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John Siracusa
Programmer and technology writer known for his long Mac OS X reviews at Ars Technica; co-hosts the Accidental Tech Podcast and Hypercritical.
John Siracusa did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
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What they believe
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A steering column stalk is a better control for turn signals than steering-wheel-mounted buttons.
a stalk on the steering column is still the best overall choice for activating (and de-activating) turn signals.
hypercritical.coSaid 29 May 2026This on korrents
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Pursuing financial success above all else eventually leads to ruin.
The pursuit of financial success above all else inevitably leads to ruin.
hypercritical.coSaid 21 May 2025This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Feed
As its own page →Hiding
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9 October
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1 October
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24 September
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1 September
27 August
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13 August
6 August
27 July
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7 July
29 May
From one piece EV Stupidity Checklist 3 beliefs · hypercritical.co
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Their words
the extra range provided by flush door handles is negligible, even at sustained highway speeds (and near zero at slower speeds).
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Their words
Screen technology cannot yet match the dynamic range and contrast of the real world.
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korrents.com
A steering column stalk is a better control for turn signals than steering-wheel-mounted buttons.Their words
a stalk on the steering column is still the best overall choice for activating (and de-activating) turn signals.
21 May 2025
From one piece Apple Turnaround 3 beliefs · hypercritical.co
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korrents.com
Developers value being respected and trusted by a platform more than the money it pays them.Their words
Developers like money, but what they need is respect. What they need is to feel like Apple listens to them and understands their experience. What they need is to be able to make their own decisions about their products and businesses.
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Their words
Premium brands accrue tremendous customer loyalty when their products work as expected.
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Their words
The pursuit of financial success above all else inevitably leads to ruin.
9 May 2025
From one piece Apple Turnover 3 beliefs · hypercritical.co
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Their words
The best leaders can change their minds in response to new information.
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korrents.com
Apple's current leadership path does not lead anywhere good for the company or its customers.Their words
The road we're on now does not lead anywhere good for Apple or its customers.
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korrents.com
The virtue-before-profit strategy is simple to explain but almost impossible for a company to follow.Their words
It's a strategy that's simple to explain, but almost impossible for any company to follow.
1 May 2025
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Their words
But software development is never a straight line. It's a forest. And like a forest it's easy to lose your way.
10 April 2025
25 February 2025
From one piece Hyperspace 2 beliefs · hypercritical.co
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Their words
Even so, there are still many rough edges to Swift 6, and I look forward to things being smoothed out a bit in the coming years.
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korrents.com
Building a new app with Swift 6 from the start is easier than migrating an existing, released app to it.Their words
I found it much easier to use Swift 6 from (nearly) the start than to convert an existing, released app to Swift 6.
9 February 2024
From one piece The iMessage Halo Effect 3 beliefs · hypercritical.co
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korrents.com
Apple has already missed its best opportunity to establish iMessage as the industry-standard messaging service.Their words
Apple has almost certainly missed the most advantageous window of time to make iMessage "the industry standard" messaging service.
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Their words
if iMessage is better than its competitors at all-and this is highly debatable-it is only marginally so.
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Their words
The iMessage service is not so good that it makes the iPhone more attractive to customers. It's the iPhone that makes iMessage attractive. The iPhone gives iMessage its cachet, not the other way around.
29 October 2023
18 August 2023
12 July 2023
9 May 2023
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 17 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
A steering column stalk is a better control for turn signals than steering-wheel-mounted buttons.
a stalk on the steering column is still the best overall choice for activating (and de-activating) turn signals.
EV Stupidity Checklist Said 29 May 2026
Screen technology cannot yet match the dynamic range and contrast of the real world.
Screen technology cannot yet match the dynamic range and contrast of the real world.
EV Stupidity Checklist Said 29 May 2026
Flush door handles provide only negligible aerodynamic range benefit in EVs.
the extra range provided by flush door handles is negligible, even at sustained highway speeds (and near zero at slower speeds).
EV Stupidity Checklist Said 29 May 2026
Show 14 more
Pursuing financial success above all else eventually leads to ruin.
The pursuit of financial success above all else inevitably leads to ruin.
Apple Turnaround Said 21 May 2025
Premium brands earn strong customer loyalty by consistently working as expected.
Premium brands accrue tremendous customer loyalty when their products work as expected.
Apple Turnaround Said 21 May 2025
Developers value being respected and trusted by a platform more than the money it pays them.
