Due to discussion in the Podcast Suggestions thread, a few users came together and start a podcast focused towards the Ach user base. We hope to cover topics of interest to the forum and the world at large. The goal is to publish every two weeks and discuss current and retro Apple topics. The podcast won’t be heavily focused on Apple news, other than addressing items of note in brief. In a world already full of Apple News podcasts and people trying to be the next big analyst, I think there’s room for more general discussion on topics. There's tons of Apple history to dig into, as well as technology that's tangential to them that other podcasts might not pay attention to.
Some future topics we’ll discuss: Lost Apple software, Living with CarPlay, App store reviews, old Mac Books (not MacBooks), using the iPad in aviation, Useful Utilities, workflow topics, and more.
The crew: kefkafloyd and Otto Pilot (hosts), antiwraith (editor and contributor)
Hot features: We support rich show notes as well as podcast chapter markers. Our schedule is posting on every other Wednesday.
You can find it on:
- iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the ... 73271?mt=2
- Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1445773271
- our website: http://icongardenshow.com
- Google Podcasts
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCerQWB ... x-uGxh8dkw
- Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/j5yO
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1hgeL7AAxNiWU5kJRpHOyj
- You can also follow on Twitter: @icongardenshow
Also, we use Discord (an iRC replacement, like Slack) to discuss the show, do planning and et cetera. If you are interested in joining and chatting about the show, click here to join the Discord server: https://discord.gg/z2jmF93
Episodes:
0 - Welcome to the Garden - We talk about why we want to do this podcast, about our history with the Mac and Apple, and what we'd like to do with the show. Dec 12, 2018
1 - The 2018 Mac Mini: Is it the xMac? Does it do xMac things?? Let’s find out! - We take a look at the new 2018 Mac Mini and whether or not it's appropriate for people who've been hankering for an xMac. Dec 12, 2018
2 - The Evolution of the PowerBook - A tour through the history of the PowerBook, Apple's groundbreaking laptop line. Dec 26, 2018
3 - The New iPad Pro - A review and discussion of the 2018 iPad Pro, the new accessories, and how much it can replace a computer in your life. Jan 9, 2019
4 - Driving with CarPlay - Does it make sense to get a car that has CarPlay, or upgrade your car with a new CarPlay capable head unit? We discuss the pros and cons here. Jan 23, 2019
5 - Revisiting the Mac Game Hall of Fame - A visit to the storied Mac Game Hall of Fame where we discuss our favorite Mac games of years past. Feb 6, 2019
6 - That New Mac Smell - We've both acquired new Macs. We talk about why we picked what we picked and what we think about the current state of Mac shopping. Feb 20, 2019
7 - Clone High - A look back at the mid-90s clone era Mac tower. PowerPC performance reigns supreme, but beware the death watch. Mar 6, 2019
8 - Peripheral Paraphernalia - Mice, Keyboards, Tablets, and more! When it comes to workflow, input devices are ground zero for Macs and iPads. We talk about the input devices in our past and present and how they impact our work. Mar 20, 2019
Bonus 1 - "It's Show Time" Media Event - We devote a whole episode to all the Apple announcements in the run-up to the March 25 special event, including the media event at the Steve Jobs Theater. Mar 27,2019
9 - What's Eating the Mac Pro? - With rumors swirling about the upcoming 2019 modular Mac Pro, we look at what Apple might do, and what we hope they will do. April 3, 2019
10 - Visiting the Fruit Stand - The Apple Store has been a fixture in our relationship with Apple, online and offline, over the past twenty years. We talk about the history of the Apple store along with our current experiences. April 17, 2019
11 - The First iPhone - Take a walk down memory lane as we talk about cell phones, early smart phones, PDAs, and what made the original iPhone such a game changer in our personal tech lives. May 1, 2019
12 - I Tune, You Tune, We All Tune for iTunes - The impending rumored breakup of iTunes is approaching. What do we want out of such a breakup? We talk iTunes and Apple's media players of past, present, and future. May 15, 2019
13 - A Head in the Clouds - With changes coming to Dropbox and other cloud storage providers, we talk about iCloud drive, Synology NAS, and other solutions for hosting your online data. - May 29, 2019
Bonus 2 - WWDC Keynote Special - Our after-the-keynote takes, including talk of the New Mac Pro. June 5, 2019
