Accidental Tech Podcast

By Marco Arment, Casey Liss, John SiracusaTechnology

Accidental Tech Podcast episodes

August 27706: No One Is Getting a Good Deal Tonight
Pre-show: Marco’s casement windows
Screen clips
Screen clips, installed (white prototypes for visibility)
TPU for AMS
🗣️ New Member’s Special: ATP Movie Club: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Follow-up:
macOS 27 UI tweaks
Redesigned stoplights in β6
Video
Stoplights
Stretchy buttons
Video
Porsche 911, 996 generation
In defense of the fried egg Porsches
Turning off the Siri logo
macOS 27 got the new Preview icon
LLM determinism when temperature = 0
Write-up by Horace He
IEEE standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic
𝓍OS 27 Photos Shared Album gotchas
See also
Other people’s phones
Not sped up! All 1×!
i vs. I
Apple iPhone event announced
New Mac mini and Mac Studio
Core size comparison
SME replaces AMX in the M6
Exploratory Github Repo
AMX instruction set
SME Introduction
Hello SME
Longhorn Toot 1 and Toot 2
Marketing page section (via Daniel Luz)
Oops, it was a joke and we didn’t get it!
High Yield diagram
M3 Ultra vs. M5 Ultra vs. M5 Max
Mac mini
Video support summary from Tim Hardwick
Mac mini pricing history
…inflation-adjusted
Apple Upgrade program lease [un]availability
Gruber on pricing
Advertisement
Behind the scenes
Mac Studio
Gruber on pricing
Advertisement
John’s purchasing journey
The thing John mentioned that’s a spoiler
The accessory that’s also a spoiler
New […ish] keyboards!
MacRumors coverage
Apple Part Number: MJM4LL/A
Previously: MXK83LL/A
John’s keyboard (previously)
MMMR3LL/A
A2520
New polishing cloth!
MacRumors coverage
Copland Supply
Post-show: John’s new vibe-coded app
Front and Center
SwitchGlass
Hyperspace
DragThing
Icon
Members-only ATP Overtime: Is macOS slower than Linux when performing file system operations?
Theo Browne: Your Mac Isn’t Actually Slow, It’s MacOS Fault
Benchmark 1
Benchmark 2
Linus Torvalds on using C (timestamp link to 22m7s)
Sponsored by:
Tailscale: A secure network that just works
Become a member for ATP Overtime, ad-free episodes, member specials, and our early-release, unedited “bootleg” feed!
2 hr 38 min
August 20705: Relentless in a Gentle Way
Pre-show: Marco may have to dance with the devil
Daikin
Home Assistant integration
Home Assistant Green
Follow-up:
The OpenAI doughnut
What if it’s an eye? (via Elijah Yap)
Or perhaps red blood cell shaped? (via Chris Lawrence)
Biconcave disc
Time Capsule was to solve the laptop-backup problem
Multiple Apple IDs with the same number (via Adam Wunn)
RAMageddon
Apple gets lower display prices
Apple raises trade-in values
🎉 Unforgetful is out! 🎉
E-Mail Addresses That Would be Really Annoying to Give Out Over the Phone
Skybridge
Mac Power Users #861: Stephen Builds a New Task App
Kanban
Quitter
Forecast
AI watermarking
Steganography
How Claude’s text watermark works
Pseudorandom number generator
A wonderful visual guide
Some 3Blue1Brown homework
LLMs explained briefly
Next-word prediction probabilities
Transformers, the tech behind LLMs
Temperature gives more weight to the less-probable
Image
Gruber’s take
Some responses to Gruber
Dan Moren
Daniel Jalkut
Gruber’s reply to the rebuttals
Dithering, 14 August: “Watermarks”
I Made This
Post-show: Casey has news
CarMax
Previously on ATP…
BMW i4
San Remo Green
A Better Route Planner
EV Stupidity Checklist
Members-only ATP Overtime: Other people’s phones (based on Stephen Robles’ video)
Sponsored by:
Tailscale: A secure network that just works
Become a member for ATP Overtime, ad-free episodes, member specials, and our early-release, unedited “bootleg” feed!
