Mountain Lion, bits and updates

I am writing this post via Mountainlands dictation feature apparently this feature works quite well

(Mountainlands = Mountain Lion)

"I'm trying to use punctuation, feature in the month of life"

(Month of life = Mountain Lion)

Apparently, the only thing dictation doesn't understand in my accent is the name of the OS :)

App development is progressing well. Debugging and testing in my iPhone is really simple, as long as you've got the right XCode version/ iOS etc.
Registration of devices and the whole certification process takes a little effort, but also works seamlessly.
The next step would be recording some narrations, and then (Try) and publish the app.
I've opened up a page for the app on facebook - Come say hi.

Testing the water with a new iOS app.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for a fun educational app for my kids.
I've found out that all related apps aren't free, and most are crap. Real crap.
Deciding that something which I can easily implement should not cost, I've started to fiddle with it, and built a simple web prototype in a couple of hours.
When it was nearly ready, I loaded the page on my phone, and gave it to my girl to fiddle with.
Looks like she liked it, I tested it with a couple of my friend's children, and decided to make it an app.

As it's a very simple idea, I've decided to keep it simple, with an entry screen for parents to brag in Facebook that their kids are playing with my app, and also decided to use phonegap (Just so that I'd be able to easily create an Android version, if I wanted to).
Phonegap installation and integration with xcode is very simple, and it also has a cute Facebook native extension, using either the native app, or the web interface for approving posts. (Though for iOS6 it won't be necessary, as Apple would have its Facebook integrated inside its SDK)

The next step was enrolling to Apple's iOS dev program.
Due to the fact that I live in Israel, and not registering myself as an american company, I have to fax (!!!) a purchase form to Apple, along with credit card info. I know, this seems ridiculous.

A lame start, but I'm determined to have my first app published!

I will post more soon, after I begin the app approval process with Apple.

Reading time #3

Once again, some nice reference stuff to read and enjoy.

First, a must read for every dev manager/ architect: I bet you over-engineered your startup - Try and read the comments as well - There's one I really like about backbone.js.

Here's something nice: An app for bullying reports. I think municipalities and local police departments should implement such apps, to see 'hot spots' of violence, and also make reporting a lot easier. A mobile phone does so many things, it's about time that it would help the community keep themselves safe.

My friend Moshe Kaplan from dSero with a nice article about SEO in Amazon AWS news.

Some new frameworks and tips:
- KineticJS makes 2d drawing easy, and is also pretty fast.
- A wonderful tutorial for creating clouds with css3. Opens your mind for lots and lots more ideas (Try use faces instead of clouds...)

Another useful UX related article: Overhauling a UI without upsetting the users (Thanks Itai:)).

And finally, a thought: The big tech companies have learned from the pharma industry: Since anyone can develop everything right now, and manufacturing is easy, intellectual property is the only way to make sure you have control over the market.
And unlike the pharma industry, you don't need to be a scientist, and spend years of FDA approval to get your product out there. Microsoft are buying patents from AOL, Apple is suing everyone, Samsung counter sues, and seems like the big techs' legal budget is going to be bigger than their R&D.

This is going to kill the small and medium businesses in the industry, unless legislation will somehow be able to protect them. Otherwise, we might as well give up our jobs, or relocate to China, where copyright rules are... More flexible :))