415: ‘A Good Duck Butt’, With Allen Pike
The Talk Show With John Gruber
12/02/24
•152m
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Special guest Allen Pike joins the show to talk about the state of generative AI and how Apple Intelligence measures up (so far). Also: some speculation on Apple’s pending acquisition of the ever-difficult-to-pronounce Pixelmator.
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- WorkOS: The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS — free up to 1 million monthly active users.
Links:
- Allen’s blog.
- Allen’s take on Apple Intelligence, so far: “It’s Good for Apple, and Okay for You”. (Includes the Image-Playground–generated derpy-looking images of Allen that we discuss on the show.)
- Forestwalk Labs — Allen’s new startup.
- Allen’s podcasts:
- CGP Grey and Myke Hurley discuss how Apple Intelligence message suggestions feel “anti-human” on Cortex ep. 161.
- Cursor — “The AI Code Editor”.
- Rich Sutton’s 2019 essay “The Bitter Lesson” (“The biggest lesson that can be read from 70 years of AI research is that general methods that leverage computation are ultimately the most effective, and by a large margin.”)
- AMC’s “Halt and Catch Fire”, which ran four seasons from 2014–2017.
- Ellen Cushing for The Atlantic: “Thanksgiving Should Be in October”.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
Previous Episode
414: ‘Annoying Friendliness’, With Joanna Stern
November 18, 2024
•114m
Joanna Stern returns to the show to talk about our new best friends, AI chatbots, and I chime in with how the Voight-Kampff test got it all wrong.
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Links:
- Joanna on YouTube: “I Spent 24 Hours in the Woods With Talking AI Chatbots”.
- Joanna’s excellent interview with Craig Federighi on Apple Intelligence, which is also on YouTube.
- My commentary linking to it.
- Ann-Marie Alcántara’s Wall Street Journal piece: “When Did Apple’s Notes App Become an Extension of Our Brains?” (also on News+)
- Larry David on Siri.
- Voight-Kampff Test.
- There’s a social media thing where people are posting ChatGPT’s illustrations from the prompt “Based on what you know about me, draw a picture of what you think my current life looks like.”
- Here’s mine: I’m all alone in a nice study with lots of books, a leather couch, and a manual typewriter.
- Here’s Joanna’s: Boy Scouts, basketball, cameras, computers, and lots of bagels.
- Here’s an alternate from Joanna.
- The Gruber and Coudal families, leaving Barack Obama’s election night rally in Grant Park in Chicago in 2008.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
Next Episode
416: ‘A Professional Internet User’, With Vlad Prelovac
December 24, 2024
•152m
Kagi founder and CEO Vlad Prelovac joins the show to talk about the business of web search, the thinking behind Kagi’s own amazing search engine, and their upstart WebKit-based browser Orion.
Sponsored by:
- Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order.
- Memberful: Monetize your passion with membership. Start your free trial today.
Unofficial but surprisingly good transcripts.
Links:
- Kagi.
- Kagi Blog.
- Kagi Search Stats.
- Kagi Feedback, the Kagi Search issue tracker.
- Orion — Kagi’s lightweight WebKit-based native browser for Mac and iOS.
- Vladimir Prelovac’s homepage.
- Apple’s 1987 “Knowledge Navigator” concept video, which supposedly took place in the “future” of 2011.
- Wikipedia entry.
- Daring Fireball, 2011: “The Type of Companies That Publish Future Concept Videos”.
- Wikipedia: “Essential facilities doctrine”.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
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