2 hr 31 min
August 13704: Past the Ternus Horizon
Pre-show: Marco has a rose and thorn
Lutron Caséta Fan Control
Fanimation
Technology Connections video
Follow-up:
Marco’s favorite feedback (about Myke) was from Analog(ue) 😬
SQLite bug write-up
Blackbird
Post-show Neutral
Professional negotiators / “headhunters” are very much a thing
CarEdge (via John Siracusa)
Delivrd (via Roger Coxon)
Wall Street Journal (News+ link)
The Car Chick (via Juan Boyce)
The #1 trusted automotive expert for women and smart men
Your Car Buying Advocate (via Ian McCullough)
Two options from Colin Macdonald
Automatch Consulting
Insight Auto Consulting
Casey makes some discoveries over the last week
Justification from the midwest dealer
Ventilated seats
Laser headlights
Marco takes a spin as well
John’s passwords pro-tip
Codex Micro (via St. Chris)
Icon keys
John and Casey weep for a while about Verizon CableCARDs 😭
Backups
Time Machine has a fatal flaw (via Jonathan Dechko)
…but also a workaround (via Eric Jacobsen)
Transcend JetDrive
BaseQi Adapter
Are backups even necessary? (via Mustapha Hamoui)
Apple Upgrade
Lease agreements are between customer & financier, not the retailer (via Patch)
Apple Card also has 12 months interest-free (via Andrew Haglund)
RAMpocalypse
Apple is still trying to make fetch Chinese RAM happen
iPhone 18 Pro launch is looking… challenging
All of 2027’s memory made by the big 3 is sold out (🇹🇼 link) (via Kevin Beaumont)
New macOS & iOS 27 β5 icons
Siri
Chess
John pours one out for his homie
Keir’s observation about icon composition
Safari
Preview
Settings
Apple Watch overhaul rumors
The Casio watch everyone has (it’s small; here’s a bigger one if you want, or a more modern one with step-counting)
John’s Passwords pro tip
Post-show: John’s macOS update woes
Members-only ATP Overtime: More AI hardware rumors
Is OpenAI making a hockey puck or a doughnut?
Anthropic will design its own hardware to power Claude
Sponsored by:
Factor: Healthy Eating, Made Easy. Use code atp50off.
Claude: Ready to tackle bigger problems? Get started with Claude today.
Quince: Elevated essentials and staples that last.
Become a member for ATP Overtime, ad-free episodes, member specials, and our early-release, unedited “bootleg” feed!
2 hr 9 min
August 06703: Part of a Healthy Breakfast
Pre-show: The Overcast “kicking machine”
Adam Wunn’s blog post
Previously in ATP #324: Automatic Kicking Machine
Follow-up:
Marco gives John the gift of transcript search in build #1169 [The system works! — Ed.]
Build #1172 includes Siracusa Replay Mode
Be wary of Sonos + Pi-hole or other ad blockers (via Will Smidlein)
Ubiquiti High Availability
Redundant Power Supply USP-RPS
SmartPower Cable USP-Cable
“Odd” RAM amounts (via Joe Lion)
Multiple Apple accounts (via TJ Usiyan)
Some science about Sony’s axe of PlayStation discs
SuperDuper 4
Previously in the SuperDuper blog…
Apple Upgrade Program
John Voorhees at MacStories
The Verge with example numbers
Apple Upgrade vs. iPhone Upgrade
“Restricted Mode” isn’t about this
Is it worth it? Joe Rossignol answers
macOS 26.4 adds Battery Charge Limit
Ask ATP:
What are good backup strategies? (via Todd Vaziri)
Backblaze (former sponsor)
Tailscale (former & future sponsor)
What the heck is a Docker container? (also via Todd Vaziri)
Wizard zine
Post-show: Casey is car shopping again
Visor
AutoTempest
Bimmer.work
Driveway
Safari extension screenshot
Members-only ATP Overtime: OpenAI hardware progress
Codex Micro
Gruber
Quinn’s take
Stack Overflow keyboard
Rumored speaker
Sponsored by:
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code atp.
