The pain of WWDC recaps on every podcast

I find Marco quite refreshing amidst all the usual fanboys. Keep in mind that he’s also one of the few who truely knows what he’s talking about (as a seasoned and as it seems pretty successful developer). So much better than people whose only achievement is writing a 100 page review about a new iPad.

2 Likes

It’s not his development discussions that grate.

It’s always struck me as a little tone deaf to talk about how “difficult” life can be when he’s living at his second house on an island and the mail doesn’t get there quickly or he has to deal with a repair and it’s hard to get back to the mainland.

(And, as an aside, with ads on ATP going for $5000+ a week and each episode usually having 3 sponsors, I suspect Marco makes far more money from talking about Apple than he does as a developer on Apple’s platforms. Marco’s biggest success was likely being on the Tumblr team when they were originally bought out.)

I don’t listen to any podcasts by people I consider to be fanboys. In fact, I think that insightful critique is one of the things that I find most interesting, especially when it comes from a place of “I like this company/its products so much I want it to be better” e.g. Siracusa’s perspective.

What I find less interesting is people who can take a grievance and go on about it for 45 minutes.

I also enjoy it when people can say “I know this company isn’t perfect, but I’m going to tell you what it is that I like so much about the apps/OS/products that they make and which I use.”

Even this criticism of Marco and ATP comes from a place of very much enjoying the conversations they can have but being frequently disappointed in the conversations they do have.

And when they start talking about cars, I turn Smart Speed up to over 3x. There was a reason that Neutral failed.

6 Likes

I have no problem with their occasional criticism of Apple, etc. About the only time I reach for the stop button is when they veer into subjects of which they have absolutely no knowledge.

I have the same problem with movies. I can accept that the Millennium Falcon made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs, but not that you can fire 10 rounds from an S&W revolver. :grinning:

2 Likes

Having grown up in the military that made me laugh. :grinning:

2 Likes

lol I knew it was Marco.

don’t forget the time his Tesla spare tire rim did not match the other three… that was riveting podcasting…

3 Likes

OK. As someone who skips plenty of Marco, I have to disagree with this one. The Tesla replacement rim thing was never about it not matching the other three, it was about the sheer incongruity of a big, top-down organization like Tesla fixing a problem from the bottom-up by having folks at their service centers randomly (and inconsistently) spray painting replacement rims rather than a more ‘corporate’ solution (which is why the commentary on the situation from Siracusa, who has spent the most time of the three in big corporate orgs., was by far the best).

7 Likes

Which is, let’s be honest, not that much different from podcast hosts that tell how difficult life can be with three iPads and who change computers and top-of-the-line iPhones like underwear,

Agreed. No bones about it, I sincerely tip my hat to Marco for all that he has accomplished. He’s a valuable voice of the community as someone who’s done very well with his unique abilities and talents. He’s able to add some very valuable insight when it comes to certain realities of being a developer.

BUT… many of his rants border on faux disgust and pretentiousness that is laid on pretty thick, to the point that they detract from the overall quality of an episode.

1 Like

There is always the skip button :wink:

Interesting to hear Marco specifically mentioned in the Talk Show with Apple recently - they (or their staff) obviously listen… let’s see what if anything comes of it

1 Like

Personally it’s the whiny nature and his hypocrisy. There are bugs in overcast especially with carplay that have been there for years and years. Yet he complains about Apple software bugs.

4 Likes

After years of listening to tech podcasts, things can be repetitive.

I encourage you all to occasionally prune your podcast subscription garden

This brings in new perspectives and creates space in your life to listen to other podcasts. You can always come back should you miss it etc

3 Likes

I regularly unsubscribe to podcasts. I loved Talking Sopranos when it first started and have now unsubscribed due to the amount of advertisements. MPU and The Dirtbag Diaries are the only podcasts that I’ve listened to since their inception and still do.

Ironically, I love Marco’s Overcast for this very reason :wink:

I go in fits and starts with Talking Sopranos, too. But it’s mostly due to one of the hosts schtick, lol, but overall I’ve enjoyed the series.

1 Like

It’s one of my favorites, as well. There’s enough relevant Apple discussion intermixed with diversionary silliness that makes it a lot of fun :slight_smile:

There is a slight difference between a multi-billion company and a single developer. Just sayin’.

2 Likes

Take a look at Overcast ad sales, the prices and how many are sold out: Overcast

Add to that a weekly new subscriber count ($10/year) in the few hundreds (minus an unknown amount of churn), multiplied by 70-85% to account for App Store revenue share. That subscriber count has been increasing at that rate for years.

Subtract $60k/year for feed-fetching and sync servers, and an unknown amount for misc. business administration expenses.

I’m being guilty of some self-promotion here, but on our latest episode of Hemispheric Views we spent only 17 minutes talking about WWDC, and we have quite a different take from the mainstream podcasts.

2 Likes

As I said, I love ATP, but I just prefer less car and less car tire talk in my tech podcasts. maybe I am the outlier here. :grinning: