Hypercritical

Episode 100: 100: Metacritical

5by5 — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:15:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin end the Hypercritical podcast with a discussion of the show itself, followed by a final Q&A where Dan asks the questions and John attempts to provide sensible answers. Many thanks to all the listeners and the folks in the 5by5 chat room. The journey was the reward.

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Episode 99: 99: New Siracusa County Bros. U

5by5 — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:45:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin follow up on iTunes 11 and Apple's continuing failure to grok online services, then discuss the Wii U, starting with the painful setup process and continuing on to New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land, and, inevitably, the Wii U GamePad controller.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME12 for 30% off), and Sourcebits.

Episode 98: 98: Hardware Machismo

5by5 — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin follow up on taping out silicon chips, Apple's seemingly bottomless silicon ambitions, and the pitfalls of labeling people, then discuss Twitterrific 5, the new Google maps app on iOS, iTunes 11, Tim Cook's national news tour, and Apple's upcoming "Made in the USA" Mac.

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Episode 97: 97: Idle Doodles

5by5 — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:15:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin follow up on silicon chip making and misogyny in geek culture, then dive into Hypercritical's first—and likely only—listener Q&A show. All questions entertained! Some questions answered!

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME12 for 30% off), Squarespace (use code DANSENTME12 for 10% off), Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), and Prop 'n Go (use the code DANSENTME for 17% off).

Episode 96: 96: Blue Peter

5by5 — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:30:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin reveal John's Wii U in transit, then talk more about Apple, Intel, ARM, and silicon chip fabrication, and finally, the Fake Geek Girl meme, misogyny, and problems with Geek Culture in general.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME11 for 30% off), Koku, and Sourcebits.

Episode 95: 95: Black Friday

5by5 — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:45:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the upcoming end of this show, more on Intel vs. ARM, Apple's CPU/GPU needs, and the newly revealed internals of the Wii U console and GamePad.

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Sponsored by Mailgun (use code 5BY5 for 10% off), Shopify, Hover (use the code DANSENTME for 10% off), and Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME11 for 30% off).

Episode 94: 94: Shrink, Shrink, Shrink!

5by5 — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 13:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin revisit the topic of voting technology, then discuss the possibility of Apple using ARM processors instead of Intel processors in its Macs: RISC vs. CISC, process nodes, the x86 burden, and…sewing machines.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Squarespace (use code DANSENTME11 for 10% off), Lynda, and Mutual Mobile

Episode 93: 93: A Magic Elf in My Computer

5by5 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:30:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk more about Forstall's departure from Apple, Surface storage, and Fusion Drive, then discuss US voting technology, Google voice search, and how Apple's design problems are more than skin deep.

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Sponsored by Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Squarespace (use code DANSENTME11 for 10% off), MailChimp, and Symbolicons (use code DANLOVESICONS for 15% off).

Episode 92: 92: The Tim Cook Era

5by5 — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:30:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the latest information about Apple's Fusion Drive and the first big executive reshuffling at Apple in the post-Steve Jobs era: Forstall and Browett are out; Ive, Cue, Federighi, and Mansfield are in.

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Sponsored by Lynda, Shutterstock (use code "dansentme10" for 30% off), and Shopify (use code "5by5" and get 3 months free).

Episode 91: 91: Adolescence

5by5 — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 14:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the new hardware announced at the October 23rd Apple event: the latest Retina MacBook Pro, whether the new iMac is too skinny or too fat, the little information we currently know about Fusion Drive, and, of course, the new iPads, both mini and Retina.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME10 for 30% off), MailChimp, Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), and CacheFly

Episode 90: 90: Salad Days

5by5 — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 14:45:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin ponder the upcoming Apple event, assess picayune physical details of the iPhone 5 and iPod touch, compare the newly announced pricing for the Microsoft Surface to its possible competitors, and discuss John's approach to getting value from Twitter.

