James' Audiolog: Indie.am

Is It a Good Idea to Launch a Waitlist SaaS? What is a Waitlist SaaS? A Waitlist SaaS is a web application designed to simplify the process for founders to add a waitlist sign-up to their product launch strategy. It sounds appealing, but is it really a good idea? Why It Might Not Be a Good Idea Background The concept of using a waitlist as a launch strategy was popularized by companies like Robinh...

Indie.am Update for Monday Recent Fixes and Improvements RSS Feed Fixes I've just published some fixes to the RSS feed. Years ago, I hardcoded 2021 as the year, which caused issues with all subsequent feeds. I've now corrected this mistake. Additionally, I'm using ChatGPT to format transcripts into blog posts, converting Markdown to HTML. This ensures that the content is nicely formatt...

The Decline of Social Media: A Theory The Erosion of Social Connections Roughly, here's what I think happened: social media broke society. There's a statistic that's often tracked—it's the number of close friends the average adult has. In 1990, this number was around 13, but it has declined every decade. By 2020, it was down to something like one to three, which is quite alarming....

Endmaker Update - Wednesday Here's my update for Wednesday on the progress with Endmaker. Polishing the App I spent a couple of days focusing on refining the app. This involved: Fixing various bugs Adjusting visual elements Correcting alignment and button positions Addressing minor issues noticed during app usage Share Video Feature I developed an MVP version of the Share Video feature. This f...

Indie Maker Update: Final Thoughts on Indie.am All right, this is probably my last Indie Maker update specifically for Indie.am. This will be my Indie Maker update in general then. Completion of Indie.am Features I've basically completed all the features I wanted to complete for Indie.am. Most of this is around GPT and video generation, and those things are working fairly well. I'll contin...

The Challenges of Releasing a Music Streaming App I've been working on a new app, a Progressive Web App (PWA) for music streaming. Despite its incredible performance and how much I enjoy using it daily, I hesitate to release it. Why? It's due to a counterintuitive principle regarding how users perceive utility apps. User Perception of Utility Apps From my experience at HBO, I've learne...

Indie Maker Update Hey there, welcome back. I'm James, and this is my indie maker update for Saturday. New Audio File Format What you're hearing is a new audio file format. Optionally, you can add a logo identity to the beginning of your personal podcast updates. This addition makes it sound a little bit more professional, a little bit more like a real podcast. However, right now, it's...

Indie.am Blog Template Update Hey there, thanks for tuning in. I thought I'd share a little bit about what I've been working on for the past few weeks. Project Overview For Indie.am , I've been developing a blog template that allows you to publish a nicely formatted static blog. This blog is automatically generated from your audio logs recorded in the app. You simply post as you normal...

Did the AI Bubble Just Pop? Hey, so the question on everybody's mind today is, did the AI bubble just pop? I think no. The stock market thinks yes. Let's explore why I believe that perspective is a bit short-sighted and doesn't consider the bigger picture. The Expanding Role of AI Here's how I use AI in 2025 for tasks that weren't possible just 24 months ago: Writing and Editin...

Google's Intriguing Access to iTunes Music Library Hello! Today, I want to discuss something intriguing that caught my attention a couple of months ago and has been on my mind ever since. It appears that Google has found a way to scrape data from an iTunes music library on the same device through one of their apps. However, I'm uncertain which app is responsible, and it doesn't seem to...

Rant on Tariffs and Inflation Hello, welcome to my thoughts on tariffs and inflation. Here's a bit of background: I sell a digital product online and have a significant number of Canadian and European customers, along with others around the world. My business extends well beyond the United States. The Impact of Tariffs When the idea of tariffs was introduced, I immediately started researching....

US Steel and Aluminum Tariffs: A Rookie Mistake Hello, everyone. Today's discussion centers on the US steel and aluminum tariffs. I must say, this seems like a real rookie mistake. Imposing tariffs on inputs rather than outputs is a flawed strategy. US consumers don't directly purchase steel or aluminum, nor the byproducts of imported steel and aluminum. Instead, they buy goods whose value...

