Indie on Syntopikon

Peter Lewis

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Who are you, and what do you do?

I’m Peter N Lewis. I include the N (for Neil) because I once worked out there are around 10,000 folks named Peter Lewis in the world (no idea if that is correct though), and several of them are quite famous. That said, I once walked in to a Mac tech store in Austin, TX and had someone recognise my name on my credit card and tell me that was “quite a famous name in this industry” (back in the early Internet days when I was relatively well known). I live in Perth, Western Australia, where I’ve been since I was 13 - before that I lived in Canada and I was born in Jamaica. I’ve got a fantastic wife and three kids, the youngest near the end of high school and the other two in uni. I’ve been writing and releasing Mac software for thirty years. I wrote a lot of early Mac Internet software, including Interarchy, and being part of what eventually became the system that maps URL schemes (like “http”) to applications. About twenty years ago I purchased Keyboard Maestro back when it was version 1, and my main focus since then has been building it into a very powerful automation tool.

Shawn Hickman

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Who are you, and what do you do?

My name is Shawn Hickman and I’m a designer/developer who makes the app Sofa. Sofa is an iOS app that helps you be more intentional with your downtime. You do this by creating lists of books, movies, tv shows, games and more that you want to enjoy later.

How did you get interested in that?

I’ve always been on the nerdier side, but I distinctly remember when the original iPhone was announced. I remember saying “I want to do that!” without having any idea what “that” was. I was overwhelmed with excitement about it. Since then it’s been a winding path to where I am today.

Charlie Monroe

Fri, 23 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Who are you, and what do you do?

I’m a person who graduated from a college (software engineering masters degree) and decided not to contribute to someone else’s dream, but rather to build my own one. So I started my own software company, built a few apps (and acquired a few along the way), focusing on communicating with the customers myself. To me, it’s always frustrating getting support from someone who has learned a few phrases, but has no idea about how everything works. This is why to this day, I like to answer my customers’ support queries myself instead of hiring someone.

Adam Linder

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Who are you, and what do you do?

My name is Adam Linder, and I am an app developer, data engineer, and all-around computer person based in Philadelphia PA. My day job is at a small start-up focused on helping non-profits think about, clean up, and operationalize their data. I am also the developer of Albums, an album-focused Apple Music client for iOS and iPadOS.

How did you get interested in that?

I only really started learning to code 3 or 4 years ago, at the tail end of my 20s, but I’ve been sitting in front of a computer for pretty much my whole life. More specifically, I’ve been sitting in front of a computer and listening to music for pretty much my whole life. You could define eras in my life by the hardware and software I used to listen to music. There was the era of Winamp and the Creative Zen Nomad, then of iTunes and the iPod. I fell in love with a feature of the iPod called album shuffle — playing one full random album, then another one, and so on, and it became my default way of listening to music.

Russ Shanahan

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Who are you, and what do you do?

I’m Russ Shanahan, an independent app developer. I build Happy Scale, which helps people reach their health goals by helping them peacefully monitor their weight trends.

How did you get interested in that?

I’ve been interested in my relationship with obesity my whole life. I love thinking about the ways I can help myself reach and sustain a healthy weight.

Check out my app “Happy Scale” on the iOS App Store. I’m sorry to say it is not currently available for Android phones.

Michael Tigas

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Who are you, and what do you do?

Hey i’m Michael! I live in Melbourne, Australia and have been creating apps since 2014.

Most of this time i’ve worked as a freelancer, helping clients create apps for their business, but recently moved into the indie space in 2020 - and haven’t looked back since!

How did you get interested in that?

Thankfully I discovered my joy for creating apps in my final year of university, as I was quite lost with what I actually wanted to do.

Quentin Zervaas

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Who are you, and what do you do?

I’m Quentin Zervaas, an independent app developer. I make several apps, including Streaks, which won an Apple Design Award in 2016. Streaks is an app for forming habits, which encourages you to complete your tasks on a daily basis.

How did you get interested in that?

I’ve always been into computers and programming them. When the Internet started to get popular in the 90s, I learned web development and did that for many years. When the iPhone came along, I started building apps. I published my first app in 2010.

Marcos Tanaka

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Who are you, and what do you do?

Hi, I’m Marcos Tanaka! I do a bunch of apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, including MusicHarbor, MusicSmart, Play, and MusicBox.

How did you get interested in that?

I’ve always been interested in tech and in creating things, which is what I think led me to study software development. I love developing tools and apps that improve how I do a particular task or fix a problem I have. And since I use Apple platforms, it was natural to start exploring how to develop apps for these devices.

Indie on Syntopikon

Peter Lewis

Who are you, and what do you do?

Shawn Hickman

Who are you, and what do you do?

How did you get interested in that?

Charlie Monroe

Who are you, and what do you do?

Adam Linder

Who are you, and what do you do?

How did you get interested in that?

Russ Shanahan

Who are you, and what do you do?

How did you get interested in that?

What resources would you recommend for people interested in what you do?

Michael Tigas

Who are you, and what do you do?

How did you get interested in that?

Quentin Zervaas

Who are you, and what do you do?

How did you get interested in that?

Marcos Tanaka

Who are you, and what do you do?

How did you get interested in that?