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Sponsored by Harvest (Use promo code 5by5 for 50% off first month), Hover (Use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Squarespace (Use code DANSENTME10 for 10% off), and CacheFly

Episode 89: 89: Lazy Sunday

5by5 — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 15:15:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin relax on a Sunday afternoon and chat about Apple's taste for brute force solutions, the foibles of decentralized systems like Tent and email, and The Magazine, Marco Arment's new Newsstand publication.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by HelpSpot (use offer code 5by5 for $100 off), Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Sourcebits, and CacheFly

Episode 88: 88: Nobody Leaves Email

5by5 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the latest events in the burgeoning App.net community, then explore the competing(?) Tent.io protocol for decentralized real-time social networking.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME10 for 30% off any package), Squarespace (use code DANSENTME10 for 10% off), Shopify (three months free on signup), and CacheFly

Episode 87: 87: Smarter and Harder

5by5 — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:15:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin follow up on Apple's slippery little devices and Apple's mapping woes, then discuss the new iPod touch and iPod nano. John's hypothetical Ferrari is briefly mentioned.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Igloo Software, Harvest (use code 5by5 for 50% off first month), Gazelle, and MailChimp.

Episode 86: 86: Naked Robotic Core

5by5 — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:30:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the new iPhone 5: its physical design, the case for cases, the new lightning connector, and Apple's trouble with maps. Let the iPhone 6 speculation begin?

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Treehouse, Gazelle, Hover.com (coupon code DANSENTME for 10% off), and Squarespace.com (coupon code DANSENTME9 for 10% off).

Episode 85: 85: Just Check the Checkbox!

5by5 — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:45:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss all the things that went wrong during John's Mountain Lion ebook publishing experience. There's more than enough blame to go around. Please note that this episode was recorded before the September 12th Apple event.

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Sponsored by Gazelle, Shutterstock (use coupon DANSENTME9 for 30% off), and Hover (use coupon DANSENTME for 10% off)

Episode 84: 84: Spared No Expense

5by5 — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:45:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Amazon's new Kindle and Kindle Fire products. Is Amazon Apple's most dangerous competitor, or are the two companies not really in competition at all? Who is Amazon's ideal customer? Finally, John and Dan make their predictions for next week's Apple press event.

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Sponsored by Hover (use coupon DANSENTME for 10% off), Squarespace (use coupon DANSENTME9 for 10% off), and Sourcebits

Episode 83: 83: Dishonorable

5by5 — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 18:15:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the Apple v. Samsung court case, the near-comprehensive rumors and leaks about the next iPhone, the possible internals of the rumored iPad mini, and which company we'd like to buy Twitter, if it were actually for sale.

Links for this episode:

Shopify (get 3 months free), Squarespace (10% off with code DANSENTME8), and Textastic.

Episode 82: 82: The Opposite of Comprehensive

5by5 — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:30:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin finally complete their discussion of John's Mountain Lion review. Topics include power management, UI simplification, automatic termination, Facebook integration, and plagiarizing from yourself.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Hover (use coupon DANSENTME for 10% off), Igloo Software, and Sourcebits.

Episode 81: 81: Channels of Control

5by5 — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the latest round of Twitter API changes that further marginalize third-party "traditional" Twitter client applications, with the inevitable follow up about App.Net, the nascent Twitter-like service that takes money directly from its users, rather than selling access to its users to advertisers.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Hover (use coupon DANSENTME for 10% off), Squarespace (use coupon DANSENTME8 for 10% off), and HelpSpot (use coupon 5BY5 for $100 off).

Episode 80: 80: Memory Palace

5by5 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:45:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin continue to discuss John's review of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. On this episode: iCloud storage APIs and user interface, sandboxing, Gatekeeper, Retina/HiDPI, Scene Kit, Objective-C enhancements, and a bonus diversion into one of John's pet OS X topics: spatial interfaces.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Flixel, Squarespace (use coupon DANSENTME8 for 10% off), and Hover (use coupon DANSENTME for 10% off).

