Core Intuition

Daniel releases Touché for Mac, and he and Manton discuss the value of making your own stuff to combat feelings of hopelessness with world. They revisit Dash in light of its recent open-sourcing, and consider the timing and apparent quality of Apple’s self-appreciating, coffee-table art book.

Daniel and Manton react to US election news, coping with questions of the significance of our work, and how to motivate ourselves to move forward. They discuss a new subscription service, Setapp, which offers a subscription priced suite of 40+ apps. Finally, Daniel catches up with his progress on Touché, an app for simulating and taking screenshots of the Touch Bar.

Manton and Daniel check in with outrage over the MacBook Pro, dongle mania, and the viability of the Touch Bar as a Pro or ubiquitous UI interface. They catch up on their struggles to balance time commitments and to make progress on indie projects. Finally, they weigh the pros and cons of using consulting income to sustain indie pursuits, and talk about the diverse definitions of success for indie developers.

Daniel and Manton talk about the new MacBook Pros and Touch Bar, compare Apple's approach to Microsoft’s, and appreciate the potential for Microsoft's competition to inspire Apple. They talk about Touch Bar integration with Mac apps, and react to Apple TV enhancements.

Manton and Daniel answer listener Q&A about the advantages of being an indie or small team. They react to news that Apple has scaled back its car plans, and speculate about CarPlay getting renewed focus for the company's automotive ambitions. Finally, they look forward to new MacBooks being announced later this month, and imagine whether they will justify buying one or not.

Daniel and Manton dive into Apple's controversial suspension of Dash developer Kapeli's App Store account, and respond to listener Q&A about whether non-sandboxed apps are at risk of removal from the Mac App Store.

Manton and Daniel discuss Manton's experience at the Release Notes conference, talk about the rationale for supporting what might be considered edge-case behaviors in apps, and dig deeper into questions of freemium pricing, reflecting on the Omni Group's pertinent announcements. Finally they talk briefly about Google's latest announcements and what their competition means to Apple.

Daniel and Manton talk about the Release Notes conference, which Manton is attending. They commiserate on the challenge of digging oneself out of software release rut, and take stock of the ups and downs each has had over the years. They talk about Twitter's acquisition rumors, and ponder which acquirer would cause the best outcome for the company and its users...

Manton and Daniel react to macOS Sierra, and enjoy a brief discussion about the user-facing presentation of file systems on macOS and iOS. They talk about Scott Stevenson's "Thanks, Daniel" project, acknowledging the community contributions of Daniel Steinberg. Finally, they indulge in a little speculation about Apple's car project, and the recent rumors of a related acquisition.

Daniel and Manton talk about Daniel's decision to buy an iPhone 7 after all, critique Apple's decision to ship Jet Black phones in spite of their proneness to scratching, and question whether it's worth shipping a product whose defects will garner ridicule. They talk about the new Messages features in iOS 10 and how well or poorly those features downgrade on other platforms...