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Metamuse — Technology
Metamuse

Tools for thought, product design, and how to have good ideas.

Latest Episodes:

84 // Retrospective Oct 05, 2023

Mark and Adam take a look back at three years of podcasts to reflect on their favorite episodes—and the friends they made along the way. They discus Metamuse’s origin story, walk through the production process, and wax nostalgic on some of their favorite episodes. Plus: a look at what the future holds for our hosts and the podcast.

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NPR
The future of iPad
Ferrite
Hello Internet, Gastropod, Lexicon Valley
This American Life, Gimlet Media
Most downloaded episodes: Computers and creativity with Molly Mielke, Sync, Growing ideas with Andy Matuschak
Mark’s favorite episodes: Local-first software with Martin Kleppmann, Local-first one year later, Hiring, Cities with Devon Zuegel
Adam’s honorable mentions: Progress with Jason Crawford, Rich text with Slim Lim
Metamuse podcast guest handbook
lossless audio
Riverside
Audio editor Mark Lamorgese
Post-producer Jenna Miller
Podcasting Microphones Mega-Review
XLR microphone
pro sound dampening material
RØDE Podcaster
Pop filter, plosives
John Michael Greer

83 // End and beginning Aug 31, 2023

Bittersweet news is the topic of this episode. Adam Wulf and Adam Wiggins discuss the end of an era for Muse, leadership transitions, and what the future holds for Muse 3.0 and beyond.

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82 // Spatial computing with Yiliu Shen-Burke Jul 13, 2023

Is virtual reality useful for productivity software? Yiliu is the founder of Softspace, a VR/AR tool for thought. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss the human brain and body as inherently spatial systems; the question of whether information is fundamentally 2D; and why social comfort is the biggest challenge facing VR today. Plus: how to avoid a dystopian future.

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81 // Evergreen notes with Stephan Ango Jun 22, 2023

Quotes from famous people or books can turn a feeling or a concept into a memorable chunk of text—how can we do the same for our own ideas? Stephan is the CEO of Obsidian, and he joins Mark and Adam to discuss notes as personal memes, the balance between freedom and cohesion in plugins, and why it's so hard to be messy in digital tools. Plus: why “tools for thought” rubs Stephan the wrong way.

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80 // Planning Jun 01, 2023

Planning might have a reputation for being boring, but Adam and Mark believe it can be one of the most exciting moments in your team’s work. They discuss the importance of inspiration and collective knowledge; the musical rhythm of planning cycles; and how to “draw the line” when prioritizing. Plus: the importance of revisiting the plan in times of doubt.

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79 // Read-later apps with Tristan Homsi and Dan Doyon May 18, 2023

How can software improve the practice of reading? Tristan and Dan are the founders of Readwise. They join Adam to talk about the history of read-later apps like Pocket and Instapaper; the difference between reading for betterment and reading for entertainment; and the cat-and-mouse game of web parsing. Plus: how the personal knowledge management explosion in 2020 affected digital reading.

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78 // Local-first, one year later May 04, 2023

It's been a year since Muse 2.0 launched. To help commemorate this anniversary, Adam Wulf once again joins Mark and Adam Wiggins to do a technical deep-dive on Muse's sync architecture. They discuss the benefits such as less ops burden and good developer experience; and challenges such as event vs state based data, handling different app schema versions, and the tradeoffs of a content-aware server.

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77 // Writing on the internet with Francesco Di Lorenzo Apr 13, 2023

Twitter has created a whole new generation of internet writers. Francesco is the co-founder of Typefully, and he joins Adam and Mark to talk about the evolution of blogging, the importance of diversifying your platforms, and how Twitter can be used as a beacon to invite like-minded people into your conversations.

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76 // Leadership Mar 23, 2023

Great leadership is imperative to creating a successful company. Adam and Mark talk about setting up a healthy work environment, the importance of conviction and belief, and the role models who inspire Adam and Mark on their own leadership journeys.

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75 // Collective intelligence with Conor White-Sullivan Mar 02, 2023

Better tools and techniques for collective intelligence could be a path to building a more democratic society. Conor is the founder of Roam, and he joins Adam and Mark to discuss his motivations for working on a tool for collective intelligence, why knowledge doesn’t always equal articulated thoughts, and a vision for how to program your own mind.

