

Coder Radio
The Mad Botter
A weekly talk show taking a pragmatic look at the art and business of Software Development and the world of technology.
Episodes
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Jan 31, 2024 • 57min
555: It's Good to be the King
If you're going to come at the king, you better not miss; now it's Apple's turn to make everyone feel pain.
And our spicy take on why AI safety is really about stopping a movement.Sponsored By:Coder QA: Take $2 a month off for the lifetime of your membership and contribute to our show directly Promo Code: jarjarLinks:💥 Gets Sats Quick and Easy with Strike — Strike is a lightning-powered app that lets you quickly and cheaply grab sats in over 36 countries.📻 Boost with Fountain.FM — Fountain 1.0 is out with a new UI, upgrades, and super simple Strike integration for easy Boosts.Apple says UK could 'secretly veto' global privacy tools — Apple has attacked proposals for the UK government to pre-approve new security features introduced by tech firms.Apple won’t give up control of the iPhone — The EU wants to weaken Apple’s gatekeeper power, and the company is on the wrong side of history by fighting it.Apple’s Proposed Changes Reject the Goals of the DMAAI companies will need to report safety tests to US government | AP News — Chief among the 90-day goals from the order was a mandate under the Defense Production Act that AI companies share vital information with the Commerce Department, including safety tests.New GitHub Copilot Research Finds 'Downward Pressure On Code Quality' —
"We find disconcerting trends for maintainability," explains the paper's abstract. "Code churn -- the percentage of lines that are reverted or updated less than two weeks after being authored -- is projected to double in 2024 compared to its 2021, pre-AI baseline. We further find that the percentage of 'added code' and 'copy/pasted code' is increasing in proportion to 'updated,' 'deleted,' and 'moved 'code. In this regard, AI-generated code resembles an itinerant contributor, prone to violate the DRY-ness [don't repeat yourself] of the repos visited." Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not - The Verge — The Apple Vision Pro is the best consumer headset anyone’s ever made — and that’s the problem.Apple Has Sold Approximately 200,000 Vision Pro Headsets — Apple has sold upwards of 200,000 Vision Pro headsets, MacRumors has learned from a source with knowledge of Apple's sales numbers. Apple began accepting pre-orders for the Vision Pro on January 19, so the headset has been available for purchase in the U.S. for 10 days.Apple Vision Pro Review — We have rounded up some of the videos below from well-known YouTube creators and reporters, including Marques Brownlee, Joanna Stern, and others.President Biden is preparing to announce chipmaker subsidies. — So says The Wall Street Journal in a report this morning that his administration will give “billions of dollars” to the likes of Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), both of which have started US manufacturing projects, although TSMC, at least, is behind schedule.

Jan 24, 2024 • 58min
554: The App Store Addiction
We knew they'd be petulant, but even our expectations were higher than this. We dig into how Apple dunked on devs after last week's show, yet another Microsoft hack, and more.Sponsored By:Coder QA: Take $2 a month off for the lifetime of your membership and contribute to our show directly Promo Code: jarjarLinks:💥 Gets Sats Quick and Easy with Strike — Strike is a lightning-powered app that lets you quickly and cheaply grab sats in over 36 countries.📻 Boost with Fountain.FM — Fountain 1.0 is out with a new UI, upgrades, and super simple Strike integration for easy Boosts.DHH on X — Apple would be wise to study the long arc of Microsoft’s history. Learn that you can win the battle, say, against Epic, and end up losing the war for the hearts and minds of developers. Apple's Big Brother Now - dominickm.com — Getting right down to brass App Store tax. You’re almost certainly not saving any money. Apple is only taking three-percent off their cut even if you process the payment via another processor. Payment processors charging what they tend, that means you will likely save no money whatsoever; this is increasingly apparent once you begin to consider the implementation cost of setting up third-party payment processing and complying with the rest of Apple’s onerous terms.Evan on X — Apple expects to sell an estimated 300K-400K Vision Pros in 2024 - BloombergApple Vision Pro: Lack of Netflix, YouTube, App Store Tensions Threaten Device - Bloomberg — Some big name developers thus far aren’t doing much to help the device. Three of the world’s most popular streaming services — Netflix Inc., YouTube and Spotify Technology SA — have already signaled that they won’t be launching visionOS software or enabling their iPad apps to run on the Vision Pro.These Third-Party Apps Are Optimized For Apple Vision Pro So Far - MacRumors — So far, over 250 apps with native support for visionOS have been submitted to Apple, according to a source.Google CEO says job cuts needed in 2024 to serve ‘ambitious goals’ — Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in a memo Wednesday that more job cuts are coming this year.How Google is Remaking Itself as a “Machine Learning First” CompanyMiguel Fierro on X: "Bad news for the industry" — Diane from Google rants on social

