — in my opinion, the epitome of “Snow White”.
Frog Designed turned 50 back in 2019, and The Verge has some amazing photos from their collection, including a jaw-dropping prototype for the Lisa.
Star Blazers.
Yours truly, back in 2014, on the Finder’s “Special” menu.
Yours truly guesting on The Verge’s Version History podcast, to talk about the original Macintosh.
Hyperspace — Siracusa’s perfectly-named Mac utility for saving space via APFS magic.
ATP (a pretty good podcast), and episode 683 in particular (a pretty good episode of that podcast, wherein Marco Arment tells the tale of the Mac Mini server farm he built for Overcast’s now-in-beta generated-transcripts feature).
Infinite Mac — classic Mac (and NeXTStep) emulators that run in your web browser.
“Can’t innovate anymore, my ass.”
ResEdit 2.1 Reference — still hosted at Apple’s website.
SNL’s “McIntosh Jr.” commercial, the best Apple parody ad ever made.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
444: ‘You’re Going to Have the Niggles’, With Christina Warren
Christina Warren returns to the show to discuss Apple’s big month of product announcements — in particular, the iPhone 17e and MacBook Neo. And we pour one out for the Mac Pro.
Sponsored by:
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.
Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Use code TALKSHOW for $80 in free credits.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
The iPhone 17e.
Thoughts and Observations on the MacBook Neo.
My review: The MacBook Neo.
Apple Discontinues the Mac Pro With No Plans to Bring It Back.
Yankees-Giants opens MLB season, on Netflix.
Nomad 65W Slim Power Adapter.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
443: ‘The Pogue Feature’, With David Pogue
Special guest David Pogue discusses his excellent and amazingly comprehensive new book, Apple: The First 50 Years.
Sponsored by:
Notion: The AI workspace where teams and AI agents get more done together.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
“Apple: The First 50 Years” official website.
Hardcover:
Amazon
Bookshop.org
E-book:
Kindle
Apple Books
Photo of Sculley and the other white dude in suits on his executive team, circa 1993, from page 251. (My son Jonas quipped that they look like the executives from the company that made Robocop.)
The “Apple at 50” event David hosted at the Computer History Museum earlier this month.
The similar event David hosted two years ago, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Macintosh.
Matt Neuberg, back in 1998 (!), reviewing Conflict Catcher for TidBITS, with mention of the user manual.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
442: ‘Bad Dates’, With Jason Snell
Jason Snell returns to the show to discuss the 2025 Six Colors Apple Report Card, MacOS 26 Tahoe, Apple Creator Studio, along with what we expect/hope for in next week’s Apple product announcements.
Sponsored by:
Notion: The AI workspace where teams and AI agents get more done together.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Use code TALKSHOW for $80 in free credits.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Apple in 2025: The Six Colors Report Card.
Kieran Healy, in a post at Six Colors published after we recorded the show: “Charting the Vibes in the 2025 Apple Report Card”.
Kieran Healy’s homepage/weblog.
My 2025 Apple Report Card.
Upgrade: “The Shifting Sands of Liquid Glass”, wherein Jason and Myke discuss this year’s report card, and Jason makes rascally comments supporting MacOS 26 Tahoe. (And Myke isn’t much better.)
Apple’s July 2025 announcement of the Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit.
Derek Sivers, in 2005: “Ideas Are Just a Multiplier of Execution”.
ChangeTheHeaders — a Safari extension I convinced Jeff Johnson to build, which, among other things, allows me never to be served WebP images in lieu of PNG or JPEG.
StopTheMadness — the older sibling, companion Safari Extension to ChangeTheHeaders that gives you explicit control over all sorts of web features, on a per-website basis. (I conflated the two during the show.)
WebP.
Mac Launchers:
LaunchBar (my favorite, and until Tahoe, Jason’s too).
Alfred.
Raycast.
Tuna.
Quicksilver.