Developers like money, but what they need is respect. What they need is to feel like Apple listens to them and understands their experience. What they need is to be able to make their own decisions about their products and businesses.
Apple Turnaround Said 21 May 2025
The virtue-before-profit strategy is simple to explain but almost impossible for a company to follow.
It's a strategy that's simple to explain, but almost impossible for any company to follow.
Apple Turnover Said 9 May 2025
Apple's current leadership path does not lead anywhere good for the company or its customers.
The road we're on now does not lead anywhere good for Apple or its customers.
Apple Turnover Said 9 May 2025
Good leaders change their minds in response to new information.
The best leaders can change their minds in response to new information.
Apple Turnover Said 9 May 2025
Software development does not proceed along a straight, predictable path
But software development is never a straight line. It's a forest. And like a forest it's easy to lose your way.
Hyperspace Update Said 1 May 2025
Building a new app with Swift 6 from the start is easier than migrating an existing, released app to it.
I found it much easier to use Swift 6 from (nearly) the start than to convert an existing, released app to Swift 6.
Hyperspace Said 25 Feb 2025
Swift 6 still has many rough edges that should improve over the next few years.
Even so, there are still many rough edges to Swift 6, and I look forward to things being smoothed out a bit in the coming years.
Hyperspace Said 25 Feb 2025
The iPhone's own desirability is what makes iMessage attractive, not the reverse.
The iMessage service is not so good that it makes the iPhone more attractive to customers. It's the iPhone that makes iMessage attractive. The iPhone gives iMessage its cachet, not the other way around.
The iMessage Halo Effect Said 9 Feb 2024
iMessage is, at best, only marginally better than competing messaging apps.
if iMessage is better than its competitors at all-and this is highly debatable-it is only marginally so.
The iMessage Halo Effect Said 9 Feb 2024
Apple has already missed its best opportunity to establish iMessage as the industry-standard messaging service.
Apple has almost certainly missed the most advantageous window of time to make iMessage "the industry standard" messaging service.
The iMessage Halo Effect Said 9 Feb 2024
A user interface feels better the more it lets people use their innate spatial and kinesthetic abilities.
The more a user interface presents a world that is understandable to us, where we can flex our millennia-old kinesthetic skills, the better it feels.
Spatial Computing Said 30 Jan 2024
The Vision Pro's look-then-gesture interaction is less direct than a touchscreen's literal touch interaction.
But I feel comfortable saying that, in some ways, this kind of Vision Pro interaction is less "direct" than the iPhone's touch interface, where we see a thing on a screen and then literally place our fingers on it.
Spatial Computing Said 30 Jan 2024
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 16 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Uses DragThing
So in addition to the Dock, I run DragThing with two docks: a "process dock" growing down from the upper right corner, a la Mac OS 9, and a "folder dock" in the lower right corner containing my most frequently accessed folders.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Loved Quicksilver
I've tried LaunchBar and a few others, but I always come back to Quicksilver. I want my launcher to appear, react to my input, and disappear instantly. Quicksilver has always felt the snappiest to me.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Loved WindowShade X
WindowShade X is the most significant, as my sole remaining APE module. So-called "haxies" get a bad rap, but I seriously don't know what I would do without WindowShade.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Show 13 more
Uses Twitterrific
My Twitter client of choice is Twitterrific, on both the Mac and the iPod.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Uses Adium
For IM, I use Adium with a custom Colloquy-look-alike message theme that I created when I came over from Fire a few years ago.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Uses Colloquy
I use Colloquy for IRC. For IM, I use Adium with a custom Colloquy-look-alike message theme that I created when I came over from Fire a few years ago.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Uses NetNewsWire
Despite having all those web browsers, I do most of my web browsing indirectly via RSS/Atom feeds inside NetNewsWire.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Liked Safari
My primary web browser has been Safari since it was introduced, mostly due to the minimalist user interface and speed of non-rendering tasks (e.g., how long it takes to create a new, empty browser window).
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Liked Entourage
For email, I use Entourage which I've always viewed as the spiritual successor to Claris Emailer, my first email love.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Liked Terminal
My second-most-frequently-typed-in application is Terminal. It has few frills, but it gets the basics right: I can copy and paste long lines of text without incident, it supports UTF-8, "unlimited" scrollback length, bitmapped 9pt Monaco, and it never crashes.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Uses BBEdit
I do all of my programming and writing in BBEdit, which I've been using since version 2.1 (despite a brief dalliance with emacs when I was in college).