Episode 79: 79: Grandpa Uncle Joe

5by5 — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 15:30:00 -0400

John Siracusa is on vacation this week, so we instead present its ersatz replacement, 'Kindacritical', with Dan Benjamin, Marco Arment, and Merlin Mann.

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Sponsored by Smile, MailChimp, and Shopify.

Episode 78: 78: Sins of the Father

5by5 — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:15:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss—what else?—John's review of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. There's so much to cover that this will have to be a multi-epsiode topic. On this episode: purchase and installation, interface and document model changes, and bundled applications.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by DocuSign, Sourcebits, and Hover (coupon code DANSENTME for 10% off).

Episode 77: 77: Nucleation Site

5by5 — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:30:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk more about a potential smaller iPad, OUYA's challenges, what makes a successful Kickstarter project, how the Penny Arcade Kickstarter could have been more attractive to funders, and finally, the strange case of App.net.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Rackspace, Squarespace (coupon code DANSENTME7 for 10% off), and Hover (coupon code DANSENTME or 10% off).

Episode 76: 76: Selling a Dream

5by5 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:45:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the OUYA Android-based TV gaming console Kickstarter project, the unprecedented Penny Arcade Kickstarter project to remove ads from its web site for a year, and the Kickstarter phenomenon itself. Also, check the show notes to find a poll about doing an episode all about the PlayStation 3 game Journey.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Freshbooks, Hover (use coupon DANSENTME for 10% off), and Squarespace (use coupon DANSENTME7 for 10% off).

Episode 75: 75: Just a Dinosaur

5by5 — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 14:30:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss rumors of a new, smaller iPad, Marco Arment's experience with and reporting of this week's App Store data corruption problem, Apple's response, and the continuing, unhealthy separation of developers and their customers in the App Store.

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Sponsored by Zoompf, Sifter Stickers, and Dark Sky.

Episode 74: 74: Everybody Wants to Rule the World

5by5 — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss alternate motivations for the Microsoft Surface, Google's new Nexus 7 tablet, the history and value of reparability in computer hardware, and the possibility of electronics that "age well." Also, there's a robot that feels no shame.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Shopify (use code 5BY5 for 3 months free), Igloo Software (they're giving away an Aeropress to a Hypercritical listener), and MailChimp's new Mandrill email service.

Episode 73: 73: 22 Degrees

5by5 — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 13:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the Microsoft Surface. It's a tablet! It's an ultrabook! It runs Office, Windows, and your existing x86 applications…unless it's the ARM version. And why is Microsoft making hardware, anyway? It's all very intriguing.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Harvest, and Squarespace (use code DANSENTME6 for 10% off).

Episode 72: 72: Seven Levels of Air Quotes

5by5 — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss—what else?—WWDC: the hardware and software announcements, John's chances of getting his review done on time, John's WWDC survival gear, and the one time a year where he meets the fans face to face.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by FreshBooks, and Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off).

Episode 71: 71: Bristling With Controls

5by5 — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:45:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the latest crop of iPhone 5 and WWDC rumors, E3 2012, the current state of the traditional game console market, and the elephant in the gaming living room: Apple.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Appsfire, Squarespace (coupon code DANSENTME6), and Hover (coupon code DANSENTME for 10% off).

Episode 70: 70: Deja Vu

5by5 — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:30:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss more optimistic prospects for a new Mac Pro, the latest round of iPhone 5 hardware rumors, and the intriguing possibilities for WWDC implied by the large number of sessions on the schedule that are labelled "To Be Announced."

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Sponsored by KAYAK, Sourcebits, and MailChimp.

Episode 69: 69: Sport of Kings

5by5 — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk a bit more about patents and copyright, revisit the sources of lag in human/computer interactions, revise the probabilities of retina-display Macs, MacBook Pros without ethernet ports, any Mac Pros ever again, and the various ways to deal with a possible taller iPhone screen.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Warby Parker, Squarespace (use promo code DANSENTME5 for 10% off), and Shopify.

