John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss what it's going to take for Apple to field a television product that's finally something more than a "hobby." Attached box vs. full TV set, apps vs. channels vs. a la carte purchases, direct deals with content owners vs. additional layers of middlemen (e.g., Netflix). So many possibilities, but all of them difficult.

Links for this episode:

• Here’s why Apple’s TV needs to be an actual television, and not just a cheap add-on box – SplatF
  
• 4K resolution - Wikipedia
  
• Nesting dolls comic
  
• "I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use." - Steve Jobs
  
• An iCloud conflict resolution dialog box in Pages on the iPad
  
• Screen resolution, viewing distance, and screen size chart
  
• What's Really Next for Apple in Television - NYTimes.com
  

Sponsored by Squarespace and TinyLetter.

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk more about Siri in theory and in practice, and how iCloud is different than MobileMe, with its own set of problems. Plus more complaints about the Star Wars blu-rays, a clarification of the TiVo Premiere Elite's specs, and the long-overdue completion of our tour of the Windows 8 UI.

Links for this episode:

• How Siri Works
  
• Siri in Practice - Kieran Healy
  
• The impact of Apple’s Siri release: From the former lead iPhone developer of Siri
  
• How Siri Could Work With AppleTV - FXRant
  
• Android Chief Andy Rubin Says Your Phone Should Not Be Your Assistant - Ina Fried - AsiaD - AllThingsD
  
• Let's Take This One With a Grain of Salt - Daring Fireball
  
• Back to Work #37: It's Never Not Everywhere - 5by5
  
• A New and Improved Moore's Law - Technology Review
  
• Windows 8 Metro video - Channel 9
  
• Premiere Elite performance enhancements - TiVo Community
  
• Publish and Subscribe - Wikipedia
  
• The People vs. George Lucas - Amazon.com
  

Sponsored by Sourcebits, Handelabra Studio, and Shopify.

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss TiVo Premiere Elite's potential to not be as horrible as the TiVo Premiere, the expectations for and reality of Siri, Google's new Dart programming language, and the iCloud launch.

Links for this episode:

• A conversation with Siri on the iPhone 4S - YouTube
  
• Why Dart is not the language of the future - Rafaël Garcia-Suarez
  
• Dart compilation of Hello World - Gist
  
• Dart : Structured web programming
  
• Why the TiVo Elite is so much faster than the TiVo Premiere - Gear Live
  
• TiVo Premiere Elite - TiVo
  
• Why Is My Toaster So Bad? - NYTimes.com
  
• At Ease - Wikipedia
  
• Cleaning… – Marco.org
  
• Getting started with iCloud, Apple's new sync service - Macworld
  
• All about iCloud: Common signup scenarios - Macworld
  
• iCloud: Resetting your Photo Stream
  

Sponsored by Rackspace and easyDNS.

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk about the death of Steve Jobs: personal remembrances, the less-obvious lessons of his life, and the dangers of his deification. Also, misspeaking vs. failing to communicate, Star Wars blu-rays, and John's attempt to politely decline charity.

Links for this episode:

• Steve Jobs: a personal remembrance
  
• Hyperbolic discounting and Netflix queues - youarenotsosmart.com
  
• 5by5 Specials #2: Thank You, Steve Jobs
  
• Hypercritical #32: The Next Big Move
  
• Charismatic authority - Wikipedia
  
• Stack Exchange Podcast #20
  
• WWDC 1997 Closing Keynote with Steve Jobs - YouTube
  
• KWHA-sohn or crah-SONT?
  
• Getting started with iCloud, Apple's new sync service | Web | Macworld
  

Sponsored by Squarespace and MailChimp.

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Amazon's new tablets, the Google technologies and Amazon cloud services that stand behind them, and what making money by "selling the blades" implies about Amazon's ability to compete with Apple's approach of "selling the razors." Also, predictions for October's Apple event, and (briefly) Fringe.

