John Siracusa

Siracusa Says

A fun collection of things John Siracusa has said on podcasts

The Shrinking Modem Sound

The number of people who know the modem sound shrinks everyday

Podcast: Accidental Tech Podcast
Episode: 514: My Immense Softness

Casey
I get the bad feeling all of our good content happened before we went live

Marco
Don’t worry i’m using some of that for the pre-show in the in the release version all right good deal yeah bootleg people go listen to the release version of like the first you know five minutes and you’ll hear everything that just happened not even 45 seconds yeah listen to the modem sound

John
How many people i i guess in our audience it’s fine but we always refer to it as the modem sound just the number of people who know what that is or will recognize it when they hear it or know what we’re talking about just shrinks every day

Marco
Yeah but but i think among our i think it’s shrinking in the world but i think in our audience is staying about the same possibly even growing

John
We need some more period like period piece movies that are that capture that little slice of time when the internet was a thing but most people were getting onto it with modems like that that was not a very long period of time but for the people who lived through it it was significant and no one has really done like a period piece.

I mean setting aside like war games and the acoustic coupler and all that this is i’m talking about the like you know 2400 baud and on normal people are on the internet but they’re using modems to do it era

RAM Christmas

It's RAM Christmas around here

Podcast: Accidental Tech Podcast
Episode: 611: RAM Christmas

John
If you get the M4 Mac mini, your maximum is 32 gigs of RAM and your maximum is two terabytes of SSD just because Apple says so. Right. There’s the RAM. Maybe that’s a limitation based on the SOC on which ones they want to manufacture. But the SSD doesn’t make any sense.

And the M4 Pro. Imagine this. It starts at 24 gigabytes of RAM.

Can you imagine? Can you imagine? How is this even happening? It starts at 20. The base RAM on the M4 Pro model is 24 gigs.

It’s like, it’s just, it’s Ram Christmas around here.

Celebrating the Roundness of the Number 600

John celebrates the roundness of the number in front of the title.

Podcast: Accidental Tech Podcast
Episode: 600: Everyone Ends Up at Crab

Marco
This is our 600th episode.

Casey
Oh, crap.

Casey
I didn’t even realize.

John
I cannot believe Casey didn’t know this.

Casey
I completely forgot.

Marco
You really didn’t know?

Casey
Well, I knew like a few days ago, and I just hadn’t thought about it since then. Oh, man.

John
Mr. Anniversary. Jeez.

Casey
I know. I have fallen down on the job. Genuinely, I am gobsmacked because I completely forgot that that was today. Holy crap. 600 episodes. How?

John
I mean, it’s not our 600th. It’s our 600 and something because we have like, you know, we did the special interview episode. Of course, there’s all the member specials and so on and so forth. Even just in the main feed, because we did that interview special separately, we already passed 600.

But anyway, it is the 600th numbered episode of ATP.

Marco
John’s going to John.

John
I’m just saying, like I said, what we’re celebrating is the roundness of the number that’s in front of the title and not necessarily the number of things that we have made.

Marco
laughing

Eight Outstays Its Welcome

John would not rather always wait for the RAM doubling. How about a 96? How about throw a 96 in there somewhere?

Podcast: Accidental Tech Podcast
Episode: 602: A Glimpse of a Better World

John
Again, RAM is usually sold in powers of two, and it usually makes sense to do the doubling or whatever. But what it means, if Apple is going to really hold the line on RAM for a long time, is it’s not a smooth ramp. It’s like just 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 for just years and years and years. And you’re like, oh, it’s OK.

You know, when it went from 4 to 8, it’s like, wow, everyone gets 8. That’s going to be great. And then you’re like, 8 is OK. And then you’re like, well, you know, you probably shouldn’t buy one with 8. And you’re like, oh, really, don’t get the base model that has it. You really need to get 16.

Like, 8 outstays its welcome. And it’s like, you know, you could have gone to 12 at some point in there. But instead, it’s just going to be 8 forever.

And this rumor is we’re going to go from 8 to 16, which I’m all for. I’d rather go from 8 to 16, right? But I’d rather not always have to wait for the doubling because it’s going to become untenable. Like, what about when you’re going from 64 to 128?

That’s a missing 64 gigs of RAM that you have to live with until finally it becomes completely ridiculous that they’re only shipping with 64 gigs of RAM. And then finally you get 128, right?

How about a 96? How about throw a 96 in there somewhere?

Tell Us You're Not Going to Break the Rules

"Promise you won't be bad!" "I won't be bad." "UNCONVINCING!"