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Uses Backblaze
I also do an encrypted network backup using Backblaze.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Uses SuperDuper
I make a bootable backup of the first drive onto the third drive using SuperDuper! every few weeks.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Uses AirPort Extreme
The Mac is connected through a D-Link DGS-2205 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet switch to an 802.11n AirPort Extreme base station.
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Uses Logitech MX300
I use the Apple aluminum keyboard that came with the Mac Pro and a Logitech MX300 mouse. (I haven't used an Apple mouse since the one that came with my Performa 6110CD.)
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Uses Mac Pro
My main machine is a 2x2.8 GHz Mac Pro (Early 2008) with 8 GB of RAM, dual optical drives, an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT video card, and 3.5 TB of disk space spread over four internal drives
usesthis.com 1 Jul 2009
Where they publish
Blog hypercritical.co His site and podcast home.
Link verified 4 Sept 2026.
Mastodon @siracusa@mastodon.social His personal posting account.
Recent
- Please make it stop. 15 Oct 2026
- Re: HomeView https://www.wired.com/story/apple-homeview-smart-display/ “You can add up to six iCloud accounts, and the user interface will adapt to each person.” I wonder if it will pull the device off your AppleCare One plan every time a different person uses it, like Macs do 😡 13 Oct 2026
- The new Tiguan EV does a lot better than the outgoing ID.4 on my EV Stupidity Checklist. 9 Oct 2026
Show 17 more
- OK, let’s try this: FB24976658: My Apple Account is locked every day Any help from any Apple folks to get this seen by the right people would be greatly appreciated! 🙏 28 Sept 2026
- I have a new friend in Settings…and it won’t leave, no matter what I do. 22 Sept 2026
- @stephenrobles The rumor mill has some bad news about the M6 Pro and M6 Max chips that you speculated about in your Mac mini review video… 21 Sept 2026
- I'm now on attempt number four to set up my new iPhone. I got pretty far on the last run! It ended when I accidentally pressed the Camera Control on my old phone, which immediately aborts the setup/transfer process. Of course it does! So sensible. Now waiting for the third erase of the new phone to finish… 18 Sept 2026
- After being bounced back and forth multiple times between regular Apple support and Apple Developer support, both claiming that this is the other party's problem to solve, I am now looking for anyone at Apple who can put me in touch with the folks that control the system that "locks" Apple Accounts for security reasons. The Apple Account locking system is a thing that exists! Someone controls/manages it! Please let me talk to them! See this thread for context: 15 Sept 2026
- Excited to try this update! (Thanks, CDN propagation…?) 14 Sept 2026
- These DRs are H. 9 Sept 2026
- A perllsp process (written in Rust, I think?) went rogue overnight and consumed about 500 GB of RAM, making my Mac very unhappy. (No time to debug it, so I uninstalled it.) 6 Sept 2026
- It's almost a blessing that Verizon Fios is putting TiVo out of its misery in November (by discontinuing CableCARD support). 4 Sept 2026
- RE: https://mastodon.social/@siracusa/117196097301277170 I eventually got back in by changing my password from a Mac that was still signed into this Apple ID, but that revoked all my app-specific passwords, which was a giant pain. …and now I'm locked out again. 1 Sept 2026
- I only had to wait 480 days… 1 Sept 2026 hypercritical.co
- I've had to "unlock" my developer Apple ID once every 5 days on average for the past three months, and once per day for the past three days. Each time I do it, I have to perform a delicate dance to navigate what seems to be some kind of request throttling that gives me HTTP 503 responses during the unlock process, making it impossible to complete its several steps. Then my session times out and I have to start over. I've been trying to unlock my ID for about an hour so far this morning… 1 Sept 2026
- RE: https://mastodon.social/@atpfm/117162643534245852 (And, yes, I pronounced “patriarchy” the British way multiple times in this episode, for some reason. I blame British TV.) 26 Aug 2026
- 💸 💸 💸 25 Aug 2026 apple.com
- RE: https://mastodon.social/@daringfireball/117134233627329540 This has been killing me as well. 21 Aug 2026
- Someone just sent this to me. I remember first seeing it back then in…an official WWDC QuickTime movie from Apple, distributed on optical discs, maybe? Anyway, can you imagine today’s Apple even keeping a moment like this in an “official” video? (Apple did keep @marcoarment’s bell in that one WWDC video, but that was a minor miracle.) 13 Aug 2026 youtube.com
- Ever since Xcode 26, SwiftUI previews haven't worked at all unless I disable sandboxing in my app. If I don't do that, I get this error: XOJITError: Could not create code file directory for session: Permission denied I keep hoping a new version of Xcode and/or macOS will fix it, but it's the same in the latest 27 betas. (Editor → Canvas → Use Legacy Previews Execution also doesn't fix it, but does change the error.) Apple folks: FB24222556 8 Aug 2026
Link verified 4 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Bluesky hypercritical.co Cross-posts.
