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July 14, 2019
Introducing BarkMode: Bark Detection + Dark Mode
I was in California about a month ago for work and I was able to attend a few events during WWDC week. I read a lot about the new features and APIs but didn’t really have a lot of time to mess with stuff like SwiftUI, etc. I got a stupid idea for a project but I didn’t really take the time to work on it until this weekend. Now I’d like to introduce you to my latest app: Bark Mode!
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May 03, 2019
Cloning Zwift on iOS Part 3: HealthKit and a WatchOS App!
I’ve been a bit slow to update my blog series about trying to make a clone of Zwift, but not because I’ve stopped working on it. Rather, I’ve been able to use the “MVP” of what I’ve built so far in parts 1 and 2, and I was finding that the time I spent working on my app could be used actually working out. Like, I literally would write an implementation of something, but it would take so much of my time that I couldn’t test it out and I’d have to go to bed… Still, I was missing a few important features in my app, so I’ve been slowly working on them in between working on my fitness.
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April 07, 2019
Making an iOS Zwift Clone to Save $15 a Month! Part 2: Reverse Engineering a Workout
Last time, on “Making an iOS Zwift Clone to Save $15 a Month” I wrote about learning Core Bluetooth to connect to my exercise bike and get data streaming directly to my app.
Since writing that article, I cleaned up the implementation of the Core Bluetooth service a bit and started supporting some additional data like distance, calories burned and cycling cadence.
While cycling on my exercise bike and staring at these numbers is fun, the built-in screen on my bike already shows these numbers, so I essentially recreated a subset of the official ergData app so far.
I realized the next challenge would be to start a guided workout in my app and show the target wattage alongside my actual wattage on the bike.
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March 17, 2019
Making an iOS Zwift Clone to Save $15 a Month! Part 1: Core Bluetooth
It’s been a while since I’ve worked on a personal project, but I’ve been having an itch to make some new iOS apps and yesterday morning I decided to go ahead and hack something together.
I recently purchased an exercise bike called the BikeErg (I think the name has something to do with the rowing machines that the manufacturer also makes). The bike has a built-in computer that keeps track of things like watts (apparently cycling is a sport that has really good analytics since it’s easy to track raw power), calories burned, cadence and other stuff. You can view the data on the monitor or use an app like Zwift to do workouts.
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May 20, 2018
Five Simple Steps to Becoming an International™ Conference Speaker!
A few years ago, I made a goal for myself that I would start speaking at conferences. In the past I had gone to quite a few awesome conferences and I really admired the folks who could get on a stage, share a bunch of knowledge and inspire an audience to do cool stuff. While I had a bit of experience with public speaking (I spoke at some local iOS/Android meetups and moderated two panels at SXSW back in ’11 and ’13), I wanted to try for a “real” conference spot.
I think the conference that convinced me to start applying was Swift Summit, which I attended in 2015. There were a number of really inspiring talks, and the community felt really fresh and welcoming. One interesting aside: I learned after joining Lyft that no fewer than three of my current coworkers on iOS spoke at that conference (Keith, Sam and JP, though only Keith was working at Lyft at the time) and a few others attended that year. I’m not sure if that’s correlation or causation at work.
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