Testing the NDAM Progressive Web App on Android Hey, this is a test of posts that I'm creating using the Android version of the NDAM Progressive Web App. Let's see if it works.

Understanding Adobe Firefly: The Future of Generative AI What is Adobe Firefly? Adobe Firefly is a generative AI model that Adobe has been developing for years. In collaboration with Nvidia, Adobe has been at the forefront of this technology, especially since the decline of crypto mining. Nvidia anticipated a shift in their product usage, predicting that as people moved away from buying GPUs for c...

My Journey with AI Artwork Generation In January, I found myself completely immersed in building an app centered around AI artwork generation. I dedicated about two weeks to this project, diving deep into everything related to Stable Diffusion. I experimented with running it on every laptop equipped with a GPU that I owned. The process involved creating an API for Stable Diffusion, generating imag...

Adobe's Acquisition of Figma: A Game-Changer? The Big News Adobe recently announced its acquisition of Figma for a staggering $20 billion, split evenly between cash and stock. This deal doubles Figma's valuation and represents a 50x multiple on their reported $400 million in annual revenue. Many are questioning the logic behind such a high price tag, even considering the value of Figma&#39...

Embracing Contrarianism: A Path to Success There's an idea that I can borrow from the startup community, particularly from the Y Combinator crowd, and that's the concept of contrarianism and doomerism. These philosophies often make you seem smart, especially if you're already someone intelligent. They can make you appear insightful and right about things most of the time. However, they...

The Coming Boom in Small Startups: Disrupting the Tech Giants We are on the precipice of a boom in hacking by small startups, disrupting medium to large enterprises and established tech companies, especially those backed by venture capital. This shift is starting right now, fueled by recession fears. The Challenge for CMOs What do Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) do when they face economic headwind...

Choosing the Right Marketing Platform for Your Business Every founder, at some point, must decide on their marketing platform—the medium through which they will reach their customers. There are several options to consider: Cold Calling : You could reach out and pitch potential clients you find on LinkedIn. Social Media : You could become a social media wizard. Content Marketing and SEO : Like me,...

Understanding Chargebacks Chargebacks can be a significant indicator that your User Interface (UI) or support process may not be meeting user expectations. What Are Chargebacks? Chargebacks occur when a customer disputes a transaction with their bank, effectively reversing the payment. This often suggests that the customer found it easier to resolve their issue through their bank rather than direc...

The Challenges of Generic Domain Names and Trademarks I've been thinking a lot about Damon's company and a recent experience with a domain auction that got me pondering the complexities of generic domain names and trademarks. A Surprising Auction Encounter The other day, I stumbled upon an auction for the domain testimonial. TO. It was promoted in a promotional email sent to everyone regis...

Analyzing the Format of the January 6 Hearings The format of the January 6 hearings is quite intriguing. The use of videos suggests that the production is crafted with a prime-time audience in mind. The creators seem to be aware that the majority of viewers will encounter these hearings through clips reproduced on various platforms, such as nightly news broadcasts, YouTube, or other online media....

Exploring the JS HTTP Virtual File System with Arcade Games Data In this follow-up to the JS HTTP virtual file system post, I experimented with a new website using a different data set. This time, I utilized a 10 MB data set of arcade games from the Internet Archive's Arcade project. The data is spread across flash games, categorized under titles and names, and comprises about 11,000 to 12,000...

Exploring SQL.js HTTP VFS: A Journey in Remote Database Querying I've been experimenting with SQL.js HTTP VFS for a few months now. Essentially, this is a SQLite engine compiled into WebAssembly that can run against a remote database. The intriguing part is that it implements a virtual file system and supports range requests. The Concept Imagine you have a gigabyte-sized SQL database stored in...

AirPods Max: Day One Review I've been using the AirPods Pro pretty much since they came out, and they are probably my favorite pair of headphones ever. I've tried higher quality headphones, including some nice open-back ones, which I can appreciate for short listening sessions of an hour or less. If headphone jacks and wired headphones were still a realistic option, I would consider invest...