Posts by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #ASIo2W8TAkYXOccO92 by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-02-02T14:36:23Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
I have just finished the processing for the revival of my old podcast searching site, PodSearch. I'm using the amazing Whisper speech-to-text engine to convert some of my favorite shows into easily searchable textual archives.I've included The Talk Show, ATP, Upgrade, Cortex, Connected & Under the Radar.PodSearch: https://podsearch.david-smith.orgExplanation: https://www.david-smith.org/blog/2023/02/02/podsearch-reborn/
(DIR) Post #ASJWnjQ7zeVMBxCYV6 by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-02-03T15:39:59Z
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Today's Design Diary entry gets a bit deep in the weeds. I discuss how I condense large GPS coordinate paths down so that I can efficiently transfer them with Watch Connectivity.https://www.david-smith.org/blog/2023/02/03/design-notes-21/
(DIR) Post #ASJqaWDxk9tAaDUKx6 by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-02-03T19:40:58Z
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Final testing is really getting serious now...I'm simultaneously simulating an 11 hour hike along the West Highland Way to ensure I don't have any memory leaks or long lived issues lurking about.
(DIR) Post #ASRty3xsJjFv0zYrNQ by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-02-07T16:51:58Z
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Today I broke my 'No More NEW Features' rule because inspiration struck and I finally had the solution to a problem I'd been struggling with for a while...how to calculate offline map tilesets. I was able to adapt computer graphics line drawing algorithms to bypass what I suspect would otherwise have been some really complex GIS analysis. Inspiration is a rare gift, so when it strikes I know better than to ignore it.https://www.david-smith.org/blog/2023/02/07/design-notes-22/
(DIR) Post #ASTfTO4gUOhDMi91pg by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-02-08T15:44:34Z
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Many of the TestFlight feedback submissions I receive include an email address. If the reports had been emailed directly to me I'd probably send back a quick "thanks for the report" note, but it feels odd to respond that way when they are sent via TestFlight. 🤷🏻♂️When you submit feedback to a TestFlight via the screenshot mechanism. Do you expect/want a developer response?
(DIR) Post #ASTwMCnlhYOLb4OSlE by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-02-08T21:00:36Z
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Filling in the "Tell us about your Development Team...what makes your team great" section of the App Store promo form is the hardest marketing copy I ever have to write.Because I'm a one person development team it is basically asking "Hey Dave, what makes YOU so special"...which my shyness and insecurity really struggles with. 😬https://developer.apple.com/contact/app-store/promote/
(DIR) Post #ASXgClWQw4dVkZbN0S by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-02-10T09:30:03Z
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I'm really starting to appreciate the way "Private Mentions" work here, rather than thinking of them as DMs I am instead using them to differentiate between:"This reply furthers the general discussion and would be helpful for others to see" VS "This reply is really just relevant to the recipient and would clog up other folks timelines unnecessarily".When replying to feedback notes or providing specific help the later is a really useful, lightweight option.
(DIR) Post #ASXgCnFqUiYX7hr9Qe by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-02-10T09:31:22Z
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I really like how much more conversational I feel like I can be in "Private Mentions" without the weird feeling that I'm shouting a conversation in public.
(DIR) Post #AT3azZLUkI8ldXyxbE by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-02-25T17:43:45Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
Everywhere I look all I see is gradients right now. Tonight's sunset was an absolute cracker...and resulted in another addition to the collection.
(DIR) Post #ATBJrXK2F1335WYxMm by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-03-01T12:47:32Z
0 likes, 3 repeats
I am so delighted finally be able to introduce Pedometer++ v5! - Refreshed visual design, fully rebuilt in SwiftUI with dramatically better Dynamic Type support- iPhone based workout tracking with robust and varied Live Activities- Map based workouts with planned routes and offline maps: including map display on Apple Watch, Dynamic Island and Lock Screen- Support for the Action Button on Apple Watch UltraApp: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pedometer++/id712286167?mt=8Overview: https://www.david-smith.org/blog/2023/03/01/pedometer-five/
(DIR) Post #ATGpTcRIFQpPQdSAz2 by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-03-03T21:43:58Z
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Just reached an important milestone in any large release...the first extremely unkind & unnecessarily personal support email, upset about the change. 😞 Oh well.Thankfully the very next email in the queue was someone who was writing completely unrelated to the update who just wanted to say how much they like the app and how helpful it is. 😁I've done this for long enough to _mostly_ be able to not take it personally but still a rough feeling to navigate.
