Side Project Spotlight

Side Project Spotlight

By Philly CocoaHeadsTechnology
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Side Project Spotlight episodes

  • #91: Liquid Donkeys

    The Trio have played with iOS 26 and have thoughts about adapting to the new Liquid Glass paradigm as well as the real star of WWDC25, the Foundation Models Framework.


    ## Show Notes


    - Adapting to Liquid Glass

    - Foundations Model Framework

    - 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

    - Bento Fit will be iOS 26 Exclusive?

    - TestFlight around mid-August?

    - Wrap-up: http://phillycocoa.org


    ## Chapters


    00:00 Introductions

    06:11 Adapting to Liquid Glass

    16:42 The Glass Metaphor in App Design

    23:18 Exploring the Foundation Models Framework

    27:15 LLM Trade-offs in Mobile Development

    30:26 Foundation Models Framework Sample Code

    40:42 Using LLMs With Bento Fit

    44:47 "AI" Devices & Privacy

    46:34 Side Project Shoutout: Azam Sharp Course

    48:54 Bento Fit iOS 26 Exclusive?

    54:49 Wrap-up

    55:26 Tag


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

    56 min
  • #90: WWDC25 - Everyone Is Sherlocked!

    The Trio give their hot takes after viewing the WWDC25 Keynote and Platforms State of the Union presentations.


    ## Show Notes


    - Keynote / SoTU Impressions

    - Liquid Glass / New Design Language

    - “macOS” on iPad

    - Xcode 26

    - Foundation Models Framework / Spotlight

    - Visual Intelligence Intents

    - Realtime Language Translation

    - What Developers Should Be Excited About

    - Foundation Models Framework

    - Games

    - BentoFit Test on iOS 26

    - Everyone Is Sherlocked!

    - Wrap-Up: http://phillycocoa.org

    - Side Project Shoutout: https://stylebookapp.com


    ## Chapters


    00:00 Introductions

    01:18 Keynote / SoTU Impressions

    06:51 Liquid Glass / New Design Language

    11:53 "macOS" on iPad

    15:53 Xcode 26

    20:15 Foundation Models Framework / Spotlight

    27:24 Visual Intelligence Intents

    29:08 Realtime Language Translation

    32:10 What Developers Should Be Excited About

    48:37 BentoFit Test on iOS 26

    50:19 Everyone Is Sherlocked!

    53:22 Wrap-Up

    53:42 Side Project Shoutout: StyleBook App

    55:11 Tag


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

    56 min
  • #89: WWDC25 Hopes and Dreams

    After some Bento Fit updates, the Trio explores their hopes and dreams for WWDC25.


    ## Show Notes


    Google I/O Cold Open

    Bento Fit: The Story So Far

    Bento Fit: Updates

    - Steve: Refactored HealthDataPoint with generics

    - Kotaro: Refined UI & Widget layout

    - Aaron: Double-column cards!

    Bento Fit: Next Time

    - Steve: Data structures for reordering and other internal stuff

    - Kotaro: Onboarding & Cell reordering / widgets

    - Aaron: Workout metrics

    WWDC25 Hopes and Dreams

    - Kotaro: significant visionOS updates, flesh out Reality Composer Pro

    - Aaron: Home Pod with Screen

    - Steve: Open ML/LLM APIs. SwiftData improved.

    Final Thoughts about WWDC

    - Kotaro: Deeper integration with Godot

    - Aaron: New Vision Air hardware

    - Steve: Make it a Snow Leopard release

    Wrap-Up: http://phillycocoa.org

    Side Project Shout Out: https://getclipdish.com


    ## Chapters


    00:00 Introductions / Watching Google I/O Video

    04:12 Bento Fit: The Story So Far

    07:20 Bento Fit: Updates

    27:04 WWDC25 Hopes and Dreams

    53:46 WWDC25 Final Thoughts

    56:17 Wrap-Up

    57:48 Tag


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

    58 min
  • #88: Bento Fit - Drop Shadows Everywhere!

