Mobile Fission

Blog Moved

2010-07-22T13:09:00.002-04:00

Hello! I have moved my blog over to wordpress. I will no longer be posting updates here. You can get to my new blog by going to www.mobilefission.com and it will redirect you.

Mobile Web Applications

2010-06-24T08:22:00.004-04:00

There always seems to be a push from IT folks to cross-develop for multiple mobile platforms. The truth is, in many cases you just cannot make a mobile application that is quite as compelling as a native app. You lose a lot of the hardware access and speed that make it so satisfying to use something like an iPhone application. That is why you see people like Facebook making apps for every device. In addition, you lose the app store exposure and marketing unless you package the web app into some kind of native wrapper.

All of that being said, there are cases where a web app will do fine and can target more than one platform. e-Commerce is a good example. Web storefronts created with an MVC design pattern can swap out a simpler presentation layer that will look better on a mobile device. Go to target.com as an example.

The elusive search for a nice framework that goes past basic HTML and leverages more advanced features across all smartphones has been going on a while. I've seen many, but they either suck completely or will not be accepted into the app store. With iSkygaze, I used a library called IUI to make a web app that seems more like a native app. Today though, there is a new solution and I'm liking it a lot....

http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/

Senchatouch is made by the same people who made ExtJS. It combines HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript to make a pretty nice apps for the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Is it a replacement for native apps? No, but it could be a great solution for people developing apps for internal use in a corporate environment where app store visibility is not important.

iPhone/iPad Storybook

2010-05-07T09:54:00.004-04:00

I'm fairly close to wrapping up a cool project for the iPhone and iPad. It will be completely free. This kids storybook allows various personalization and will hopefully attract some new customers to Lillian Vernon. Stay tuned!

In other news, the facility that I work at in Virginia Beach will be shutting down next year. They want me to move to Colorado but I am fairly certain I am not interested. I guess I still have plenty of time to figure it out.

I think the iPad is great

2010-04-07T09:00:00.003-04:00

Thank God the ultra-nerds of this world do not determine the success of a product. Yes, I like the iPad.

Everyday I read the same diatribe that has been spread across the internet by a core bunch of people who refuse to allow anything in the electronic ecosystem that is NOT complex.

"It's just a big iPod touch"
"It's a closed system. I hate Apple."
"No USB port? No way!"

The iPad is NOT just a big iPod touch. That's like writing off a 50" TV as just a bigger 9" TV. The interface is certainly familiar which is why it is so intuitive, but the apps have been redesigned to really take advantage of the space. It has the speed to do it all incredibly fast and a battery life that is unparalleled. Go the Apple Store, read "The Elements" by Theodore Gray or watch a Netflix movie and tell me you are not impressed.

As far as the closed system argument goes, the app store has something for everyone. I am running an incredible astronomy program, a flight sim, Netflix, note taking, word processor and some great games. There are plenty of options. In addition, the App Store has plenty of apps that are in direct competition with Apple like Kindle and Netflix. People are looking for a problem where none exists. Believe me, an app being refused from the app store is the exception, NOT THE RULE!!!!

Apple's forte is engineering complete solutions through hardware and software. They do this incredibly well. The fit and finish of the product is incredible, and the minor complaints I do have like multitasking and uploading photos via Safari can and will be addressed through software updates.

Does it replace a laptop for everyone? No. I cannot develop software on it, nor can I create videos like I do with Final Cut on the Mac. It does have a place though. For reading books, surfing the web, email, watching movies on a trip or in the kitchen, using specialty apps like notetaking, astronomy, etc, this device is great. If you don't like it and think a Windows 7 or Android tablet will be better that is ok, but at least try the thing before repeating some inane comment you've heard on the net. Android cannot even include a decent email client and HP has a horrible track record for touch screen UI so I wouldn't get too excited.

Foreign Character Sets Working in Next Version...Confirmed

2009-08-05T11:36:00.004-04:00

I'm happy to report that all international characters will work in Version 1.2. You can see a sample below. I'm working on making the process of fitting characters into the alloted space better as well as improving how text using the Zapfino font is edited and rendered.

