Recent Episodes

Season 1 Closing Message

This marks the end of the first season of Bitsplitting. After 10 episodes with 10 great guests, Daniel has decided to take a break. You can learn more about the Bitsplitting Podcast hiatus on the Bitsplitting blog. Thank you for for listening.

Episode 10: Jason Snell

Daniel is joined by Jason Snell of IDG and The Incomparable podcast.

Jason is the Editorial Director at IDG, overseeing the publication of Macworld, PCWorld, and TechHive. He has previously served as the Editor in Chief for Macworld, and was a contributor to MacUser Magazine before it merged with Macworld. Jason is also a long-time fiction writer, and serves on the board of NaNoWriMo.

  • @jsnell – Jason’s Twitter account.
  • The Incomparable – Jason’s panel conversation podcast about various geeky topics.
  • Snell-o-vision – Jason’s personal blog.
  • InterText – Archives for Jason’s online fiction magazine 1991-2004.
  • Macworld – The popular Mac and iOS-oriented print and web publication.
  • The Magazine – The electronic magazine founded by Marco Arment and published by Glenn Fleishman.
  • How He Met My Mother – Jason’s article for The Magazine.
  • Chevy Corvair – The car that Jason’s mother and Daniel each owned at one time.
  • Columbia Union School District – Jason’s grade-school from Kindergarten through 8th grade.
  • West Coast Computer Faire – The San Francisco conference Jason attended as a child with Crispin and Chuck Holland.
  • UCSD Guardian – The newspaper Jason worked at as an undergraduate.
  • 209 BBS List – Historical list of BBSes in Jason’s 209 area code.
  • Revelle College – Jason’s school at UC San Diego.
  • Sonora Union Democrat – Jason’s home-town newspaper, where he worked for a summer after earning his B.A.
  • Mac Publishing, LLC – The joint-venture between IDG and Ziff-Davis that combined Macworld and MacUser.
  • NaNoWriMo – An organization for encouraging aspiring novelists to make progress towards that goal.
  • Chris Baty – The founder of NaNoWriMo.
  • No Plot? No Problem! – Chris Baty’s book of advice for aspiring novelists.
  • On Writing – Stephen King’s book of advice for writers.
  • App Camp For Girls – The non-profit dedicated to teaching girls to write iOS apps.
  • The Ihnatko Almanac – Andy Ihnatko’s podcast on the 5by5 network.

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Episode 9: Jean MacDonald

Daniel is joined by Jean MacDonald of App Camp For Girls.

Jean is also a partner at Smile Software, makers of popular Mac and iOS applications including PDFpen and TextExpander.

Additional links:

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Episode 8: Marco Arment

Daniel is joined by Marco Arment of Marco.org.

Marco also founded The Magazine and Instapaper, each of which he sold off earlier this year. Previously, he was the co-developer and first employee of Tumblr.

Additional links:

  • @marcoarment – Marco’s Twitter account.
  • marco.org – Marco’s personal site.
  • Accidental Tech Podcast – Marco’s podcast with Casey Liss and John Siracusa.
  • I’d Tumbl For You – My October, 2008 post lamenting Tumblr’s inadequate API.
  • Marco’s Apology – Marco responds to my blog post with a brief, professional apology.
  • Marco’s 2006 Resume – Marco’s recent post linking to his 2006-era resume.
  • 3-2-1 Contact – PBS program and affiliated magazine from which Marco learned Basic programming.
  • QBasic – Microsoft’s Basic programming language.
  • BMW Welt Delivery – Program through which Americans can purchase and pick up a new BMW car in Germany.
  • Allegheny College – Marco’s alma mater.
  • Phi Delta Theta Allegheny – The fraternity chapter that Marco helped to revive.
  • IBM Infosphere – The current incarnation of Vivisimo, the Pittsburgh company where Marco started his career.
  • Davidville – Remnant of David Karp’s company, now Tumblr.
  • Ultimate Bulletin Board – The bulletin board software Marco enjoyed with his friends in high school.
  • Daring Fireball – John Gruber’s site.
  • Neutral – The twelve-episode car-oriented podcast.
  • Core Intuition 91 – Episode where Manton Reece talks about leaving Heroku for a more portable, affordable server solution.
  • The One-Person Product – Marco reflects on the history of Tumblr and what the sale means to him.
  • Stripe – A payment processing company with great developer-oriented technology and policy.

