The Sabbatical

It's getting closer! And I can't wait. Don't get me wrong - I love the UK - but sometimes you just wanna experience something different...

Not sure how I'll manage Top-Tens while I'm away, though. Well - not that it needs managing, but just the weekly adding of new categories, etc. which I normally tend to do on a Sunday evening.

Maybe I'll do it remotely - or get one of my boys to do it.

We'll see....

Rod.

New Apple device to focus on Movies! (with e-books & iChat thrown in)

When Amazon rolled out their Kindle device in late 2007, Apple's Steve Jobs must have been grinning from ear to ear. Even though Apple wouldn't be privvy to the detailed data and customer feedback that Amazon would soon be receiving, he knew that it would be a fantastic test bed for the e-book reader concept.

A few months later, Mr. Jobs was reported as saying "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore".

Since then it has become clear that the great strength of the Kindle concept is also it's greatest weakness: its focus on books and newspapers is simply too narrow for the device to reach its utopia; its inability to view other types of content such as movies will be seen as a glaring omission when Apple's new device is released. Sure, the later Kindles have limited web browsing and music support but who wants to watch Watchmen on a grayscale screen?! Even if you could.

As we know, Apple are skillfully adept at looking at the product offerings of rivals (or soon-to-be rivals), tearing them down to determine what works and what doesn't, turning things on their heads, and finally producing a product with a humdinger of a right-hook which few rivals even saw coming. Two cases in point: MP3 players and mobile phones.

So it goes without saying that the next breakthrough device which Apple will announce (probably in January) will have e-book support. However, that won't be the major focus. Instead, the new device will major on movies, movies, movies! With e-book support and the obligatory web browser thrown in for good measure.

While iPods are fantastic for playing music, they kinda fall down when watching a movie because the screen is simply too small. So how do Apple address this? Well - its not rocket science. The 9" screen of this new device would be ideal for watching the Watchmen, for example, while on a plane or while chilling out in Central Park. And guess what? When you want to read the New York Times, just open the e-book app and view it on that gorgeous 9" screen. (Steve Jobs always calls the screens on his new devices gorgeous).

In iPod's early days, Apple produced a model which could support video. This signaled the importance of, and Apple's intentions in, this area. Since then, Apple have taken the time to fully understand what the customer wants, and needs, from a mobile video device and has also been making investments in the back-end with a planned $1 billion server farm in North Carolina which will undoubtedly be used to serve video content. It's gearing up to unveil its breakthrough device.

Essentially, the new device will be a scaled-up iPod touch running an updated OS which has the ability to run native iPhone apps in either their regular size or scaled to fit the screen. It will not run a cut down Mac OS Snow Leopard; Get a Macbook if you want that.

As with the touch, the device will have WI-FI support. And, in an effort to further distance it from its smaller brothers, a front-facing camera brings iChat functionality - although no phone capability is present.

When the device debuts, the iTunes Book store will be announced, allowing users to download books and periodicals in the same way as they currently download music and apps.

So you heard it here, first: Movies. e-books. iChat. Suddenly Kindle doesn't look as attractive a proposition as it did yesterday.

In fact, comparing Kindle with Apple's new device will be more like comparing Obama's Mom Jeans to a pair of Armani's.

I know which I'd rather have.

Rod.
Grab my iPhone app here: www.itunes.com/apps/top-tens
Homepage: www.iviewr.com/toptens

To Infinity And Beyond....

The 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the Moon are upon us - and so I thought it would be cool to add a top 10 category for Moon-related stories.

It's available now - simply open Top-Tens and tap 'New Top 10s' to see the latest added categories - then tap Moon Today Stories.

Hope some of you find this useful!

Cheers,

Rod.

Undiscovered Apps

Wow - time really flies. Apple's iPhone App Store is one year old already! (Happy Birthday, BTW). 50,000 apps later.... but can you find the app you want?! Well... yes and no.

You see - if the app you're looking for is in one of the 'top' lists, or is maybe featured in the 'What's hot' or 'Staff favorites' section in iTunes, then you're golden. But what happens to all the other tens of thousands of other apps that are languishing below the radar? How do they get noticed?

There are loads of iPhone-related websites around which are a fantastic resource to us iPhone and iPod-touch users. I love browsing them just to get the skinny on new app releases, etc. but one of the things I've noticed over time is that they generally tend to only show you (or review) the top sellers or big hitters!

So how do we get to know about the other, fantastic apps that we know are in the Store? I mean, there are thousands and thousands of talented devs out there producing some great stuff, right?! - but if they don't have the marketing muscle, their hard work very quickly disappears like a needle in one big-ass haystack of an App Store.

Well, now... There's an App for that. Sorry - I just had to get that line in somewhere :o)

A couple of months back, I released Top-Tens (App Store Link). Top-Tens allows you to keep tabs on your favorite top 10 lists - for example, top 10 movies, top 10 books - even top 10 Disney rides and attractions, (since we're in holiday season). There are currently around 80 different top 10s which you can keep tabs on - and they get updated daily (or more frequently where necessary) . And the list is growing, too!

