Stay ConnectedNot Quite Graybeards! The Icon Garden is a show about interesting topics in the world of Apple and Technology for the enthusiast user.
Hosts Dan and Jake talk news, workflow, and a special topic every show. We chat home automation with the HomeKit Chronicles, and every month there’s a deep dive into Apple and Tech history with Macinography. We started from the Ars Technica Mac Ach forum and bring the knowledge to the wide world of tech.
Takin' Care of Business
For our twenty-seventh regular show, we are joined by special guest Jeff Berg, jaberg on the Ars forums. Jeff is a long-time mac user and active participant on the forum, and brings a wealth of knowledge and some great stories to the table. In the news, we offer our takes on the Apple holiday ad, discuss AirPlay 2 getting cracked, BMW changing course on charging for CarPlay, the location tracking confusion of ultrawideband, and rumors of a port-free iPhone. In the HomeKit Chronicles, Jake was all set to talk about the Onelink Safe and Sound smoke detector, but catastrophic equipment failure made for an interesting stress test of a HomeKit house. In our main topic, we talk about what it means to use a Mac as a "professional' and how that has changed over the years. It's a wonderful and wide ranging discussion that we really hope you enjoy!
Originally recorded on December 8, 2019
Show Notes:Our show is produced by Nathan Mace (antiwraith on Ars)and edited by Dan Vincent. Our theme song is composed by the wondrous Space Vixen, who you can find on twitter @cat_cornett and their music at spacevixen.bandcamp.com.
Jeff can be found at on the Ars forums as jaberg, on twitter at @jaberg and on instagram as jaberg.
You can find Dan on Twitter @kefkafloyd. Against his better judgement, Jake is still on twitter @jakepugh. You can leave feedback by tweeting @icongardenshow or posting on the Icon Garden thread at the Mac Ach forum by going to http://bit.ly/tigsthread . You can subscribe to our show on your podcast platform of choice, or visit our website at icongardenshow.com.
Next Time in the Garden:The 2019 Icon Garden Holiday Special
Bye Bye, Little Butterfly.
For our twenty-sixth regular show, we spend some time taking a look at the recently announced (and released) 2019 16-Inch MacBook Pro. Is the keyboard finally fixed? We talk specs, first impressions and whether this is the MAcBook Pro for all the professionals out there, and speculate on when we might get these changes in a smaller form factor. In the HomeKit Chronicles, one of the biggest promised of iOS 13 becomes a reality as Logitech adds HomeKit Secure Video to its Circle 2 camera, and Jake finds a light at the end of the tunnel for his longstanding issue getting military card support on his iPad Pro.
Originally recorded on November 24, 2019
Show Notes:Our show is produced by Nathan Mace (antiwraith on Ars)and edited by Dan Vincent. Our theme song is composed by the wondrous Space Vixen, who you can find on twitter @cat_cornett and their music at spacevixen.bandcamp.com.
You can find Dan on Twitter @kefkafloyd. Against his better judgement, Jake is still on twitter @jakepugh. You can leave feedback by tweeting @icongardenshow or posting on the Icon Garden thread at the Mac Ach forum by going to http://bit.ly/tigsthread . You can subscribe to our show on your podcast platform of choice, or visit our website at icongardenshow.com.
Next Time in the Garden:Special Ars Community Guest jaberg
Join us for the third episode of Macinography, where we look at influential hardware, software, and ephemera of Apple and Apple-related subjects. Every Mac user needed a place to store their stuff. Floppies were flunking in the nineties, and hard drives weren't portable enough to bring jobs from place to place. Long chained to the expensive and finicky SyQuest system, Mac users longed for a change. Iomega came a-courtin', promising a hundred megabytes in a speedy, small, and most importantly, inexpensive enclosure. Iomega rode this drive to historic success, but would it just be a one-hit wonder? Listen to find out how it all happened.
Sources / Notes:You can find Dan on twitter @kefkafloyd and Jake on twitter @jakepugh. Our associate producer is the talented Nathan Mace, AKA Antiwraith on Ars We're available on your podcast platform of choice, and if you like us, a five star rating or review would be greatly appreciated. You can leave feedback by tweeting @icongardenshow. You can visit our website at icongardenshow.com or post in the Ars thread by going to bit.ly/tigsthread. Some interstitial music used in this episode is courtesy of the Youtube Audio Library and it was composed by Jeremy Blake. Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next time.