Zocdoc: Find the right doctor, right now.
Become a member for ATP Overtime, ad-free episodes, member specials, and our early-release, unedited “bootleg” feed!
2 hr 33 min
July 27702: Isolate the Evil
Pre-show: Three old men talk about the Tickety Tocks
Follow-up:
Adam Wunn published his email as a blog post
Sharing files in Screen Sharing.app (via Ingmar Wittkau)
Video game preservation (via Jason Griffey)
Supplying power to Marco’s army of Mac minis
Ubiquiti “Shadow Mode High Availability”
An update on Passwords.app “doing the hard thing”
macOS
iOS
More clipboard changes in macOS 27
Video in question
Apple is reportedly looking to acquire AI chip companies
P. A. Semi
Apple is actually spending money on Broadcom
Hartley Charlton at MacRumors
Slate Truck price & availability announced
Previously on ATP
Apple 🤝 Ford
CarPlay is Additive
Safari on 𝑥OS 27
WWDC 2026 #204: What’s new in WebKit for Safari 27
Pie chart
A contrary take
Safari MCP server
Federico’s take
Ask ATP:
How is Overcast transcription going? (via Pete Ottery)
How does Apple achieve “growth the hard way”? (via Elijah)
John’s theory
ATP #689
ATP #641
John on replaceable batteries
iPhone SE
TSR
How do you create a second Apple account for doing development without a different phone number? (via James)
With an aside lamenting the way Apple Stores work
Post-show: How does John pack?
InstaCrate
Shibumi
Wind Assist
Members-only ATP Overtime: New information about the iPhone 18 family
RAM
“Side RAM” on the Pros
Supposed leaked drawings
Battery capacities
Bodies
Colors
Original mockups
Thicker?
Sponsored by:
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code atp.
Become a member for ATP Overtime, ad-free episodes, member specials, and our early-release, unedited “bootleg” feed!
2 hr 31 min
July 23701: I Improved My Town
Pre-show: Marco’s Mac mini catastrophe
CyberLynk / Mac Mini Vault
The dead ATS
The proposed replacement
🗣️ New Member’s Special: ATP Tier List: Emoji
Follow-up:
Member’s Special video trimming / John’s Vibe Coded App
LosslessCut
Casey has leveled-up his Sonos experience
Previously on ATP
Version 85.01 announcement post
FAQ post
Louie Mantia makes the case for Squircle
Sony 💔 💿
A nefarious motivation for Sony ceasing to sell games on disc (via Glen Jarvis)
CD sales are going up
Price increase corner: Apple Music edition
Chart by BasicAppleGuy
AppleCare+ too
FileMaker
In defense…
CVE
Monday.com
Marco got Robert Thompson off FileMaker after 18 years
Scratch
And a special thanks to Adam Wunn 🙌🏻
Gurman on post-Mac Pro plans
EU drops battery removal requirement for Apple Watch & AirPods
Six additional categories
The Monkey’s Paw
OLED iMacs?
Ask ATP: What does Marco (or other adults) use 3D Printers for? (via Jack Johnson)
Bambu X2D
TinkerCAD
Onshape
Post-show: How Marco fixed AirPlay in Overcast
WSOLA
F Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades
Members-only ATP Overtime: The internal “roles” system in LLMs, and how it relates to prompt injection vulnerabilities
Research paper
Extended write-up
Mechanistic interpretability
Bobby Tables
Sponsored by:
Leesa: A mattress for every body and budget
Become a member for ATP Overtime, ad-free episodes, member specials, and our early-release, unedited “bootleg” feed!
