NewsWave for Mac is moving along quite well. In fact, 1.0 is feature complete, meaning all features I planned to ship in the first Mac release are already in. I’m now focusing on testing and polish. Speaking of polish, here’s a couple screenshots of the -mostly- final version of Dark Mode, updated icons and all …
Author Archives: mmv
Making Sense Podcast #201 Yuval Noah Harari
One of the podcasts I typically follow is “Making Sense” by Sam Harris. I found his latest episode, where he had a discussion with Yuval Noah Harari especially insightful. “[…] They discuss the failures of global leadership, the widespread distrust of institutions, the benefits of nationalism and its current unraveling in the U.S., politics as …
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Create a NSButton in code (swift)
Some time ago I shared a simple way to create custom UIButtons in code. As I’m starting to polish NewsWave for Mac, I wanted the same ability to easily create custom buttons. So, I ported the function to macOS, feel free to leverage: func createNewNSButton(title: String, textSizeDelta: CGFloat?, textColor: NSColor?, backgroundColor: NSColor?, …
NewsWave 2020.1
There’s many things that have changed since social distancing began about 15 days ago: meeting friends, going for morning coffees, weekend escapes and many other activities are now on hold. However, there are also some positive consequences: my wife and I have really gotten into board games (Forbidden Island, Exploding Kittens, Scrabble…), I’ve gotten a …
2020 Roadmap
If the last post was focused on looking back, this one is all about what’s to come. 2020 will be all about focus. Only if I meet all objectives for the existing apps will I think about new ideas. Without further ado, here is the 2020 roadmap: NewsWave Onboarding (Spring 2020): As mentioned in a …
2019 in review
As we start 2020 I wanted to take a moment to look back into 2019. The launch of NewsWave this past May was the indisputable highlight. Releasing a new app after months of work is always a nerve wracking experience. Fortunately the app was very positively received, since launch the app has been updated multiple times …
NSImage with Rounded Edges
Nothing like vacation to accelerate personal projects, very happy with how NewsWave for Mac is shaping up. No promises on when, but I’m planning to post more about its progress very soon. One of the items I worked on today is how icons and images will appear in the app, the intent is to show …
Creating a collage by combining an array of images (macOS & iOS)
In NewsWave, when you are in the “Add Feed” view you have the option to search the RSS repository, add a RSS URL or choose from ‘recommended feeds’. Recommended feeds may change over time so, instead of using static images, NewsWave looks at the feeds from each recommended category and creates a collage to represent …
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Why I will not ship a Catalyst port of NewsWave
When Catalyst was announced at WWDC I was very excited about the possibilities that it created for NewsWave. Even though NewsWave launched as an iOS-only app, bringing it to the Mac has always been a priority. A couple of months ago I started woking on porting it. As it turns out, and as you probably …
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NewsWave iOS13 Feature Update – 2019.8
About a week ago I released NewsWave 2019.8, the iOS13 feature update. The objectives were to simplify the onboarding experience, add Dark Mode support and strengthen the app. Here’s a summary of what has changed and the impact it has had so far: a) Simplifying & clarifying the onboarding experience to avoid the poor conversion rate. …