All posts by Tom Hesser
App Store Insider: August Trometer Part 2
App Store Insider: August Trometer, FoggyNoggin Software
Website: http://foggynoggin.com/
Contact: Contact FoggyNoggin
Bio: Web developer by day, Mac and iPhone developer by night.
- Created iPodderX, the world's first podcast client
- Wrote "Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Safari" prior to the SDK being released
- Loan Shark was chosen early on by Apple as a "Featured" app, and is also featured in Apple's own "iPhone Your Life" pages.
Favorite apps:
Fieldrunners, USA Today, Blocked, Touch Physics, and Things, and Pandora
Interview with August Trometer: Part 2: [audio:http://148apps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/AugustTrometerP2.mp3]
To listen to the audio interview, click the play triangle above.
To download the .MP3, right click and choose "Save Link As...".
Finishing up our interview with August, I ask him about what it is like being an iPhone developer in the lime-light, or Celebrity Developer. He talks about how much fun it has been to break out of the traditional role from time to time, and how it has really helped out his programming business.
I also get his opinions on Apple's filing to have jailbreaking iPhones judged illegal, what that means to the development community, and how jailbreaking is actually beneficial to the App Store and making the iPhone a popular development platform. August also tells us why he has avoided it.
Most importantly, August gives us the breaking story about the soon to be released app, YOWZA!!, and how it will change the way you shop and use your iPhone.
Listen to how August met Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman on Heroes) on Twitter, and joined forces with Rick Yaeger from MacMerc, to create a whole new business model for an iPhone app, and how they have tackled the problems of turning your iPhone into a money-saving shopping tool! And it's going to be FREE!
Here is a little taste from Greg himself.
Enjoy!
You can check out August's digital book, Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Safari on your Kindle from Amazon, or buy it in PDF format here.
App Store Insider: August Trometer Part 1
App Store Insider: August Trometer, FoggyNoggin Software
Website: http://foggynoggin.com/
Contact: Contact FoggyNoggin
Bio: Web developer by day, Mac and iPhone developer by night.
- Created iPodderX, the world's first podcast client
- Wrote "Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Safari" prior to the SDK being released
- Loan Shark was chosen early on by Apple as a "Featured" app, and is also featured in Apple's own "iPhone Your Life" pages.
Favorite apps:
Fieldrunners, USA Today, Blocked, Touch Physics, Things, and Pandora
Interview with August Trometer: Part 1: [audio:http://148apps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/AugustTrometerP1.mp3]
To listen to the audio interview, click the play triangle above.
To download the .MP3, right click and choose "Save Link As...".
Note: My apologies for the horrible quality of the audio on my side of the conversation. Due to some problems, I had to use a low quality microphone which recorded poorly, and then had to tweak the sound level afterwards. This resulted in an audible hiss during my parts. I hope this doesn't distract from your enjoyment of the audio content. - Tom
In Part 1 of the interview, August recalls the launch of the App Store and working on Loan Shark, his first app submission. He also describes his observations on the App Stores pricing "paradox" and his experiments with the pricing of his own apps to increase sales.
We discuss August's history as a Mac software developer and how that led to his programming for the iPhone, which he felt was a logical step. August also explains his "mantra" for developing software, which involves making it easy to use for everyone, and relates his experiences with programs that are popular, yet have difficult to use interfaces.
Lastly, we discuss August's popular software for the Mac, and his reasons for not developing a version for the iPhone. We get some insight on what it is to deal with Apple when they are the "800 pound gorilla" in the room and discouraging others from infringing on their domain, plus the economic factors involved.
In Part 2, we discuss August's latest project, Yowza! and the unusual circumstances that brought him together with his business partners. He also describes how this project is much different from past iPhone projects.
Links to all of August's apps are below. Let us know what you think of the interview and any feedback for August on the apps.
Enjoy!
App Store Insider: Corey Johnson
This is the start of a new series here on 148Apps. A series where we interview people from all areas of the app development process. From developers, to designers, even management. Looking to help others gain insight into what works, and what doesn't work in app development and sales. - Editor
App Store Insider: Corey Johnson, Probably Interactive
Website: http://probablyinteractive.com
Contact: contact <at> probablyinteractive.com
Bio: Programming professionally since 2000, unprofessionally since I got a used Commodore PET in 1987. Sports a striking beard. Happily married.
Work Status: Self-Employed, Available for contract work
Favorite apps:
Tweetie, Rolando, NetNewsWire, Wiki Tap, and Streaks
Interview with Corey Johnson: [audio:http://www.148apps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/CoreyJohnson.mp3]
To listen to the audio interview, click the play triangle above.
To download the .MP3, right click and choose "Save Link As...".
Corey tells us how he made the transition to developing for the iPhone, and tells some stories about the pitfalls of working within Apple's strict guidelines. Overall he has been enjoying the experience, and relates that Apple's tools and services for developers keeps getting better. Corey comments that Apple still has a ways to go toward helping the programmers communicate with their users and get useful feedback.
Lastly, he tells us about some of the apps he has in the AppStore and how he came to create them. His app, Movie Brain, required some lateral thinking to get his app to be a self-contained, searchable database of all movies. He also introduces a new app coming soon, just in time for Oscar season. The app is called "And The Award Goes To...Oscar Edition" and will be able to display past Oscar winners as well as the nominees for the upcoming Oscars. In addition, the app will allow you to cast votes for you favorite movies and compare them to the votes of other users of the app. Corey hopes this will be the basis for other interactive apps he has planned for later.
Links to all of Corey's apps are below. Let us know what you think of the interview and any feedback for Corey on the apps.
Enjoy!
Movie Brain
Macworld Expo Toolkit for iPhone
If you are coming to Macworld, you will be in the heart of San Francisco. Whether you have been here before or not, there are some essential apps you should load on your iPhone for worry-free navigation of the Expo and the city.
Without question, the #1 app you should have is iMacworld. The latest update adds Session info and detailed maps of the Halls, plus an easy to search directory of vendors and products. My only wish is that this app had been around for previous Expos.
For you elbow-rubbing and social networking types, download a copy of Handshake. Handshake will allow you to easily exchange your contact info with other iPhone users without worrying about loosing those pesky business cards that fall to the bottom of your goodie bags.
There are a TON of Starbucks in San Francisco. To log on to get your free iPhone wifi connection from AT&T, download Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T. It costs $0.99, but it is totally worth it for speeding up your connection to hotspots to check your voluminous email, or to download one of the apps you just read about in this article.
If you are combining your Expo trip with your vacation plans, or hope to explore the city a bit, Routesy can provide you with all the local MUNI transit information and schedules. If you don't want to spend the $2.99 for Routesy, there are also two Web 2.0 apps available that you can use with Safari for free.
NextBus (www.nextmuni.com)
MUNI Time (sf.munitime.com)
If you are flying into the San Francisco or Oakland airports, and don't plan on renting a car, you will need to take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). To get BART schedules and maps of stops, download iBART. There is a BART train that goes directly from SFO to downtown, just blocks from Moscone. Trips from the Oakland airport require a short $3 shuttlebus trip to the BART station before continuing to San Francisco.
The mobile version of Yelp is great at helping to find eateries and night spots in the city during your Macworld stay. The only problem might be that there are too many great spots to visit making it hard to choose. Yelp is especially handy since there aren't a lot of places right around Moscone, and the ones that are will probably be packed with Expo-goers. Wear some comfortable shoes and hike to some of the more out of the way spots.
Finally, if you are looking for something to do outside of the Expo venue, try twiddlerSF which is a great app that can randomly choose a place to go in the city or an event, based on your "mood" and how far you want to travel. It also had a cool spinner interface.