We'll be guests on the WWDC live episode of The Talk Show: Tuesday, June 3, 6–9 PM. Get tickets here ASAP! John will be taking a plane... for you.
Follow-up:
Which is faster: installing Showbot or reimplementing it?
Casey's open-source Node version
PHP isn't faster than ...
The modern Apple-store experience
Follow-up:
Marco reneges on his recent praise of Beats headphones, then receives the saddest real-time follow-up ever
Headphones mentioned:
B&O BeoPlay H6: Great comfort, but not sound.
Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro (32-ohm version; Case...
Hurry if you want an ATP T-Shirt! Just $19, and the sale may be over by the time you read this!
Follow-up:
Who plays video games vs. self-identified "gamers"
ComiXology
Is Apple's 30% cut of in-app purchases the same as net neutrality?
Vihart Video
Internet2
Who should b...
ATP T-Shirts: $19 each, available for only 1 week!
Follow-up:
Average age of gamers (more here and here from the Entertainment Software Association)
Your favorite game genres going out of fashion
Apps and games Mentioned:
Metal Gear Solid
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time...
Follow-up on pCell and database scaling, including horizontal sharding schemes, tiered data layers, and taking a stand against the "premature optimization" tautology.
When and why do developers learn something new, and why does Marco keep using PHP for everything?
Second C...
Follow-up on Photo Stream Web Sites
Follow-up on vinyl, including how Marc Edwards thinks it's evil, and the difference between pleasing and accurate sound. (Marco's open and closed headphones, amp, and DAC)
The Apple insight attained by way of documents released in the Sa...
Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em while you sunset Dance Jam
WWDC
How to make a lottery work, like Shmoocon does
How to write a live blogging system for keynotes
Our winnings and losses in the WWDC Don't-Call-it-a-Lottery
Levels of randomness and Apple's discretionary pool...
After-show: We tried to predict WWDC dates, not knowing that Apple would announce them 12 hours later, then discussed ticket lotteries and how Apple probably wouldn't build one. (Yeah.)
Sponsored by:
Warby Parker: Boutique-quality, vintage-inspired eyewear at a revolutionary price.
Pixelmator: Full-featured image editing app for the Mac.
2Checkout: Control your checkout experience from pixel to payout with our Payment API. Visit for your free sandbox account.
Follow-up on discussing sexism in technology, Anil's experiment, empathy, ad hominem tu quoque, and cultural rigidity.
Facebook buying Oculus:
Outrage from Oculus' Kickstarter backers, including from Minecraft creator Notch, and the expectations that Kickstarter creates ...
Follow-up on the complexity of computer science versus other fields: quotes and videos from MIT's SICP class (9:00–10:45).
The death of the iPad 2, the use of sapphire in Apple devices, sapphire versus Gorilla Glass, and the flexible LG phone.
Haunted Empire, the Jony Ive ...
Wolfram Language.
The "goto fail" SSL bug and the chances that it was nefariously introduced by an NSA effort, possibly as part of their $250 million annual budget for such operations.
Apple's warrant canary.
Casey's and Marco's hard-to-find bugs and language misfeatures...
Follow-up on why Flappy Bird was successful.
Kieran Healy's excellent article with science.
John Gruber and Merlin Mann at SXSW '09.
Goofball Jones' anonymous criticism of John's "shtick", and John's defense including many links:
An explanation of John's "schtick"
Some p...
Facebook Paper's gesture usability, in-app tutorial videos, and the design challenge of gestural interface.
RootMetrics testing real-world wireless speeds.
Despite constant effort to improve usability, what if computers just aren't for everyone? (There's a similar long-sta...
The FiOS net-neutrality non-story and last summer's YouTube-throttling story.
More FU on iPads going pro, giant-tablet-desk ergonomics, trying to understand John's theory again, and a train analogy from Casey.
New Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Bill Gates' new wildcard role,...
Follow-up on why an iPad "Pro" needs to be larger and why iOS is "better for people".
Can iOS add more power-user functionality without harming its simplicity or usability?
Whether Macs should ship with ARM CPUs, how such a transition would be challenging today, and whether...
Follow-up: Genius Bar employee reports of how most people deal with iCloud backups, photo backups, and storage limits, iExplorer for exporting iMessages.
iOS' storage model is a leaky abstraction.
Google may have wanted Nest for its smart-home project as well as the more ob...
Follow-up: whether iMessage problems are widespread, reasons behind flattening the Mac Mini, and HDR TVs.
The storage costs of Casey's emoji.
Google buying Nest for $3.2 billion.
Ben Thompson on Google's business model.
Nest has over 200 employees, including many ex-Apple...
Follow-up: IBM AS/400 (aka System i) and single-level store.
Marco's Retina theory.
PS4 and Xbone sales.
Trying to care about CES.
Who "needs" the Mac Pro? Justifying toys and improving quality of life with smart purchases.
Panasonic’s new LCD TVs compared to great TVs o...
What if the new USB connector is too similar to Lightning? (John Gruber on Lightning)
Potential for 5120-wide Retina displays to overcome Thunderbolt bandwidth limits by using "dual-input displays"?
John's "quick" tips for TV calibration. (THX TV-calibration app)
"Rate Th...
Accidental Fountain Screenplay: The Case of Liss by Joe Steel. (And Bionic.)
Desktop 4K/Retina resolutions hitting bandwidth limitations of Thunderbolt 2 and DisplayPort 1.2, and the Sharp/Apple non-news.
John's Squarespace-reseller idea already exists.
Why aren't iOS App ...
FU on PrimeSense.
Apple's acquisition of Topsy and speculation on why.
Apple's possible difficulty in getting and keeping enough engineering talent, and how they might make bigger strides in web services.
Which group wears the pants in a company?
Marco's embarrassing FiOS s...
Follow-up on Cisco VPNs on Mavericks and [photo backups] to SkyDrive on Windows Mobile Phone Series Metro Not-Metro Phone Windows.
Why enterprise software is so hard, and the barriers to entry for small companies targeting the enterprise market.
Game-console sales by gener...
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