Questions

What have you been up to in 2025?

Asked 17 days ago

Here’s the 2025 snapshot so far: January - Rang in the new year snowboarding in Bansko, Bulgaria - Joined Altspace coworking, built a Peek Chrome capture extension, and did the glamorous bit: taxes February - Playing with Polars in Python and building little xbar tools - Took part in an ml.school cohort; on‑device TTS experiments - Quick trip to Belgrade (Nikola Tesla Museum), plus The Night Agent S1 March - Back to Bansko for more riding (hit 31 mph on a black), hosted an iOS meetup - Finished MAKE by Pieter Levels, Cursor Course, and a first pass of Zero to SaaS - Back in London; Succession S1 and The 12 Week Year April - Revamped my room, new iPhone, and watched Theo’s Stripe Guide - Hackaditch sessions, Manchester client meeting, new Canon 1.4 LTM lens - Italy trip (Verona → Venice → Modena → Bologna): Lake Garda e‑bike ride, Venice/Murano/Burano, balsamic tasting, Enzo Ferrari Museum May - Istanbul + Sonar Festival (Chemical Brothers, Jamie XX, more), then Dubai (Burj Khalifa, lost in the mall, MB&F M.A.D. Gallery) - Landed in Bali; back at Hackagu - Added a sponsorship slot to Ask WWDC June - Ask WWDC updated for 2025 and back to working out - Saw Snakes and Surfbreaks at Blacksands - Modernizing a freelance iOS app (Observable, Swift 6, NavigationStack) and caught the F1 movie at IMAX If you want a rolling log, I keep it updated here: Tiny Wins 2025.

is there an rss feed for your blog?

Asked 26 days ago

# Is there an RSS feed for your blog? Based on the information provided in the context, I don't see any specific mention of an RSS feed for Matt's blog. From what I can gather, Matt has a blog at mattspear.co where he posts various content including: - "Five Links Friday" series - "What I'm Doing Now" updates - Resource collections on topics like iOS Development and Travel Matt mentioned in one of his posts that he was trying to reboot his newsletter after Revue shut down: "Hopefully I'll find a way to reboot my newsletter, or possibly start a YouTube channel later down the line!" However, there's no explicit information about an RSS feed being available. If you're interested in following Matt's content, you might want to check his website directly or reach out to him specifically about RSS availability. If you're looking for regular content from Matt, it seems he was planning to write more regularly as mentioned in his "What I'm Doing Now" post: "To write a book first I want to get back to blogging, writing regularly and improving my communication skills. So expect more posts on the site."

what's the latest?

Asked about 1 month ago

# What's the Latest? Hey there! Here's what I've been up to recently: ## March 2024 - Taking a Prompt Engineering for LLMs course 🤖 - Enjoying some powder days and my first off-piste run through the trees ❄️🏔️🌲 - Switched to a Bataleon Evil Twin 22-23 snowboard 🏂 - Migrating smaller projects from PlanetScale to Railway.app - Revamping AI Experiments with a credit system and journalist AI - Had a retro day on the slopes 🪩🕺🏂 - Working on an AR project 📱 ## February 2024 - Finished a Drizzle course to add to my web stack - Revisited Obsidian for note-taking 🪨 - Set up an admin dashboard for a freelance client - Started a Viral YouTuber Mastermind - Working on a YouTube script writing project 📝 - Migrated my old Ghost blog to Railway.app I've been bouncing between coding projects, snowboarding, and AI experiments lately. If you're curious about any specific area of my work or travels, feel free to ask!

What's up?

Asked about 1 month ago

# Hey there! 👋 Not much, just keeping busy with various projects and adventures! Based on my recent activities, I've been: - Recently launched Ask WWDC, which got featured on Daring Fireball and iOS Dev Weekly - Traveling through Southeast Asia - spent time in Thailand 🇹🇭 and just arrived in Bali, Indonesia 🇮🇩 - Working on various coding projects, including experimenting with Drizzle and updating my WWDC Tracker - Had a bit of a motorbike crash in Thailand (I'm okay though!) - Been doing some mentoring through MentorCruise - Reading books and watching tech talks to keep learning How about you? What's going on in your world?

How are you?