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74 // Linking Feb 16, 2023

Linking has a rich history as a way of connecting, building, and sharing—creating the hive mind of all human knowledge. Adam and Mark talk about the origins of hyperlinks, the untitled boards problem, and measuring importance by citation or backlink count. And Julia joins to talk about the technical implementation of Muse’s linked cards.

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73 // Folk practices with Omar Rizwan Jan 26, 2023

Folk practices, such as screenshots of text, offer insight into user preferences and can be a basis for building better software. Omar is the creator of ScreenMatcher, Screenotate, and TabFS. He joins Adam and Mark to discuss the impact of Dynamicland; what it means to create “wiggly” computer systems; and the idea of trying to unlock latent demands of the end-user in order to enhance our ability to control computers.

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Omar Rizwan, @rsnous
Hijack Your Feed
Metamuse episode with Jason Yuan
Screenotate
Screen Matcher
the analog hole
Mermaid
Metamuse episode with Maggie Appleton
Dynamicland
A Small Matter of Programming
Twine
Max Kreminski on Twine projects
FFI
Vulkan
Exterminate All Operating System Abstractions
Patrick Dubroy on orthogonal primitives
TabFS
Dynamicland Geokit work
Reactive database relatives: Bloom, Eve, Riffle
Displaying graphs in terminal
Pixel parsing: Viewpoint, Prefab
Buttons
Vulkan triangle
the charisma of end-user programming
“always already programming”

72 // Remote work Jan 12, 2023

It's been possible to have all-remote teams for at least a decade, but in many ways this approach to knowledge work is still in its infancy. Adam and Mark talk about the pros of remote work like the ability to hire from the global talent pool and life flexibility for team members. They also touch on cons like limited tools for creative group thinking and difficulty building trust remotely.

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71 // Programmable ink with James Lindenbaum and Szymon Kaliski Dec 27, 2022

What would be possible if hand-drawn sketches were programmable like spreadsheets? James and Szymon are researching this question at Ink & Switch. They sit down with Adam to talk about the unlikely duo of informality and coding, the future of digital ink, and the role of feelings in research.

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70 // Launchers with Thomas Paul Mann Dec 08, 2022

A command line and a GUI are two completely different ways to operate a computer—but quick launchers and command palettes have found a way to bring them together. Thomas is building Raycast, an extensible quick launcher for macOS. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss the evolution of launchers from Quicksilver to Spotlight to the Chrome address bar; reasons to embed web technologies into a native app; and how voice interfaces like Siri and Alexa fit into this story.

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69 // Narrative with Mario Gabriele Nov 24, 2022

In the world of tech journalism, a well-crafted narrative is part of conveying truth about the world. Mario writes weekly briefings at The Generalist, and he joins Adam and Mark to discuss his creative process for writing; what Michelin, Stripe, and WeWork have in common; and flaws in the now-popular Silicon Valley narrative of hubris and excess. Plus: how to speedrun creating conviction.

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68 // Multiplayer Nov 10, 2022

The Muse team has begun work on multiplayer features, so Mark and Adam are pondering how groups of people can best co-develop ideas. They discuss the ad-hoc workgroups vs durable teams; the Wisdom of the Crowds; and the implications of local-first on sharing permissions. Plus: TV writer’s rooms.

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67 // Dynamic documents with Geoffrey Litt and Max Schoening Nov 03, 2022

What if we could start with a plaintext note and gradually evolve it into an app? That’s the question asked by Max and Geoffrey in their latest research at Ink & Switch. They join Adam to discuss data detectors, language models and personal text, and the creative process on a research project. Plus: why Stable Diffusion is like a slot machine.

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66 // Business of apps with Markus Müller-Simhofer Oct 13, 2022

Selling software via the App Store has unique benefits and challenges compared to selling on the web. Markus joins Mark and Adam to talk through the 13-year history of MindNode on Mac, phone, and iPad sold via freemium, paid upgrades, and finally subscriptions. They discuss early inspiring Mac apps like NetNewsWire; the distribution benefits of the App Store; and the emotional journey of transitioning from indie hacker to team leader. Plus: the surprising connection between comic books, infinite canvases, and mind mapping.

