After an unfortunately long time being out of the App Store due to issues with Push Notifications, ThinkMessenger is back up and better than ever.

What happened?

In December I started to transition my developer account from a personal one, which listed apps in the store under my name, to a business one. This is a fairly routine operation with a set procedure, however when the transition was suppose to start, I lost access to my account.

Shortly there after it became apparent that new push registrations were not going through to Apple’s server. So existing users continued to use the app without problems, but new users and anyone who uninstalled or disabled notifications, were not able to use notifications. Needless to say, I got a lot of emails from users who could not figure out what was going wrong. To avoid any more users experiencing problems, I chose to remove ThinkMessenger from sale until I could get the problem fixed. Read More »

Filed under: Uncategorized

When I was going through my files today I came across a project that at one time had been very useful. It is a DBF file editor for the Mac. I decided to upload the code to Github for anyone who might likewise have a need for it.

Download

Back when I was working at a mining company writing custom GIS software, I got very familiar with the dBase file format or DBF files since they are used along with shape files to store information about geographic data.

At the same time my dad was switching to the Mac and we were slowly pulling him away from his dependence on Parallels. One of the antiquated technologies he was hesitant to part with was a database of his sermons and illustrations that was in dBase (dating back to 1990).

So, as a loving son I put my knowledge of the format to work and created this little tool. It worked out for him until recently when he made the wise decision to purchase a real database program.

Filed under: Tools

I love Google Voice. I developed Think Messenger not because I wanted to make money or market to a large group, but because I wanted to use it. In fact, I used it for months before Apple approved it for the App Store. However, developing an application for the service, has been interesting to say the least.

Apps, whether they are first party or third, have to use an API to connect to any online service. Twitter for example has a very good public API, which has caused many developers to write apps to use the service. This breaks down to a set of URLs for getting information and performing actions on the server.

Google Voice has no public API. None. Other Google Services do, like Gmail or Google Reader, but Google Voice has yet to officially support any third party software of any kind. Pretty shocking when you consider how many tools there are.
Read More »

Filed under: Programming

I sent the following email to Git Tower.

I used Git Tower during the beta and fell in love with it. I would have bought it the day it released, but I saw that there was a student discount (and a large one at that) available. Unfortunately, I saw that you must send a copy of your student id to qualify.

This is not a problem for me because I am not a student, but because I have never gotten around to getting one (I was at work on orientation day when most people got theirs). But, for Git Tower I was willing to make the effort and $5 fee to get one. But, I then found out that the office that issues these cards is only open during the day Monday through Friday when I am at work and closes before I get to class at night. But, they are open on Saturday, so I decided to make a special trip for Git Tower. But, here in Reno we have had snow storm after snow storm that closed the school as well as spring break and I have not been able to get to the school yet.

So, after many weeks and more buts than I would normally allow in a paragraph, I decided to make a humble request that you forgo your requirement for a poor college student that already knows he enjoys your product.

Here is a picture of my binder for Chemistry. It\’s thick so you know how serious I am about my education.
http://cl.ly/5Rqm

Here is a picture of my brother. We work together and he can attest to how little time I have to get an ID.
http://cl.ly/5SjM

Here is my twitter, where I often talk about school and work and conflicts about not being able to get an ID for school.
http://twitter.com/davbeck

And finally, here is a picture of me, because it is much easier to trust a face than words on a screen.
http://cl.ly/5SXu

They were very kind and gave me the student pricing sans student ID. I would like to take the time to recommend their fantastic product to any developer working on the Mac platform. It has made using Git not only easier, but enjoyable.

Filed under: Programming

Version 1.1 of Messenger for Google Voice was released on November 30, 2010.

• Added native support for iPad
• Changed minimum iOS version to 3.2
• Changed base SDK to 4.2
• Fixed bug that caused music to stop playing when a message was sent or received
• Replaced Three20 message controller to a custom message controller fixing several bugs related to starting a new conversation and allowing Three20 to be removed completely from the app, cutting the size in half
• Fixed error handling when starting a new reply
• Fixed a bug that caused saved replies to keep showing up
• Changed the names in the inbox to take up as much room as possible without overlapping the date and resize when it runs out of room
• Added vibration when receiving push notifications when the app is open
• Made opening conversations faster
• Made scrolling through the inbox faster

Filed under: Software

Messenger for Google Voice version 1.1 is now in public beta. This new version brings native iPad support as well as several bug fixes. I am looking for 10 beta testers, 5 iPhone/iPod Touch testers, and 5 iPad testers.

If you are interested, send a list of your devices with UDID and the email address you use with Google Voice. You can find the UDID by connecting the device to your computer and clicking on it’s serial number in iTunes. If I choose to use you, I will then send you a copy of the beta.

Read More »

Filed under: Software

Time since Google Voice Messenger was submitted to Apple for approval:

17 weeks 0 days 23 hours 28 minutes 0 seconds

Update September 22, 2010: Messenger for Google Voice, is now available in the App Store.

Most apps take about a week to get approved. This is what Apple claims, and my own experiences with Bubble Burster have been even better. However, I recently submitted an app that has taken a little longer. When I started it in January, I figured there was a very likely chance that Apple would not allow it. I started the project knowing full well it may never make me any money, because I wanted to be able to use it myself.
Read More »

Filed under: Software

I have never enjoyed reading physical books. The user experience is all wrong. My thumbs get soar from holding the pages open, you have to hold it to the light just right so the curl of the pages don’t cast a giant shadow, it’s difficult to search and you need your own light source. I really don’t understand people that are attached to the physical book.

This isn’t a recent feeling either; I’ve been looking forward to digital books as long as I can remember, but up until now I didn’t really have an option. The Kindle has done a lot to get books published in digital form bit up until recently it wasn’t possible to get a book legally for any device. Read More »

Filed under: User Experience

I created a dedicated browser for Google Voice on the Mac.

It’s nothing to fancy, just a WebKit view in a simple window. The best part is that it will update the badge icon in the dock so you don’t have to keep the window open.

Refreshing from the menu will refresh like it does when you click the refresh link rather than reload the entire page.

Now in open source.

Download

Filed under: Tools

Paging is separating out content to multiple pages, and it is a really common task for websites. The problem is that like oh so many things on the web, it is rarely done well. Come with me on this journey (rant?) on the correct way to implement paging.

Each page should have a “Next” and “Previous” button. If you are referring to chronological content, such as blog posts, use “Newer” and “Older” to be more specific. They should be the most prominent part of the paging area, since anyone interacting with that area of the page will most likely be going back and forth through the results.

There should also be a list of the pages in between the next/previous button.

Here is an example from Bubble Burster website:

An example of using Newer and Previous buttons

Read More »

Filed under: User Experience, Web Development