Identical Cousins: Recent Episodes

Brent and Michael Simmons

Brent and Michael Simmons make Mac and iOS apps — except when they just talk about making apps. Like on this podcast.

Recorded 6 December 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

This is the last episode of Identical Cousins. Thank you so much for listening! We had a great time, and we loved hearing from people who enjoyed the show.

This episode is sponsored by Oxygene from the super-awesome RemObjects Software. See remobjects.com/oxygene and use the discount code ID13 for 20% off.

This episode is also sponsored by HostGator. Use the coupon code COUSINS for 25% off. Get your very own .net domain name! (And web hosting. And 24/7 support. And plenty more.)

Some things we mention (or just felt like linking to):

We talk alot about previous episodes. Instead of linking to them in the show notes, we figured you could just visit the Archive.

Recorded 1 November 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

In this episode we talk about the release of Fantastical 2 for iPhone. And stuff.

This episode is sponsored by Oxygene from the super-awesome RemObjects Software. See remobjects.com/oxygene and use the discount code ID13 for 20% off.

This episode is also sponsored by HostGator. Use the coupon code COUSINS for 25% off. Get your very own .net domain name! (And web hosting. And 24/7 support. And plenty more.)

Some things we mention (or just felt like linking to):

Fantastical 2
Pandora
iTunes Radio
NetNewsWire
1Password
iCloud Keychain
RSS
Safari
Watson
Karelia Software
Sherlocked
Arcade games
Class Contracts
Tweetbot
Jon Oransky
Geo-fence
Vesper
Working on syncing
iPad Air
Teardown of iPad Air Reveals A7 Chip, LG Display, Qualcomm LTE Modem
iPad mini
Handbrake
MacBook Air
Haswell
Holy Grail
iWork for free
Crazy New York Times reporter interviewed on CNN
Red Sox Won the World Series
FAA to Allow Airlines to Expand Use of Personal Electronics

Recorded 23 September 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

In this episode we talk about new iPhones, iOS 7, 64-bit support, and app upgrades.

Some things we mention (or just felt like linking to):

PBS
pbs(8)
Phosphate Buffered Saline
Phish
Touch ID
64-bit
The Bugs
iOS 7
Fantastical and iOS 7
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
Old School
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
TextExpander Support
Sanford and Son
AppShopper
Coda
Caveat emptor
BlackBerry and Fairfax
The Nervous Walking
*NSYNC
New Kids On the Block
Michael’s Secret Client
The Mid Roll

Note: Brent mentions that Vesper hadn’t been updated for iOS 7 yet. That was true at the time of the recording, but is no longer true.

Recorded 23 August 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

In this episode we talk about Steve Ballmer’s retirement, Tesla, iPhone rumors, iOS 7 design, and Glassboard.

This episode is sponsored by RemObjects’s Oxygene for Cocoa. Use the coupon code ID13 for 20% off. From the website:

Oxygene is a general purpose modern programming language and environment that lets you create applications and projects for all of today’s major platforms — from Windows over Android to — new — Mac and iOS. All with the same great language, and while leveraging the platform’s native APIs, frameworks and UI widgets.

Thanks so much to RemObjects — not just for sponsoring this episode, but for their long-time and continuing support of the developer and podcasting communities. They’ve been great, and their work is worth your attention.

Some things we mention:

Avalon, NJ
Proper Use of Commas
CocoaConf
Fantastical
Ballmer Laughs at iPhone
Microsoft Surface
Tesla Is Outselling Cadillac, Chrysler, Porsche, and Mitsubishi in California
iPhone 5C Rear Shell Subjected to Scratch Tests, Caliper Measurements
Apple to Unveil Next Generation iPhone on September 10
I Love Gold!
iOS 7 Design
Glassboard Seeks New Home
360 iDev

Recorded 2 August 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

In this episode we talk about Brent’s Grandmom, Apple developer center down time, iOS 7 and OS X 10.9, and product websites.

Watch this video — it’s funny. We Are Sinking.

Some things we mention:

Bridgeton, NJ
Apple Developer Center
Investigation of Ibrahim Balic’s Claims
Apple Developer System Status Page
Occam’s Razor
Glassboard
iOS 7
OS X Mavericks
Vesper
Fantastical
Chatology
Ralph Waldo Emerson
NetNewsWire
Safari RSS
1Password
CocoaConf Portland - Aug. 15-16
Train to Portland
360 iDev
SQLite
FMDB

Recorded 28 June 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

In this episode we talk about iOS 7 and about syncing.

