Daniel and Manton Follow-up on whether they ordered any new phones or watches. They talk about resisting the temptation to buy things because they are “shiny and new”. Entropy and the incentive companies do or don’t have to make financial arrangements “simple”. Finally they talk about the risks and rewards of upgrading to macOS Sonoma and Xcode 15.
Manton and Daniel respond to Apple’s latest special event. They celebrate Tim Cook’s relatively good acting, and perhaps being … funny for the first time? The march of USB-C progress, and how iPhone 15 brings us one step closer to the elimination of Lightning ports. Finally they reflect on the forthcoming release of macOS 14 “Sonoma” and the funny way a new feature injected itself into Daniel’s life.
Daniel finally ships a MarsEdit beta for Mastodon, and Manton and Daniel discuss the value of the beta feedback loop, with Daniel keeping focus on shipping the final 5.1 release. They reflect on the various ways that blogging and microblogging services treat photos. Finally, they talk about how shipping a new version often means cutting what you think are vital features. Ship often to increase your odds of success.
We start with Manton’s frustration with Apple platform development. Manton has been shifting away from macOS and iOS development, begrudging Apple’s outsized influence. Daniel and Manton talk about the broader issues of whether to accept closed platform restrictions after tasting the freedom of self-publishing. Then they wrap up with the Apple Vision Pro’s approach to privacy and whether a locked-down device can ever really replace the Mac.
The end of Twitter is finally nigh, so Daniel and Manton talk about the continuing foolishness of Elon Musk. They celebrate the rebranding to “X” as a relief for people who ever loved anything about Twitter, and talk about Threads as a viable alternative to Twitter. Daniel shares that he has applied for a Vision Pro prototype to develop a VR version of Black Ink. Finally, they take a deeper consideration of the value of pushing yourself into areas you’re not comfortable with or feel unqualified for.
Daniel and Manton talk about Apple’s threat to withhold FaceTime and Message from the UK. How much leverage should tech companies have over countries? They segue to a discussion of where to draw the line in general on public surveillance. Finally, they struggle to conclude whether or not companies should exert power over governments, and consider Apple’s unlikely goodness for being a huge company.
Daniel returns home from vacation and he and Manton talk about Meta’s Threads launch. They discuss how misunderstandings about what ActivityPub provides could impact expected user-facing features. Finally they revisit whether Tumblr will still support ActivityPub, and which platform gets there first: Tumblr or Threads?
Daniel and Manton start with a discussion of the possible Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk cage match, the value of Nintendo Switch’s subscription service, and whether Elon Musk is getting better at not making empty promises. Then Daniel gives a first-look at the macOS Sonoma beta and specifically the feature to save Safari web apps to the Dock.
Manton and Daniel talk about Apple’s new visionOS SDK, and debate the virtue of steering clear from “new shiny” technologies, vs. getting acquainted with them as soon as possible. How do we prioritize native platform development while maximizing the ability to deploy to all of Apple’s platforms? They talk about investing time into new platforms and frameworks when the investment will pay off, vs. when the work will be wasted on short-term workaround. When does it makes sense for a company to invest even a small amount of money in their competitors, like Automattic just did? Finally, they touch lightly on the possibility that Facebook will enter the ActivityPub realm, and the ridiculousness in general of NDAs.
Daniel and Manton follow up on other news from WWDC. They consider Apple’s autocomplete advances, and question whether this kind of “AI” can fill the gap between Apple’s state-of-the-art and technologies like ChatGPT. They lament the lack of announcements about improvements to Siri, and wonder whether they should “tear it down and start over.” They talk about the new Swift Macros technology, and whether the utility of such a feature outweighs the added complexity. Finally, they gauge the overall success of this year’s WWDC.
