Manton and Daniel discuss Manton’s experience at the Release Notes conference, talk about the rationale for supporting what might be considered edge-case behaviors in apps, and dig deeper into questions of freemium pricing, reflecting on the Omni Group’s pertinent announcements. Finally they talk briefly about Google’s latest announcements and what their competition means to Apple.

Many thanks to our sponsors this week:

• TextExpander: Simply Indispensable.
• Indeed Prime: Let top tech companies apply to you.

Links:

• Release Notes – A conference about indie business.
• Michael Tsai – Mac programmer and blogger extraordinaire.
• Target the Forward Fringe – Daniel’s old blog post about satisfying bleeding-edge customers.
• MarsEdit – The venerable blog editor for Mac.
• The Best Possible App Store Experience – The Omni Group announces its new freemium approach to selling apps.
• #madebygoogle – Video from Google’s October 4 special event.
• Pixel Phone – Google’s newly announced iPhone phone.
• Five Things Apple Can Learn – Serenity Caldwell breaks down some cogent observations from the Google event.

Daniel and Manton talk about the Release Notes conference, which Manton is attending. They commiserate on the challenge of digging oneself out of software release rut, and take stock of the ups and downs each has had over the years. They talk about Twitter’s acquisition rumors, and ponder which acquirer would cause the best outcome for the company and its users. Finally, they talk about Daniel’s consideration of a hybrid subscription and flat-payment freemium approach to selling software, and the benefits and challenges therein.

Many thanks to our sponsors this week:

• Indeed Prime: Let top tech companies apply to you.
• Fabric, Twitter’s mobile SDK: Leverage the power of Crashlytics, Twitter and MoPub to help you build the best mobile apps.

Links:

• Release Notes Conference – Indianapolis based business dedicated to indie software business.
• Çingleton – Erstwhile Montréal based conference.
• Christina Warren – Release Notes speaker and long-time technology journalist.
• Simple Beep – A podcast about the history of the Apple community.
• Stephen Hackett – Co-founder of Relay FM.
• Brent Simmons – Long-time Mac developer and blogger.
• Sounded Like Nirvana – Supertop podcast interviews Brent Simmons.
• Lonely Sandwich – Home page of Adam Lisagor, the internet’s favorite pitch man.
• Salesforce – Potential Twitter acquirer.
• Quip – Example of a previous Salesforce acquisition.
• YouTube Red – A paid, ad-free YouTube experience.
• Subscription Pricing – Manton’s NSConference talk from 2014.

Manton and Daniel react to macOS Sierra, and enjoy a brief discussion about the user-facing presentation of file systems on macOS and iOS. They talk about Scott Stevenson’s “Thanks, Daniel” project, acknowledging the community contributions of Daniel Steinberg. Finally, they indulge in a little speculation about Apple’s car project, and the recent rumors of a related acquisition.

Many thanks to our sponsors this week:

• Fabric, Twitter’s mobile SDK: Leverage the power of Crashlytics, Twitter and MoPub to help you build the best mobile apps.
• Linode: Cloud Hosting for You.

Links:

• macOS Sierra – Apple’s official macOS 12.0 page.
• macOS Sierra: The MacStories Review – By Alex Guyot.
• As Big as the Mountains – iMore review by Rene Ritchie.
• Motion – Apple’s video special effects app for Mac.
• ScanSnap Compatibility – Statement from Fujitsu about compatibility issues with ScanSnap on macOS Sierra.
• macOS 10.12 Sierra Notes – Round-up of impressions by Michael Tsai, including note about PDF issues that may be Apple’s fault.
• September – Reflections by Daniel Steinberg on the passing of his wife, Kimmy.
• Thanks, Daniel – Video project by Scott Stevenson expressing gratitude to Daniel Steinberg.
• McClaren Rumors – Apple reported in talks to acquire or partner with the British carmaker.
• McClaren Cars – Product page for the luxury British cars.
• Reliant Robin – A far less luxurious British car.
• Serious About Software – Reminiscence by Andy Hertzfeld of Alan Kay’s famous speech.
• Moving to Ireland – News story about Apple moving its Luxembourg-based holding company to Ireland.

