The Talk Show With John Gruber

Topics include Apple’s pseudo “sabbaticals” (employees who leave the company but then return after a year or two); Google’s cultural similarities to Microsoft; the ways that Apple (and iOS users) might miss Scott Forstall; accessibility as a high priority for Apple; Instagram’s success (and how they effectively ate Hipstamatic’s lunch); a debate on just how “simple” Twitter is; Box’s successful IPO, and Dropbox’s support for Yosemite’s official Finder integration for such services; MIT economist Jonathan Gruber pissing in my Google juice; Chromebooks; Amazon’s overall strategy, and the colossal failure of their Fire Phone; and, lastly, a good chunk on Microsoft’s Windows 10/HoloLens event last week.

Special guest Marco Arment returns to the show. Topics include microphones; Marco’s much-publicized article last week on Apple’s seemingly declining software quality; talking to the press and agreeing to interviews; Apple’s relatively tiny developer relations team (and how that pertains to the aforementioned segment on Apple’s perceived software quality); the purported new 12-inch MacBook Air and its dearth of peripheral ports; and more.

A brief chat about the Star Wars movies, with special guests John Siracusa and Guy English.

Special guest Jason Snell joins the show for a year-end extravaganza. Topics include Jason’s first three months writing (and podcasting) as an indie at his new Six Colors; a look back at his 20-year career at MacUser and soon thereafter Macworld; tricky edge cases when booking sponsorships, and the whole situation with separating advertising sales from editorial integrity when you’re running a one-person publication; the Sony/North Korea hacking and *The Interview*, and iTunes’s slightly belated release thereof; and we pour one out for good old Movable Type.

Special guest Rene Ritchie returns to the show for a special Apple 2014 year-in-review episode. Just a few of the many topics covered: Apple’s Beats acquisition; WWDC 2014 in hindsight; an aside speculating on the alternate universe where Google acquired WebOS instead of Android; the similarities between the “projected UI” nature of AirPlay, CarPlay, and WatchKit; UI fonts (Helvetica Neue in Yosemite, Apple Sans, and the Watch’s San Francisco (a.k.a. “DINvetica”)); Apple’s growing ability to design and bring to market its own hardware internals and components; recent controversies and confusing rejections at the App Store (and the need for a public-facing App Store ombudsman); and what we’re looking forward to in 2015.

Special guest Dan Frommer joins the show to talk about prop bets in Vegas, more *Star Wars*, some follow-up on James Bond, what Apple should do with its mountain of cash, speculation on why iPad sales growth has stagnated, and more. Also, some in-depth segments on Instagram and the concept of “institutional taste”.

Special guest Dave Wiskus joins the show to talk about the new teaser trailer for *Star Wars: The Force Awakens*, and just-announced title and cast for the 24th EON Productions Bond movie, *Spectre*. Other topics include the untapped potential of podcasting and YouTubing, cutting babies in half, turtle copulation, and kangaroo genitalia.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Special guest: Rene Ritchie. Topics: What else? The iPhones 6, iOS 8, and last week’s special event at the Flint Center in Cupertino.

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.

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.

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.

Topics include speculation — seriously, just speculation — on Apple’s purported upcoming wrist wearable thing, Apple’s fall event schedule, polarized sunglasses, market share in the post-PC era, and Beats’s integration into Apple (including a clever idea from Dan about the potential for a Beats Music channel on Apple TV).

Topics include Apple's quarterly results, how much Apple's cable and peripheral prices contribute to the popular conception that their products are "expensive", presbyopia and large-screen phones, and more.

Topics include the design and development of Marco’s new iOS podcast player, Overcast, custom UI fonts, the difficulty of low-level audio programming, and pricing strategy — with digressions on U.S. politics and other non-controversial subjects.