The one-man software company
Meet the maker who turned everyday problems, curiosity, and a lot of screen time into a growing world of Mac software.
Read the story ↗The maker behind the machines
One Man.
One Mac.
Many Ideas.
Meet Tom Glander. He makes Mac apps, strange little digital worlds, and useful things he once wished somebody else would build.
Read the cover storyIndependent by designBuilt for real life
Editor's note
Not a big company.
A busy imagination.
There is no giant office here. No layers of managers. There is one person, a Mac, a growing collection of ideas, and plenty of stories about what happens when those ideas meet real life.
Get to know Tom ↗The philosophy
“We don't just build these tools. We depend on them.”
Tom uses his own software while he works. That means the problems are real, the fixes matter, and every release teaches him something new.
His favorite measure of progress is simple: “Seat time is the yardstick.”
Cover stories / Start here
01 / The profile
02 / True adventure
The great beaver dam
An iPhone app, Apple's paperwork, one wrong Delete key, and the longest route to a tiny minus button.
Read the story ↗03 / Why it matters
The memory book gets a brain
How a simple wish—to find that thing you half remember—grew into Tack Home and Tack Mobile.
Read the story ↗Inside the workshop
Two sides of the same mind.
Some days Tom is fixing little annoyances. Other days he is building worlds just to see what they might become.
01 / Practical Tools
Mac Tools.
EjectWise, FinderKeeper, The Shelf, BuildLens, ShipCheck, FileInsight, Ripple, and LaunchTrace. Small tools built to solve specific problems.
Explore the Mac Tools ↗02 / Creative Machines
Machines.
Emergence, Mechanica, Chronocyte, and Orbital Sound Machine. Digital experiments with motion, sound, and a little mystery.
Explore the Machines ↗Something worth remembering
“Photos preserve moments.
Tack preserves context.”
The line behind one of Tom's most ambitious projects.
The story of Tack ↗Personal file / Open to curiosity
TG.
IDEAS → BUILD → TEST → IMPROVE → REPEAT
Beyond the keyboard
More than apps.
Tom is interested in the art of making things, not just the code behind them. There are cameras, sound experiments, video, digital art, music, hardware, and plenty of curiosity along the way.
Picture & soundPhotography, visual design, motion, and audio effects.
MediaTom Glander Media, video, and the urge to tell a good story.
GadgetsMacs, monitors, docks, and the eternal search for one more port.
MakingSketching ideas, testing strange experiments, and shipping what works.