Scribblenauts Remix

Scribblenauts Remix for the iPhone/iPod is an amazing creative and fun game. Give it a try.

http://www.scribblenautsremix.com

iPhone 4S and Siri

Like a technology zombie I stumbled to my computer and pre-ordered the iPhone 4S as soon as I was able to.  I used the excuse that I'm gonna do more iOS app development and it will be good to have the latest phone for testing.  But, the real reason is that I'm a nut.

Was it worth it. For people with an iPhone 4, probably not.  iOS 5 is a major upgrade that will keep the iPhone 4 users happy for a long time.

The one major reason to get the iPhone 4S is for the camera upgrade. The improved resolution and performance combined with the Camera improvements in iOS 5 are all great reasons to get the new phone.

What about Siri?  It's freaking wonderful. It does a great job of recognizing voice and converting it to text.  And I hope that once it leaves Beta it will become available to more Apple devices (crosses fingers for iPad 2 support).  Apple will most likely add support to many more applications.  Siri's syntax will improve and include many more things you can ask it to do.

Super Easy Custom iPhone RingTones

Using the Macs built-in text to speech functionality it is super easy to create custom ringtones for the iPhone.

You Need:

• A Mac
• An iPhone
• iTunes

Open Terminal and create a ringtone audio file using the say command.

For example:

say -v Trinoids "Incoming Transmission" -o incoming.m4r

Pay attention to the folder you are in when you make this file, this will normally be your home folder.

Now go to iTunes and chose the menu option [File->Add To Library]. Navigate to the file you just created  and select it.  The audio file should be added to the Ringtones section of iTunes where you should be able to play it.  Connect your iPhone or make sure it's on the same wifi network and appears in iTunes.  Select your phone in iTunes and choose the Ringtones section.  Make sure the new file is being synced by choosing "All Ringtones" or "Selected Ringtones" and checking the one you just added.

Now Sync your iPhone and TADA.  The new ringtone should now be available for whichever alert you want to use it with.

For more information about the say command you can use man in the Terminal:

man say

for instance:

say -v ?

will give you a list of the available voices you can use.

Creepy Clay Creeper

Made this a while back for a friend of mine.  No idea why I never posted it on the Blog.

Broken Images

I imported blog posts from our older Wordpress blog, but have not fixed the image links yet - I'll be doing this as I can, so be patient please.

iPhone 4S

Excited about the new iPhone 4S announced yesterday. The changes are incremental and for the most part totally expected.  Better camera, faster processor, iOS 5, and then theres the one more thing, integration of Siri into the OS.  Voice assistance on previous versions of the iPhone felt like an afterthought. The addition of Siri may result in a big change to my daily use of the iPhone.

So, will I get it?  The answer is a very strong YES.  what I should do is wait till my AT&T contract allows me to get the lower price, but what I'll most likely do is take the hit and pre-order the phone on Friday.

Back to full time

Sitting in the Toyota dealership waiting area this morning, thinking about the last two years and my upcoming return to full time employeement.

I still don't regret the attempt at running a personal buisness. I think I could have done better. I think I could have worked harder at it. Most importantly I plan on continuing to work on developing it.

I do think that not returning to my old position after "my year off" was a mistake. However, I'm not sure I would have learned as much if I had not totally comited to it. Our savings has suffered for that lesson, and I have been worried about money more than I usualy do. As a result of this I spent less on gadgets, music, and movies these last two years and I haven't really missed any of it. I do have a long list of items I plan on buying, but I'll space them out over the next year.

I think the hardest part of all this is returning to a normal work schedule and working for someone other than myself. I'm going to have to figure out how to balance the day job with my side buisness. The next few weeks will be interesting.

The Job Search

Well I decided it was time to get back to a regular Full Time Job again. Wish I could keep doing iPhone / and soon iPad development, but that will have to take the role of hobby again. No money in it unless your a big company or you get very lucky.

On the positive side I have already gotten several phone calls about possible jobs.

Various Clay Items

I've been working on a several items lately for our Etsy Store. Here are a few of them.

Health Care Reform

I've been getting very pissed off at some things members of my family and some friends have been saying and sending to me about the proposed Health Care Reform plan thats is currently being discussed.   But, not for the reasons you might think.

The thing that is pissing me off is that everyone is just forwarding and propagating myths and lies that either side is making up to support their reasons for or against the proposal.  Do some freaking research people. Just because Rush or some other "Entertainer" tells you that something is true, doesn't mean it is.  What happened to balanced factual news reporting. Its almost impossible to find information on the proposals that you can trust.

This post at FactCheck.org helps to illuminate some of these false "Facts" that I keep seeing:

Twenty-six Lies About H.R. 3200

Now click on that and read it, then read it again, then calm down for a minute.

Oh, and If I get one more email from a so called friend or relative about how Obama is evil, mostly because he is black, I'm going to pretty much stop talking to them. Is he perfect? No. Is he always right? No. Does it matter that he is black? No. Stop being so damn hateful.  I thought my friends and family were better than that. Now grow up!