May 1, 2008

Happy RSS Awareness Day

Today is RSS Awareness Day! I didn't know that, but sounds good to me. I find RSS very useful and I think other people should use it too, but it seems to confuse people. Don't be confused! Start using it! It will save you a tremendous amount of time! So spread the word! Use RSS!

Posted by Andrew at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2008

SunkencitySoftware Announces FlickrEdit 1.1

FlickrEdit has now fully replaced FlickrBackup. FlickrEdit v1.1 brings new features including the long requested feature to backup title, description, tags, etc and store them in the IPTC Headers. See the Sunkencity Blog for details on all the new features. Also, please Digg the Story!!

Posted by Andrew at 9:38 PM | Comments (0)

November 24, 2007

Sunkencity Software Announces FlickrEdit!

We have just announced a new product over at Sunkencity Software called FlickrEdit! FlickrEdit was grown out of the FlickrBackup codebase and gives many more new features that we think will be a great help to people. I had another developer start helping me out with the projects and he has done a lot of great work on both projects. Starting today, FlickrBackup will be put to rest as FlickrEdit contains all the functionality of FlickrBackup and more. One exciting feature for me is that both FlickrBackup and FlickrEdit can now be launched using Java WebStart, so just go on over to Sunkencity and try them out!!

Posted by Andrew at 9:14 AM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2007

Dear Apple, WHERE IS JAVA SE 6????

Yesterday marked the launch of Mac OS X Leopard which brought us over 300+ new features to drool over, yet, one major feature is still missing, Java SE 6 for the Mac! Recently Apple pulled the developer preview of Java SE 6 which gave us all a glimmer of hope that Apple was releasing the final version with the official release of Leopard, but no luck. So I have a question for you Apple: WHERE IS JAVA SE 6 for the Mac? We have been waiting for over a year and lag behind all other operating systems. As developers we are forced NOT to develop application destined for SE 6 and therefore we don't gain the benefits of SE 6 at all. So please let us know when we will get to join the rest of the world and start using Java SE 6.

Posted by Andrew at 9:34 AM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2007

Flickr Launches Collections!

The long awaited feature we have all been asking for from Flickr has finally been implemented and is being called "Collections." Collections are more commonly known as "sets-of-sets" or "subsets." You can now create Collections that contain either Sets or other Collections. This is great and I've started creating some Collections of my photos. Another feature they released along with Collection is the ability to change the layout of your main flickr page. You can make it much more blog like now if you want to which is cool. Now I just have to figure out how to add Collection support to FlickrBackup.

Posted by Andrew at 9:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 14, 2007

My Take on Macworld and the iPhone

On January 9th, Apple announced the iPhone. It has been a few days since then, but being the Apple fan boy that I am, I feel I need to share my thoughts on Apples latest announcements. I think it is actually good that I have waited to write my thoughts down because if you asked me right after the Keynote, I would have said "Give me an iPhone now!!!" Now I'm start to question how great the iPhone actually is.

Before I actually dive into the hot topic of the iPhone, I wanted to comment on a few other things first.
- Apple TV - I don't see what is so great about the Apple TV. It isn't any better than me hooking up my laptop to my TV and using FrontRow. I thought that the "iTV" was going to bring us a real next generation set-top box. I envisioned it doing everything that was announced (cause that is what I can already do with FrontRow) plus DVR, surf the internet, check my mail, chat with people, etc with a bluetooth keyboard. But no, we got front row with Syncing...so you have to wait for your content to be downloaded to be able to watch it. So if I want to watch a movie, I have to buy it on my laptop, then wait for it to sync to the Apple TV and then I can watch it. I dunno about this one...we'll see how long it lasts. It was definitely glossed over during the keynote too and will forever remain in the shadows. I won't buy one...
- I'm going to regret saying any of this because I love Apple, but here it goes - Apple, I love your products and fully believe that you are far better that Microsoft...but stop with the school yard name calling and bragging. I'm also getting a little sick of Apple saying they invented things when they didn't. I'll give them the fact that they usually do things better than everyone else, but there are many things in the iPhone that I have seen before.

