John Balestrieri
@tinrocket.bsky.social
Full-time #indie software developer: Computer graphics, computational design, #iOS, #macOS, and a #beagle named Miss Muddypenny. Me: johnbalestrieri.com Apps: tinrocket.com
I had an idea for a great Photoshop plugin last week, but I didn't write it down. It's haunting me.
A beautiful app that shows countdown widgets, including % of the year elapsed. On sale for ~$3.50 for a couple of days.
Orbit: Year Progress & Life App - App Store
Download Orbit: Year Progress & Life by Rahul Singh on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more apps like Orbit: Year Progress &…
apps.apple.com
Years ago, I traveled to Austin for an interview and left a frozen burrito in the office kitchen. Later, I got the job and my burrito. If you ever want to regain access to a location, leave a frozen burrito.
'You'll choke too' - an aerial embroidery landscape inspired by all the wildfires happening right now... I'm upset every time I smell smoke outside and somehow we have people starting them maliciously too! But we all breathe the same air so they'll choke too (1/2 - see thread for close-ups)
I've probably reinvented Electron? Claude makes design/dev tools for me in HTML/JS. It's faster than Xcode: ⌘R to refresh instead of recompile. Negs: Some tools require a Python server for terminal commands; others are document-based, so I have a shared native Mac app that hosts the tools page…
I'm shopping for a new mouse on Amazon and gave the AI a go. I'm baffled: You can't command-click links to open them in new tabs, and right-clicking and copying a link only copies the link for the current page. Seems like it could be generally helpful if it functioned as expected.
I can get a new $6k+ MacBook Pro on a $100/mo lease for 36 months, with a $1,200 trade-in credit for my current machine. That sounds like a deal to me.
The whole "AI makes you dumber" isn't new. Anytime you delegate, it happens. At my first job out of college, I gradually became the go-to person for simpler and simpler computer issues.
The State Department said it takes "full responsibility" for "hastily" altering and then presenting a map of Africa at a global AIDS conference that mislabeled every single country it highlighted. An analysis by Reuters found a watermark in the map image that suggests it was made with OpenAI.
A simple app i've been working on to make video selfies better. I hope that you find it useful! Apple Log is enabled in Test Flight builds, and I would appreciate feedback on how it's working, since it'll be some time before I get a test device that supports it. #apps #iphone
Vloggie
Vloggie helps you record better vlogs with the rear iPhone camera: grip the screen freely while recording, start hands-free with face detection, and stay in frame with haptic guidance.
autorelease.io
It's great that LLMs can do a lot of the coding work, but someone still needs to be responsible *for* the work. It's too tempting to bite off more than you can handle.
Last night I taught Penny how to ring the bell on command. The plan was to teach her to ring when she needed to go outside. I left the bell by the patio door. This morning my wife and I were at the breakfast table when we heard the bell ring three times. 🛎️🤯
As someone who leases their car, I don't think I'll have any issues with Apple's new Upgrade program—for Mac. It seems like a step down compared to my current enrollment in the iPhone Upgrade program.
Hi, I tried to email you at your MacStories address, birchler@macstories.net, but the mail was bounced. I'd like to share info on my new photo app.
Sitting on Serialbox for a few weeks to allow lead time for (potential) App Store or outlet coverage. It's a leap of faith. In the meantime, I can add more polish or start a new app. 👀 The latest TestFlight has shorter onboarding, and I've resigned to include "Comic Book" in the title string.
Join the Serialbox: Comic Book Camera beta
Available on iOS
testflight.apple.com
Word of the Day: Mojibake. "Mojibake is garbled, unreadable text that appears when a computer decodes text using the wrong character set or encoding. It happens when software reads binary data with an unintended rulebook—such as reading a UTF-8 file as Windows-1252"
Few apps are as timeless as MacPaint. How many of you spent countless hours lost in those pixels? And why is it still so Insanely Great, over 40 years later? My new video is up! Go watch, like, subscribe! youtu.be/TedaOiRo_Qg?...
Why every drawing app still looks like MacPaint
YouTube video by dreamwieber
youtu.be
Yay, I sold my second copy of Waterlogue for Android.
Not implemented yet: - Salience and face detection - Paint layers - Detail/edge pass - Painterly color transforms
Observations: Color-graded stock actually helps the color palette. I have the same problem I have in Waterlogue: A painting size (painterly resolution) control is needed depending on the subject matter—how small it is. You want the minimum resolution that will resolve the subject matter.
