Manton checks in with Daniel from his west coast road trip. They talk about Elon Musk’s first, chaotic week at Twitter. Daniel talks about his commitment to shipping MarsEdit 5 on Dec 5, and how sometimes we have to ship software for own sake first, and for our customers’ sake second.
Daniel and Manton talk about everything Twitter. Elon Musk officially taking over the company, Manton’s 10-year anniversary of not posting to twitter.com/manton, Twitter’s open source Bluesky initiate and the AT Protocol, social media network effects, and how Twitter may or may not change in the coming months.
Manton and Daniel talk about recent layoffs at Sketch, and what it means for the app’s future. They consider the difficulty for native apps when it comes to competing specifically in the realm of collaboration features. Finally, they take an optimistic view of Sketch’s future as an underdog in the design industry.
Daniel and Manton review Manton’s latest progress with the Indie Microblogging book. They talk about the need to get into a groove when working on a long-running project, and not to promise too much when setting goals for yourself or others. Finally, Daniel shares plans for a new “micro posting” UI for MarsEdit.
Manton and Daniel talk about Daniel’s progress on MarsEdit 5. They weigh the pros and cons of releasing major upgrades vs. a steady stream of “regular updates.” They talk about the changing landscape of PR and marketing for Mac software, and icky feelings associated with trying to “reach influencers.” Finally, they talk about the value of sticking to one’s own ideals an indie developer, and powering through feelings of hopelessness when you run into challenges.
Daniel and Manton talk about the Meridian announcement, check-in apps, and the potential for a new “place marking” infrastructure. Daniel reiterates an earlier point on the podcast about how specialized features like Micro.blog’s bookshelves could be generalized for new types of data and workflows. Finally, Daniel pre-announces his new blogging app that is just for pizza posts. 🍕
Manton and Daniel talk about Daniel’s latest detour into working on new features for FastScripts, at the expense of other, possibly more pressing work. They discuss the merit of seeking out “quick wins”, while acknowledging the difficulty of predicting whether a goal will turn out to be a quick win or a huge time sink.
Daniel and Manton follow up on the iPhone 14, discussing who bought it and revisiting the different payment plans. Then they talk about the Micro.blog 3.0 for iOS beta release with a long detour into the TestFlight approval process and why it often feels ridiculous.
Manton and Daniel react to Apple’s latest event and compare notes about the potential impact on their wallets. They marvel at the production value of Apple’s many long videos, but wonder how much value they have, and whether they go too far in dramatizing customer catastrophes. They talk about their shared appreciation of the Apple Watch, and shared belief that Apple’s events are getting too long and boring.
