Side Project Spotlight

In this penultimate episode of the season, The Trio discuss some personal examples of software, hardware, and other technology that sparks joy.

## Show Notes

- Tech that sparks joy

- Kotaro: Design that inspires

- Steve: Tools for creation

- Aaron: Craftsmanship that sparks joy

- Tech Mentioned

- Modo - discontinued

- After Effects - https://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html

- Affinity Tools - https://www.affinity.studio

- Procreate - https://procreate.com

- Sketch - https://www.sketch.com

- iPhone 17 Pro Max Camera - https://www.apple.com/iphone-17-pro/specs/

- Coffee Grinder - https://zerno.co/products/zerno-z1

- Handmade coffee mugs

- Wrap-up

- One More Thing… https://appjawn.com

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:20 Design That Inspires

14:58 Tools For Creation

28:13 Craftsmanship That Sparks Joy

37:47 Your Tech Choices Matter

39:38 Wrap-Up

39:58 One More Thing...

41:00 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

Can you believe we made it to episode 100!? We're as incredulous as you. Join us as we "vibecast" a retrospective on our podcasting journey so far.

## Show Notes

- Pod Retrospective

- App #1 – KanjiLove watchOS app – Launched!

- Pod Lore – Orange Balls

- App #2 – Pickle Jar ToDo macOS app – Unfinished

- Pre-Pod History: Big-O Style Robot Battle App Idea

- Our claim to fame: #55: The “Universal” UI

- App #3 – Bento Fit iOS app– Launched

- Side Project Next?

- Dad Joke 100

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

02:12 Reflecting on the Podcast Journey

03:29 App #1: Kanji Love — watchOS

13:13 App #2: Pickle Jar To Do — macOS

20:16 Pre-Pod History: Big-O Style Robot Battle App

26:38 Vision Pro Exploration Era

28:12 Greatest Pod Lore: The "Universal" UI

36:29 Pod History: Interviews & Other Topics

39:32 App #3: Bento Fit — iOS

44:11 Side Project Next?

53:42 Wrap-up

54:24 Dad Joke 100

55:06 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

It's been one week (at time of recording) since Bento Fit v1.0 was released and someone gave us money! Kotaro is recording from an undisclosed location, so in this quick episode, we discuss our week 1 metrics, how much this app cost to make, and what we want to do next to try to make Bento Fit more useful, more marketable, and hopefully, eventually, profitable.

## Show Notes

- Bento Fit: The Story So Far

- Someone Gave Us Money!

- How Much Did Bento Fit Cost to Make?

- How Do We Make Bento Fit More Marketable?

- Refinements for v1.1

- One More Thing: AppJawn.com

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:28 Bento Fit: The Story So Far

05:24 Someone Gave Us Money!

13:03 How Much Did Bento Fit Cost To Make?

20:26 How Do We Make Bento Fit More Marketable?

25:43 Refinements for v1.1

37:27 Wrap-Up

37:47 One More Thing: AppJawn.com

39:02 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

We did it! Bento Fit v1.0 is live in the App Store! In this episode we engage in a retrospective about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the process. We learned a lot, that's for sure.

## Show Notes

- Bento Fit v1.0 is out!

- https://bentofit.app

- Ship-a-ton submission

- https://devpost.com/software/bento-fit

- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

- ## Good

- LLM coding (50% good)

- The design / aesthetic

- Revenue Cat

- Learnings / Experience

- ## Bad / Ugly

- No marketing plan

- Future updates

- More metrics

- Improved metric manager / search

- Subscription

- Widgets

- Final Thoughts

- One More Thing

- Minimalist Meditation

- https://appjawn.com/#apps

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:40 Bento Fit v1.0 Retrospective

44:20 Final Thoughts

54:12 Wrap-up

57:15 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

As The Trio race to complete Bento Fit v1.0 in time to submit for the Shipaton hackathon, they pause to discuss the new iPhones, iOS 26, folding phone creases, and the TikTokification of UI interaction.

## Show Notes

- iPhone 17 Event

- iOS 26 RC

- Bento Fit: Updates

- Polishing continues

- Removed watchOS and widgets

- Bug fixes for app persistence

- Bento Fit: Final Sprint

- Kotaro: Onboarding

- Stephen: Revenue Cat Integration

- Aaron: More metrics

- http://phillycocoa.org

- Ship-a-ton https://www.shipaton.com

- August 1 - September 30, 2025

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

00:38 iPhone 17 Event

06:08 iOS 26 RC

09:39 iPhone Pricing and Market Trends

13:33 iOS 26 RC (cont.)

24:50 Bento Fit on iOS 26

26:45 Bento Fit: The Final Countdown

37:42 Wrap-up

38:01 Ship-a-ton

39:11 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

We are running out of time to finish our "Bento Fit" app before the Ship-a-ton deadline! This week, we go through what's left to be done and what we are cutting as we race to the finish line of v1.0.

## Show Notes

- Apple September 9 Event

- Bento Fit: The Story So Far

- Bento Fit: Race to the Finish Line

- What do we need to left to do

- Monetization strategy

- Finalize name

- ASC description

- Website Link

- Privacy Policy Link

- Screenshots

- App Store Video

- Ship-a-ton paperwork

- Last metrics

- Polish, polish, polish

- What are we cutting for v1.0?