Episode 68: 68: Patent Hands

5by5 — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin, inevitably, revisit the topic of patents, attempting to address a wide array of listener feedback. For the hearty listeners that make it through the patent talk, there's a bonus discussion of the new MacBook Pro rumors, and a brief consideration of cutscenes and trailers in video games.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Hover (code DANSENTME for 10% off) and Rackspace.

Episode 67: 67: A Pill That Helps with Whatever

5by5 — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:15:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the various ways that Apple takes money from transactions involving the App Store, lessons from gaming and gamers for the larger software world, why nothing is ever good enough when it comes to technology, the Instagram acquisition, and the sad state of the US patent system and how it might be fixed.

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Episode 66: 66: The Housewives of Siracusa County

5by5 — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss meeting Apple employees at WWDC, the latest round of iPhone rumors, RubyMotion (a new product for writing iOS apps in Ruby), the distinction between producer, consumer, and performer in gaming and other arts, The Kids Today, games as art, and Dropbox-related App Store rejections.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Textastic, TapTyping, and Squarespace (use promo code DANSENTME5 for 10% off).

Episode 65: 65: Look Right into the Eyes of Your Sweetie

5by5 — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:45:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the WWDC ticket sales kerfuffle and the potential future of the conference, then revisit the topic of gaming as a form of art with some uncommon characteristics. Finally, the new Gmail user interfaces goes under the microscope.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Sourcebits, Squarespace (use coupon code DANSENTME4 and get 30% off for 3 months).

Episode 64: 64: You Will Die Instantly!

5by5 — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:30:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin revisit software updates (paid or otherwise), then discuss various screen size possibilities for the next iPhone, the historical and ongoing dilution of the concept of a "gamer" (and Apple's role in that phenomenon), and the extremely unlikely possibility of any sort partnership between Valve and Apple.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Hover, FreshBooks, and the One More Thing Conference.

Episode 63: 63: Talking to the Bear

5by5 — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:15:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk more about paid upgrades in the Mac App Store, how Apple is reshaping the software market (intentionally or otherwise), Readability's role as a middleman as compared to another prominent middleman, the App Store, and finally, the Flashback malware scourge and what it says about Apple's preparedness.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Harvest (coupon code 5BY5 for 50% off your first month) and EveryMe.

Episode 62: 62: A Sack Containing Scum from a Pond

5by5 — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:45:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin try to put the topic of car engine noises to bed, then discuss value of "enterprise" businesses, RIM's possible future as a services company, Readability's business model, and Wil Shipley's case for paid upgrades in the Mac App Store.

Links for this episode:

Episode 61: 61: I Ran Out of Bombs Long Ago

5by5 — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:45:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the display of large images on iOS devices, Apple's latest web standards proposal and "rogue" implementation in WebKit, RIM's new enterprise-centric strategy, and the popular new iOS game, Draw Something. Plus, a Very Special epilogue all about Marco Arment's dream car, the F10 BMW M5.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Gitbox, AppsFire (coupon code 5by5 for 10% off), and Studio Neat (coupon code 5by5 for 20% off).

Episode 60: 60: Reversing the Polarity

5by5 — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:45:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the puzzling UI of iPhoto for IOS, the magnetic polarity of iPad Smart Covers, the Apple TV's ability to work with any remote, the iPad's lack of a number in its name (again), automotive platform awareness in Germany, video signal value ranges, DVRs in the UK, statistical significance, the Apple TV remote (again), and finally, Mike Daisey, Apple, and China.

Links for this episode:

This episode is sponsored by Gitbox, Freshbooks - painless billing, and BBEdit - Dan's favorite text editor.

