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.
Manton and Daniel catch up on the effectiveness of “Must-do Monday.” They talk about the value of gaining any momentum at all when moving towards achieving goals. Manton suggests “Finish Friday” as a counterpart to aid in actually ever shipping. Manton talks about Micro.blog’s server downtime, and confesses his disdain for at least one of his precious servers.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
- Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
Links:
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July 22, 2021 at 3:03 pm.
Daniel learns about Manton’s decision to hire a contract developer to help with server/backend stuff. They talk about the tendency to minimize the real cost of performing the many small steps in any project, and the productivity boot an extra team member can bring. Daniel tells Manton about his new “Must-Do Monday” strategy, with which he must spend Mondays committing to some long-overlooked items on his todo list.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- Vincent Ritter – The newest member of the Micro.blog team.
- Gluon – Vincent’s Micro.blog app for iOS and Android.
- Micro.blog Open Source – The GitHub organization for all of Micro.blog’s open-sourced projects.
- React Native – The cross-platform development SDK that Vincent uses for Gluon.
- Jon Hays – Manton’s colleague and sometime employer.
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July 16, 2021 at 9:08 pm.
Manton and Daniel talk about the new “Workation” offering from Try! Swift, and wonder about how likely it is that any “work” would get done in a tropical paradise. They compare notes about recent podcasting sponsorships they have made, and discuss the relative comfort of spending money supporting blogs, podcasts, etc., that we like, versus sponsorships that support companies we are more ambivalent about.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
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July 10, 2021 at 12:59 pm.
Daniel talks to Manton about his decision to open source all of Micro.blog’s native platform apps. They acknowledge the difficulty of overcoming personal hesitations whenever you decide to put your own work out in the world. Manton appreciates the aspect of open source that contributes to a lasting legacy of our time on earth, and finally we appreciate product simplicity as a competitive advantage over “more successful” products that seemingly must become more and more complex.
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