Accidental Tech Podcast

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**Accidental Tech Podcast**

Three nerds discussing tech, Apple, programming, and loosely related matters.

Latest Episodes:

52: Necessary But Not Sufficient Feb 14, 2014

Show notes

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-standing debate with programming. See 4GL.)
The Flappy Bird saga: Whether it's a good game and why the developer pulled it. (See also: Super Hexagon.)
Is free-with-in-app-purchase ruining the game industry?.
Comcast buying Time Warner and the implications on U.S. broadband competition.
The stupid new top-level domains (TLDs).
iBeacons and Bluetooth LE in stores and .museums.
After-show: Bionic on new TLDs (at 26:50) and whether the TLDs are just a scam by ICANN, Patreon, and yet more on the Mac Pro.

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51: Maybe We’re Just Dinosaurs Feb 07, 2014

Show notes

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, and Microsoft's likely future direction. (Marco's post, John Gruber's post, Brent Simmons' post)
Paper, Paper, Paper, Fifty Three, and Figure 53.
Responsibly naming things by first searching for trademark conflicts and potentially applying for your own trademark.
Apple's role in App Store name conflicts.
Facebook Paper's opportunity cost to the world.
After-show: More on Microsoft and some Retina MacBook Air speculation.

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50: Disk Light Observer Effect Jan 31, 2014

Show notes

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 Casey should just buy another power adapter.
The 30th anniversary of the Macintosh and the experience of using its power switch (photo from iFixit's awesome teardown).
Disk-ejecting usability.
Using iStat Menus to monitor your performance and assist future hardware decisions. (Or not.)
Lenovo buying Motorola's pillaged carcass from Google, and whether they ruined the IBM ThinkPad.
After-show: What will we reflect on in 20 years as being the obvious sore spot with computers today?

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49: Roamio and Siracusiet Jan 24, 2014

Show notes

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 obvious reasons.
TiVo may be exiting the hardware business, or maybe not.
Nintendo continues to hurt.
Why was the first Wii really successful, and what really held back its long-term usage?
Matt Drance, Fred Wilson, and Nilay Patel on the net neutrality news.
After-show: The Prompt looks back on the iPhone keynote, The Prompt on an iPad Pro, The Talk Show on crossing iOS and OS X, Not Playing podcast.

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48: Marco Bought Four Jan 17, 2014

Show notes

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 employees.
The Target-pregnant story.
Marco's critical reading of Nest's statements.
Maintaining a skeptical but pragmatic relationship with Google.
Stephen Hackett's pants and regrets.
Modern expectations of privacy.
Potential for privacy laws like HIPAA applied to consumer technology.
Google's public opinion is turning, but stories like this will never be in USA Today.
Thought experiments with Apple buying Twitter, Dropbox, or Intel.
After-show: Marco's house is filled with LEDs, John's house is filled with CFLs, and Casey's house is filled with apathy.

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47: Better Pixels Jan 10, 2014

Show notes

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 of the past.
4K on Fox Sports, 4K's color space, and the chances of 4K catching on quickly.
A Steam Box (its controller) as a replacement for a gaming PC.
Three old men reminiscing about their teenage gaming years:
- Null-modem cables, modems, and special networking software.
- Modem initialization strings and SLIP.
- What killed LAN parties? Perhaps it was great 4-player N64 games.
- Three Moves Ahead Podcast.
- Voodoo 3D cards, their silly cables, and Sound Blasters.

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46: A Compromised Machine Jan 03, 2014

Show notes

Mac Pro follow-up: socketed CPUs and potential upgrades, and the benefits of only using stock Apple parts.
Scoring Apple's performance on John's 2013 to-do list.
Concerns about Apple's recent Mac apps, including iWork '13 and Messages/iMessage.
AnandTech's Mac Pro review.
The Mac Pro's 4K/Retina monitor situation.
The iMac vs. the Mac Pro, and the hardware needs of developers.
Why do John and Marco care so much about Retina?
What the next big computer-hardware shift may be.
After-show: our future as old men, saturating USB 3, and the often-neglected Mac Mini.

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45: Give Up On The Retina Dream Dec 26, 2013

Show notes

Explaining our podcast artwork.
Facebook Likes in the App Store and ad-banner blindness.
Dual-input displays and how they enable the 5120x2880 display that John and Marco want.
Turbo Boost and the Mac Pro's CPU options.
Using a laptop on a stand with an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
The benefits of desktops and ECC.
Mac Pro configurations for best value and future-proofing.
Building separate gaming PCs, switching to iMacs, or trying to wedge PC gaming into Mac Pros.
Mac Pro price stratification over time.
Outlook 2011 for Mac complaints and John's multiple-selection-invalidation bug.
Casey said some stuff at the end.
Special holiday theme song by Jonathan Mann.

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44: A Plague With Very Minor Effects Dec 18, 2013

Show notes

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 This App" dialogs:
- The Talk Show's excellent discussion.
- Marco's post.
- Underscore David Smith on App Store quality standards.
- How Apple could process "report as inappropriate" at scale.
- The effects of web popularity on Casey and Marco's respective unpopular apps (Fast Text and Bugshot).
- 5 Whys exploring why developers use "Rate This App" dialogs.
What could Apple do to improve this?
App Store discoverability vs. search, and how search could be improved.
How much developers should be responsible for their own app marketing, and the uncomfortable reality that many apps just aren't compelling enough to sell well.

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43: Brilliance Enhancer Dec 13, 2013

Show notes

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 Store purchases available for purchasing and management in the App Store app on the Mac?
John's new TV:
- Technological progression from CRT to plasma and LCD, and the many hacky tricks used by modern TVs to overcome limitations and look better in stores. See also: Hypercritical 16: The Soap Opera Effect.
- The new John Siracusa TV.
- John's TV-calibration regimen.
Why we're not talking about the iOS notification sync in OS X that never shipped.
Merlin's response to our criticism discussion, and how Casey reacts to little worms.
After-show Neutral: the new M3/M4 and John's dead pedal.

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