I know its been a while since we last posted on ADGoT. Truth be known we have been working on some side projects to keep the cash flow going so we can further develop out existing apps and look at other ideas we have for the iOS platform.

Some interesting observations over the past few months on the whole mobile platform thing which I find fascinating. I have been keeping a loose eye on all things mobile and looking at the respective platforms and their take up across the world.

Yes I have a current affinity to iOS, it is without doubt the bar to aim for on many levels. The single device a design to behold, no-one has matched it to date. The more and more I hear from friends on other platforms the more I am in the belief that the iOS platform, the supposed strict control on the apps in the iTunes Apps store.

Why do I think that? Well in the last 4 months I have had 3 friends who have moved to the Android platform. One from iOS, one from Nokia and another from WinMo. Two of them have been generous enough to allow me to play with the device for more than 1 minute. I have to admit there are some great things on the Android platform. The swipe keyboard from the genius that brought you the T9 predictive text is amazing although it does take some getting used to initially. The device in question was a Samsung Galaxy S. A worthy competitor to the iPhone 4?

The animated backdrops look gorgeous. However the drawback is battery.

True multi-tasking is a joy. However the drawback is battery.

In fact there is a common problem here. Battery life. It’s something that I have cried about constantly for the last 4 years. Al these smartphones and their functionality are great, but I wish someone would spend some braincycles on developing a battery that could provide power to a smartphone using the functions it was designed to do for more than 24 hours.

Why am I bothered at looking at other platforms, well ADGoT need to decide whether to look toward developing on other platforms.

So what do we do? Android seems to make sense if only they would bring out some worthwhile hardware to run Android on.

Blackberry. Hmmmm. This used to be my platform of choice. I refused to move from Blackberry to iPhone for ages. Eventually the functions of the iPhone outweighed the business centric Blackberry.

Windows 7 Phone. Now firstly let me say I have been burnt on the older version of the Windows platform. In 2003 I spent $600 on an HP IPaq, running Windows. A great device, nice hardware. Only stupid STUPID thing was that when you ran out of juice you lost everything on the device until you sync’d it back with the PC. Shocking. How could a company allow such a single point of failure on such a corporate device. So back to WinMo 7. My feeling is that it is a bit too late to the party. But I shall be proved wrong.

What makes the iOS so appealing apart from Apple’s ability to market anything as the most desirable thing is that it is still so simple to operate. It all makes sense. The friends with the Samsung Galaxy S’s have all said its a geeks phone and they would not dare give one to their parents. Is that such bad thing?

So right now ADGoT are keeping their options open to platforms to develop on. iOS seems to be a sensible choice to stick with for the time being. We  are keen to see the adoption of iAd’s here in the UK. Although I hear the dent on advertising and google is pretty minimal at this stage and has been re-fore-casted.

One thing I cannot wait for is a new version of the very successful Apple iPad. I feel that if I apply Apples past release cycles then we should be due a new iPad in Spring 2011. So I am holding off from buying one now in the hope the new iteration will be a force to be reckoned with. On that any app we create we will be aiming to release it as a universal app. This means that you get the app once and it works on the iPhone/iPod Touch and also has special functionality for the expanded screen for the larger iPad. All this and you dont have to pay again for the iPad version. On this note I have seen a lot of people charging for their iPad version to try and take advantage of the slightly higher ticket price that people are willing to pay for an iPad app. Cheeky.

Question to you is where do you think we should develop apps. We would be really please to hear your opinions.

So what are we doing? Well right now we are working on a photographic application that is web based. It’s still in beta, but once we are cleared to discuss I will without doubt advice of the site and encourage you to take part.

We are really pleased for our friends over at The Printed Image Company. You can find them over at www.thepic.co.uk or www.thepic.co.uk/photographers.

They have just gone beta with a great concept for amateur photographers to get recognised for their special work and on the flip side provide customers the service of quickly choosing some really cool photographic canvas’s for their houses.

The service is currently in beta, so for photographers you can leave your email address and you will be contacted when the free accounts become available. Once you get your account, photographers can upload their best images add searchable tags.

When the customer site goes live for customers they will be able to search for images, select and buy a canvas version of the one they want, giving the photographer a commission payment.

Head on over to the site and register now or to find out more.

I decided that I needed being the black sheep was not so much fun as I thought. Matt and Andrew always seemed to be having all the fun and I always seemed to be bogged down with technical issues with respects to computing and making things happen.

