You may download these updates from the App Store, here:

Beautiful World (iPhone and iPod touch)

Beautiful World HD (iPad)

Go get it!

Yes, that’s the new icon.

This is a time that we iOS developers know as the “Waiting For Review” period. It’s a time of elation and anxiety both.

"Waiting For Review"

Elation is simple. PhotoTrader v2.0 has been a long project, and it is always nice to see one’s work head out the door (figuratively speaking).

The anxiety, though, can be nerve-wracking. This is a fairly substantial update – not just in the features added to the app, but also in some fairly significant structural changes made under-the-hood. It has been pretty solid in my own testing, but odds are good that at least one or two annoying bugs will surface that weren’t there before. What looks like the end of development will surely turn into a v2.0.1 update – no matter how much one tests one’s code.

For now, though, I’m taking a (short) break while I wait for Apple to do their thing. I’m very happy with the way PhotoTrader 2 has turned out. I hope you will be, too.

This post primarily concerns a nifty feature limited to those users who’ve upgraded to PhotoTrader Pro. However, at the end I’ll divulge an additional small new feature – available to all – that will make some people very, very happy.

Navigation Gestures Pro Only!

One thing that quickly becomes apparent as a heavy PhotoTrader user is just how big a pain it can be to navigate through lots and lots of exchanges. It’s one thing when you have just a handful – but when you trade dozens daily  (and I know some of you do!), the regular trips back to the exchange list can get rather annoying.

For Pro users only, starting in PhotoTrader 2.0, you’ll have the ability to navigate between exchanges through the use of gestures.

No longer will you need to go back to the list – just swipe to the left to go to the next-newest exchange, or to right right to view the next-oldest. Swiping downward goes to the next newest exchange by the current sender, with a quick swipe upward taking you back in time.

Swipe To Navigate

In addition, double-tapping while viewing an Exchange will pop up an option to go to the most recent Exchange, or the earliest new exchange – no matter which Exchange you are currently viewing.

Double-Tap!

With just these handful of gestures, moving through a long list of exchanges is a piece of cake.

Swipe-To-Delete

Also, and this time for all users…

Swipe-To-Delete (for Viewed Exchanges)!

Need I say more?

One of the coolest aspects of PhotoTrader – aside from the cool, interesting people one can meet – are (obviously) the photos.

In the continuing theme of improving photographic quality, PhotoTrader 2.0 will have an extra cool feature to reward those who shoot particularly great photos: Visions.

Visions Main Screen

Visions is, at its core, a gallery of the best photos traded from within PhotoTrader As a user, upon receiving a trade you can nominate it for placement within the Visions gallery, viewable from the web and within PhotoTrader itself.

Visions Gallery

Nominations are limited (each user can only nominate one photo each week) and go through a review panel. Selection is intended to reward truly artistic expression - Not all nominated photos will be selected, and those that are must also be approved by the photographer who took the photo.

Once the selection process is complete, chosen photos will be posted onto the web and shown in the in-app Visions gallery.

In addition, the gallery includes functionality for viewers to easily share Visions photos via Twitter, Facebook and email. If a photo is of a high enough caliber, it may be appreciated by a rather large number of people.

Are you a cut above the rest when it comes to photographic excellence – and your trades show it? Do you strive to capture photos with excellent composition and attention to detail? Visions is our thanks to the most imaginative amongst you for your continuing contribution to the PhotoTrader experience!

I’m aware of the problem and am working on a release shortly to fix these problems. Thank you for your patience!

Probably the worst kept secret amongst PhotoTrader users is that a major follow-up to the app is in the works, and is nearly complete. Over the next few posts, I will be detailing some of the major new features slated for inclusion in PhotoTrader 2.0.

Trophies

One of the main goals of this update is to improve both the quality and quantity of photo trades, making the trading experience more enjoyable for users. Taking a page from popular video game consoles, one of the ways we are encouraging improved participation in the PhotoTrader community is with Trophies.

A new section added to the Social tab, Trophies are awarded to PhotoTrader users upon reaching certain quality and quantity-related milestones. Some are awarded for regular usage (ie. “Meet and Greet”, awarded for trading with at least 250 users), while others are given for earning large numbers of stars, ending the day within the top 5 in a given list, etc.

