The Talk Show With John Gruber

Special guest Ben Thompson returns to the show. Topics include last Sunday’s Super Bowl 50 (and its mostly terrible commercials), Tim Cook’s tweet with a photo he took from the sidelines post-game, Twitter’s algorithmic timeline and the state of today’s Google- and Facebook-dominated online advertising industry, Yahoo’s dismal prospects, and more. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code GRUBER for 10% off your first order. Igloo: An intranet you’ll actually like. Try Igloo for free. Fracture: Your photos printed in vivid color directly on glass. Use promo code TALKSHOW10 for 10% off your first order. Links: Tim Cook, Super Bowl photographer. The New Yorker advertising Josh Topolsky’s “The End of Twitter” article — on Twitter. Concussions suffered in this year’s Super Bowl. How we used to finger our friends in college. Dustin Curtis computed the 2015 revenue and profit per employee for Yahoo, Twitter, MSFT, Google, Facebook, and Apple. Xifaxan’s Super Bowl 50 commercial, starring a diarrhea-stricken human bowel. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Moisés Chiullan.

Special Guest Matthew Panzarino. Topics include Apple's quarterly financial results, rumors of Apple working on VR handsets and "wireless" charging for iPhones, Bezos charts, and more. Sponsored by: Casper: A mattress with just the right sink, just the right bounce, for better nights and brighter days. Use code thetalkshow for $50 off. Audible.com: With over 180,000 audiobooks, you’ll find what you’re looking for. Get a free 30-day trial. Warby Parker: Boutique-quality, vintage-inspired glasses at a revolutionary price. Try up to five pairs at home for free. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Merlin Mann returns to the show. Topics include Winter Storm Jonas, the politics of sick kids, sweating out a fever, people going insane over the rumors that the next iPhones will omit the standard headphone jack, the seven-hour The Godfather Epic, and more. Sponsored by: Backblaze: Online backup for $5/month. Native. Unlimited. Unthrottled. Uncomplicated. MailRoute: Hosted spam and virus protection for email. Use this link for 10% off for the life of your account. Igloo: An intranet you’ll actually like. Try Igloo for free. Links: Backblaze’s online speed test. 2007 New Yorker story on commuters in Atlanta. The original 2007–2009 run of The Talk Show. Merlin Mann and John Gruber’s 2009 talk at SXSW. Clever fake “FIFA corruption scandal” Twitter account, which seemingly predicted World Cup matches before they were played. Online petition asking Apple not to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack from new iPhones. Team Negative One’s new samizdat restoration of a 35mm print of the 1977 theatrical release of Star Wars. The Atlantic: “Milk, Bread, and Eggs: The Trinity of Winter-Storm Panic-Shopping”. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest Dan Frommer returns to the show to deliver his first-hand report from last week’s CES in Las Vegas. Other topics include Periscope, Peach, why Apple never participated at CES, El Chapo’s re-capture, iOS 9.3, Apple Watch, Apple’s finances (and stock price), and self-driving cars. Brought to you by: Wealthfront: A low-cost, automated investment service that makes it easy to invest your money the right way. Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code “GRUBER” for 10% off your first order. Igloo: The intranet you’ll actually like. Links: Dan Frommer’s report on Rupert Murdoch’s private super-conference held at the Wynn Las Vegas during CES. Frommer: “Fitbit’s Long-Term Future Sales Curve Revealed”. Frommer on Apple Watch, six months in. The re-launched City Notes. U.S. marshalls raid hovercraft booth at CES. Philip Elmer-DeWitt: “Why So Much Apple Commentary Is So Clueless”. The Boeing Dreamlifter (inspiration for Apple’s iPhone Smart Battery Case). Sean Penn’s remarkable story for Rolling Stone on meeting with El Chapo. Dave Winer on the El Chapo story, and the objection from some journalists regarding the disclosed concessions they made to create it. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