So - I thought... wouldn't it be great to do a Top 10 Undiscovered Apps category? This would showcase apps which users thought were great - but, crucially, were not listed in the top 100 of the various lists in iTunes. Well... if it's in one of the 'top' lists in iTunes, then it's not exactly undiscovered, is it!?

Obviously, for this to work, I need users to suggest these Apps to me. You can do this here. Simply type in the app name and category and hit submit. All submissions are collated and the most popular are then made visible in the Top 10 Undiscovered Apps section in the Top-Tens app. Simple, really!

So what are you waiting for!? Lets put those gems on the map!

Rod.

Rethink

OK - after I finished setting up the form and testing it on my Mac, I was quite happy with the way it turned out!

Then - this morning, I thought I'd better try the form on my iPhone.

Errrrrm.... Houston - we have a problem!

While the lil pictures of dogs and cats displayed nicely, selecting them was a pain. It worked very well with a mouse on my Mac, but trying to do this on the iPhone was way too fiddly.

Obviously, I don't want to put people off using the form by making it cumbersome to use - so for the last couple of hours I've been putting a more traditional Captcha verification process in place.

Shame - 'cos I did like Asirra. Oh well...

Rod.

Finishing touches...

So... I'm putting the final touches on the next Category in Top-Tens that I think users will find interesting.

I'll be announcing it in a few days time.

I've just completed the form which will be used to capture data. It looks pretty cool as I've used Microsoft's Asirra (Animal Species Image Recognition for Restricting Access) as an alternative to the text-based Captcha (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) method to stop spamming through the form.

I hate trying to decipher those weirdly distorted Captcha characters and so I decided to use Asirra for my form.

Essentially with Asirra, you get presented with 12 images of cats and dogs - and all you need to do is work out which are the cats and click them before hitting the submit buton! Easy for us humans, but a bit more difficult for a spam bot thingy.

;o)

Rod.

Top-Tens app introduces Top 10 vacation guides for summer travelers

Monday, 06 July 2009

With the summer holiday and vacation season upon us, Top-Tens - an iPhone/iPod touch app that gives the user the ability to keep tabs on the top 10s of their favorite hobbies, interests or pastimes now allows users to see a series of top 10s for the most popular theme parks and water parks in the USA and UK and other attractions worldwide.

Whether you plan to go on safari at Animal Kingdom, Disneyworld, revert back to childhood at Magic Kingdom or release your inner child at Thorpe Park or Alton Towers in the UK, Top-Tens will be with you every step of the way by listing the top 10 rides and attractions at each of the theme and water parks, allowing you to plan your visit with the minimum of fuss.

In addition, for people visiting other places this summer, the top 10 things to do and places to visit in London, New York, Paris, Sydney, Berlin and more are also covered in the app.

Users of Top-Tens can access these now – together with close to one hundred other top 10 lists which are constantly being updated in the app – including top 10 books, movies, albums, singles and more.

“I’m off to Florida this summer and so I thought it would be cool to track the top 10 rides and attractions at the major Theme Parks so that when we get there, we know exactly where to head” said Rod Cambridge, developer of Top-Tens.

“I thought it would be cool to add these to the library in Top-Tens so that anyone else who's traveling this summer and using my app can also benefit.”

Top-Tens can be downloaded from the iPhone App store for £1.19 ($1.99) here: http://www.itunes.com/apps/top-tens
To find out more about Top-Tens and to see a complete list of all the top 10s which can be tracked, visit the official site here:http://www.iviewr.com/toptens.

email: contact@iviewr.com

User feedback...

Isn't user feedback a great thing?!

When I designed the UI for Top-Tens, I knew exactly how I wanted it to work. I wanted to be able to swipe between top 10 lists in the same way as you do while viewing pictures on iPod.

Well - this wasn't easy to do! Apple provide the necessary APIs to handle that gesture for images and suchlike - but not for the type of list being used to display my top 10s. So it meant the only way it could be done was via some imaginative coding (thanks Deepak and Jignesh!).

I thought the solution we came up with was good - but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, right?!

Right - and so I got feedback from users of Top-Tens who said they would prefer some other/additional way of navigating.

So - in Top-Tens 1.30 which has just hit the app store, we've added some <> buttons - much like a web browser - to aid navigation.

Hopefully this will make the app much more easier to use!

iPhone 3

Well - the iPhone 3 is now reality. And what a cool device it is. I plan on updating to one of these *very* soon after spending the last 18 months using my trusty iPod touch.

The technology packed into this mini-marvel is amazing! The iPod touch was the device which finally made me relinquish my trusty Newton MessagePad 2100 which I've used for years on end - something that an endless stream of other devices, PDAs, etc. could never do.

But after seeing the new 3Gs, I think my daughter will end up inheriting my iPod touch very soon!

I just need to weigh up the pros and cons of the various tarrifs available before jump in.

But iPhone 3Gs... here I come!

Rod.

First post

Hello and welcome!

Now that my first iPhone app (Top-Tens) is available in iTunes thought it would be a good idea to start a blog.

I have some great ideas for Top-Tens - and the other iPhone apps which I have planned - so I can maybe document them here for all to see.

I'm looking forward to looking back over these posts in the future!

Rod.