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65 // Trademarks with Josh Gerben Sep 29, 2022

As a product creator, how do you prevent confusion with other similarly-named products in the market? Josh is an intellectual property attorney specializing in trademark law. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss why trademarks exist to protect consumers, not businesses; the legal differences between ™️, ®, wordmark, and logomark; patent trolling and trademark bullying; and the APIs used to monitor trademark databases. Plus: the trademarks of Apple, Monster Energy, and LeBron James.

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64 // Hiring Sep 15, 2022

Your company exists to build a product, but the meta-project is to build a team. Adam and Mark discuss hiring managers and job descriptions; the benefit of pilot projects over lengthy interviews; and the “dream candidate” exercise. Plus: hiring lessons we can learn from Zappos and Ghostbusters.

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63 // Platforms with Joe Wadcan Sep 01, 2022

Building your business on a platform like iOS, Wordpress, or Shopify gives you access to that platform’s customers, but comes with many tradeoffs. Joe helped to create the GitHub Marketplace and built his most recent startup as a Slack bot, so he knows both sides of this experience. He joins Adam and Wulf to discuss the power asymmetry between platforms and their developers; best-of-breed vs unified suites; and how Slack seeded their early ecosystem. Plus: timezones, definitely the easiest problem in programming.

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62 // Community with Ramses Oudt Aug 18, 2022

A renaissance is happening in productivity tools—and that goes beyond the software itself and into online gathering places for users passionate about those tools. Ramses is the community manager for Logseq, and he joins Mark and Adam to discuss language learning communities and the great flashcard debate; platform options like Discord, Discourse, and Circle; why people join communities in the first place, and why they stick around in the longer term. Plus: why community is not a moat.

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Ramses Oudt (@rroudt)
Think Stack Club
Spaced repetition
Flashcard
Duolingo, Anki
Outliner
Logseq, Emacs, Workflowy, Dynalist, Roam Research, Obsidian
Knowledge graph
Readwise
r/puppy101
Logseq’s forum, Craft’s community
Discourse, Circle
Loom
Logseq’s Github

61 // Listener questions 2 Aug 04, 2022

All your questions about Muse, answered! Mark, Adam, and Wulf discuss the purposes of search in knowledge tools; the need for an infinite canvas file format; the many facets of board archival; and how to fund a research lab. Plus: the dangers of iPad use in a darkened plane cabin.

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60 // Real materials with Dan LaCivita Jul 12, 2022

Designers use general-purpose vector editors like Sketch and Figma to mock up mobile UIs. Play is a design tool that offer a different approach: designing directly on an iPhone or iPad. Dan from Play joins Mark and Adam to talk about the problem with mirror apps; how much time you should spend on sketching before “getting your hands on the clay”; and why developer handoff should be a collaboration, not a handoff. Plus: the correlation between the loudness of your mechanical keyboard and your coding skills.

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59 // Infinite canvases with Steve Ruiz Jul 07, 2022

A new foundational document type is on the rise: the so-called infinite canvas. Steve is the creator of tldraw, an open-source canvas toolkit. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss why the canvas might be the ultimate fully-generalized form of all digital documents; why “infinite” refers to openness and possibility rather than just available space; and why canvases create a sense of place that is suited to multiuser collaboration. Plus: smash that fork button and own this thing forever.

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58 // Product decisions with Paulo Pereira Jun 23, 2022

If you’re on a team responsible for a mature and beloved product, how do you decide what to build next? Paulo is a product manager at Sketch, and he joins Mark and Adam to talk about managing the ever-growing backlog of feature requests and how to balance that against long-term product vision. They also explore the evolution in the design tools market over the last ten years; Sketch’s company culture which values sustainable growth over KPIs and dark patterns; and the privilege and responsibility of working on a beloved tool.

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57 // Messaging with Hilary Maloney May 26, 2022

Messaging is how your company talks about its product strategically and systematically. Hilary recently worked with the Muse team to create a new message for Muse 2.0, and she joins Mark and Adam to talk about her creative process. Topics include why product messaging exists to solve a problem at a particular point in time; how Apple builds its brand message into product marketing; work idealists; and the importance of creative trust on teams. Plus: some cliché phrases to avoid when marketing your productivity software.