    This week, Steve performs some more updates of the code base using Aider, while some skeuomorphic UI updates from Kotaro have us excited, and Aaron is a little tired after gathering real-world data by running a marathon at an impressive pace.


    ## Show Notes


    Introductions

    Bento Fit: The Story So Far

    Bento Fit: Refactoring the data model with Aider

    Tangent: Xcode + Claude

    Bento Fit: Skeuomorphic UI update

    Next Steps

    - Two column bento cards

    - Persistence of bento card settings

    - Remaining HealthKit metrics

    Wrap-Up: http://phillycocoa.org

    Side Project Shoutout: https://bleep.is


    ## Chapters


    00:00 Introductions

    07:10 Bento Fit: The Story So Far

    12:29 Bento Fit: Refactoring the data model with Aider

    24:27 Tangent: Xcode + Claude Rumor

    27:26 Bento Fit: Refactoring the data model with Aider (cont.)

    28:45 Bento Fit: Skeuomorphic UI update

    50:16 Wrap-Up

    50:35 Side Project Shoutout: Bleep.is

    52:31 Tag


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

    53 min
  • #87: Bento Fit - WTF is HealthDataPoint?

    The Trio is back together with Bento Fit updates and more fun with "AI!" First up, Aaron is back from his trip to Jamaica and explains how you bring a bike on an airplane. Meanwhile, Kotaro has been sketching up a storm with some cool UI designs that you can't see because this is audio! Then, Steve continues down the path towards madness as he tries yet another "AI" tool combo this week with Aider/OpenRouter/Google Gemini 2.5 Flash. The live coding on the pod goes about as well as previous attempts.


    ## Show Notes


    - Introductions & Aaron’s Jamaica trip

    - Vibe Coding Follow-up

    - Bento Fit: The Story So Far

    - Bento Fit Update

    - UI concept is coming along

    - Experimenting with Aider/OpenRouter/Gemini 2.5 Flash

    - https://aider.chat

    - https://openrouter.ai

    - Next Time

    - UI implementation

    - Charts

    - Domain model as we go along

    - More “Fun with AI”

    - Wrap-up

    - http://phillycocoa.org

    - Side Project Shout Out

    - https://bleep.is


    ## Chapters


    00:00 Introductions & Aaron's Jamaica Trip

    04:38 Vibe Coding Follow-up

    06:47 Bento Fit: The Story So Far

    09:39 Bento Fit Data Modeling Update

    21:14 Bento Fit UI Update

    30:20 Experimenting with Aider/OpenRouter/Gemini 2.5 Flash

    37:58 Aider Live Demo Fail

    51:14 Next Time

    52:00 Wrap-up

    52:20 Side Project Shout Out: Bleep.is

    53:54 Tag


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

    54 min
  • #86: Bento Fit - Never Go Full Vibe

    Aaron is enjoying a much deserved vacation, but Kotaro and Steve are still here with Bento Fit updates and Kotaro's experience "vibe coding" with Cursor.


    ## Show Notes


    - Bento Fit Update

    - Kotaro UI updates

    - We may be doing HealthKit wrong

    - Next

    - UI flow

    - HealthKit performance

    - Kotaro’s Vibe Coding Experience

    - Wrap-Up

    - http://phillycocoa.org

    - Side Project Shout Out

    - https://getclipdish.com


    ## Chapters


    00:00 Introductions

    01:28 Bento Fit: The Story So Far

    04:21 Bento Fit: Updates & Discussion

    23:27 Bento Fit: Next Time

    23:50 Kotaro Goes Full Vibe

    36:30 Trade-offs in Using "AI" Tools

    38:27 The Future of Development with "AI"

    40:59 Kotaro Tries to Vibe Code Bento Fit

    42:35 Vibe Coding Lessons Learned

    44:53 Final Thoughts on Vibe Coding

    46:08 Wrap-Up

    46:28 Side Project Shout Out: Clip Dish App

    48:38 Tag


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

    49 min
  • #85: Bento Fit - Vibe Coding Our Way to an MVP

    In this extra long episode, we review progress made in domain modeling, Swift Charts, and a Tron-esque UI! Plus, Steve discusses his experiences using the ChatGPT macOS app and Cursor with Xcode before we try to do some "vibe coding" ourselves to add a small UI feature. There are a lot of quotable moments in this episode. It's a fun one!


