Episode 6: 6: Frivolous Things

FromHypercritical

Start listening View podcast show

Episode 6: 6: Frivolous Things

FromHypercritical

ratings:

Length:

104 minutes

Released:

Feb 18, 2011

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

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.

Released:

Feb 18, 2011

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

A weekly talk show ruminating on exactly what is wrong in the world of Apple and related technologies and businesses. Nothing is so perfect that it can't be complained about. Hosted by John Siracusa & Dan Benjamin.

Skip carousel

6: Frivolous Things: 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. by Hypercritical
104 min listen
7: ThunderCats: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk about the big Apple news: new MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt i/o and the first developer preview release of Mac OS X Lion. by Hypercritical
90 min listen
13: The Tortoise and the Hare: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Pixar, Facebook's open datacenter initiative, Star Wars, and, finally, Apple’s philosophy and practice of UI consistency over the years. by Hypercritical
85 min listen
1: Dream Crusher: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the sad state of TV technology, why TiVo sucks (but is still better than the alternatives), and why Apple has demurred. by Hypercritical
58 min listen
2: Backup Vortex: 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. by Hypercritical
75 min listen
9: No iLife is an Island: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin further opine on the iPad 2 and the Apple Strategy Tax, then discuss iLife's anachronistic media management capabilities. by Hypercritical
65 min listen
24: Sometimes It Hurts: 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. by Hypercritical
72 min listen
18: Worse and More Diverse: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin put the TV technology and PHP topics to bed, then discuss what's wrong with Twitter and why toaster ovens are worse today than they were a few decades ago. by Hypercritical
74 min listen
8: A Cautionary Tale: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin vow never to talk about physics again, then discuss the new iPad and, finally, how Apple has set itself up for a Microsoft-like dark age. by Hypercritical
77 min listen
33: Square Bracket Colon Smiley: 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. by Hypercritical
77 min listen
14: A Dark Age of Objective-C: 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. by Hypercritical
87 min listen
3: The Mouse is Not a Finger: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin do some follow-up on the topic of backups, then talk about Mac OS X Lion and the future of Mac OS X. by Hypercritical
69 min listen
39: Quasimodo Backpack: 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, by Hypercritical
92 min listen
5: Slippery Little Pill: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Apple’s hardware blind spots: keyboards, dock connector, iPod/iPhone cases, laptop designs, and more. by Hypercritical
61 min listen
16: The Soap Opera Effect: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin repent after two episodes on programming languages by discussing TV technology…after about 45 minutes of follow-up. by Hypercritical
102 min listen
19: Don't Make Me Read: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk toasters again, then discuss John's first computer love, the classic Macintosh Finder. by Hypercritical
58 min listen
12: Nothing Is So Perfect: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin turn a critical eye towards last week's episode, then try to pick the single biggest challenge facing three different wildly successful companies: Google, Facebook, and yes…Pixar. by Hypercritical
72 min listen
29: In Too Deep: 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. by Hypercritical
81 min listen
21: Reading Playboy for the Articles: 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). by Hypercritical
104 min listen
25: Invisible Software: 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, by Hypercritical
76 min listen
4: iOS vs. The World: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin revisit Mac OS X Lion and TV devices, then discuss the possibilities for iOS world domination. by Hypercritical
65 min listen
37: A Story of Triumph: 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 po by Hypercritical
72 min listen
10: Like Giving a Machine Gun to a Baby: 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. by Hypercritical
85 min listen
42: The Wrong Guy: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs (Part 1). by Hypercritical
75 min listen
20: I've Got Nothing: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss John's upcoming trip to WWDC, Twitter's strange gaps in functionality, and the sale of NetNewsWire to Black Pixel. by Hypercritical
46 min listen
22: I Would Not Build Underground: 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. by Hypercritical
77 min listen
36: Wedge: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Amazon's new tablets, Amazon cloud services, 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 App by Hypercritical
86 min listen
15: The Bridges of Siracusa County: 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. by Hypercritical
103 min listen
11: I Am the Steve Jobs of This Sandwich: 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. by Hypercritical
78 min listen
35: Wrestling an Alligator: 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. by Hypercritical
86 min listen

More Episodes from Hypercritical

Skip carousel

100: Metacritical by Hypercritical
101 min listen
99: New Siracusa County Bros. U: 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 the Wii U GamePa by Hypercritical
121 min listen
98: Hardware Machismo by Hypercritical
127 min listen
97: Idle Doodles: 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! by Hypercritical
115 min listen
96: Blue Peter: 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. by Hypercritical
105 min listen
95: Black Friday: 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. by Hypercritical
108 min listen
94: Shrink, Shrink, Shrink!: 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. by Hypercritical
100 min listen
93: A Magic Elf in My Computer: 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. by Hypercritical
115 min listen
92: The Tim Cook Era: 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. by Hypercritical
126 min listen
91: Adolescence: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the new hardware announced at the October 23rd Apple event: the latest Retina MacBook Pro, the new iMac, Fusion Drive, and, of course, the new iPads, both mini and Retina. by Hypercritical
144 min listen
90: Salad Days: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin ponder the upcoming Apple event, assess details of the iPhone 5 and iPod touch, discuss pricing for the Microsoft Surface to its possible competitors, and discuss John's approach to getting value from Twitter. by Hypercritical
123 min listen
89: Lazy Sunday: 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. by Hypercritical
97 min listen
88: Nobody Leaves Email: 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. by Hypercritical
115 min listen
87: Smarter and Harder: 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. by Hypercritical
91 min listen
86: Naked Robotic Core: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss thew 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? by Hypercritical
85 min listen
85: Just Check the Checkbox!: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss all the things that went wrong during John's Mountain Lion ebook publishing experience. Please note that this episode was recorded before the September 12th Apple event. by Hypercritical
102 min listen
84: Spared No Expense: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss Amazon's new Kindle and Kindle Fire products and make their predictions for next week's Apple press event. Is Amazon Apple's most dangerous competitor? Who is Amazon's ideal customer? by Hypercritical
129 min listen
83: Dishonorable: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the Apple v. Samsung court case, the rumors and leaks about the next iPhone, the possible internals of the rumored iPad mini, and which company we'd like to buy Twitter. by Hypercritical
90 min listen
82: The Opposite of Comprehensive: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin complete their discussion of John's Mountain Lion review. Topics include power management, UI simplification, automatic termination, Facebook integration, and plagiarizing from yourself. by Hypercritical
127 min listen
81: Channels of Control: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss the latest round of Twitter API changes and their effect on third-party clients, and inevitably follow up about App.Net. by Hypercritical
123 min listen
80: Memory Palace: John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin continue to discuss John's review of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. by Hypercritical
100 min listen
79: Grandpa Uncle Joe: John Siracusa is on vacation this week, so we instead present its ersatz replacement, 'Kindacritical', with Dan Benjamin, Marco Arment, and Merlin Mann. by Hypercritical
104 min listen
78: Sins of the Father: 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 b by Hypercritical
146 min listen
77: Nucleation Site: 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. by Hypercritical
107 min listen
76: Selling a Dream: 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 sho by Hypercritical
126 min listen
75: Just a Dinosaur: 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 custome by Hypercritical
93 min listen
74: Everybody Wants to Rule the World: 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 tha by Hypercritical
119 min listen
73: 22 Degrees: 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 intri by Hypercritical
102 min listen
72: Seven Levels of Air Quotes: 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. by Hypercritical
69 min listen
71: Bristling With Controls: 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. by Hypercritical
107 min listen

Discover this podcast and so much more

Episode 6: 6: Frivolous Things

Episode 6: 6: Frivolous Things

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Hypercritical