A brief holiday chat about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with a cavalcade of special guests, including Guy English and Amy Jane Gruber. Sponsored by: Igloo: The intranet you’ll actually like. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled online backup for your Mac. Wealthfront: An intelligent, automated investing service. They’ll build you a free personalized investment plan in 2 minutes. MailRoute: Hosted spam and virus protection for email. Use this link for 10 percent off for the entire lifetime of your account. Links: Writers Guild panel discussion between Lawrence Kasdan, JJ Abrams, and Michael Arndt, writers of The Force Awakens. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Rene Ritchie returns to the show for a look back at the Apple year that was: the new one-port MacBook, Apple Watch's launch, WWDC and Apple Music, the iPhones 6S, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Apple TV, iPad Mini 4, iOS 9, Mac OS X 10.11, and, of course, the most important new product of the year, the Smart Battery Case. This episode contains absolutely no Star Wars talk, except for a little. Sponsored by: uBar and the Brawer Mirage A4: Use promo code “RETINAGRUBER” and save 50% on a great Mac taskbar utility or 40% on an elegant handmade automatic watch. Hullo: Your favorite pillow, guaranteed. Automatic: The cool, clever connected-car dingus. Save $20 with this link. Harry’s: High-quality shaving products at a fraction of the price. Use promo code "TALKSHOW" and save $5 off your first purchase. Links: Debug episode 76 (iTunes, Overcast): "Don Melton, former Director of Internet Technologies at Apple, and Nitin Ganatra, former Director of iOS Apps at Apple, talk about managing teams, managing up, retention, rivalry, and more", with hosts Rene Ritchie and Guy English. The Art of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' "Obsession Times Voice": John Gruber and Merlin Mann at SXSW 2009. "A pretty good stab at a simple formula for doing it right." Princess Leia wearing what looks like an Apple Watch in Return of the Jedi. Jennifer Bailey, Apple's VP of Apple Pay. uMake -- innovative iOS 3D drawing app with rich support for Apple Pencil. Gizmodo: "Everything Apple Introduced This Year Kinda Sucked". This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi joins the show for a wide-ranging half-hour discussion about Swift — Apple’s new programming language that just went open source. Next, John Siracusa returns to the show to follow up on Federighi’s segment on Swift. Other topics include Apple’s new Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 6/6S, and our mutual (and perhaps futile) desire to head into this week’s premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens knowing as few spoilers as possible. Transcript of Craig Federighi’s interview. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code “GRUBER” for 10% off your first order. Harry’s: High-quality shaving products; great gift ideas. Use promo code “TALKSHOW” to save $5 off your first purchase. Casper: Obsessively engineered mattresses at shockingly fair prices. Save $50 with this link. Wealthfront: An intelligent, automated investing service. They’ll build you a free personalized investment plan in 2 minutes. Links: Craig Federighi talking about Swift going open source with Ars Technica, TheNextWeb, and Mashable. Siracusa’s explanation of Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) in his Mac OS X 10.7 review in 2011. Siracusa’s excellent introduction to Swift from his Mac OS X 10.10 review last year. Glyn Williams post on Quora regarding how iOS devices need less RAM than equivalent Android devices, because Android’s virtual machine uses garbage collection and iOS doesn’t. “The Curious Case of the Curious Case” — my review of Apple’s new Smart Battery Case. Michael Tsai’s link roundup on Sketch leaving the Mac App Store. Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie’s The C Programming Language, first published in 1978. Android’s Dalvik (old) and ART (new) runtimes, both of which use garbage collection. “Don’t Drink the Bacta Tea” — spoiler-free episode of The Incomparable last week, with Siracusa, Jason Snell, Serenity Caldwell, and Dan Moren talking about The Force Awakens. Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki Sci-Fi Corridor Archive. Start here, of course. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Joanna Stern returns to the show to talk about the iPad Pro, Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, what's going on with Yahoo (spoiler: not much), how best to sell old iPhones when upgrading, and Mark Zuckerberg promising to donate 99 percent of his fortune to charitable causes. Sponsored by: Wealthfront: A low-cost, automated investment service that makes it easy to invest your money the right way. MailRoute: A secure, hosted email filtering service that you can have up and running in minutes. Use this link and you’ll save 10 percent for the lifetime of your account. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled online back up for your Mac. Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code “GRUBER” for 10 percent off your first order. Links: Joanna’s reviews of the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, and the iPad Pro. Browser in Your Browser (built with Squarespace). Joanna, from back in May: “Forget Social Media! Build Your Very Own Website”. Swappa — an online marketplace for buying and selling used devices. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest John Moltz returns to the show to discuss rumors that the iPhone 7 might not have a standard headphone jack and that Apple is working on new MacBook Airs. Also: a parenting guide to the Star Wars and James Bond franchises. Brought to you by: Harry’s: High-quality shaving products; great gift ideas. Use promo code “talkshow” to save $5 off your first purchase. Casper: Obsessively engineered mattresses at shockingly fair prices. Wealthfront: An intelligent, automated investing service. They’ll build you a free personalized investment plan in 2 minutes. Igloo: An intranet you’ll actually like. Links: Rumor: “Apple May Replace 3.5mm Headphone Jack on iPhone 7 With All-in-One Lightning Connector”. Rumor: “Thinner MacBook Air in 13” and 15” Sizes Coming at WWDC 2016?”. The 5.9mm-thick Samsung Galaxy A8. Apple’s $29 Lightning-to-30-pin adapter. Amazon’s video showing their latest prototype delivery drone, narrated by Jeremy Clarkson. Fraser Speirs: “Can the MacBook Pro Replace Your iPad?” A Tesla Owner reviews a petrol-powered car. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Special guest Jason Snell joins the show to talk about iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, how iOS still feels like *iPhone OS* at a fundamental level, and Don Norman and Bruce Tognazzini’s overwrought “How Apple Is Giving Design a Bad Name” article for Fast Company. Also: the new membership program at Six Colors. Sponsored by: Harry’s: High-quality shaving products. Use the promo code “talkshow” to save $5 off your first purchase. Warby Parker: Boutique-quality, classically crafted eyewear at a revolutionary price point. Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use promo code “GRUBER” and save 10 percent. Braintree: Easy online payments. If you’re building a mobile app and searching for a simple payments solution, check out Braintree. Links: Jason, writing at Macworld, on the iPad Pro’s keyboard shortcomings. Don Norman and Bruce Tognazzini, writing at Fast Company: “How Apple Is Giving Design a Bad Name”. Ferrite Recording Studio: a full-fledged iOS audio editing app.