Daniel and Manton talk about Daniel’s decision to buy an iPhone 7 after all, critique Apple’s decision to ship Jet Black phones in spite of their proneness to scratching, and question whether it’s worth shipping a product whose defects will garner ridicule. They talk about the new Messages features in iOS 10 and how well or poorly those features downgrade on other platforms. Finally, they talk about the presence of features (such as drawers in OS X) that stick around even though “everybody” knows not to use them.

Many thanks to our sponsors this week:

• Linode: Cloud Hosting for You.
• Bugsee: Free crash and bug reporting for iOS, with synchronized video, network and logs.

Links:

• iPhone 6 Trade-ups – Round up of US carriers offering generous trade-in valuations on iPhone 6 and 6S phones.
• 60% Charge Limit – News report about Samsung’s short-term fix for its exploding batteries.
• Iconfactory Stickers – The venerable icon design company debuted several new sticker packages for iOS 10.
• iOS 10 Review – Federico Viticci of Macstories tackles the release.
• Button-y Buttons – Direct link to the section of the review discussing buttons design changes in the OS.

Manton and Daniel discuss announcements from the Apple iPhone 7 event, including the new hardware and anticipated Mario runner game from Nintendo. They also talk about the lack of wisdom in Daniel’s annual iPhone buying plan, the removal of the headphone from the iPhone 7, and Apple’s recent promise to start clearing out crufty apps from the App Store.

Many thanks to our sponsors this week:

• TextExpander: Simply Indispensable.
• Zendesk: Bring native, in-app support to your app.

Links:

• Don’t Blink – Brilliant video summarizing the news from Apple’s keynote in 107 seconds.
• Lightning Headphones In The Box – Manton’s month-old post asserting Apple should include a Lightning adaptor in every iPhone 7 box.
• AirPods – Product page for Apple’s new wireless headphones.
• App Store Improvements – FAQ from Apple about the impact of its forthcoming App Store cleanse.
• App Store Maturity – Daniel reacts to the news.
• App Store Cleanup – As does Manton!
• Swish – Daniel’s infrequently updated iOS app.

Daniel and Manton react to the European Union’s €13B retroactive tax demand to Apple, talk about the impact of tax laws on indies and small companies, and weigh in on Apple’s purported AI and machine learning triumphs. Finally they catch up on their ambitions to be more productive as the busy summer transitions to fall.

Many thanks to our sponsors this week:

• Zendesk: Bring native, in-app support to your app.
• Fabric, Twitter’s mobile SDK: Leverage the power of Crashlytics, Twitter and MoPub to help you build the best mobile apps.

Links:

• Apple vs. EU – Reuters reports on the EU’s €13B demand.
• As Little Tax as Possible – Manton responds with a comparison to a US Presidential candidate.
• AI and Machine Learning at Apple – Backchannel story by Steven Levy about Apple’s AI endeavors.
• I Do Feel the Pea – Guy English joins John Gruber on The Talk Show.
• Try! Swift NYC – Swift developer conference in NYC run by Natasha Murashev.

Manton and Daniel talk about so-called lifestyle businesses, and how they afford both unlimited and always-limited vacations. They also talk about the merit of unlimited or mandatory vacation in workplaces, and go on a deep dive about the challenge of making a living as an indie software developer.

Many thanks to our sponsor this week:

• SmartOthello: An Othello app that doesn’t suck.

