Archive for September, 2008
Eyecandy 1 – In the Wild
Download Eyecandy 1 – Masked Marshal
Download from the iTunes App Store
First off, congrats to @pauljholden, @philiporr and @cimota for getting this through the app store, they deserve it for what they’ve had to deal with so far. But what of the app itself?
It’s pretty much completely awesome. I let Sakura play with it this morning on the way to school and she has declared it to be “really fun”. She was immediately at home with the interface and was soon happily flicking back and forth and looking “under” the artwork. I have a feeling she will be using the pencils to copy the art this afternoon. Of course, once I showed her how she could paint it herself, she didn’t want to go into school anymore. The whinnying pony was just the icing on the cake.
Without doubt, her reaction to Eyecandy completely validates the principles behind it and I have no doubt that, even if I wasn’t wanting to support the guys at Infurious/Blue Pilot, this would be a monthly/weekly purchase. If you have a kid, you need to buy this. If you like awesome interfaces, you need to buy this. If you just want to support some local talent… you get the idea.
Any complaints? Couple of minor things. In the colouring pallette I would really like to see a “fill” option, as any sort of accuracy is difficult, though this is a limitation of the finger touch interface rather than the app itself (and I still want black to colour with). Also, the colours are possibly a little too “pastel” instead of the rich and vibrant colours in the comic itself. What I feel is the biggest issue is indirectly an interface one. Although it is a perfect interface and completely natural to use, the very fact that it introduces functionality that is completely impossible to implement in its real world counterpart means that there is no expectation of revealing the lines. Without knowing in advance that you can push down to see the ink and pencil versions, the only way to discover it is if a swipe accidentally uncovers the functionality. This is a minor thing and most people are likely to stumble upon it just from using the app, but it could be easily fixed with an initial “how to use” screen, with the option to “Do not show this again”. I would hate for anyone not to see what is a fundamental part of the experience.
But, to be honest, these are nitpicks. For the first version of comic reader (at least in the wild) it is a triumph and hopefully it will catalyse some disenfranchised artists to come to the team with ideas of content they want to distribute.
When Sakura gets home from school I’ll try and get a quick video of her playing with the app and giving her impressions.
Liveblogging (sorta) the Apple Store opening
8:52 The entire staff just walked down the queue screaming and hi5ing
8:43 Wow, there are a lot of staff. Just brought down the boxes of t-shirts.
8:34 Press are inside and/or interviewing the queue. Much consternation that @alaninbelfast got in early.
6:06am Matt & Paul have arrived bearing gifts of t-shirts and comics while recording peoples reactions to Murderdrome.
5:54am Arrived shortly after 5am to find a few brave souls that had spent the night. First pics below
Busy and Productive Day
I spent most of today setting up the various access points for my little endeavour to provide a focal point for the Northern Ireland creative community (www.nicreatives.com). At this point, I could go ahead and soft launch the site and start getting some content up. The idea is that there are loads of events going on in Northern Ireland that a lot of people would go to, if they knew about them. Things like Creative Camp and Mobile Monday I only discovered throgh Twitter, so I have to assume that there are a lot of non-twitterers that are missing out. Hopefully, the site will allow people to get information coming to them and help build the community a bit by getting more people talking. We’ll see how it goes.
The essence of the site is there, but I would like to create a custom Wordpress theme that suits the sites needs better instead of the rather generic (though functional) one I put in place to avoid that hideous blue rounded rectangle that is the WP default. There are few more functional items that need added and I’d like to streamline things a little to cut down on the repetition of adding events in multiple places as well as automate the generation of .ics files for new events, or at least automate the link to Upcoming.
I’ll take a run through things tomorrow and check it works as I think and then loose it upon the world. If people like the idea and get onboard, I think it could be a success.
Apple Store Belfast
In the happiest news I heard all of today, the new Belfast Apple store is opening this Saturday. Having lived in the wilderness for several years, it is nice to finally have somewhere that both allows me to see all the shiniest of new Apple kit, but also gives the Victoria Centre a raison d’etre.
Plans are afoot for a camp out overnight, or at least from early in the morning. Anyone planning on these sort of shennanigans should discuss it at the not-nearly-ready-to-launch-but-what-the-hell NI Creatives site.
Testing Microsoft's Customer Service
This morning my Xbox 360 suffered the infamous RRoD. This is my second time experiencing this wonderful feature, with the first one being exchanged in store under the first year. This one is now under the extended 3 year RRoD warranty so is being dealt with directly with Microsoft.
First impressions are good, nice online registration of console and request for repair. They’re sending me a shipping box and emailing me a label to stick on it. No silly waiting on hold for a telephone operator, an option to say it was afflicted with red ring syndrome so they didn’t request credit card info for the repair.
The proof of the pudding will be once it goes away, but most stories seem to be pretty favourable. If I’m really lucky I’ll get back a console with HDMI and some quieter fans.
To be continued…
Merlin Mann Stops Getting Things Done
I like Merlin Mann. A lot. He’s become the geek poster boy for GTD, created the Hipster PDA and promoted the idea of Inbox Zero. So why does he now want you to fuck off?
Sometimes the Internet fails (or sys-admins do)
I’m not much of a one for TV. There are a few things I’ve enjoyed, The West Wing, Grand Designs and most things with Gordon Ramsay, but the one thing I pay my license fee for is Top Gear. I’m a bit of a car nut and their style of irreverant humour sits well with my own. With this in mind, you can imagine my excitement to find that Top Gear Live, which had previously been restricted to the MPH show, was going on tour and, more specifically, was coming to Dublin.
Creative Camp and the rise of the new media darlings
I’ve had an interesting week. Since the 2.0 iPhone software was released I’ve suddenly discovered a whole new, much more interesting side to Twitter. I blame Twinkle, primarily, because its “nearby” feature has opened a whole world of local Twitterers to me. Northern Ireand can feel a little insular at times, even more so when you are outside the sprawling metropolis that is our capital city, so to find this whole world of other geeky types so close was a revelation. Within a week I had stopped following @kevinrose, @veronica and all the other web 2.0 celebrities and started connecting with real people there was a chance I could actually meet.
A Proposal for a Northern Ireland Creatives Website
Apologies for the quick and dirty Wordpress, but would like to start getting feedback on this…
Executive Summary:
To create a site where creatives from all areas, music, art, web development, programming etc., can go to discuss their business, passions and future. To provide up to date information on forthcoming events and news and to nuture a self-promoting community.