Current Postcards 1.2

2009-08-05T10:00:00.002-04:00

The next version of Current Postcards (1.2) will fix problems using the extended characters that are available on the iPhone. This is really for international users or spanish speaking user trying to use enhanced character sets. I believe this will also allow chinese/japanese characters (kanji, han) to render correctly but it is a little difficult testing this. The simulator for the iPhone does allow me to change the language but I haven't figure out how to actually write these characters in the simulator yet.

We are also working on more postcard themes for a future update that include more "postcard" like themes with the stamp, watermark, etc... Expect this to follow after the 1.2 release.

Hope you are enjoying the free program!

1.1 Other Features

2009-06-16T09:18:00.004-04:00

Apple took too long to publish Current Postcards 1.1, so I went ahead and included some other tweaks I completed and re-uploaded the app. This means you may not see the app till next week. In addition to the fixes in my previous post, it also supports font selection and adds a photo border.

Click on the sample above for a better view...

Current Postcards 1.1

2009-06-08T10:08:00.003-04:00

Current Postcards 1.1 should be released to the iTunes store shortly. It fixes two issues:

1. Firmware as old as 2.1 is supported now.

I really screwed up with the initial release so let this be a lesson to other people developing applications. When you target your distribution build, make sure you target an OLDER firmware. If you don't, people who are using older firmware will not be able to install it. While everyone should upgrade their device, not everyone remembers or knows it is important.

In some cases, you have to target a newer firmware, but for most apps you should NOT have to go older than 2.1. 2.1 added a an easier API for playing sound files which many apps may be using.

2. Fixed a weird bug that caused the Facebook "authorization uploads" screen to flip back to the theme selection instead of going to the facebook upload screen.

The facebook connect API gives you functions to present the user with a dialog to get extended permissions. In my case, this allows the application to upload a postcard to your facebook wall. The dialog that confirms this automatically disappears if you do nothing, but the user can also touch "Okay". I was forcing the screen to flip if they pressed "Okay" but it would flip automatically anyway. This resulted in it flipping to the upload screen then flipping back. The user might think something was wrong. Simple fix. I did not notice it when testing because I always waited for it to dissappear.

I'm working on font selection next since that is tougher to implement. Twitter support should be cake.

Twitter

2009-05-15T10:55:00.002-04:00

I am now on twitter. I'll use it to publish quick updates about changes to Current Postcards or iSkyGaze.

You can follow me here:

http://www.twitter.com/yarsrvenge

Current Postcards

2009-05-08T20:49:00.003-04:00

Long time no write. I just finished up a native iPhone application for the App Store. It is a free program that allows you to create postcards and greeting cards from photos and save, email or upload to Facebook.

I created this for my company in my spare time for a lot of reasons, but the biggest was to generate some excitement across our various departments and get the business to open up to new ideas and directions. There are a lot of people doing exactly the same thing, and Apple has made developing for their platform a lot of fun.

It was nice to work on something that was NOT Microsoft related for a change. No offense against Microsoft, but they simply aren't innovative anymore. Most of their time seems to be spent copying what other people do. I do think highly of their development tools, but when it comes to their desktop and mobile operating systems...they really are not in nearly as robust as what I've seen from Apple and others.

Anyway, here is a link to a youtube video for the new iPhone application.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0C18rXCxEs

I have other apps planned. Sorry this is not astronomy related. I had to make a choice when working on a native app whether to do something for myself or something to help out my company. Given the tough economic times and doing more with less, I think it was the right choice. It has provided a fun project for several people and helped people realize that we want to grow and 'think different'. From that perspective, I consider it a success already.

There are some great astronomy apps in the app store, I would check them out. iSkyGaze simply does not have all the great features of a native app because I do not have the kind of hardware control in a web app. Keep in mind, it was written before there was even an SDK :) That being said, people still use it and I get emails all the time.