Podcast: Accidental Tech Podcast
Episode: 577: Colorful Criticism

John
So Phil Schiller says, Epic, you’ve been bad. Are you going to be good? Tell us in writing you’re going to be good. Tim Sweeney says, in a very short paragraph, we are totally going to be good. We will comply with all your terms, current and future. If there’s anything specific you want us, any specific assurances, if you want us to say specifically, we won’t TP your house. We’ll say it. Just let us know. So I saw this exchange and I’m like, all right, well, so Phil Schiller is basically saying, look, we don’t like you. You’re bad. You’re saying mean things about us. Seems like you’re going to break the rules. Tell us you’re not going to break them. Tim Sweeney says, we’re totally not going to break the rules. Here’s Apple’s response.

Casey
Mr. Sweeney’s response to that request was wholly insufficient and not credible. He’s the CEO. How is that not credible? Anyway, it boiled down to an unsupported trust us.

John
I mean, let’s pause here. What did he want? What could be in that document in text, in written form, that would not be trust? Is there some kind of like, like blockchain derived, like trusted intermediate, like you asked for written assurances. You got written assurances and it’s like, they were wholly insufficient. Like, was there not enough groveling? Did he not apologize for the hot garbage?

I'm Living Your Future

The future is John's, we just hope to be able to live in it.

Podcast: Accidental Tech Podcast
Episode: 494: Ultra-Wideband Park Bench

John
I’m living in your future. Someday you will all listeners and co-hosts have a quantum dot OLED television probably. And you’ll like it a lot.

Every iPhone Will Have as Much RAM as the Mac

Apple may love RAM in iPhones, but they despise it in Macs.

Podcast: Accidental Tech Podcast
Episode: 584: Daisy Hates Ticketmaster

John
We are at the moment where every, uh, you know, iPhone, current model, iPhone, the iPhone 16 or whatever, will come with as much base RAM as the low end Macs.

Marco
Oh my God,

Casey
that’s so bad.

John
How soon before every new iPhone you can buy has more base RAM than say a MacBook Air, because apparently Apple will increase the RAM inside its, inside its iPhones, but they will not increase the RAM inside the Macs.

Y'all is Spreading

He didn't say it in a southern accent, but he did say it.

Podcast: Accidental Tech Podcast
Episode: 585: Everyone Heard the Same Nonsense

John
Did they say howdy in Tennessee? Is that a howdy state?

Casey
I don’t even know.

John
It definitely seems like a howdy state.

Casey
I mean, I’m in a y’all state, so who am I to really throw stones on that issue?

Marco
Honestly, I kind of wish I was in a y’all state.

Casey
Oh, it’s the best.

Marco
The second person plural is extremely useful, and the rest of English doesn’t really…

John
I think y’all is spreading. I think I need to see the y’all map. I think it’s spreading. I don’t think it’s South only anymore. I hear it a lot around here. I used it myself a lot at work. I heard it a lot at work at my jobby jobs. Yeah.

Casey
I cannot fathom…

John
Like, unironically, not trying to do…

Casey
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

John
I think it’s not common, but I think it’s spreading. That’s my opinion.

Casey
Man, I am here for you, Mr. John Syracuse, saying y’all. Like, that…

John
I’m sure I have. I’m sure I have said it on the show, and I bet you two didn’t even bat an eye at it.

Casey
Well, I certainly wouldn’t.

John
Because you’re so used to hearing it. Like, I didn’t say it with a Southern accent.

Thank You, Plumber

Plumbers give the best advice so now John composts.

Podcast: Robot or Not?
Episode: 286: Dishwashing Methods

John
My practice has always been more or less what you said. We do also have compost and we also have garbage disposal, though we use it much less now. After it clogged and I asked the plumber, is there anything I can do to avoid having this problem in the future? He said, yeah, don’t use your garbage disposal. So thank you, plumber, for the advice. But anyway, we compost now.

Fans Are a Threat to Me

John's life is in constant peril because he's constantly dodging the fans that threaten him.

Podcast: Accidental Tech Podcast
Episode: 580: Socks in the Knob-Hole

Casey
Anyway what’s wrong with ceiling fans? John what is your ridiculous angst against them?

John
I’m not it’s not angst, i don’t say there’s anything wrong i just didn’t know Marco was a fan person. Fan people are people who need to have fans blowing on them in most of the rooms in their house

Marco
I wouldn’t say need to but

John
I would say need to

Marco
What a fan does is it it buys you some headroom from needing like the air conditioning to be colder. So for instance

John
Speaking of headroom, fan people tend to be shorter no offense

Marco
How low are your ceilings that you’re going to hit your head on a fan?

John
My ceilings are very low and in my in-laws house where they are fan people i am forever dodging fans with my head.

Marco
How tall are you?

Casey
Yeah, John, you’re not 17 feet tall, my word!

John
I’m tall enough that fans are a threat to me

Buy me a coffee