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.
Recent Episodes
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:
- @macgenie – Jean’s Twitter account
- Jean MacDonald – Jean’s LinkedIn profile.
- App Camp For Girls – Jean’s non-profit programming camp for girls.
- Smile Software – Jean’s software company.
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp For Girls – The music camp that helped inspire App Camp For Girls.
- Ladies Rock Camp – The Rock Camp spinoff for grown women.
- Systematic #28 – Episode of Brett Terpstra’s podcast featuring Jean.
- @UIPopTart – Twitter account of Natalie Osten, App Camp’s lead developer.
- @verso – Twitter account of Kelly Guimont, an App Camp volunteer.
- @maia_olson – Twitter account of Maia Olson, App Camp volunteer and Jean’s colleague at Smile.
- Momoko Saunders – Volunteer at App Camp and a Portland-based bike collective.
- Big Nerd Ranch – The “vacation programming school” near Atlanta, GA.
- Title IX – The US education reform that ensured equal funding to girls’ sports programs.
- altWWDC – The conference where Jean recently spoke about indie marketing tips.
- The Frankfurt Book Fair – The publishing-industry event that captured Jean’s young imagination.
- Farrar, Strauss and Giroux – Jean’s former employers in New York City.
- Blue Lake Children’s Publishing – Jean’s sister’s publishing company, where Jean also worked.
- Geekcorps – Non-profit educational organization that Jean volunteered for.
- Ethan Zuckerman – Co-founder of Geekcorps.
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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:
- @buzz – Buzz’s Twitter account.
- Sci-Fi Hi-Fi – Buzz’s main blog.
- Modern Classics – Buzz’s cocktail blog.
- Cocoa Radio – One of the earliest podcasts focused on interviewing Mac community members.
- Apple Employee Silence By Self – Daniel’s 2005 article whining about Buzz’s decision not to appear on Cocoa Radio.
- Enter Magazine – Children’s programming magazine from the Children’s Television Workshop.
- Rocky’s Boots – Educational game released by The Learning Company in 1982.
- Robot Odyssey – Programming robots with another educational game from The Learning Company.
- Computer Chronicles – The PBS television show about personal computing.
- Hypercard – Apple’s groundbreaking visual programming environment.
- How to be a “Woman Programmer” – Essay in the New York Times mentioned by Buzz.
- University of Denver – Buzz’s alma mater.
- Nyx – Andrew Burt’s public access unix server.
- OLGA – The On-line Guitar Archive wikipedia page.
- NCAR – The National Center for Atmospheric Research.
- Ridiculous Fish – The home page of Peter Ammon, one of Buzz’s early Apple co-workers.
- Hype – HTML5 content creation app by Ryan Nielsen and Jonathan Deutsch.
- Neven Mrgan – Designer of Birdfeed for iOS.
- Secret Clubhouse – Buzz’s co-working space in Brooklyn.
- Matt Hackett – Buzz’s friend who was cited as prescribing a Hollywood model for software.
- Ed Nacionale – The designer who will be producing Brooklyn Computer Club’s logo.
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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:
- @commanda – Amanda’s Twitter account.
- AmandaWixted.com – Amanda’s home page
- Meteor Grove Software – Amanda’s consulting and development company.
- Chris Hadfield’s Space Oddity – Video of astronaut playing David Bowie’s song in space.
- Space Shuttle Challenger – The disaster-fated NASA space orbiter that Amanda’s dad was a finalist for boarding.
- Saudi Aramco – The Saudi oil company whose residential compound Amanda grew up on.
- Multi-User Dungeon – Text-based social adventure game that Amanda enjoyed as a child.
- Stevenson School – Amanda’s High School in Pebble Beach, California.
- Napster – The peer-to-peer file sharing service.
- Surrealist Automatism – Artistic method used for Automatic Poetry and other arts.
- Susan Kinsolving – One of Amanda’s poetry inspirations.
- E.E. Cummings – Another poetry inspiration.
- Dune – The science fiction novel by Frank Herbert.
- Nokia 6682 – The smartphone Amanda used prior to debut of the iPhone.
- Turf Geography Club – Crunchbase profile of the “FourSquare meets Monopoly” game Amanda worked on.
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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:
- @siracusa – John’s Twitter account.
- Hypercritical – John’s personal technology web site.
- The Incomparable – Jason Snell’s roundtable podcast about geeky topics, frequently featuring John.
- VIC-20 – John’s first computer, the Commodore VIC-20.
- Don Melton Interview – Debug podcast appearance by Don Melton of Safari fame.
- Larry Elmore – One of John’s childhood artistic heroes.
- Keith Parkinson – Another of John’s childhood artistic heroes.
- Hypercritical – John’s original blog post on Ars Technica, kicking off his appreciation of being “hypercritical.”
- Boston University – John’s alma mater.
- O’Reilly Books – The source of John’s ravenous self-education on various computer-related subjects.
- The Perl Programming Language – John’s favorite programming language.
- Car Talk – The NPR radio show whose early web site was built by John.
- CPAN – The comprehensive perl archive network.
- Jonathan Coulton – One of John’s very favorite musicians.
- Jonathan Coulton Interview – Interview with Jonathan Coulton on the Unprofessional podcast.
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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:
- @ejacqui – Jacqui’s Twitter acccount.
- Ars Technicast – Jacqui’s own podcast with her crew from Ars Technica.
- The Labyrinth – Podcast by Cesar Torres featuring an interview with Jacqui.
- Purdue College of Technology – Jacqui’s alma mater.
- Greyhound – The storied American bus transit company.
- Margaret Cho – The brilliant comic.
- No Kind of Work for a Grown Man – The New Disruptors interview with Glenn Fleishman and John Gruber.
- Good Eats – Wikipedia page for Alton Brown’s science-minded cooking show.
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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.
- @mulegirl — Erika’s Twitter account.
- Mule Design Studio — San Francisco-based design firm co-founded by Erika.
- Mule Radio Syndicate — Podcasting spinoff business from Mule.
- Unsuck It — Mule’s compendium of douchey business jargon.
- @lessien — Daniel’s Twitter friend whose name he does not know.
- Dartmouth College — The New Hampshire school where Erika earned her degrees.
- Fetch — Mac-based file-transfer app originally developed at Dartmouth.
- Internet Meltdown Ensues — Story from Jezebel on the Adria Richards conference sexism debacle.
- @mike_ftw — Twitter account of Mike Monteiro, co-founder of the Mule Design Studio.
- Creative People Say No – The Medium article Erika mentioned about “saying no.”
- The Talk Show — Mule Radio show featuring John Gruber of Daring Fireball.
- Let’s Make Mistakes — One of Mule radio’s earliest shows, hosted Mike Monteiro and Leah Reich.
- Politics And The English Language — Information about the George Orwell essay reference by Erika.
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