Thanks for the support!

iSkyGaze Back Up!!

2008-08-27T22:36:00.002-04:00

iSkyGaze should now be working again. I appreciate all the e-mails and support and apologize for the downtime. This was a particularly weird mathematical bug and frankly I am surprised it did not show up sooner.

Please report any issues!

iSkyGaze Down

2008-08-04T14:02:00.001-04:00

The iSkyGaze application is nor currently working due to a server-side issue. I hope to get some time to rectify this by the end of the week. I'm sorry for the inconvenience!

The iMac and iPhone SDK

2008-03-24T19:07:00.008-04:00

Well, I took the plunge. I needed a new PC anyway, so I went ahead and got the iMac. I've successfully set it up with a dual boot using boot camp. I can now boot up into either MAC OSX 10.5 (Leopard) or Windows Vista. One of the images I attached above actually shows me installing Vista Service Pack 1 onto the iMac.

I will save my iMac praise for another post. For right now, I thought I would talk a little bit about the iPhone SDK.

For developers working with Visual Studio, XCode (Apple's development IDE) falls a little short compared to what you are used to. In addition, there are some real setbacks when it comes to the state of the SDK. Here are some of the bigger ones:

Garbage Collection: The iPhone SDk does not currently support garbage collection unlike the SDK for normal Mac OSX applications where it is an option. This is not too horrible, but it does require you to be VERY careful with memory allocation. Using the SDK reminded me more of developing in C++ than C#.
UI Designer: This version of the toolkit does not provide a nice GUI for developing your screens like you see in Visual Studio. I understand that it is coming, but for now it is not present which means that these interfaces have to be created in code.
IDE: The IDE is not nearly as polished as Visual Studio. Great features like dynamic help and displaying methods in classes as you type are not present. Again, it is not horrible but after using Microsoft's development products I am very spoiled. The iPhone simulator that comes with the SDK works pretty well, and even includes Safari so you can test your web apps. One of the screenshots above shows the simulator running on my iMac desktop with iSkyGaze running.
Tight Sandbox: There are some basic low-level things I wanted to do in the SDK and could not because Apple locked it down pretty hard. A great example is the camera. The SDk does not allow you to programatically take a picture without the user interacting. The UIPickerView class brings up the camera dialog and makes the user press the shutter. There is no way to just take a picture myself.

All this really means is that developing something like iSkyGaze Plus on the iPhone will take a little longer than planned. I am no longer confident in a release in time to distribute for iTunes. Overall, I think the SDk is pretty good, but is far from complete or perfect.

Constellation: Lyra

2008-03-14T11:39:00.008-04:00

Just a quick note that I have added two objects to iSkyGaze from the constellation Lyra. The bright star Vega is easily visible by everyone. Once you find Vega, you will see the parallelogram that comprises Lyra.

I also added a deep-sky object, the Ring Nebula. You are going to need a telescope for this one. Even a small telescope will allow you to see the rings. Don't expect to see the color in the picture above. You can sometimes see some color by averting your vision.

Both of these are better seen in the summer months. I wanted to get them in now while I had some time.

iPhone SDK and iSkyGaze...

2008-03-12T08:23:00.005-04:00

As many of you probably heard, Apple released their iPhone SDK so developers could release native applications for the iPhone and distribute them via iTunes. This is a huge announcement and developers like myself are scrambling to get applications created for release.

iSkyGaze has thousands of people using it everyday. Because it is strictly a web based application, I am limited in the kinds of things I can do right now. The graphic content is kept down to a bare minimum so it works well over Edge, and I do not allow any database calls to keep my web hosting fees down. Also, although Javascript allows me to emulate the look and feel of the iPhone, it is not as smooth as a native application. For all these reasons I have decided to buy a Mac and develop a native iSkyGaze application. My plans right now are to call it iSkyGaze Plus. The existing iSkyGaze web application will remain up as long as people are using it.