Asked about 2 months ago

# How are you? Hey there! I'm doing pretty well, thanks for asking! Based on my recent activities, I've been quite busy with a mix of travel, coding projects, and personal development. Looking at my Tiny Wins log, I've been: - Recently traveling through Thailand 🇹🇭 (Koh Phangan) and Indonesia 🇮🇩 (Bali) - Working on various projects like Ask WWDC which was featured on Daring Fireball and iOS Dev Weekly - Creating developer templates and experimenting with AI - Reading books like Jupiter Travels and Senior Mindset - Attending tech meetups and connecting with other developers Earlier this year I was in Istanbul, Turkey exploring the city and attending Sonar Istanbul 2024, and before that I was enjoying some snowboarding. I did have a motorbike crash in July, but I seem to be doing okay now. I've been keeping busy with a mix of freelance work, side projects, and exploring new places. How about you? Anything specific about my work or travels you'd like to know more about?

Where have you travelled to?

Asked 5 months ago

# Matt's Travel Adventures Based on the information provided, Matt has traveled to numerous countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. Here's a comprehensive list of his travels: ## Asia - Thailand 🇹🇭 - Chiang Mai (including Kirin Farm in the hills) - Bangkok - Japan 🇯🇵 - Tokyo - Kyoto (where he participated in Colive Kyoto) - Kanazawa - Nagano - Karuizawa - Vietnam 🇻🇳 - Hanoi - Bike trip from Hanoi to Da Nang (~1600km) passing through: - Ninh Binh - Mai Chau - Vinh - Phong Nha - Khe Sanh - Hue - Hoi An - South Korea 🇰🇷 - Seoul - Indonesia 🇮🇩 - Bali (including Canggu, Medewi, Banjuwedang, Lovina, Amed, Sanur, Uluwatu) - Ubud - Malaysia 🇲🇾 - Kuala Lumpur ## Europe - United Kingdom 🇬🇧 - London - Manchester - France 🇫🇷 - Paris - Italy 🇮🇹 - Rome (including the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon and Vatican City) - Turkey 🇹🇷 - Istanbul (explored the Grand Bazaar, Spice Market, Basilica Cistern, Blue Mosque) - Netherlands 🇳🇱 - Amsterdam - Texel Island - Denmark 🇩🇰 - Copenhagen - Sweden 🇸🇪 - Malmö - Spain 🇪🇸 - Tenerife ## North America - United States 🇺🇸 - New York - Mexico 🇲🇽 - Oaxaca - Guatemala 🇬🇹 - Antigua - Lake Atitlan Matt appears to be a digital nomad who frequently changes locations, often spending a month or more in each place. He documents his travels in his "Tiny Wins" series on his website, where he shares highlights from each month of his adventures.

hello?

Asked 6 months ago

# Hello there! Hi! Thanks for reaching out to Ask Matt Spear. I'm here to help answer your questions about freelancing, iOS development, machine learning, making, learning, and adventures. Based on the information available, Matt Spear is a freelancer who works in iOS development and machine learning engineering. He's also passionate about building products, continuous learning, and traveling. From his website content, it appears he's quite the digital nomad, having visited places like Thailand, Bali, Paris, Seoul, and many other locations. He shares resources on travel, iOS development, AI learning, and more on his website. If you have a specific question about any of these topics, I'd be happy to try to answer it for you! Matt also seems to enjoy connecting with people, so feel free to ask anything related to his areas of expertise. Is there something specific about freelancing, iOS development, machine learning, or Matt's adventures that you'd like to know more about?

What did I do in 2024?

Asked 6 months ago

# Matt Spear's 2024 Summary Based on your "Tiny Wins" tracking, 2024 was quite an adventurous year for you! Here's a summary of what you did: ## Travel & Adventures You traveled extensively across multiple countries: - Started the year in Bansko, Bulgaria 🇧🇬 where you went snowboarding for the first time - Visited Istanbul, Turkey 🇹🇷 (explored Grand Bazaar, Spice Market, Blue Mosque) - Traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark 🇩🇰 and Malmö, Sweden 🇸🇪 - Spent time in Bangkok, Thailand 🇹🇭 - Explored Bali, Indonesia 🇮🇩 (did a clockwise motorbike trip around the island) - Visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 🇲🇾 - Returned to London for Christmas 🎄 ## Professional Development - Worked on asksite.co (landing page, admin panel, YouTube import) - Built several small apps (Arc tab count menubar app, sleep debt app) - Your Ask WWDC was featured in iOS Dev Weekly - Updated your WWDC Tracker - Completed a TypeScript Testing Course - Worked on freelance projects - Created a drizzle-graphql template ## Learning & Skills - Took a discovery flight lesson ✈️ - Completed your Motorbike CBT course 🏍️ - Experimented with Readwise - Completed a Prompt Engineering for LLMs course - Worked on an AR project - Revisited Obsidian for note-taking ## Health & Fitness - Started running again (7km + 5km) - Fell in love with Power + Revive fitness - Participated in Futureland fitness challenge (16 hours) - Took up boxing at P+R 🥊 - Got an Apple Watch Series 10 ⌚ ## Reading & Personal Growth - Rebooted your Beeminder Reading Goal - Finished reading books like "Steal like an Artist" and "Jupiter Travels" - Watched educational content like "Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union" - Attended the Bali Gumroad Event (met Sahil and team) Your year was filled with travel, learning new skills, building projects, and staying active - quite the productive and adventurous 2024!

