The Talk Show With John Gruber

438: ‘2025 Year in Review’, With Rene Ritchie

A look back at Apple’s 2025, with special guest Rene Ritchie. Sponsored by: Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off. Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow. Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good. Links: The classic Mac OS Appearance Manager and its support for (rather garish) themes: ATPM, August 2000: “GUI Junkie: Schemin’ and Themin’” by Christopher Turner. Includes screenshots. Wikipedia: Appearance Manager. Luria Petrucci celebrates 20 years on YouTube. Steve Jobs on product people vs. sales/marketing people, back in the early 1990s. John Browett’s brief tenure running retail at Apple back in 2012. His sacking was effectively a footnote in the announcement that Apple had parted with Scott Forstall. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

437: ‘A Naughty Citizen’, With Quinn Nelson

Special guest Quinn Nelson returns for a two-part holiday spectacular: the iPad in the wake of iPadOS 26, and Apple's executive changes as Tim Cook seemingly nears the end of his time as CEO. Sponsored by: Notion: The AI workspace where teams and AI agents get more done together. Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow. Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good. Links: Quinn on YouTube: "The iPad's Software Problem Is Permanent". "Apple Is Falling Apart (On Purpose)" (on executive shuffling). Spark -- Quinn's email app of choice. Yours truly back in January 2020: "The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10". Slide Over was originally eliminated in iPadOS 26 but came back in 26.1. Apple Notes extension apps, available on the Mac because they're only possible on the Mac because the iPad and iPhone are baby computers: ProNotes. NotesCmdr. Mark Papermaster, the hardware executive who took the fall for the iPhone 4 antenna saga. The classic cartoon from 2013: "Organizational Charts of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle". This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

436: ‘Financial Boner’, With Tyler Hayes

Special guest: Tyler Hayes. Topics include how to get a small phone today, which way foldables should fold, the state of Apple TV (including its new “sonic logo”), and some holiday gift gadget recommendations. Sponsored by: Clic for Sonos: No lag. No hassle. Just Clic. Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow. Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good. Links: This Week The Trend. Tyler on the flip-style Motorola Razr as a small phone solution. DF: “Tyler Hayes Suggests Trying a Flip-Style Foldable If You Want a Smaller Phone”. Tyler: “Apple TV Is Finally Worth $99 Per Year”. Ad Age: “Apple TV’s Colorful New Branding Was Built With Glass and Captured In-Camera”. Aura Ink, $500 e-paper picture frame. Chargers: Anker Nano 70W 3-port charger — $50, on sale for $32 if you act fast. Nomad’s excellent “slim” chargers, in 40W (one port), 65W (two ports), and 100W (two ports) — I think the 65W one is the sweet spot. Nomad’s Wallet Tracking Card, compatible with Find My. (Not mentioned on the show, but very cool — Tyler and I both own one and recommend them.). Sharge’s Pixel 100W and 140W chargers, with cool fat-pixel dot-matrix displays on the side. The Sigma BF, a gorgeous, minimal L-mount camera. $2,200 at B&H Camera. Tyler’s August issue of This Week The Trend that mentioned it. GoVee Smart Christmas Lights. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

435: ‘Lincoln Bio Services’, With Stephen Robles

Special guest Stephen Robles joins the show. Topics include indie media and YouTube, Shortcuts and automation, and the state of podcasting. Sponsored by: Uncommon Goods: Out of the ordinary gifts, great for the holidays. Save 15% off your next purchase with code talkshow. Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good. Links: Stephen goes indie: Stephen’s YouTube channel. Announcement: “I Don't Have a Job Anymore, Thanks to You”. Video: “These Shortcuts Are Magic”. Primary Technology: Stephen's podcast, with cohost Jason Aten. Episode 74, May 2025, with yours truly as a guest. Apple Podcasts and AI-generated chapters: Apple Podcasts for Creators: “Enhance Your Episodes With Chapters, Links, and More”. Daring Fireball: “Apple Podcasts Is Adding AI-Generated Chapters for Podcasts Without Chapters”. Primary Technology discussion. Beard.fm: “Apple’s Losing Its Podcast Legacy”. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

434: ‘Knee-Jerk Contrarian’, With Dan Frommer

Special guest Dan Frommer returns to the show. Topics include the indie media business, the iPhone Pocket, the iPhone Air (including rumors about the second generation model), AI “personalities”, and five years of Apple Silicon Macs. Also, six years of Dan’s site, The New Consumer. Sponsored by: Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off. Notion: The AI workspace where teams and AI agents get more done together. Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow. Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good. Links: Dan’s site: The New Consumer. Fromedome. iPhone Pocket: Apple’s announcement. My link. Recalling iPod Socks. Steve Jobs’s signature black turtlenecks. Sold out in hours. iPhone Air: WSJ: “Apple’s iPhone Air Is a Marketing Win and a Sales Flop” My response. Rumors re: the second-gen iPhone Air. Jason Snell at Six Colors, in 2022: “Find Photos Taken by Specific iPhone Lenses”. Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, Two MLB Pitchers, Charged in Gambling Investigation. Ricoh GR IIIx: A few example photos I’ve taken with mine. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.