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PODCAST

Side Project Spotlight

Philly CocoaHeads

PhillyCocoa Presents Side Project Spotlight is a podcast for app builders, documenting the process of producing real apps for the Apple App Store.

technology

All Episodes

00:55:11

#100: Vibecasting Episode 100

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/10/27

Can you believe we made it to episode 100!? We're as incredulous as you. Join us as we "vibecast" a retrospective on our podcasting journey so far.## Show Notes- Pod Retrospective - App #1 – KanjiLove watchOS app – Launched!- Pod Lore – Orange Balls- App #2 – Pickle Jar ToDo macOS app – Unfinished- Pre-Pod History: Big-O Style Robot Battle App Idea- Our claim to fame: #55: The “Universal” UI- App #3 – Bento Fit iOS app– Launched- Side Project Next?- Dad Joke 100## Chapters00:00

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00:39:06

#99: We Got One!

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/10/13

It's been one week (at time of recording) since Bento Fit v1.0 was released and someone gave us money! Kotaro is recording from an undisclosed location, so in this quick episode, we discuss our week 1 metrics, how much this app cost to make, and what we want to do next to try to make Bento Fit more useful, more marketable, and hopefully, eventually, profitable.## Show Notes- Bento Fit: The Story So Far- Someone Gave Us Money! - How Much Did Bento Fit Cost to Make?- How Do We Make Bento Fit More

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00:57:19

#98: Bento Fit v1.0

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/09/30

We did it! Bento Fit v1.0 is live in the App Store! In this episode we engage in a retrospective about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the process. We learned a lot, that's for sure.## Show Notes- Bento Fit v1.0 is out! - https://bentofit.app- Ship-a-ton submission - https://devpost.com/software/bento-fit- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - ## Good - LLM coding (50% good) - The design / aesthetic - Revenue Cat - Learnings / Experience - ## Bad / Ugly

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00:39:18

#97: The Final Countdown

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/09/15

As The Trio race to complete Bento Fit v1.0 in time to submit for the Shipaton hackathon, they pause to discuss the new iPhones, iOS 26, folding phone creases, and the TikTokification of UI interaction. ## Show Notes- iPhone 17 Event- iOS 26 RC- Bento Fit: Updates - Polishing continues - Removed watchOS and widgets - Bug fixes for app persistence- Bento Fit: Final Sprint - Kotaro: Onboarding - Stephen: Revenue Cat Integration - Aaron: More metrics- http://phillycocoa.org- Ship-a-ton

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00:55:49

#96: Race to the Finish Line

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/09/01

We are running out of time to finish our "Bento Fit" app before the Ship-a-ton deadline! This week, we go through what's left to be done and what we are cutting as we race to the finish line of v1.0.## Show Notes- Apple September 9 Event- Bento Fit: The Story So Far- Bento Fit: Race to the Finish Line - What do we need to left to do - Monetization strategy - Finalize name - ASC description - Website Link - Privacy Policy Link - Screenshots

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00:44:12

#95: Definitely Not “AI” Generated

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/08/18

This is a short and sweet episode with some Bento Fit updates from Kotaro and Steve, plus some overly ambitious goal setting for next time! First up, Kotaro used the ChatGPT Xcode integration to prototype a welcome screen that sounds cool, but we can't see it because his iOS SDK was deleted! Then we review the latest version of our app icon as implemented in Icon Composer and talk about some of the quirks and features of this cool new tool from Apple. Then Steve goes on a technical deep dive

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00:47:05

#94: Kotaro’s Dystopian Nightmare

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/08/04

Kotaro's laptop burns hot as he gives his impressions of the iOS/macOS 26 public betas and life with ChatGPT inside Xcode. We also discuss dystopian nightmares about "AI," give some Bento Fit updates (Aaron has a PR!), and announce our participation in a cool new hackathon!## Show Notes- It’s hot outside!- iOS/macOS 26 Public Beta impressions- Xcode 26 ChatGPT integration impressions- Kotaro’s Sci-Fi Dystopian Nightmare- BentoFit: The Story So Far- BentoFit: Updates - Aaron: Custom

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00:50:52

#93: App Design for “AI” Experiences

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/07/21

Once again, Steve "pair programmed" with Aider + Claude Sonnet 4 to further refactor BentoFit while drinking at Human Robot. Meanwhile, Kotaro has been again thinking about App Intents and the paradigm shift in app design they may portend. Then we get into some interesting discussions about how the combination of Apple's focus on App Intents and the "Universal UI" of LLMs may combine to fundamentally shift how we design app experiences.## Show Notes- BentoFit: The Story So

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01:07:35

#92: Pair Vibed Pull Request

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/07/07

Work progresses on code name "Bento Fit" as Steve does some performance refactoring using Aider and Claude 4 Sonnet while Kotaro polishes up the iOS 26 UI changes. We also have a discussion on the trade-offs of using "AI" tools in programming and the importance of intellectual labor and little bit about what it means to be a "professional."## Show Notes- BentoFit: The Story So far- Steve: Improved loading time by “pair programming” with Aider and Claude Sonnet 4-

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00:55:30

#91: Liquid Donkeys

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/06/23

The Trio have played with iOS 26 and have thoughts about adapting to the new Liquid Glass paradigm as well as the real star of WWDC25, the Foundation Models Framework.## Show Notes- Adapting to Liquid Glass- Foundations Model Framework- Azam Sharp Foundation Models Framework Course - https://azamsharp.teachable.com/p/getting-started-with-the-foundation-models-framework - Coupon code: PHILLY - Discount: 40% - Expires: July 31st 2025- Bento Fit will be iOS 26 Exclusive? - TestFlight around

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00:55:18

#90: WWDC25 - Everyone Is Sherlocked!

