The Talk Show With John Gruber

Manton Reece and whisky-soaked baritone Brent Simmons join the show to talk about JSON Feed, the new spec they co-authored for syndicating things like blog posts and podcasts. We talk about their longstanding mutual interest in [Userland Frontier][f] -- Dave Winer’s groundbreaking scripting environment from the early ’90s -- and how that background and their mutual love for publishing on the open web and the democratization of technology ultimately led to the creation of JSON Feed, as well as their other new projects: Manton’s [Micro.blog][m] publishing platform, and Brent’s new open source Mac app, announced for the first time right here on the show. And of course a brief look ahead to next week’s WWDC 2017.

Special guest Jim Dalrymple returns to the show to speculate about what Apple might announce at the upcoming WWDC 2017: Apple Watch, iPad, iOS, updated MacBooks, Apple TV, and more. Also: a celebration of the great Roger Moore.

Ben Thompson returns to the show. Topics include Microsoft's announcements from Build 2017, search engines, Amazon's new (confusingly-named) Look and Show devices, the need for HAL 9000, Apple's WeChat problem in China, and more.

Rene Ritchie returns to the show. Topics include Apple’s Q2 2017 financial results, the iPhone’s decline in China over the past two years, Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop and Windows 10 S, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick getting called to Tim Cook’s office regarding Uber’s surreptitious “fingerprinting” of iPhones, judging Apple Watch’s success, Hulu’s entry into the cord-cutting “live TV” subscription market (and Apple’s conspicuous absence from that same market), and more.

Special guest Lisa Jackson — Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives — joins the show for an Earth Day discussion of the state of Apple’s environmental efforts: climate change, renewable energy, responsible packaging, and Apple’s new goal to create a “closed-loop supply chain”, wherein the company’s products would be manufactured entirely from recycled materials.

MG Siegler returns to the show. Topics includes Virgin America's sad fate as a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pros, "doing work" on an iPad Pro, Walt Mossberg, the absurd bloat of iOS apps, Clips, Netflix and Amazon's spending on video, and more.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show for an in-depth discussion of last week's "future of the Mac Pro" round table discussion between a handful of Apple executives and journalists who cover the company. We talk about what went wrong with the 2013 Mac Pro design, speculate on the timeline of when Apple made this decision, why touchscreen Macs are almost certainly a bad idea even though a lot of people think they want one, and more.

Special guest Dan Frommer returns to the show. Topics include the end of The Deck ad network, my weird story about getting kicked out of Amazon’s affiliate program, Apple’s new products announced last week (Red iPhone 7 models, larger-capacity iPhone SEs, the new 9.7-inch just-plain iPad, and Apple’s excellent new Clips app), Samsung’s new Galaxy S8, Twitter’s new reply system, CarPlay getting its ass kicked in a head-to-head comparison with Android Auto, ISPs and Privacy, and more.

The one and only Merlin Mann returns to the show. Topics include modern plumbing technology and product marketing, the intricate ordeal of switching from iCloud’s old two-step authentication to the modern two-factor authentication, and the future of voice-driven UI/AI. Also, a wee bit of follow-up on our post-election November 9 Holiday Party.

Serenity Caldwell returns to the show. Topics include the Best Picture fiasco at last week’s Academy Awards, Tim Cook speaking vaguely of “the pro area” at Apple’s shareholders meeting, the conflict between Apple’s culture of secrecy and the glaring embarrassment that is the 1,100-day-old Mac Pro lineup, new iPad Pro rumors and our ruminations on tablet vs. notebook hardware form factors, The Wall Street Journal’s seemingly goofy report on new iPhones replacing Lightning with USB-C ports, and the garbage fire that is Uber’s corporate culture.

Special guest Marco Arment returns to the show. Topics include WWDC moving back to San Jose, the latest rumors about this year’s new iPads and iPhones, and the thinking behind the design changes in the just-released Overcast 3.0.

John Moltz returns to the show. Topics include:

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show. Topics include Apple’s Q1 2017 financial results (including record iPhone sales and continuing cooling iPad sales), issues with LG’s new 5K UltraFine display (not so fine if you use it near a Wi-Fi router), the tech industry’s response to Trump’s immigration ban, and the highlights at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Ben Thompson returns to the show. Topics include the state of the Mac (and our shared belief that its death has been greatly exaggerated), the NFL playoffs, Chris Lattner leaving Apple for Tesla (and the general problem of talent retention), ruminating on the origins of the word “podcast”, and more.

Jim Dalrymple returns to the show for the first episode of 2017. Topics include New Year’s Eve, Siri/Alexa/Google Assistant, Apple’s aging AirPort and Mac Pro lineups, the future of desktop Macs, Apple Watch battery life, and rumors of upcoming new iPads.

Rene Ritchie returns to the show. Topics include Siri vs. Alexa, and whether Wynn Las Vegas’s announcement that they’re putting Amazon Echos into their 4,700+ guest rooms is a sign that Amazon is building a meaningful long-term lead in the nascent voice assistant market; Mark Gurman’s week-ago piece for Bloomberg, “How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists”; Consumer Reports’s bizarre but widely-publicized battery test results for the new MacBook Pros; and a brief year in review look at our favorite new Apple products from 2016.

Craig Hockenberry returns to the show with his gigantic fleshy palms. Topics include Donald Trump's highly publicized meeting with a handful of U.S. tech company leaders (including Tim Cook), the release of Nintendo's Super Mario Run for iPhone, Uber's autonomous car that was caught cruising straight through a red light in San Francisco, and Craig's excellent new book, *[Making Sense of Color Management](https://abookapart.com/products/making-sense-of-color-management)*.

Glenn Fleishman returns to the show. Topics include indoor plumbing, a spoiler-free discussion about HBO’s excellent “Westworld”, our favorite beverages, Apple’s AirPods launch debacle, Apple TV single sign-on, and more.

Joanna Stern returns to the show to talk about the new MacBook Pros (and their keyboards), stockpiling old MacBook Airs, dongles, Touch ID, SnapChat Spectacles, and more.

Jason Snell returns to the show to talk about the new MacBook Pros and the Touch Bar, and Apple’s new book chronicling the last 20 years of their industrial design, “Designed by Apple in California”.