Free Palm Distribution

Palm have just announced that they will be scrapping the $50 distribution charge for putting apps up on their app store. This is great news for anyone who's already developing for the platform but especially for those people out there who want to get into the area of mobile development. That 50 bucks was the last fee standing between developers starting out making Palm apps and actually getting those apps out there in the marketplace which now makes it, yes, you've guessed it, absolutely free to design and sell your mobile apps to the buying public. On top of that anyone who has payed to have an app released on the store will have their money refunded to them no fuss.

It was possible previously to distribute apps free through certain channels such as on the web, the beta app channel or through the app catalogue if your app is open-source. Great if you just want to build up a profile as a developer or just hone your development skills but if your trying to make a bit of money out of mobile development then the app catalogue is where it's at as it accounts for about 95% of the market for Palm apps. If you want to make a living off selling your apps then this is really the kind of exposure you should be aiming for.

I wasn't 100 percent opposed to Palm's decision to charge the $50 fee as they had some valid reasons, namely to prevent a flood of low standard apps into the marketplace (the games industry nearly died a death back in the 80s due to the release of too many crappy games). I don't know if Palm were afraid that there weren't enough people developing for the platform to keep it competitive or if they decided that the quality of the free apps being distributed warranted giving the open-source developers a shot at developing paid apps charge free, but I for one think that this is a good thing. It opens the door for talented developers who may have been put off by the pricing to distribute their apps and could produce some more healthy competition which would drive the platform forward at a faster pace and really get the most out of it just like any other open-source project.

Vuvuzelas Blow!

I've just spent the day putting together this cartoon about the World Cup's dreaded vuvuzelas. Enjoy.

Indie Media Project Update

If you haven't checked it out yet I've been slowly adding content to the IndieMediaProject, mostly on the Facebook group but I will be adding all of it to the website when I get the chance.

Theres a load of cool pics on there which have been lovingly contributed by my co-colaborator, and awesome artist Naomi. I've also got two cartoons up which herself and I have put together in Flash. I'm having a go off making some games in Flash too which will be up on the site as soon as they're ready. Plenty more to come over the coming weeks so stay tuned.

TechieBlogger

I've just added a link to a site called TechieBlogger. I really like this one for a few reasons. It claims to be "taking blogger to the next level". And it does in my opinion. It's a blog but the first time I visited the site I thought it was a full blown website. There's lots to see and do on there from tips on blogging to web design tools to graphics tutorials.

Another reason I have for liking this site is that they offer you. Yes, you the reader the chance to sign up and write articles for the site. There is some quality control in place which I have not put to the test yet but if I manage to get an article posted on the site I will definitely let you know. Beyond just having an article up on the web this is actually a really cool thing for bloggers. According to TechieBlogger they have 2500+ visitors a day so you are effectively writing for a guaranteed audience who have an interest in what you have to say. Also pop a link back to your own blog in there and you have blagged yourself a few new readers. Ace. And last but not least you are allowed to display all your own adsense ads in all the posts you write and receive 100% of the revenue. Now that is a pretty sweet deal so I would definitely recommend checking it out.

Links

I shall be updating the blog with some links to cool sites down the side of the page. I'll also be writing some reviews on any sites or tutorials and such which I find to be exceedingly good (sorry other sites) so stay tuned if you wanna find out what's hot and what's rot.

Indie Media Project

Indie Media Project is something new that I'm working on. It's basically a website which show cases the media work of students and pools them all in one place for people to see and take notice of the good work that is going on out there.

I have been busy over the last few days setting up the website(not really finished yet, but getting there) a channel on Youtube, a Twitter account and a Facebook group.

I'm hoping to add a lot more content soon when I get it set up properly but check it out as is anyway and wonder in amazement at the improvements which take place over the next few weeks.

IT Crowd

IT Crowd is back! It's been gone for a while now but they've finally brought out season 4. I just watched the first episode on 4od and I must admit that it's ruddy awesome. If your a fan it doesn't disappoint and if you've never seen it then see it. Well worth 30 minutes of your life.

Windows++

Friggin Hell! That's the first thought I had when I first booted up Windows 7. Now I don't mean to say that this is the world's best OS but I have been using Vista for the last 2-3 years and I was amazed at just how much better it feels to be using 7.

I had been putting off upgrading for a few reasons. Mainly that I couldn't be arsed and also wasn't quite sure about what effects it would have on my computer. Will it erase all my stuff? Will it take up more computing power? The answer to both these questions is a big no. The only thing that has changed about my computer is that it is now better. For one it runs a lot faster. Boot times have improved, I no longer get what I can only describe as that clunky, chugging feeling I had on Vista even when just trying to open or copy files and no programs have decided to randomly close on me yet for no reason at all ( a problem I experienced far too many times on Vista). The hi-tech hardware that I spent loads of money on and lovingly installed myself is now actually seeming as if it's making use of it's true potential. Having the latest graphics card and gig loads of RAM is a lot better if your OS isn't eating away at all the power that they provide.