Incomplete list of what’s wrong with MacOS 26 Tahoe:
Terrible app icons.
The terrible idea to include inscrutable, inconsistent icons next to just about every menu item in every app, as documented by Jim Nielsen and Nikita Prokopov, and linked to by yours truly here and here, respectively.
Norbert Heger: “The Struggle of Resizing Windows on macOS Tahoe” — and a follow-up.
Daring Fireball: “Why It’s Difficult to Resize Windows on MacOS 26 Dyehoe”.
Daring Fireball: “Bad Dye Job”.
Stephen Hackett’s MacOS Screenshot Library at 512 Pixels.
Steve Krug’s classic book, “Don’t Make Me Think”.
The Appearance Manager and the themes that never actually shipped for classic Mac OS.
Comparing Alan Dye’s horseshitty introduction of Liquid Glass at WWDC 2025 to Steve Jobs’s introduction of Aqua back in 2000.
Manu Cornet’s 2011 classic: “Organizational Charts In Major Tech”.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
441: ‘Serious Opinionators’, With Adam Engst
Adam Engst returns to the show to talk, in detail, about certain of the UI changes in iOS 26 and Apple's version 26 OSes overall. In particular, the new Unified view in the Phone app, and the Filter pop-up menu in both the Phone and Messages apps. Also: a shoutout to Balloon Help.
Sponsored by:
Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Use code TALKSHOW for $80 in free credits.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Adam’s two pieces on the Classic and Unified views in the iOS 26 Phone app:
“Hidden Setting Controls What Happens When You Tap a Call in the Phone App”.
“Comparing the Classic and Unified Views in iOS 26’s Phone App”.
My link post, with some commentary.
Reader support for TidBITS in 2026.
Brent Simmons, linking to code, on how to eliminate all the menu item icons in a Mac app built for MacOS 26 Tahoe.
Paul Kafasis’s One Foot Tsunami.
Nikita Prokopov: “It’s Hard to Justify Tahoe (Menu Bar) Icons”.
Yours truly, linking to Prokopov: “A shitty idea that works against usability, inconsistently implemented, all in the name of adding some ugly visual bling to the UI.”
Jim Nielsen on Tahoe’s menu-item icons: “Icons in Menus Everywhere — Send Help”.
Yours truly, linking to Nielsen: “Well, who’s laughing now?”
Norbert Heger: “The Struggle of Resizing Windows on macOS Tahoe” — and a follow-up.
Daring Fireball: “Why It’s Difficult to Resize Windows on MacOS 26 Dyehoe”.
Daring Fireball: “Bad Dye Job”.
Episode sponsor Sentry’s two-minute video showing how to use Seer, their AI debugging agent.
TipKit Apple Developer documentation.
Balloon Help in System 7.
David Pogue’s soon-to-be-released book: “Apple: The First 50 Years”.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
440: ‘Flush a Radar’, With Brent Simmons
Brent Simmons returns to the show. Topics include NetNewsWire 7, MacOS 26 Tahoe, and I guess, some other stuff.
Sponsored by:
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Use code TALKSHOW for $80 in free credits.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
NetNewsWire 7.
How to omit menu item icons on Tahoe.
Rogue Amoeba, on omitting those icons.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
439: ‘A Mitigated Disaster’, With Daniel Jalkut
Daniel Jalkut returns to the show so we can both vent about MacOS 26 Tahoe.
Sponsored by:
Notion: The AI workspace where teams and AI agents get more done together.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Use code TALKSHOW for $80 in free credits.
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Classic Mac OS Control Strip.
Manu Cornet’s oft-cited cartoon caricaturizing the org charts of major tech companies circa 2011.
Black Ink.
MarsEdit.
Rogue Amoeba: “Removing Tahoe’s Unwanted Menu Icons”.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
438: ‘2025 Year in Review’, With Rene Ritchie
A look back at Apple’s 2025, with special guest Rene Ritchie.
