Henry's Headlamp Discussion

The idea for this tutorial came from the NYTimes article on how it is hard to make a living making apps.  My response to that is the fact that it is hard to make a living at anything when you go out on your own.  Some times the businesses succeed and sometimes they fail.  I see a need for apps and app developers and there still seems to be demand if you are willing to work hard and keep current (That might include working for someone else).  There is still the opportunity to go out on your own but you should be aware that there is no field of work where you are guaranteed success just because you showed up.  Your main goal for going on your own is your passion to create new things and be your own boss.  Money is a small part of that equation.

Enough of the rant though and lets start building the functionality seen in the App Henry's Headlamp.

Intro



Step 1: Create the Masking image



Step 2: Add to Xcode and Create the Touch Events.



There you have it.  A pretty simple concept that makes  a neat effect but was not enough to make Campfire Apps a profit.  Here is a quick list of possible issues that occurred with that company.

Limited Audience - They have a strong focus on one audience that does not have the power of a bank account.  Toddler apps are a tough sell when there are so many free ones out there that do the job.

Unknown Character - This is the first time I have heard of Henry.  I am curious if they did likability studies with their target audience to see if they related to the kid with the headlamp.

Limited Game Theory - There were really no levels to increase the intensity.  It was also similar to a game of memory where you had to use skills to remember where you saw something.  Unfortunately this went away because every time you spot an item, the game randomizes the scene again.  This changes it from a game of skill to a game of chance.   The reward system was ok but it was more of a choose the item and they put it in place for you.  It would have been nice to be able to drag and drop your reward yourself.  There are many great books on gamification and game theory.

Advertising - I am curious how, when, and how much advertising they did for their business.  From the article it sounds like they bought a lot of equipment but forgot to go out and sell it. I think the NYTimes article might actually help them a bit by developers trying to learn from other people's mistakes.

When is a sequel a good idea?  In any business you can make money off of a sequel.  The biggest factor is if the original was a success.  After that you will generally make a little less money the second time around.  The choice is yours to continue but you should look in the original amount of money you made and see if it is more than the cost you are going to spend making the next version.  Some costs do go down like pre existing code but there is always the cost of time, new artwork, and more advertising.

These were my thoughts on that article and I would like to hear your opinion to.  Be sure to comment below and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tech Expo Day in Mobile App

For Tech Expo, our department let the visitors try their hand at making a simple drum app.  It was basic buttons and actions that played short mp3 files of the drum being hit.  The students enjoyed it and it seemed to be a good view of what we do in this department.

Some of the concepts covered in this app where:

• AVFoundation AVAudioPlayer
• UIButton (Custom Button with no text)
• @property tags
• NSURLs

Happy Coding
Jeremy Skrdlant

Implementing the Morning Cup of Coffee

Starting with the time change we are going to implement the morning cup of coffee.  From 8 to 9 am every day there will be a meeting in the Yellow room where the coffee is free for that period of time.  Everyone will participate one time or another in showing apps they found. We will look at each app and discuss the following questions.

• Does it implement good design?
• What is the core functionality?
• Which Libraries did they use?
• Can we recreate the algorithm they used?
• Is there a way to make it work better?

From this we hope to keep current on trends in apps along with improving your ability to emulate others in creating apps.  If you are learning to play guitar, you often try to learn songs from people who inspire you.  If you get good enough at recreating their songs, you soon gain the ability recreate your own ideas that are not recorded yet.

So lets welcome the morning with a bold brew of Folgers and a discussion involving our passion of building apps!

Week 1
Angry Birds - Discussion on Variables and Objects used in the game. 

Grafio Lite vs. Gliffy.com - Discussion on the use of tutorials and help tips in the app.  Comparison of a Cloud based service and a native app.

Google Election Results - When is it a website and when is it a Mobile App.  Who owns Data and what are the privacy concerns.

Epic Drum Set - We were building a drum kit for Tech Expo.  We studied this one and had the students try to layout how they would build it.  Then we went and implemented it in the lab.

Snoopy's Fair - Look at large scale sim like apps that promote building stuff together.