14 - Pirates of Silicon Valley, 20 Years Later - June 2019 is the 20th anniversary of the film Pirates of Silicon Valley. We look back at Noah Wylie's portrayal of Steve Jobs, the film's remembrance of the early microcomputer era, and how it's aged in these two decades of Apple's resurgence. June 12, 2019
15 - WWDC Review and Wrap-up - We talk about our favorite WWDC sessions and follow up with the after-effects of Apple's developer conference. June 26, 2019
16 - The New HomeKit Workshop - With special guest Clark Goble, we talk about the future of HomeKit and the smart home ecosystem. July 10, 2019
17 - Apple Watch for Health and Fitness - With special guest Ian Blackburn of Apple Watch Triathlete, we look at Apple's push into health and how the Apple Watch fits in the fitness market. July 24, 2019
18 - The Apple II Family - We step back in the past to look at the platform that bankrolled the Mac and helped launch a personal computer revolution. Games, Software, and Woz Machines ahoy! August 7, 2019
19 - SwiftUI and Native Apps - Special guest Steve Streza stops by to discuss Apple's platform changes post-WWDC and development of apps across multiple platforms. August 21, 2019
20 - Mobile Payments for Fun and Profit - The iPhone and iPad have changed the game for point of sale and how regular people do business. We look at Square and other methods and how they've allowed normal people to accept card payments. - September 4, 2019
BONUS #3: September Apple Special Event - We know it's going to happen. New iPhones, and what else? - September 12, 2019
21 - Indie Apps Then And Now With Charlie Chapman - September 18, 2019
22 - iOS 13 Is The Lucky Number - With the release of iOS 13 upon us, what's made the cut and how's the experience for those that are ready to take the pludge? - October 2, 2019
23 - The New Hotness - Special guest Zac Hall from 9to5Mac joins the show to talk the new Apple fall hardware releases and the post-release glow (or remorse). - October 16, 2019
24 - One Year Podaversary - Special guest John Siracusa joins us to talk about forum history, why Dan needs Shazam Pro, if Jake has one too many HomePods, and how preserving our online presence is a tricky endeavor. October 30, 2019
25 - Utility Players - Put me in, coach! Dan and Jake discuss their favorite Mac and iOS utility apps. - November 13, 2019
26 - The 2019 16 Inch MacBook Pro - Apple's mea culpa to their professional laptop users has arrived, but is the new keyboard the real deal? Dan and Jake discuss their hands-on experiences with the new MacBook Pro and what it means for users and Apple. - November 27, 2019
27 - The Professional Mac with Special Guest Jeff Berg - Forums user jaberg stops by to talk Macs and how they fit into our modern working environments, along with memories of classic Commodores and discussion of Apple's end of year moves. - December 11, 2019
28 - The 2019 Icon Garden Holiday Special - Another year has come and gone, and Apple made a lot of moves, good and bad. We sit back with a glass of nog and give out our awards to the winners and losers of 2019. - December 24, 2018
29 - New Year's 5K Resolution - Dan and Jake convene for a new year of discussion, featuring new tech they acquired over the holidays as well as plans for the upcoming year. January 8, 2020
30 - An Eye for Design with special guest cateye - Mac Ach mod cateye strolls through the garden to talk about the Mac's role in design and publishing. - January 22, 2020
31 - We're Gonna Make It with Special Guest Hep Svadja - Former Make: magazine contributor and current product manager of Adobe Capture and Color, Hep Svadja, stops by the garden to talk how creative tools are changing in the era of phones and tablets. - February 5, 2020
32 - The CES And HomeKit Roundtable - A special co-production, the Smart Home Show team of Adam Justice and Richard Gunther along with 9to5Mac's Zac Hall sit down in the garden to talk the state of HomeKit in 2020 and other major announcements from CES. - February 19, 2020
33 - The Measure of a Mac with Merlin Mann - Reconcilable Differences host and podcast personality Merlin Mann joins Dan and Jake to talk Apple, automation, and life. - March 4, 2020
BONUS #4 - The Commodore Cast with Jeff Berg and Andrew Welyczko - Previous guests cateye and jaberg sit down with Dan to reminisce and commiserate about all things Commodore. C64s, Amigas, and maybe even a little guru meditation in the Icon Garden! - March 11, 2020
34 - This Old Mac With Stephen Hackett - Mac Power Users cohost and 512pixels author Stephen Hackett stops by the Garden to talk old Macs, WWDC in 2020, and our memories of beards less gray. March 18, 2020
35 - Personal Finance Software - No fooling here, it's April first and, at least in the states, our yearly event of filing taxes is coming soon. We're not just talking tax software, though, this episode is all about the state of personal finance software on Apple platforms. - April 1, 2020.