Sponsored by:
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
The classic Mac OS Appearance Manager and its support for (rather garish) themes:
ATPM, August 2000: “GUI Junkie: Schemin’ and Themin’” by Christopher Turner. Includes screenshots.
Wikipedia: Appearance Manager.
Luria Petrucci celebrates 20 years on YouTube.
Steve Jobs on product people vs. sales/marketing people, back in the early 1990s.
John Browett’s brief tenure running retail at Apple back in 2012. His sacking was effectively a footnote in the announcement that Apple had parted with Scott Forstall.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
437: ‘A Naughty Citizen’, With Quinn Nelson
Special guest Quinn Nelson returns for a two-topic holiday spectacular: the iPad in the wake of iPadOS 26, and Apple's executive changes as Tim Cook seemingly nears the end of his time as CEO.
Sponsored by:
Notion: The AI workspace where teams and AI agents get more done together.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Quinn on YouTube:
"The iPad's Software Problem Is Permanent".
"Apple Is Falling Apart (On Purpose)" (on executive shuffling).
Spark -- Quinn's email app of choice.
Yours truly back in January 2020: "The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10".
Slide Over was originally eliminated in iPadOS 26 but came back in 26.1.
Apple Notes extension apps, available on the Mac because they're only possible on the Mac because the iPad and iPhone are baby computers:
ProNotes.
NotesCmdr.
Mark Papermaster, the hardware executive who took the fall for the iPhone 4 antenna saga.
The classic cartoon from 2013: "Organizational Charts of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle".
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
436: ‘Financial Boner’, With Tyler Hayes
Special guest: Tyler Hayes. Topics include how to get a small phone today, which way foldables should fold, the state of Apple TV (including its new “sonic logo”), and some holiday gift gadget recommendations.
Sponsored by:
Clic for Sonos: No lag. No hassle. Just Clic.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
This Week The Trend.
Tyler on the flip-style Motorola Razr as a small phone solution.
DF: “Tyler Hayes Suggests Trying a Flip-Style Foldable If You Want a Smaller Phone”.
Tyler: “Apple TV Is Finally Worth $99 Per Year”.
Ad Age: “Apple TV’s Colorful New Branding Was Built With Glass and Captured In-Camera”.
Aura Ink, $500 e-paper picture frame.
Chargers:
Anker Nano 70W 3-port charger — $50, on sale for $32 if you act fast.
Nomad’s excellent “slim” chargers, in 40W (one port), 65W (two ports), and 100W (two ports) — I think the 65W one is the sweet spot.
Nomad’s Wallet Tracking Card, compatible with Find My. (Not mentioned on the show, but very cool — Tyler and I both own one and recommend them.).
Sharge’s Pixel 100W and 140W chargers, with cool fat-pixel dot-matrix displays on the side.
The Sigma BF, a gorgeous, minimal L-mount camera.
$2,200 at B&H Camera.
Tyler’s August issue of This Week The Trend that mentioned it.
Govee Smart Christmas Lights.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
435: ‘Lincoln Bio Services’, With Stephen Robles
Special guest Stephen Robles joins the show. Topics include indie media and YouTube, Shortcuts and automation, and the state of podcasting.
Sponsored by:
Uncommon Goods: Out of the ordinary gifts, great for the holidays. Save 15% off your next purchase after following that link.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Stephen goes indie:
Stephen’s YouTube channel.
Announcement: “I Don't Have a Job Anymore, Thanks to You”.
Video: “These Shortcuts Are Magic”.
Primary Technology: Stephen's podcast, with cohost Jason Aten.
Episode 74, May 2025, with yours truly as a guest.
Apple Podcasts and AI-generated chapters:
Apple Podcasts for Creators: “Enhance Your Episodes With Chapters, Links, and More”.
Daring Fireball: “Apple Podcasts Is Adding AI-Generated Chapters for Podcasts Without Chapters”.