This episode is sponsored by Igloo Software. Igloo is an intranet you’ll actually like. You can share content quickly with built-in apps: blogs, calendars, file sharing, forums, Twitter-like microblogs and wikis. Everything is social: you comment on any type of content, @mention your coworkers, follow content for updates and use tags to group things around the way you work.

You can add on rooms, like mini-Igloos, for each of your teams to work in
It’s easy – the whole thing is drag-and-drop, features responsive design and uses beautiful fonts from TypeKit
Your Igloo has enterprise-grade security, and you can start using it right away
It’s free to use with up to ten people, and when your Igloo grows, its only $12/person each month
Go to igloosoftware.com/patty (as in Duke) to start building your Igloo

Some things we mention:

We Are Sinking Tokyo Mac Pro Macbook Air CodeWarrior iOS 7 Path OS X Mavericks Vesper
Chatology
WWDC
Fantastical
NetNewsWire
Marco on NetNewsWire Syncing Feedly FeedHQ FeedWrangler NewsBlur Dropbox iCloud Amazon Web Services Windows Azure Mobile Services Heroku Mr. Reader* HockeyApp

Recorded 7 June 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

In this episode we talk about Vesper, Chatology, and WWDC. But note that this was recorded right before WWDC. So we don’t actually talk about anything announced at WWDC. We know nothing.

Note: there is some echo in the audio in this episode. Sorry about that!

This episode is sponsored by 23AndMe. Click that link to order a DNA kit for just $99. That’s a great deal for such a cool service. Learn how your genes may impact your health; learn about your ancestry; learn why (or why not) Cilantro tastes weird to you. You can even learn how closely related you are to Neanderthals. (Surely Brent and Michael are very closely related.) 23AndMe’s Personal Genome Service was TIME Magazine’s Invention of the year in 2008, and it’s kept improving. Check it out.

This episode is also sponsored by FastSpring, the easy-to-use payment processing system that makes headaches go away. Create a custom order page, and even include purchasing directly in your app. If you’re selling a Mac app — or anything else — from your website, then check out FastSpring. Do yourself a favor. Do it now.

Some things we mention:

Vesper
Chatology
WWDC
Apple Design Awards
Fantastical
Glassboard
CocoaConf
AltWWDC
I Took a Lickin’ from a Chicken
Statler and Waldorf
HockeyApp

Recorded 24 May 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

Brent and Michael talk to Jonathan Deutsch from Tumult Inc., which makes Hype. Which is awesome software.

This episode is sponsored by CheckBook Pro from Splasm Software, Inc. It’s a personal finance manager for Mac OS X — with an iOS app in development. It makes it easy to figure out what you’re spending too much money on. It even makes it easy to get your totals ready for taxes. (Taxes. Ugh. Gotta do it, though!) Simple and powerful. The new version 2.5 is on sale for $19.99 until the middle of June.

Some things we mention * Patty Duke Show * Ronald D. Moore * J.J. Abrams * Flat tax * United States tax code * Apple at Congress * European VAT tax * Tumblr * Marco on the Tumblr acquisition * Yahoo * Marissa Mayer * Google * Twitter * Instagram * Flickr * Bing * David Karp * Ryan Nielsen * HTML 5 * WWDC * AltWWDC labs * Talk Show Live * HockeyApp * PLCrashReporter * iOS 7 and Ive * Popovers * Sidebar basement hamburger menu * OmniPresence * iCloud Syncing * Microsoft * Eddy Cue * macminicolo * OmniOutliner * Sandboxing * Mountain Lion * MacBook Air * Haswell

You can follow Jonathan on Twitter.

Recorded 26 April 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

Brent and Michael talk to Chris Liscio, author of the amazing audio apps Capo, FuzzMeasure, and TapeDeck.

This episode is sponsored by FastSpring, the easy-to-use payment processing system that makes headaches go away. Create a custom order page, and even include purchasing directly in your app. If you’re selling a Mac app — or anything else — from your website, then check out FastSpring. Do yourself a favor. Do it now.

Some things we mention:

Capo
FuzzMeasure
TapeDeck
Serpico
Simmons Mattresses
WordPerfect
WWDC
Toronto
San Francisco
AltWWDC
AppKit
Fantastical
Symbian
HockeyApp
OpenGL
Chris Liscio speaking at Çingleton 2011
Ridiculous Fishing
Eric Sink’s Product Pricing Primer
Letterpress
AppViz
appFigures

You can follow Chris on Twitter.

