Writing · Archive
Swift, beyond the iPhone
I write Swift for apps on iPhone, Mac, and Vision Pro. I have pushed Swift on the server with Vapor, and put it in unusual places like Stream Deck plugins and the Saga site generator behind this web page. Notes I’m sure I’ll need again.
103 posts
- Aug 26Read →
Behind the scenes video of Fdoo or new app for expats & travelersWatch the behind-scenes video of Fdoo's development and features. - Jul 31Read →
Run Swift Code snippets and regex in the browserExplore Swift tools like Vapor, Swift Fiddle, and Swift Format for running Swift code snippets and regex in the browser. - Jul 21Read →
I became a button makerEject Disks safely from your macOS computer using this Elgato Stream Deck button plug-in. - Jul 19Read →
Attending First Swift Conference in IndonesiaDiscover the highlights and insights from Paul Hudson's presentations and other presentations on AI, DocC and ARKit at the Swift Conf Indonesia. - Jun 28Read →
My commit to Saga Static Site Generator was accepted on GitHubFixed concurrency bug on Swift-based Saga static site generator - Jun 22AR/RealityKit/SharePlay WWDC ResourcesRead →The WWDC videos and guides I keep going back to for ARKit, RealityKit, and SharePlay.
- May 25Swift Barcelona Meetup Video on Meta GlassesRead →Recorded talks at the Barcelona monthly Swift meetup on YouTube.
- May 10Reminder: Setup Legacy Contacts with your FamilyRead →Remember to setup Legacy Contacts with your Family on your Apple accounts so you can get into their accounts when they pass away.
- May 9Well formatted Swift Language ebookRead →A GitHub project generates offline PDF and EPUB editions of The Swift Programming Language from Apple's online Swift book.
- Apr 26Dynamically generated user interfaces with AIRead →Notes on Flipbook's slow text-to-pixel interface demo, its Shenzhen output, and what model-streamed screens could mean for Apple.
- Apr 25Using Encrypted DNS to Prevent Tracking on macOSRead →Install an open-source encrypted DNS profile for Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad to reduce DNS tracking and blocking.
- Apr 23Health And Calorie Tracking Apps I’ve triedRead →A personal comparison of health and calorie-tracking apps I've tried, use, or bookmarked, including Oura, Withings, SleepCycle, Fud AI, Bevel, and Cal.ai.
- Apr 18Points to know when applying for the Apple Developer Academy in BaliRead →Want to get into the Apple Developer Academy in Bali? Joel and I have made a short to explain some of the steps and considerations when applying since it bot...
- Apr 18Read →
Tokyo Swift conference videos postedLast year I was able to attend the TrySwift! conference and loved it. Going to Tokyo for such a technical conference is really worth it. They have just relea... - Apr 11Unofficial Apple Developer CurriculumRead →This git repository is a good community recommendation for learning paths of iOS Development.
- Apr 11Pulsar: A Cross-Platform Haptics Library with Swift SupportRead →I found this GitHub repository for haptics patterns called Pulsar it is cross platform but supports Swift. I’m sure I’m going to need this in the future henc...
- Mar 27Open Apps from Mac CalendarRead →I dragged a project from Omnifocus onto the macOS Calendar app and it has a little open button for Omnifocus that takes me straight to the project. Previousl...
- Mar 27Data on the State of AppsRead →Sensor Tower and RevenueCat reports suggest app discovery is getting harder while users continue subscribing to AI apps.
- Mar 24I’m going to start paying more attention to JensenRead →Exended interview with Lex Fridman and Jensen Huang.
- Oct 20Read →
24-hour Cursor Singapore hackathon weekendBuilding Scrollodex with Cursor AI at a 24-hour Singapore hackathon — lessons on team dynamics and shipping fast. - Aug 7Read →
Importing Solarized Theme for Mac OS TerminalFind Solarized Light and Dark themes for Apple's Terminal app, with direct links to both color schemes on TerminalColors. - Jun 26Identifying All Network Devices on your Local NetworkRead →Use arp -a in macOS to list local network devices, match a Synology NAS by MAC address, and find the IP address needed to connect.
- May 15Exporting Ulysses Groups to an External FolderRead →Getting my sheets out of Ulysses as Markdown with images, annotations, and folder structure intact.
- Mar 6Read →
Mozi shows you which friends are in townA hands-on Mozi app review: see which friends will be in the same city, plan meetups, and weigh its contact-sharing and privacy tradeoffs. - Feb 6New Launcher App Pieoneer forces my hands off the keyboardRead →I tried Pieoneer's radial Mac launcher but returned to Spotlight because selecting an app required moving from the keyboard to the trackpad.