Primary Technology discussion.
Beard.fm: “Apple’s Losing Its Podcast Legacy”.
Downie, a fantastic Mac app for downloading local copies of videos from the web (especially YouTube).
Daring Fireball post on Downie 4, from early this year.
Transloader — Apps from Eternal Storms that allow you to initiate downloads on a Mac remotely from an iPhone, iPad, or another Mac.
F-Bomb paperweight at sponsor Uncommon Goods.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
434: ‘Knee-Jerk Contrarian’, With Dan Frommer
Special guest Dan Frommer returns to the show. Topics include the indie media business, the iPhone Pocket, the iPhone Air (including rumors about the second generation model), AI “personalities”, and five years of Apple Silicon Macs. Also, six years of Dan’s site, The New Consumer.
Sponsored by:
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off.
Notion: The AI workspace where teams and AI agents get more done together.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Dan’s site: The New Consumer.
Fromedome.
iPhone Pocket:
Apple’s announcement.
My link.
Recalling iPod Socks.
Steve Jobs’s signature black turtlenecks.
Sold out in hours.
iPhone Air:
WSJ: “Apple’s iPhone Air Is a Marketing Win and a Sales Flop”
My response.
Rumors re: the second-gen iPhone Air.
Jason Snell at Six Colors, in 2022: “Find Photos Taken by Specific iPhone Lenses”.
Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, Two MLB Pitchers, Charged in Gambling Investigation.
Ricoh GR IIIx:
A few example photos I’ve taken with mine.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
433: ‘Meat Bags’, With Brian Mueller
Special guest Brian Mueller, developer of Carrot Weather, joins the show to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his utterly ridiculous but totally serious weather app.
Sponsored by:
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Uncommon Goods: Out of the ordinary gifts. Get 15% off your next purchase.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Carrot Weather.
The rest of Brian’s Carrot suite of apps.
CARROT: The Musical, on YouTube.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
432: ‘You and Frank Sinatra’, With Dan Moren
Dan Moren returns to the show. Topics include Atlas, ChatGPT's new web browser (or anti-web browser) for the Mac; Apple's loss in a "landmark" regulatory lawsuit in the UK regarding App Store commission rates; multiple reports of poor sales for the iPhone Air; and Apple's M5 product announcements: MacBook Pro, iPads Pro, and Vision Pro.
Sponsored by:
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Sleep++, David Smith’s iOS sleep app that ties into Apple Health data, and gives what I think is a much more accurate and interesting “sleep score” than does Apple Health itself in iOS 26.
ChatGPT Atlas: new Chromium browser for Mac:
OpenAI’s announcement.
Their promotion to get 7 days of higher ChatGPT usage if you make, and keep, Atlas as your default browser.
Anil Dash: “ChatGPT’s Atlas: The Browser That’s Anti-Web”.
Simon Willison’s initial thoughts.
Michael Tsai’s roundup of links.
Reuters: “Apple Loses Landmark UK Lawsuit Over App Store Commissions”.
Multiple reports suggest the iPhone Air is not selling well.
But it seems like Apple isn’t doing any advertising for the iPhone Air (or regular iPhone 17) at all — (yet?).
Dan’s Six Colors coverage of the M5 speed bump updates from Apple:
Base model 14-inch MacBook Pro.
11- and 13-inch iPads Pro.
Vision Pro.
Dan’s review of the new Dual Knit Band for Vision Pro (which is now the only band included by default with the M5 models).
My piece on the M5 announcements.
Dan’s previous appearance on The Talk Show, from October last year, talking about — déjà vu — new Mac hardware.
“&udm=14” — AI-overview-free Google search, from Ernie Smith. Also: My DF post about it back in May.
Dan’s personal website, with links to his science fiction novels and short stories.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
431: ‘Iconic Pig Lipstick’, With John Moltz
John Moltz returns to the show to talk about the iPhone 17 lineup: the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, iPhone 17, and the no-number iPhone Air. Not one word about baseball, but some Star Wars talk may or may not have snuck in.