Another reason I may have decided against upgrading was that I actually liked Vista ( or so I thought). I think this was because the only OS I had previously owned was Windows Me and when I got my brand spanking new computer loaded with the flashy Vista it was such an improvement that I failed to see what everyone was talking about ( everyone who knew anything about computers). Upgrading to 7 though has really opened my eyes to what a crap OS Vista really was but as I say, it's all comparitive so Windows 7 may someday become the new OS that everyone loves to hate. For now though I'm just loving it and probably will be for another few years at least.

Palm Hot Apps

Palm have announced a new version of their Hot Apps competition. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, basically Palm offers a share of $1 million to the developers of the most downloaded apps over a period of time, say a month or two.

The original competition is finishing up at the end of this month but they have decided to run a PDK (Plugin Development Kit) Hot Apps Program beginning July 1 - August 31.

The PDK offers developers from other languages like C and C++ to port their creations over to the Palm platform. This will give them the opportunity to release any programs that they have been working on to an established audience and also let Palm developers make use of advanced technologies such as using OpenGl to produce wicked games for the Palm.

Real Life Rambo

Check out this article on a guy who tried to single handedly hunt down Osama bin Laden.

Palm Dev

Don't know why I didn't mention it before but if you have any interest in web design and want to have a go off smart phone development then be sure to check out Palm development.

Palm in their infinite wisdom have made it possible to produce apps for their new phones using just pre-existing web technologies, namely HTML, CSS and Javascript. Seen as these are all you need to get up and running on the platform it pretty much opens the door for anyone who's done any web development to become a mobile developer. So drop that web page you've been slogging away for the past month, download the Palm SDK and start making some cool apps.

You have to sign up with Palm as a developer to get access to their tools and like Apple there's a $99 sign-up fee, but - here's the cool part. At the moment, it's completely free. In an attempt to attract more developers Palm have decided to waive the fees for a while meaning that you can sign up for free, produce apps for free, distribute them for free, and in effect make money for free.

It's pretty fun too. I enjoy doing web design because it links the artsy stuff with the technical stuff but I like doing the more advanced too and Palm dev is definitely a step in that direction without becoming as complex as some of the other mobile platforms.

Definitely worth a look for any beginners whether you're coming from a web development background or something like programming.

Smashing Magazine

For anyone who hasn't heard of Smashing Magazine it's a website dedicated to all things web. It has information, tutorials, showcases etc on everything from photoshop and graphic design to php and web programming. The site is updated quite frequently so if you decide to have a look on it you won't run out of things to see anytime soon.

If I ever find myself stuck for any specific piece of information or even if I run out of my own thoughts on what to do next while designing a page Smashing is my first stop. I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in producing for the web.

I've also just joined their facebook page and it is really cool. They usually post several links per day to really interesting articles on webdesign not only from their own site but from some other choice sites on the web. Really good if you are looking to build up a collection of bookmarks on good webdesign sites and could lead to you finding some that you may not have come across otherwise.

Tip for Day

Just as an aside from the usual web-talk. If you ever happen to see a pack of Fubu socks in a store, buy those mofos. They are so comfy it's unbelievable. Do it.

Fireworks for web.

While attempting to make a nice looking website for my boss I've been messing around with photoshop to try and get all my graphical elements in place. And to tell the truth I was going nowhere quick. I reckon for seasoned photoshop users it would be a piece of cake setting up all the different backgrounds and such for a site but for me, having little photoshop experience it was a really frustrating process just trying to make up simple headers and that. So today I decided to have a go off Fireworks which I had lying around on my computer but had never really used. In about an hour I've put together a really nice looking header for my webpage which fits perfectly and all. This is also taking into account time taken to get used to the interface and tools as it was my first really using the program properly.
For beginners, if you have no experience in either program, Fireworks is really easy to pick up compared to Photoshop. It may not have some of the advanced features (correct me if I'm wrong) but if you are just doing up stuff for web then it works really nice.
A lot of the controls which are immediately apparent on Fireworks are geared specifically towards web such as image compression and such. Obviously these are probably available on Photoshop somewhere but on Fireworks they are used more in the main and you don't have to get lost looking for them in menus where they are viewed as secondary functions.
All in all worth a try if you've been struggling with Photoshop to get your desired results.

Brief No. 2

Not a week after being given my first Website brief I've been tasked with my second. Unlike the other one though this will be built completely from scratch which will make it more of a me production in terms of design. I'm quite looking forward to having a go at this as it is not yet established in terms of hits and popularity which will give me more of an idea of how successful I am at creating a successful site by myself. My "client" (more of a guy that I know with some web-space and an idea) wants to set up a website which reviews products and directs the readers to whatever place it is that you buy such things. Basic affiliate marketing really. Good idea too as it's a product which isn't so popular so as to have a saturated market but also commands a high enough price to make any percentages which I make, substantial enough to warrant my time and effort.

