Manton and Daniel talk about Daniel’s decision to release a public beta of Black Ink for iOS, and the merit of pushing forward with ambitons, one step at a time. They discuss the anticipated freemium subscription model Daniel plans to offer, and talk about the importance of getting paid for one’s work. Finally, they talk about gaining and maintaining confidence in your work and that what you have to offer is valuable even if not everybody agrees it is good.
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June 18, 2021 at 8:01 pm.
Daniel and Manton react to the unfolding news from WWDC, talking specifically about Shortcuts for Mac, the new Async/await coroutines functionality for Swift, Xcode Cloud, and the new Weather app. They talk about whether Apple should horde functionality like the weather service they acquired from Dark Sky, or make it available in a public framework. Finally, they take stock of Catalyst and the writing on the wall that this year’s announcements have made clear.
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Links:
- WWDC 2021 – Main page for Apple’s developer conference and a place to watch the keynote.
- Apple Developer – Apple’s official app supporting WWDC and other developer-facing services.
- Shortcuts for macOS – WWDC session about the new automation technology for Mac.
- Async/await – Swift Evolution document proposing the new coroutine functionality.
- “Freaking” Block Syntax – A site that famoulsy references the difficult to remember syntax for C Blocks.
- Crazy YOLO App Rewrite – Blog post from a former Uber developer about their experience rewriting the app in Swift.
- Xcode Cloud – Apple’s forthcoming continuous integration service.
- A Couple of Heads in the Xcode Cloud(s) – Scotty and John on the iDeveloper Podcast, talking about Xcode Cloud.
- Buddybuild – The remnants of Buddybuild, the service that Apple acquired a while back.
- GitHub Pricing – The high level price tiers for GitHub’s source hosting and CI services.
- Dark Sky Has a New Home – Last year’s blog post about Apple’s acquisition of the weather app/service.
- Slopes – Curtis Herbert’s skiing and snowboarding app.
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June 12, 2021 at 4:27 am.
Manton and Daniel respond to criticism about our opinions on the Apple vs. Epic case and Apple’s public testimony. They speculate more about WWDC, wondering about possible iPadOS improvements. Finally, they appreciate that Apple’s design award finalists includes Nova from Panic, a Mac app that is not available in the App Store.
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Daniel and Manton talk again about Apple’s testimony in the Epic lawsuit, and how it seems to be a PR disaster with respect to developers just before WWDC. They wonder how Apple can be so apparently dense about the optics of their actions, and question whether the company is more afraid of changes in the status quo than they are of losing developer enthusiasm.
No sponsor this week! Please consider sponsoring us, or asking your employer to do so.
Links:
- Alternative App Store Payments – iMore covers Tim Cook’s testimony asserting they would still be entitled to 30% of sales made directly by developers to customers.
- Is Tim Cook not aware… – Apple’s quip about the Mac platform being one example where they do not take 30% commission on all 3rd party sales.
- I’ll leave you with this – Manton’s final tweet before leaving the service in 2012.
- Microsoft Build – Microsoft’s developer conference, streaming live this week.
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Manton and Daniel take in Google’s announcements at Google I/O, and consider that some impressive tech may turn out to be relatively unimpressive in daily use. They compare Google to Apple and Microsoft with respect to making products that capitalize on the human desires instead of sheer technical prowess. They discuss the ongoing Epic vs. Apple trial and their relative lack of interest in it. Also, what is the true cost of WWDC for Apple? Is it a gift to developers or an important marketing function for the company?
No sponsor this week! Please consider sponsoring us, or asking your employer to do so.
Links:
- WWDC21 – Apple’s 2021 conference page.
- Google I/O 2021 – Google’s annual developer conference.
- Uncanny Valley – Wikipedia page on the widely-cited aesthetic metaphor.
- Announcing Material You – New developments in Google’s design standard.
- Microsoft Build – Microsoft’s developer conference, taking place next week.
- Christina Warren – Long-time friend of the show and current Microsoft Cloud advocate.
- $50 Million on WWDC – The Verge talks about revelations about WWDC spending coming from Phil Schiller’s testimony.
- Epic iPhone Testimony – The Verge article on Phil Schiller’s testimony including the “ruthlessly efficient” quip Manton mentioned.
- ATP 430 – Episode of the Accidental Tech Podcast in which Marco rants about Apple and Siracusa complains about executive email quality.
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As WWDC draws closer, Daniel and Manton wonder whether Apple will announce changes to further unify their multi-platform development proposition. Daniel talks about his impression of “catalystic” user interface, and they comisserate over the Apple’s apparent lack of focus. Manton talks about Micro.blog’s new “bookshelves” feature, and they discuss whether it’s an example of feature creep or an endearingly distinguishing feature.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- WWDC 2021 – Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference.
- Catalystic – Daniel’s post on Micro.blog about Catalyst UI.
- Bookshelves – New Micro.blog feature Manton is testing out.
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Manton and Daniel touch on the evolving situation at Basecamp, after losing a longer discussion on the subject due to technical malfunction. Daniel shares his impression of dipping his toes into web development with a popular open source framework.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- Changes at Basecamp – Jason Fried’s blog post kicking off the Basecamp fiasco.
- Basecamp’s New Etiquette – David Heinemeier Hansson’s follow-up post to Jason’s.
- An Update – Jason Fried takes stock of the situation after a lot of public criticism and employees resigning.
- Don’t Scar on the First Cut – Jason’s 2016 blog post encouraging companies not to be too rash in establishing new policies.
- Can’t Catch Me – Daniel’s 2010 post asserting the superiority of native apps to web apps.
- Figma – An impressive web-based design app.
- Ember – A web framework for app development.
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Daniel and Manton react to Apple’s “Spring Loaded” product announcements. Daniel wonders what an M1 iPad Pro means for the future of Mac. They question the merit of Swift UI, and wonder whether Apple would have been better off unifying the iOS and Mac operating systems years ago.
No sponsor this week! Please consider sponsoring us, or asking your employer to do so.
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April 23, 2021 at 4:43 pm.
Manton and Daniel talk about the upcoming Apple Event and how excited they are, or are not, about it. Especially since it’s not likely to be “live.” They also talk about the strange mechanics of Apple’s DTK refund credit, and how many people might not even notice they have a refund pending. Finally, they gripe about the continuing lack of multi-user support on many Apple devices.
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Links:
- Spring Loaded – Apple’s Greg Joswiak teases the special event on Twitter.
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April 16, 2021 at 11:39 pm.
Daniel and Manton talk about obsessing over vaccine appointment registration, and the state of vaccination efforts in the US and the rest of the world. They react to Tim Cook’s interview with Kara Swisher and what it says about Apple’s essential “goodness.” Finally, they talk about the unfathomably high percentage of US teens who allegedly own iPhones.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- MA Covid Vaccines – Site-scraping aggregator site for vaccine availability in Massachusetts.
- Very Different Choices – Kara Swisher’s interview with Tim Cook for the New York Times.
- 88% of US Teens – Horace Dediu’s tweet about the market domination of iPhone among younger Americans.
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April 10, 2021 at 6:00 pm.