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Episode 7: Buzz Andersen

Daniel is joined by software developer Buzz Andersen, who worked for Apple, Square, and Tumblr before recently founding Brooklyn Computer Club with Phillip Bowden. Previously he developed the popular Mac iPod utility PodWorks, and the groundbreaking iOS Twitter client Birdfeed.

Other Links:

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Episode 6: Amanda Wixted

Daniel is joined by game developer Amanda Wixted, who was Zynga’s first iOS developer and now runs Meteor Grove Software.

Amanda had the opportunity to jump straight into professional game development after graduating from college in 2005. Since then she has co-developed many successful iOS titles including Pac Man, Mafia Wars, and Farmville.

Additional Links:

Sponsored by HelpSpot: Customer service is your best marketing. Make every ticket count with HelpSpot.

Episode 5: Brent Simmons

Daniel is joined by Brent Simmons, founder of Ranchero Software.

Brent is a long-time member of the independent Mac development community, serving as a role-model to many others, Daniel included. He is the original developer of both NetNewsWire and MarsEdit, and was one of the developers of Glassboard. Brent has recently returned to his indie roots, developing again under the Ranchero banner.

Additional links:

  • @brentsimmons – Brent’s Twitter account.
  • Inessential.com – Brent’s long-time personal weblog.
  • Identical Cousins – Brent’s software development podcast with Michael Simmons.
  • Newark, DE – Brent’s childhood home.
  • Free Range Kids – Hands-off parenting book and movement promoted by Lenore Skenazy.
  • Twilight of the Idols – Book by Friedrich Nietzsche featuring the quote: “Without music, life would be a mistake.”
  • Star Wars – The epic space adventure that captured Brent’s childhood fascination.
  • Evergreen State College – The so-called hippy college where Brent spent two years.
  • Seattle city community college – The school Brent attended after leaving Evergreen State.
  • The New City Collegian – Modern-times evolution of the college paper Brent once worked on.
  • Chinook’s restaurant – One of Brent’s busboy gigs as a younger man.
  • Think C – Brent’s first Mac programming IDE.
  • Mike Jittlov – Animator whose “Wizard of Speed and Time” movie somehow reminded me of Brent’s first company name “Worldwide Power and Light.”
  • WebStar – Mac-based HTTP server that Brent’s earliest commercial software ran on.
  • UserLand Software – Company founded by Dave Winer where Brent learned the ropes of professional programming.
  • Manton Reece – Long-time mac Developer and member of the UserLand community.
  • Dave Winer – Founder of UserLand and Brent’s software development mentor.
  • NetNewsWire – Brent’s first big indie success, the venerable RSS client for Mac OS X.
  • MarsEdit – Daniel’s first big indie success, built on the back of Brent’s original work.
  • Glassboard – The private social network for groups.
  • Letterpress – Popular iOS game by atebits.
  • International Herald Tribune – The global English-language paper that sustined Brent in France.
  • Reservoir Dogs – The Quentin Tarantino film Brent and Sheila saw in Grenoble.
  • Next Generation of Instapaper – Marco Arment on the news that he is selling a controlling interest in Instapaper.

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Episode 4: John Siracusa

Daniel is joined by John Siracusa, a software engineer by day who is better known to many as a podcaster and contributor to Ars Technica.

John is well known among Mac aficionados for his extensive reviews of major Mac OS X upgrades. He co-hosted 100 episodes of Hypercritical with Dan Benjamin on the 5by5 network. Most recently he’s teamed up with Marco Arment and Casey Liss to produce the Accidental Tech Podcast.

Additional links:

Sponsored by HelpSpot: Customer service is your best marketing. Make every ticket count with HelpSpot.

Episode 3: Jacqui Cheng

Daniel is joined by Jacqui Cheng of Ars Technica.

Jacqui is currently Senior Apple Editor for Ars Technica. She has been a contributor to the site since she was in college, and has helped the company grow from a small enthusiast site to a major component of Condé Nast’s Wired Digital Group.

Links:

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Episode 2: Erika Hall

Daniel is joined by Erika Hall of the Mule Design Studio.

Erika is director of strategy at Mule, co-host of the Running From the Law podcast, and author of the forthcoming book Just Enough Research.

Sponsored by HelpSpot: Customer service is your best marketing. Make every ticket count with HelpSpot.