Accidental Tech Podcast
Marco Arment, Casey Liss, John Siracusa
Three nerds discussing tech, Apple, programming, and loosely related matters.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 19, 2013 • 1h 5min
9: Fish Bicycle Scenario
Why are PC sales down?
Why and when people have bought new PCs in the past.
Forgoing or neglecting PCs today.
PCs in businesses.
Apple and IT departments.
Last decade's Tablet PCs.
The outlook for Windows 8 tablets in businesses.
What will change if Microsoft Office is released for iOS?
What AirPrint and black CD-Rs have in common.
Still using (and abusing) Jonathan Mann's awesome ending song. Follow him and check out his other songs on YouTube.
Sponsored by Squarespace: Use code ATP4 at checkout for 10% off.
Apr 12, 2013 • 1h 25min
8: Hold Me!
Giving Dave Morin the benefit of the doubt on that Vanity Fair trainwreck.
Who Facebook Home is for and why Facebook made it.
Whether Facebook, Amazon, Samsung, etc. could or should make their own OS or maintain completely diverged Android forks.
Google forking WebKit, Chrome vs. Safari, and the fork's likely implications for Apple and web developers.
Debug #11: Don Melton and Safari
WebKit contributors by company
Panic's new Status Board app (and IAP reaction).
We included Jonathan Mann's ending theme song again. Thanks, Jonathan!
Sponsored by Igloo Software.
Mar 29, 2013 • 1h 35min
7: The Forecast For iCloud
Summly's acquisition by Yahoo, and what could have justified its price. (Marco, WSJ)
The quality of speech recognition.
Challenges of big tech companies such as Apple hiring and retaining great talent.
Why iCloud sync works so badly for developers and whether it's fixable.
Why developers shouldn't use iCloud even if it worked.
Jonathan Mann's ATP Ending Theme Song and the More Bleeps version.
Sponsored by Squarespace: Use code ATP3 at checkout for 10% off.
Mar 22, 2013 • 1h 42min
6: Live Like Other People
How Marco buys a TV (unlike how John does).
Regular people noticing and caring about high-DPI screens.
The amazing Mac lineup that few care about.
Which Mac would we tell people to buy?
Marco revisits the Microsoft Store.
The Surface Pro's uniqueness.
Why GarageBand's adoption of Audiobus is so interesting.
How exposed filesystems and iCloud's document model both fail users.
Sponsored by Squarespace: Use code ATP3 at checkout for 10% off.
Mar 15, 2013 • 1h 26min
5: Negativity, Skepticism, and Doubt
The upcoming Google Reader shutdown.
The market for RSS today, and the way forward.
Client-side vs. server-side feed crawling.
Addressing excessive demand for WWDC and Google I/O tickets.
Apple pessimism is at an all-time high, even in the mainstream.
What could Apple do to turn the pessimism around?
Apple and web services.
The Apple TV's interesting new A5.
Diversifying the iPhone line.
Mar 11, 2013 • 1h 19min
4: The Bridges
The role of the Mac Pro today.
How Apple might manage the launch of a bigger iPhone.
App design and auto-layout if the iPhone moves to multiple sizes and resolutions.
Visual Studio's learning curve vs. Xcode and Interface Builder.
The future of Objective C and the challenge of migrating a platform's API to a new language.
Mar 9, 2013 • 59min
3: Conditions Led To Freecell
The Nifty MiniDrive
The challenges of small-camera design
Sony RX1 and Sony's camera-business revival
Apple in the gaming market and the evolution of casual gaming
Solitaire, Minesweeper, and the first time anyone has mentioned FreeCell in 2013
The bad old days of Game Boys, lead-acid "portable" computers, and mouse-pointer trails
iOS' refusal to let you pick default browser, email client, calendar app, etc.
Mini-web-browsers inside of iOS apps
How iOS could adopt Contracts or Intents, and the problems that might arise
Feb 28, 2013 • 57min
2: The 7th Guest
The PS4 announcement, the Xbox 1, old LAN gaming, Transport Tycoon, early CD-ROM adventure games, dumping old games onto iOS, dial-up modems, and the annoyance of gaming occasionally on a modern console.
Feb 7, 2013 • 15min
1: iPhone Plus
Speculation on what a bigger iPhone's screen might be and why.


