The Talk Show With John Gruber

Guest Ben Thompson and host John Gruber discuss the Apple Watch, Jay Z's streaming music service Tidal, audience ceilings faced by TV devices, Meerkat-vs.-Periscope, and NCAA Final Four picks.

Special guest Serenity Caldwell joins the show. Topics include last week’s “Spring Forward” Apple media event; the new Force Touch Trackpad for MacBooks, and the prospects for force touch in future iOS devices; and of course, Apple Watch. Sponsored by: Foremost Edition: Small-batch, American-made clothing line for men and women. Use the code “PROMOCODE” at checkout to receive 20 percent off. Fracture: Your pictures, printed directly on glass. Use code “daringfireball” and save 15 percent. Harry’s: An exceptional shave for a fraction of the price. Use coupon code “talkshow” and save $5 on your first order. Squarespace: A better web starts with your website. Use promo code “jg” for 10 percent off. Links: Jacqui Cheng’s review of the original 2008 MacBook Air for Ars Technica. Christopher Phin fondly remembers the PowerBook Duo. Greg Koenig: “How the Apple Watch Is Made”. Luma Loop — high quality, well-designed camera strap. Serenity’s MacBook Air accident this week. The Atari 400 and its craptacular keyboard.

Special guest Matthew Panzarino joins the show. After some brief chitchat on Meerkat and monocular vision, we get into the obvious topic this week: Apple’s “Spring Forward” media event in San Francisco. Sub-topics therein: ResearchKit; FaceTime and open standards; accessibility and Tim Cook’s refusal to measure the ROI of such things; Jeff Williams’s first on-stage appearance at an Apple keynote; Angela Ahrendts; the new single-port MacBook; San Francisco as the new keycap font on the MacBook keyboard; the Taptic trackpad; the timing of this event; and more. Oh, and something called “Apple Watch”. Sponsored by: Fracture: Your pictures, printed directly on glass. Use code “daringfireball” and save 15 percent. Igloo: The intranet you’ll actually like. Sign up for a free trial. Harry’s: An exceptional shave for a fraction of the price. Use coupon code “talkshow” and save $5 on your first order. Squarespace: A better web starts with your website. Use promo code “jg” for 10% off. Links: Meerkat. Video for Apple's "Spring Forward" event. Matthew's scoop on the Apple Watch diagnostic port. Matthew on Apple Watch: 'The Apple Watch Is Time Saved'. Yours truly's pretty good guesses on Apple Watch pricing.

Special guest Paul Kafasis returns to the show. Topics include the new Pebble Time watch, the imminent arrival of Apple Watch, Paul’s clever new doorbell (and unfortunate refrigerator situation), a little bit of baseball, and why I can’t attend next week’s Apple event in San Francisco. Sponsored by: Warby Parker: Boutique-quality, classically crafted eyewear at a revolutionary price point. Casper: Great mattresses at low prices. Use code “thetalkshow” and save $50. Fracture: Your pictures, printed directly on glass. Use code “daringfireball” and save 15 percent. Hover: The world’s best domain name registrar. Use this week’s special code, “springtraining”, and save 10 percent off your first purchase. Links: MacRumors “speculative pricing” forum posting that social media turned into a “leaked price list from Apple”. Ring, Paul’s clever new doorbell. Just The Tip, Paul’s podcast with my wife, Amy Jane Gruber. Paul, writing at One Foot Tsunami, on Apple’s continued disregard for the Unicode 7 “Reversed Hand With Middle Finger Extended” emoji glyph, arguably the most pressing technical issue facing Apple and its users today. Apple’s response to Paul's Radar on the “Reversed Hand With Middle Finger Extended” emoji. Audio Hijack 3, Rogue Amoeba’s new update to their excellent audio recording app for Mac. Interesting ESPN feature on Alex Rodriguez’s return to baseball.

Special guest John Moltz returns to the show. Topics include Apple Watch; rumors that Apple is working on a secret car project; our love of old Mac hardware; and a long discussion on Ian Parker’s extraordinary New Yorker profile of Jony Ive and his design team at Apple. Sponsored by: Automatic: Super cool connected-car adapter. Save 20 percent through this link. Squarespace: Start here. Go anywhere. Use coupon code “JG” and save 10 percent. Fracture: Your pictures, printed directly on glass. Use code “daringfireball” and save 15 percent. Links: Ian Parker’s New Yorker profile of Jony Ive and his design team. Macintosh SE/30. Macintosh IIci. Report that Apple has a team designing a car. Dan Lyons is shocked — shocked — that Jony Ive owns a Bentley and has a chauffeur.

