I’ve been keeping all my music in iTunes Match, Apple’s $24.99/year subscription service that syncs your entire music library across all your Apple devices. But I just got the Amazon Echo, so it’s time to give all my music to Alexa instead!
The off switch for the iTunes Match subscription is tucked away in settings, so I made this video to help anyone who wants to cancel their subscription, too.
It’s a seemingly simple problem — tell the user what time it is in different countries around the world — with an endless number of solutions. There are a few questions you need to ask yourself before even touching pencil to paper: What’s the best way for humans to manipulate time? And really, what is time?
SFCD Agency took a break from client work to put out its first mobile application: Miranda. It’s a time zone converter with an elegant and unique user interface. In this episode, Yasser, the Head of Product and Strategy, and Dmitry, the Creative Director, share their experience making Miranda.
It’s an inside look at the app creation process within an agency, where ideas are brainstormed and workshopped into their final form.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:15 — 32.4MB) | Embed
awake. head throbbing. vision blurry.
So begins one of the most unique games to ever hit the App Store. What follows is an experience that takes the player through a dystopian world that starts with the simple gathering of wood and slowly grows in scope to places you’d never expect.
Amir Rajan discovered the original web-based A Dark Room (developed by Michael Townsend) on Hacker News and knew it needed to be on mobile. He negotiated the rights to create the iOS app and began his journey into RubyMotion and Objective-C development. He shares how he promoted his app and what it felt like to have a meteoric rise to the top of the App Store.
You should listen to this episode if you’ve ever wondered what it takes to have a best-selling app.
NOTE: It’s highly recommend that you finish A Dark Room before listening to this episode!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:15 — 44.4MB) | Embed
What is one of the biggest mistakes made by aspiring app entrepreneurs? Confusing a product with a business. If you build and release an app, you’re selling a product. What happens when sales dwindle? Do you have a plan for sustainable revenue?
Dan Counsell is the founder of Realmac Software, creators of applications such as RapidWeaver, Ember, and Clear. He’s been in the software business for a while now, and has learned some extremely valuable lessons along the way. In this episode, he shares the story of his very first piece of software, and his shock when people started sending him money for it.
He also walks me through the design, development, and launch of his most recent app, Clear (which I personally use every single day). The app is available for both iOS and an OS X, and he talks about why all developers should be targeting both App Stores.
This episode is about creating an app business, not just a product.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:42 — 40.0MB) | Embed
It’s easy to look at somebody like Jeremy Olson and think, “wow, this guy came out of nowhere and just dominated the app scene!” His created his first app, Grades, while still in college, and it won him Apple’s prestigious Design Award in 2011. From there, he founded Tapity, an app development company that just launched its newest app Hours. He’s also the co-author of the popular App Design Handbook.
But creating a beautiful product is only one step in the process of releasing successful apps. In this interview, Jeremy takes me back to the beginning, and shares how he used a journal-like blog to make industry connections and build an audience before he even knew what he was doing. He also talks about turning app releases into launch events, which explains why Hours was covered by almost every major tech news website.
With over a million apps in the App Store, app success really is all about the launch. Jeremy shares exactly how he does it.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:22 — 39.7MB) | Embed