Mixology has been an interest of mine for many years. Not in the “let’s party all night until we fall over” way, but rather in an "appreciation for the finely crafted beverage after dinner” sort of way. I enjoy reading up on techniques, finding new recipes, and researching the histories of various cocktails throughout the ages. Crafting fine cocktails and software design actually go hand in hand. They both involve a bit of art and science, and they both require an appreciation for getting things just right. Attention…

Indies love to fall on their sword and die with dignity. I love Ned Stark[1] as much as the next guy, but in the end Varys is right: Ned died because he sucked at playing the game. Worse, he had an opportunity to help the realm, but instead his pride got in the way, and Westeros ended up with Joffrey. The latest controversy in the indie community is over Apple’s new App Store ad system. Is it or is it not ethical to bid on keywords that are…

I was wrong about stickers. Sitting in a hotel room, watching the WWDC keynote address with some friends this past June, Curtis Herbert commented that “Stickers will be huge” no matter how much developers make fun of the whole concept. I remember thinking, of course they would be. It didn’t even occur to me to make fun of the concept. There was no question stickers would be immensely popular. But there was no way I was going to use them. I’m the guy who doesn’t even use…

Last time I left off at the artist listing screen. Today, I want to dig into the individual artist view, album view, and the now playing screen. One of the reasons I chose to give Music another try in iOS 10 is that Apple has finally given us a proper artist album listing, with albums that drill down into their own screens. This means we can finally choose an artist, then play a single album without it continuing on to the next album. Sounds like a small thing, but I…

The improvements in watchOS 3 over watchOS 2 are still, to me, the most exciting thing happening with Apple this summer. I would have skipped the iOS 10 beta altogether if not for the fact that I simply couldn’t wait to get watchOS 3 on my Apple Watch. The difference in day-to-day practice is staggering. That doesn’t mean that watchOS 3 is perfect, of course. There are still two little things bugging me that I wish Apple would address. First, the Activity rings. It’s great that there…