Garlic Dumpling

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Stack Overflow -- quite a game :)

I've used Stack Overflow for quite some time now. It's been a great resource for me (and probably most developers). Up until recently, however, I had used it mainly through Google -- I'd often come across Stack Overflow results when searching for how I might solve a problem. I'd also ask the occasional question, too.

A couple of weeks ago, though, I started to realize that I could answer a lot of the questions asked about iPhone/iPad development. I had run across a lot of the same questions that are asked on Stack Overflow and was able to answer questions with decent code snippets. As I started to do so, my reputation points started increasing and... it totally became a game for me. I had heard of developers frequenting the site daily (even hourly!), looking for questions to answer or thinking of good questions to ask. I never really understood that. But now, having given it a chance, I can see where the addiction comes from. When there's a lull in my coding or reading the various news sites I read, I find myself skimming through questions on Stack Overflow and answering questions.

Avenue See Lite - Virtual Reality Street View is now available in the App Store!

Sweet, just got my latest app approved by Apple! I released a lite version of Avenue See so that people could try the app out for free before (hopefully) buying the premium version. The lite version has basically all of the functionality of the premium app: You can pick a point on the map, click on the little yellow man, and experience virtually what it'd be like to be at that spot. The main differences are: this version is ad-supported; this version doesn't cache recent views, which makes it a bit slower to load; and there's no search functionality.

This is the first time I've submitted a free app and I'm excited to see how well it does. I'm showing three types of ads -- iAds, AdMob ads, and house ads (or, in other words, ads that direct the user to Garlic Dumpling's apps). I'm interested to see how well these ads perform and whether they'll lead to better sales of my apps. I've configured the app so that it has three modes of displaying ads, so I'll be able to tinker with the settings and see which mode performs best. I'll post my findings in the future if I find anything interesting.

On a much more personal level, I'll be diving into business school apps for the next few weeks. Planning on applying to 2-4 more schools. Wish me luck!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Avenue See - Virtual Reality Street View, version 1.1, is now available in the App Store!

That was fast! I added search capability to Avenue See -- now you can enter, say, "Seattle", and have the map centered on Seattle. No more zooming in and out and panning to find a location on the map!

I also fixed a (slightly amusing) bug where the app would think you're pointing in the opposite direction when you tilt the phone too high. That's unfortunately just the way the compass on an iPhone works -- it's the top of the iPhone that sets the direction. Once you tilt the phone too high, at some angle (45ish degrees), you're pointing the phone backwards.

Finally, I smoothed out the motion for iPhone 3GS and iPad users. Because I'm using accelerometer data, the input from the device can be jittery. I smoothed it out by dampening the different forces that play on the device.

Hope you all enjoy the app!

Monday, December 13, 2010

flickr Photos and Pica Photos, approved and in the App Store!

Wow, that was fast! My apps, flickr Photos and Pica Photos, got approved and are in the App Store. It was just a small update I did, mostly to improve performance with iOS4.2. Oh, and I updated the icons, too, so all three of my Photos apps have the same look.

Oh, and for those of you using my app on an iPhone running iOS 3, please don't update the app as it won't work properly yet. An update to fix this is coming soon.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Avenue See - Virtual Reality Street View is now available the App Store!

Great news! Garlic Dumpling's latest app, Avenue See, is now available in the App Store! Avenue See is a fun app that let's you choose a location on a map and experience what it'd be like if you were at that location yourself. Here's a sample video of Avenue See in action:

The Golden Gate Bridge:

This app makes great use of the iPhone 4's gyroscope, which allows you to track your device's movement very accurately. It also works on an iPhone 3GS and an iPad, albeit not as smoothly (I had to make use of the accelerometer, which doesn't give quite the fidelity or smoothness in tracking motion). And though this is an iPhone app (i.e., not built specifically for the iPad), it works great on the iPad, especially with the screen size at 2x -- it's just a bigger window to experience the app!

Here is the description for Avenue See:

The best use of your new iPhone 4's gyroscope yet! Pick a point on the map, click on the little man, and experience a 360 panoramic view of that location. (This app also works with iPhone 3GS and iPad.)

Your iPhone will become a window into any location that has Google Street View data. With ever growing coverage, you can virtually experience almost any location in the world! (for more information on coverage, please visit http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=68384)

Point your phone north to see what you'd see if you were facing north at that location. Swing your phone up and down, left and right -- your phone will show you what you'd see as if you were there yourself!

See videos of this app in action here:

Golden Gate Bridge: http://vimeo.com/17350718
Eiffel Tower: http://vimeo.com/17350793

Get this app quick, it's being offered at this introductory price for a limited time only!

Note: Google does not endorse nor sponsor this app, nor is Garlic Dumpling, LLC affiliated in any way with Google.

And here's another video of the app:

The Eiffel Tower

I'm already working on an update for the app and I expect to submit the update soon. I hope you enjoy the app!

PS. I can't seem to search for the app on the App Store yet, both on my iPhone and in iTunes. You can reach it here. I'll update this post when it shows up in the App Store's search results.

[update] The app is now searchable in the App Store!

Friday, December 10, 2010

over 24 hours and still waiting..

Haven't had an app be in the "In Review" stage for this long. I wonder what the holdup is..? =\

Thursday, December 9, 2010

submitted updates to the Photos apps

Made some minor updates for flickr Photos, fcbk Photos, and Pica Photos, and just submitted the three apps to the App Store.

I wonder if anyone has all three of these apps on their iPhone or iPad... :)