Ok, onto the iPhone. I like to talk about a few things.
The good things:
- Multi-touch - I've dreamed of an interface like this for years...I should have patented it myself...I can't wait to play with it in person. I'm a little curious about how good it is at doing exactly what you want. Like actually scrolling and not just selecting something where you started the swipe. Only time will tell.
- Web Browser - Finally! Someone figures out how to make a browser for a mobile device with a small screen. The zooming and widescreen aspect make it great. And the fact that you get javascript and support for AJAX calls make the web on the mobile finally come to life.
- Multitasking! You can be on a call and surf the internet, read mail, do whatever! All at the same time!
- Real Email on a mobile device.
- Google maps - wish it had GPS though
- Auto switching from edge to wifi - this should save people money on data rates hopefully. And just the fact you don't have to look to see if you are in range of a wifi network, then switch to it, that is nice.
- GSM Quad Band - Glad Apple realizes that GSM is the world standard. And quad band is always good. Quad band (and 900 specifically) could mean they are thinking about the rest of the world and possibly unlocked phones at some point.

The Bad:
- Cingular??? This is the main one that makes me mad. Mainly because I'm not a Cingular customer, but that is for a reason. Their plans are expensive (especially their data plans) and I don't think their coverage is any better than TMobile. My other big issue with them choosing ANY provider is WHY? Why do they need backing from any provider? Why can't Apple just sell the phone unlocked from their stores? They would make plenty of money on the phones and they would possibly sell MORE of them because they aren't forcing people to switch from their current providers (or worse are stuck in a contract). I don't see what they need Cingular for at all. If anyone gets what they get from it, let me know. I do see one good thing in that they are already forcing changes in the provider (i.e. Visual Voicemail).
- Price and 2 Year Contract - Ok, I would willingly pay $599 for an iPhone, but a 2 Year contract as well? They are asking a LOT of people now...Especially for someone like me who is completely happy with their current provider and has been for years. This is one of the main reasons I might not get an iPhone...
- No 3G???? - Apple touted the iPhone as "Breakthrough Internet Device", yet they released this internet device on a non-broadband network. Sure they say they are going to upgrade the iPhone when they think 3G is ready, but guess what that means?? You get to buy a NEW iPhone! That's nice of them...
- Camera, no flash - All camera phones now a days have a flash (even if they are crappy). I would have though Apple noticed that...but looks like they didn't.
- NO JAVA??? Ok, maybe I am misunderstanding Steve, here, but in an interview with John Markoff, he says:
"Markoff: “And what are you thinking about Flash and Java?”
Jobs: “Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain.”
He better just be talking about in the browser and not on the desktop. I'm really interested to know if the Cocoa framework on the iPhone supports the Java bindings available on the desktop. Not that it matters...see the next bullet...
- No 3rd party developers - What happened to openness?? I think that Palm would say that they have thrived on the fact that anyone can develop software for their devices. You have a device as powerful as a computer in the palm of your hand, but you can only use it for the things that Apple says they want you to. So if you want to have an application that helps you with your home inspection business for example, you have to carry an iPhone and your trusty Palm device. If I pay $600 for a palm top computer, I want it to do the things I need. So my message to Apple, release a SDK for the iPhone (oh wait...it run OS X right? We already have the SDK...it's called Cocoa...let us use it!). They also stated that the reason they didn't want just anyone throwing apps on your phone is because of stability. But wait, I thought it ran OS X...a modern OS that has memory protection...so even if I write a really buggy app that crashes every 2 seconds, it should effect the rest of the phone right? This is why I NEVER reboot my mac, so why should I have to reboot my phone?
- OS X or not?? I'm quoting a slashdot article on this one because it didn't cross my mind in this respect. If the iPhone IS running OS X (in the darwin aspect), then Apple MUST release the source for the darwin port to the ARM the iPhone is rumored to be running. So which is it apple? OS X or not quite OS X?
- Voice recognition? Voice dialing? Voice memos? - What happened to voice dialing and the like? They released a bluetooth headset as well, so they must be thinking about handsfree, but handsfree is only possible if you don't have to touch your phone. Maybe Apple will add this before the actual release, but no one knows at this point.
- Can you change the battery yourself - Take a guess...it's just like the iPod. If your battery dies, you have to send it to Apple to get a new one. I can see it is that big of a deal with an iPod. So you are without your music for a week. Big whoop. But if you have to send your only cellphone in for a week, what are you supposed to do?? Buy a separate phone as a backup? Will your backup have all the capabilities of your iPhone (contacts, calendar, etc)? Probably not, so all you business people better think twice on that one...
- No GPS - impossible for a device that thin I know, but I can still wish right?

I think that's enough ranting for now. :)

I'd really like to thank David Pogue for being so honest and forthcoming with his information about the iPhone. He is shedding a lot of light on what the iPhone really is. Check out his Blog if you haven't.