- Nov 15Read →
- Oct 30Read →
Exploring the Real-World Impacts of AI with Brent Deverman and PanelDive deep into the world of AI with Brent Deverman, Janelleh Tang, and Richard Lai at the Hong Kong Spartans Spartans’ Spotlight Series on November 15th 2023. - Mar 12Read →
What does Optimize video streaming while on battery do?On a Mac, this battery setting plays HDR video in SDR to extend battery life. Learn what changes, without assuming a measured battery-life gain. - Feb 8Making a Bootable macOS Monterey External BackupRead →Research notes on making a bootable macOS Monterey backup, including an unresolved AppleRAID installer limitation and APFS formatting questions.
- Mar 10Read →
- Feb 20Steve Jobs articulating the NeXT strategy and pain pointsRead →Steve Jobs is great at analyzing the market, explaining the pain points of the customer and key competitive strengths of NeXT.
- Feb 10Updating Series 3 Apple Watch to WatchOS 7 runs out of spaceRead →Every time there is a new update to WatchOS 7 my series 3 watch does not have enough space to update. Dr. Drang has written a rant and some tips on how to ge...
- Dec 13Syncing Google Drive on M1 MacsRead →A 2020 look at using Transmit to sync Google Drive on an M1 Mac, including DriveFS storage, missing files, and unresolved upload concerns.
- Nov 13Automating changes to Display arrangements on macOSRead →Use displayplacer and Keyboard Maestro to automatically change macOS display arrangements when using Sidecar with your iPad Pro.
- Sep 9Signed up for AppleCard from Hong KongRead →I got the US AppleCard from my iPhone physically in Hong Kong by changing my region to USA and going through the application process.
- Jun 5How to get recaptcha to be unblocked in ChinaRead →Replace www.google.com with www.recaptcha.net in reCAPTCHA references so forms can work on sites accessed from China.
- Feb 8Finally found a way to turn off autoplay on NetflixRead →Finally a way to turn off autoplay on Netflix. The auto play of previews and the auto play of next shows are now turned off on my Netflix account. Netflix He...
- Jun 11Shenzhen Becomes a Key US-China Trade War BattlegroundRead →Chinese tech hub Shenzhen becomes key trade war battleground as US strikes at Huawei, its ‘dragon’s head’ – South China Morning Post
- Jun 1Meditation tip with Oura ringRead →Use Oura's Moment settings silently alongside a guided meditation app, then review the session and heart rate variability in Oura.
- May 23Panic’s Gameboy: A Shameful Move?Read →It is a shame that Panic software can’t make enough money off Mac and iOS and feels compeled to release a Gameboy.
- May 22Why doesn’t my Apple Watch show me what music I’m playing on my iPad?Read →Why doesn’t my apple watch show me what music I am playing on my iPad? Left out feature.
- Apr 26Read →
- Apr 10Inside Huawei, Shenzhen’s DarlingRead →SyrupCast Podcast Ep. 194: Inside Huawei, Shenzhen’s darling
- Apr 10China’s electric car dominance: QuartzRead →China is reshaping the global electric car market, according to Quartz.
- Mar 24Blockchain-Based Subway Invoices in ShenzhenRead →China’s first blockchain-based subway invoices issued in Shenzhen
- Mar 24Read →
- Jan 29Share from Safari to Microblog on Mac OS XRead →@manton can you please allow me to share from Safari to Microblog using the share menu on Mac OS X?
- Jan 20China’s electric bus dominanceRead →Powered by the state, China takes charge of electric buses, with Shenzhen taking the lead – South China Morning Post
- Jan 137 of the best new gadgets from Shenzhen and Hong Kong at CESRead →7 of the best new gadgets from Shenzhen and Hong Kong at CES – South China Morning Post
- Jan 13China’s Shenzhen switches to electric taxisRead →Giving up gas: China’s Shenzhen switches to electric taxis – The Washington Post
- Jan 12Don’t Fear the RegexRead →Regular expressions, debunking common myths and practical examples to help you master this powerful tool.
- Jan 1Mac indie apps have thrived for over 25 yearsRead →The old guard of Mac indy apps has thrived for more than 25 years
- Dec 30Shenzhen’s Tech Surge: Overcoming Silicon ValleyRead →Inside Shenzhen’s race to outdo Silicon Valley – MIT Technology Review
- Dec 27Sufjan Stevens’ Impossible Soul: A 20-Minute Musical JourneyRead →My favorite 20 minute song is Impossible Soul by Sufjan Stevens.