Put me in, coach!
For our twenty-fifth regular show, we discuss a number of odds and ends, including Dan's new phone, resolution for Jake's ongoing issues with military access on Catalina, a series of mini-reviews for AirPods Pro, the H2O Audio Interval Swim System, and Photoshop on the iPad. If the HomeKit Chronicles, we go back to the basics and discuss some of the things you can HomeKit-ify with basic smart outlets. Automate ALL THE THINGS! In today's main topic, we take a look at some of the small but mighty utility programs and apps that we use to improve our Mac lives. From DropZone to TextExpander and beyond! Did your favorite utilities make the list?
Originally recorded on November 10, 2019
Show Notes:Our show is produced by Nathan Mace (antiwraith on Ars)and edited by Dan Vincent. Our theme song is composed by the wondrous Space Vixen, who you can find on twitter @cat_cornett and their music at spacevixen.bandcamp.com.
You can find Dan on Twitter @kefkafloyd. Against his better judgement, Jake is still on twitter @jakepugh. You can leave feedback by tweeting @icongardenshow or posting on the Icon Garden thread at the Mac Ach forum by going to http://bit.ly/tigsthread . You can subscribe to our show on your podcast platform of choice, or visit our website at icongardenshow.com.
**Next Time in the Garden: **A Topic to be Named Later
Our Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
But of course he gets one anyway! For our twenty-fourth regular show, which also happens to be our One-Year podaversary, we couldn't be more excited to be joined by Ars Technica legend, the man behind the OS X reviews himself, John Siracusa. John joins us for a wide ranging discussion on everything from the state of forums as a place of discourse, reduced functionality in Shazam, our kids and virtual assistants, and the legacy of his Ars Technica OS X reviews. Thanks to John for joining us and we really hope you enjoy this one!
Show Notes: Follow Us:Our show is produced by Nathan Mace (antiwraith on Ars)and edited by Dan Vincent. Our theme song is composed by the wondrous Space Vixen, who you can find on twitter @cat_cornett and their music at spacevixen.bandcamp.com.
John can be found at Hypercritcal or on twitter at @siracusa and the Accidental Tech Podcast (ATP) can be found here.
You can find Dan on Twitter @kefkafloyd. Against his better judgement, Jake is still on twitter @jakepugh. You can leave feedback by tweeting @icongardenshow or posting on the Icon Garden thread at the Mac Ach forum by going to http://bit.ly/tigsthread . You can subscribe to our show on your podcast platform of choice, or visit our website at icongardenshow.com.
Next Time in the Garden:A Topic to be Named Later
Join us for the third episode of Macinography, where we look at influential hardware, software, and ephemera of Apple and Apple-related subjects. Our topic this time is perhaps the most influential Apple laptop of all, the Titanium PowerBook G4. This machine's exotic exterior and supercomputer insides would change portable computers forever… but it has to contend with its dark side to do so. Listen to find out how it all happened.
The Titanium G4 on:
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_G4 Apple-history https://apple-history.com/pg42001 MacWorld San Francisco Keynote https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pICctkS12fY Low End Mac https://lowendmac.com/2014/low-end-macs-compleat-guide-to-titanium-powerbooks/ Macworld's Review of the 800MHz DVI model. https://www.macworld.com/article/1001522/powerbook.html
You can find Dan on twitter @kefkafloyd and Jake on twitter @jakepugh. Our associate producer is the talented Nathan Mace, AKA Antiwraith on Ars We're available on your podcast platform of choice, and if you like us, a five star rating or review would be greatly appreciated. You can leave feedback by tweeting @icongardenshow. You can visit our website at icongardenshow.com or post in the Ars thread by going to http://bit.ly/tigsthread. Some interstitial music used in this episode is courtesy of the Youtube Audio Library and it was composed by Jeremy Blake. Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next time.
Still Waiting For Big Sur.
For our twenty-third regular show, we are joined by very special guest Zac Hall of 9to5Mac for a wide ranging discussion covering all the new hotness…the Watch Time podcast, the iPhones 11, regular and pro, why we are or aren't rushing to update to Catalina, and our experiences with Apple Watch Series 5. The fortnight in Mac gets political as we dig into the recent decision by Apple to remove apps from the Chinese App Store. Zac and Jake get nerdy about HomeKit as we discuss our home automation strategies for new homes.
