The Talk Show

‘A Monkey on a Rock’, With Stephen Hackett

Sunday, 25 May 2025

Stephen Hackett, proprietor of 512 Pixels and co-founder of Relay (purveyor of many fine podcasts), joins the show. Topics include: IO (or if you will, io), the new joint venture of OpenAI and Jony Ive’s LoveFrom; the sheer fantasy of “Made in America” iPhones; and Fortnite’s return to the US App Store.

Sponsored by:

• WorkOS: The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS — free up to 1 million monthly active users.
• BetterHelp: Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp and get on your way to being your best self.
• Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.

Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.

Links:

• Stephen, at 512 Pixels: “Memphis Chamber of Commerce Claims No New Gas Turbines Will be Placed at Second xAI Location, Despite Documents to the Contrary”.
• Tom’s Hardware: “TSMC’s Labor Practices Draw Serious Concern in Arizona — the Company’s New Chip Plant Allegedly Plagued by Worker Abuses”.
• How Dr. Drang helped build Apple’s retail empire.
• Ars Technica: “Google Adds Veo 2 Video Generation to Gemini App”.
• The “fat” 3rd-gen iPod Nano from 2008.
• Dan Moren’s 2009 review of the no-button iPod Shuffle.
• Jony Ive introducing the first “unibody” MacBook Pros in 2008. Really good.
• Tech specs for the 1984 original Macintosh, whose screen dimensions, believe it or not, I stumped Stephen on.

This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.