What am I talking about? Well MAC and PC of course. Matt and Andrew do app stuff on their Mac environments and I am doing it on a PC, a 5 year old PC I hasten to add. The fan starts up every 3 minutes. Its powerful but its getting old. Hats off to HP. They have done a good job on the PC hardware. Where as on the Mac…. it just works.

So I decided after watching the last Steve Jobs press launch (2010 iPod range) and seeing him update everyone on 3 flagship stores around the world, I was going to visit the Covent Garden Store and purchase a new Macbook Pro for ADGoT work paid for by ADGoT. It would be an experience, both visual and retail. After all that is what Apple is all about isn’t it.? Its about delivering that customer experience.

I spent hours pouring over spec’s, getting advice from the ADGoT team and others about what would be right. For me an iMac was not what I needed. I did not want to be holed up in my office albeit with a nice piece of kit. The idea would be that I could at least sit in the same room as my wife whilst doing ADGoT stuff. So hence the MBP.

At some points I thought about going to the Southampton Apple Store, but that just sent shivers down my spine. Because you know why? My local Apple store in Southampton sucks badly for me. Its location is already in the very busy shopping center known as Westquay. But Apple’s store design at Westquay is just a long, deep store, like a shoe box. with the wooden benches running down the middle and both sides and its busy. Busy with students and youngsters all pawing the technology dreaming about the day they too could own a piece of magical technology. I want cooled air, room to try the kit

On the odd time I have tried to go in there I get claustrophic, its a little bit too warm because of all the people and trying to get help immediately can be a little bit challenging. Most times I abort and get the hell out of there.

Covent Garden

So I decide that for a particular project I was going to buy a new laptop. A moderate i7 Macbook Pro. Thought might as well if you are going to spend with Apple do it in style and not skimp.

I check the spec’s online. Persuade my wife that a trip to London to take the kids to theLondon Transport Museum in Convent Garden could coincide with me nipping into the Apple store. The trip is set.

We arrive in London on Sunday lunchtime. Important to note try and find parking on single yellow lines on a Sunday. Its free. A space appeared near Aldwych and I quickly made my way to Leicester Square where I dropped the kids and wife.

The London Transport Museum was great for the kids. Both girls 6 and 3 throughly enjoyed walking and running around the place, seeing all the old methods of transport.

After a few other activities I was finally greenlighted to go into the new Apple Store Covent Garden. I walked in. It was busy, but not mega busy. It was spacious. I like the raw brickwork, the atrium with what looked like natural light.

A pleasant girl with a Eastern block accent attend to my needs. I stated that I was wishing to purchase a new MPB. She wanted to show me the machine and discuss options. I stated I already knew options and was ready to go for it.

Problem #1

In the store they only do standard models. Anything customised needs to be ordered online. Crushed as I wanted the fast HD. That was it. Experience and dream over. The assistant did her best, she took me to the Genius Bar upstairs which only confirmed my fears that *yes* I should have the faster HD and *no* they dont do it in store.

I then left tail between my legs back to my wife and kids empty handed. Until I got home and then ordered the machine online.

Problem #2

I suppose I live in the Amazon world of next day delivery of things that are in stock. I know it can be done, I know merchants can deliver goods very fast. I thought that the might of Apple they would have a huge stock of MBP’s of my spec which could be shipped immediately. But no.

I had to wait almost 2 weeks for the goods to be delivered. Gutted.

Dont get me wrong. When the gear came through I was ecstatic, the experience really started as I un boxed the kit round a friends house. Everything was immaculately packaged and well thought out.

Even turning the laptop on was exciting.

2 Weeks Later

It is still exciting. I know its a laptop. But it is actually like a weight has been lifted from me when using a computer.

Things just work. I ask other MAC users what I should install on my new machine and they smile and say. Nothing. Everything is there.

What a joy. Setup easy.

Stuff just works.

People say (mainly Mac owners) once you go MAC you never go back. I not sure I could do that, as my day job demands a Windows 7 based machine. But I will give Mac owners this. All the hard is taken out of the equation so you can get on and be creative. And you are being creative on a great looking and performing piece of kit, which gives you extra oomf.

I’m sold.

Pictures courtesy of appleofmyi.com, myeoffice.com, wikipedia.org

SliderTwigz 3.1.1 has been passed by Apple and is now available for download in the iTunes Store.

In this version we have decided and are pleased to utilise Apple’s Game Center functionality for keeping track of your scores and position on the leaderboard. Over forthcoming version we will make further use of Game Center to highten your experience of the game.

Please keep your suggestions coming and we will continue to include them into the game.

Thanks

R

It’s on its way.