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/06/10

The Trio give their hot takes after viewing the WWDC25 Keynote and Platforms State of the Union presentations.## Show Notes- Keynote / SoTU Impressions- Liquid Glass / New Design Language- “macOS” on iPad- Xcode 26- Foundation Models Framework / Spotlight- Visual Intelligence Intents- Realtime Language Translation- What Developers Should Be Excited About - Foundation Models Framework - Games- BentoFit Test on iOS 26- Everyone Is Sherlocked!- Wrap-Up: http://phillycocoa.org- Side Project

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00:57:52

#89: WWDC25 Hopes and Dreams

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/05/26

After some Bento Fit updates, the Trio explores their hopes and dreams for WWDC25. ## Show NotesGoogle I/O Cold OpenBento Fit: The Story So FarBento Fit: Updates- Steve: Refactored HealthDataPoint with generics- Kotaro: Refined UI & Widget layout- Aaron: Double-column cards!Bento Fit: Next Time- Steve: Data structures for reordering and other internal stuff- Kotaro: Onboarding & Cell reordering / widgets- Aaron: Workout metricsWWDC25 Hopes and Dreams- Kotaro: significant visionOS updates,

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00:52:38

#88: Bento Fit - Drop Shadows Everywhere!

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/05/12

This week, Steve performs some more updates of the code base using Aider, while some skeuomorphic UI updates from Kotaro have us excited, and Aaron is a little tired after gathering real-world data by running a marathon at an impressive pace.## Show NotesIntroductionsBento Fit: The Story So FarBento Fit: Refactoring the data model with Aider Tangent: Xcode + ClaudeBento Fit: Skeuomorphic UI updateNext Steps- Two column bento cards - Persistence of bento card settings- Remaining HealthKit

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00:53:58

#87: Bento Fit - WTF is HealthDataPoint?

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/04/28

The Trio is back together with Bento Fit updates and more fun with "AI!" First up, Aaron is back from his trip to Jamaica and explains how you bring a bike on an airplane. Meanwhile, Kotaro has been sketching up a storm with some cool UI designs that you can't see because this is audio! Then, Steve continues down the path towards madness as he tries yet another "AI" tool combo this week with Aider/OpenRouter/Google Gemini 2.5 Flash. The live coding on the pod goes about as

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00:48:47

#86: Bento Fit - Never Go Full Vibe

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/04/14

Aaron is enjoying a much deserved vacation, but Kotaro and Steve are still here with Bento Fit updates and Kotaro's experience "vibe coding" with Cursor.## Show Notes- Bento Fit Update - Kotaro UI updates - We may be doing HealthKit wrong- Next - UI flow - HealthKit performance- Kotaro’s Vibe Coding Experience- Wrap-Up - http://phillycocoa.org- Side Project Shout Out - https://getclipdish.com## Chapters00:00 Introductions01:28 Bento Fit: The Story So Far04:21 Bento Fit:

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01:11:53

#85: Bento Fit - Vibe Coding Our Way to an MVP

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/03/31

In this extra long episode, we review progress made in domain modeling, Swift Charts, and a Tron-esque UI! Plus, Steve discusses his experiences using the ChatGPT macOS app and Cursor with Xcode before we try to do some "vibe coding" ourselves to add a small UI feature. There are a lot of quotable moments in this episode. It's a fun one!## Show Notes- BentoFit: The Road So Far… - Kotaro: UI Updates including Dark Mode! - Aaron: Swift Chart! - Steve: More metrics, refactored

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00:48:45

#84: Bento Fit - Rolling with the Punches

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/03/17

Sometimes life gets in the way of a side project. That's what happened to us this sprint and so progress on Bento Fit has been extra slow. But, this is a good opportunity to discuss strategies for getting back on track when life throws you a detour on your developer journey.## Show Notes- Bento Fit Update - Steve is working on HealthKit metrics and domain modeling, but progress is slow.- Rolling with the Punches - Kotaro has been busy with work. - Aaron helps run Philly Bike Expo!- Goals

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00:53:17

#83: Bento Fit - Full Dieter Rams

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/03/03

We continue to make slow progress developing our HealthKit dashboard app, codenamed "Bento Fit." In this episode, our update includes more HealthKit metrics discussion, Xcode Cloud configurations, a discussion on Git workflows, implementing basic logging, using Grok to write bad HealthKit code, and Kotaro's "Full Dieter Rams" UI designs. Plus, it looks like we need a persistence strategy, maybe SwiftData, maybe something else?## Show Notes- Bento Fit Update - How to manage

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01:04:00

#82: Bento Fit - Initial Commit

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/02/17

We have made progress on our new fitness app, currently codenamed, "Bento Fit." This week we provide an update about the UI, using local Swift Packages for modularization of the codebase, creating custom HealthKit metrics, thoughts on data persistence and syncing, and next steps. Plus, tangents about running local LLMs, the fortunes of COBOL programmers, and some really bad monetization ideas. If you want to get into the headspace of some developers working on a side project, this was

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00:47:30

#81: Sleep, Walk, Run

Side Project Spotlight ·

2025/02/03

The Trio begin a new fitness app project to surface HealthKit data. Learn about some of the discarded app ideas, then listen in on a live project kickoff planning session along with some asides about learning to be consistent, the challenges of HealthKit, what a "bento box" UI means, and more!## Chapters 00:00 Intro Music 00:08 Introductions 01:34 Fitness App Ideas 08:41 "Sleep, Walk, Run" HealthKit Dashboard Idea 11:26 Designing the User Interface and Widgets 14:12 Features

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100 results

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