Manton catches us up on whether he ended up splurging to trade up to the iPad Mini. They talk more about Manton’s upcoming train trip, and about the little-known fact that Manton once released a train-oriented podcast episode! They talk about the allure of trains and other technical systems to computer programmers, and how nerds have always had to find their interests in the realm of what was possible at the time.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
- MacStadium: Leading provider of cloud solutions built on Apple Mac hardware.
Links:
- Pacific Surfliner – An Amtrak train line that runs along the Southern California coast.
- Trains Podcast – Manton’s 2005 podcasting effort on the subject.
- Rail Modeller Pro – A Mac app for model train aficionados.
- Manton Recording – 2006 photo by Willie Abrams of Manton in San Francisco.
- Engineer – Etymology of the word – not rooted in train engines!
- Dr. Drang – A “real” engineer with opinions about “software engineers.”
- So Happy – Picture of Manton’s acquired model train project.
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October 1, 2021 at 3:44 pm.
Daniel ends up buying an iPhone 13, while Manton holds off. Meanwhile, Manton considers buying a “real” camera instead, and also shares his plans to hop on a cross-country train to see a basketball game, take in the scenery, and to finish his book. They talk about the relative risks and rewards of investing so much intention into dedicated effort, and how Manton will feel if he does or does not achieve his goal.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- Sony RX100 VII – The compact camera Manton is considering, on sale for $919 at Abe’s of Maine at time of recording.
- 30 Murals in 30 Days – Manton’s latest photo-blogging project.
- Jon Hays – Manton’s collaborator in Sunlit development and basketball enjoyment.
- The Texas Eagle – The Amtrak train
- Amtrak Routes – List of other named routes in the Amtrak network.
- City of New Orleans – Lyrics to the song about the train line from Chicago to New Orleans.
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September 26, 2021 at 3:15 am.
Manton and Daniel react to Apple’s September 13 event, talking about the increasing satisfaction they have with their existing phones now that the products have matured in features and performance. Manton talks about the new Sunlit update with changes that were partly inspired by Glass, and Daniel commits to a new index card goal. Finally, Manton talks about migrating his Discourse server to a hosted solution, which leads to a discussion about the relative merits of paying for specialized hosting services.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
- MacStadium: Leading provider of cloud solutions built on Apple Mac hardware.
Links:
- Apple Event – Link to the September 13 event page.
- iPhone 13 – Apple’s forthcoming line of new iPhones.
- Apple Watch Series 7 – Promo page for the new Apple Watch.
- iPad Mini – The iPad that Manton really wants but probably won’t trade up to.
- Apple Trade In – Apple’s credit-for-device trade-in service.
- Sunlit 3.4 – The latest version of Manton’s and Jon Hays’s photo-blogging app for Micro.blog.
- Black Ink 2.1.8 – Daniel’s quick 1-hour update to his crossword-solving app for Mac.
- Micro.blog Help Center – Micro.blog’s forums, now running on a hosted Discourse server.
- Communiteq – The Discourse hosting service Manton is using.
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September 16, 2021 at 12:06 am.
Daniel and Manton look forward to Apple’s September 14 event, where the next major update to the iPhone is expected to be announced. They talk about their respective likelihood of upgrading and the extent to which iPhones hold their value for an increasingly long time. Daniel talks about his next priority for the “index card directive,” and Manton shares his strategy of using Basecamp’s Monday reminder emails to set high level goals for the week.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- Apple Event – Apple’s landing page for the September 14 livestream.
- Basecamp – The business-planning software that Manton uses for Micro.blog.
- Sunlit – The photo-blogging app Manton is working on an update to.
- Stratechery – Ben Thompson’s newsletter + blog.
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September 10, 2021 at 4:05 pm.
Daniel ships MarsEdit 4.5, and talks with Manton about the moderate success of aiming for a specific goal with “the index card directive.” Discussion of the various legal settlements and policy clarifications Apple has been sharing with respect to the App Store. Speculation about Apple’s strategy for controlling the user experience when allowing links to external subscription info. Manton talks briefly about his plan to incorporate Apple’s accommodation of an external link into Micro.blog.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- MarsEdit 4.5 – Daniel’s announcement of the long-in-progress update to his blogging app for the Mac.
- Apple’s US Developer Settlement – PR from Apple detailing the terms of their settlement.
- Without Major Concessions – Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman highlights the absence of dramatic change in the settlement.
- Apple closes JFTC Investigation – PR from Apple describing a forthcoming feature that will afford developers the ability to link from within an app to outside account information.
- Apple’s Big Change – September 2 episode of Dithering where Apple’s plans for the external linkage support are discussed.
- South Korean Bill – CNBC story on the bill that would require Apple and Google to support 3rd party payments within apps.
