Three nerds discussing tech, Apple, programming, and loosely related matters.
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25: Thrustmaster Joystick
24: Double Meta
- Non-developers might want to skip the first 35 minutes: a technical discussion of FMDB, SQLite, and implementing your own generic "model" class. Plus: Casey finally gets to talk about .NET. (Note from Marco: The day after recording, I rewrote my model class to rely on KVC instead of runtime tricks and reflection. Please email Casey.)
- The types of programmers who can and should write their own low-level classes.
- Casey's app, Fast Text, and why he wrote it in 2010.
- John's unfulfilled app idea and name.
- Getting yourself moving on an iOS app.
- Victory Lap for Ask Patents.
- A 29-minute after-show extravaganza about lazy input sanitization and parameterization, extremely difficult games, eggs, and beaches.
Sponsored by:
23: The X Or The X
- FU: iSCSI and network Time Machine.
- iFixit teardown of the new AirPort Extreme.
- Apple's extended Developer Center downtime. (Note: we recorded this before we knew why it was down.)
- _DavidSmith on Logic X's pricing and what this might indicate for future App Store upgrades.
- Whether upgrade pricing is best for consumers, and the upgrade-pricing train.
- iOS developers acting like the RIAA in 2002.
- The complexity of modern software business models.
- The Wal-Martization of app pricing and how Marble Madness formed the modern Marco.
- Are Apple's policies really at fault for falling app prices?
Sponsored by:
- Drafts: Where text starts on your iPhone or iPad.
- Squarespace: Everything you need to create an exceptional website. Use promo code ATP7 for 10% off.
22: Full Brichter
21: The Transitive Property of Nerdiness
- iWatch follow-up.
- Alex Eckermann on Bluetooth Low Energy and iWatch.
- Eric Welander's thoughts on Siri for iWatch.
- iWatch as a means of identity.
- How regular people use iOS devices, as witnessed by John.
- Multitasking-switcher implications in iOS 7.
- iCloud's priority within Apple.
- Dropbox Datastore API, including its JavaScript API.
- Does the Datastore API obviate the need for a web service?
- Nerd-targeted products.
Sponsored by:
- Transporter: Private cloud storage. Use coupon code atp for 10% off.
- Audible: The leading provider of downloadable audiobooks.
20: A Box and a Strap
- Apple's Yves Saint Laurent hire and the difficulty in predicting an "iWatch".
- Technological Conservatism.
- Panic's Lightning-to-HDMI-cable discovery.
- Chris Harris on iOS 7 icons.
- "Free-to-play" games.
- Coding for practice, and learning new APIs or languages.
- Overly specialized apps.
- Glympse (Casey's road-trip-tracking app).
- Feed Wrangler by _DavidSmith as a Google Reader replacement that's compatible with Reeder for iPhone.
- Lex Friedman's RSS-sync roundup.
- ReadKit for Mac as a potential NetNewsWire replacement.
- Dr. Drang's branch of Marco's RSS-subscriber-count script.
- Why is OS X version adoption slower than iOS, and could Mavericks be free?
Sponsored by:
19: Designed by App in Cal
- John's review progress and show-duration predictors.
- The WWDC 2013 intro video. (Siri's WWDC 2012 intro)
- Apple's "Making a Difference, One App at a Time" video.
- "Designed by Apple in California".
- "Jobs" (Ashton Kutcher) trailer.
- Why developers should (or shouldn't) require iOS 7 this fall.
- "The Transporter" series.
- iOS 7 Calendar app UI.
- Cool-looking vs. well-designed.
- Our iTunes reviews.
- "Better" and "worse" programming languages.
Sponsored by:
- Audible: Download a free audiobook and start your 30-day trial.
- Transporter: Private cloud storage. Use coupon code atp for 10% off.
18: Aluminum-Colored Aluminum
- Casey's fans at WWDC.
- Mac Pro followup. (John's halo-car post)
- The Xbox 180.
- Revisiting the potential for a larger-screen iPhone after having seen iOS 7.
- Predicting iOS 7 adoption.
- Neven Mrgan on iOS 7's icon grid and a rebuttal.
- New Mac Pro appears in Geekbench
- parallelize.c/xargs parallel processing
Sponsored by:
- Squarespace: The all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. Use coupon code ATP6 for 10% off.
- An Event Apart: The design conference for people who make websites.
17: Can’t Innovate Anymore
Special early WWDC episode this week:
- Reactions to the keynote.
- New Mac Pro
- Initial iOS 7 design impressions.
Sponsored by:
- Backblaze: Easy, unlimited online backup for just $5 per month.
- Windows Azure Mobile Services: Build a cloud-connected iOS app faster and easier.
16: John, We Don’t Play Games
15: Cat, Modifier Cat
- Why Marco sold The Magazine.
- Teasing apps before they're out, building hype, and Pit Pass.
- Tim Cook at AllThingsD.
- Cook's presence and speaking style.
- What Cook implicitly said about future Apple products.
- WWDC predictions for OS X.
Sponsored by:
- Oxygene for Cocoa: Use coupon code ATP13 for 20% off.
- Soulver: The essential calculator-spreadsheet-notepad hybrid.
14: Pouring Champagne Onto Rap Stars
- Marco visits Siracusa's house and the car-assaulting tree.
- Transcendental Money.
- Square Cash.
- B2W 120 on financial "safety nets".
- Tumblr, Yahoo, and not screwing it up.
- Cloud hosting and moving up the stack.
- The modern game console's role. the Xbox One's hardware design, and the messy world of TV-connected boxes.
Sponsored by:
- Squarespace: Use coupon code ATP5 for 10% off.