I only plan on charging one or two bucks for iSkyGaze Plus, but I have lots of great features planned. Here are some of the things I am looking at:

Lots of additional objects. With the iPhone doing the math calculations, I can do a lot more at once.
Real-time position updating
3D view of planetary objects
Logging feature so you can record your viewing observations
A MUCH faster and more intuitive interface
Dynamically generated star charts for locating objects

First step is to buy a Mac. :) I hope to do that very soon. My plan is to dual-boot Vista so I can also continue my Visual Studio development work. Although the development environment on Mac does not look quite as polished as Visual Studio, it is pretty good. From my perspective, having a knowledge of C# should make this pretty painless I just need to learn more about the Cocoa framework.

I will post updates on my progress! I will also continue to add 0bjects into iSkyGaze as the spring/summer months approach. My focus is adding objects that everyone can see and easily identify.

iSkyGaze Mentioned on TUAW!

2008-03-07T10:44:00.003-05:00

Someone let me know that iSkyGaze was mentioned on the popular TUAW blog. You can see the post here. It also showcases some other great apps for the iPhone related to space including a really neat app that tells you when various man-made satellites will be visible from your location.

Daylight Saving Time

2008-03-06T13:13:00.014-05:00

For those of us in the USA, this Sunday marks the beginning of Daylight Saving time. Clocks spring forward one hour. For folks in the European Union, DST does not go into effect until March 30.

The newest release of iSkyGaze adds a specific toggle switch for DST. You will want to go into the program under settings, specify your timezone again and then turn DST on. This has the effect of adding an additional hour to the UTC offset.

There are some services that I could attempt to use which supposedly provide the correct DST for a location, but in testing them they do not cover everyone. They are actually quite a few people using iSkyGaze internationally and the data is not accurate enough to rely on it.

iSkyGaze Version 1.06 Released

2008-03-06T10:23:00.022-05:00

There are several changes in this version:

Added Real-Time Images of Sun/Moon
When you go into the details screen for the sun, you will see an image from the SOHO satellite. This is a near real-time image of the sun taken by the satellite and sent back to earth. For the moon, I have added an image of what the moon face should look like given the % of illumination. This is courtesy of the US Naval Observatory.

Web Clip Now Works from Menu Screen
If you save a web clip icon of iSkyGaze on your home screen, it now uses the Saturn icon even if you save the clip from the menu screen. I do not encourage this because the start screen shows important system messages if something arises. It is there if you prefer it though.

Added Daylight Savings Time Setting
Just in time! Daylight savings time goes into effect this coming weekend in the US. If you turn DST ON in iSkyGaze it will adjust the GMT time by one hour to compensate.

Fixed Problems with Invalid Input String Error
This error occured when someone set up their location but did not specify a timezone. The program did not validate whether a timezone was entered. I have not only aded the validation, but made the validation using javascript onclick. This was not initially done because the IUI library I use for the iPhone is very possessive when it comes to events. I had to make the changes in their library which I wanted to avoid to keep the IUI library clean. Thanks to Chris from Berkeley CA for his help in identifying this nagging problem.

New Tutorial Video Posted + Version 1.05

2008-03-03T10:47:00.005-05:00

Because iSkyGaze has had some major additions and changes since the first release, I went ahead and recorded a new video tutorial this weekend. In addition to showing the program, I also show you how to enable cookies on your iPhone or iPod if you do not know how to do this.

Click Here to Watch the YouTube Video

I also released a small upgrade this weekend which addresses some issues with skygaze calculations in areas far south like Austrailia / New Zealand where they actually have GMT+13 for their daylight savings time. Thanks to the users from these areas that reported the problem!

New Objects Added to iSkyGaze

2008-02-27T08:30:00.005-05:00

I have added two more objects from the constellation Taurus. The bright red star Aldebaran and the open cluster Pleiades. These are both fairly bright objects which can be seen by almost everyone this time of year.

iSkyGaze Speed Increased

2008-02-22T16:45:00.003-05:00

iSkyGaze is already pretty fast at this point, even over EDGE. I try and minimize the graphic content since it is mostly about the data. I went ahead and implemented GZIP compression today which should reduce the perceived load time of pages. Enjoy!