2 hr 11 min
July 16700: A Wet Dishrag Full of Lies
Pre-show: Anniversary Corner!
catatp (see also Statistics)
Bootleg visualization
Follow-up:
Public beta check-in
Casey’s iMessage notification issue
Cache in front of CloudFlare Workers!
Apple keeps futzing with rendering of .icon files
Mac-assed Mac Apps
Steve Troughton-Smith on ChatGPT
Gruber #1
Gruber #2
Gus Mueller
Gruber
Globe key on Apple’s extended keyboards (via Philip Hofstetter)
LaunchAgent
~/Library/LaunchAgents
Casey’s former keyboard
Tina’s keyboard: MMMR3LL/A
Shouldn’t the Studio Display get a price bump? (via Brian Nehring)
Regarding skipping M6 Pro/Max/Ultra (via Anonymous)
Gurman on M𝓍 Ultra servers
Follow-out to Upgrade #627: What was is FileMaker
Agentic development
Goodbye, Maestral 🫡
Gruber
Apple Sues OpenAI
Apple Inc. vs. Liu
Chance Miller’s summary
The Verge
Gruber
Dithering
OpenAI’s response and part 2
Post-show: Casey vacation results: nerd edition
Unifi Travel Router
Formerly, GL.iNet KVM
GL Comet Q
Members-only ATP Overtime: Sony announces the end of PlayStation discs
Ars Technica
The funeral has begun
Ars Technica on library erasure
The PS6 sure sounds like a handheld
Sponsored by:
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Claude: Ready to tackle bigger problems? Get started with Claude today.
Quince: Elevated essentials and staples that last.
1 hr 57 min
July 07699: Not the Correct Squircle
Pre-show: Casey’s oops
Magic TrackPad
Magic Keyboard
Marco’s Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard
Follow-up:
Casey may have fixed his notification problem!
Mac-“Arsed” Mac App skill (via Bart Reardon)
RAMAgeddon
Feel free to donate to St. Jude any of the money you may have saved by buying early! (via Jonathan)
Will Apple rethink unified memory given these prices? (via ShutterAperture)
Steam Machine difficulties
Interview on YouTube (Timestamp link to 12m48s)
Collusion! Well, maybe.
Would a gold Mac mini be cheaper than a spec with tons of RAM? Awax did math
We’re Fable is so back, baby
More at Ars Technica
Siri AI
No web browsing for you!
Apple removed the waitlist workaround in macOS β2
Determining what model is used (via Gui Rambo)
Revamped icons by Parakeet
Design services price list
SwitchGlass
SwitchGlass dark icon
SwitchGlass old icon
Front and Center
Front and Center old icon
Callsheet
Callsheet old icon
Jelly’s write-up
Ste Grainer
The ATP member special where we rated iOS icons
Overcast
Marco’s [REDACTED] Reminders App
Fire Island Lighthouse
Parakeet’s post about our icons
Apple adds paste protection to Terminal
Apple support document
Opera joins the party
Xcode 𝑥OS 27 & DerivedData
DevCleaner (App Store link)
Post-show: Casey is jealous of Marco
Goose
Big Modern!
Casey likes Savenger, Good2B, and Torero
Nugs
Micro Tyvek Wallet
Micro Soft Shell Wallet
Studio Neat
Casey’s fan
Members-only ATP Overtime: Should Apple create a handheld gaming platform?
Quinn Nelson’s pitch
Game Porting Toolkit 4
Sponsored by:
Parakeet: The icon design studio.
zocdoc: Find the right doctor, right now.
Become a member for ATP Overtime, ad-free episodes, member specials, and our early-release, unedited “bootleg” feed!
2 hr 21 min
June 30698: And Do What?
Pre-show: Who’s bored?
