rock and scroll

The GIF as a cinematic moment

Animated GIFs were the coolest thing you could add to web pages when I
learned HTML. Geocities was full of under-construction gifs and fire
(oh how people loved flames). Over the years these came to symbolize
amateur hour, a youth long outgrown. Myspace resurrected wild,
distracting GIFs but most viewed them with disdain; no self-respecting
person would put them on their site. To many, GIFs are the equivalent
of those cell phone cases with nine different zebra-striped colors and
a quarter-pound of rhinestones and fake diamonds glued on.

The GIF is staging a comeback and can be used to great artistic effect.  For example, Cinemagraphs and CursiveBuildings.

I find these fun to look at.  They're like the newspaper photos in Harry Potter, but don't require magic.  I want to look back at moving moments years from now, and the GIF is perfect.

It's simply a matter of making them easy to capture, and that's where Picflick comes in.

I'll be posting to the Picflick blog if you want to see some samples.

 

iPhone app sales

At this point, I have 15 iPhone (and 1 iPad) apps available in the App
Store. Sales have been fairly steady since January. The beginning of
the year was great, in fact, due to being mentioned in Bon Appetit
magazine, having a Staff Favorite app, and, presumably, a greater
abundance of iPhone OS devices after Christmas.

I have free apps, educational apps, games, kids apps, business,
finance, and health and fitness apps. A diversified portfolio.

The weekly sales follow a pattern: Sunday and Monday are the best
sales days. Tuesday through Thursday see steady declines. Friday and
Saturday are the worst.

Last Friday, for reasons I can't explain (ie, no holidays, etc), was
about 35% lower than I expected. I was anxious to see how Saturday
would fare. Luckily, Saturday was a bit higher than usual, so it
served to offset the bad Friday.

One reason I like having more than a handful of apps is protection
against big sales swings. When I had five apps I would regularly see
40-70% variations in my sales figures. Sometimes a user would post a
scathing review--usually due to not reading the app description--and
scare off potential buyers. The app developer has little recourse
(oddly I get my most complimentary "reviews" through customer emails,
but only I see those).

Counting money on iPad makes cents

The post title is perhaps cringeworthy, but it's very true. The
surface is the perfect canvas for all kinds of great educational
games.

MakeChange is an iPad app that lets you practice counting money, which is to say that it's also a way for kids to practice math problems.  Hopefully some schools will be able to have at least one iPad per classroom.  It could be a great way for teachers to walk through various scenarios before letting the kids play.  Right now, most classes use money worksheets that depict the outlines of coins.  Students write the quantity of each coin needed to obtain the sum.

With MakeChange, you slide coins below the line to be counted.  You can tap a coin to see the reverse side if you don't recognize it (or just for fun).  You can repeat a problem until you get it right, or move on to a new one.  

If you answer correctly but miss an opportunity to make the sum with fewer coins, the app will show you the alternative way to reach the total.

iPhone journal writing prompts

My iPhone journal app, Chronicle, will be available at the App Store within the next few hours.  It's a great way to write, wherever you may be.  You can always export your journal to Google Docs (then print it, save it as a PDF, share it, etc). 

Some may opt to fill the pages with events as they happen.  If your days aren't as eventful as you might hope, you can still practice writing by using writing prompts.  A prompt is suggestion.  Pick from a list of topics and write. 

Some to think about:

• A superpower I'd like to have is...
• The thing I liked most about my childhood...
• One thing I'd like to change about the place I work is...
• The thing I want to improve about myself is...
• In five years I want to be ...
• The proudest day of my life was when ...
• The best date I ever had was ...
• The most embarrassing moment in my life...
• In an apocalyptic future I'd run off to the woods (or city) because...
• The best way to study something is to ...
• If you could live in another century, it'd be ...
• The next place I'll travel will be...
• A time people admired me was ...
• Have you seen a ghost or alien?  Tell me about it...
• You have one year to live.  What do you do?
• You sold your business for $5M.  What would you do next?
• What's your favorite movie?  What do you like about it?
• A historical event you'd like to witness is...
• Your favorite memory of your parents
• Your favorite experience with your spouse

Feel free to leave more in the comments.  Try writing with Chronicle on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

 

Chronicle - Writing, notes, lists for iPhone

Chronicle is coming. At its core, it's a chronological listing of
entries, a digital Moleskine.

It's the perfect journal, offline blog, or secret diary, and you can
upload everything you've written to Google Docs. Add images from your
photo library to your entries.

One of the best things about it is the search. I worked hard to get
it right. Even if you write five large paragraphs a day for the next
two years, Chronicle can find the entries you're looking for in less
than 1 second. And to make it even better, each search result appears
with context around it, just like you're used to with search engines.

Write your ideas down and dig through them later. It's a great way to
make notes or memos on the iPhone.

Creating an iPhone app - Math Legend

I really enjoy posts on the creative process or evolution of a product from initial thought to completion.  Below you'll find some images of my most recent app, Math Legend.  The app follows the design of games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band and offers a unique way to practice math problems. 

I accidentally left the app available for free for a couple days and something like 4,000 grabbed it.  That's exciting.  One mother wrote me to say her girls were having fun practicing math.

The first screenshot shows a proof-of-concept I created after thinking about how this game might feel.  I played around with this on a real device, letting my imagination run with my fingers.  I also wanted to make sure the device could handle the 2D rendering without being jerky (I ended up doing some work trying to get things to run smoothly, but the demo reassured me that things would be in the realm of doable).

The second image shows a playground of icons and fonts.  I experiment with many looks while coming up with my icons and logos.  The designs that became final are towards the left.

The other images are from the final product.

Touchcards 2 featured in iTunes Staff Favorites section

As I write this, I'm booking a ticket to Cupertino so I can hand out a few hugs. 

I put a lot of work into Touchcards 2 and have more things planned (mainly making import a little easier).  There's also an update in the offing that should be approved in a couple days for easier font sizing.