    ## Show Notes


    - BentoFit: The Road So Far…

    - Kotaro: UI Updates including Dark Mode!

    - Aaron: Swift Chart!

    - Steve: More metrics, refactored HealthKit, domain modeling begun!

    - How to Use Cursor and Xcode Together

    - Vibe Coding Demo with Cursor and Xcode

    - Next Time

    - Use up Cursor tokens and get more domain modeling done and caching of HealthKit data

    - Add/remove bento items in the UI

    - Bento zoom transition to detail screen

    - Basic settings we can configure

    - More charts, maybe even configurable!

    - Wrap-Up

    - http://phillycocoa.org

    - Side Project Shout Out

    - https://stylebookapp.com


    ## Chapters


    00:00:00 Introductions

    00:02:08 BentoFit: The Road So Far...

    00:10:28 Kotaro Fixed Dark Mode!

    00:18:25 Aaron Made a Chart!

    00:22:00 Steve Started Domain Modeling!

    00:24:11 Using ChatGPT macOS App with Xcode

    00:26:10 Using Cursor with Xcode

    00:35:32 Reviewing the Cursor Chat Log

    00:40:50 The Trio Vibe Code with Cursor and Xcode

    00:50:06 How to Avoid Shooting Yourself in the Foot

    00:58:16 Next Time

    01:07:26 Wrap-Up

    01:07:44 Side Project Shout Out: Stylebook App

    01:11:48 Tag


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

    1 hr 12 min
  • #84: Bento Fit - Rolling with the Punches

    Sometimes life gets in the way of a side project. That's what happened to us this sprint and so progress on Bento Fit has been extra slow. But, this is a good opportunity to discuss strategies for getting back on track when life throws you a detour on your developer journey.


    ## Show Notes


    - Bento Fit Update

    - Steve is working on HealthKit metrics and domain modeling, but progress is slow.

    - Rolling with the Punches

    - Kotaro has been busy with work.

    - Aaron helps run Philly Bike Expo!

    - Goals for Next Time: MVP!

    - UI updates to ease dogfooding

    - HealthKit metrics / domain modeling

    - Swift Charts implementation for visualizing trends

    - Wrap-Up & Side Project Shout Out

    - https://stylebookapp.com


    ## Chapters


    00:00 Introductions

    01:27 Bento Fit: The Story So Far

    19:00 Bento Fit: UI Transitions

    20:25 Rolling with the Punches

    24:44 Tangent: The Beauty of 90s Video Game Manuals

    25:55 Rolling with the Punches (cont.)

    34:05 Bento Fit: Reviewing GitHub Issues

    42:29 Wrap-Up

    42:51 Side Project Shout Out: Stylebook App

    48:39 Tag


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

    49 min
  • #83: Bento Fit - Full Dieter Rams

    We continue to make slow progress developing our HealthKit dashboard app, codenamed "Bento Fit." In this episode, our update includes more HealthKit metrics discussion, Xcode Cloud configurations, a discussion on Git workflows, implementing basic logging, using Grok to write bad HealthKit code, and Kotaro's "Full Dieter Rams" UI designs. Plus, it looks like we need a persistence strategy, maybe SwiftData, maybe something else?