Firefox is Web Design

I recently went through all of Firefox's web development add-ons to see if there was anything of use to me in there. I ended up clicking on most everything like I do. One of things I clicked on was the Web Developer Toolbar and I must admit that it is bloody awesome. I haven't even really used it yet I've been too busy checking out all the options it has. There's a button for pretty much everything. I've been doing up my boss's site which involved me making up my own CSS for it so that I know better what it is that I'm tweaking. The way I was doing it was guessing how many divs and sections I might need and where they would go and then through trial and error changing the sizes so that I end up with the stuff in the same place. This took me ages. And just as I finished, with everything looking good I decided to have a look of the Web Dev Toolbar to see what it did. I clicked a button and it showed me on the original exactly where every div was, what size they were and any other attributes and properties that I wanted to know about. If I had known about this earlier I would of had my CSS made up in a matter of minutes and been able to get on with the process of redesigning the site the way I want it. Definitely a recommendation for anyone who's into web desing especially beginners because I know how frustrating it can be to get your head round the concept of divs being the site layout when they're just written out in a text file.

My Web Career

It's on! Or it's off. Off the mark that is. I got my first half-contract to design a web page today. My boss was looking to upgrade her website and I told her I may be able to help. Now I've got my first brief. I've never really done much web work before and now I've got to come up with something "contemporary, but soft". I'm quite liking the challenge so far. What better way to learn web design than to design a real web page.

Hello Universe

Okay. This is my blog. I'm starting it for real now. That last post was an assignment I did for College and is the reason why I made this thing in the first place. I don't expect anyone will be reading this post right now but I'm putting it up just to get me started so the next one I post isn't this one if you follow. Maybe in a few years when this particular blog is world famous and completely awesome people will decide to check out the original posts to see how far I've come. That is exactly what I want from this for those people and myself. A chronicle of the rise to excellence which I will undergo or at least a log of what I happen to do with my daily self between now and the future.

So whats on the agenda. If you're reading this post then I'm guessing as we've said before that you'll be reading it in the future after previously reading my previous future posts so you'll know better then than I do now about what exactly is going on......... I'm gonna lay it down anyway.

I'm a computer games development student at UCLan in Preston. It's now summer time and I've just finished my first year which I reckon I've passed so I'm gonna leave off the boring crap for the next few months and concentrate on what I hope to be doing with myself in the future, namely, web design, mobile-apps(i-phone, palm, maybe android - we shall see eh) and my main aim is to bring back the golden days of gaming, which for me means, Super Mario 3. Not just that game of course but I think if you were to describe an era of gaming by bunching it all into one particular game that would be the one I would choose.

So where is it exactly on the path I am at the moment? Looking at my plan for the day which is hanging in front of me I can see that I'm supposed to - "Work On App", "Work On Website". What that means is this. I found out a few weeks ago that there was a group of students in my college who develop smart-phone apps. Not only that, but they're already getting paid for it. Not only are they getting paid for it, but they're also being provided with the contracts by the college. "Sign me up" I said. And they did. They were more than happy to. My plan was to learn how to make i-phone apps and sell them for lots of money. Apple however have decided that seen as I forgot to buy an apple product of some kind that I should be refused access to the tools which I need to begin said production. So I decided to browse the other options available. What did I have to choose from. Why don't I tell ya. Blackberry, Symbian, Android, Samsung, Window's Mobile and probably some more if I could remember. I checked em out. I decided finally I would give Android a try as that's Google, and as it's Google it must simple and intuitive. I tried it. No. Not for me at that time. I tried Symbian. Na, too much development options. Not for the beginner really. Then one day as I was watching my Stanford lectures on youtube I came across a video of some guy explaining webOS, the operating system ( or something) of the Palm phone. He explained as a new dawn in the area of smart-phone /slash/ web-development. Awesome, that's exactly what I wanted. So I tried it out. And here I am a few weeks later still using this stuff. It's well cool. So easy to pick up and just start doing it. Too easy in fact. Easy enough to make me think, "If it's this easy, surely it can't be that good? Cos to make something good on a computer involves it being really difficult." "No?" "Just that easy you say?" Yes it is. Quite simple yet quite effective. That's what I've found with Palm development. I'm now putting together some basic but cool apps which with a bit of tweaking could be earning me a bit of money. Which I like.

I'm gonna leave it there for now cos I got's work in the morning. And I also get to talk about something else in my next post which is probably going to be on the other item on my to-do list. It's back up a bit. And I'll also go into a bit more detail on Palm dev.