Well not many people come to this blog so I'm not afraid to mention this here. You may or may not know the difficulties G and I have had at work, for the last 8+ years its been a miserably depressing downward spiral to the point where G and I are the only two full-time employees left. The last cut took out our graphics fellow, and cut the gal who handles customer service and all the accounting (after the CEO left) from full-time to 2 days a week (both effective immediately). I asked for a 50% pay cut at the time because it just didn't feel right having the other people sacrificing so much and me not having to sacrifice at all.
Now the company has enough money to get us through to the launch of the next release of our software in the beginning of August, which is pretty much up to G and I as far as the programming and user interface goes. We rely on one of our 2 bosses to update the content the software delivers. That part is not really happening at all. I have mentioned to the bosses that not having all the content updated is like selling online dictionaries, where purchasing customers discover after the sale, that their dictionary only goes to "F" but includes a little footnote that the rest of the content will become available as soon as we get it written.
In my heart I don't think our customers are going to appreciate this at all. I think it will be the final end-end (not the "end" that has been ongoing for the last 8+ years... the REAL end.)
Despite all the time that we have had to adjust to the idea, the END has not been something easy to face for either G or me.
But the two of us just got a little inspiration, a glimmer of hope, something that makes us feel as though we may have an element of control in what happens to us in the future.
It started with Gordy's new iPhone that he got for Father's day. Anyone who knows G, knows what a major Apple fan he is. The new iPhone has been the first gadget to absolutely exceed all his expectations. I could go on forever telling you about all the great functionality and applications this little device offers, but I'll let you read about all that somewhere else, as it is taking me WAAAAAY too long to get to the point.
G and I have decided to develop some iPhone applications ourselves. Starting with something I have been involved in over the past few years, doing bird counts—like the Audubon's Christmas Bird Count, Cornell & Audubon's Great Backyard Bird Count, or random survey counts for areas trying to get protected wildlife-area status.
We are excited because everything we know about software development and user interfaces we will be able to put to use.
We have created a new company, "Willow Software Foundry" (Gordy picked the name) and I picked up the domains and started a webpage for our first software application: "iBirdCount" and it's partnering desktop application "iBirdJournal." The logos are just in the sketchy stages right now. As soon as our DBA gets complete and we finalize the specs, I'm ready to get the trademarks and copyrights taken care of. You can see the page here: iBirdCount.com.
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I have a blackberry storm, they just started coming out with apps for it that are sort of line Apple but it's not the same, I see commercials for Iphone and I have seen a few in person, my son has the Itouch Ipod (is that what you call is) version but he can go on the internet, I wish I had that instead of my blackberry phone so when it comes time to renew my phone in a year and a half, I will get a plain phone and get and Itouch just for internet and email and songs since it goes on line any how. That is what I originally wanted to do but thought just having one thing would be easier, I don't think the same now.
Hi Kristen! I'm in agreement about the phone thing, much to G's shagrin, I prefer having a plain old phone. I don't like all the tiny buttons on phones like the Blackberry.
I had to pinky swear with G that after we see some success with our first iPhone app, I would break down and get an iPhone.
Wow! What excitement ... Get off the internet for a few hours and miss all the good news!!!
I have seen those iPhone ads and wondered about getting one of them since I'm out of the contract period with my Sprint phone. But I don't know if my life has enough complexity to it to justify one of them.
How long does the battery last between charges?
Does it cost a lot per month for the service? How much does the iPhone cost?
What language do you program an application in?
Questions, questions, questions ... sorry but you are the 1st person that I know of that has one ...
Going out to your new website now ..
P.S. Good luck - sounds like a fine idea!!
the new website is really attractive - beautiful colors, simple and effective. How does one get in touch with you -or- where does a prospective customer locate the iBirdCount application?
I'm sorry to hear about the troubles at work, I know how soul debilitating it can be to work for a place that truly doesn't care as much as you do.
But...it sounds like great things are going to come from you two!! Congrats on your idea, it sounds great. I have to admit that I am personally technologically challenged, but even I know that the iPhone and all it's apps are quite the rage.
I read references to it all the time as I travel about the internet, your plan seems like a really smart one and I wish you two the best of success. Your website looks good too.
From piles of manure grow bountiful crops :)
Hi Mom! Most of those questions I'll have to ask Gordy to answer. I've not paid close attention to the details of his phone...
There are different models with a price range of $99 to $300.
The language used for developing apps for the iPhone is Objective-C.
Thank you for the compliments about the page...I'm going to put contact links on it once we get everything going proper. Applications are purchased via Apple and downloads straight to the phone. Apple gets 30% commission.
Thank you too Cheryl, for the vote of confidence. We have lots of manure here *grin* so no doubt it's gonna be good what ever it is!
Hi Biddie!
iPhone battery life depends upon what you are doing with it and also the environmental conditions (for example, heat kills a battery fast)... here is the word from Apple:
iPhone 3GS offers up to 5 hours of talk time on 3G, 12 hours of talk time on 2G, 5 hours of Internet use on 3G, 9 hours of Internet use on Wi-Fi, 10 hours of video playback, or 30 hours of audio playback on a full charge at original capacity. In addition, iPhone features up to 300 hours of standby time.
The cool part is that it doesn't really matter... Why do I say that? There are dozens (if not more) ways to easily extend the battery life. For example, you can get iPhone cases that have rechargeable batteries built into them that will give you days of usage. You can also plug your iphone into any of the numerous and popular USB charging devices. This is what I use to keep my Garmin Forerunner 305 alive on long bike rides.
Michael-Ann already mentioned that the main programming language is Objective-C. You are probably pretty familiar with C from your days at ATT/Bell labs. Objective-C is just C with Smalltalk extensions. Remember -- it's been around longer than C++!
Apple uses it for it's internal development as well and most of the API's came from when they purchased NeXT from Steve Jobs.
--gordy
Cool cool cool!
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