    ## Show Notes


    - Bento Fit Update

    - How to manage your time on a side project

    - Metrics discussion from Side Project Saturday

    - Xcode Cloud is setup

    - Steve learned Swift Testing

    - Git workflows

    - HealthKit metric updates

    - Using LLMs for HealthKit code generation

    - Kotaro’s UI update & discussion

    - Prototype Driven Development

    - Next Time

    - Add/Remove bento boxes dynamically

    - More HealthKit metrics to implement

    - Data model / caching strategy?

    - Learn Swift Charts?

    - Wrap-Up

    - http://phillycocoa.org

    - Not a Sponsor

    - https://miovino.app


    ## Chapters


    00:00 Introductions & The Story So Far

    04:55 Bento Fit Update: Setting Expectations

    06:12 Bento Fit Update: SPS Metrics Discussion

    09:30 Bento Fit Update: Xcode Cloud & Git Workflow

    14:52 Bento Fit Update: Logging

    17:20 Bento Fit Update: Implementing HealthKit Metrics

    18:27 Bento Fit Update: Using Grok to Generate HealthKit Code

    21:53 Bento Fit Update: Kotaro's UI Update & Discussion

    27:28 HealthKit Data Persistence Strategy

    33:06 Prototype Driven Development

    35:58 Next Sprint

    51:10 Wrap-Up

    53:07 Tag


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

    54 min
  • #82: Bento Fit - Initial Commit

    We have made progress on our new fitness app, currently codenamed, "Bento Fit." This week we provide an update about the UI, using local Swift Packages for modularization of the codebase, creating custom HealthKit metrics, thoughts on data persistence and syncing, and next steps. Plus, tangents about running local LLMs, the fortunes of COBOL programmers, and some really bad monetization ideas. If you want to get into the headspace of some developers working on a side project, this was basically our project meeting recorded, so enjoy, tangents and all!


    ## Show Notes


    - Bento Fit Progress Report

    - https://9to5mac.com/2025/02/08/indie-app-spotlight-bentocraft/

    - Temp App Icon

    - Very basic layout for home view

    - Settings view placeholder

    - Add view placeholder

    - HealthKit permissions

    - WatchKit integration

    - SPM refactor

    - https://www.swiftystack.com

    - Aaron running miles by week adventure

    - Stats we want to focus on

    - Heart metrics

    - Running miles per week

    - Caffeine / nutrients consumed

    - Impromptu monetization discussion

    - Customized metrics for IAP

    - How to save preference data

    - Shared keychain items

    - Swift Data / CloudKit

    - NSUbiquitousKeyValueStore

    - Tangents on Cobol, PS5, etc.

    - Next Steps

    - Explore app’s personality using Sketch

    - Add HealthKit metrics

    - Add tests

    - Xcode Cloud setup

    - Add ability to add/remove cards from UI

    - Wrap-Up

    - http://phillycocoa.org

    - Not a Sponsor: https://miovino.app


    ## Chapters


    00:00 Introductions

    01:09 Catch-up on Bento Fit History

    07:12 Bento Fit Progress Update

    09:03 Bento Fit Progress: Local Swift Package Refactor

    14:22 Bento Fit Progress: Custom HealthKit Metric

    17:26 Exploring HealthKit Metrics

    24:03 Tangent: Bad Monetization Ideas

    26:07 Tangent: Studio Display is Still Expensive!

    27:24 Tangent: More Realistic Monetization Strategies

    28:50 Dogfooding the Prototype

    31:04 Data Persistence and Syncing Strategies

    39:33 Tangent: Local LLMs

    44:48 Tangent: The Fortunes of COBOL Developers

    47:40 Bento Fit Next Steps

    01:00:53 Wrap-Up: http://phillycocoa.org

    01:01:14 Not a Sponsor: https://miovino.app

    01:03:56 Tag


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

    1 hr 4 min

About Side Project Spotlight

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Side Project Spotlight is a podcast for app builders, documenting the process of producing real apps for the Apple App Store using Swift, SwiftUI, and other technologies.

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