- Dec 26How to Use the Future Faster Than You ThinkRead →A talk on The Future Is Faster Than You Think. Converging technologies and what they change.
- Dec 5Hands-on with iPhone XS Max with physical dual SIMsRead →Hands-on experience with the iPhone XS Max, dual SIM capabilities unique for region.
- Dec 2TechCrunch China Shenzhen 2018 RecapRead →Recapping the TechCrunch China Shenzhen 2018 event | TechCrunch
- Nov 30Jakob Nielsen’s Progressive Disclosure UX ArticleRead →A link back to Jakob Nielsen's UX article explaining progressive disclosure.
- Nov 27Shenzhen: From Counterfeiting to InnovationRead →Shenzhen: How China’s Silicon Valley went from counterfeiting to innovating – CNN
- Nov 27Shenzhen Is The Unofficial Tech Capital Of The World – BloombergRead →Shenzhen, China, is recognized as the unofficial tech capital of the world, according to Bloomberg.
- Nov 24UX Debt: How to Identify, Prioritize, and ResolveRead →After all these years the Nielesn Norman Group is still publishing quality content UX Debt: How to Identify, Prioritize, and Resolve. Can you find any UX Deb...
- Nov 24Defining Success in Agile Feature DevelopmentRead →A way to look at agile feature development to ensure you are delivering value: Definition Of Success
- Nov 4Listening to Khalil Fong’s The Soulboy CollectionRead →Finally listening to Khalil Fong The Soulboy Collection.
- Nov 1The Magic Roundabout as an Emergent SystemRead →Magic round about is a great example of an emergent system.
- Sep 9Iteration and Frequent User Demos in Software DevelopmentRead →Spending my Sunday listening to Creative Selection and thinking about the software development process and iteration on it. Frequent demos to users is a key ...
- Jun 24Watching the 1968 Mother of All DemosRead →Taking some time to watch the 1968 mother of all demos to realize that the innovative ideas actually take a lot longer than we think to come to fruition.
- Jun 9Finding the User Story Behind Anthony Bourdain’s CNN Travel ShowRead →Jonathan found the user story that we created to launch Anthony Bourdain’s show on CNN Travel. ?
- Jun 5Restore an iPhone Faster with Ethernet at the Apple StoreRead →Tip: The Apple Store has an adapter to hook your iPhone or iPad up to Ethernet if you need to restore your iPhone from your iCloud backup. (You can avoid the...
- May 27Show Hidden Files in macOS Finder with a Keyboard ShortcutRead →Press Command-Shift-Period to show or hide invisible files in the macOS Finder.
- May 26Error with jsonfeed wordpress plugin and micro blogRead →A Simple Location plugin error stopped my WordPress JSON Feed and Micro.blog updates; the conflict was reported and fixed in a later release.
- May 25OmniFocus 3 for iOS Is Available for Pre-OrderRead →My most essential app is getting a major upgrade OmniFocus 3 for iOS Available for Pre-order. Great software for managing items to do big and small.
- May 11Testing Icro, a New Micro.blog ClientRead →I am testing a post from a new micro.blog client called Icro.
- May 5Best Flat White in Shenzhen: 21 Grams Coffee ShopRead →Whenever I go to my office in Shenzhen, I still have to stop at the coffee shop called 21 grams. They do my flat white just right with the the right price of...
- May 5Decameron Cafe in Shenzhen: A Hidden GemRead →I went to a shenzhen cafe called Decameron to check it out after ShenzhenParty.com featured it and updated the article a bit.
- Apr 22Shenzhen Event Discovery State of the ArtRead →Decided to create an in-depth post regarding the state of the Shenzhen event discovery. Happy to see that my team has been working so hard on it.
- Apr 22TidBITS redesign: Andy Ihnatko’s tech journalism shines through.Read →The Mac publication I used to read starting 28 years ago, TidBITS, redesigned their website. Excellent that they are still chugging along.
- Apr 21Creative Shenzhen Restaurant ReviewRead →I edited a review of a new creative restaurant in Shenzhen called Magpie. Great to see creative dishes in Shenzhen.
- Apr 16SunFounder Built a Portable Raspberry Pi Machine in ShenzhenRead →How Shenzhen Startup SunFounder Built The World’s First Portable Raspberry Pi Machine
- Apr 14Shenzhen Party Instagram FollowersRead →Feels good to have reached over 2000 followers on the “shenzhenparty” instagram.