Sponsored by:
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Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Halide -- a great iPhone camera app with a "Technical Readout" feature that provides detailed specs regarding every camera on your phone.
Techmeme's roundup of iPhones 17 reviews that actually were published on the embargo date.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
430: ‘Ersatz PopSocket’, With Andru Edwards
Special guest Andru Edwards joins the show. Topics include Google’s Pixel 10 event and the Pixel 10 family of devices, AI’s effect on computational photography, foldable phones, and some speculation on Apple’s September 9 “Awe Dropping” event.
Sponsored by:
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Get 3 months and 150,000 errors free.
Notion: The best AI tool for work, with your notes, docs, and projects in one space.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Where to find Andru:
YouTube.
Circuit Breaker.
Geared Up.
Yours truly on Geared Up, earlier this year.
Threads.
Google’s Pixel 10 family comparison page (copying Apple’s longstanding “Compare” pages to a T).
Google’s Pixelsnap compatibility / support page.
“Awe Dropping” Apple event: Tuesday 9 Sept.
Me being snarky about foldable phone sales on Threads.
Adobe’s Project Indigo — a free expert camera app for iPhone, spearheaded by Marc Levoy, who was previously at Google on the Pixel camera team.
iPhone 4 bumper cases.
Majin Bu’s leaked reveal of Apple’s supposed Crossbody Strap for the iPhones 17.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
429: ‘Weird Turtle Fake Out’, With Matthew Panzarino
Matthew Panzarino returns to the show. Topics include 007 logo creator Joe Caroff’s death at 103, Google’s weird “Made by Google” event hosted by Jimmy Fallon, the UK supposedly dropping its demand for an iCloud encryption backdoor, and Apple’s workaround for the Apple Watch blood oxygen sensor patent stalemate.
Sponsored by:
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Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Get 3 months and 150,000 errors free.
Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
The Obsessor — Matthew’s excellent still-pretty-new blog.
Joe Caroff, Designer of the James Bond 007 Logo, Dies at 103.
Jeff Bezos Reportedly “Obsessed” With Casting Wife Lauren Sánchez In Major Role In Amazon MGM’s New “James Bond”.
Victoria Song: “The Made by Google event felt like being sucked into an episode of Wandavision”.
Tulsi Gabbard Says the U.K. Government Has Backed Down From Its Demand for an iCloud Backdoor.
Biden Justice Department downplayed UK demand for an iCloud backdoor.
Apple Issues a Workaround for the Blood Oxygen Sensor Ban for U.S. Apple Watches.
Masimo Sues US Customs Over Ruling Permitting Apple’s Patent Workaround.
“John Oliver Talks T-Shirt Cannons and Slashfics as He Hosts the 2012 Crunchies”.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
428: ‘Michigan-Starred Fine Dining’, With Louie Mantia
Special guest Louie Mantia joins the show to talk about Liquid Glass, the various OS 26 updates, and the worrisome state of Apple’s UI design overall. Also: sandwiches.
Sponsored by:
Quip: A supercharged clipboard manager and text expander for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
Notion: The best AI tool for work, with your notes, docs, and projects in one space.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Louie’s personal website, chock full of downloadable wallpapers, icons, and more.
Louie, on Alan Dye: “A Responsibility to the Industry”.
Louie on Mastodon.
Parakeet, Louie’s design partnership with Luka Grafera.
Steve Jobs introducing the new icon for iTunes that Louie made (the best iTunes icon ever).
Daring Fireball: “Sorry, MacOS Tahoe Beta 2 Still Does the Finder Icon Dirty” (with links, at the bottom, to Louie’s mockup of how Liquid Glass versions of the Finder icon should look).
My polls on light/dark mode preferences on your phone: Mastodon and Threads.