Week 2

FieldView - Look into the hardware component of apps.  How to communicate with 3rd party devices like the sensors that fit on tractor planters.

Minecraft - How apps can start with simple objects that get more and more complex over time.  Also looked at some of the flowcharts that described rules for building.

Hoccer & Sleep101 - Apps that use accelerometers and the gyro to improve the user experience.

Forge of Neon - A look at an OpenGL app that takes advantage of camera rotations and multiple gestures.

ARBasketball - A look at augmented reality and ways to use it to sell other products.


Week 3

Burrito Maker - Literally Cheesy app but a good look into inheritance and composition

Henry's Headlamp - Discussed the NYTimes article on it being tough in the industry. My Reply to that article.

Turkey Talk, Turkey Blast & Thanksgiving Menu Maker - Discussed seasonal apps.  Benefits, promoting, and the role of seasonal apps in a mobile society.

Have a great thanksgiving break!


Week 4

The Impossible Game - Had a discussion on the Freemium model of making money off of apps.  How long should you let a user get free service until you start charging them?

i3D & Dodge That - A look at head tracking apps that use the position of your face to determine how to draw the screen.  This was originally seen in the famous Johnny Lee YouTube Video.

Infinity Menu - We looked at a great design and then an app with the same name that has to be honest a horrible design.  You can see the nice design here and download the bad design to get an understanding of the importance of starting with the design and not implementing and thinking of design later.  This might change as soon as the developers get the design upgraded but for now it is a great example.

Snapchat - We looked at this very popular phone app that is super simple yet really popular.  The most interesting concept is that there is not concern for saving any of the data for later.  It is sort of the anti data horder app.

Flow Free - A great simple game that uses metaphors of water pipes with the sounds it plays when you get a connection.  It also builds off the principle that motivation comes from many small successes that are built off the others.  It doesn't throw you into the ocean but rather lets you gradually walk in.  It is also the type of game you can start and stop in any spare amount of free time you have.  A true downtime waiting in line type app.


Week 5

Voxer & HeyTell - A look at walkie talkie type apps.

Magic Plan, Easy Measure, & iHandy Leveler - Discussed measuring apps.  Looked briefly in the trig involved with finding the measurement using the triangle to the floor and the angle of the gyro.

iMotion HD - Looked at stop motion photography and discussed methods of storying the data so it could be played back at different speeds and edited.

Paper by 53, Sumo Paint, & Sketchpad - A look at the many drawing apps that are available.  Discussed features and what could set an app apart.

Backwords - Trying out the partying games.  A look at games that are designed for groups to take part in.  We also created a MadLibs as a group.

Week 6

Web App Games - A look at games that are in web app form.  When does it change from a website to an app?  What are the best practices for creating a web app game?

Wunderkit - A look at a web app that unfortunately is going away back to Wunderlist.  Interesting look in apps that try to get groups of people working together in an organized fashion

Smash Heat - A look at a game that uses notifications with rewards to bring the individual back over and over again.

3i show - Discussion over how to make a web app that would be futuristic and useful for both individuals attending and participating in an event.

National Parks - Interesting app with lots of features that are discovered over time.  The images really make this app.


Week 7

Tone Pad, Alchemy, & SoundPrism - A look at music synth apps that make making music easy.

Mindshift Article -  A look at artificial intelligence and a discussion on how the students would start a project that involved coding a program that can recognize creativity and understanding.

Weather Apps - A look at weather apps and the APIs that feed these apps the information they need.

Christmas Break
Have a happy holidays and I look forward to seeing you in the new year!!!

Making Your Tutorials ADA Compliant

YouTube now automatically does speech to text caption creation on videos you upload.  This is a nice feature but if you watch your videos, you will often spot many small errors in the translation.  That results in your videos being hard to decipher for individuals who are deaf.  Luckily YouTube has made it easy for you to edit those captions.



Here are the Steps

1. Log into your YouTube Account
2. Click on Video Manager 
3. Find the Video and click on Edit
4. In the Tab Bar choose Captions
5. Click on the English Translate Track
6. Beginning Modifying till your hearts content