Daniel talks to Manton about the new iPhones, whether they’re buying one or not, and the pros and cons of pickup vs. delivery. They discuss the merit of AppleCare+ particular for iPhones. They consider the new Camera Control button and whether it’s likely to be a “dud” or not.
Daniel and Manton going for the new phones, whether to buy AppleCare+ or not. Finally, they consider the possibility that the new AirPods hardware is feature-locked by software, and whether it’s ethical to charge customers more for features built-in to a hardware device.
Manton and Daniel talk about the upcoming Apple special event where new iPhones are expected to be announced. They talk about their respective likelihoods of buying one, and remark on the diminishing importance of smallness in a phone’s physical design. They discuss the nascent Apple Intelligence features in macOS and iOS betas, the general competitive state of AI services, and the virtue of being able to easily switch from one hosted AI services provider to another.
Daniel and Manton talk about the Overcast redesign and customers getting upset about changes to workflows they are used to. Manton gives an update on his new text editor and early bugs. And finally, the current state of SwiftUI and how to decide when to start from scratch with a new framework.
Manton and Daniel discuss closed platforms vs. more open platforms, Apple’s new EU rules around linking for external purchases, and Patreon’s option to pass Apple’s fee on to creators or patrons. Then, a coding update on Manton’s work on a new text editor for Micro.blog, comparing and contrasting with MarsEdit’s text editor.
Daniel and Manton talk about the U.S. Government’s anti-trust verdict against Google, and consider the impact it may have on browser vendors such as Apple and Mozilla. They discuss the slow rollout of Apple’s beta Apple Intelligence features, and bemoan the lack of extensibility and integration points for developers. Finally, they talk about how increasingly locked down computing platforms are diminishing the ability for the diverse population of developers to push the limits of said platforms.
Daniel and Manton talk about the CrowdStrike fiasco, Daniel’s narrow escape from traveling chaos, and the resilience of people during an emergency. They wonder how a company whose overt value is to protect you from outages can survive a catastrophic failure? They also chat about OpenAI’s recently announced SearchGPT, and the potential it may have to disrupt Google. Will all future search engines use AI? Finally, they consider the potential for a future where search engines are freemium and ad free.
Daniel and Manton check in about the Apple Vision Pro. Is it on the precipice of failure? Is there a killer app for it? How would the Apple Vision Pro have done if a smaller company came out with it? They talk about playing the long game vs. the short game, and how much harder it is to play the long game as a struggling indie. Focusing on finessing little things in a product or adding new features, and working on the features of an app or service that a customer expects the app or service to do.
Daniel and Manton discuss the latest news with Apple and the European Union, including that Apple is withholding features such as Apple Intelligence. Will they go so far as to stop selling iPhones in the EU rather than face a large fine? Apple has become accustomed to their power in the mobile market, but have they met their match with the EU? Then, Meta’s Threads API and the difficulty of getting an app approved for Micro.blog.
Daniel and Manton talk a bit more about AI, peoples’ skepticism about its value, and their opinion that it obviously has some utility. They discuss the Perplexity AI controversy around HTTP user agents, and whether it’s an ethical requirement that all services should always reveal their identity. Daniel talks about his recent adventures with Swift Concurrency, and they weigh the challenge of tackling a major architectural change, versus the payoff from Swift’s compile-time data safety.
Manton and Daniel compare notes after WWDC, reflecting on the thrill of catching up with old friends, albeit on turbo mode. Daniel takes a bow for guessing the Apple Intelligence name, and the two discuss the advantages to Apple of adopting it. They examine the “long runway” Apple has to perfect their AI offerings thanks to the cohesive structure of Apple Intelligence and their inclusion of outside services in the whole package. They compare the relative advantages that on-device, specialized models may have, versus the advantages of “world data” services like ChatGPT. Finally, they question how the AI naysayers will cope with a technology world where AI in some form is increasingly ubiquitous.