Episode 59: 59: Safari is Apple's Google

5by5 — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin follow up on John's TiVo and smoke detector woes and the angst about the lack of a number after the name of the new iPad. John reviews his new Apple TV. Finally, the videos showing Chris Pirillo’s dad exploring Windows 8 and Mac OS X for the first time are mined for insights about computing in 2012 and beyond.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Hover (promo DANSENTME for 10% off), Squarespace (promo DANSENTME3 for 30% off for 3 months), and Sourcebits.

Episode 58: 58: No More Numbers For You / The Four Tuners

5by5 — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin do some brief follow up on file systems, then dive into this week's Apple press event: the new Apple TV, the new iPad, specs vs. product names vs. Apple PR vs. sanity, and how we all still miss Steve Jobs. Plus, John reviews his new TiVo Premiere Elite and, of all things, his new smoke detector.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Harvest -- use code 5BY5 for 50% off your first month, and by Rackspace.

Episode 57: 57: Computational Skeuomorphism

5by5 — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:30:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk more about file systems: the origins of Btrfs, how file systems might change in the new age of SSDs, the possibility of a Grand Unification of storage and memory subsystems, and why snapshots, clones, block-level diffs, and deduplication are awesome features of ZFS that would make Time Machine a lot better than it is today. The show ends with John's predictions for the new iPad, which we all assume will be announced at the Apple press event next week.

Links for this episode:

Episode 56: 56: Belt and Suspenders

5by5 — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:45:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk about file systems: what they do, what makes a good one, and who needs a new one, badly. (Spoiler: it's Apple.) File systems discussed: Microsoft's ReFS, ZFS, and HFS+.

Links for this episode:

Episode 55: 55: Region of Pain

5by5 — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss this week's announcement of OS X Mountain Lion: what it means for John's reviews, how the new release schedule might influence adoption and reliability, and how features like GateKeeper will affect Mac users and developers.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Rackspace, Squarespace, and Hover (promo code DANSENTME for 10% off).

Episode 54: 54: Public Service Announcement

5by5 — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:00:00 -0500

There's no Hypercritical this week, so we put together something special for you instead.

Links for this episode:

Kindacritical, a special episode with Dan Benjamin, Merlin Mann, and Marco Arment

Episode 53: 53: Brad Pitt Gets to Contribute

5by5 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:45:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin revisit gamification in education, talk briefly about the Nest thermostat, then engage in an ever-so-slightly more considered discussion of Wikipedia, attempting to address the mountain of feedback on the topic. No Wikipedians were harmed in the making of this episode.

Links for this episode:

Episode 52: 52: Marked for Deletion

5by5 — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:45:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk more about iBooks Author, Apple's real and stated motivations for entering the textbook market, and what really matters in education. This is followed by a long, ill-considered rant about Wikipedia. (Warning: original research, no neutral point of view.)

Links for this episode:

Episode 51: 51: Unjustified Confidence

5by5 — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:30:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin briefly recap the iPhone ringer/silent switch controversy, then discuss the new iBooks Author application, Apple's ebook ambitions and prospects, and the role of technology in education.

Links for this episode:

Episode 50: 50: Maximum Deflection in All Directions

5by5 — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin revisit the world of console controllers, addressing the flood of listener feedback by expanding the discussion to include aftermarket and third-party controllers, and attempting to address the objections of PlayStation fans. A few comments about CES and how to deliver a truly Apple-like keynote presentation round out the episode.

Links for this episode:

Episode 49: 49: Pinching the Harmonica

5by5 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:15:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss iPad use by three-year-olds, why non-gamers might consider the "Xbox" name a proxy for all of console gaming, the Wii generational hardware conundrum, and finally, an extremely long and obsessively detailed walk through the history of console game controllers, culminating in a rant about something that almost all other gamers love unconditionally.

Links for this episode:

Episode 48: 48: Blue Ocean

5by5 — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin briefly indulge in more grammar questions, then revisit the consequences of HyperCard's demise, why we're all still talking about the Kindle Fire, using music and movies to split humanity into two groups, the pros and cons of different working environments, and finally, a brief history of Nintendo and a not-so-brief consideration of why they should or should not continue to make their own hardware.

