450: ‘Perp Walk for Selfies’, With Jason Snell

Key takeaways

• Apple's WWDC 2026 was more subdued but focused on solid, incremental improvements in software, emphasizing bug fixes, stability, and user interface refinements rather than flashy features.
• Recent advances in Siri AI indicate that Apple’s recognition and integration of AI are now paying off, leading to more capable and conversational voice assistant experiences.
• Shortcuts and automation are reaching new levels of accessibility, moving toward natural language commands and seamless AI-driven automation, fulfilling long-standing user dreams.
• The future of app development at Apple likely involves simpler, more accessible tools (akin to GarageBand for apps), making app creation easier for non-developers through AI and intuitive interfaces.
• Apple’s communication style under Tim Cook has been more reserved, but with leaders like John Ternus, there are signs of a more engaging, direct approach to interacting with press and users.
• Maintaining and continuously improving existing features is crucial. Apple’s focus on bug fixes, stability, and small UI details demonstrates a mature approach that prioritizes long-term quality over flashy new features.
• Jason Snell is launching a new 50-episode Apple history podcast, 'Designed in California,' aiming to explore Apple’s history in-depth, based on thorough research, interviews, and storytelling, supported via Kickstarter.

Summary

Sponsors

• Factor · Hey, maybe you've got lots of stuff in your fridge, but it's like you're busy, you don't have a lot of time, you're not gonna cook a whole meal right now. Factor is a great service. You get entire meals, you pick, they have a tremendous menu every week of hundreds of meal options. They come pre-packaged, you just put them in a microwave or you can heat them up in the oven or something, but they're meant to be microwaved and they taste great and it's all a single portion for one person, the whole meal. Super easy but fresh food. It It comes to you in a box refrigerated with dry ice, you put it in a fridge, you don't want to order months and months of food, you order it, like go into the grocery store and getting fresh food, really fresh, really healthy, and variety, and it's just really great. They've got so many different ways like whatever your goals are, maybe you just want tasty food that's easy to make. That's really my story. But if you're looking to lose weight, if you are on a high protein diet, if you are on GLP1 drugs and there are certain foods that you want to eat because of that, they have a hole, you can just click. That's what you want to look at and it'll filter your options based on that. Strength and workout recovery, all sorts of ways to look at the menu options. It's really, really easy. Each meal is crafted with functional ingredients. Lean proteins, colorful veggies, whole foods, healthy fats, they ban over 175 ingredients that they just do not allow in any of their meals. They have no artificial colors or sweeteners, no high fructose corn syrup, no refined seed oils, just nutrient dense ingredients. Fresh, never frozen, over 100 rotating weekly meals. My favorites, I loved, hey, everybody knows I love steak. They have really good steak. The filet mignon, I've gotten in a couple different ways, like just steak mashed potatoes, but I really love factors breakfast options. It's so good, and it's a time of the day when I am the laziest, and definitely all of my effort goes into making my fussy coffee. I do not want to spend any time on breakfast, and they have so many good breakfast options, really, really good. They've got other stuff too, not even if you don't want entire meals, you can get ready to eat salads, all sorts of stuff like that. I use Factor. I really, really like it. I mean, it's really worth checking out. Where do you go to find out more? Head to FactorMeals.com-talkshow50off. Talkshow50off. FactorMeals.com-talkshow50off. And guess what? With that code Talkshow50off, you get 50% off and free daily greens per box with a new subscription only while supplies last until September 27th, 2026. See their website for more details. FactorMills.com slash talk show 50 off.
• Squarespace · Hey, square space is you know it. They are the all-in-one Website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online Whether you're just starting out or scaling an existing business, Squarespace gives you everything you need to claim your domain, showcase your offerings with a professional website, grow your brand and get paid all in one place. And it doesn't even have to be a business, could be an organization, could be a group, could be your local softball team or something or softball league. And you need to have a website where you have the schedule and stuff like that and you're the nerd who's gonna volunteer to do it Do it at Squarespace. It is so much easier And you're like, well don't you do things like this just by doing AI now and if it's like doing a volunteer Effort for something like that. Well, yeah, you can do that in Squarespace right built in you can just click and drag And if that's what you want to do of course That's like sort of square spaces claim to fame is the wizzy wig drag and drop What you're looking at as you design the website is what visitors will see because you're doing it in the web browser And then when people come to visit your website, they see what you see But they also have AI tools if you want to just describe what you want to change or add or what you want the website to be if you're just getting started All of that is right there. They have so many built-in components that you can use. Like I said, cutting-edge design tools with Blueprint AI. That's what their name for their AI-enhanced design partner. They have the same ever-growing library of professionally designed and award-winning website templates so that you can start with a look like, yes, this is where I want to start, this is how I want to tweak it. Online stores, whether Whether you are selling products or selling your time or both, Squarespace will let you do it. You can send invoices, you can collect the actual payments all through Squarespace itself. Built-in analytics, you can see which parts of your website people are going to, where they are coming from, which parts are popular, which parts are not, which sources of traffic are working and which ones aren't. sending people to your website. All of that is built in. They even have some of the new stuff they've added. Expanded global shipping options. It's just amazing. If you're shipping, you can get the rates right there in Squarespace for shipping. Trust me, as somebody who has sent t-shirts recently, global shipping is much more complicated than it used to be. Where do you go to find out more. Same as usual, go to squarespace.com slash talk show and remember that code talk show because that's the code that saves you 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. And if you get the website and pay for a whole year, you can save 10% on the whole year. So squarespace.com slash talk show.
• Finalist · And I say they, but it's really just one developer, Slavin Rodich, and his back sponsoring this week's show, the week after WWDC finalist is I love this app. I really do. I said it on stage that I still use it after he first sponsored Daring Fireball in December. It is sort of a paper day planner in a digital form that it's iPhone, iPad, Mac, the Mac app has been making. I liked it from the start. I wouldn't have really been able to use it the way I've been using it if it didn't have a good Mac app months ago, but it's really improved lately. And it's, I keep saying over and over again, the reason it works for me is that you have days and days have tasks. Not a list of tasks and the tasks have dates assigned to them. This works for my brain in a fundamental way that a lot of other to-do lists and management type apps don't. and if you've ever thought, and none of these apps really fit with the way I work, and if you kind of have the mentality that fits with a paper planner, you should really check out finalists. It's just a great app, and the pace of development is just amazing, especially for a one. Well, I say especially for a one person team, but maybe it's because it's a one person team, and in a way that a really, really productive developer can move faster than a team ever could. it. It's just a great app. So you can go to finalist.works. That's the URL. Finalist.works /talkshow. And by going there, you get six months free off the subscription. That's an unbelievable deal. So just it's a special deal just for talk show listeners go to finalist.works/ talkshow. So you get six months free, try it. It is the type of app you're either going to be like, yes, this is for me. And again, you're not locked into like the finalist system. It's such a great ecosystem app where the calendar events come from the system level calendar. I don't even use Apple Calendar, I use Fantastic Al. That's still my calendar app. But then those events from Fantastic Al because they're in the system database, they show up in Finalist. Reminders. You tell Siri to set a reminder in the Reminders app. guess what if it has a date it shows up on that date in finalist it's it's such a great app go check it out finalist.works/ talkshow.