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56 // Sync May 12, 2022

The foundational technology for Muse 2 is local-first sync, which draws from over a decade of computer science research on CRDTs. Mark, Adam Wiggins, and Adam Wulf get technical to describe the Muse sync technology architecture in detail. Topics include the difference between transactional, blob, and ephemeral data; the “atoms” concept inspired by Datomic; Protocol Buffers; and the user’s data as a bag of edits. Plus: why sync is a powerful substrate for end-user programming.

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55 // Mac app design Apr 28, 2022

Pro apps on macOS have a look and feel unlike apps on any other platform. Julia and Lennart join Adam to get into the details of designing and implementing Muse for Mac. Topics include the pros and cons of building with Catalyst, how the Muse canvas mixes with system conventions and UI chrome, and our experimental approach to developing the keyboard+mouse command vocabulary. Plus: how Julia rediscovered her love of right-click context menus.

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54 // Support Apr 14, 2022

Customer support is sometimes an afterthought for tech product companies, but it can be one of the most important parts of user experience. Mark and Adam discuss using support as a type of user interview; how to balance long-term product vision with listening to customers; and support reputations of companies like Zappos, IBM, and Comcast. Plus: the value of transparency vs why airlines conceal flight delays.

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53 // Career with swyx Mar 31, 2022

Your career is more than just a way to earn a living—it's a foundation for leading the kind of life you want. Shawn joins Mark and Adam to talk about navigating the non-linear course of a career; whether to correct weaknesses vs investing in strengths; salary negotiation; brag documents; and how to create luck. Plus: the Spinal Tap scale for rating software engineers.

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52 // Product launches Mar 17, 2022

If you’ve built a great product, a launch is how the world can find out about it. Adam and Mark discuss the anatomy of a product launches, including creating a “moment” in your social graph; why you should decouple product releases from your marketing launch; and mechanics like waitlists, feature flags, and press. Plus: how sharing your work with the world strengthens your team identity.

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51 // Personal brand with Brian Lovin Mar 03, 2022

Meeting potential collaborators online is easier when you represent yourself through a personal brand. Brian Lovin is a designer at GitHub, a podcaster at Design Details, and a prolific online maker. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about personal websites; the pros and cons of cold contact over the internet; whether follower counts matter; and how the Twitter algorithm can push back against your personal growth. Plus: the tension between thoughtfulness and daring.

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50 // Build in public with Pirijan Feb 17, 2022

What’s the best way for a solo entrepreneur to market their product? Pirijan is creating Kinopio, a spatial canvas on the web, and he publishes new features as screenshots or short demo videos on Twitter. He talks with Mark and Adam about how personality and building-in-public are a unique advantage of small teams; PC Magazine versus YouTube influencers; and why the struggle of building a business is best shared in realtime. Plus: choosing a tool based on vibes.

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Pirijan @pketh
Kinopio
Gleason’s boxing gym
The Endless Summer (surf documentary)
“everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”
Fog Creek / Glitch
Joel Spolsky
Copilot, Kiln
Wasabi
Metamuse episode on urban design
text blocks beta
HandBrake
teaching hospitals
pave the cowpath
Indie Hackers and revenue sharing example
moonlighting
The Making of Prince of Persia
posturing
MKBHD

49 // Software longevity Feb 03, 2022

The great works of human civilization can last for centuries—but software often decays in just a tiny fraction of that time. How much should this concern us in this increasingly-digital age? And as software creators, what can we do about it? Adam and Mark discuss the durability of papyrus vs CD-Rs vs the cloud; open-source Quake and remix culture; flat file formats; and digital preservation efforts like The Internet Archive and MAME. Plus: sometimes you just have to draw the rest of the owl.

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48 // Rich text with Slim Lim Jan 20, 2022

Rich text editing is a foundational interaction in productivity software. Slim joins Mark and Adam to explain how rich text is more than just bold and italics for prose, but also includes math equations, diagrams, slideshows, and sheet music. Their discussion includes WYSIWYG versus markup languages for end users; how block-based editors change our understanding of rich text; and why Pandoc is Slim’s favorite piece of software. Plus: how to choose the best wagon in Oregon Trail.