Links for this episode:

Episode 47: 47: Brute Force Attack

5by5 — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:30:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk about low-stakes grammar issues, the continuing debate about partisanship in tech writing, more theories about an Apple TV product, the origins and fate of "friendly" programming environments like HyperCard, plus a little about Lego Star Wars and holiday toys for children.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Tapfolio, TinyLetter, and Uncle Slam.

Episode 46: 46: Not Entirely Nefarious

5by5 — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin revisit complaints about Siri's apparent biases, reconsider the fake-book chrome in iBooks, explore an interesting new conception of an Apple TV set, and use John Gruber's appearance on The Verge as a jumping off point for examining partisanship in technology writing. Plus a bonus epilogue about the evolution of Twitter.

Links for this episode:

Episode 45: 45: Star Wars is Not a Blog Post

5by5 — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin follow up on a host of topics: what ails Microsoft, the (slow, partial) democratization of corporate IT, the people vs. George Lucas, perpetual copyright, applications as art, Siri backlash, and the evils of Blu-ray.

Links for this episode:

Episode 44: 44: A Little Bit More Sad

5by5 — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:45:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk about what ails Microsoft. What could the former titan of the technology world have done differently in the past two decades that would have prevented its decline?

Links for this episode:

Peggy Noonan On Steve Jobs And Why Big Companies Die - Forbes

Sponsored by United Pixelworkers and MailChimp.

Episode 43: 43: The Scorpion and the Frog

5by5 — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin continue their discussion of Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs, starting with listeners' reactions to the last episode, then (finally) talking about content from the book and the man himself. Less fire and more introspection than last week.

Links for this episode:

Episode 42: 42: The Wrong Guy

5by5 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs. Topics include Isaacson's failings as an author and biographer, the technical cluelessness on display in the book, and Steve Jobs, Enemy of Progress.

Links for this episode:

Episode 41: 41: The Homer

5by5 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:15:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin are joined by special guest Jeff Atwood, cofounder of the Stack Exchange Q&A network and creator of the popular programming blog codinghorror.com. John and Jeff try to rekindle the old Mac vs. PC flames and end up talking about the light and dark sides of Apple as a platform owner.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Bare Bones, Braintree, and MailChimp.

Episode 40: 40: When The Hobby Light Goes Off

5by5 — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:00:00 -0400

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:

Sponsored by Squarespace and TinyLetter.

Episode 39: 39: Quasimodo Backpack

5by5 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:00:00 -0400

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:

Sponsored by Sourcebits, Handelabra Studio, and Shopify.

Episode 38: 38: Virtually Spotless

5by5 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:00:00 -0400

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:

Episode 37: 37: A Story of Triumph

5by5 — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:00:00 -0400

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:

Episode 36: 36: Wedge

5by5 — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:00:00 -0400

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.

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Episode 35: 35: Wrestling an Alligator

5by5 — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:00:00 -0400

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!

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Episode 34: 34: Pride in Craftsmanship

5by5 — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:00:00 -0400

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.

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Sponsored by Campaign Monitor and Shopify.

Episode 33: 33: Square Bracket Colon Smiley

5by5 — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:00:00 -0400

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.

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Episode 32: 32: The Next Big Move

5by5 — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:45:00 -0400

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?

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Sponsored by Field Notes, Audible, and thoughtbot.

Episode 31: 31: Strong Arguments for and Against

5by5 — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:30:00 -0400

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.

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Episode 30: 30: Paths in the Grass

5by5 — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:00:00 -0400

In Dan Benjamin's absence, John Siracusa and Ryan Irelan follow up on the seemingly never-ending list of features in BBEdit and LaunchBar, take a side trip into the world of "haxies" and system extensions, and then—finally!—discuss Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) in Lion.

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Episode 29: 29: In Too Deep

5by5 — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Lion’s quittin’ ways, people who choose to turn off Dock indicator lights, the merits of a "clean install" of Mac OS X, Mac application launchers, and BBEdit vs. TextMate vs. emacs vs. vi vs. sanity.

