Core Intuition

Manton and Daniel talk about the public reaction to the Wavelength launch, and about Micro.blog's new user onboarding experience, and the challenge in general of making product pages more inviting. They react to reports that HomePod sales have been disappointing, and about the ways in which it fails to exceed user expectations. Finally, they revisit their aesthetic preferences with semantic versioning, and talk about using the limited number of bug-fix version numbers as motivation to develop more features.

Daniel and Manton talk about Daniel's somewhat-impulsive Black Ink beta release, and the merits of maintaining a diverse lineup of apps to provide varying technical challenges. They talk about the Increasing challenge of attracting attention to indie software and other pursuits. Manton introduces Wavelength, a new Micro.blog app for creating micro-podcasts on iOS. Finally, Daniel talks about his recent rant about not being featured in the blogging section of the Mac App Store, and where that went.

Manton and Daniel react to Apple's news release about expectations for the Mac Pro coming in 2019. They speculate about what could explain such a long delay, and Daniel devises a theory, or pipe dream, that the Mac Pro may be ARM-based. They also discuss Apple's disclosure of a Pro Workflow Team comprised of creative professionals, and compare it to Apple's apparent study of the needs of education professionals. Finally, an update from Daniel about MacBook Pro keyboard repairs, with a surprise twist!

Daniel and Manton talk about Apple’s Chicago education event, and Apple's challenge in breaking into the education market so dominated by Google. They scrutinize whether the special event was “event-worthy” or not. Daniel talks about his motivation problems with shipping MarsEdit updates, and complains again about App Store Review uncertainty. Finally, they talk about the challenge of knowing whether a product with lackluster success is on the brink of something great, or should be moved on from.

Manton and Daniel talk about Daniel's plans to speak at Swift by Northwest in October, and weighing the appropriateness of speaking at one type of conference or other. They explore the idea of buying ads or sponsorships for their own apps, and consider the relatively lower risk of sponsoring smaller podcasts/blogs/conferences. They stumble on some clarity of inspiration in appreciating two aspects of marketing a product: making the product great, and getting the attention of pertinent customers. Finally, they talk about the merits of investing in support infrastructure so that customers who do find your product feel welcomed and comfortable when using it.

Daniel and Manton talk about Apple's announcement that WWDC is officially happening in San Jose again. Daniel struggles to make a financial case for attending, while Manton continues to believe it's essential to at least be in town for a few days. They talk about the possibility that other conferences would be a better use of time and money. Finally, they indulge a little speculation about WWDC and whether the promo art ever hints at any of the actual news to be announced.

Manton and Daniel celebrate Sunlit 2.0's release, and talk about the decision to make it a free app that supports the Micro.blog platform. Daniel admires Manton’s proclivity for shipping new things, and they both despair the difficulty of canceling existing projects. Daniel rants modestly about the difficulty of getting his MacBook Pro keyboard repaired, and finally, they discuss the App Stores and the ongoing disparities between Mac and iOS versions of them.

Daniel and Manton react to Apple's open-sourcing of SwiftNIO at the trySwift! conference. They catch up on their respective enthusiasm and lack thereof for Swift. Manton prepares to ship Sunlit 2.0, supporting direct publishing to Micro.blog. The two compare their philosophies on treating code warnings as errors, to their tolerance for clutter in the workplace and overall organization in real-life.

Manton and Daniel talk about Daniel’s HomePod experiences so far, including the best and worst of Siri's behaviors. They speculate about how important the audio quality of the device will be to "regular people," and compare it to other qualitative advances in technology. Finally, they bemoan the continued shortcomings of Siri's SDK, and wonder whether Apple will expand upon it at this year's WWDC.

Daniel talks to Manton about starting to use Micro.blog more in earnest, and fleshes out a rough strategy for what "weaning himself off Twitter" looks like. They talk about the struggles of Mac development, and working around bugs in an increasingly buggy AppKit. They reflect on the balancing act of focusing on bug fix releases vs. shifting focus to a more feature-heavy update. Finally, they catch up on Manton’s ongoing battle with his support queue, and look at how he's managing his time to keep up with Micro.blog's increasing demands.

Manton launches a new iOS beta for Sunlit, redesigned with support for Micro.blog. Following up on Manton’s support burden. Daniel talks about ambition to follow up with customers after fixing bugs they’ve reported.

Daniel and Manton talk about digging oneself out of customer support debt, and strategies for improving the efficiency of support mechanisms. They react to Apple's disabling of free In-App-Purchases, and speculate about whether it was intentional or not. This leads them into a re-evaluation about the risks of selling on the App Stores, and the lure of selling directly to customers.

Manton talks to Daniel about just missing jury duty during a busy work week. They talk about the virtues of differentiating a product by both features and personality. Finally, they react to the Stellar cryptocurrency's surprising value, and the potential for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to change the world.

Daniel and Manton react to Intel’s "really bad bug." They talk about Manton's recent surges of PR, and balancing the desire to capitalize on that against the importance of preserving site stability. They talk about Apple's acquisition of Buddybuild and the inherent risks of relying upon fully-hosted services.

Manton and Daniel talk about the major update to Micro.blog, and how to cope with demand as it either meets or doesn't meet daily limits. They opine about the virtue of having a baseline product on which to build future updates. They react to Mark Gurman's report that Apple has a plan to make it easier to bring iOS apps to the Mac, and finally, they catch up on Daniel's post-release MarsEdit activity.