Good Night Garden, Hello Userlandia
The Icon Garden
A short goodbye to the Garden. We thank you for listening over the years. It's been a lot of fun!
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Episode 61: William Volk Oral History Interview - Apple, Amiga, and PC Game Pioneer
The Icon Garden
Joining Dan in the Garden today is game industry veteran William Volk. Volk started his career in late 1979 as a game tester for Avalon Hill and developed or spearheaded games across all generations of platforms. We talk Volk’s career past and present, including development in the early days of the Macintosh, the influence of gaming on education, his return to indie development with The Climate Trail, and how the Amiga keeps coming back.
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Episode 60: March Mac-ness with Matt Corey
The Icon Garden
After weathering a cold and snowy winter, Dan and Jake welcome March with open arms. It’s a season of renewal, and previous guest Matt Corey returns to talk about his new light control app, Follow the Sun. Both Jake and Matt now have M1 MacBooks Air—how do they fit in their workflows? Plus, Dan finally succumbed and bought the LG 34WK95U ultrawide monitor. Is the ultrawide life all it’s cracked up to be? Listen in to find out.
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Episode 59: Smart Kitchens and Food Technology
The Icon Garden
The dynamic duo is reunited as Jake thaws out from the Texas deep freeze—did all his smart tech survive? Dan still can’t find a GPU, and Jake adds CarPlay to his new automobile. For our main topic, we talk smart kitchen appliances, how tech has changed our grocery habits, and hot takes on easter candy too.
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Macinography 18: The Problem with Performas
The Icon Garden
Meet the Martinettis. They’re the all-American family of the nineties. When they want a computer, they hop on down to the big box store and buy a Performa, the computer made just for them. Alas, darkness lurked from within that happy Mac, seduced by the siren song of marketshare. Listen to find out how an otherwise reasonable idea almost rotted Apple from the core.
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Episode 58: Live Streaming With Your Mac with Maegan Wilson
The Icon Garden
We’ll do it live! Guest and friend of the show Maegan Wilson returns to fill in for Jake. Ever wanted to stream your games or productivity but didn’t know where to start? Dan and Maeghan talk about streaming to Twitch and YouTube using Macs (and PCs!), the gear you’ll need, and what the experience is like.
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Episode 57: Fitness Technology Roundtable with Isaac Niebeling, Dustin Ray, and Ian Blackburn
The Icon Garden
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.
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Episode 56: Keeping Vintage Macs Alive with Steve AKA Mac84
The Icon Garden
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!
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Episode 55: The 2021 Inaugural Tech-Tacular
The Icon Garden
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!
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Macinography 17: The Print Shop
The Icon Garden
Making your own holiday cards was a tedious affair. What if your 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 app than banners—it starred in a titanic legal battle to determine the future of software copyright.
info_outlineEpisode 20: Mobile Payments for Fun and Profit
And I made it Square.
For our twentieth regular show, our main topic is mobile payments…Apple Pay, Venmo, PayPal, etc. Where have we come from and where are we headed? We talk about the mobile payment revolution that has taken over the world (and drags the USA kicking and screaming along…) Dan join the iPad Pro club, Apple officially blesses third party iPhone repairs, Airlines continue to give side eye to the 2015 MacBook Pro, the bug bounty program expands, and Siri is still listening. In the HomeKit chronicles, its a trip to Sweden as we talk about Ikea’s new smart home division, the lack of announced HomeKit support on their new blinds, and Jake reviews the Symfonisk Bookshelf Speakers. We hope you enjoy this deep dive into the world of mobile payments. Don’t forget to join us for our special coverage of the Apple Event on September 10, which we plan to livestream on YouTube. Also, special thanks to Antiwraith for all of his amazing hard work in getting this podcast off the ground!!
Show Notes:
- iOS 13.1 Beta
- Apple officially allows third party iPhone repairs
- 15 Inch 2015 MacBook Pros banned from flying
- Bug Bounty Program extended to Mac OS along with special security testing iOS devices
- Indiscriminate zero-day iOS Attacks Went On For Years
- Siri listening in, Apple making changes
- Ikea Smart Home
- Ikea Smart Blinds - No HomeKit at Launch
- Ikea Symfonisk Bookshelf Speakers
Follow Us:
Our show is produced by Nathan Mace (antiwraith on Ars)and edited by Dan Vincent. Our theme song is composed by the wondrous Space Vixen, who you can find on twitter @cat_cornett and their music at spacevixen.bandcamp.com.
You can find Dan on Twitter @kefkafloyd. Against his better judgement, Jake is still on twitter @jakepugh. You can leave feedback by tweeting @icongardenshow or posting on the Icon Garden thread at the Mac Ach forum by going to http://bit.ly/tigsthread . You can subscribe to our show on your podcast platform of choice, or visit our website at icongardenshow.com.
Next Time in the Garden:
Indie Apps Then and Now with Charlie Chapman