107: ‘Now It’s All Floppy’ With Guest Marco Arment
The Talk Show With John Gruber
01/12/15
•184m
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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.
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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.
Previous Episode
106: ‘Star Wars Holiday Spectacular’ With Guests John Siracusa and Guy English
December 31, 2014
•224m
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.
Next Episode
108: ‘Malaprops’ With Guest Ben Thompson
January 24, 2015
•190m
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.
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