Recorded 19 April 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

Brent and Michael talk about feedback from testers, Siri and privacy, using open source code, Summly, and iSteve.

This episode is sponsored by Windows Azure Mobile Services. Learn how easy it is to get started by watching the videos (at the link above). Set up a database, send push notifications, write scripts that run periodically, authenticate users via Twitter and Facebook, and plenty more. All without being locked into Visual Studio or some crazy thing — instead, you interact with the system in your browser. Write your code in JavaScript in any text editor.

Some things we mention:

WWDC
NetNewsWire
Siri and Privacy
Fantastical
FMDB
Core Data
SQLite
ICU
Business Insider on why Yahoo bought Summly
Machine learning
Japan
HockeyApp
De Anza College
iSteve
Pirates of Silicon Valley
Jobs

Recorded 5 April 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

Brent and Michael talk to Nick Bradbury, author of HomeSite, TopStyle, FeedDemon, and Glassboard.

This episode is sponsored by Windows Azure Mobile Services. Want to provide syncing and web services for your iOS apps? Check out Mobile Services. Leave the headaches of running a server to Microsoft while you concentrate on writing the parts that make your app awesome.

Some things we mention:

To activate the FeedDemon easter egg, type “FeedDemon easter egg” in the address bar.

Recorded 29 March 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

We talk about Google Reader, iCloud, Microsoft, Dave Morin, and Summly.

This episode is sponsored by Windows Azure Mobile Services, a high-level component of Azure that makes it easy to write back-end services for iOS apps. Write code in JavaScript — it runs Node.js. Access the system via your web browser. Leave the server maintenance to other people, while you concentrate on what makes your app awesome.

Some things we mention:

Google Reader Shutdown Announcement
Another Reason Google Reader Died: Increased Concern About Privacy and Compliance
Google Keep
Google Same-Day Shipping
Feedburner
CalDAV
CardDAV
Fantastical
iCloud problems
Apple fans: Microsoft is no longer the enemy
British Empire
Google Graveyard
Dave Morin Q&A
Gaijin Smash
Bespoke
Glassboard
Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451
Summly
Yahoo
Yahoo ends remote workers

Tune in next week when we have our first guest — Nick Bradbury, one of the all-time great indie developers. He’s written three hits on his own: HomeSite, TopStyle, and FeedDemon. These days he works at Sepia Labs on the Android version of Glassboard.

Recorded 8 March 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

We talk about changing your mind. Fantastical adds a date badge — when Michael said he was against it. He explains why.

This episode is sponsored by Windows Azure Mobile Services, which makes it easy to add a backend to your iOS app — you can store data in a SQL database, run periodic scripts, send push notifications, and more. You write code in JavaScript. You don’t have to get Visual Studio. It’s lightweight in the best sense possible — and very easy to get started.

A note about the audio: I (Brent) screwed up Michael’s audio — I had my headphones on and didn’t realize Michael’s audio was playing through my computer speakers. Oops. It’s due to Michael’s Awesome Audio Editing Prowess (tm) that the episode is salvaged. You mostly don’t hear any echo. Mostly. (Sorry about that!)

Some things we mention:

Fantastical 1.1 for iPhone
Microsoft
Olga Korbut
Google Reader
Microsoft investing in Apple
Pirates of Silicon Valley
Weird Domino’s Pizza Thing on YouTube
Vocaloids
Letterpress release notes
HockeyApp
Prizzi's Honor

In the podcast, Brent erroneously credited Mario Puzo as the author of Prizzi’s Honor. It was Richard Condon. (Puzo wrote The Godfather.) We regret the error.

Nowhere in the podcast do we mention Jerzy Kosinski, who wrote Being There. We bring it up now just because we like it.

Another random note: Daniel Jalkut has a nice piece on indie podcasts. While we love 5by5, Mule Radio Syndicate, and Mobile Nations, like Daniel and Marco Arment we’re proud to be indie. We enjoy having sole control of the things we make.

Recorded 20 Feb 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

We talk about Brent’s first three weeks of indie life. Spoiler: he’s enjoying it.

Then, because Michael has a cold, we lose our senses entirely and talk for a while about the Mailbox queue. Brilliant marketing? Pure evil? Making lemons out of lemonade? A nice user experience? A mix of all the above?

Also: cousin Michael gives us a sneak peek at Fantastical 1.1. But his cold makes him misspeak: he says the app uses the word “pasteboard” but in reality it uses the word “clipboard.”