Recent
- EV Stupidity Checklist: 29 May 2026 hypercritical.co
- Apple Turnaround: 21 May 2025 hypercritical.co
- Apple Turnover: 9 May 2025 hypercritical.co
Show 7 more
- Hyperspace Update: 1 May 2025 hypercritical.co
- Love, Death & Robots: 10 Apr 2025 hypercritical.co
- Hyperspace: 25 Feb 2025 hypercritical.co
- Apple’s Blue Ocean: 29 Oct 2023 hypercritical.co
- The Plumber Problem: 18 Aug 2023 hypercritical.co
- It’s time. 12 Jul 2023 hypercritical.co
- Destiny Music Videos: 9 May 2023 hypercritical.co
Link verified 4 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Podcast Accidental Tech Podcast Co-hosts the Accidental Tech Podcast podcast with Marco Arment, Casey Liss.
Recent
- 713: I Have Medium Hopes 15 Oct 2026
- 712: Mildly Technologically Traumatized 8 Oct 2026
- 711: Hot Dog on an Actuator 1 Oct 2026
Show 17 more
- 710: That New Mouse Pad Feeling 24 Sept 2026
- 709: Steel-Cable Insurance 17 Sept 2026
- 708: Primary, Tertiary, and Third Cousin 10 Sept 2026
- 707: Haunting the Campus Like a Ghost 3 Sept 2026
- 706: No One Is Getting a Good Deal Tonight 27 Aug 2026
- 705: Relentless in a Gentle Way 20 Aug 2026
- 704: Past the Ternus Horizon 13 Aug 2026
- 703: Part of a Healthy Breakfast 6 Aug 2026
- 702: Isolate the Evil 27 Jul 2026
- 701: I Improved My Town 23 Jul 2026
- 700: A Wet Dishrag Full of Lies 16 Jul 2026
- 699: Not the Correct Squircle 7 Jul 2026
- 698: And Do What? 30 Jun 2026
- 697: The Chart Is Terrifying 26 Jun 2026
- 696: It Seems Petty, But I Endorse It 15 Jun 2026
- 695: The Crystal Pepsi of Aqua 9 Jun 2026
- 694: Potential and Homework 4 Jun 2026
Link verified 25 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Podcast Hypercritical Hosts the Hypercritical podcast.
Open hypercritical.fireside.fm
Recent
- Episode 100: 100: Metacritical 28 Dec 2012
- Episode 99: 99: New Siracusa County Bros. U 21 Dec 2012
- Episode 98: 98: Hardware Machismo 14 Dec 2012
Show 17 more
- Episode 97: 97: Idle Doodles 5 Dec 2012
- Episode 96: 96: Blue Peter 30 Nov 2012
- Episode 95: 95: Black Friday 23 Nov 2012
- Episode 94: 94: Shrink, Shrink, Shrink! 16 Nov 2012
- Episode 93: 93: A Magic Elf in My Computer 9 Nov 2012
- Episode 92: 92: The Tim Cook Era 2 Nov 2012
- Episode 91: 91: Adolescence 26 Oct 2012
- Episode 90: 90: Salad Days 19 Oct 2012
- Episode 89: 89: Lazy Sunday 14 Oct 2012
- Episode 88: 88: Nobody Leaves Email 5 Oct 2012
- Episode 87: 87: Smarter and Harder 28 Sept 2012
- Episode 86: 86: Naked Robotic Core 21 Sept 2012
- Episode 85: 85: Just Check the Checkbox! 12 Sept 2012
- Episode 84: 84: Spared No Expense 7 Sept 2012
- Episode 83: 83: Dishonorable 31 Aug 2012
- Episode 82: 82: The Opposite of Comprehensive 24 Aug 2012
- Episode 81: 81: Channels of Control 17 Aug 2012
Link verified 25 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.