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

2008-02-20T18:05:00.008-05:00

A kind person reminded me that there is a lunar eclipse this evening. I had forgotten about it with my busy schedule at work this past couple of weeks. The entire event is visible from South America and most of North America (on Feb. 20) as well as Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia (on Feb. 21). This site offers great information on when you can see it from your location:

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2008Feb21/TLE2008Feb21.html

iSkyGaze does not calculate lunar eclipses at this point, but I will make an effort to either include upcoming events in the system message area or provide links to other sites from within the program.

1.04 Released

2008-02-20T12:12:00.004-05:00

I have released a new version that addresses some bugs which crept into the last update. Here is what was added or resolved:

Program errors if the moon did not reach transit the current day
The program now checks to see if cookies are enabled.
Added the binary star system Sirius in constellation Canis Major
Resolved issues where iSkyGaze reported that objects were not visible when they actually were. This effected users outside the east coast of the United States.
Resolved postback issues between ASP.NET and the IUI Ajax library that caused perceived delays in updates of longitude and latitude

Thanks for all the feedback!!

iSkyGaze 1.03 Released

2008-02-14T09:08:00.005-05:00

The new version has been posted. Please report any problems. In addition to some performance improvements, I also added the following objects in the Orion constellation:

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Orion Nebula

Orion is easy to spot this time of year. iSkyGaze will provide an image to help you locate the constellation.

More objects coming soon!

iSkyGaze Update Status

2008-02-13T09:02:00.000-05:00

I am very close to releasing a new version. This version has faster calculations, but the increased amount of data from the new objects has diminished some of the returns. I have some ideas on how to recoup the speed, but it will take some time. I may release it as is so you can have access to the new objects.

iSkyGaze Released

2008-02-06T23:38:00.000-05:00

The initial version of iSkyGaze was released and I have received a lot of great input. I appreciate the support! I am working on the next release which addresses two things I really want, speed and more objects. This new version is over twice as fast. In addition, I have redesigned the internals of the program to make adding objects easier. My goal with iSkyGaze was to make it easy for casual stargazers to use. That means making the interface simple, using easily understood english, and restricting the object list to lot of things most everyone can see. The Orion Nebula and stars in key constellations will be first in the update. The details page will also have some pictures to help identifying where the objects are in the sky.
I am working on it as much as I can, but I do have a real job :) Expect a new version in the next two weeks! If you haven't tried iSkyGaze, just point your iPhone or iPod touch's safari browser to: http://www.mobilefission.com/iskygaze

I also made a small video of the application which you can see by clicking here

About iSkyGaze

2007-11-27T14:40:00.003-05:00

What is iSkyGaze?

iSkyGaze is a web application that I wrote specifically for the iPhone and iPod touch. Once you tell the application where you are located, it will tell you when and where various celestial objects can be seen. This includes rise/set times, altitude, heading, brightness (magnitude), live data, the best time to see it and more. In addition to all the planets, Sun and Moon I have also included other objects like distant stars and nebula. More objects are being added all the time. The application was designed to allow even the most casual stargazer an easy way to identify what they can see from their location and plan a vewing session.

What do I need to run iSkygaze?

iSkyGaze is a web application that uses special tags and javascript that will only allow it to be viewed correctly on an iPhone or iPod Touch. It works over and EDGE or Wi-Fi connection.

How do I use iSkyGaze?

If you have one of these devices, it is easy to start using it. On your device, open the web browser (Safari) and enter in the following web address:

http://www.mobilefission.com/iskygaze

That's it! There is a tutorial/help section in the application to get you started. You can also view a video tutorial of the application on youtube by going here:

iSkyGaze Video Instructions

How Much does iSkyGaze Cost?

Free! I decided to release the application as ad-supported freeware.