Trophies are split into three varieties. Silver trophies are relatively easy to earn, whereas Gold and Platinum are reserved for more difficult achievements. A checkmark indicates whether or not you’ve earned a given Trophy, and tapping on its name will tell you what is required in order to earn it.

Some Trophies are offered for actively helping to promote PhotoTrader in certain ways (thus helping to bring in new users), or contributing to the community in various other ways:

While viewing another user’s profile, you can see which trophies they have earned, comparing their progress to your own.

Tapestry Apps on the iPhone 4

Of most interest to readers of this weblog: In my limited testing, both PhotoTrader and Beautiful World work fine on the new hardware. I will admit, I was a bit concerned that the high resolution display might pose a problem, but I have to give Apple serious credit for making the transition seamless for developers. It’s nice to focus on adding new features instead of fixing old ones.

That’s not to say that updates are completely unnecessary, though. While it’s true that it looks just as good as it did on older iPhones, lower resolution artwork (icons, etc) really does stand out like a sore thumb on the new display. I foresee much time spent in Photoshop in my near future.

Now, for a quick review of the iPhone 4 itself. Note that this is by no means exhaustive, and reflects only a few hours with the phone. For something more in-depth, check out Engadget’s review or wait for Ars Technica to post theirs (they tend to be pretty thorough).

iPhone 4 Impressions

The first thing you notice using the new iPhone is the incredible display. Simply put, content designed for the new display looks absolutely amazing. Text is automatically rendered in high resolution, making even existing apps look much nicer than before. This makes accessing the web or any other sort of text-oriented content much nicer. Graphically oriented apps (including our own) don’t benefit quite as much right off the bat, but this should change as they are updated with higher resolution graphics – something developers are doing anyhow for the iPad.

When the new iPhone was announced, Steve Jobs noted that the 326 ppi display exceeds the capability of human vision to distinguish individual pixels at about a foot away. I have excellent vision and can confirm this to be the case. If you demo the phone, a good way to see this is to compare the Clock app icon on the iPhone 4 versus the same icon on an older iPhone. It’s quite striking how much better the higher resolution version looks (as a point of comparison, professional photographers generally make prints at 300 dpi – meaning that the iPhone is of greater clarity that your average gallery photo or glossy magazine).

As a developer, one of my main concerns with this change is increased memory usage – higher quality artwork requires larger amounts of memory. Thankfully, the new model has bumped this up to 512 MB, more than even the recently-released iPad (to be honest, I really wish Apple had kept these models at parity by giving the iPad more memory to work with).

On the hardware front, I am very happy with the new iPhone’s form factor and build quality. Then again, I thought that original iPhone hardware was superior in this regard to the 3G and 3GS, both of which felt cheap in comparison. The new phone’s angular edges feel a little odd if you’re familiar with older models, but on the flip side it simply “feels” like a higher quality device. That’s important.

I’ve not yet had a chance to use FaceTime for video chat, though I suspect that this is a feature that I would rarely use. I don’t particularly want to be seen all the time, and the current Wi-Fi-only restriction – no doubt imposed by the always-disappointing AT&T – makes it of even more limited utility. I can see it garnering occasional use, though, and a front-facing camera offers some nice benefits for application developers. PhotoTrader already supports the 2nd camera right off the bat, something that I’m sure users will get a kick out of.

Speaking of which, the iPhone 4 has improved upon the phone’s primary camera, which – for someone whose apps are photography related – is quite a perk. The increased resolution (from 3MP in the 3GS to 5MP) is nice, but the dynamic range appears to have improved. While this is harder to quantify from a marketing perspective, anyone wishing to replace a point-and-shoot camera in their pocket will find something of value. I’m not a huge fan of flash photography, but its inclusion as an option is nice. Again, this feature is supported in PhotoTrader.

