Core Intuition

Daniel and Manton catch up on MarsEdit 4's progress a week after releasing. They talk about the anxiety and fear of making a huge mistake when releasing, and the relief of discovering you haven't. They reflect on the effectiveness of direct email to inform existing customers of updates, and how the quality of a mailing list deteriorates over time. Finally, Manton looks forward to releasing Micro.blog to the public, and Daniel encourages him to generate more PR fanfare around that.

Manton and Daniel celebrate the launch of MarsEdit 4. Daniel shares the unlikely experience of literally weeping at his keyboard as he released it. They take stock of the challenges of getting 4.0 done, and talk about planning for a more predictable update schedule for MarsEdit 5. They wrap up the show answering listener questions about PR strategy for new updates, establishing rapport with press and bloggers, and the importance of projecting authenticity when marketing.

Daniel and Manton discuss Apple's massive root access security flaw, Apple's reaction to it, and what the internal repercussions at the company might be. Daniel catches Manton up on his ambition to ship MarsEdit 4 as early as next week!

Daniel commits to wrapping up MarsEdit 4 by December 1. Manton also looks towards wrapping up for a public micro.blog release. They reminisce about Apple's abandoned system-wide help systems, and review Daniel’s approach to going freemium with in-app-purchases on the Mac App Store.

Daniel and Manton close in on committing to release dates for MarsEdit and Micro.blog. They weigh tough, last-minute decisions about keeping or cutting features. Manton admits to taking on new commitments as an event organizer. Finally, they talk about resources for teaching kids to code including App Camp, Hour of Code, and Swift Playgrounds.

Manton got his iPhone X, while Daniel patiently awaits his. Daniel admits fault for having been dismissive about Face ID, and Manton concedes the iPhone 8 and X seem to be complementary hits. They talk about Daniel's decision to migrate his web server, and weigh the merits of taking on too many tasks vs. outsourcing to experts. Finally, they talk about the fear of shipping and the consolation that only a subset of all possible customers is ever reached by the news of a major release.

Daniel and Manton recap their experience placing pre-orders for the iPhone X, discuss Apple's unusual PR strategy for iPhone X reviews, and debate the appropriateness of Apple firing an engineer for letting his daughter film a YouTube video of his pre-release phone.

Manton and Daniel anticipate the night of iPhone X pre-orders, and the shame of waking in the middle of the night or order a phone. They catch up with their faltering ambitions to ship MarsEdit and Micro.blog, and acknowledge the merit of sharing ambitions with others to help motivate progress. Finally, they contemplate whether eliminating a feature altogether is preferable to shipping it with obvious deficiencies.

Daniel and Manton discuss 37signals becoming Basecamp, spreading one’s self too thinly, choosing a product lineup, time management, and App.net’s new Kickstarter-like system: Backer.

Manton and Daniel celebrate 30 years of Mac, compare Apple and Nintendo, talk about balancing features you use vs. features you don’t, and discuss the wealth of iOS and Mac oriented podcasts.

Daniel and Manton celebrate the release of Sunlit, discuss paid vs. free business models, revisit our privacy policy advice, and discuss the letter and spirit of App Store guidelines.

Manton and Daniel discuss Sunlit’s release status, App Store rejection shenanigans, a revived Glassboard, and answer Q&A about in-app usage analytics and the value of a privacy policy.

App Store submissions shenanigans and techniques, the challenge of calling something 1.0, the possible fallacy of a bad first impression, discussion of new and reorganized tech news sites.

Manton and Daniel observe the end of 2013, Manton’s rising Twitter fortune, and our borderline New Years resolutions. They also chat about Manton’s iPhone 5C, MarsEdit for iOS, and the challenge of choosing between Mac and iOS development.

Daniel and Manton talk about the Waze navigation app and Apple’s missed opportunity in not acquiring it, the risks of pre-announcing release dates, and how to balance attention to detail with shipping the darned 1.0.