NeXTStep’s GUI and icons, including the realistic “folders” and super-detailed “home” with shrubbery and a tree in front of the house (and another collection just of NeXTStep’s icons).
Redweld — Makers of the iconic (no pun intended) expandable files that NeXT’s folder icons were based on.
The wonderfully skeuomorphic original interfaces for Apple’s iPhone Voice Memos and Podcasts apps.
Steve Jobs introducing Aqua at Macworld San Francisco in January 2000.
A July 1986 draft of the original Human Interface Guidelines (PDF) from Apple, including a brief section on “Perceived Stability” (followed by a section on “See-and-Point versus Remember-and-Type”).
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
427: ‘The Shift-2 Crowd’, With Jason Snell
Jason Snell returns to the show to talk about the early PC platform rivalries of the 1980s, iOS 26 leaks (and Apple suing YouTuber Jon Prosser), the various Apple OS 26 public betas and the state of Liquid Glass, and more. (Where by “more” I mean a little baseball and keyboard nerdery.)
Sponsored by:
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Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
The MLB All-Star Game "swing-off".
NuPhy Kick75 mechanical Bluetooth keyboard.
The weird key layout of the Apple Keyboard (ADB).
Tinkerboy’s ADB-to-USB adapter. (Email Tinkerboy if you’re interested — he has a USB-C adapter too, not listed on the website.)
Jason’s keyboard and the switches inside.
John on Myke Hurley’s “The State of the Workflow”.
Apple sues Jon Prosser over Liquid Glass leaks.
Un-redacting the redacted names in the lawsuit.
Wikipedia on Think Secret and "Nick DePlume", its pseudonymous author. See also: Vintage DF coverage of Think Secret.
Ray Gun magazine and designer David Carson.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
426: ‘The Cutting Edge Latest Supermodel’, With David Smith
Special guest David Smith returns to the show for a developer's perspective look at WWDC 2025.
Sponsored by:
TRMNL: A hackable e-ink display. Save $15 with code GRUBER.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Michael Flarup's mockup for a MacOS 26 Finder icon
Louie Mantia's (even better) mockup for a MacOS 26 Finder icon
Benedict Evans: “The Best Is the Last”
Podsearch
Under the Radar
David-Smith.org
Widgetsmith
Pedometer++
Sleep++
Widgetsmith
Hands-On: How Apple’s New Speech APIs Outpace Whisper for Lightning-Fast Transcription
Tim Cook Reveals Apple’s Vision for Movies and TV
Musk’s xAI Burns Through $1 Billion a Month as Costs Pile Up
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
425: ‘Through the Wall Like Kool-Aid Man’, With Chance Miller
Chance Miller returns to the show to discuss the news and announcements from WWDC 2025.
Sponsored by:
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Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Daring Fireball: “One Week Out, Some Brief Thoughts and Observations on WWDC 2025”.
WatchOS 26 finally supports once-per-second ticking seconds hands on more watch faces on Series 10.
The ongoing dispute between Apple and Massimo over the blood oxygen sensors in recent Apple Watch models.
May 2024: “Apple Apologizes for Controversial iPad Pro Ad, Scraps Plans for TV Campaign”.
August 2024: “Apple Pulls Latest Ad After Criticism Over Depiction of Thailand”.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
424: ‘Live From WWDC 2025’, With Joanna Stern and Nilay Patel
Recorded in front of a live audience at The California Theatre in San Jose Tuesday evening, special guests Joanna Stern and Nilay Patel join me to discuss Apple’s announcements at WWDC 2025.
Video: This show is available to watch in 4K video on YouTube.
3D video with spatial audio: Exclusively in Sandwich Vision's Theater on Vision Pro, available on the App Store.
Sponsored by:
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Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
WWDC 2025 Keynote.
Joanna’s full 24-minute interview with Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak this week.
The Verge: 28-minute supercut of the WWDC 2025 keynote and their take on the 13 biggest announcements.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
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