Links for this episode:

• Apple Thunderbolt Display Teardown - iFixit
  
• The case against the Kindle as a low end tablet disruption - Asymco
  
• Amazon Kindle Press Conference - YouTube
  
• Magma ExpressBox 3T gives you 3 external PCIe slots over Thunderbolt - Engadget
  
• Belkin Reveals New Thunderbolt Express Dock - MacStories
  
• SPDY: An experimental protocol for a faster web - Google
  
• Amazon has Palm in its shopping cart — will it click Buy? - VentureBeat
  
• Macintosh Classic - Wikipedia
  
• The Talk Show #61, where John Gruber makes his iPhone predictions
  
• The Incomparable - 5by5
  
• Geek Friday - Listen to understand the references to Faith
  

Sponsored by Sourcebits and Sifter.

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk about the Netflix/Qwikster debacle and the big picture in the TV and movie industries, then continue their exploration of the Windows 8 Metro user interface. The only way out is through!

Links for this episode:

• 8 traits of great Metro style apps - Channel 9
  
• First-sale doctrine - Wikipedia
  
• Outbound Laptop - Wikipedia
  
• The Outbound Laptop, featuring the Isopoint Trackbar - Low End Mac
  

Sponsored by HelpSpot and Rackspace.

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin mourn the continuing shameful stewardship of the cultural touchstone that is Star Wars, then dive into the Windows 8 Metro user interface and Microsoft's prospects for the future of its hybrid tablet/desktop operating system.

Links for this episode:

• 6.270 - MIT's Autonomous Robot Design Competition
  
• Markdown Syntax Documentation - Daring Fireball
  
• Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) [Blu-ray] - Amazon.com
  
• The Secret History of Star Wars
  
• Hypercritical #13: The Tortoise and the Hare - 5by5
  
• 8 traits of great Metro style apps - Channel 9
  
• A bad motivator - John McCoy
  
• RubySpec - The Standard You Trust™
  
• Spielberg Repents for Changes He Made to E.T. - Wired.com
  
• Dragonslayer at the SXSW Film Festival
  
• Against perpetual copyright - wiki.lessig.org
  

Sponsored by Campaign Monitor and Shopify.

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the origins and suitability of Markdown, including why John doesn't use it and why you might want to, and why the entire PC industry can't seem to create a laptop as nice as a MacBook Air but for less money.

Links for this episode:

• Sprint Said to Plan Unlimited Data With IPhone - Bloomberg
  
• Hypercritical #6: Frivolous Things - 5by5
  
• Markdown - Daring Fireball
  
• Anchoring - Wikipedia
  
• CMDA - Wikipedia
  
• GSM - Wikipedia
  
• Predictably Irrational - TED Talk on "anchoring" and other topics
  
• Ultrabook: Intel's $300 million plan to beat Apple at its own game
  
• 6.270 - MIT's Autonomous Robot Design Competition
  

Sponsored by MailChimp and easyDNS.

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the future of Apple without Steve Jobs. What decisions defined the Jobs II Era, and can Apple continue to make such big moves without the big man at the top?

Links for this episode:

• Tele Vision - Asymco
  
• Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
  
• Apple 27-inch Thunderbolt Display
  
• A Day Without Steve - Macworld, August 2007
  
• The reason everybody is acting like Steve Jobs died - Daniel Jalkut
  
• Apple CEO Steve Jobs Live at D8 - AllThingsD
  
• Ideas, Not Hierarchy: On Steve Jobs Supposedly Making All Apple Decisions
  
• MacRuby
  
• iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business
  
• Field Notes Brand - Use discount code HEARDITFROMDAN for $25 off a Colors Subscription
  

Sponsored by Field Notes, Audible, and thoughtbot.

John Siracusa and Ryan Irelan discuss the future of the Mac Pro, what HP's exit from the PC business and Google's acquisition of Motorola mean for Microsoft, and whether or not Amazon should buy webOS.

Links for this episode:

• Desire path - Wikipedia
  
• Scroll Reverser for Mac OS X
  
• Is the Mac Pro dead? - Cringely
  
• Robert X. Cringely
  
• Pickin' Time
  
• StorageReview.com - A great place to research hard disk mechanisms before buying
  

Sponsored by Sourcebits and FreshBooks.