Overall, I’m very happy with the direction Apple is moving with regard to the iPhone, iOS and other “iDevices” such as the iPad and iPod touch. Quality over quantity, usability over poorly implemented bullet list features. I still have concerns about certain Apple/App Store policies and the way they are enforced – and then there’s the matter of the iPhone’s achilles heel, as personified by AT&T – but on the whole I don’t see the competition matching the iPhone’s fit and finish any time soon.

Update: One issue in PhotoTrader that a few users have written in about is the inability to toggle the flash and front-facing camera when ‘mature’ content is turned on, when using the iPhone 4. I have fixed this internally and once testing is done an update will be released.

In my limited testing thus far, both PhotoTrader and Beautiful World work just fine in iOS 4.0, so you should feel safe upgrading. It is, of course, possible that a minor bug or two will pop up upon extended usage by regular users. If this happens, please use the in-app option to contact Tapestry and let me know ASAP.

Regarding iPhone 4 support, while a reading of developer resources and information out of WWDC 2010 leads me to believe that everything should “just work”, the higher resolution display could introduce some compatibility issues. As I do not have access to iPhone 4 hardware for testing purposes, it’s possible that unforeseen problems may crop up. Like many of you, I will be lining up at the local Temple of Jobs on Thursday morning to pick up a shiny new iPhone 4. Assuming I’m able to make my way through the crowds and unscrupulous Gizmodo editors, I will begin compatibility testing with the new ASAP.

Even if there are no problems with either iOS 4.0 or the new iPhone 4, there are a handful of things that can be done to take advantage of both (ie. support for the new iPhone’s front-facing camera and higher resolution display, iOS-related backgrounding, etc).

Rest assured, Tapestry will be evaluating changes that can be made in future versions of our apps.

I found this particularly funny, as – well – of course those employees (at least 10,000 strong, according to the WSJ) are going to be using the iPhone. What else would they use? Windows Mobile? Just because you work at Microsoft doesn’t mean that you’ve had your ability to see an inspiring product for what it is – merely your ability to create one.

So, with that in mind, I decided to create a fun little ad on Facebook, as it allows you to target viewers by employer:

The mental picture I get is pretty humorous: Microsoft employees happily using their iPhones throughout the day, only to hide them in their pocket when CEO Steve Ballmer walks by.

The idea of one being gutsy enough to use PhotoTrader to snap a photo of the big boss and share it with the rest of the world – at risk of having a chair thrown at them – is almost too much to bear.

It went up a few days ago:

Unfortunately, from an advertising perspective it wasn’t a big hit. The odds of a Microsoft-led surge in PhotoTrader downloads is unlikely:

Still… who knows? There may very well be one or two Microsoft employees snapping photos as we speak, moving up the rankings and just waiting for the Theme of the Day to switch to “CEO Tantrums” so they can make their move!

The difference is that these sites are actually able to get away with doing it, publicly, in large part due to the hyper-competitive nature of the App Store. Even otherwise honest developers, many of whom are trying their very best to scratch their way up the totem pole and be seen over the mountain of garbage released every day, feel that they have to take every single promotional opportunity they can possibly get.

I encourage fellow developers to publicly pledge their intent to not support these sites by succumbing to their pay-to-play schemes. The sooner that well of income dries up, the sooner these guys might move on to more journalistically sound practices.

Tapestry is willing to make that pledge. Fellow developers, if you feel the same, please feel free to post a comment to that effect to this post (and on your web site/blog!).

Unfortunately, this isn’t a new phenomenon: Every time we’ve released a major update to one of our apps and went through the review request process, we’ve been solicited for paid reviews by at least a few sites (Appcraver, Freshapps, etc). We’ve yet to have a product reviewed by any of the sites after we declined, even months later.

So, I fully agree with the general consensus that this at best borders on unethical, and certainly gives the impression of a conflict of interest.

Is it one, though?

If you take a look at one of the example sites given, Appcraver, it would appear that their review scores skew significantly toward the positive. As of now, their site exhibits the following score distribution:

This isn’t to say that the reviewers are artificially inflating their review scores, of course. Indeed, in their FAQ they make it clear that they pick and choose what apps they review (I wouldn’t want to review 3′s and 4′s, either!), though they also state that they only turn away “a few” paid review requests each month.