Links:

• Stairways Software – Long-time Mac software company founded by Peter Lewis.
• Nolobe – Stairways spinoff founded by Matthew Drayton.
• Timetable – Manton’s short-format solo podcast.
• Just Under 500 – Matt Mullenweg’s update on the state of Automattic.
• WordPress VIP – One of Automattic’s money-making endeavors.
• .Blog – New top-level domain from Automattic.
• Easy Money, Hard Money – Daniel’s tweet reacting to viability of indie software.
• Vesper – iOS note-taking app from Q Branch.
• Last Vesper Update – Brent Simmons announces the end of Vesper development.
• Vesper, Adieu – John Gruber reflects Vesper and challenges to its success.
• Jobs to be Done – Methodology for analyzing viability of specific business models.
• Chief Jobs Officer – Horace Dediu’s Critical Path podcast on the Jobs to be Done approach.
• Four Categories of Software – Daniel’s quip about software people want, need, or only think they want or need.

Daniel and Manton look towards the end of summer as they continue to discuss the challenge of balancing summer family time, vacations, and work commitments. They appreciate Apple’s becoming a well-oiled machine for beta releases, and speculate about the possibility of new Mac hardware to coincide with Sierra. Finally, they touch base with Manton’s Kickstarter progress, and talk about the value of setting up a VPN or “Back to my Mac” configuration for accessing home computers while traveling.

Many thanks to our sponsors this week:

• Linode: Cloud Hosting for You.
• Hired: The world’s most intelligent talent matching platform.

Links:

• Apple Beta Program – Apple’s beta releases are running like clockwork.
• The New Glif – Example of a Kickstarter page from repeat successes Studio Neat.
• OS X Server – Soon to be macOS Server: a bag of many tricks for home servers.
• Arq – Cloud-platform-agnostic backup app for macOS.

Manton and Daniel talk briefly about Xcode 8 Extensions, and reflect on the fragility of poorly designed plugin systems. They talk about vacationing as an indie developer, and share tricks for coping with the overwhelming aspects of a large software project. Finally, they come to term with financial realities and the value of using a spreadsheet to account for cash flow.

Many thanks to our sponsors this week:

• Bugsee: Free crash and bug reporting for iOS, with synchronized video, network and logs.
• Linode: Cloud Hosting for You.

Links:

• Xcode 8 Extensions – WWDC 2016 video from Apple on Xcode 8’s extensibility.
• NSCoding – Protocol reference for Apple’s traditional object serialization strategy.
• Under the Radar #39 – David Smith and Marco Arment talk about the merits of using autolayout inside and out of Interface Builder.
• @macdevnet – Twitter account of Steve Scott (Scotty) of NSConference fame.
• Alykhan Jetha – Çingleton 2011 – Our friend AJ’s talk from the first Çingleton conference.
• The Magic Spreadsheet – Episode of Release Notes featuring Charles Perry’s endorsement of spreadsheet accounting.
• Baremetrics – A financial analysis service that Manton uses.

Daniel gets verified on Twitter, and has mixed feelings. Manton thinks out loud about quality filtering for content-based services. The two discuss Erik Person’s response to Marco’s “10 year challenge”, and the commitment it takes to go from nothing to successful as an indie.

Many thanks to our sponsor this week:

• PDFpen Family: PDF Power on All Your Devices

Links:

• Verified Accounts – Twitter support documentation on the subject.
• Leslie Jones – Twitter account for the star of SNL and Ghostbusters.
• Justin Williams – Mac and iOS developer with the dubious honor of owning @justin
• The Marco Arment 10-year Challenge – Erik Person’s plan to achieve indie success over 10 years.
• Proving Marco’s 10-year Plan – Manton reacts to Erik’s post.
• 10 Year Update – Erik Person’s 6-month update on the plan.
• Decade of Hard Work – Marco Arment’s original tweet about 10 years of hard work.
• A Great Developer… – Manton’s post about the unpredictable rise of indie developers such as Marco Arment.
• Slopes Diaries – Self-reflection on indie development by Curtis Herbert.
• Start – Daniel’s 10-year-old advice for ambitious indie developers.