(DIR) Post #ATTAOOAIU4zPm4ZOue by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-03-08T16:34:31Z
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Widgetsmith just reached a truly remarkable milestone, its 100,000,000th download (🤯). I am genuinely staggered by this and incredibly grateful. I did my best to summarize my feelings in this post: https://www.david-smith.org/blog/2023/03/08/new-post/Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey.💙
(DIR) Post #ATTAOS8JjNma55fsNk by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-03-08T16:54:01Z
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Oh, and to celebrate it seemed only fitting to go back to Widgetsmith’s roots and be a little bit “Aesthetic AF”. So I've added some Gold metallic themes, along with a whole host of other gradient varieties.
(DIR) Post #ATdZx3oRUObdLFcHQG by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-03-13T21:17:24Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Spent a bit of time today coming up with a fun improvement to my "Field Watch" design, where rather than just dimming the hands...I “lume” them instead, giving them that greenish glow effect you get from luminescent paint.
(DIR) Post #ATdZx4XolgtzbyqW9I by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-03-15T09:35:32Z
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That “lumed” style of watch face dimming actually works really well with the default rounded/Nautilus style watch hands. I fill in the middle of the hands as though it were painted, but with the digital advantage of not needing for the paint to be visible when bright.
(DIR) Post #ATtvMYpyU4FsMxh0cq by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-03-23T07:57:12Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Ah, good to you again my old friend: The Five Stages of Debugging:1) No way, that shouldn’t be possible2) Huh, that's weird3) OH NO 😱4) How did that ever even vaguely work?5) Hmm, I wonder what fixing this will break…
(DIR) Post #ATyQ0iExa9IrUEjYMi by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-03-25T11:58:58Z
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It should come as no surprise to anyone that I'm a fan of the Apple Watch, but I was recently reminded of a less prominent benefit it provides: its persistence. The fact that it is always quietly keep an eye on me, regardless of whether I'm interested in health or fitness at the time.I recently worked through a season of great struggle with exercising, but have been really encouraged by it persistently recording data so that I now have a clear before and after:https://www.david-smith.org/blog/2023/03/25/ebb-and-flow/
(DIR) Post #AWQAqD3e7mYtZ7Ni0u by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-06-06T15:49:56Z
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I'm really digging the new watchOS visual language. It feels like a mature evolution of the platform, which embraces the physical design of modern Watches. Also, if you'll allow me a moment of slight smugness, I am so delighted that the designs I came up for with Pedometer++ already follow this pattern. Which further confirms how confident I am that this style will be a huge hit. I've heard great feedback about using this approach in watchOS 9.Edge to Edge with corner buttons FTW!
(DIR) Post #AZ25BJOgsUiYwY6knw by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2023-08-23T19:14:01Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
I was delighted when Apple asked me to share some of my experiences from my VisionOS lab, it was great to be able to share more fully how impactful the experience was and how much it helped me with my plans for the Vision Pro. https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=5nn2hddv
(DIR) Post #Aqe7YITjruhZChisnw by _Davidsmith@mastodon.social
2025-01-31T14:16:10Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
The recent work I've been doing has required a lot of sharing files between testing devices (and my Mac). AirDrop should be the ideal tool for this but I've recently found it to be unreliable.Instead I've been using LocalSend which is an open-source AirDrop alternative and it's been working fantastically. The only real downside is that you have to open the app on both sides for the share to complete, but it has been 100% reliable so that’s a tradeoff I'll happily make.https://localsend.org