To be fair, it is possible that developers of high quality apps are more likely to pay for expedited reviews, but either way it seems very clear that those who do have little reason to fear a poor score.

Hopefully, in time this will all shake out as it becomes clear which sites can be trusted and which cannot. We are a young industry and, I think, a lot of these sites are operated by people with no journalistic background. With mainstream journalism mid-crisis both financially and – well – journalistically, it’s not surprising to see this sort of thing pop up.

Of course, there’s the other side of the equation as well. For any legitimate developer who wants to support his or her product over the long haul, it’s quite a tough slog to catch the attention of legitimate reviewers while still playing fair. Though I don’t agree with the decision among some developers to pay for these reviews, I certainly understand why they do it.

That doesn’t mean it’s right, though, and I’m happy that Chen has shone a light on the practice. I also suggest that consumers support review sites listed by O.A.T.S., a movement to improve editorial ethics and standards among such sites.

Important to remember is that, as many critics have stated, in many ways the iPad is essentially just a large iPod touch. This isn’t a slam against it – indeed, I feel that in time “iDevices” such as these will be the future of portable computing. However, it does mean that the iPad itself hasn’t yet had a chance to differentiate itself from its ancestor. That will take time.

In the hope that Apple is listening, here are my thoughts on what Apple should – and shouldn’t – do to address the real and perceived criticisms surrounding the iPad.

• Flash – Honestly, I am a bit surprised at the backlash against the iPad due to its inability to support Flash media. Neither the iPhone nor the iPod touch have ever supported it, and the company has made it clear from the start that Flash as a platform is not a priority for them. It’s probably worth noting that aside from the occasional restaurant web site that requires Flash (why is it always restaurants?),

  I’ve barely noticed this limitation on my iPhone. Then again, I’m probably not the target consumer for all things Flash.

  This doesn’t stop it from being a limitation, however, and given how Apple is pushing the iPad as providing the best Internet browsing experience ever it’s going to be a tough sell if and when consumers find that (say) Happy Aquarium no longer works.

  Having had a long background in web development I certainly won’t be sad to see Flash go – and would rather see Apple improve their platform directly rather than expend resources supporting what has always been a resource-hungry, mostly inaccessible, stability-killing platform ill-suited for mobile use. Apple has often handled transitions well, and if this speeds up the development of HTML5 I see it as a net win for nearly everyone but Adobe.

• Multitasking – While I consider this a legitimate complaint, I’m not sure the obvious solution to “add multitasking support” as necessarily the best one. It’s true that the iPad has greater resources at its disposal than its forbearers, users (and developers) understandably expect to be able to use those resources for higher end applications. On a relatively resource-constrained platform, if the memory and CPU at your disposal aren’t a known quantity, it becomes far more difficult to tune an app to run its best.

  As a practical matter, though, I’m not really sure this is so much a limitation of single-tasking as it is a user interface matter. There’s no reason why Apple couldn’t improve the process of quickly switching between related apps – say, by using a system-wide  gesture to bring up a switcher of commonly-used apps and providing improved support for inter-application communication. Handled properly, whether or not these sorts of apps are actually running or not is irrelevant, as long as switching between them is quick and seamless. That might take a lot of steam out of the need for “true” multitasking.

  There are two areas where real multitasking is necessary, however, and that is with things like music streaming services (Pandora, Last.fm) and always-on instant messaging services. The only solution I can see for this is to reserve a handful of slots for background-only processes, each tightly reigned in with enforced memory and processing constraints.

• Organization – This hasn’t garnered as much press as the above two limitations, but is a problem that has plagued the iPhone and iPod touch for some time: The inability to easily look through and manage more than about three pages worth of of 3rd party applications. I see this becoming even worse with the iPad.

  Clearly, it’s in Apple’s best interests to make it easy for users to download and keep large numbers of applications. As it is, though, once a user gets past a couple dozen or so apps it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of what apps one has or work best for a given purpose.