- Widgets

- WatchOS app

- Share with Friends

- Public Test Flight

- $2.17

- Ship-a-ton https://www.shipaton.com

- August 1 - September 30, 2025

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

00:52 Apple September 9 Event

07:09 Bento Fit: The Story So Far

10:05 Bento Fit: Race to the Finish Line

41:47 $2.17

52:55 Wrap-Up

53:15 Ship-a-Ton

55:38 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

This is a short and sweet episode with some Bento Fit updates from Kotaro and Steve, plus some overly ambitious goal setting for next time! First up, Kotaro used the ChatGPT Xcode integration to prototype a welcome screen that sounds cool, but we can't see it because his iOS SDK was deleted! Then we review the latest version of our app icon as implemented in Icon Composer and talk about some of the quirks and features of this cool new tool from Apple. Then Steve goes on a technical deep dive about his latest refactoring, pushing complexity into an enum data structure to make updating what we surface from HealthKit a lot more straightforward. Finally, we discuss what is left to be done for this app, which is actually not too much. The end is in sight! Stay to the end to learn more about Ship-a-ton, the contest we have entered and you can too (NOT A SPONSOR)!

## Show Notes

- Bento Fit: The Story So Far

- Bento Fit Updates

- Kotaro: Prototyped a welcome screen with ChatGPT in Xcode

- Kotaro: New app icon via Icon Composer

- Steve: Simplified HealthKit integration and generated documentation with Aider

- Goals For Next Time

- Onboarding with the 3 personality types

- Get widgets working

- Better UI for trend metrics

- Better UI for selecting cards

- Ship-a-ton https://www.shipaton.com

- August 1 - September 30, 2025

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:30 Bento Fit: The Story So Far

05:16 Bento Fit Updates

36:28 Goals For Next Time

40:42 Wrap-Up

41:02 Ship-a-ton

44:09 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

Kotaro's laptop burns hot as he gives his impressions of the iOS/macOS 26 public betas and life with ChatGPT inside Xcode. We also discuss dystopian nightmares about "AI," give some Bento Fit updates (Aaron has a PR!), and announce our participation in a cool new hackathon!

## Show Notes

- It’s hot outside!

- iOS/macOS 26 Public Beta impressions

- Xcode 26 ChatGPT integration impressions

- Kotaro’s Sci-Fi Dystopian Nightmare

- BentoFit: The Story So Far

- BentoFit: Updates

- Aaron: Custom workouts!

- Steve: Huge HealthKit update!

- Kotaro: Exploring liquid glass UI components & icon composer

- Wrap-Up

- One More Thing…

- Ship-a-ton https://www.shipaton.com

- August 1 - September 30, 2025

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

02:09 iOS/macOS 26 Public Beta Impressions

07:44 Xcode 26 ChatGPT Integration Impressions

14:36 "Amazing Stuff"

15:24 Xcode 26 ChatGPT Integration Impressions (cont.)

18:37 Kotaro's Sci-Fi Dystopian Nightmare

25:57 Bento Fit: The Story So Far

28:23 Bento Fit: Updates

40:15 Wrap-Up

40:43 Shipaton 2025

47:01 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

Once again, Steve "pair programmed" with Aider + Claude Sonnet 4 to further refactor BentoFit while drinking at Human Robot. Meanwhile, Kotaro has been again thinking about App Intents and the paradigm shift in app design they may portend. Then we get into some interesting discussions about how the combination of Apple's focus on App Intents and the "Universal UI" of LLMs may combine to fundamentally shift how we design app experiences.

## Show Notes

- BentoFit: The Story So Far

- BentoFit Updates

- Steve: Better async loading; super fast!

- Hacking with Claude at Human Robot

- The Economics of LLMs are Changing

- App Intents Discussion

- App Design for “AI” Experiences

- The Role of Small Local LLMs in Apps

- App Intents are a Paradigm Shift

- BentoFit: Next Steps

- Steve: More HealthKit options

- Kotaro: UI

- Aaron: Workout cards

- Wrap-Up

- One more thing: Azam Sharp Foundation Models Framework Course

- https://azamsharp.teachable.com/p/getting-started-with-the-foundation-models-framework

- Coupon code: PHILLY

- Discount: 40%

- Expires: July 31st 2025

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

04:23 BentoFit: The Story So Far

06:34 BentoFit: Sprint Updates

12:13 Hacking With Claude at Human Robot

18:25 The Economics of LLMs are Changing

25:26 App Intents Discussion

33:49 App Design for "AI" Experiences

41:06 The Role of Small Local LLMs in Apps

43:42 App Intents are a Paradigm Shift

47:42 BentoFit: Next Steps

48:30 Wrap-Up

48:51 One More Thing...

50:46 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

Work progresses on code name "Bento Fit" as Steve does some performance refactoring using Aider and Claude 4 Sonnet while Kotaro polishes up the iOS 26 UI changes. We also have a discussion on the trade-offs of using "AI" tools in programming and the importance of intellectual labor and little bit about what it means to be a "professional."

## Show Notes

- BentoFit: The Story So far

- Steve: Improved loading time by “pair programming” with Aider and Claude Sonnet 4

- Kotaro: iOS 26 UI updates

- Next:

- Kotaro: Dashboard interactions, customization

- Steve: Independent loading of views, more HealthKit types

- Aaron: Workout trends

- Are LLMs Making us Dumber?

- MIT Media Lab paper: https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/your-brain-on-chatgpt/

- Cal Newport discussing the results of MIT Media Lab paper: https://youtu.be/LB73n33cHOY

- Wrap-Up

- One more thing: Azam Sharp Foundation Models Framework Course

- https://azamsharp.teachable.com/p/getting-started-with-the-foundation-models-framework

- Coupon code: PHILLY

- Discount: 40%

- Expires: July 31st, 2025

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:47 Bento Fit: The Story So Far

04:05 "Pair Programming" With Aider and Claude Sonnet 4

24:55 iOS 26 UI Updates

31:55 Bento Fit: Next Sprint

37:45 The Trade-Offs of "AI" in Programming

43:34 The Importance of Intellectual Labor

54:43 Apple's "AI" Bet

01:05:25 Wrap-Up

01:05:51 One More Thing...

01:07:31 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.