Hard work can't beat love
The biggest thing today: the reader now works on iPad.
I first wanted a version that opens in Chrome on iPad. Then I learned that Chrome and Safari on iPad run on the same Apple engine, so I just made Safari the default recommendation. It's the easiest. I did it in steps. First, the iPad can open the app and keep a copy of the books you've read, and the first time you open it, it suggests "Add to Home Screen". Next, fingers and the Apple Pencil work well, and sweeping the pencil across a line highlights it. Last, notes sync between the Mac and the iPad. I installed Xcode on the spot so I could test it all in the iPad simulator.
In the afternoon I read Paul Graham's "Startup = Growth" in my own reader. He says a startup has to make something lots of people want, and reach all those people. In the margin I wrote: when I was a teacher, the biggest problem was that I couldn't reach everyone I could teach, because my time is limited. That's the best thing about the internet. You can sell to a big market. There's also a part about how an actor, before making it, is just a waiter going to auditions. To me that means: don't start by setting up a company. Start with a project, a problem you want to solve. This AI reader happened that way, very organically. I was using all kinds of AI tools to automate my own workflow, and the need was real.
Somewhere in the middle of reading, I wrote down today's thought.
In the evening I shipped a few more versions. Focus sessions now default to 10 minutes, and in your first week every star you earn sets off full-screen fireworks. Once you earn your first star, a small star stays in the bottom-right corner and opens your reading sky. There's a home button, and the buttons switched from blue to the background color. Finally, the reading sky became a galaxy, and the notebook now shows each book as a small mind map, like a bookshelf.
What I figured out today: hard work can never beat love, so you have to love what you do. I shipped 40-plus versions in the last six days because I simply enjoy building and making things, not because I'm forcing myself. The best feedback comes from using it myself. When I want a feature, I tell Claude, it changes it on the spot, and I can use it right away. It's incredibly addictive.
Versions today: v0.39.1 shows 100% when you finish · v0.40 opens and saves on iPad · v0.40.1 clearer "Add to Home Screen" tip · v0.40.2 Safari recommended on iPad · v0.41 fingers and Apple Pencil work well · v0.42 notes sync between Mac and iPad · v0.42.1 no folder prompt on phones · v0.43 10-minute focus, full-screen fireworks, corner star · v0.44 home button, background-color buttons · v0.44.1 dark gray focus ring · v0.45 galaxy sky, mind maps in the notebook
My AI reader, ReadIN, is in private beta. Want to try it? → Try it