There are a ton of articles out there now on the iPhone which I hope Apple is reading, but I really hope they are reading the COMMENTS to all those posts. I hope I'm not off base on all my comments, but I had to share my thoughts on the iPhone while the topic is still hot. Hopefully it changes something (I can wish right?).

Posted by Andrew at 9:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 8, 2006

T-Mobile to finally get te US up to speed

T-Mobile announced they have come out of the FCC bidding for new wireless spectrum as the highest bidder in the US! This means T-Mobile will finally roll out a more reliable network and also finally bring 3G to it's US customers! A downside is that we will all need new phones, but I think I can deal with that...;) In other related news, T-Mobile's Chief Executive Robert Dotson was talking up Apple at a recent press release. Does this mean Apple will release an iPhone on T-Mobile before Cingular? Let's hope so!

Posted by Andrew at 9:11 AM | Comments (0)

September 3, 2006

FlickrBackup v1.0 Released!

sunkencity software has just released a new version of FlickrBackup that fixes the problem with it not working since the flickr team made a change to the API. The release also has some new features like downloading sets to folders, photos have real file names, etc! You can check out the official release here.

Posted by Andrew at 8:20 PM | Comments (0)

July 1, 2006

Road Trip: Utah and the San Rafael Swell

My Dad, Brother, and I took a trip to Utah to go hike the slot canyons of the San Rafael Swell. We started out in Green River and first went to Little Wild Horse Canyon which is just out side of Goblin Valley State Park. It is an easy hike and the canyon is beautiful. It definately gives you a great idea of what a slot canyon is. You could do the whole canyon part in about an hour, but since we took so many pictures, it took us about 3 hours!

After Little Wild Horse Canyon, we went around the back of the swell and headed to Crack Canyon. Crack Canyon is completely different than Little Wild Horse. It starts off with huge "Swiss Cheese Rock" and then goes into a few narrows. We ran into some water here as well which we had to wade through. But that is all part of the adventure!

The next day, we decided to head to Archs National Park. Before heading out of town, we headed to Crystal Geyser. Crystal Geyser is just outside of Green River, Utah. It is an active geyser, however, we didn't get to see it blow. The area is a awesome redish orange. It looks like it is slippery and soft, but it is rock hard. I loved the calcified trees.

We then headed to Arches National Park where we played tourist. We really just drove to all the takeouts, walked to the arches, took pictures and headed out. We didn't do any long walks here. We then headed to Moab for lunch. There was a Car Show in town as well, so we checked that out. After that, we headed back towards Colorado, but we decided to go over the LaSalle Mountains. The drive up there was beautiful and if I lived there, I would definately take a car club up that road! It was a fun drive. On the way back down, we headed back towards Colorado the back way and went past Dewey Bridge. This used to be a really old and scarry creeky bridge when I was a kid. Now it is all paved and pretty sturdy.

We stayed in Junction for the night and started making our way back home the next morning. We wouldn't be outdoors men if we didn't hit some more trails on our way. My Dad has always wanted to go to Rifle Falls, so that was our first detour.

Rifle Falls State Park is just outside of Rifle Colorado on the western slope. The park is only 11 miles from I70, and I'm guessing not many people have been here. You drive right up to the falls (park and walk 100 yards), but if you go for a short walk (about a mile), you will come to the fish hatchery. The cascading falls act as a natural digestive system for all that flows through there. It was so lush and pretty, it is deffinately worth the detour off I70.

Our last stop was NoName Creek which is at the West end of Glenwood Canyon. We only walked up here for about a half hour, but it was still a nice walk. We found some rare Avalance Lilies on the way back down too! So it was definately worth the stop.

Posted by Andrew at 3:02 PM | Comments (0)

June 29, 2006

Aerith Source Released!

After a bit of a wait since JavaOne, the Swing Team has finally been able to release the source for their demo application Aerith! I would have posted about it yesterday, but I wanted to get it running first. In case you don't know what Aerith is, it is an application that allows you to view your flickr photos and create a trip report from them. Being a fellow Flickr application developer, I was very interested to see this app for myself. There are a few blogs about Aerith from the developers, but none of them give you any instruction on how to get Aerith up and running. So I decided to do that for myself. Read on to see how I got Aerith running on Mac OS X. Congrats to the Swing team! Now if they would just release the Extreme GUI Makeover source!

Continue reading "Aerith Source Released!"

Posted by Andrew at 10:01 PM | Comments (5)