So You Think You Have a Great Mobile App and You’ll Make Millions!

As a mobile app developer I get many requests to work with someone who thinks they have the next great multimillion dollar app. Maybe they do and maybe they don’t.  However, there are some things they need to do even before getting to the coding stage.

Consider that today’s apps are developed by teams of experts with budgets exceeding $250,000. Apps continue to get more sophisticated and draw on the every improving resources of today’s smartphones including the increase in memory which now stands at 1GB. I remember when my desktop PC only had 256k of memory (but I am showing my age.) This is great in that the increased resources allow the creation of better, more colorful, sophisticated games but bad for us indies who do not have the resources to keep up with the big guys vis a vis Rovio.

So what do you do? As a small operator or designer you must come up with basic concepts or simple games that are killers from the start. Remember the original Fruit Ninja or Ant Smash? If you can do this you can keep your development costs lower and increase your chances for success.

Once you think you have the next great idea apply some structure to it long before considering coding. One of the simplest methods of structure you can apply is the Storyboard Technique. Used by film creators and story writers for many years it is simply drawing pictures of individual scenes in your app. The drawings do not have to be well done and could even be stick figures. However, sooner or later you will need good art.

The Storyboard Technique will need a few additions for an interactive application, however. For example you will need to add menu scenes showing what choices the user has. You’ll then need to show scenes of what happens when they select each menu item.

Once your Story boarding is complete and you are satisfied with your app the next step is creating some basic art and animations. This can be done in Photoshop and saved as a GIF file. No coding needed, some of this same art can then be coded into the game if it is good enough.

After, you have completed your Story boarding, some basic art, and animations you are ready to take it to a programmer but not before.

However, you are not done yet. Since you will be investing a large amount of time in this project it’s time to do some more evaluation. Be sure to Google your app by name and subject to see what is out there. Find a good name that is not taken in the app store. If you have to promote it under another name it will hurt your downloads. Make sure there are no major competitors out there with similar games. You cannot over search your potential app before you make any more investments of time and money.

Java Confusion

The recent CERT (US Computer Emergency Response Team) http://whttp://www.us-cert.gov/ww.us-cert.gov/ warning not to use Java has caused immense confusion and problems with Internet users.
For example, an unaware user might disable JavaScript in his browser thereby eliminating the functionality of many interactive web applications such as the Blackboard LMS (Learning Management System.) JavaScript however is not part of the CERT warning even though JavaScript and Java Plug-ins or Applets rely on the same run time or Java Virtual Machine (JVM.) The JVM is the problem, however, but only in how it runs Plug-ins or Applets. Java Plug-ins or Applets can be disabled separately in browsers even though they use the same JVM as JavaScript.

The Security problem stems from how the version of JVM in question (7u10) allows plug ins more access to the users machine and operating systems than is advisable causing the security risk. If Java Plug-ins are disabled than none of these malware plug-ins can exploit that particular vulnerability.  Meanwhile the JVM can continue to run JavaScript without the security risk.

A later version of the JVM (7u11) issued by Oracle to fix the initial plug in problem still has potential vulnerabilities for plug ins. Plug-ins should remain disabled until Oracle comes out with the appropriate fix, presumably in JVM (7u12.)

What's All the SOPA and PIPA Fuss About?

For those of you following the network neutrality issues on this blog it may be apparent that the issues with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and "The PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 or PIPA), also known as Senate Bill 968 or S. 968, is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S.[1] " (English Wikipedia) may have implications for network neutrality.

Either of these laws begins to give carrier lobbyists a new way to control the Internet by petitioning the courts under the guise of copyright violation when they may in fact have other alternatives. In most cases we need the government to help protect the freedom of the Internet. In this case special interest lobbies such as the rich and powerful Motion Picture Industry Association have pushed these bills to further enrich their members by attempted further enforcement of the copyright laws.
Although regulation in this direction may be necessary we must tread carefully lest we destroy the freedoms we have so carefully guarded on the Internet. For example, several sites such as Wikipedia and Etsy fear they will have to close as it will be too difficult to monitor the users contributions and the cost of doing so will be to large.