How Does it Work?

iSkyGaze is actually a .NET application. All calculations on where an object is (or will be) are done within my program using standard astronomy algorithms based on Kepler's laws.

About Joey's Coloring Book

2007-10-03T13:27:00.001-04:00

What is Joey's Coloring Book?

This is a painting program for little kids as young as two years old. It is a C# program written using .NET and the XNA game developers set.

What do I need to run Joey's Coloring Book?

Right now, this is designed to run on the XBOX 360. You will need an XBOX 360, and access to XBOX Live over an internet connection. The XNA developers kit allows easy porting to Windows and Zune, so I may explore these later.

When can I download this?

It will not be available until Microsoft releases public access to XNA developed software. This is expected around the holiday season in 2008.

How Much does it Cost?

This is still undecided. Because it will be hosted on the XBOX live service, I cannot make any revenue from Google ads. Regardless, there will be a free trial version which is allowed in the XBOX service model. If I do charge anything, it would be VERY minimal in relation to other XBOX Live Arcade games.

Who is Joey?

It is written after my son who was very young when I started working on it. My ultimate hope was to release other software for kid's in the "Joey" collection since the space is already full of arcade games and other more adult-themed games.

About Mobile Fission

2007-07-28T14:36:00.004-04:00

Mobile Fission is a site to share some of the fun software I am creating. I have created software for the Pocket PC and AutoPC, but I am currently focused on the iPhone. Mobile Fission is run by Gus Branchesi who is currently a senior IT manager at Current USA. Implementing sound policies / procedures to ensure good coding practices and meet service-level agreements is an important part of what I do. Keeping up with the latest development tools, platforms and design methodologies is critical and Mobile Fission provides a creative outlet to do this.

You can also view my linked in public profile for more information.

About Current Postcards

2007-06-08T10:22:00.007-04:00

What is Current Postcards?
Current Postcards is an application for the iPod Touch and iPhone that allows you to create postcards and greetings cards. It allows you to save them to your device, email them or upload them to Facebook.

In addition to using your own photos, it also allows you to create regular greeting cards without a picture. Seperate themes are included for this.

What do I need to run Current Postcards?
An iPhone or iPod Touch

How do I install the application?
Just go into the app store on your device and search for Current Postcards. You can also install it from your computer using iTunes. Here is a direct link if you have iTunes installed:

iTunes Link

How do I use Current Postcards?
It is pretty intuitive, but there is a video tutorial at:

http://tinyurl.com/cpcvideo

How Much does Current Postcards Cost?
Free! I created it for the company I work for as a way to drive some traffic to our site as well as create some excitement within our various departments. There is no gimmick or phishing involved. There is a small ad banner displayed at the bottom of the main screen but that is about it.

What's with this Privacy Notice?
When you email a postcard from within the program, it actually sends your card and the email addresses to our server so we can email them out to your recipient list. I wanted to make sure everyone understood this which is why I put the privacy notice in there. We do NOT save, store, use or sell any of your information. The main reason we send the information to us is because if a person has not setup e-mail on their device they can still email the cards. Also, you get better quality sending it this way since the iPhone slightly degrades pictures sent within its email program.

There is absolutely no email phishing or sharing of your information going on. I just wanted to provide a way to let people send cards who did not have email setup within their iPhone or iPod . You can always save the postcard to your photo library and email it yourself.

I have questions!
You can email me directly if you have questions. I'd be happy to answer:

gus.branchesi@gmail.com

Resume

2007-02-28T15:50:00.001-05:00

Coming Soon...

Dusty D. Dawg eBook

2006-07-20T10:23:00.001-04:00

I have developed an eBook engine for Lillian Vernon that allows them to release animated, personalized storybooks for the iPad and iPhone. It is a universal application that runs on all devices and takes advantage of what each device offers. It supports:

1. Recording your own voice reading the book on each page
2. Personalizing the book with the child's name and picture
3. Animations

The first book, "Dusty D. Dawg Has Feelings Too" is completely free and will be available in the app store in August of 2010. Some screenshots are shown below.