Author: Mikhail Madnani

When we started The Dialogue a while ago, I had a few people in mind that I absolutely wanted to interview. Matías Duarte is one of them. I’ve really enjoyed where Google Design has been heading recently and I’m glad I got to talk to Matías about design and his favorite apps among other things over this past week. Tell me a little bit about the Matías Duarte that joined Google just a few years ago and changed mobile design for the better. Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a hyperbolic introduction ever! I think I’d prefer to…

I’ve been disappointed with the state of music apps on iOS for a while now. Ecoute was what I was using, but it has been way too buggy and still has performance issues. I’ve really missed Track 8 after it was basically removed from sale. Most of my complete disillusion resulted from Apple completely ruining the Music.app with the launch of Apple Music. If you buy music digitally, the stock app on iOS devices is more painful to use than anything out there. I can’t believe the absolute broken state the app is in for people who buy music. We…

For this edition of The Dialogue, we had the pleasure of talking to James Thomson. James is an indie developer of iOS and Mac software, living in Glasgow, Scotland. He founded TLA Systems with his wife nearly 20 years ago, and now works full time writing software. You probably know him from PCalc — a scientific calculator that is available on every Apple platform. You have a long history with Mac and Apple since PCalc is now 20 years old. Tell us about the journey and how developing software has changed in the 2 decades. Twenty three years, this December!…

One of the features Apple has been promoting with the new iPhone 6s is Live Photos. I look at Live Photos as something between a GIF and a video. On the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, when you take a photograph, the phone captures data for a second and a half before and after, and then stores this in the form of a Live Photo. Alive is a wonderful app by one of my favorite developers, Clean Shaven Apps, that helps you edit and convert these Live Photos into GIFs or videos. Interface Alive works on all devices running iOS…

I’ve been getting back into racing games ever since I played Driveclub on PS4 and have been on the lookout for a good racing game for every platform I own. Most people think of the Asphalt series when they think of racing games for iOS, and while those games do look nice, they are too IAP-ridden for my liking. Horizon Chase by Aquiris Game Studio is one of the best racing games I’ve ever experienced. It has stunning visuals, is a lot of fun to play, and is the best racing game available on iOS today. Horizon Chase does not…

I love it when app developers try something new. Dan Counsell from Realmac Software has just released a game called Almost Impossible!, available now for iPhone, iPad & Mac, and coming to the new Apple TV very soon. I’ve been playing with the iOS version of the last few days and have quite enjoyed it. Almost Impossible! is a precision platforming game that has really difficult levels. Unlike other similar games, you don’t get a level select, but instead you cross checkpoints in between levels that are all connected. I’ve beaten the game twice so far and I got Super…