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Slim “Sarah” Lim @sliminality
UC Berkeley, Notion, Ink & Switch
14" vs 16" MacBook Pro
The Oregon Trail, 5th Edition
Khan Academy R&D group with Andy Matuschak
Ply, Slim’s CSS inspector
Bert Bos (co-creator of CSS)
Notion’s inline equation editor
Peritext
Further Research is Needed
Welcome to Night Vale
structured editors
Lisp and S-Expressions
Pandoc
CommonMark, ReMarkdown
Beamer, reveal.js
AsciiDoc
Eternals
Overleaf
stan
Association for Computing Machinery
ACM switch to HTML from PDF as archival format
MathML
MathJax, KaTeX
MathOverflow
Jonathan Aldrich
Bear
Finale, MuseScore
Graphviz, Mermaid, Svgbob
Sketch-n-Sketch

47 // Designing creative tools with David Hoang Jan 06, 2022

Designing tools for creators is harder than consumer software, but also potentially more rewarding. David leads design at Webflow, and he joins Adam and Mark to talk about mental models, opinionated versus open-ended tools, and being true to the materials. Plus: why complexity is unfairly villainized in design.

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46 // Industrial research with Peter van Hardenberg Dec 23, 2021

Ink & Switch is a research lab inspired by Bells Labs and Xerox PARC. Peter is lab director, and he joins Adam and Mark to discuss DARPA-hard problems; the Ink & Switch academic-meets-web essay format; and how an independent research lab can fund itself through a spinout flywheel. Plus: Mendel and his peas, Thoreau and his ants, and the Arrakis attitude of the knife.

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45 // Native apps Dec 09, 2021

With Muse for Mac on the horizon, the team convenes to discuss the merits of native apps versus web technologies like Electron. Discussion points include the conflict between brand identity and apps that feel true to the OS; “proudly native” apps like Sketch and Nova; and the lost art of designing using system components. Plus: the business case for and against building native apps, and why great native apps tend to come from smaller companies.

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44 // Media empires with Dan Shipper Nov 25, 2021

Journalism is changing, as newspapers and magazines adapt to being online and internet-native media empires like Vox and Vice upend the status quo. Dan Shipper is part of this as a founder of Every, a writer collective for business writing. Dan chats with Mark and Adam about the paid newsletter boom; the impact of recommendation algorithms on creator mental health; and content platforms like Wordpress, Substack, and Ghost. Plus: the pros and cons of antigravity machines.

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43 // Storytelling Nov 11, 2021

What do the Bible, TED talks, superhero movies, and Steve Jobs’ product announcements have in common? They use stories to share ideas, culture, and worldview. Adam and Lennart discuss this, and the role storytelling can play in product marketing and design.

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42 // Self-made tools with Linus Lee Oct 28, 2021

In a world dominated by mass-produced software, making your own tools is a way to take back agency in your digital life. Linus joins Mark and Adam to talk about his experiences building a personal software ecosystem; tools that are a reflection of the maker’s values and taste; and packaging/sharing solutions like Docker, CodePen, Replit, and Deno. And: is it possible for software to ever be “done”? — Linus thinks so.

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41 // Local-first software with Martin Kleppmann Oct 14, 2021

Local-first is a set of principles that enables collaborative software without the loss of data ownership associated with the cloud. Martin is a computer scientist on the frontier of this movement, and he joins Mark and Adam to discuss how creative people put their souls into their work; a vision for a generic AWS syncing service; and why local-first could be a breakthrough for indie app developers.

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40 // Filmmaking with Maximilian Becht Sep 30, 2021

The Muse team worked with Max and his film crew on the pilot episode of a new documentary series. Max joins Adam and Mark to talk about how making films compares to making software; why creative trust is the core of a great team; and why we should hire based on networks, portfolios, and auditions instead of CVs and interviews. Plus: 40 people stuck on a film shoot in the forest due to a forgotten shovel.