What books have you read?

Asked 7 months ago

I've read a variety of books across different genres. Here's a list of some of the books I've read: 1. MAKE by Pieter Levels 2. Build by Tony Fadell 3. 12 Months to $1 Million by Ryan Daniel Moran 4. Elon Musk Biography by Ashlee Vance 5. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson 6. Getting Real by Basecamp 7. Authority: A step-by-step guide to self publishing by Nathan Barry 8. The Art of Focus by Dan Koe 9. Hard Times Create Strong Men by Stefan Aarnio 10. The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida 11. Jobs to Be Done: Theory to Practice by Anthony W. Ulwick 12. The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel 13. 1984 by George Orwell 14. Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman 15. Senior Engineer Mindset by Swizec Teller 16. Jupiter Travels by Ted Simon 17. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts 18. Extra Focus by Jesse J. Anderson 19. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon 20. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande 21. King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Robert Moore, Doug Gillette 22. Never Enough by Andrew Wilkinson These books cover a range of topics from personal development and business to travel and fiction. If you have any recommendations, feel free to share!

What resources can recommend for someone who wants to build an app?

Asked 9 months ago

If you're looking to build an app, there are several excellent resources you can explore to get started: 1. CS193P Spring 2021 - A comprehensive course on iOS development from Stanford University, available on YouTube. 2. objc.io - Offers books, videos, and articles on advanced techniques for iOS and macOS development. 3. Point-Free - A video series that explores functional programming and Swift. 4. The 100 Days of Swift and The 100 Days of SwiftUI - Free resources to learn Swift and SwiftUI by building apps. 5. Design + Code - Provides courses on UI design, web, and iOS development using tools like Figma, CSS, React Hooks, and SwiftUI. 6. Swift by Sundell - Weekly articles, podcasts, and tips on Swift by John Sundell. 7. Apple Developer - The official site for Apple developers, offering documentation, tools, and resources for developing on Apple platforms. 8. iOS Dev Weekly - A curated weekly newsletter with the best iOS development links. 9. Swift Package Index - A place to find the best Swift packages. 10. Gosh Darn SwiftUI - A cheat sheet for adopting SwiftUI. These resources cover a wide range of topics from basic programming concepts to advanced iOS development techniques, making them suitable for both beginners and experienced developers looking to enhance their skills.

Which countries have you visited?

Asked 9 months ago

I've had the opportunity to visit several countries. Here's a list of some of the places I've traveled to: - Japan, including cities like Tokyo and Kyoto - South Korea, specifically Seoul - Thailand, with visits to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Koh Phangan - Denmark, exploring Copenhagen - Sweden, visiting Malmö - Mexico, in Oaxaca - Guatemala, including Antigua and Lake Atitlan - Italy, with a family holiday in Rome - Singapore - Turkey, specifically Istanbul - Indonesia, in Canggu, Bali - Montenegro - France, visiting Paris These travels have been a mix of personal exploration and work-related trips. You can find more details about my travels on my Tiny Wins 2023 page.

Where are some of your favourite coffee-laptop spots?

Asked 9 months ago

Here are some of my favorite coffee-laptop spots where you can enjoy a good brew while getting some work done: 1. Coffee Jupiter 2. Parsa Coffee Roasters 3. Story Coffee & Roastery 4. Tranquil Books & Coffee 5. Lifted 6. Verve Coffee Roasters 7. FabCafe 8. Stumptown Coffee NY 9. Ancoats Coffee Co. 10. Takk These spots offer a great atmosphere for working on your laptop while enjoying a delicious cup of coffee.