New directions!

Hello all!

Again, I apologise for the lateness of my posts these days! I’ve just had no time with lot’s of work being done over Christmas and this New Year coming.

Anyway, back to what I’m trying to say…

The past few weeks I’ve been looking to invest in an iMac so I can start developing my own applications for the iPhone and for Mac in general. I’ve already had my head stuck in a few projects as of the past few months creating a few applications and bespoke software for MS Windows. I’m helping out with the rest of the development, testing and documentation of a final product and then I shall be on my way to getting the iMac I’ve been dreaming of.

Of course you may/may not know that I’ve not been keeping up with my main website either, nor have I been making any of my old ‘Flash Animations’ which I used to spend 90% of my time making. This is going to slightly change as I’ve started to develop more applications  than animations (as I find they do pay out a bit more…).

So starting early 2009 I will be redesigning and remaking a website for the applications that I am going to be developing for a number of platforms. Once this has kicked off I may start some Open Source projects, but as one person this will take a little more time managing and creating the right resources to be distributing the code around effectively, and taking in the response as best as I can.

One of the things that I am going to concentrate on, is the idea of posting screenshots and new information when products have been updated and when good development is going on. This way users can have their say and give feedback to improve a product further.

Anyway, so I’m just going to leave you with a few bullet points on the future for what me/my team will be starting:

• Less animations, more software.
• Completely new website and theme.
• New means of communication to users. (IRC/Twitter/AIM/GTalk/Wiki/)
• More updated Blog posts and Twitter posts.
• Starting developing for Mac OS X.
• Starting developing for iPhone OS.
• Release of future MS Windows software.
• Release of Open Source software once team and site has built up.

On that note, hope you all have a great new year and I’m sure 2009 will bring many good things!

Dominic.

Windows Live Writer

Bonjour! It seems that I’ve not posted in a while but never mind.

After updating parts of my Vista Laptop, I thought about trying the “Windows Live Writer” that comes as part of the Windows Live Installer package. (The one where you download and install the toolbar, Live Messenger etc.)

I’m currently writing from the application and I guess we’ll see how it works out! Here is a screenshot of the application in use:

Beejive IM Released for iPhone & iPod Touch!

That’s right! You’ve heard it, Beejive IM is now available as a native application for the iPhone and iPod Touch! Beejive have had much experience programming IM applications with their own set of products for Windows Mobile and Blackberry Smartphones.

We’ve all been waiting for this moment since the release of the free web app from Beejive. Now they’ve brought out the app on the Apple App Store for $15.99 (£9.49). Although many have had second thoughts about buying the app due to the price, alot of these have just gone ahead and bought the app, along with me.

Here are the features announced by the developer:

General Features

– Reliable and efficient networking: be connected 24/7, and it’s gentle on your battery.

– Be connected even after you close the application. Get notified instantly when you get a new message (requires with MobileMe or Exchange/ActiveSync push email).

– Works with multiple IM networks, multiple accounts per network: AIM/iChat, MSN, Yahoo!, GoogleTalk, ICQ, Jabber, and MySpace IM.

– Desktop-like instant messaging with all of your IM buddies from a single intuitive user interface.

Chatting Features:

– Real-time chats: quick switch between multiple simultaneous chats.

– Full Unicode support, chat in any language supported by your iPhone.

– Landscape option, type with a larger keyboard.

– Chat history: Email chat logs to save chat history.

– SMS out, chat with your SMS buddies through AIM or Yahoo SMS out. Fully integrated with your iPhone/iPod Touch address book.

Account & Buddy Features:

– Manage your buddy-list, including add/remove, nicknames, groups, block, approve/deny requests.

– Sort/group/search your buddy list.

– Control your own availability, set auto-away and custom status messages, be invisible, change privacy controls.

– Configurable alerts, customizable sound, vibrate settings.

– Buddy icon support, view your friends’ icons, set your own.

For the past few hours I’ve been testing and testing the app to figure out any bugs, and honestly I’ve found next to none! It took me a while to realise alot of the settings are actually placed within the Settings.app on the springboard. This gives way to changing the timeout of a session, push email features, theme settings, groups, away settings and more.

Other than the settings, the actual app is as stable as it gets. With the 24 hour session time there is no need to log out, as you recieve all your messages the instant you reopen the app. If you would like a constant stream of the messages you are recieving, you can just set the app to send the messages via MobileMe and get them with the iPhone’s PUSH email service.

The actual UI of the app is brilliant! The only real down side is that within the chat view, messages from the recipient are coloured green as oppose to the iPhones SMS version which is in grey. (Note that in SMS your own messages are in green and not blue.)

Messages are sent fast and replies are quickly recieved too. You can change your status, add a custom status and even change your own display picture. All the accounts you have added are shown on one screen and you can change the status individually, or change all of them with one click touch of a button.

We are all hopeing to see the next set of features which should be applied with the next app update. Many are calling for things such as the ability to change the notification sounds, colour of the text bubbles and the ability to send pictures and voice recordings.

DIGG THIS ARTICLE

I’ve added a number of screenshots to show you what to expect if you were to buy and download the application for your iPhone/iPod Touch.

Facebook for iPhone Version 2.0

All of us iPhone Facebook App users have been paitiently waiting for the update to their App!

You will be able to download the App Update when it’s ready here.

Here is what the developers have said about when we should be expecting the update:

Thanks everyone for being patient waiting for me to finish Facebook for iPhone 2.0. The good news is, I plan to submit the update to the iPhone App Store a week from today. That doesn’t necessarily mean you will be able to download it a week from today – Apple reviews every application before making it available, and they can sometimes take up to a week. So, you may get the update as soon as next Wednesday, or as late as October 1st.

News Feed

In version 1.1, the News Feed contained only status updates and mobile photo uploads. In version 2.0 you will have the exact same News Feed experience as on the Facebook website. You will be able to see your friends’ Posted Items, new interests and relationships, photos, and all other stories that pass through News Feed. You’ll be able to comment on every story, and filter the feed by certain categories, applications, and friend lists, just like on the new Facebook.

Notifications

You’ll be able to see all of your Notifications on the Home tab, and new Notifications will arrive in real-time while the app is running. We’re preparing for the release of Apple’s new push service, which will allow us to deliver Notifications to your iPhone even when you’re not running Facebook for iPhone. I expect that to be one of the features in the next version after 2.0.

Profile Redesign

Profiles now have a tabbed design, like the new Facebook website, and a combined Wall and Mini-Feed.

Search for and Approve New Friends

This has been a popular request. You will now be able to search for people beyond your own Friends, request their friendship, and approve your own friend requests.

Inbox

In version 1.1, you can only see the first 30 messages in your Inbox. In version 2.0, you will be able to see older messages, all the way back to the beginning. You’ll also be able to search your Inbox and see your Sent folder.