WWDC 2024 has been announced. Are we planning to go even if we don’t get a ticket, just like the old days? Daniel and Manton discuss our waning love for Apple, while still appreciating so much that Apple does. Manton speculates about whether we are at “peak Apple” or not. Is Apple ripe to be surprised by an upset competitor?
Apple is sued by the United States. Do companies like Apple get a heads-up from suing parties like the Department of Justice, and how would we react if we were the targets of lawsuits like these, or the changes from the European Union’s Digital Markets Act? Daniel and Manton discuss the lawsuit. Then in the second half of the show, rumors about Apple licensing AI from a company like Google. What are the benefits to Apple of treating large-scale AI as a commodity service that they don’t need to focus on? Considering the various scales of technologies at which companies like Apple, OpenAI, and others work.
Apple cancels their electric car project. Daniel and Manton discuss whether Apple should focus on what they do best: personal consumer electronics. Then they analyze Tim Cook’s claim that Apple will “break new ground” on generative AI this year, and how Apple’s emphasis on controlling the user experience and protecting their public image might affect what AI projects they work on.
Daniel and Manton talk about Micro.blog new notes feature the companion iOS app Strata. They talk about sweetening the deal of Micro.blog with new features. Then they wrap up with how Daniel’s Black Ink release for iOS is going, and his choice to charge $99 for a lifetime unlock.
Daniel and Manton follow up on Core Technology Fee and how it affects marketplaces and small developers. Then, they celebrate Black Ink for iOS finally shipping, weighing the benefits of 7-day vs. 30-day trials. Finally, they discuss their purchase plans for the Vision Pro and Rabbit R1 devices, and what they expect from the cutting edge hardware. Is it okay to hide technology purchases from your kids?
Daniel and Manton talk about Apple’s announced App Store changes to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. They discuss who can take advantage of the new rules, how they impact users and developers, and the limitations of new features both geographically and in terms of the financial status of a developer’s company.
For our first show of 2024, we talk about new year ambitions and achievements. Manton’s Indie Microblogging book is almost done. Daniel reads the book Atomic Habits and thinks about the scaffolding for changing a lifestyle.
For the last episode of the year, Daniel and Manton discuss the latest tech news including Apple stopping sales of new Apple Watch over a potential patent violation, and Adobe and Figma calling off the acquisition. Then Daniel and Manton look toward 2024 and what they might be working on.
Daniel and Manton talk about the MarsEdit 5.1 release and some things that affected it, such as the range of Mastodon instances and forks with different behaviors. They talk about the increasing sentiment towards locking down access to data on the web, in Mastodon specifically and more generally the public’s reaction to AI bots. How will AI empower data collectors to “imitate” styles of other expressions, and how does using copyrighted visual art to train AI differ from using copyrighted binary code to train code? Daniel answers why MarsEdit 5.1 isn’t called 6.0, plus some closing thoughts about the waning viability of one-time purchases for desktop software.
All about the last week of OpenAI news: Sam Altman’s firing, board upheaval, Microsoft’s influence on the future of the company, and Sam Altman returning as CEO. Daniel and Manton then talk about the merits of OpenAI fulfilling their original nonprofit goals vs. pursuing commercial goals, and where all the activity around AI leaves Apple.
