Updates on my major new iOS project!

Hey, everyone! As April comes to a close, I think now is a good time to update all of you on the latest news regarding my major new iOS project I announced a few weeks ago. So, here's what's new presented in glorious Q&A format!

Overall, how's the project going?

At this point, pretty well! There's still a lot left to do, but I've made some serious progress these last few weeks.

Will this app be free?

Yes, but there will probably be an in-app purchase to unlock some extra features.

When will it be ready for release?

It's hard to say. However, I do think it will probably be at least June when I release it, though it could also be as late as July.

Will Palm Month (May 2021) interfere with its development?

Not in a major way, hopefully. I'm not sure I'll be able to do quite as much this Palm Month as I did last year, but that's because I want to spend a fairly substantial amount of time working on this new iOS app in May, too. I'm hoping that I'll be able to have a nice balance between Palm and iOS development that will allow me to do a decent amount of both.

Is this app a completely new project?

No. I've already made an Android version of it, but the iOS counterpart I'm working on will likely have some UI differences and advantages over that Android version.

Should I be excited for this new iOS app?

Definitely. It will be a little while longer until it is ready, but I'll be working hard in that time to make it the best it can realistically be!

Anyway, those are the answers to a few questions I'm guessing some of you might have been wondering about. There's still a lot left to do, but I'm hopeful that this new iOS app will launch in the not-too-distant future. Until then, stay tuned for more updates!

Late 2014 Mac mini in 2022 - Still Worth Buying?

About a year ago, I reviewed the 2014 Mac mini on this blog. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it was still an excellent machine for productivity tasks, but it could also handle some more intense things you threw at it. Thus, it became my daily driver up until I upgraded to a 2017 MacBook Air a few months ago. That being said, I’ve still been using it some, so I thought I’d briefly share how it’s holding up these days. Here are my thoughts on this miniature Macintosh one year later! Performance Over the last year, I’ve been impressed by how much this Mac can handle. It’s rocking a 2.6 GHz dual-core Core i5 with 8 GB of RAM and a Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB SATA SSD. What all that jargon essentially means is that it’s a moderately powerful little computer, although it certainly isn’t going to put newer Macs to shame. Regardless, I’ve been able to do lots of coding, video editing, and schoolwork on this computer, and it has generally worked pretty well. Granted, it can take a while...

I love my Instax Mini SE. Here's why!

Hey, folks! I did it. I finally got into instant photography. And I love it. Admittedly, I've had some experience with instant photography before now. I got my first instant camera at a thrift store in 2022. It was a Polaroid OneStep from the 90s, and while film was still readily available for it, it was far too expensive to justify using it regularly. As cool as instant photography was, I accepted that it wasn't economically viable for me and moved on. ...Until about a month ago! On one of my first dates with my girlfriend, she introduced me to her Fujifilm Instax Mini 11. It was a much more compact and modern instant camera than my Polaroid. It also used smaller film slides. This was a big deal, as she informed me that the smaller film came at a smaller price. I was intrigued. A couple weeks later, I ventured to Walmart and splurged. I picked up the cheapest Instax they sold: The Mini SE. It only cost about $57, and it came bundled with 10 slides of film. I also picked up an ...

Sony's CD Mavica is WEIRD (and Awesome!!)

Just when you think you've seen everything, you're gifted a still camera that saves images to compact discs . I had been aware of Sony's CD Mavica line of cameras for a while, and I had owned numerous floppy disk Mavicas, but using a CD Mavica for the first time was surreal nonetheless. There's something special about a camera with a whole optical drive in it. It reminds me a lot of a Discman. I was fortunate enough to get mine for free with all of its accessories and several blank discs. My model is the MVC-CD400, and it was one of several CD-based Mavicas in Sony's lineup. This camera, in particular, dates back to around 2002. The weird round shape is the result of cramming a whole CD mechanism in this camera. The hardware is delightfully 2000s. The entire front panel, including its surprisingly bright LCD, folds out to reveal a compact optical drive. It reads 8-centimeter "mini" CDs. These are significantly smaller than normal CDs, and while the camera ...

John Spahr

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