Jan 17, 2024 • 50min
553: Fake AI Until You Make AI
They are building AI into toilets now; CES was a clown show. But we put our business hats on and find the bright side.
Plus, Epic's major loss to Apple that just rolled in, and where we think the next fight will be, and how developers can get ahead of it.Sponsored By:Coder QA: Take $2 a month off for the lifetime of your membership and contribute to our show directly Promo Code: jarjarLinks:💥 Gets Sats Quick and Easy with Strike — Strike is a lightning-powered app that lets you quickly and cheaply grab sats in over 36 countries.📻 Boost with Fountain.FM — Fountain 1.0 is out with a new UI, upgrades, and super simple Strike integration for easy Boosts.Mark Gurman on X — The Vision Pro virtual keyboard is a complete write-off at least in 1.0. You have to poke each key one finger at a time like you did before you learned how to type. There is no magical in-air typing. You can also look at a character and pinch. You’ll want a Bluetooth keyboard.Here's How Vision Pro Demos Will Work at Apple Stores — In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said each demo will last around 20 to 25 minutes. After a calibration process, he said the customer will view still photos, panoramas, spatial photos, and spatial videos in the Photos app. Next, he said customers will learn how to position multiple app windows and scroll through pages in Safari. Then, they will view immersive 3D content, including movie clips, sports, and a tightrope scene.Epic’s California injunction against Apple’s anti-steering rule takes effect as Supreme Court denies both parties’ petitions — The most important question, however, is whether the United States Department of Justice, which is reportedly readying a major antitrust case against Apple, and/or other private parties are now going to sue Apple over the App Store monopoly, potentially with stronger expert testimony (which is not even the only way in which they could benefit form the lessons learned from Epic Games v. Apple).gamesfray on X🧵1/4 — The #EpicGames v. #Apple judgment is now FINAL. The Supreme Court has denied either party's petition for review.
This means the anti-anti-steering injunction that Epic won under California Unfair Competition Law enters into force. Apple wanted to prevent or delay that.
🧵1/4App Store to Be 'Split in Two' Ahead of EU iPhone Sideloading Deadline — Apple is apparently planning to roll out adjustments to comply with the new legal requirements in the coming weeks, including splitting off the App Store in the EU from the rest of the world. The deadline for Apple to comply with the DMA is March 7, so the company has just over seven weeks to enact the changes.Google confirms it just laid off around a thousand employees — Or more than a thousand? Depends on the definition of “few”. Google announces another round of layoffs - YouTubeVic 🌮 on X — It's January 11 and the following companies have done layoffs so far.Layoffs.fyi — Tech Layoff Tracker and Startup Layoff Lists.
Discord lays off 17 percent of employees — In an internal memo, CEO Jason Citron said the company grew headcount too quickly over the past few years.Apple to Shutter 121-Person San Diego AI Team in Reorganization — Apple Inc. is shutting a 121-person team related to artificial intelligence operations in San Diego, leaving many employees at risk of termination, according to people familiar with the matter.At CES, everything was AI, even when it wasn’t — But as more companies rebrand anything involving algorithms as AI, how are we meant to separate the chaff from the wheat? AI Briefing: What marketing and tech experts noticed at CES 2024 — Unsurprisingly in Las Vegas last week, AI was inarguably one of the hot topics. Major brands and startups alike spent the week touting new AI chatbots for everything from cars and bikes to smart TVs and personal devices.A high-tech, no touch throne: Kohler's smart toilet - YouTube