We have decided to revamp our scoring system and utilise Apple’s Game Center functionality.

We have submitted it to Apple and are waiting.

The new functionality means that you can use your existing Game Center handle that you might have set up for other games.

Let us know what you think.

Also this latest version is what is called a “Universal Application”.

What that really means is if you bought SliderTwigz on the iPhone it will also work on the iPad fullscreen without you having to purchase a separate copy.

The ADGoT team have been watching the development of iPad apps with great interest. What we have noticed is that there has been a rush of developers to quickly knock up a specific iPad version of their app but in some cases not take advantage of the great functionality of the iPad. At the same time they have decided to charge a premium for doing so. Often in cases the app has just been created to take advantage of the larger screen but nothing else, no other compelling functions.

Having experienced the iPad and the need for apps I was delighted to find certain apps that I had bought on the iPhone work without the need for additional versions being purchasing for the iPad. Stuff like SolarWalk just look plain awesome and work really well with the additional screen real estate.

That said I did put down some cash for a few iPad specific apps, which the developers had taken the time to alter their app to maximise the iPad. For instance Plants vs Zombies just looks great. Mindmeister functions very well too.

Anyway rant over. SliderTwigz is a universal app. It works on both iPhone and iPad for no additional cost.

We are looking the Game Center functionality as a replacement for our current scoreboard system and would love to hear from you about your views. As Game Center could rule out people who do not have iOS 4.1 running. Is that you?

Last night the latest version of SliderTwigz 2.0.1 got approved by Apple onto the iTunes store. However there appears to be an issue which manifests itself that you tap a tile to slide it and SliderTwigz informs you that you won in 1 move.

A complete oversight on our behalf. The issue has been fixed and a new version submitted to Apple for approval.

Our sincere apologies from us at ADGoT. We do pride ourselves on quality software and will continue to improve our processes to capture these little gremlins that sneak in.

We will keep you posted when the latest version gets approved.

Well folks here at ADGoT we are messing about with some of the scoreboard functionality to give some added value.

We recently added a WordPress plugin for Google Maps so you can see where the other players are when they submit scores. Currently this is under test but when we get it fully functional you will be able to see the locations of other players you are challenging.

Special thanks to Patrick who highlighted the WP plugin on his cool blog.

So here I am Friday night 6 days of playing with a very generous friends iPad which he kindly lent me. Thank you.

In fact I am writing this blog post using the Word Press app on the iPad.

The device is currently housed within a case that angles the iPad at 45 degrees and sitting on the sofa side whilst I comfortably type.

In the six days I have added numerous universal apps that work on both iPhone and iPad, I also took the liberty and spent some of my recent birthday money on some apps.

Apps that I am liking on the iPad are currently:-

Flipboard - your social media in a magazine format
Plant vs Zombies HD – awesome in iPad size
Spot Goes to school – Great to see the popular childrens book in iPad mode with tap flaps
Solar Walk – Just look great to zoom around the planets on an iPad sized screen.
Mindmeister - my fave web based mindmapping application. This is such an awesome concept and website. ADGoT use it a lot.

The iPad seems fast. The screen is great. I watched the recently released “Shutter Island” which was great. Although you are still faced with 2 black bars top and bottom even in landscape mode.

Surfing is a dream. I have hardly faced any flash based issues on websites.

The in built email client is great, spacious and simple.
BBC iPlayer works perfectly in safari. Great for letter the kids keep up with their fave programmes on cBeebies.

Everything is just bigger and better.

Now the downsides.

1. It costs a fortune.
2. It is slightly heavy to hold in your hands.
3. If you are holding the iPad in 2 hands it is difficult to reach all the keys with both thumbs whilst you hold both sides with the rest of your hands as you type. Hence if the rumours of the 7″ screen version are true this is probably a better fit in the hands for landscape typing. But what do I know.
4. Oh and you need 3G. I walked out the door and bang no web based apps worked. Gutted.

Will I get one?

I will try my damnedest to. As there are a great many uses for it.

Best watch for the dollar sterling exchange rate to be more favourable.

Great news.

We are all very pleased that SliderTwigz version 2 has been approved by Apple. If you already have it, update it here. If you dont. What in the world are you waiting for get some light puzzling relief here.

Updates include:-

• iOS4 Support
• User Selectable Images from Cameral Roll, Photo Library
• Take a picture from within the app to use as a puzzle.
• Revamped scoring and challenge system
• New icon
• New standard picture

We will be working on further releases over the forthcoming months. Thank you for your continued support and of course any comments and ideas please let us know.

Thanks to all

R