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Episode 28: 28: Trust, But Verify

5by5 — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk more about Lion, following up on the animation and disk encryption topics from last week, then diving into sandboxing and the state of the file system. ARC discussion has once again been postponed until the next show.

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Sponsored by Sourcebits, Campaign Monitor , and Wx.

Episode 27: 27: Nakedly Optimistic

5by5 — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss John's review of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. Topics covered: autosave, scroll bars, scroll direction, graphical changes, animation, disk encryption, plus some details of the publication and error correction process. Expect more Lion discussion on future shows.

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Sponsored by Harvest, OmniGroup: OmniFocus, and Stack Overflow.

Episode 26: 26: White Smoke

5by5 — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin continue to wait for the release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. In the meantime, topics include Facebook's use of MySQL, some of the technology behind Google+, the 5by5 ShowBot, possibly new Mac hardware (featuring the fabled xMac), and whether or not Dan and John are cool.

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Episode 25: 25: Invisible Software

5by5 — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk about why webOS is slow, what's wrong with Apple's digital distribution mechanisms, why Google+ is a really big deal (for Google, anyway), and the hidden world of server-side software. John also shares some statistics about his upcoming Lion review.

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Episode 24: 24: Sometimes It Hurts

5by5 — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 17:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Mac speech recognition software, how webOS is or isn't like Mac OS X, Apple's $50 Thunderbolt cable, how Google+ is different from Facebook, and what John thinks Apple's really trying to do with Final Cut Pro X.

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Episode 23: 23: No Sentence Left Behind

5by5 — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin revisit Apple's data center software, Pixar's weaknesses, lame Mac malware, obnoxious Twitter integration, and (one last time!) toasters, then talk about how and why John writes.

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Episode 22: 22: I Would Not Build Underground

5by5 — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin decompress after WWDC, then discuss Apple's (apparent) iCloud data center strategy, comparing it to other successful online service companies: Amazon, Google, and Facebook. John also recounts his one and only remotely significant interaction with Steve Jobs.

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Episode 21: 21: Reading Playboy for the Articles

5by5 — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk about WWDC: iCloud, iOS 5, Lion, and yes, John's toaster, a gift from fellow 5by5 hosts Marco Arment and Merlin Mann (a.k.a. The Best Guys Ever).

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John's new toaster, a gift from Marco and Merlin

Episode 20: 20: I've Got Nothing

5by5 — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss John's upcoming trip to WWDC, Twitter's strange gaps in functionality (and the third-party developers determined to fill them), the sale of NetNewsWire to Black Pixel, and dealing with changes to your favorite applications.

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Episode 19: 19: Don't Make Me Read

5by5 — Fri, 27 May 2011 15:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk toasters again, then discuss John's first computer love, the classic Macintosh Finder. Time constraints cut the love affair short, but the passion burns beyond the bounds of the podcast.

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Sponsored by Harvest and Sound Studio 4.

Episode 18: 18: Worse and More Diverse

5by5 — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:15:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin put the TV technology and PHP topics to bed, touch on SSD reliability again, then discuss what's wrong with Twitter and why toaster ovens are worse today than they were a few decades ago.

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Episode 17: 17: Intruding Gooseneck

5by5 — Fri, 13 May 2011 15:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk some more about TV technology, elaborate on why, exactly, PHP is a bad programming language, lament the "decontenting" of Apple hardware and the proprietary hard drives in the new iMacs, and ponder the place of SSDs in the lives of computer users who are not independently wealthy.

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Sponsored by FreshBooks and OmniGroup: OmniFocus.

Episode 16: 16: The Soap Opera Effect

5by5 — Fri, 06 May 2011 17:30:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin repent after two episodes on programming languages by discussing TV technology…after about 45 minutes of (so-called) follow-up on Apple's potential use of ARM CPUs in Macs, gaming performance in Mac OS X, and yes, a bit more about programming.

