Happy Holidays

Happy holidays from Wood and Wire Ware. I hope it’s been a good year for all in my audience. I wish everyone a joyous holiday season and a great new year to to come.

If you or someone you know is traveling this holiday season please consider getting my app Tips Across the Waters, an 11 world currency converter and tip calculator. It’s available in the Apple store for .99 USD at http://iTunes.apple.com/us/app/tips-across-the-waters/id474128076?=mt8.

Should you already have purchased Tips I would like to let you know that I’m working on the first update that will include several new features, some gained from your feedback which I thank you for your input. The iTunes upload area will be down for maintenance during the holidays and I he to get this update out prior to that time otherwise it will be released in January. Updates to Tips Across the Waters are free once you have purchased the app one time.

I’m implementing additional UI fields to support showing the tip amount which should make it handier in restaurants and I’m including localization customary tip amounts for the various included currencies. Additionally there will be some design enhance and currency rate updates.

Time to get on with the day so wishing you well again this season and thank you for your interest and support in Wood and Wire Ware.

Writing Data and So Is I

Spent a lot of time last couple days working on my next app which is going to have a focus for diabetics. I have a personal interest in that in my family, designed the app initially for that need and am in process of making it for public consumption.

Writing or saving user data on the iOS mobile devices is in theory not difficult but for me in the programming it has been challenging though I think I’m seeing the light in the technical. Once this is acquired it will be very useful if not necessary in many apps to come. I didn’t deal with it perse in Tips Across the Waters , only temporary arrays holding data. On a future update there will be a use however.

I’m using picker wheels again on the new app and issues in refreshing those objects with the saved data has been partially the challenge. I may rethink the use of them in the interface but I find them very useful in this particular case.

Speaking of Tips though I’m about to shift gears and do three updates to the current version that i should release in next week or so. One will include conversion updates and the other two came from buyer suggestions and thanks very much to those folks for the suggestions.

Am image from errands today Shadows, metal, rubber and air. Taking a break to go play some fiddle…

Post Thanksgiving images, app thoughts and wanderings and caught a great podcast series

I hope everyone in the States had a great holiday weekend and that those abroad had a wonderful weekend. I spent time in my native Arkansas with my daughter visiting family. It was a wonderful time and as always I need to find more opportunities to get back more often. A few pic’s from the trip are…

Coming in to Little Rock

Lights on the Highway, near Batesville

Continuing to think about my current and future app ideas for Wood and Wire Ware. As echoed earlier I’m planning the first update on Tips Across the Waters, my first app, which I released and was accepted in to the Apple store in late October (2011). An eleven currency converter and tip calculator, Tips Across the Waters, offers ease of use for both the world traveler and neighborhood diner. I’ve been offered a couple of suggestions that I’m hoping to employ in the first update. For those of you who have purchased my app, thank you! If you have please consider doing a review on iTunes. Additionally I’m working on my next app idea that will have a focus on diabetes.

I’ve recently came across a great podcast series on development, entrepreneurialism and Internet startup ventures, titled ‘Startups for the Rest of Us’ hosted by Mike Taber and Rob Walling. I’ve enjoyed four episodes thus far that is providing much food for thought as I delve in to my venture in app development. Check them out via their site at Startups for the Rest of Us as well as in iTunes.

My brother Bill's back deck

All the recent images as well as these on this post were all made from the iPad. Though a few strange looks in public when I photograph from it, it so much reminds me as well as feels like I’m working with a view camera, something I always wanted in the analog world but was too costly to afford. The detail is of course not what it would be in a 4×5 or 8×10 film view camera but the feel of looking through the iPad display is both exciting as well compositionally inspiring.

Arkansas - wood cut

I produced a walk through video of Tips Across the Waters recently and you can see it here on YouTube.

That’s it for this entry. Here are a couple more images from the recent trip.

Flying out on Monday - Clouds and Hidden Landscape

All photographs were made by Jim Goodin.