Nicholas Pike

I think I am starting to get the hang of the changes Apple made to the official SDK…. some more fruits of my labor based on advice from Erik Bye, Mike Jefferson, and Patrick Santos (still a work in progress - but looks MUCH better then version 1 of iXboxLive for iPhone1)

Why doesn’t Xcode support tabs?  Come on Apple.

So really haven’t been in the right frame of mind these past few days to do any sort of creative/constructive work, let alone work on my iPhone applications…  but I did have a burst of creative energy today to make some updates:

Hopefully once I get my life back together, and feel more comfortable with Apple’s stupid Interface Builder, I will be posting screenshots of my other highly anticipated titles, like MobileTwitter.  Until then, I do appologize to everyone for the delay.. hit a big big unexpected roadbump in life.

This is just a screenshot of iXboxLive 70% ported to the new iPhone firmware, still much left to do..

Unfortunately the short answer is no - the long answer is:  I built MobileTwitter because the current solutions available for the iPhone at the time didn’t cut it, in terms of usability, iPhone-like UI, and features.

It is widely known that Iconfactory will be releasing the iPhone version of Twitterific (and Twinkle will also be making an appearance to the AppStore at launch I suspect) - I am fully expecting/hoping that Iconfactory’s iPhone Twitterific will be satisfactory, and I plan to be using it myself.

If it is not, you will see an official version of MobileTwitter for the iPhone AppStore.

I do have plans to release other applications on the store in time, but unfortunately Apple has not accepted me into the paid developer plan - so while I may have new and exciting applications cooking, I am unable to distribute them to the masses  (*frustration*).

I will continue to maintain MobileTwitter for JailBroken devices, currently only up to Firmware 1.4 - I have no idea of the “JailBreaking status” for the new firmware… so can’t make any garuntees that MobileTwitter will make an appearance for that firmware.

So this week I purchased a mountain bike:

I’ve been riding around the canal from Brighton to Pittsford with Pat, almost 7 miles each trip so far.  (I have been walking about 3 miles a day prior to buying the bike, but have always wanted a bike so it seemed a more entertaining way of exercising.  Plus  I get to feed my flickr account ;-))

Flickr photo set

Well it has been a significant amount of time since my last update — life has been rather hectic.  So what have I been up to?

• Finding a new place to live thats close to my new full time job
• Securing full time employment
• Finishing school projects
• Preparing graduation stuff…
• Preparing financial documents for student loan repayment..
• Discovering how broke I am
• Finish up projects at Thomson(Reuters)-West

If it’s not on the above list, then it is likely not a priority for me right now.  Unfortunately that means all my side projects (MobileTwitter) are on hold for a few weeks until everything settles down.

BlueTie

I have accepted a full time Software Engineering position with BlueTie Inc, and will start work June 2nd (promptly after graduating from RIT).  Not sure exactly what I am allowed to disclose about my position, but its mainly a hardcore JavaScript position  (which everyone knows…  I can’t live without a healthy dose JavaScript in my life.)

New Apartment!

Shortly before graduation I will be moving into my very new townhouse (located in Brighton/Pittsford NY).

Updates in MobileTwitter 1.5

• The Update View has been redesigned and moved. It is no longer on the button bar at the bottom of the screen, but exists on the top right corner of every view. Clicking the “Update” button will slide the update view down over your current view. No more mis-clicking on buttons while going for the spacebar.
• Settings view reorganized, with new options
• Enable/Disable secure connections. This was enabled by default under the hood, but some users are experiencing connection problems, disabling secure connections may help.
• MobileTwitter now automatically checks for new @replies and direct messages, displaying the new number on the button bar for Messages. The “Messages” view has been updated to show this count, and also include the “>” arrow for each menu option. Any new @replies will show up with a blue sphere beside them (similar to MobileMail.app and new messages)
• New menu option when tapping tweets: View user’s tweets. This loads the users 20 most recent tweets.
• New springboard icon.
• Black UI
• Manual “Reload” button on each tab
• Smaller font for tweets seems to help with fitting all the text in one box hopefully no more trailing “…”s on tweet texts.
• Manually reloading a view will now make sure the view scrolls to the top
• Public Timeline renamed to “Everyone” in accordance with Twitter.com changes
• Many under the hood core changes.

MobileTwitter 1.5 is available on my private repository, and soon to be updates on STE’s community repository.  If you can’t wait, it is also available for manual install.

MobileTwitter

Managed to get some quality sit down time with the iPod Touch and my Macbook this evening… MobileTwitter 1.5 is coming along rather nicely.

Played with the UI a little bit as well, below are screenshots of MobileTwitter 1.5 in black - what do you think?

• *MobileTwitter will automatically check for new Replies when opened. The button bar will display the number of new replies waiting for you to view.
• Replies and Direct Messages Views now highlight unread/new messages.
• Tapping a tweet will now also give you the option to view the authors recent tweets.

MobileTwitter 1.5 is still a ways off, but I might release a beta version to my private repository for public testing.

* Automatically checking for Replies and Direct Messages at startup is costly. Twitter only allows 70 API requests to be made per 60 minute period.  Checking for both Replies and Direct Messages, as well as pulling your timeline will use up three requests every time you open the application.  To ease the burden on the API I am only checking Replies at the moment.