  One solution described above to this is a gesture-based access menu of commonly-used apps. Another is to allow users to categorize apps in some manner, with a shortcut to switch between those categories. Users could even choose to mark certain apps as favorites, only showing the remainder upon request.Apple seems to understand that this has become a problem, though so far the only solution they’ve offered – the ability to organize apps from within iTunes – comes across as a stopgap measure at best. In any case, a wide grid containing dozens of applications does not scale.

• Camera – Like many, I too was a bit disappointed to see that the iPad was announced without a built-in camera of any sort. Tapestry’s apps so far have all been designed with photography in mind (though only PhotoTrader requires a camera-enabled device).

  However, upon consideration it’s understandable why Apple opted not to include one in the initial hardware release. The iPad form factor doesn’t really lend itself to on-the-go photography, and a front-facing camera – likely the only type we’ll ever see – would take some truly awful under-the-chin photos from the angles we’ve seen the device being used. After all, unlike a traditional webcam the iPad won’t often be held directly in front of the user.

  Aside from a periscope-like camera attachment, it’s not clear how this problem would be addressed. Maybe we’ll just have to get used to oddball angles? Either way, I do hold out hope that Apple comes up with a solution.

• No Mac Software – Inexplicably, it seems that some had it in their minds that the iPad would be a tablet-based Mac. While I am a life-long Mac fan (and bleed six colors!), I believe it would have been an awful mistake had Apple gone down this route. Desktop operating systems do not lend themselves to the tablet form factor, nor are they the end-all and be-all when it comes to the future of mobile computing.

  Apple practically invented graphical desktop computing as we know it today, and their willingness to wipe the slate clean – tossing out even their own legacy of design – is why we look to them for future innovations rather than, say, Dell or Microsoft.

This covers some of the more common criticisms. There are others, of course, though for the most part I feel that Apple has gotten more right than wrong with the iPad (and iPhone/iPod touch) platform.

The real concern over the long term revolves around – I feel – their iTunes App Store policies, control over what users can install on their products, etc. However, that’s a post for another time.

Update: AppleInsider suggests that multitasking support – the real deal – will arrive alongside firmware v4.0. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, though hopefully Apple will take the user (and developer) experience into account.

Beautiful World is an app for the iPhone and iPod touch that allows you to view a regularly updated, Internet-enabled slideshow of some of the most beautiful photos in the world, courtesy of Flickr and its members.

The app – which is free – allows you to view a slideshow containing 500 of the most “interesting” photos, as selected by Flickr on a daily basis. These are, bar none, some of the most beautiful, inspiring, interesting and just plain impressive photos you are apt to find anywhere.

Beautiful World also allows you to view a selection of the most recent photos uploaded to the service. While the quality varies a bit more, so does the variety of the photos themselves. You never know what sort of interesting photographic works you will receive.

For those who would like a bit more functionality, a low-cost upgrade is available that unlocks the ability to search for photos by Flickr username, by keyword/tag, or by location for geotagged photos (either using your current location or by selecting a location from a map). A combo view is also provided, allowing you to mix any three slideshow types.

We’re still getting the web site updated to reflect the newest member of the Tapestry family, but suffice to say Beautiful World is available for download right now from the iTunes App Store!

]]> http://www.tapestryapps.com/blog/2010/01/coming-soon/feed/ 0 http://www.tapestryapps.com/blog/2010/01/its-here-apple-ipad/ http://www.tapestryapps.com/blog/2010/01/its-here-apple-ipad/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:45:00 +0000 Jeff http://www.tapestryapps.com/blog/?p=30 It’s finally here!

Apple iPad

At long last, Apple has unveiled their near-mythical tablet computer, the iPad.

While we armchair pundits can certainly quibble about some of the details (no camera, Apple?), they priced it just right and I am exceedingly happy with most of the design choices.

I will, of course, be putting an order for one in as soon as possible. For purely professional reasons, of course.

Also, to clarify Tapestry’s own plans: While not every app is necessarily a good fit for the iPad, we will certainly consider creating iPad-optimized versions of our apps for the device on a case-by-case basis.

On that note: Our next app, currently in development, seems to be a perfect fit for the iPad. More on that, later!