36 - The 2020 iPad Pro - Now that it's been out for a few weeks, we take a deeper look at the 2020 iPad Pro and the pointer support added in 13.4. Is it worth upgrading your hardware (or downsizing your screen)? - April 15, 2020
37 - They Call Me The Working Mac with Bradley Chambers - Bradley Chambers from 9to5mac.com stops by the garden to talk with us about how we're dealing with computing in our working lives, and how our Apple platforms fit in. - April 29, 2020
38 - The Primary iPad with Geoff Farinha - Friend of the show Geoff Farinha stops by to talk about iPads as primary computing devices, and we chat about the new 13 inch MacBook Pro. - May 13, 2020
39 - iOS 13.5 Exposure Notification - iOS 13.5 is out with Apple and Google's joint exposure notification API. Jake's wife, Doctor Vivian Pugh joins us along with 9to5Mac's Zac Hall to talk about how tech can help us in this era of quarantine and social distancing. - May 27, 2020
40 - WWDC Wishes and Wonders - WWDC is coming Real Soon Now™ and thankfully it aligns with our regular publishing schedule! We talk predictions as well as desires for Apple to solve our highly specific tech problems. - June 10, 2020
41 - WWDC 2020 Keynote Extravaganza - Special guest Steve Streza returns to the garden to talk Apple's big announcements in the WWDC 2020 Keynote and State of the union - June 24, 2020
42 - WWDC 2020 Wrap-up and Beta Bonanza - Jake's back this week and we talk all sorts of hot topics like Apple's gaming changes, rumored charger options, and our post-sessions thoughts about WWDC and how it should operate next year. - July 8, 2020
43 - Glorified Electric Typewriter Programs - A show about the most noble of nerd pursuits, word processing. We talk our tools of present and past and our process for, well, processing all the words that must be processed. July 22, 2020
44 - Peripheral Paraphernalia 2.0 - It's been over a year since we talked about all of the new doohickeys and devices that make our computing lives easier. Dan and Jake chat about their newest peripherals and add-ons. August 5, 2020
45 - Apple Watch in 2020 - Friend of the show Ian Blackburn returns to talk all things Apple Watch. Plus, we chat ZX Spectrum Next, new iMacs, Apple and Epic squabbles, and more. August 19, 2020
46 - Tech Enthusiasm Yesterday and Today - Colin Wirth, host of This Does Not Compute, joins Dan to talk about Apple today and yesterday, and what it means being a tech enthusiast in the modern era. September 2, 2020
47 - Apple September 2020 Special Event - New iPads and Apple Watches, oh boy! Dan and Jake sit down post-event to give the most up-to-date analysis of the new Apple products. September 16, 2020
48 - App Store Developer Relations - Special guest Maegan Wilson stops by to discuss the current state of App Store developer relations, like policies, app review, and business models. September 30, 2020
49 - Apple October 2020 iPhone Event - Hot-off-the-microphone takes ahoy as Dan and Jake convene to discuss the iPhone announcement event. October 14, 2020
50 - Back in the Smart Life Again with Matt Corey - Friend of the show and iOS HomeKit developer Matt Corey joins Dan and Jake! Matt talks about his new HomeKit app, Signals, and discusses all things HomeKit. Plus, Jake finally gets and reviews that mythical unicorn of HomeKit devices, a HomeKit doorbell! Finally, we talk new iPhone and Home accessories like HomePod Mini, MagSafe, and AirTags fit in to the connected life. October 28, 2020
51 - Apple November 2020 Mac Special Event - Dan and Jake are hot on the tail of an Apple Special Event! This time it’s about the unveiling of the first Apple Silicon Macs. What’s changed? What’s the same? And are they just making a bunch of crazy promises? Plus: Jake learns a lesson! Dan watched Dave Letterman Interview Lizzo! Join us for this hot off the microphones special event. November 11, 2020
52 - The Road to Big Sur with Jay McNiff - The new M1 Macs are out in the wild, and until Dan and Jake get ones of their own, they do the next best thing: bring in a guest! Friend of the show Jay McNiff stops by to talk about the new M1 MacBook Air, Big Sur, and obscure giant robots. Also, Jake has HomePods Mini! Do these little spheres pack big sound? Listen to find out. November 25, 2020
53 - Mac to the Future with Krazy Ken - Catch the Crazy! Dan and Jake are joined in the studio by Krazy Ken to speculate about future Macs based on imagined (and rumored) new Apple Silicon chips. Dan talks about rescuing a hot rod Power Mac 8100. Jake experiments with HomeKit Adaptive Lighting. Ken recalls his greatest tech misadventures. December 9, 2020