Jan 10, 2024 • 1h 10min
552: iPad Friend Zone
A prominent developer has brought the anti-trust heat against Apple to the public, kicking off a chain reaction that could have gone very wrong for Apple. Plus, why the Apple Vision Pro is destined for the Friend Zone.Sponsored By:Coder QA: Take $2 a month off for the lifetime of your membership and contribute to our show directly Promo Code: jarjarLinks:💥 Gets Sats Quick and Easy with Strike — Strike is a lightning-powered app that lets you quickly and cheaply grab sats in over 36 countries.📻 Boost with Fountain.FM — Fountain 1.0 is out with a new UI, upgrades, and super simple Strike integration for easy Boosts.🎧 Boost with Podverse — A GPL Podcasting 2.0 platform that supports Boosts and more!Bitcoin ETF widely expected to get approval this week - YouTube — CNBC's Kate Rooney reports on news around Bitcoin.Macs can now detect liquids in USB-C ports — On the Mac, however, the code suggests that the daemon is only used for “analytics” and is not associated with end-user features. While Apple may eventually implement an alert similar to the one that already exists in iOS, it seems more likely that the data collected by this daemon will be used for technicians to determine whether a Mac is eligible for free repair.Apple Vision Pro sales will start on February 2 — Apple's headset will ship to customers on February 2. Preorders begin on January 19. Apple: Developers shouldn't refer to visionOS apps as AR or VR —
The company is asking developers not to refer to visionOS apps using terms such as AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), XR (extended reality), or MR (mixed reality). Instead, Apple says that visionOS apps are “spatial computing apps.”DHH on X — We have some great, native, dedicated apps ready for HEY Calendar. The Android one is just sitting there waiting for us to push publish in the Google Play Store. Guess what's happening to the other one for iOS? Still "in review" since mid December 🙄DHH on X — Ah @apple, not this shit again. I thought we sorted it out 2.5 years ago in round one?! Why oh why must it be like this! You know we're not just going to roll over, that we're never going to pay the 30% ransom. Just approve the fucking app and we'll be on our merry way!DHH on X — Apple just called to let us know they're rejecting the HEY Calendar app from the App Store (in current form). Same bullying tactics as last time: Push delicate rejections to a call with a first-name-only person who'll softly inform you it's your wallet or your kneecaps.Apple rejects the HEY Calendar from their App Store —
So what’s going to happen? I don’t know, but I do know that we’ll keep fighting. We’re never going to roll over and pay Apple 30% in protection money to be left alone. Last time we found a way, and we will again.Apple might be the next Big Tech company facing antitrust charges in the US - The Verge — The Department of Justice is finalizing an antitrust investigation into Apple that targets its closed ecosystem, according to The New York Times.Tim Sweeney on X — Fortnite, but not on iOS because you are blocking it from a billion users.Apple’s rejection of Hey calendar app renews an old fight — Basecamp founder and app creator David Heinemeier Hansson referred to Apple’s decision as “bullying tactics.”Happiness is never having to ask for permission — We can put peak native apps in the rearview mirror in 2024. So pack your bags and come along for the ride!We’ve resubmitted the HEY Calendar app to Apple — Did we want to work through the weekend to add this? No. But we also don’t want to leave our customers with iPhones waiting for our awesome native HEY Calendar app.DHH on X — Apple approved the HEY Calendar!! It's now available for download in the @appstore
. Ridiculous it needed this level of awareness/pressure, but I'm so happy for our iOS team to see their work through the weekend pay off in full. Thanks to all who cheered!The New York Times Sues Microsoft, OpenAI for Copyright Infringement — The New York Times has sued Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement and is seeking “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages.”Amazon's Silent Sacking — In 2023 Amazon laid off more than 27,000 people. While that’s a big number it’s a deceptively small percentage for a company with more than 1.6 million employees (1.7%).Should You Watch Babylon 5? : startrek — Babylon 5 is basically the anti-Trek. More specifically, it's the anti-TNG. The Earth Alliance isn't a magic utopia, it's the exact government you would expect modern boneheaded American politicians to set up if they suddenly landed in 2250.