- Windows Azure Mobile Services: Get started today for free.
13: Animated Kale
12: Accidental Server Hardware
- FU on Apple's tick-tock pattern.
- Marco's PHP framework and sponsor-tracking web app, and why both exist.
- Usability and security implications of passwordless login systems.
- The Mac Mini's seemingly accidental success.
- Podcasters who hate the word "podcast", its quality connotation, efforts to invent alternative names, and barriers to entry.
- Brent Simmons' 30 Minutes To Sync proposal.
- Building web services on Apple's infrastructure.
Sponsored by:
- Mac Mini Vault: Colocate or rent your own Mac Mini. Use promo code ATP50 for 50% off your first three months.
- Hover: High-quality, no-hassle domain registration. Use promo code ATP for 10% off.
11: A Particularly Exuberant Adolescence
- The WWDC ticket lottery and potential solutions, or a merit system.
- Why Marco sold Instapaper. (See also.)
- Prospects for replacing Instapaper's income.
- Speculating on today's app market.
- The Magazine's app and Newsstand quality.
- Motivation, development, and homework.
- iOS 7's rumored visual overhaul and other speculation.
- The transition away from Steve Jobs' influence.
- What's left for iOS 7 to add?
Sponsored by Squarespace: Use discount code ATP5 at checkout for 10% off.
10: Gradual Ramp Up To Nothing
- Laptops in school.
- Getting a tech job with and without a college degree.
- Running mail servers in today's spam environment.
- Steve Jobs' unauthorized talking points.
- The WWDC announcement and trying to get tickets.
- Going to WWDC vs. a ticketless trip vs. watching the videos at home.
- Apple's Q2 earnings and hints dropped during the call.
- The tech industry's holding pattern with bored consumers.
- Marco's mom buys her first smartphone, ignoring Marco's advice. Which one did she get?
9: Fish Bicycle Scenario
- Why are PC sales down?
- Why and when people have bought new PCs in the past.
- Forgoing or neglecting PCs today.
- PCs in businesses.
- Apple and IT departments.
- Last decade's Tablet PCs.
- The outlook for Windows 8 tablets in businesses.
- What will change if Microsoft Office is released for iOS?
- What AirPrint and black CD-Rs have in common.
- Still using (and abusing) Jonathan Mann's awesome ending song. Follow him and check out his other songs on YouTube.
Sponsored by Squarespace: Use code ATP4 at checkout for 10% off.
8: Hold Me!
- Giving Dave Morin the benefit of the doubt on that Vanity Fair trainwreck.
- Who Facebook Home is for and why Facebook made it.
- Whether Facebook, Amazon, Samsung, etc. could or should make their own OS or maintain completely diverged Android forks.
- Google forking WebKit, Chrome vs. Safari, and the fork's likely implications for Apple and web developers.
- Debug #11: Don Melton and Safari
- WebKit contributors by company
- Panic's new Status Board app (and IAP reaction).
- We included Jonathan Mann's ending theme song again. Thanks, Jonathan!
Sponsored by Igloo Software.
7: The Forecast For iCloud
- Summly's acquisition by Yahoo, and what could have justified its price. (Marco, WSJ)
- The quality of speech recognition.
- Challenges of big tech companies such as Apple hiring and retaining great talent.
- Why iCloud sync works so badly for developers and whether it's fixable.
- Why developers shouldn't use iCloud even if it worked.
- Jonathan Mann's ATP Ending Theme Song and the More Bleeps version.
Sponsored by Squarespace: Use code ATP3 at checkout for 10% off.
6: Live Like Other People
- How Marco buys a TV (unlike how John does).
- Regular people noticing and caring about high-DPI screens.
- The amazing Mac lineup that few care about.
- Which Mac would we tell people to buy?
- Marco revisits the Microsoft Store.
- The Surface Pro's uniqueness.
- Why GarageBand's adoption of Audiobus is so interesting.
- How exposed filesystems and iCloud's document model both fail users.
Sponsored by Squarespace: Use code ATP3 at checkout for 10% off.
5: Negativity, Skepticism, and Doubt
- The upcoming Google Reader shutdown.
- The market for RSS today, and the way forward.
- Client-side vs. server-side feed crawling.
- Addressing excessive demand for WWDC and Google I/O tickets.
- Apple pessimism is at an all-time high, even in the mainstream.
- What could Apple do to turn the pessimism around?
- Apple and web services.
- The Apple TV's interesting new A5.
- Diversifying the iPhone line.
4: The Bridges
- The role of the Mac Pro today.
- How Apple might manage the launch of a bigger iPhone.
- App design and auto-layout if the iPhone moves to multiple sizes and resolutions.
- Visual Studio's learning curve vs. Xcode and Interface Builder.
- The future of Objective C and the challenge of migrating a platform's API to a new language.
3: Conditions Led To Freecell
- The Nifty MiniDrive
- The challenges of small-camera design
- Sony RX1 and Sony's camera-business revival
- Apple in the gaming market and the evolution of casual gaming
- Solitaire, Minesweeper, and the first time anyone has mentioned FreeCell in 2013
- The bad old days of Game Boys, lead-acid "portable" computers, and mouse-pointer trails
- iOS' refusal to let you pick default browser, email client, calendar app, etc.
- Mini-web-browsers inside of iOS apps
- How iOS could adopt Contracts or Intents, and the problems that might arise
2: The 7th Guest
The PS4 announcement, the Xbox 1, old LAN gaming, Transport Tycoon, early CD-ROM adventure games, dumping old games onto iOS, dial-up modems, and the annoyance of gaming occasionally on a modern console.
1: iPhone Plus
Speculation on what a bigger iPhone's screen might be and why.