Sparkly precious minerals.

Easily the worst podcast in this series. I couldn't decide which was worse- the parts with dead air, or the parts without. Incredible reduction in content quality from earlier ones in this series. 'Cocky Dan' just doesn't work, and Haddie contributes very, very little. Awful.

Great hosts. Great content. Intelligent "radio".

…of the best! I love all the FivebyFive shows that Dan co-hosts. Plus, this guy has such integrity and good will toward others. I'm so thankful for his craft.

Thanks, Dan Benjamin. Count me in a fan of you and the 5by5 network. And the Specials rock.

...what makes the 5by5 Specials special is Dan Benjamin. Nicest guy on the Internet. Thanks, Dan!

Your effort to stay positive and professional is truly appreciated. Thanks for letting the The Talk Show audience know what happened without the hairy details.

Kindacritical was brilliant, and I like the special event stuff too. This is great.

The episode Kindacritical pops this from 4 stars to five. This is becoming a network that knows exactly what it is.

Loved it. My two favorite hosts - Merlin and Marco (M&M) - in one podcast. Would love for you guys to do it again... weekly. I couldn't keep up with it being daily because it's your fault Dan. You have way too many great podcasts. Hi. Can I axe u a queshun? Iz dat M&M or Eminem? Hi.

These guys are blinded by the apple courtain. It's hilarious they don't see it.

Just listened to episode 4 yesterday. I'm curious to know what, specifically, it is that @MarcoArment finds so bad about Windows. Are we talking about Windows 7? Full disclosure: I am a long time Windows user and not-so-long-time Mac OS X user. I am running Snow Leopard (10.6.8) on the MacBook Pro that I've owned for 2.5 years (well, my employer owns it technically, but anyway...). I consider myself a fairly proficient Mac OS user having learned how to do - I think - most common tasks and many gestures / keyboard shortcuts. I have even done a fair amount of Xcode development as a hobby. "Full-full disclosure": I have been using Windows since the mid-90s, I was best-described as a .NET developer before I went into IT management, and I use Windows 7 on a day-to-day basis at work. However, all of that said, I think Windows 7 is a pretty decent OS with lots of "polish" compared to past versions of Windows. I'm a fan of both Mac OS and Windows 7 as well as many other technologies. I would also add that I think Apple hardware is superior and one of the reasons I enjoy my MacBook Pro so much. I would appreciate to hear more on the subject of how Windows is terrible... like a 3rd world country compared to Mac OS X being a 1st world country (comments to that effect were in the show). Given Marco's past discussions of the challenge of moving away from TextMate to other text editors, I am almost suspicious this is more an issue of "muscle-memory" and being "out of his element" on a Windows machine. Perhaps a future Build and Analyze show topic?

This episode was fantastic. Not only did the topic of the Sodastream (almost) live up to the Siracusa standard of criticality, they also broached the topic of privacy, Google, and what to do if you're worried about privacy on the internet. That discussion voiced my feelings and concerns on this subject better than any show I've heard. Thank you Dan & Co.

Dan Benjamin, Marco Arment, and Merlin Mann. How much better can you get?

You always know you'll get quality tech industry content with Dan Benjamin or his 5by5 guests and hosts. This is no different -- it's infrequently updated, and contains a variety of great personalities from all sorts of shows, and might even help you discover what 5by5 podcast you aren't yet listening to but should be. I only wish Dan would introduce the actual name of the show and not just the person for stuff like the Best Of 2011, so I could use that info to selectively add more shows to my audio list o' joy. Keep up the good work!

Thanks Ben

Just great. More than anything else I read, saw, or listened to in the days after Steve passed, this tribute touched me deeply. Thanks.

I love Dan's 5by5 network, it's a great collection of shows well worth listening to. The second special, a tribute to Steve Jobs, was an eclectic and at times heartwrenching mix of personal stories and reflections on this larger than life character. As the hosts have expressed, he changed things. This group of people is well on their way to putting more dents in the universe. And it seems Zeldman's curse has been lifted.

Thanks Dan for pulling together such a great ensemble cast to talk about a guy that made such a difference in our world.

5by5 is awesome! Best podcasting network on earth. Plus they don't act like twits. 😳

I almost wonder what took so long to put this idea into practice, but now that they have, it's almost like why go anywhere else? 5by5 already owns 90% of all the best podcasts out there, so get all their stars in the same place!

Wow. John Gruber, John Siracusa, Horace Dediu, and Marco Arment all on the same show. It's like the Super Smash Bros. of tech podcasts!

You built up to this one. Nice all-star get together. Keep'm coming.

First thing I thought about when the liveblogs ended for the event was where to go for the live show Dan mentioned on Twitter. Great insight from a great panel of people.

5 by 5 has so many podcasts that it's become some kind of obsession to listen to them all

This was a great idea, an all-star cast, and incredibly timely job getting it recorded and turned around so fast. I'm looking forward to seeing what else falls into this 'Specials' category down the road.

Great work. Thanks for all your shows, including this all-star production.