Dan Bricklin @danb@qoto.org
One of the VisiCalc guys, CTO Alpha Software, DBDemo, Trellix, blogger, podcaster, SocialCalc, iPad app: Note Taker HD, president of Software Garden, Inc.
Joined Nov 2022
Dan Bricklin
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The Mac calculator’s original design came from letting Steve Jobs play with sliders for ten minutes
In 1982, a young Mac developer turned Jobs into a UI designer—and accidentally invented a new technique.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/the-mac-calculators-original-design-came-from-letting-steve-jobs-play-with-sliders-for-ten-minutes/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
Dan Bricklin
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@danb @_Davidsmith Thanks, Dan. Means a lot coming from you!
Dan Bricklin
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@danb 💙 So glad to hear it was helpful.
@marcoarment @_Davidsmith Oh, no! I love the podcast so much and learn so much from it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping it up for so long. I hope our paths cross again, Marco, and David, know that you helped me a lot over the years (with doing my coding and through your products). Take care, the both of you! -Dan Bricklin
Dan Bricklin
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visionOS 26.2 marks a bunch of the Apple Pencil APIs as now available on visionOS. So either Logi Muse is going to actually support PencilKit, or Apple has Pencil (or Marker) support in the works
Dan Bricklin
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I was interviewed for the Learning from Machine Learning podcast. I'm really happy with how it turned out. (They edited it well to make me sound coherent.) "Lessons from Building the First Killer App" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd851lIutbQ and https://rss.com/podcasts/learning-from-machine-learning/2275047/
I was interviewed for the Learning from Machine Learning podcast. I'm really happy with how it turned out. (They edited it well to make me sound coherent.) "Lessons from Building the First Killer App" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd851lIutbQ and https://rss.com/podcasts/learning-from-machine-learning/2275047/
Dan Bricklin
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Five years ago, today, a TikTok video changed my life.
While Widgetsmith launched on Sep 16, 2020, it wasn't until the 18th when it had its viral moment on TikTok and meteoric rise to the top of the App Store.
I wanted to observe the occasion with a little retrospective of my memories from that day and the journey to it.
Little did I know then that my professional life would become helping millions of people make their home screens “Aesthetic AF”.
(131M so far[!])
https://david-smith.org/blog/2025/09/18/widgetsmith-at-five/
@stroughtonsmith A related observation: In the US, we value a "doctorate" as opposed to "all but dissertation". A difference? The person with a doctorate has "shipped". The other did not for whatever reason. Knowing how to say and do "done enough for now with loose-ends tied up" is valued.
Dan Bricklin
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'Real artists ship' is a surprisingly effective motivator, and an important forcing function. Sometimes I just get so fed up of looking at an unshipped Xcode project that I'm compelled to pull out all the stops to push it out the door. If you don't ship, you never learn and grow
@anildash Happy Birthday! Thanks for all of your writings and stuff!
Dan Bricklin
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I know we bore everyone with old timer computing talk, but if we hadn't slogged through all that stuff decades ago, none of us would be here now.
@lauren @jeffjarvis I used a Linotype a bit and worked around it (separating leads from slugs) at my father’s small printing business as a child. Fascinating. Also watched the switch to cold type (photographic). I take pictures of ones I see in museums to help remember. Awesome technology for its time. Different effect from keyboard - hold key down and multiple characters drop. The auto repeat of the day.
Dan Bricklin
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Mixing the audio for "Jeopardy!" -- this guy's great! One of a series of videos on this channel about audio for various major live television shows, including SNL. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FqkeEhtrQc
Dan Bricklin
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@danb the pen support is awesome but leaves me wondering why Apple Pencil Pro is not! You’d think they added all those new motion sensors for more than just rendering shadows on an iPad screen. Maybe software not there yet. Maybe it will need a new pencil hardware. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Dan Bricklin
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@danb I borrowed an original Mac from the local Apple store and brought to my computer science class to try it out.
We were excited, and everyone was clustered tightly around to see what it could do.
I opened MacPaint and drew a circle.
Will never forget the simultaneous "whoa!" from me and every single student in the room.
@gwcoffey I’m so glad you appreciate it. Good that it’s now at the Computer History Museum, not just in my collection.
Last year I speculated about Apple adding spatial pen input to #VisionPro. Today they announced it. The API that supports game controllers also supports the Logitech Muse pen (coming later this year). See this developer video of a 3D sculpting app with fine control: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/289/ . It has position, buttons, and haptics (Yay!). VisionOS can figure out which hand you are holding it in to help you position toolbars. The Muse: https://ir.logitech.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2025/Introducing-Logitech-Muse-for-Apple-Vision-Pro/default.aspx
I get goosebumps watching people see the late Bill Atkinson first demo his MacPaint creation 40+ years ago to the public and answer questions. Today, you couldn't imagine it being new. In hindsight, that was an historic moment. Now, sadly, he's gone. Watch it and imagine how it must have felt.
Here’s Bill Atkinson (and rest of team) answering questions right after the Macintosh was debuted at the Boston Computer Society in 1984: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tQ5XwvjPmA starting at 28:25 - he demos MacPaint and more. May his memory be a blessing!
Dan Bricklin
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@danb Thank you! Thank you!
Watching this, I can feel my original sense of amazement. I can feel myself wanting to play with my own Mac.
Work got fun again.
One of the VisiCalc guys, CTO Alpha Software, DBDemo, Trellix, blogger, podcaster, SocialCalc, iPad app: Note Taker HD, president of Software Garden, Inc.
Joined Nov 2022