Jan 3, 2024 • 45min
551: The Workstation Lifestyle
Mike shares his adventures and process of coming from mobile app projects to working with Unreal Engine, and why he realized a laptop just wasn't going to cut it.Sponsored By:Network Membership Holiday Discount: Support the entire network, and get access to every member's special feed for every show on the network. Sign up now and save $3/m FOREVER! Promo Code: 2024Links:⚡ Send Sats with Strike from Around the World — Strike is a lightning-powered app that lets you quickly and cheaply send sats in over 36 countries 🌎. 💸 Cash App — The Cash App can quickly send sats just by scanning a QR code. It's a great app loaded with features and a simple UI.🎉 Boost from Fountain's Website — Use Strike, Cash App, or your favorite app with Lightning support and Boost via QR Code right from Fountain's website. No other app is needed! Adobe gives up on $20 billion acquisition of Figma — Competition probes in the EU and UK made regulatory approval dicey.U.S. Government Officials Reportedly Want DOJ To Investigate Apple For Its Anti-Competitive Behavior Against Beeper Mini Over iMessage — Beeper Mini and Beeper Cloud are still inaccessible for 60 percent of Android users, with Apple trying its best to prevent access to iMessage serversThe Coder Robe — Look and feel comfortable, life is better in a robe.Unreal Engine 5: everything you need to know — Unreal Engine 5 is the real-time creation platform that has it all for game development, visualisation, and VFX.A Fan Used Unreal Engine 5 To Make A ‘Zelda: Ocarina Of Time’ Studio Ghibli Movie And It’s Amazing — The second half of the video switches from animated movie to third-person perspective video game, and I’m left thinking “I really want this game, with these incredible cut-scenes.”Red Dead Redemption Unreal Engine 5 remake makes the remaster look like poop — Thankfully a devoted fan has taken matters into their own hands by creating a concept for the original Red Dead Redemption remake on Unreal Engine 5.Unreal Engine 5's next big RPG is Elden Ring meets Assassin's CreedPrecision 7865 Tower Workstation — Mike's new rig.

Dec 27, 2023 • 51min
550: Buff Uncle Jeff
The hosts reflect on their work over the past year and receive advice from Buff Uncle Jeff. They discuss advent calendar code challenges and a limited-time offer for a promo code robe. They talk about the ad pocalypse and the pros and cons of using Brave browser. Technical issues with browsers and video calls are discussed, as well as upcoming events and carpooling. The concept of metrics and their true meaning is explored, and the hosts discuss switching to a bounty system. The recent Google vs Epic Games ruling and its implications are analyzed. They also talk about a Super Nintendo SD card cartridge and messaging apps, browsers, and closing remarks.

Dec 20, 2023 • 57min
549: Hacking The Gathering
A developer who hacked an online game shares their clever method, while the hosts question the severity of cyber war fear. They also debate 'Babylon 5' vs 'Star Trek', discuss the challenges of software development within businesses, and explore the future of Neural Link technology.

Dec 13, 2023 • 46min
548: Don't Fight the Music
Topics include Florida Man crimes and a lawsuit against a video game company, the unpredictability of OpenAI's chat GPT, tech companies' spectacle pressure and Google's branding missteps, Apple's potential AI features, the iMessage controversy and the introduction of Beeper, Apple and Google's push notification monitoring, and the Nintendo online subscription and unique gaming setup.

Dec 6, 2023 • 59min
547: The Slow and the Infuriating
The hosts discuss their worst mistakes, including Windows to Linux migration. They share a Mars Rover mishap and the challenges of managing legacy systems. They talk about Jovian NYX OS and operating systems like Nix OS. They also mention listener tips and hope to attend Nixfest.

Nov 29, 2023 • 45min
546: A Very Tidy Excuse
Discussion of OpenAI upset and issues with desktop Linux. Mention of Amazon WorkSpaces Thin Client device. Analysis of AGI hype and job openings at Alderaan Games. Talk about power struggles and egos in tech industry. Mention of solar satellite theory and Sam's firing. Experience with switching web browsers and authorization issues. Frustration with web browser problems on Linux. Discussion about supporting the show and thanking boosters.