Dotestudios

Difference in Paid vs. Free apps, Apple vs. Android

Dote — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:06:24 +0000

Pingdom surveyed both app stores and found a pretty big difference in the free to paid ratios for each.

30% of the apps in the Apple App Store are free
65% of the apps in the Android Marketplace are free

Pretty start contrast but something we’ve all noticed. Check out the full article here. What do you think is the reason for the difference? The Google “give-everything-away” culture? Leave a comment, curious to hear what folks think…

Image courtesy of http://www.businessinsider.com

Removing the Application from the Recents List

Dote — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:56:59 +0000

Here’s something I wanted to know… a great tidbit from TUAW (original article is here):

Removing the Application from the Recents List

There’s actually a much simpler approach for quitting apps, and that’s to use your recent app list. Double-click the home button to display the recently accessed applications. Press and hold any of the icons shown, then navigate to the application you want to quit and tap the red circled minus button. This sends a signal to the application in question that allows it to quit. The application will be re-added to the recents list the next time you launch it.

iPhone 4 Screens

Dote — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 09:14:35 +0000

After much deliberation and more re-organization than those I experienced in the dotcom days in Silicon Valley — I’ve finally gotten my iPhone down from 12+ screens to 2. I don’t like having any screen completely filled and I’ve always left a space or two in each to move apps from screen to screen. Here’s what my consolidation efforts achieved. The background is one of my photo prints available for sale here. It’s also featured on my blog portfolio page here.

Neil Abercrombie for Governor 2010 iPhone App

Dote — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 02:07:43 +0000

Hi everyone, the Neil Abercrombie for Governor 2010 iPhone app is finally available for sale. There’s some rules surrounding political donations within apps that I wasn’t aware of. Bad timing, our app took nearly 4 weeks to get approved after being rejected once! I think something called iOS4 or that new iPhone 4 thingamabob might have had something to do with the unusual slowness in approval. Anyway, thanks to Neenz for a great concept, the app is fun and will allow you to post questions to Neil’s Facebook page as well as posting to Twitter, etc. The hashtag it will use is #afg2010. Take the app for a spin and if you have any questions email me at brian [at] dotestudios [dot] com.

Special thanks to Peter Wubbels for the hard-core coding!

You can download it for free here:

Thanks!
Brian

MovieBuddy for Netflix

Dote — Sat, 08 May 2010 03:06:51 +0000

Hi folks, MovieBuddy finally got approved after an icon and a keyword snafu. The app’s been in the store for a day now and we’ve climbed as high as #10 in the iPad Paid Apps for Entertainment category. As I write this we’re #11. Today we got picked up by MacNN.com which is awesome and tomorrow a write-up by TUAW is forthcoming.

If you’d like to check it out, here’s the iTunes link to MovieBuddy for Netflix. Thanks!

Brian

iPad 3G Shipment Notification

Dote — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:42:48 +0000

Yay! The moment has finally arrived. My iPad 3G has shipped and should arrive tomorrow by 5pm. Apple is shipping it overnight FedEx. Can’t wait. I’ve been using my work iPad Wifi while I waited. Nothing wrong with it (except small storage, its 16GB), but starting Monday I catch the bus and would love to have internet connectivity and the additional space. I got the 32GB after returning the 64GB iPad Wifi because it was approximately the same price. The 64GB iPad 3G is big $$$.

I’m wondering if I do a backup in iTunes, if I can restore to the new one so all my iPad apps, settings, data, and content is transferred. If not, Apple needs to make a cloning feature for folks upgrading or getting new hardware because the more we live our lives on these devices, the more of a PITA it is to upgrade and have to reconfigure. And me, I’m anal about stuff like settings, preferences, etc. OCD sucks sometimes =)

MacBook Pro’s New Parents

Dote — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 01:58:37 +0000

Its funny, I almost feel like I’m selling puppies, not Mac hardware. I want my old MBP to have a nice warm home with people that will love it and cherish its cool, smooth lines and aluminum enclosure. Anyway, what I intended to say was that my 17-inch MBP has been sold. Pending a home visit and background check of the new parents it’s a done deal this Monday. Now I need to do the frontal lobotomy to wipe it clean with Snow Leopard. Goodbye MBP, you’ve been a great Mac.

MacBook Pro is Here!

Dote — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:31:06 +0000

Yes, nothing like getting a package early! My wife just sent me this photo with the caption, “It’s here!”. Yay! And now for the gory details, this bad boy is the new 2.66GHz Intel Core i7 17-inch MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM and the 7200RPM 500GB hard drive. I love the deep blacks and nice saturation of the glossy screen so I went with the Hi-Resolution Glossy Widescreen Display. Photos pop on these screens.

I’ll have to fire it up and start the cloning process from my old 17-inch MacBook Pro which is for sale (see this post for more goodies I’m sellin’). Hopefully my next post will be from the new MBP!

MovieBuddy for Netflix on iPad

Dote — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:33:58 +0000

From the same team that brought you FolderBuddy comes our first iPad application, MovieBuddy. This is a Netflix queue manager that allows you to browse, manage your queue, and even start an instant stream. It’s wicked cool and nearly done. A few more dashes of this and pinches of that and this puppy should be done cooking.

To whet your appetite we’ve got a short preview movie and some screenshots. Note that any of this could (and likely will) change!

Click to watch MovieBuddy Demo movie

RozTracker

Dote — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:18:40 +0000

Finally got the RozTracker into the store just in time for Roz’s historic third and final Pacific Row (stage 3). She’s on her way from Tarawa to Australia and this last leg will likely be the most challenging. Check out Roz’s blog at rozsavage.com.

Below are screenshots from the RozTracker iPhone app which allows you to see where Roz is as well as visit her blog and see her latest Twitter posts. Follow as Roz completes this historic adventure! And best of all, it’s free! =)