The Talk Show With John Gruber

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 [https://clic.dance/talkshow]: No lag. No hassle. Just Clic. * Squarespace [https://squarespace.com/talkshow]: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow. Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good [http://podsearch.david-smith.org/shows/11]. Links: * This Week The Trend [https://www.thisweekstrend.xyz/]. * Tyler on the flip-style Motorola Razr as a small phone solution [https://creators.yahoo.com/lifestyle/story/do-you-think-phones-are-too-big-and-want-a-smaller-one-i-have-the-perfect-solution-234401104.html]. * DF: “Tyler Hayes Suggests Trying a Flip-Style Foldable If You Want a Smaller Phone [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/07/hayes-flips-for-a-flip]”. * Tyler: “Apple TV Is Finally Worth $99 Per Year [https://creators.yahoo.com/lifestyle/story/opinion-apple-tv-is-finally-worth-99-per-year-162744249.html]”. * Ad Age: “Apple TV’s Colorful New Branding Was Built With Glass and Captured In-Camera [https://adage.com/creativity/work/aa-apple-tv-mnemonic-visual-branding/]”. * Aura Ink [https://auraframes.com/news/introducing-ink-auras-all-new-cordless-e-paper-frame-worthy-of-your-gallery], $500 e-paper picture frame. * Chargers: * Anker Nano 70W 3-port charger [https://www.anker.com/products/a121a-70w-3-ports-charger] — $50, on sale for $32 if you act fast. * Nomad’s excellent “slim” chargers [https://nomadgoods.com/products/ac-adapter-65w-usb-c-slim], 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 [https://nomadgoods.com/products/tracking-card]. (Not mentioned on the show, but very cool — Tyler and I both own one and recommend them.). * Sharge’s Pixel 100W and 140W chargers [https://sharge.com/products/pixel-100-140-charger?variant=47310497939707], with cool fat-pixel dot-matrix displays on the side. * The Sigma BF [https://www.sigma-global.com/en/cameras/bf/], a gorgeous, minimal L-mount camera. * $2,200 at B&H Camera [https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1881808-REG/sigma_c46900_bf_mirrorless_camera_black.html]. * Tyler’s August issue of This Week The Trend that mentioned it [https://www.thisweekstrend.xyz/the-buying-game-issue-11/]. * Govee Smart Christmas Lights [https://us.govee.com/collections/holiday-decor-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 [https://uncommongoods.com/talkshow]: Out of the ordinary gifts, great for the holidays. Save 15% off your next purchase after following that link. Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good [http://podsearch.david-smith.org/shows/11]. Links: * Stephen goes indie: * Stephen’s YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@beardfm]. * Announcement: “I Don't Have a Job Anymore, Thanks to You [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3528SDccpjQ]”. * Video: “These Shortcuts Are Magic [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCQH-KF6Sys]”. * Primary Technology [https://primarytech.fm/]: Stephen's podcast, with cohost Jason Aten. * Episode 74, May 2025, with yours truly as a guest [https://primarytech.fm/74]. * Apple Podcasts and AI-generated chapters: * Apple Podcasts for Creators: “Enhance Your Episodes With Chapters, Links, and More [https://podcasters.apple.com/support/5545-enhance-episodes-with-chapters-links-more]”. * Daring Fireball: “Apple Podcasts Is Adding AI-Generated Chapters for Podcasts Without Chapters [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/apple-podcasts-auto-chapters]”. * Primary Technology discussion [https://youtu.be/KTGMwCvePgc?t=782&si=Lm95TULsgs8Vt3GL]. * Beard.fm: “Apple’s Losing Its Podcast Legacy [https://beard.fm/blog/apple-losing-podcast-legacy-2025]”. * Downie [https://software.charliemonroe.net/downie/], a fantastic Mac app for downloading local copies of videos from the web (especially YouTube). * Daring Fireball post on Downie 4 [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/02/26/downie-4], from early this year. * Transloader [https://eternalstorms.at/transloader/] — Apps from Eternal Storms that allow you to initiate downloads on a Mac remotely from an iPhone, iPad, or another Mac. * F-Bomb paperweight [https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/f-bomb-paperweight/204090000000] at sponsor Uncommon Goods. 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 [https://newconsumer.com/]. Sponsored by: * Factor [https://factormeals.com/talkshow50off]: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off. * Notion [https://notion.com/talkshow]: The AI workspace where teams and AI agents get more done together. * Squarespace [https://squarespace.com/talkshow]: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow. Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good [http://podsearch.david-smith.org/shows/11]. Links: * Dan’s site: The New Consumer [https://newconsumer.com/]. * Fromedome [https://www.fromedome.com/]. * iPhone Pocket: * Apple’s announcement [https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/introducing-iphone-pocket-a-beautiful-way-to-wear-and-carry-iphone/]. * My link [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/11/iphone-pocket]. * Recalling iPod Socks [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/11/ipod-socks-iphone-pocket]. * Steve Jobs’s signature black turtlenecks [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/12/999-nos-for-every-yes]. * Sold out in hours [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/14/iphone-pockets-sold-out]. * iPhone Air: * WSJ: “Apple’s iPhone Air Is a Marketing Win and a Sales Flop [https://www.wsj.com/tech/apple-iphone-air-sales-response-7f0c01f1?st=JEotAi&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink]” * My response [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/13/wsj-iphone-air-flop]. * Rumors re: the second-gen iPhone Air [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/14/second-gen-iphone-air-information]. * Jason Snell at Six Colors, in 2022: “Find Photos Taken by Specific iPhone Lenses [https://sixcolors.com/post/2020/10/find-photos-taken-by-specific-iphone-lenses/]”. * Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, Two MLB Pitchers, Charged in Gambling Investigation [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/nyregion/mlb-pitchers-gambling.html]. * Ricoh GR IIIx [https://keithwee.com/2025/01/12/the-ricoh-iiix-hdf-a-review-of-this-perfectly-imperfect-camera/]: * A few [https://glass.photo/gruber/2pHzJvwMB7gIIAp9LJLPfY] example [https://glass.photo/gruber/4qBs4smgzRR16aKseVvdKI] photos [https://glass.photo/gruber/5Ejg9517dwGY99m4Q2KN27] I’ve taken with mine. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

