Core Intuition

Manton and Daniel react to Apple’s huge donation of face masks in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. They assess the value of leadership in a crisis, and how various people elected and otherwise can rise to fill a void. They talk about Apple’s latest iOS and Mac updates, including the debut of Universal Mac/iOS purchases, and the challenges this poses to Mac developers. Finally, they question whether Apple bit off more than they could, or maybe should, chew by promising a “fully packed” online conference for WWDC 2020.

Daniel and Manton react to Apple's announcement that WWDC 2020 will be online-only, and what it portends for the future of the conference. They discuss the difficulty of staying enthusiastic about work and the podcast when so many more significant things are going on in the world. They acknowledge the virtue of the podcast as a familiar “friend” for listeners, providing some sense of normalcy while stuck at home. Finally, they discuss Apple's product announcements this week, how the circumstances force Apple to be more restrained, and how tempted Manton is by the new MacBook Air.

Manton and Daniel take stock of Covid-19's increasing impact. They follow up on the JocoCruise, including news that John Hodgman was not allowed to sail because of past travel to Italy. They react to suspensions of sporting leagues, and the disease-mitigating actions many businesses are taking. Finally, they consider the viability of working remotely for Apple teams including app review and hardware engineering.

Daniel and Manton take stock of the week's coronavirus-related cancellations, and the events that are going on as planned despite concerns. They talk abut the challenge for event planners in balancing the risk of people getting hurt vs. the potential to lose a lot of money or possibly go out of business. Finally, they follow up on Manton's plans to strip metadata from Micro.blog images, and the ways in which urgent issues sometimes displace other goals for a given week.

Manton and Daniel talk about the looming COVID-19 public health threat,and its potential impact on tech conferences including WWDC 2020. They examine some possible outcomes,and imagine the challenge companies such as Apple have in weighing the health and PR risks of putting on a conference in the coming months.

Daniel and Manton talk about Daniel's recent blog post on the Red Sweater Blog as an example of getting back into the marketing groove. Manton compares it to his strategy for getting a weekly newsletter out every Monday. They touch on the advantages a marketing person sometimes has in being somewhat removed from the details of app developmnet. Finally, they talk the privacy implications of Daniel's blog post and how it motivated Manton to do a major revision of the hosted images on Micro.blog.

Manton and Daniel talk about Daniel's revised plan for weekly "meetings with his manager." They touch on the challenge of striking a balance between following a strict work regimen vs. allowing oneself to "break the rules” when appropriate. Manton describes his experiment with running a Twitter ad and looks forward to Indie Web Camp in Austin.

Daniel gets Manton's impressions after finally buying AirPods. They discuss the pluses and minuses compared to wired headphones. Daniel follows up on his problem being identified as a potential spammer by an email marketing company, and Manton talks about the growing problem of spam accounts on Micro.blog. Finally, they talk about Manton's decision not to seek venture funding for Micro.blog, and revisit the notion of "a rising tide lifts all boats" with respect to Micro.blog's competiton.

Manton and Daniel talk about Daniel's success in finally sending an email to customers, and the negative repercussions of sending too infrequently to be considered "permitted."

Daniel talks with Manton about the just-announced Planetary social networking startup, and how it compares with Micro.blog both in terms of vision and execution. They talk of the challenge of changing human habits when marketing innovative products, and whether Planetary could help Manton by increasing awareness of the need for more social networks. Finally, they examine Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods and the comparable marketing challenges they have in "preaching to the choir" of core supporters while trying to attract the attention of less likely customer bases.

Manton and Daniel talk about the FBI's renewed demand that Apple provide iPhone-cracking services. They discuss when it would be acceptable, if ever, for Apple to provide such assistance, and the slippery slope of saying yes even once. Daniel follows up on his growing sureness that he will drop support for Blogger from MarsEdit, and Manton talks a little more about his upcoming book on Microblogging.

Daniel talks to Manton about his ongoing struggle to support Google's Blogger platform in MarsEdit, and his inclination to drop support for it. They talk about weighing the merits of supporting one platform or another, and the virtue in general of latching onto growing platforms instead dying platforms.

Manton catches Daniel up about his looming book deadline, taking stock of the effect of overworking oneself. Daniel talks about getting past his hangups that might be blocking business success. And in the spirit of the New Year, they revisit a list of Manton’s 2005-era ambitions, and Daniel's 1999 New Year's Resolutions.

Daniel and Manton talk about the 2019 Mac Pro and the shocking price of high-end configurations. They debate whether the company who makes "the computer for the rest of us" should be selling $50K computers, or if it risks taking focus away on selling products for "everyday people." Finally, Manton takes stock of the challenge of meeting his Microblogging book deadline, and Daniel tries to convince himself to postpone the deadline.

Manton and Daniel celebrate episode 400 by inviting Oisín Prendiville to join them for a conversation ranging from Oisín's podcasting app Castro and the virtues of selling it to Tiny, to the state of the podcasting industry, to a story of bicycle theft and recovery.