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Episode 15: 15: The Bridges of Siracusa County

5by5 — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:30:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin continue their discussion of high-level programming languages, now focusing on why all popular languages suck in some way, then transition into a hard look at Perl, the black sheep of the dynamic language landscape.

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Episode 14: 14: A Dark Age of Objective-C

5by5 — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin revisit Apple's GUI history, complain about TiVo some more, then explore the possibility of another Copland-like crisis looming in Apple's future. What will replace Objective-C and Cocoa? What can?

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Episode 13: 13: The Tortoise and the Hare

5by5 — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss some upcoming Pixar projects, Facebook's open datacenter initiative, Star Wars, and, finally, Apple’s philosophy and practice of UI consistency over the years.

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Episode 12: 12: Nothing Is So Perfect

5by5 — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin turn a critical eye towards last week's episode on criticism, then try to pick the single biggest challenge facing three different wildly successful companies: Google, Facebook, and yes…Pixar.

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Sponsored by Sound Studio 4 and Worldview.

Episode 11: 11: I Am the Steve Jobs of This Sandwich

5by5 — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin revisit Apple's iLife island and Google's operational secret weapons, then talk about the nature of criticism, online and offline, from movies to cars to (finally) computers.

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Episode 10: 10: Like Giving a Machine Gun to a Baby

5by5 — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:00:00 -0400

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin are briefly amused by iPhone 5 rumors, then dive head first into a ruthless analysis of Apple's online services, past and present. The sad conclusion: Apple sucks at what Google is good at, and vice versa.

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Episode 9: 9: No iLife is an Island

5by5 — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin further opine on the iPad 2 and the Apple Strategy Tax, then discuss Apple's anachronistic views on digital media management as embodied in the iLife suite and the iPod product line.

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Episode 8: 8: A Cautionary Tale

5by5 — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 13:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin vow never to talk about physics again, then discuss the new iPad and, finally, how Apple's expansion into so many new businesses has created a series of conflicts of interest that could, at best, doom it to Microsoft-like stagnation in the long run.

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Sponsored by MailChimp and CodeConf 2011.

Episode 7: 7: ThunderCats

5by5 — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk a bit more about connectors before moving on to the big Apple news: new MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt i/o and the first developer preview release of Mac OS X Lion.

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Episode 6: 6: Frivolous Things

5by5 — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin reveal the many prosaic reasons for not owning an iPhone, then veer off on several non-tech tangents and never fully recover: RSI, travel phobia, a personal history of computer ownership, and more.

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Sponsored by Shopify and King of the Apps.

Episode 5: 5: Slippery Little Pill

5by5 — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Apple’s hardware blind spots: keyboards, dock connector, iPod/iPhone cases, laptop designs, and more.

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Episode 4: 4: iOS vs. The World

5by5 — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin revisit Mac OS X Lion and TV devices, then discuss what it would take for iOS to achieve iPod-like world domination.

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Episode 3: 3: The Mouse is Not a Finger

5by5 — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin do some follow-up on the topic of backups, then talk about possible motivations behind the Mac OS X Lion features Apple has revealed so far, the future of desktop computing, and what might have caused iPhoto '11 to be worse than the previous version.

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Sponsored by Sound Studio 4 and MailChimp.

Episode 2: 2: Backup Vortex

5by5 — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin tie up some loose ends from the TV show before talking about backups, the onus on Apple to make them work, Apple's past and present attempts, the failings of external hard drives, personal backup regimes, and online backups.

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Episode 1: 1: Dream Crusher

5by5 — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 13:00:00 -0500

John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the sad state of TV technology, why the TV situation is worse than music and even phones, why Apple has decided it can't solve this particular problem right now, why TiVo sucks (but is still better than all the other alternatives), and which box, of the ten connected to your TV, is the best one to use to watch Netflix.

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Sponsored by Sourcebits and Campaign Monitor.