Merlin Mann returns to the show to talk about movies and shit. Sponsored by: Fracture: Your photos, printed directly on glass. Use coupon “daringfireball” to save 15 percent. Harry’s: Be the smartest man in the (bath)room. Use coupon code “talkshow” and save $5 on your first order. Foremost: Purveyor of small-batch, American-made clothing for men and women. Use coupon code "finally" for 20% off (and the same code works at Need, too). Links: The Carson Podcast. PBS Masters special on Johnny Carson. If you haven’t seen this, watch it. If you have seen it, watch it again. Trust me. Henry Bushkin’s book on Johnny Carson. Dustin Curtis: “Privacy vs. User Experience”. The Wisdom of Insecurity. Kids in Mind. Phthalates. From The Talk Show archive: “H.R. Fluffypuff”.

MG Siegler returns to the show, reporting from London. Topics include last week’s blockbuster earnings report from Apple, the increasingly imminent Apple Watch, phone display sizes, the impact of China on sales, rethinking the intended purpose and success of the iPhone 5C, speculation on Apple’s 2015 product roadmap, and whether Bluetooth is the future for mass market earbuds and headphones. Sponsored by: Oscar: A new kind of health insurance company. Fracture: Your pictures, printed directly on glass. Use code “daringfireball” and save 15 percent. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled online backup for your Mac for just $5 per month. Links: Red Obsession: Interesting 2011 documentary on the wine industry and China’s growing role in it. Currently available for streaming on Netflix. MG Siegler on the iPhone 5C back in April 2014: “The iPhone 5C Billboard Assault”. Apple’s outstanding Q1 2015 results. Samsung’s not-so-good results.

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. Sponsored by: Fracture: Your pictures, printed directly on glass. Use code “daringfireball” and save 15 percent. Need: A refined retailer and lifestyle magazine for men. Igloo: The intranet you’ll actually like. Links: Ben Thompson’s Stratechery website and Exponent podcast. Mark Bylok’s The Whiskey Cabinet, an excellent new book. Duet Display — iPad app that turns your iPad into a second display for your Mac. Box’s IPO. Tim Cook’s tweet on Box’s IPO. Hipstamatic Jibe vs. Jive vs. Gibe Michael Jackson’s death. Austin Carr’s excellent story for Fast Company on the development of Amazon’s Fire Phone. Amazon Echo — the standalone always-listening AI assistant, with a three-month backlog. Joanna Stern on Windows 10 HoloLens.

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. Sponsored by: Fracture: Your photos, printed directly on glass. Use coupon “daringfireball” to save 15 percent. Squarespace: Start here. Go anywhere. Use coupon code “JG” and save 10 percent. Harry’s: Be the smartest man in the (bath)room. Use coupon code “talkshow” and save $5 on your first order. Links: Heil PR40 microphone. Shure SM7B microphone. Marco’s article: “Apple Has Lost the Functional High Ground”. My take on the “Functional High Ground” thing. Panic’s App Store woes. Mark Gurman’s purported scoop on the upcoming new MacBook Air. Jason Snell’s Macworld review of the original MacBook Air in 2008.

A brief chat about the Star Wars movies, with special guests John Siracusa and Guy English. Update, Monday 5 January 2015: Updated with a new Special Edition edit, including a new introduction, a new editing gag around the 2:20:00 mark, new poster art, and some subtle re-syncing of the audio tracks. No extra Banthas were added, and Siracusa still shoots first. Sponsored by: Casper: Premium mattresses at great prices. Fracture: Your photos, printed directly on glass. Use coupon “gruber” to save 20 percent. Backblaze: Unlimited, unthrottled, online back up for Mac. Links: Michael Heilemann’s Kitbashed (highly recommended). “Plinkett” reviews The Phantom Menace (sort of kind of not really recommended). Original poster for Star Wars. Leigh Brackett’s script for The Empire Strikes Back. “Star Wars” Episodes of The Incomparable. Yes, that was young Greedo in The Phantom Menace. The complete Star Wars: Clone Wars cel-animated series from 2003 — pretty fun, worth watching.