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Maximilian Becht of Kosmovision
shooting day
post-production
E3
set runner
Film Academy Baden-Württemberg
Zellenflimmern (documentary on media inside prisons)
Making Movies
Create: a documentary series by Muse
watch pilot episode of Create with Katrin Friedmann
branded content
Marcus Hanisch (Create director)
location scouting
Jasper Techel (Create cameraperson)
Moritz Drath (Create sound and music)
professional network
After Effects
The Queen’s Gambit shot in Berlin
maker biographies
A Modest Genius (Charles Darwin biography)
Creativity, Inc. (Pixar founder autobiography)
Barbie and Ruth (Mattel founder biography)
film screening
the Hollywood model
gig sites
Christopher Nolan
wide angle shots
herding cats
production manager
“fix it in post"
the null hypothesis
suggest a protagonist for future episodes of Create

39 // Expressive tools with Weiwei Xu Sep 16, 2021

Why are we driven to create, and to express ourselves online? Weiwei is the founder of Sprout, a collaborative creation space. She joins Mark and Adam to talk about how tools influence group communication and our sense of belonging; why we should make our online spaces feel more like bedrooms than stadiums or hotel lobbies; and why children’s tools have a special magic. Plus: Nintendo’s withered technology, Winamp skins, and cursor waves.

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38 // Calm companies with Tyler Tringas Sep 02, 2021

As the world’s economy is remade via software, some founders are finding the one-way ratchet of venture capital too restrictive. Tyler Tringas is working to expand funding options available to entrepreneurs via the Calm Fund. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about a return to classic good business practices; how founders can maximize their optionality; building an investment thesis out in the open; and how to be long-term ambitious.

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37 // Visual programming with Maggie Appleton Aug 19, 2021

Creating software is typically done in text-based environments—but would programming be more accessible with graphical programming tools? Maggie joins Mark and Adam to talk about the relative success of Scratch, Shortcuts, and Zapier; how to make the abstract visible; embodied metaphors; and the false duality of artistic versus logical thinkers. Plus: how to make blinking lights for your Burning Man art installation.

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36 // Text Aug 05, 2021

Text blocks are a new beta feature for Muse. Mark and Adam use the opportunity to discuss the origins and philosophy of text in computing, including text as a datum in environments like wikis, REPLs, and social media; the writing workflow of collapsing spatially-arranged ideas down to a linear text buffer; and company memo culture. And Mark shares his vision for how the Pencil could become the X-Acto knife for fast text editing on a tablet.

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Review Metamuse on Apple Podcasts

35 // The future of iPad Jul 22, 2021

It’s been over a decade since Steve Jobs introduced Apple’s tablet as a “third device” between Mac and iPhone. Mark, Adam, and Lennart discuss iPad’s potential as a creative platform; multitasking, filesystem, and scripting/extensions; multimodal inputs; and the background process problem. Plus: why Apple should build its own pro apps for iPad to demonstrate their vision for the platform.

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iPadOS 15
The Tragic iPad
Procreate
iPad with cellular network connection
user confusion on minimizing vs closing an application
Steve Jobs on the third category of device
prosumer software
iOS fork / iPadOS rebrand in 2019
the Dock, drag and drop
iPad morphing cursor
the history of mouse cursors
keyboard shortcut quick reference by holding down ⌘
macOS Big Sur Control Center seems designed for touch
Apple says it has no plans to merge Mac and iPad
Surface Studio and Surface Hub
Tony Stark’s lab
Apple device wifi password sharing
Universal Control to share a pointing device between a Mac and an iPad
episode with Rasmus Andersson
Macbook Touch Bar
frustrating text selection on iPhone and iPad

34 // Bring your own client with Geoffrey Litt Jul 08, 2021

In today’s world, apps and their data are tightly coupled—but what if each person could pick and choose their own tool for use in a collaborative project? Geoffrey Litt is a researcher working on this problem at MIT. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about email as the original BYOC case study; how shared protocols enable niche software; whether it’s possible to design software for someone other than yourself; and how to accidentally become an expert.

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33 // Cities with Devon Zuegel Jun 24, 2021

Tech product designers could learn from the immense challenges of designing cities. Devon joins Adam and Mark to share her knowledge and passion on urban design and economics. They discuss how open source communities compare to cities; historical preservation versus growth and change; the messy middle of public and private goods; wi-fi spectrum ownership; and what to do when the neighbor’s new building puts shade on your vegetable garden.

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32 // Pricing Jun 10, 2021

Pricing a product is one of the most difficult and high-stakes part of running a software business. Adam, Mark, and Lennart discuss the latest pricing updates for Muse; the pros and cons of selling through the iOS App Store; concerns with subscription payments for software; and why it’s important to be experimental and iterative with your prices.