Show Notes:Our show is produced by Nathan Mace (antiwraith on Ars)and edited by Dan Vincent. Our theme song is composed by the wondrous Space Vixen, who you can find on twitter @cat_cornett and their music at spacevixen.bandcamp.com.
Zac can be found at 9to5Mac or on twitter at @apollozac and the 9to5 Watch Time podcast can be found here
You can find Dan on Twitter @kefkafloyd. Against his better judgement, Jake is still on twitter @jakepugh. You can leave feedback by tweeting @icongardenshow or posting on the Icon Garden thread at the Mac Ach forum by going to http://bit.ly/tigsthread . You can subscribe to our show on your podcast platform of choice, or visit our website at icongardenshow.com.
Next Time in the Garden:Hmmm….
If only they had released it on Friday the Thirteenth.
For our twenty-second regular show, our main topic is iOS 13 in all it's mobile glory! In the fortnight, we talk new iPhones and Watches in the wild, Apple not letting "slofie" die, initial impressions of what Apple is getting right and wrong with Apple Arcade, Google Chrome creating problems for some Macs, and Dan gives us a mini-review of the new Adobe Fresco. In the main topic, we talk about a rough beta cycle and what we love and not-so-love about iOS 13 on the iPhone so far. It's takes hot, cold, and lukewarm as we update our devices, old and new!
Show Notes:Our show is produced by Nathan Mace (antiwraith on Ars)and edited by Dan Vincent. Our theme song is composed by the wondrous Space Vixen, who you can find on twitter @cat_cornett and their music at spacevixen.bandcamp.com.
You can find Dan on Twitter @kefkafloyd. Against his better judgement, Jake is still on twitter @jakepugh. You can leave feedback by tweeting @icongardenshow or posting on the Icon Garden thread at the Mac Ach forum by going to http://bit.ly/tigsthread . You can subscribe to our show on your podcast platform of choice, or visit our website at icongardenshow.com.
Next Time in the Garden:Special Guest Zac Hall of 9to5Mac
Join us for the second episode of Macinography, where we look at influential hardware, software, and ephemera of Apple and Apple-related subjects. Our topic this time is the classic Mac OS, specifically System 7. This operating system saw the transition of four CEOs and years of tumult at Apple. For most of the nineties, this was what it meant to be a Mac. What was the goal of System 7 and how did it change our idea of what a Mac was? Listen to find out.
System 7 on:
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_7
Low End Mac http://lowendmac.com/2014/system-7-bigger-better-more-expandable-and-a-bit-slower-than-system-6/
You can find Dan on twitter @kefkafloyd and Jake on twitter @jakepugh. Our associate producer is the talented Nathan Mace, AKA Antiwraith on Ars We're available on your podcast platform of choice, and if you like us, a five star rating or review would be greatly appreciated. You can visit our website at icongardenshow.com or post in the Ars thread by going to bit.ly/tigsthread. Some interstitial music used in this episode is courtesy of the Youtube Audio Library and it was composed by Jeremy Blake. Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next time.
We could be independent together.
For our twenty-first regular show, we have to start off on a somber note as we say goodbye to friend of the show and our first guest, Clark Goble. Clark was a wonderful guest, a terrific human being, and we send our sincere condolences to his friends and family. A link to support his family is included below. No fortnight this week as we continue to recover from the Apple Event last week. In the HomeKit chronicles, Jake reviews the Honeywell Lyric security system. Is it ready for prime time and your HomeKit home? In our main topic, we are pleased to be joined by friend of the show and (newly official) independent app developer Charlie Chapman. We talk with Charlie about his path to independence and about his app, white noise app Dark Noise, as it lands in the App Store. We hope you enjoy our chat with Charlie about the life of an independent app developer in 2019.
Show Notes:Our show is produced by Nathan Mace (antiwraith on Ars)and edited by Dan Vincent. Our theme song is composed by the wondrous Space Vixen, who you can find on twitter @cat_cornett and their music at spacevixen.bandcamp.com.
Charlie can be found at his website or on twitter at @chuckyc17 and his app Dark Noise can be found here
You can find Dan on Twitter @kefkafloyd. Against his better judgement, Jake is still on twitter @jakepugh. You can leave feedback by tweeting @icongardenshow or posting on the Icon Garden thread at the Mac Ach forum by going to http://bit.ly/tigsthread . You can subscribe to our show on your podcast platform of choice, or visit our website at icongardenshow.com.
Next Time in the Garden:IOS 13 is the Lucky Number
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