Accidental Tech Podcast - Notes

I’ve been working through the back catalog of the Accidental Tech Podcast, a long-running technology show by Marco Arment, Casey Liss and John Siracusa. When I come across something notable I’ll add it below.


Two clarifications:

  1. “What makes the list” is simply what stands out to me. I’m deeply interested in the craft of podcasts but am not a software engineer, so do not (for example) track the first appearance of each software language.
  2. Notes in italics paraphrase of what a host said. I am not providing a word-for-word transcription but believe each entry to be a fair representation - if you disagree, contact @PJCavan.

1: iPhone Plus

  • Already good audio quality (but it gets even better). No adverts yet.
  • First Apple device mentioned: Apple TV
  • Marco: the iPhone has to go bigger to be competitive
  • John makes first height joke about Marco

2: The 7th Guest

  • First game console mentioned: PS4
  • Marco: want to build a game that’s simply the train network portion of Transport Tycoon, but simpler and for iOS (did he verbally describe Mini Metro?)
  • Marco: good chance the PS4/Xbox One generation will be the last game consoles

3: Conditions Led To Freecell

  • Marco: probably won’t buy another D-SLR
  • John: Apple letting you pick another keyboard is not going to happen

4: The Bridges

  • First mention of Mac Pro
  • John: Apple will make its own language (first implicit Swift reference?)

5: Negativity, Skepticism and Doubt

  • First Marco reference of his contemporary podcast setup (Downcast)

6: Live Like Other People

  • John: I should buy another plasma. I don’t want to be forced to buy an LCD in 5-7 years
  • Marco: if Apple released a Retina display with the same construction as the new iMac screen, I’d buy it in a heartbeat
  • First advert: Squarespace

7: The Forecast for iCloud

  • Marco: iCloud as it exists will not be fixed. Will need MobileMe-like overhaul of user data model.
  • First appearance of outro song, and bleeps and bloops version.

8: Hold Me!

  • Marco: Apple moving to Google’s browser rendering engine (Blink)? Yeah right.
  • Second advertiser: Igloo

9: Fish Bicycle Scenario

  • First iTunes review request
  • Marco: two years I would have believed Office will come to iPad, but now Microsoft have a tablet I don’t.

10: Gradual Ramp Up To Nothing

  • Marco sold his Apple stock at $460

11: A Particularly Exuberant Adolescence

  • First mention of Marco’s “next app”, in context of the Instapaper sale. App not yet described.

14: Pouring Champagne Onto Rap Stars

  • Marco: the idea of maintaining a second house? I hate all that crap.

15: Cat, Modifier Cat

  • Marco: I know what my next app will be. If you see what sessions I go to at WWDC you can figure it out.

16: John, We Don’t Play Games

  • First rock intro - who is Casey?

17: Can’t Innovate Anymore

  • First pre-roll advert: Backblaze

19: Designed by App in Cal

  • Marco: I’ll use node.js when I start a project in 5 years (he did, briefly)

21: The Transitive Property of Nerdiness

  • Marco: I’m guessing Feedly will explode fast then burn out

25: Thrustmaster Joystick

  • First mention of Marco’s drift removal app (Audio Align/Sidetrack; birth of Forecast?)

26: Three Phones Ago

  • First non-host appearance: Tiff Arment
  • John: Apple should offer equivalent GBs of owned devices as iCloud space (still a reasonable request in 2020)

29: Computerized Garden Gnome

  • John and Casey very suspicious of how reliable a “fingerprint scanner” might be. May be a toy that’s interesting for 2-3 days then ignored.

31: Swimming In 16 GB Gold

  • First reference to Apple using ARM CPU in a laptop

32: It Doesn’t Bother Me

  • Overcast announced in Portland then referenced on the podcast

33: A 30-Minute Skip Button

  • John: people (other than me) should wait for the second generation of this 2013 Mac Pro.
  • Marco: I want to be able to tell publishers how far listeners got through their episodes.

34: Made The Dot Smaller

  • Extended John rant on Apple’s server-side expertise (still largely applicable in 2020)

47: Better Pixels

  • LAN gaming discussion, v1

52: Necessary But Not Sufficient

  • Marco: we were invited to Patreon but I don’t feel right about putting ATP on there. We make good money through ads.
  • John: Patreon is fine if it’s the only way you make money. If you’re ad supported, it almost feels like you’re just trying to get a little bit extra by soaking your 200 best fans. If you’re going to soak your 200 best fans for money, I’d much rather see them get something out of it like a t-shirt because then they’re getting something which expresses their superfandom. I’d rather sell someone swag than do Patreon.
  • Casey: I agree on all counts.

67: Tim Said, Man

  • John: people would never want to wear a device tight enough to measure pulse.
  • Marco: hidden is good. Wearing electronics is not cool.

73: Notifications Duck

  • Casey: a 5.5” phone? I can’t see that in my life; a damn tablet.

99: Pop-Up Headlights

  • Extended “ARM MacBook” discussion, in context of MacBook 12” rumors

102: Marco is Not a Platform

  • Marco: Is Ireland the UK? I think the bottom half is?
  • Marco: NSConference is in… Lie-Chester?

125: A Better Future for Everybody

  • First episode with chapters. Hooray!

135: Uncomfortable in My Pants

  • Marco releases his ad-blocker, Peace.

136: War and Peace

  • Marco pulls and refunds Peace.

140: Harpooned a Turle

  • John: I will buy a Mac Pro before I create a Perl 6 project.

145: Lasers and Pew-Pew and Space Aliens

  • John: The future of tailgating will be electric pickups.

146: Control + Money + Smallness

  • First discussion of “no headphone jack in iPhone 7” rumor. Hosts skeptical Apple would do this, but Marco accurately predicts the Lightning adapter.
  • Marco: I don’t think Apple would include a passive adapter in the box. Up sell!
  • Marco: I’m guessing Apple will keep Lightning longer than USB-C would be the standard it would move to.

171: WWDC Is Not Santa Claus

  • Casey: Should I go Android?!

205: People Don’t Use the Weird Parts

  • Chris Lattner interview

214: Christmas Phone

  • John and Marco have lost all hope that Apple will ever make a Mac Pro. Casey unsure.

232: You’ve Exceeded Some Limit

  • Marco describes the bug that was causing Overcast to crash and take Springboard down with it. This bug drove me utterly insane, including seriously considering (Casey voice) “should I go Android?!”

234: Everyone Has Asterisks

  • Marco describes his (not implemented) exploration of providing a donation platform for podcasters within Overcast. Podcasters have found their own ways to make money and don’t want a middleman.

257: Smell the Wind

  • First mention of John’s cheese grater collection (no, not a Mac Pro reference)

269: Cooled by Jellyfish

  • First Molekule ad. Makes claims since found false by the NAD (advertising standards body).

285: Do Not Drill Holes in This House

  • Marco predicts the first ARM Mac in two years (2020), with the transition taking three years.
  • Casey: around five years.
  • John doesn’t put a stake in the ground - discusses possibilities of “2020” or “5-10+”.

291: John’s Special Day

  • John: in the next five years (from September 2018), Apple will sell a phone smaller than the iPhone 10.
  • Marco: doesn’t agree - $1 bet agreed.

292: Start a Rotate Chicken Nuggets Timer

  • Marco added offline Apple Watch playback after WatchOS 3 because someone at Apple asked him to do so. The functionality was then broken by WatchOS 4. Added back in Overcast 5 following WatchOS 5.

This article was updated on January 20, 2024