207: ‘Christmas Mitzvah’ With Merlin Mann
The Talk Show With John Gruber
11/18/17
•144m
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Merlin Mann returns to the show for a Thanksgiving-week holiday spectacular. Topics include the history of Markdown, nerding out with Keyboard Maestro, kids today and the computers they want to use, caring about idiomatic native UI design, a look back at last year's election, and more.
Sponsored by:
- Away: Travel smarter with the suitcase that charges your phone. Get $20 off with code TALKSHOW.
- Eero: Finally, Wi-Fi that works. Use code THETALKSHOW for free shipping in the U.S. and Canada.
- Fracture: Your photos, printed directly on glass. Great gift idea. Save 15% off your first order with code TALK15.
Links:
- Various apps mentioned during the show:
- Keyboard Maestro
- Drafts
- Editorial
- nvAlt
- Simplenote
- Justin Williams’s now-defunct Elements — the first Dropbox-backed text editor for iOS
- Vesper
- Bartender — a Mac utility for managing all those stupid little menu bar apps
- Vanilla — another Mac menu bar app manager
- Apple Support technote documenting standard Mac text editing keyboard shortcuts.
- [Reconcilable Differences #65](https://www.relay.fm/rd/65 “Reconcilable Differences #65: The Mustard of My Father - Relay FM”) — Merlin and John Siracusa talking about Steam.
- The Elements of Eloquence — the book that explains the implicit rules of adjective order in English.
- Dr. Drang on Excel.
- Last year’s day-after-the-election “Holiday Party” episode.
- PredictIt — Website where you can gamble on election and political predictions.
- Max Temkin’s US Politics Twitter list.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
Previous Episode
206: ‘Bed Is Where My Problems Are’ With Ben Thompson
November 10, 2017
•133m
Ben Thompson returns to the show to talk about the iPhone X.
Sponsored by:
- Casper: You can be sure of your purchase with Casper’s 100 night risk-free, sleep-on-it trial.
- Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order.
- Fracture: Photos printed in vivid color directly on glass. Save 15% off your first Fracture order with code TALK15.
Links:
- My photo of Bernie Sanders and Bill de Blasio on the A train.
- New York Post video of Sanders and de Blasio on the train that shows me in the background around 10 seconds in.
- 2007 NYT story: “Southwest Airlines gains advantage by hedging on long-term oil contracts”.
- Nilay Patel’s video review of the iPhone X for The Verge.
- Those YouTuber “first look” reviews that came out a day before the real reviews: Highsnobriety and Fashion Magazine.
- Raymond Soneira’s review of the iPhone X display at DisplayMate.
- IHS estimates that iPhone X’s components cost $115 more than iPhone 8’s.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
Next Episode
208: ‘Disgusting Inception’ With John Moltz
November 30, 2017
•93m
John “With an H” Moltz returns to the show. Topics include the ongoing deluge of sexual harassment scandals, our beloved SodaStreams, the Mac OS 10.13 High Sierra root login fiasco, App: The Human Story, and more.
Sponsored by:
- Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order.
- Audible: Get a free audiobook with a 30-day trial.
- Casper: You can be sure of your purchase with Casper’s 100 night risk-free, sleep-on-it trial. Save $50 with coupon thetalkshow.
Links:
- TripMode — Mac utility for limiting/controlling network usage on an app-by-app basis.
- [Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JimmySnyder(sports_commentator).
- The comments that got him fired from CBS.
- No joke: Jimmy The Greek on David Letterman in 1987, talking about Donald Trump running for president.
- The root login bug in MacOS 10.13 High Sierra.
- App: The Human Story documentary film is out.
- The Talk Show: Live From WWDC 2014, with special guests Marco Arment, John Siracusa, and Casey Liss — shot by Jake Schumacher and Jed Hurt, director and co-director of App: The Human Story.
- James Bridle: “Something Is Wrong on the Internet” — well-researched essay from earlier this month on the disturbing underside of YouTube videos aimed at children.
- Liz Phair’s killer cover of The Banana Splits theme song.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
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