54 - The 2020 Icon Garden Holiday Special with Jeff Berg - Ho ho ho! Merry Macmas! Jeff Berg rejoins Dan and Jake to talk about the present that Santa Tim dropped for all the good Apple children: AirPods Max! Jake has a pair of the new headphones and we review features, audio quality, comparisons, all of it! Plus, we try Apple Fitness+, and a holiday episode wouldn’t be complete without a holiday gift guide for all the techies in your life. Pour a cup of cheer and listen in! December 22, 2020
55 - The 2021 Inauguarl Tech-Tacular - Ring in the new year with Dan and Jake! Now that the new year is in session, it’s time for a holiday review. What did we give (and get) for the holidays this year? How are Jake’s AirPods Max holding up—and what’s this about a great, inexpensive third party case from an unexpected source? And how painful can it be to construct holiday gifts for children? All these and more as we start off 2021 right. Plus, Jake tries to install a smart shower. Listen in to find out how it went! January 6, 2020
56 - Keeping Vintage Macs Alive with Steve AKA Mac84 - Special guest Steve, AKA Mac84, joins Dan and Jake to talk all things retro. Ever wanted to restore an old Mac but didn’t know where to start? How about collecting old Apple clones? We’ve got all your favorite flea market and eBay finds right here. Listen for some nostalgia and commiseration! January 20, 2020
57 - Fitness Technology Roundtable - Get buff, get tough! The Icon Garden Roundtable is back, this time the subject is fitness technology, apps, and more! Special guests Isaac Niebeling, Dustin Ray, and Ian Blackburn sit down to talk smart exercise bikes, fitness games, how social media and apps work into our fitness routines, and more. February 3, 2020
Macinography - Our new series in off-weeks focusing on interesting Apple and Apple-adjacent products. Long form scripted shows taking a deep, researched dive into something specific and interesting.
1 - The Macintosh LC II - The venerable pizza box form factor started with the LC series. What made these Macs special, and how did they impact the market? One Mac for delivery, coming right up. August 14, 2019
2 - System 7 - The Mac needed an OS for the 90s, and System 7 took the mantle from an unlikely position. Would seven be the Mac's lucky number? September 25, 2019
3 - The Titanium PowerBook G4 - Some laptops had power. Others had style. Wouldn't you want to have it all? Steve thought so, and one of the most beautiful—yet flawed—laptops was born. - October 23, 2019
4 - The Rise and Fall of Iomega's Zip Drive - Floppies were fluky, tapes were tardy, and SyQuests were spendy. Mac users needed cheap, plentiful external storage. What could save the day? Iomega's Zip disk promised 100 MB of fast storage, but would it be enough to take over the removable storage world? - November 20, 2019
5 - The Macintosh Color Classic - After nearly ten years, the compact Mac form factor was looking, well, a bit gray. Apple's new color compact Mac got a shiny new display, but would end up being known more for its life after cancellation. - December 18, 2019
6 - Microsoft Word 5.1- The humble word processor is a ubiquitous part of computing. But much like the Battlefront of operating systems, fans of word processors extolled the virtues and exploited their tools to the highest order. Perhaps none is more highly regarded than Word 5.1, and we look at why this iteration still stands the test of time. - January 29, 2020
7 - The First Power Macs- In the nineties, Apple's processor architecture was falling behind the competition. Motorola won a few battles, but Intel was winning the war. Enter IBM with a hot new architecture that could help both Apple and Motorola. Would they succeed in putting more Power into the Mac? And just how good were those first generation Power Macs anyway? Listen to find out. - February 26, 2020
8 - FireWire - For years, high performance I/O on the Mac was SCSI, the persnickety and often mis-terminated friend we loved to hate. Apple had a plan to put SCSI to bed with a new technology that would put other bus protocols on notice. Listen in to learn the story of FireWire and how it navigated a crowded I/O market. - March 25