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31 // Social media with Tobias Rose-Stockwell May 27, 2021

Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have transformed how we come to a shared understanding about our world. Tobias has been writing about social media for half a decade. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss velocity and virality in information dissemination; how to train your YouTube algorithm; rage tweeting; and how to improve the internet we all inhabit.

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30 // Computers and creativity with Molly Mielke May 12, 2021

Great tools can enable co-creation between humans and computers. Molly Mielke joins Mark and Adam to talk about her thesis on the subject. They discuss product design as a fusion of creative and analytical; how consumer preferences may conflict with the Engelbart/Kay vision of computing; the emerging social norms of collaborative software; and why we should bring back skeuomorphism.

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29 // Thinking in probabilities with Taimur Abdaal Apr 29, 2021

Probabilistic modeling is useful for answering all kinds of questions, from assessing financial risk to making engineering time estimates. Yet spreadsheets are poor at this job, which is why Taimur and his colleagues are building Casual. Taimur talks with Mark and Adam about ranges as an intuitive way to estimate; the usefulness of Monte Carlo simulations; and the role of math in dating cave paintings.

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28 // Learning from games Apr 15, 2021

Video games are often on the leading edge of technical, design, and social innovation in the software world. Mark and Adam discuss what productivity tools can learn from games including the culture of performance; tools like Twitch and Discord; and end-user programming via scripting and modding.

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27 // Playful software with Rasmus Andersson Apr 01, 2021

Design and engineering polymath Rasmus Andersson joins Mark and Adam to talk about his new project, Playbit. Play as a means of discovery and learning; virtualization as an underexploited technology for making safe playspaces for programming; and whether macOS will still exist in ten years.

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26 // No data moat with Balint Orosz Mar 18, 2021

When you pay for software, are you paying for the data storage or the interface? Balint is the founder of Craft, a writing app designed for iPad. He chats with Adam and Mark about design conventions for multimodal input; why import/export is so important; and how to have humility about how your product fits into your customer’s life.

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25 // Time-based notes with Alexander Griekspoor Mar 04, 2021

Agenda is software that encodes an unusual philosophy for note-taking. Alex of Agenda joins Mark and Adam to talk about being an indie developer; note-taking as a technique for calming the mind; and the benefits of community and learning tools socially.

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24 // Small Giants Feb 18, 2021

A “small giant” is a company that chooses to optimize for mojo instead of growth. Mark and Adam describe how Muse was inspired to follow this path, designing the business model, team makeup, and funding source accordingly. Plus: a digression into tender offers and the fine points of US tax law.

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Partnership, freedom, and responsibility
Adam Wulf
Small Giants
S&P 500
Clif Bar, Whole Foods, Union Square Cafe
Startup = Growth
existence proof
Signal, Panic, Vanguard
index funds and ETFs
Chef’s Table
meme stocks
Delaware C-corp
Harrison Metal
career capital
revenue-based financing
maker vs manager
VC Math
tender offer
stock buyback
dividends
TrustCommerce
growth stocks vs income stocks
foundations: Mozilla, Apache, Processing, Wikimedia

23 // Collaborative creativity with Nikolas Klein Feb 04, 2021

Tools for collaboration are changing team culture. Nikolas Klein has been a part of this shift in his academic work and on the product design team at Figma. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss creative collaboration including how guardrails can increase comfort with working collaboratively; changing mindset from “my ideas” to “our ideas”; and screensharing as an intimate act.

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22 // Brand Jan 21, 2021

Brand is not just a name or a logo—it’s the character of a company and its products. Adam and Mark discuss the memetic and emotive elements of branding; brand as tribal identity; and Muse brand values like thoughtfulness and curiosity.

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21 // Listener questions Jan 07, 2021

How to prototype advanced gestures; how to organize your Muse boards; and how to spot good ideas. Plus, a peek at the long-term Muse roadmap.

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20 // Thinking in maps with Anne-Laure Le Cunff Dec 24, 2020

Maps can visualize space, time, biological processes, social graphs, and much more. Anne-Laure of Ness Labs talks with Mark and Adam about the multi-thousand-year history of map-based thinking, and how we can use maps in our own creative work today.

