Episode 515: In The Actor’s Studio

Daniel talks to Manton about his experience debugging an AppKit issue in Micro.blog, and his satisfaction with AppKit’s debugging ease. They compare the relative debuggability of SwiftUI, AppKit and JavaScript web frameworks. Daniel talks about diving into a long-postponed effort to migrate away from legacy WebView framework to the newer WKWebView design.

Many thanks to our sponsor this week:

Links:

  • AppKit – Apple’s preeminent Mac development framework.
  • menuForEvent: – The standard Cocoa method that supports contextual menu presentation.
  • Cocoa Bindings – Apple’s much beloved and much hated framework for AppKit UI/model synchronization.
  • WebKit – The open source project for the web engine that powers Safari.
  • SwiftUI – Apple’s Swift-based framework for UI develeopment.
  • Micro.blog for Mac – The native Mac app for Manton’s microblogging service.

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May 29, 2022 at 1:49 pm.

Episode 514: Feeling Less Enthusiastic

Manton and Daniel share the results of their applications to attend Apple’s live WWDC 22 event, and talk more about whether they will or won’t end up making the trip to California. They react to a recent 37signals podcast about selling the byproducts of one’s work, and wonder about the more abstract benefits of promoting one’s general philosophies about software as a kind of “byproduct.”

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Links:

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May 20, 2022 at 1:08 am.

Episode 513: Probably Not For Us

Daniel and Manton follow up on their applications to participate in the WWDC 2022 special event at Apple Park. They talk about the slightly expanded details about the event, justifications for and against attending, and ultimately share whether they think they will go or not.

Many thanks to our sponsor this week:

Links:

  • Special Day – Apple’s enrollment page, now closed to new applicants, for their keynote-viewing party.
  • Just Feels Over Now – Manton’s short post about regretting applying for the special event.
  • The Third Era of WWDC – Manton’s 2014 post about the changing nature of WWDC.
  • Release Notes 2019 – Indie developer conference held in Playa Mujeres, Mexico.

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May 14, 2022 at 2:28 am.

Episode 512: The Slow Trickle Of News

Manton and Daniel talk about the WWDC screening event and whether Apple should even be moving forward in light of Covid-19. They compare notes about whether they’re planning to apply to attend or not, and what the relative chances of them actually going is. Finally they talk about the challenge Apple faces in managing an unpredictable attendance count, and whether the event will be indoors, outdoors, or a mixture.

Many thanks to our sponsor this week:

  • TextExpander: Communicate Smarter. Listeners get 20% off their first year.

Links:

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May 8, 2022 at 3:02 am.

Episode 511: A Quick Fix For Attention

In the midst of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, Daniel and Manton talk about Manton’s long history with Twitter, starting with enthusiasm, continuing to active development for the platform, and ending with disgust. They psychoanalyze Elon Musk and his propensity for seeking adulation on Twitter, and compare him to Jack Dorsey. In the second half of the show they follow up on Help Scout and talk about the service’s statistics reporting on customer service performance. Finally, Manton shares an example of a less than stellar customer support experience he had with another company, and they discuss when and how often automated responses should be used.

Many thanks to our sponsor this week:

Links:

  • RobinHood – Mobile-friendly stock-trading service.
  • Micro.blog – Manton’s microblogging service, often seen as an alternative to Twitter.
  • NetNewsWire – A popular, long-lived, and now open-source RSS reader for Mac and iOS.
  • Bluesky – Twitter-initiated organization building decentralized social networking technology.
  • Everything in its Right Place – Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Twitter thread about Elon Musk.
  • Email Response Time – Manton’s blog post about his Help Scout customer service statistics.

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May 1, 2022 at 9:53 pm.