CamelCase

Microsoft Office products often include terminology with capital letters in the middle of words. For example PowerPoint. Power point would be an incorrect spelling of this product and confuse the reader as to what you are really saying.
“CamelCase (or camel case), also known as medial capitals,[1] is the practice of writing compound words or phrases in which the elements are joined without spaces, with each element's initial letter capitalized within the compound and the first letter either upper or lower case—as in "LaBelle", "BackColor", "McDonald's", "iPod", or "GaGa". The name comes from the uppercase "bumps" in the middle of the compound word, suggestive of the humps of a camel. The practice is known by many other names.

An early systematic use of medial capitals is the standard notation for chemical formulae, such as NaCl, that has been widely used since the 19th century. In the 1970s, medial capitals became an alternative (and often standard) identifier naming convention for several programming languages. Since the 1980s, following the popularization of computer technology, it has become fashionable in marketing for names of products and companies, and for 1990s online video games where players use pseudonyms (when spaces were not allowed). However, medial capitals are rarely used in formal written English and most style guides recommend against their use.” (Wikipedia.)

Apparently, due to the fact that the naming convention in popular programming languages includes media capitals, Microsoft and other companies have begun using common words as product trademarks by using two words together and media capitals in the words. This is normally done by combining two words together to make one new word while capitalizing the first letter of the second word. For example, word art would normally be two words while in the CamelCase it is WordArt and means something specific (a Microsoft product feature.)

Using Word as an Editor

Microsoft Office includes a magnificent editor with built in spell and grammar check called "Word." Many people use Word as an editor and save the file as a complete edited file when they are finished. However, word can be used for much more than that.

For example, when posting to a discussion or forum that does not have a built in spell check or grammar checker write your post in Word. Then, copy past the post to the discussion without saving the Word document. You can then go back and forth as you post additional comments. (This is where a double monitor or wide screen comes in handy.)

You can also use Word as an editor for a chat utility that does not support spell or grammar check.

At the bottom left corner of the Word task screen is a number that indicates Word count. For discussion assignments that require a minimum number of words you can use this word count if you use Word as the editor for your post.

Finally, it very handy to keep Word open and on your task bar if you need a handy spell checker or thesaurus. Just open the Word task screen and type in your word to check it.

This post was written in Word 2010 to check for errors and look how good it looks!

Digital Utopianism

Larry Downes recently wrote in Forbes magazine here: http://blogs.forbes.com/larrydownes/2011/03/10/is-digital-utopianism-dead/ an article on Network Neutrality (NN.) His article is titled "Is Digital Utopianism Dead?"

My answer is quite simply “Yes!” However, when was it ever alive?? Just as in any other daydream of utopia, they simply do not exist and never will. We dream about them but should never kid ourselves into believing that they ever will or are even possible.
Mr. Downes compares the open non proprietary protocol, TCP/IP, used on the Internet with the business model followed by cable TV companies. Come on Mr. Downes! Who do you think you are kidding? The former is an advertising based financial model while the latter is a charge for use model that is not based on advertising. The cable TV content companies do not talk about monetizing content as Internet content providers do simply because they do not have to.
Does Mr. Downes forget that without the extensive FCC oversight of advertising based broadcast TV that advertising based models of the networks (ABC, NBC, CBS et al.) would not exist at all? The same applies to the free advertising based Internet. It would become a charge based model the same as cable TV. Who wants that?
Making the availability of information charge based contributes to the schism created by the digital divide where only the wealthy will have access to information and will seek to perpetuate their wealth and class while the poor will have no access and get poorer.
Mr. Downes article is clearly elitist and transparent. In the past Forbes has been a bit more subtle about manipulation of the middle and lower classes by the wealthy in our country. Too bad Mr. Downes opted for blatant intellectualism in the hopes that only the wealthy would understand it.

Network Neutrality

Network Neutrality was in the news again today in a dispute between Comcast and Level 3 communications a competitive local exchange provider (CLEC) and Internet Service Provider (ISP.) See the full article here:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703945904575645251061168526.html?mod=rss_Technology

It appears that Comquest is afraid of losing its cable TV business to Netflix and as a result wants to charge Level 3 for transmitting Netflix video over its broadband access.