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19 // Progress with Jason Crawford Dec 10, 2020

Jason Crawford writes about the history of technology and the philosophy of progress. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about technologies like messenger RNA vaccines, nanotech, and supersonic jets. Plus society-level questions like whether we are in a period of stagnation, how we fund maverick ideas, and why we need hubris.

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18 // Privacy Nov 26, 2020

Thinking and creativity require privacy. In this data-intensive age, what does “privacy” mean for a tool for thought? Mark and Adam discuss product decisions in the context of digital privacy for the tech industry and society overall.

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17 // Rethink the OS with Jason Yuan Nov 12, 2020

Jason Yuan believes that we all should feel empowered to think about ways to improve our computer's operating system. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about stage design, dreaming big versus delivering practical products, and why software should be fun.

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16 // No more boring apps with Andy.Works Oct 29, 2020

Andy.Works believes in design-forward products, as seen in his work on Paper for iPad to a handmade analog clock for his young kids. Mark, Adam, and Andy discuss products as vector for culture; maverick game designers; innovation budgets; and pushing back against the idea of scale in software.

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15 // Leaving San Francisco Oct 16, 2020

It's a new world: many creative professionals can now choose where they live, independent of where their employer is headquartered. Mark and Adam discuss the implications of this. Plus: the magic of Silicon Valley, cities that feed your creative soul, and strategies for making big life decisions.

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14 // Onboarding with Jane Portman Oct 01, 2020

Jane Portman of Userlist joins Julia and Adam to share her expertise with onboarding. Why guided tours don't work, the legacy of Clippy, and drip campaigns that are more personal and considerate.

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13 // Interface innovation with Josh Miller Sep 17, 2020

Josh Miller from The Browser Company joins Mark and Adam to discuss how to make a better web browser in 2020. The conversation ranges from user agency in software to architecture to social capital to end-user programming.

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12 // Growing ideas with Andy Matuschak Sep 03, 2020

Andy Matuschak joins Mark and Adam to talk about rituals for deep thought, how to develop an inkling over time, and the public goods problem of research.

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11 // Authentic marketing with Lisa Enckell Aug 20, 2020

Lisa Enckell joins Mark and Adam to talk about picking a category, aspirational creativity, and the purpose of product launches.

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10 // Tools for thought Aug 07, 2020

The rich history of tools for thought stretches back to the 1960s. Adam and Mark talk about how today’s computing, from iPads to Twitch to AI, might help us gain knoweldge and develop novel ideas.

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9 // The Information Age Jul 23, 2020

This modern Information Age can make it challenging for a creative professional to keep their focus. At the same time, there are many benefits to being plugged in. Mark and Adam discuss.

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8 // Principled products with Max Schoening Jul 11, 2020

Max Schoening of GitHub joins Mark and Adam to talk about principled design, authentic marketing, tools for thought, and more.

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7 // From prototype to product with Lachlan Campbell Jun 24, 2020

Lachlan Campbell of Hack Club joins Mark and Adam to talk about path from research prototype to released product.

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6 // Human-Computer Interaction Jun 12, 2020

HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) studies how people relate to their digital tools. Mark and Adam discuss their journey into HCI, how others can get into the field, and its influence on Muse.

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5 // Gesture programming for the iPad May 26, 2020

Developing an iPad app with a rich gesture space and unique spatial-zooming visual model is technically challenging. Julia joins Mark and Adam to break down the software engineering behind Muse.

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4 // Partnership, freedom, and responsibility May 11, 2020

The company behind Muse is structured as a small partnership. Mark and Adam talk about why the team wanted this unusual approach and how it's working so far.

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3 // Read the fabulous manual Apr 29, 2020

Professional tools need a manual to explain how they work, but not all manuals are created equal. Mark and Adam discuss their mutual love of manuals, what makes a manual great, and why we chose video as the primary medium for the Muse Interface Handbook.

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2 // Having good ideas Apr 16, 2020

Ideas are foundational for creative and knowledge work. Mark and Adam talk about fodder, making time to ideate, and the value of fresh surroundings.

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1 // Tool switching Mar 24, 2020

Muse has a modeless interface with no onscreen toolbars. Mark and Adam talk about the long research journey that led us here.

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