Archive for April, 2010

NAB Trade Show

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Back from the NAB Show in Las Vegas. It was great to meet the entire Doddle team under one roof. We all have virtual offices and so don’t see each other very often. Plus we live all around the country.

The NAB trade show was a great success. Nearly everyone who saw the app had a “wow that is really cool” moment. We now need to get the data loaded so that the app goes beyond, “that is really cool” to “this is absolutely useful” and “I use it everyday”.

I have the opinion that everyone is in sales, so while I am the iPhone developer it was good to get out there and talk to the end users and hear their questions. Some customers had great ideas on what they would like to see in the app down the road.

We had terrible Internet connectivity which was good in some respects as I feel that some of the data transfers can be changed to give the app a snappier feel. I do have some data caching built in, but want to enhance that to make it more useful.

I am going to add some updates to the current version and then it will be time to work on DoddlePro which will have integrated Call Sheets.

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TableView Tutorial

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

I finally wrote a tutorial on how to add some bling to your tableviews. I unfortunately  spent more time working on the markup of the web page than the actual tutorial. I need to find an easier way to do this.

If you want to have a table view that looks like this, then check out this tutorial TableViewGradients which also includes the source code.

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Initial thoughts on the iPad.

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

I finally received my iPad today after what seemed to be a much longer wait than I expected. I felt like a kid again looking out the window for the UPS truck.

I opened the package eagerly and turned it on only to have my enjoyment delayed by a requirement to sync. That requirement immediately means that you have to have a PC or a MAC in the house. A pity really as I think it could be an excellent standalone computer for someone who simply wants an email device and web browser. Plus all those other multi media things that apple does so well, I can see it fitting well into many peoples lives.

Once I got past the sync hurdle, it was play time. I had a look for upgrades of the app that use regularly as apps that use the bigger format are often much better. An example of that is the WordPress app that I am using to type this blog.

The typing on the keyboard is quite acceptable for me. It does not make much getting used to, but then I have never been much of a speed typist myself.

The iBook app is nice. I do like to see the full color of illustrations, but I have to admit I don’t read too many picture books these days 😉

I find the iPad is too heavy unless I can rest it on something only then is it totally acceptable as an ebook reader.

I think it will be great in the kitchen with some of the recipe books that are available. No keyboard to get dirty. I wonder how water proof it is?

It is very easy to setup a slide show and I am sure that you will see picture frames for the iPad soon so that you can see the vacation pics when it is not in use.

There is no flash support so hulu.com currently does not work. Neither will other flash based sites. My kids were disappointed to hear that miniclips.com would not work.

I am used to a small screen from my use of the iPhone and also my 13″ MacBook. So I am wondering when I will actually use it day to day. I don’t watch many movies, but yes it could become the baby sitter on a long car trip.

Only time will tell if the iPad becomes part of my daily routine or not.

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