Andre Torrez

Hi, it's been a while since I released Tyke and there were a lot of requests since then to add hotkeys, start at login, and saving data between sessions.

As a reminder Tyke.app is a little menu bar app that gives you access to a simple text box where you can paste text for use in the near future. I used to use a new, unaddressed email or a random text editor window so I made Tyke to serve that purpose.

You can sign up for the TestFlight here https://testflight.apple.com/join/XAkVBN3Y Please give me feedback and report bugs! I'll put it on the App Store for free if everything checks out.

I use the built-in iOS timer daily. I pour plaster molds where timing is critical in order to get the right mix and cure time. If you mix too little or let it sit in the pot too long you’ll waste the batch.

The thing is: I hate the built-in iOS timer. First of all you have to use these dumb scrollers to pick out the length of the timer. Want twenty minutes? You have to scroll to twenty—oops, not twenty-one, not nineteen…ugh. Oh and if you wanted to add 30 more seconds to that you have to scroll to 30 on another wheel.

And my second gripe is it defaults to your last timer. Sometimes I’m doing an hour and twenty minutes for a clay mold, other times I’m just doing 3 minutes for a plaster slake. So I’m constantly scrolling back and forth using those wheels.

Also the iOS app sometimes defaults to a timer from three sessions ago, so I sometimes don’t notice I’ve chose one hour and three minutes instead of just three minutes.

My dream iOS timer app is just give me the UI of my microwave. Let me punch in 3:30, hit start, and I’m done. That’s it. So I made this and it’s great and I’m happy.

I think it’s pretty self-evident on how it works. The running screen is equally simple.

The little emojis are just different alert sounds. I dunno if it even needs it.

Anyway, now I’m happy!

We’re back from a week in Italy. It was my first time back in exactly 21 years and so much had changed. Last time we navigated without phones and used paper maps, this time went much more smoothly and it felt like we did twice as much stuff.

Anyway, I’m back and so excited to get back to work. I have hundreds of photos of art and architecture. I feel like so much of my ceramic work for the next few months is going to draw directly from what I saw. I’ll try to share it here as I make it.