As such rumors often go, the details have been all over the map, though most center on the likelihood of the device having a 10″ screen and being based on some variation of Cocoa Touch (the foundational API behind the iPhone and iPod Touch). Beyond that, though, a veritable “cone of silence” from Apple has kept a lid on the project and nobody really know what the final device will look like and how it will operate.

Illustration of what I expect the tablet to look like

John Gruber’s take on the Apple’s tablet plans largely match my own: While in many respects it’s simply a larger and more powerful iPod Touch-esque device, the user interface will be specifically designed with the larger form factor in mind. Apple is a company that “sweats the details”, and while they will (hopefully) make the transition easy for current iPhone developers, it’s unlikely to simply be a matter of dealing with a higher resolution display. If nothing else, you can expect there to be an entirely new set of widgets and associated API calls to deal with.

I also agree with Gruber that Apple is looking at Cocoa Touch-based platforms with a long term plan in mind. While it’s unlikely that these devices will ever completely replace traditional computers, as an Internet access and media consumption tool the prospects are quite exciting. Apple has been known to cannibalize the low end of their own existing, successful products (in this case, the MacBook) with an eye toward staying ahead of the curve. That’s why they’re so much more exciting than, say, Microsoft or Dell – they’re willing to take risks.

So – How does this affect Tapestry?

Well, as far as I can tell it’s unlikely to impact PhotoTrader much. PhotoTrader really shines on a small, portable camera-enabled device. While I could (depending on the final product) see creating a Tablet-based version of the app, this won’t happen unless the device itself is complementary to what the app was designed for: Sharing a piece of your “world” through photography. Aside from having a much nicer display, at this time it’s hard to imagine it being a better fit for that than something that lives in your pocket. We shall see.

However, it’s worth mentioning that PhotoTrader won’t remain as Tapestry’s only product, and (surprise!) our next app – already well into development – will be exceedingly well suited to the form factor and design of what this tablet device is expected to be. To say that I’m excited about the possibilities of this new platform is an understatement, particularly if Apple offers a bit more power and API flexibility than they provide with their current touch-oriented products (ie. multitasking, more memory, fewer constraints).

Of course, this is all pure speculation, though the consensus seems to indicate that the tablet will be coming soon (likely some time between later this month and March). The real question is how big a market there will be for such a device – and that ultimately depends on how Apple prices it.

While I agree with Apple’s tradition of staying away from exceedingly cheap, low-margin products – such as netbooks (aka. “really crappy laptops”), as a developer you really can’t help but want to see large numbers of people capable of actually using your product. For that, the entry level tablet has to be at least moderately affordable.

In any case, you can bet I’ll be getting one ASAP. For development purposes and – well – because it sounds really, really cool.

Notable features include:

• Users can now award ‘Stars’ to exchanges that they especially like.
• Liked exchanges can be assigned to a category, and end up in a globally viewable ranking list broken down by day, week, month or year. Creative photographers have a chance of reaching #1!
• A special Theme of the Day category gives photographers a chance to compete for the best theme-specific photos, with a new theme every day.
• Reporting system for inappropriate non-mature exchanges.
• You can now add friends manually by profile name.
• Exchanges can now be deleted with the touch of a button.
• Pro-level users are identified with a Blue Star icon next to their names. A little special recognition for those who go the extra mile in their support of PhotoTrader.
• New, improved user interface!

You can review a slideshow of PhotoTrader v1.5 screens, or download the app for free now.

Big thanks to PhotoTrader users, testers and Pro upgraders for their support since the initial release. 2009 has been a great year for Tapestry thus far and 2010 looks to be even better!

Things have been rather hectic since our entry into the iPhone development world, particularly since the launch of our first application, PhotoTrader. The results have been incredibly rewarding, though it certainly has been a lot of work!

In addition to the task of developing and administering Tapestry’s flagship iPhone application, work also continues on developing a real, honest-to-goodness web presence – and the creation of this Blog entails one of the most important aspects of that project.

So… Here it is!

Work continues, of course – both to improve the usability of the Blog and to integrate it into what will ultimately be a comprehensive Tapestry web site – but please do bookmark it, as this will be the go-to place for details on updates, new products, etc.