This episode is sponsored by Windows Azure Mobile Services. Mobile Services is a new component of Azure — a very high-level component that makes creating web services for mobile apps (database storage, user authentication, push notifications, email, and so on) easy. (Really easy. Startlingly simple.)

Some things we mention:

Mailbox
Fantastical

Okay, that’s just about it.

Brent’s audio is a bit noisy. He’s working on it. (He has a Blue Yeti. Good mic. The problem isn’t the mic.)

Also: we used a curse word somewhere in the podcast. The f-word. So we marked this episode as explicit for iTunes.

Recorded 29 Jan 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

We shoot the breeze, answer a couple listener questions, and then talk about Brent going indie.

Somewhere along the line, Michael coins the word fauxnoriety.

Some things we mention:

Renaissance Conference
NAMM
Rite of Spring at University of Washington with Compagnie Marie Chouinard
Acorn

Recorded 11 Jan. 2013.

You can download the m4a file.

Here are some things we mention in the show:

Black Pixel
The Trials of iCloud (with tweets)
Rogue Amoeba
Ecamm Network
Reflector.app

Recorded 27 Dec. 2012. We make up stuff about 2013. We talk about watches, displays, Apple’s online services, and the Zuckerberg family photo.

You can download the m4a file.

This episode is sponsored by FastSpring. Want to sell your apps outside of the Mac App Store? You should. Use FastSpring.

Here’s the page about IGZO we talk about — with the weird curly quote where we expected an inch mark.

Happy New Year!

Recorded 7 Dec. 2012. We talk about the launch of Fantastical for iPhone — a little bit about marketing, but mainly about app design.

You can download the m4a file.

This episode is sponsored by FastSpring, the e-commerce provider favored by cool Mac shops like Flexibits and Rogue Amoeba. You should sell your apps there too.

Warning about sound quality: Brent’s microphone goes weird around 19:00 and he switches to another microphone. We apologize for the less-than-smooth experience. (That microphone has been given a stern talking-to and placed in the time-out corner while it thinks about its bad self.)

Recorded 16 Nov. 2012. We talk about porting apps from OS X to iOS and vice versa — and about launching new apps.

You can download the m4a file.

This episode is sponsored by Pinbook from Albina Development. Pinbook is a Pinboard client for iOS. It’s fast, focused, and well-designed. Check it out. Also see Collin’s post on Pinbook 1.1: Polish and Speed.

(Yes, we’re taking sponsorships now. Contact Michael or Brent if you’re interested.)

Some things we mention:

Avalon, New Jersey
FastSpring
Fantastical

And, at one point, Brent says, “Dear Lord, thanks for making me a Simmons.”

Happy Thanksgiving from Identical Cousins!

Recorded 29 Oct. 2012. We talk about the departure of Scott Forstall from Apple, iCloud syncing, Letterpress, and trains.

Some things we mention:

Apple’s Press Release
iCloud Core Data syncing* Letterpress
CocoaConf
Çingleton
The train from Seattle to Portland

Download the audio file.

Recorded 8 Oct. 2012.

We talk about conferences — why you should go and why you should speak.

Some conferences we mention:

NSConference
CocoaConf
Çingleton

We didn’t mention one of my favorites, but we’ll link to it anyway: 360iDev. Also, SecondConf is reputed to be awesome.

Download the audio file.

“It looks like something that aliens would have used on Barney Hill.”

Some pull-to-refresh links:

Prior Art for Pull-to-Refresh?
One More Thing Podcast episide with Loren Brichter
TechCrunch on the pull-to-refresh patent

Download the audio file.

Recorded 21 Sep. 2012.

Recorded 6 Sep. 2012.

Brent and Michael talk about performance, first-run experiences, registration certificates, and RIM’s 10K guarantee.

Also: Brent will be speaking at CocoaConf in Portland in October.

Links:

BlackBerry 10K Developer Commitment
Rogue Amoeba
Flying Meat (Gus Mueller)
CocoaConf

Download the audio file.

Note: this podcast isn’t on the iTunes store yet. We had to update our CMS to output iTunes metadata. Blah blah blah. Done. We’ll submit this week.

Recorded 15 Aug. 2012.

Fair warning: it’s going to take a few episodes before we’re good at this. We even forget the basics — like introducing ourselves.

But still, it was totally fun to do, so we’ll keep going. :)

Some things mentioned on the podcast:

How hard it is for Brent to add a contact to his iPhone
Open Source TextMate
Tech debt
Dave Winer
The Frontier kernel

Download the audio file.