433: ‘Meat Bags’, With Brian Mueller

Special guest Brian Mueller, developer of Carrot Weather, joins the show to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his utterly ridiculous but totally serious weather app. Sponsored by: * Squarespace [https://squarespace.com/talkshow]: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow. * Uncommon Goods [https://uncommongoods.com/talkshow]: Out of the ordinary gifts. Get 15% off your next purchase. Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good [http://podsearch.david-smith.org/shows/11]. Links: * Carrot Weather [https://www.meetcarrot.com/weather/]. * The rest of Brian’s Carrot suite of apps [https://www.meetcarrot.com/]. * CARROT: The Musical, on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@MeetCARROT/videos]. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

432: ‘You and Frank Sinatra’, With Dan Moren

Dan Moren returns to the show. Topics include Atlas, ChatGPT's new web browser (or anti-web browser) for the Mac; Apple's loss in a "landmark" regulatory lawsuit in the UK regarding App Store commission rates; multiple reports of poor sales for the iPhone Air; and Apple's M5 product announcements: MacBook Pro, iPads Pro, and Vision Pro. Sponsored by: * Squarespace [https://squarespace.com/talkshow]: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow. * Factor [https://factormeals.com/talkshow50off]: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year. Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good [http://podsearch.david-smith.org/shows/11]. Links: * Sleep++ [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sleep/id1038440371], David Smith’s iOS sleep app that ties into Apple Health data, and gives what I think is a much more accurate and interesting “sleep score” than does Apple Health itself in iOS 26. * ChatGPT Atlas: new Chromium browser for Mac: * OpenAI’s announcement [https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-atlas/]. * Their promotion [https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12608430-chatgpt-atlas-default-browser-promotion] to get 7 days of higher ChatGPT usage if you make, and keep, Atlas as your default browser. * Anil Dash: “ChatGPT’s Atlas: The Browser That’s Anti-Web [https://www.anildash.com/2025/10/22/atlas-anti-web-browser/]”. * Simon Willison’s initial thoughts [https://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/21/introducing-chatgpt-atlas/]. * Michael Tsai’s roundup of links [https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/10/22/chatgpt-atlas/#chatgpt-atlas-update-2025-10-23]. * Reuters: “Apple Loses Landmark UK Lawsuit Over App Store Commissions [https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/apple-loses-uk-lawsuit-over-app-store-commissions-2025-10-23/]”. * Multiple reports suggest the iPhone Air is not selling well [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/nikkei-asia-iphone-air-slashed]. * But it seems like Apple isn’t doing any advertising for the iPhone Air [https://www.threads.com/@thebasicappleguy/post/DQRyfheCYAW] (or regular iPhone 17) at all — (yet?). * Dan’s Six Colors coverage of the M5 speed bump updates from Apple: * Base model 14-inch MacBook Pro [https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/the-macbook-pro-with-m5-is-alive/]. * 11- and 13-inch iPads Pro [https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/the-ipad-pro-gets-the-m5-treatment/]. * Vision Pro [https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/apple-launches-m5-powered-vision-pro-with-new-dual-knit-band/]. * Dan’s review of the new Dual Knit Band for Vision Pro [https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/m5-vision-pro-dual-kit-band-psvr2-controller-review-apples-experiment-continues/] (which is now the only band included by default with the M5 models). * My piece on the M5 announcements [https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/m5_chip_launches_with_macbook_pro_ipad_pro_vision_pro]. * Dan’s previous appearance on The Talk Show [https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2024/10/31/ep-412], from October last year, talking about — déjà vu — new Mac hardware. * “&udm=14” [https://udm14.com/] — AI-overview-free Google search, from Ernie Smith. Also: My DF post about it back in May [https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/05/23/udm14]. * Dan’s personal website [https://dmoren.com/], with links to his science fiction novels and short stories [https://dmoren.com/writing/]. This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.