Jason Snell returns to the show to discuss the 2025 Six Colors Apple Report Card, MacOS 26 Tahoe, Apple Creator Studio, along with what we expect/hope for in next week’s Apple product announcements.

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.
• Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Use code TALKSHOW for $80 in free credits.

Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.

Links:

• Apple in 2025: The Six Colors Report Card.
• Kieran Healy, in a post at Six Colors published after we recorded the show: “Charting the Vibes in the 2025 Apple Report Card”.
• Kieran Healy’s homepage/weblog.
• My 2025 Apple Report Card.
• Upgrade: “The Shifting Sands of Liquid Glass”, wherein Jason and Myke discuss this year’s report card, and Jason makes rascally comments supporting MacOS 26 Tahoe. (And Myke isn’t much better.)
• Apple’s July 2025 announcement of the Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit.
• Derek Sivers, in 2005: “Ideas Are Just a Multiplier of Execution”.
• ChangeTheHeaders — a Safari extension I convinced Jeff Johnson to build, which, among other things, allows me never to be served WebP images in lieu of PNG or JPEG.
  • StopTheMadness — the older sibling, companion Safari Extension to ChangeTheHeaders that gives you explicit control over all sorts of web features, on a per-website basis. (I conflated the two during the show.)
• WebP.
• Mac Launchers:
  • LaunchBar (my favorite, and until Tahoe, Jason’s too).
  • Alfred.
  • Raycast.
  • Tuna.
  • Quicksilver.
• Incomplete list of what’s wrong with MacOS 26 Tahoe:
  • Terrible app icons.
  • The terrible idea to include inscrutable, inconsistent icons next to just about every menu item in every app, as documented by Jim Nielsen and Nikita Prokopov, and linked to by yours truly here and here, respectively.
  • Norbert Heger: “The Struggle of Resizing Windows on macOS Tahoe” — and a follow-up.
  • Daring Fireball: “Why It’s Difficult to Resize Windows on MacOS 26 Dyehoe”.
  • Daring Fireball: “Bad Dye Job”.
• Stephen Hackett’s MacOS Screenshot Library at 512 Pixels.
• Steve Krug’s classic book, “Don’t Make Me Think”.
• The Appearance Manager and the themes that never actually shipped for classic Mac OS.
• Comparing Alan Dye’s horseshitty introduction of Liquid Glass at WWDC 2025 to Steve Jobs’s introduction of Aqua back in 2000.
• Manu Cornet’s 2011 classic: “Organizational Charts In Major Tech”.

This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Adam Engst returns to the show to talk, in detail, about certain of the UI changes in iOS 26 and Apple's version 26 OSes overall. In particular, the new Unified view in the Phone app, and the Filter pop-up menu in both the Phone and Messages apps. Also: a shoutout to Balloon Help.

Sponsored by:

• Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Use code TALKSHOW for $80 in free credits.
• Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
• Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off.

Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.

Links:

• Adam’s two pieces on the Classic and Unified views in the iOS 26 Phone app:
  • “Hidden Setting Controls What Happens When You Tap a Call in the Phone App”.
  • “Comparing the Classic and Unified Views in iOS 26’s Phone App”.
  • My link post, with some commentary.
• Reader support for TidBITS in 2026.
• Brent Simmons, linking to code, on how to eliminate all the menu item icons in a Mac app built for MacOS 26 Tahoe.
• Paul Kafasis’s One Foot Tsunami.
• Nikita Prokopov: “It’s Hard to Justify Tahoe (Menu Bar) Icons”.
  • Yours truly, linking to Prokopov: “A shitty idea that works against usability, inconsistently implemented, all in the name of adding some ugly visual bling to the UI.”
• Jim Nielsen on Tahoe’s menu-item icons: “Icons in Menus Everywhere — Send Help”.
  • Yours truly, linking to Nielsen: “Well, who’s laughing now?”
• Norbert Heger: “The Struggle of Resizing Windows on macOS Tahoe” — and a follow-up.
• Daring Fireball: “Why It’s Difficult to Resize Windows on MacOS 26 Dyehoe”.
• Daring Fireball: “Bad Dye Job”.
• Episode sponsor Sentry’s two-minute video showing how to use Seer, their AI debugging agent.
• TipKit Apple Developer documentation.
• Balloon Help in System 7.
• David Pogue’s soon-to-be-released book: “Apple: The First 50 Years”.

This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Brent Simmons returns to the show. Topics include NetNewsWire 7, MacOS 26 Tahoe, and I guess, some other stuff.

Sponsored by:

• Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
• Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Use code TALKSHOW for $80 in free credits.

Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.

Links:

• NetNewsWire 7.
• How to omit menu item icons on Tahoe.
• Rogue Amoeba, on omitting those icons.

This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

Daniel Jalkut returns to the show so we can both vent about MacOS 26 Tahoe.

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.
• Sentry: A real-time error monitoring and tracing platform. Use code TALKSHOW for $80 in free credits.
• Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year, with code talkshow50off.

Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.

Links:

• Classic Mac OS Control Strip.
• Manu Cornet’s oft-cited cartoon caricaturizing the org charts of major tech companies circa 2011.
• Black Ink.
• MarsEdit.
• Rogue Amoeba: “Removing Tahoe’s Unwanted Menu Icons”.

This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

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.

Special guest Quinn Nelson returns for a two-topic 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.

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.

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 after following that link.

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”.
• Downie, a fantastic Mac app for downloading local copies of videos from the web (especially YouTube).
  • Daring Fireball post on Downie 4, from early this year.
• 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 at sponsor Uncommon Goods.

This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

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.

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: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
• Uncommon Goods: Out of the ordinary gifts. Get 15% off your next purchase.

Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.

Links:

• Carrot Weather.
• The rest of Brian’s Carrot suite of apps.
• CARROT: The Musical, on YouTube.

This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.

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: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
• Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year.

Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.

Links:

• Sleep++, 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.
  • Their 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”.
  • Simon Willison’s initial thoughts.
  • Michael Tsai’s roundup of links.
• Reuters: “Apple Loses Landmark UK Lawsuit Over App Store Commissions”.
• Multiple reports suggest the iPhone Air is not selling well.
  • But it seems like Apple isn’t doing any advertising for the iPhone Air (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.
  • 11- and 13-inch iPads Pro.
  • Vision Pro.
• Dan’s review of the new Dual Knit Band for Vision Pro (which is now the only band included by default with the M5 models).
• My piece on the M5 announcements.
• Dan’s previous appearance on The Talk Show, from October last year, talking about — déjà vu — new Mac hardware.
• “&udm=14” — AI-overview-free Google search, from Ernie Smith. Also: My DF post about it back in May.
• Dan’s personal website, with links to his science fiction novels and short stories.

This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.