- Where Apple Went Wrong – Manton’s decade-old post assessing and predicting the perennial shortcomings of the App Store.
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September 4, 2021 at 3:18 am.
Daniel and Manton talk about 1Password’s decision to use Electron for its next major update, and what that says about Apple’s confusing and conflicting platform frameworks. They talk about the continuing role of AppKit as a the only way to achieve many expected macOS behaviors, and wonder if the next-generation standard for desktop apps might actually be a “web technology.” Finally, Manton presses Daniel about his alleged ambition to “focus on shipping MarsEdit 4.5.”
Many thanks to our sponsors this week:
- Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
- RevenueCat: In-app subscriptions made easy. Also check out the Sub Club Podcast!
Links:
- 1Password 8 Early Access – Announcement of an upcoming major upgrade, which astute observers determined is Electron-based.
- Some Bugs Here for Sure – Dave Teare of 1Password responds to Casey Liss’s criticisms of the early access release.
- I Would Gladly Suffer – Daniel’s tweet about being open to cross-platform compromises if the UX is good.
- Chameleon – An early open-source UIKit adaptation to Mac, by Sean Heber of the Iconfactory.
- UXKit – Guillermo Rambo’s analysis of Apple’s private cross-platform UIKit adaptation.
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August 28, 2021 at 8:41 pm.
Manton and Daniel review how Micro Camp went, and how Manton might refine the format in the future. Manton asks Daniel why he decided to ship an update to Touché when he’s allegedly focused on MarsEdit 4.5. Finally, they talk about Manton’s update to Micro.blog to support the new Glass photo-sharing service.
Many thanks to our sponsors this week:
- MacStadium: Private clouds on Mac hardware.
- Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
Links:
- Vi.to – The online conference-running service used by Micro Camp.
- Jason Burk – Micro.blog user, designer, and Micro Camp co-organizer.
- Start with No – Basecamp’s (née 37signals) Getting Real chapter on ignoring (some) feedback.
- Glass – New photo-sharing social network.
- Micro.blog 2.2 – Featuring new supoprt for sharing Glass photos.
- Puzzazz – Popular puzzle-solving software with an iOS app.
- I Recently Took Another Look – Daniel tweets about Puzzazz and celebrates its merits.
- Touche 1.1.5 – Daniel’s announcement that Touché has been revived.
- Sunlit – Manton’s and Jonathan Hays’s photo-sharing app for Micro.blog.
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August 23, 2021 at 1:39 pm.
Daniel talks to Manton about his last-minute preparations for Micro Camp, and the extent to which he’s had to drop everything to focus on the virtual conference. Daniel describes the process of reacing to the New York Times dropping Across Lite support, and his ultimate delivery of an updated version of Black Ink to work around the change. Finally, they talk about the merit of staying engaged with customers who have made feature requests, even if it was a long time ago.
Many thanks to our sponsors this week:
- RevenueCat: In-app subscriptions made easy. Also check out the Sub Club Podcast!
- Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
Links:
- Micro.camp – Manton’s virtual conference for Micro.blog users and developers.
- Vi.to – Online conference-running solution from the makers of Ti.to.
- Black Ink 2.1.7 – Daniel’s announcement of the update to Black Ink that preserves NYT support.
- OmniFocus – Productivity app that Daniel uses to manage his ToDos and recurring task lists.
- Brené Brown – Episode of NPR’s “How I Built This” featuring the vulnerability expert.
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August 13, 2021 at 2:44 pm.
Manton talks to Daniel about his upcoming Micro Camp conference, and the process he went through in acquiring the associated micro.camp domain. They talk about taking advantage of the benefits of “content marketing” without being sleazy about it, and the value of trying lots of different things. Daniel shares his reaction to the New York Times announcing they are dropping support for the puzzle file format that Black Ink uses, and the impact it’s having on the Times’s and his customers.
Many thanks to our sponsors this week:
- Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
- TextExpander: Communicate Smarter.
Links:
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August 6, 2021 at 9:42 pm.
Daniel tells Manton about his decision to focus on one product until it ships, and shares some tricks he’s using to stick with it. Daniel also explains how he accidentally made Black Ink 2 completely free on the Mac App Store, for a whole year, without realizing it. Manton catches up about his experience so far of hiring a software engineer, and they discuss the challenge of gauging the effectiveness of having hired somebody.
Many thanks to our sponsors this week:
- Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
- RevenueCat: In-app subscriptions made easy. Also check out the Sub Club Podcast!
Links:
- Draft Day – Movie in which a piece of paper with a written goal plays a role.
- Black Ink 2 – Mac App Store page for Black Ink – no longer accidentally free!
- Vincent Ritter – Manton’s software engineering hire, and developer of Gluon for Micro.blog.
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July 30, 2021 at 8:10 pm.