- Apr 5Cool automation possibilities with 1Password CLIRead →My password manager has a command line tool. I bet there are some really cool automation possibilities here.
- Apr 5Interview with Time Out CEO Julio Bruno on CommerceRead →Interview with CEO Julio Bruno of Time Out on including commerce in the business model from Digiday
- Mar 25Fighting Linkrot: A 1998 Principle Still Relevant TodayRead →This principle is still valid from 1998: Fighting Linkrot. Thank you Jakob Nielsen.
- Mar 25Just donated money to archive.org.Read →Just donated money to archive.org. It is a time machine for web pages and helped recovered deleted pages on ShenzhenParty.com.
- Mar 24Facebook Spring Cleaning: Apps and Privacy SettingsRead →Doing some Facebook spring cleaning. Removing my apps and updating my privacy settings.
- Mar 23Met Harvey Mok from Casetify at Web WednesdayRead →I met [Harvey Mok] from Casetify last night at [Web Wednesday]. Checking out their Apple [Watch band designer] it took me back to the days I was working in e...
- Mar 20SEO Guide for Site MigrationsRead →Involved in multiple site migrations now have to read this guide: Site Migration Guide: SEO Strategy, Process, & Checklist – Moz. Who wants to help migrate S...
- Mar 20Facebook Has Lost the PlotRead →Facebook's recent controversies highlight its struggles with user trust and engagement.
- Mar 15How to Join LinkedIn for Bitcoin and Create a ProfileRead →Just joined the LinkedIn for Bitcoin and created a profile. Well executed site.
- Mar 9How to Use the deverman.org APIRead →Learn how to use the deverman.org API to interact with the deverman.org platform.
- Mar 7Trampolines, Belief, and Why Flamingos Turn PinkRead →“Even if you are falling that’s ok there is a trampoline waiting for you. It’s so easy you just have to believe.” Thanks to Chuck Thompson for sharing the vi...
- Mar 6A Minimum Viable Product Taken Too LiterallyRead →I see the building of minimal viable products like this way too much. Gave me a chuckle.
- Mar 4Using My Website as the Glue for Social Media with Micro.blogRead →Spent some time revising my personal website this weekend. It is now the glue for my social media using micro.blog.
- Mar 4Missing Group tab on your Facebook page here is quick solutionRead →Was trying to figure out how to link my Shenzhen Party Facebook page with my Shenzhen Party Facebook group and it turns out you have to set your age restrict...
- Mar 3Mac OS X Digital Color Meter AppRead →After all these years I found out that Mac OS X ships with a Digital Color Meter App. Built in ability to check the color of any pixel on the screen.
- Mar 3Rebuilding Spotlight Index on MacRead →Had to rebuild my Mac spotlight index as my apps were not showing up. This Tech Note helped.
- Feb 18High-Speed WiFi at Hong Kong AirportRead →Just found there is now high speed wifi at the Hong Kong airport
- Nov 22Happy Thanksgiving Giving!Read →Happy thanksgiving giving! (CNN Hong Kong Newsroom thanksgiving Nov 2015) #hongkong #thanksgiving @cnn @cnntravel @cnni #turkey @andersoncooper
- Oct 23Meditating in a Sensory Deprivation Float TankRead →A short reflection and photograph from meditating while floating in a sensory deprivation tank.
- Oct 21Remembering Playing with Dish Soap BubblesRead →Remembering when I used to play with bubbles. #dishsoap
- Oct 21Helping a Japanese Star Wars Shop Owner with an eBay SaleRead →Japanese Star Wars fan opens collectible shop in Hakone tourist town outside of Tokyo and asks me for tech support on how to use eBay US to complete his 2000...
- Oct 13Showing Visiting Colleagues Around Hong KongRead →When your out of town colleagues need to be shown around Hong Kong where else are you supposed to take them? ????
- Nov 19Past Programming: TI-85 CalculatorRead →Links to surviving TI-85 calculator games and programs that a high school friend and I wrote, including Shadow Paint, Palace, and Hangman.
- Nov 19Past Project: 3D MP3 Visualization ToolRead →My computer science capstone, MOTIVE, arranged MP3 files by similarity in a 3D space where nearby tracks played louder.
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I use these tools every day building my own apps. If your team needs Swift on iOS, Mac, Vision Pro, or the server, I'm available for fractional and project work.