9 - The First PowerBooks - In the eighties, our arms ached from lugging around big, heavy portable computers everywhere. Some companies started making laptops, but the real game changer were notebooks made by NEC and Compaq. Where was Apple in all of this? They stumbled with the Mac Portable, but a resourceful team had a plan: make the smallest, most powerful notebooks on the market. Listen in to learn about the birth of the PowerBook and how Apple changed laptop history. - April 22
10 - OpenDoc and Apple's Development Doldrums - In the beleaguered era, developing for the Macintosh was radically different than today. But one project of Apple’s stood out from the rest. OpenDoc wasn’t just a way to link data, but aimed to redefine how we interact with documents and applications. With partners like IBM, Novell, and WordPerfect, how could it fail? - May 20, 2020
11 - Trackpads and the Portable Pointing Device Wars - The ubiquitous trackpad on our laptops had humble beginnings. Listen to the history of touchpads and how they fought trackballs and trackpoints to gain mobile pointing device leadership. - June 17, 2020
12 - The Macintosh II Series - Steve Jobs loved his all-in-one Mac, but not everyone was happy with its limitations. Even before Steve’s departure, engineers were planning a new expandable Mac with color screens and lots of power. From the cancelled Big Mac to a Wicked Fast IIfx, the projects that made the Macintosh II series were some of Apple’s most influential. July 29, 2020
13 - The Sexy, Sassy Story of SCSI - Apple made a strategic blunder when they shipped the Mac without a hard disk drive. Meanwhile, computing was yearning for standard interfaces for attaching these spinning disks. Listen to learn the history of SCSI, the interface that brought mass storage to the Mac. August 26, 2020
14 - The LC 500 and Power Mac 5000 Series - A long time ago, in a schoolyard far far away, the computer was a rarity. Apple conquered the classrooms of the eighties with the Apple II, but repeating that success in the nineties with the Macintosh would be a more difficult feat. Before the iMac, Apple launched many big-screen all in ones. Listen to find out how successful (or disastrous) this was for Apple in their most challenging era yet. September 30, 2020
15 - The Road to ARMageddon - November 2020 marks the thirtieth anniversary of ARM Limited. With Apple switching to Arm-based Apple Silicon for Macs, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's Arm's desktop debut, but it's not the first time for Arm on the desktop. How did ARM go from powering Acorn Computers, a veteran of the British Micro wars, into the world's most popular architecture? And how did Apple and ARM save each other in their hours of need? Listen in to find out. October 21, 2020
16 - How The Aaron Extension Saved the World - If there’s one thing users love, it’s customizing their computers. Extensions were the cause of, and solution to, all of Classic Mac OS’ problems. The humble INIT made your Mac more powerful, or just more attractive. Ironically, the system that tried to kill the extension, Copland, inspired some of the most popular add-ons—especially ones that mimicked its new interface. Was Jeff Goldblum really running the Aaron extension on his PowerBook in Independence day? Listen to learn how the shareware community, and the Aaron extension, changed the Mac. November 18, 2020
17 - The Print Shop - Decades ago, making your own holiday cards was a tedious affair of hand writing and poorly drawing a season’s greeting. What if your new home computer made it easy to design attractive custom cards? You’d make one for everybody—even Uncle Frank. Aldus and Adobe might have led the charge, but Broderbund Software was just as critical to introducing desktop publishing to the masses. But there’s more to this groundbreaking app than banners—it starred in a titanic legal battle to determine the future of software copyright. Tune in to find out. December 17, 2020
Feel free to post feedback (complaints, criticism, compliments, etc) here in this thread. We'll post when we're doing recordings and we'd like suggestions/questions relating to upcoming shows so we can include them in the discussion. We're not trying to speak for the whole forum, we're just two guys talking about Apple and Macs.
Note: Episodes 1 and 2 will sound a little different because I will be editing them due to antiwraith having a personal matter to attend to in the past week.
Our theme song is composed by Space Vixen, whose work you can find at http://spacevixen.bandcamp.com.
His tone does sound better in #1 versus #0 and we're working to improve his space (like getting acoustic dampening and so on).