🗣️ New Member’s Special: ATP Dev: Mac-assed Mac Apps
Follow-up:
Nugs and Sonos
As the prophecy foretold… ☹️
Mythos is back, but Fable isn’t
Rumors about Siri AI indexing
Corrections about 8TB SSDs (via Aaron Raimist)
Price increases abound! ☹️
On the Apple TV price hike (via Chris Carley)
Steam Machine (More)
Xbox
Micron points fingers at Apple (News+ Link)
Steve Troughton-Smith’s take
Previously, in Palm Pilots
Apple asks Trump to save their 🥓
Financial Times
No M6 Pro/Max/Ultra‽
Touchscreen MacBook Pro
Intel to fabricate the M7‽
GFHK?
More reporting
New Siri
Iconography
Attraction Theory: The SiriAI Proposition
Pepsi logo redesign brand manual from 2008 (via budsNhops on Reddit)
Joanna Stern’s review
Gui Rambo’s experiment
Dan Moren
John tries to get it to understand Perl (because of course he did —Ed.)
Question 1
Question 2
Ask ATP:
Why isn’t Apple on a reliable cadence for processor releases? (via Ammar)
If we really embrace agentic coding, what would be the right choice of language for that? (via Matthew Southworth)
3Blue1Brown
Avoiding Copland 2010
Do we collect vintage computers? (via Phil Kim)
Casey:
ThinkPad 701C
ThinkPad T30
John:
eMate
Newton 2000
Trashcan
Post-show: Casey asks for technical support
Members-only ATP Overtime: Ubiquiti Enterprise NAS
Announcement video
On the store
All Ubiquiti NAS offerings
Xserve RAID
Sponsored by:
Factor: Healthy Eating, Made Easy
Quince: Elevated essentials and staples that last
Become a member for ATP Overtime, ad-free episodes, member specials, and our early-release, unedited “bootleg” feed!
2 hr 14 min
June 26697: The Chart Is Terrifying
Pre-show:
Casey has some fantastic news about nugs.net for Marco
Marco’s trip report
Gucci Osteria
Follow-up:
John guested on a preview of Designed in California, published as part of Upgrade #624 (also on YouTube)
Apple Intelligence 🤝 external boot disks (via Doug Weinfield)
Spotlight indexing in 𝑥OS 27
Steve Riggins notes it takes a while
Alex concurs
Apple’s AI Tech Talk
What will Siri be capable of? (via Jochen Marschall)
Bootleg video (via sayrer)
Is Spatial Reframing in 𝑥OS 27 geographically-aware? (via Kevin Buterbaugh)
Tesla 🤝 CarPlay?
New CarPlay features (via Alec Hurdle)
WWDC session on YouTube
The US has approved a new sunscreen ingredient!
Marco’s favorite: Rohto Skin Aqua Super Moisture UV Gel
Tracking Apple’s environmental progress
TOSTracker (via Andrew Leahey)
Direct product comparisons
Example: M1 MacBook Air vs. M5 MacBook Air
Apple’s AI server infrastructure (expanding on ATP #680)
General overview (via Gui Rambo)
cloudOS job listing
How to run PCC (via Zoe Knox)
Tim Cook takes one for the Ternus (News+ link) (17 June)
Chart
South Korean chip company bonuses are creating inflation pressures
Even ChatGPT is stupefied by RAM pricing 🤭😭
We’re all trying to find the guy who did this!
25 June: Apple raises prices on Macs, iPads (News+ link)
Stephen’s tables
Gruber’s tables
Apple also raised refurbished prices 🤨
Good timing:
tmcgeary
Aaron
Greg Pierce
Ask ATP:
Why doesn’t Apple just… make its own RAM? (via Brian Webster)
Joe Lion
Blake Patterson
Is new Siri an attack vector for, say, TSA searches? (via Anonymous)
Post-show: Casey’s blog post about AI
Members-only ATP Overtime: The Fable about… Anthropic Fable
Sponsored by:
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code atp.
Zocdoc: Find the right doctor, right now.
Become a member for ATP Overtime, ad-free episodes, member specials, and our early-release, unedited “bootleg” feed!
2 hr 7 min