Tag: iphone

Ski Pad iPhone App v2

A while ago now I created an iPhone app to complement the Ski Pad website. The website has just received an update and I have been hard at work tweaking the app to work with the new site as well as adding some extra features along the way…

In reality I suppose this is just a shameless plug for the app but I thought it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to explain the new features. Anyway surely there is nothing wrong with a bit of self promotion every now and again. 😉

So before you read on, if you have an iPhone, now might be a good time to get the Ski Pad App from the app store…

Go on you know you want to…

On a recent trip to Jersey I got charged an extra £10.19 for Mobile Internet & Data. This confused me as I always check that I have Data Roaming turned off whenever I go abroad…

I checked my phone and the Data Roaming option was definitely turned off. So how did I manage to rack up the charge?

After a bit of digging I found numerous posts on the internet suggesting that Apple have changed the settings options available and there are now two options you have to turn off before you can be sure you do not incur any charges while abroad.

So I bet you want to know what you need to do to make sure you don’t end up with any surprises on your next bill…

Google Apps RingTo stay organised calendars are a very important tool. I have tried all sorts of calendars over the years but have always found issues trying to keep different computers in sync with each other let alone other devices like mobile phones.

The only way I have found to get around this is to use Google Calendars. They are available pretty much anywhere, as they are web based as so available from any browser on any computer, but even better they can be made available offline on your computer(s) as well as devices such as the iPhone or iPad (both of which I pretty much rely on for day to day use now).

Another advantage is that you can easily make calendars available to other individuals or even set up a public calendar to share with the world. You can also include calendars other people have shared in with your Google Calendars. A great example of this is the Rugby World Cup 2011 Fixture Calendar.

To get the best use of these calendars though there are a few things that may not be obvious so I will try and go into them in a bit more detail below.

Ski Pad App IconI have talked a lot about developing an app for the iPhone. It took me a bit longer than I had anticipated but today I can officially announce that my Ski Pad App has been accepted to the iTunes App Store and is now available to download. For Free!

If you have an iPhone then go get it and let me know what you think. Feel free to give it a 5-star rating if you feel so inclined as that can only help with getting it noticed 😉

In this post I’ll go into a bit of detail of what the app is all about so you’ll have a better idea of what you are looking at.

Rugged TreeI have overextended myself a bit in recent weeks. I had three big projects that are all due to come to a head at pretty much the same time.

My mistake was that for two of these projects I left the target date pretty much open. This seemed like a good idea at the time because then I could work on them as and when I had the chance. As with all things that aren’t extremely urgent I didn’t find as much time as I would have liked.

Time passed and as there was no deadline I had no urgency. This is not a good situation to be in.

I should have known better than this as I have experienced it over and over again when working for other people. Jobs are not important until someone starts to push for them. Then you start getting questioned about what you have been doing and why it isn’t ready yet…

Once you get to this stage then all of a sudden the job becomes very urgent if you want to keep the customer happy.

iPhone With HeadphonesI thought I would try something a little different this week. I have been asked a few times how to create ringtones for the iPhone from music that you already own.

It is pretty simple but not all that well advertised how to do. I think the reason for this is that there is so much money to be made from people buying ringtones that they don’t want to make it too easy for the user to create their own…

Anyway I thought I would write down the process so if I get asked again then I can just point them at this post. I am also hoping that at least some of my readers may have an iPhone and so may be interested in this as well.

The only things you will need for this is an iPhone, a computer, Mac or PC, with iTunes installed on it and some music.

iPhone 4I recently got myself a nice new iPhone 4 with Orange. I have been with O2 for a few years now and one thing that really bugged me was the fact that you couldn’t get a proper PDF copy of your bill. Billing was all done online but the only way to view the bill was on their website. There was a download button but all that did was display a new trimmed down webpage with far too little information to be considered an actual bill…

So after many requests for them to change this I decided I had had enough and started looking for a new place to get my next phone from. In the end I decided to move to Orange as their package seemed to be pretty good value for money.

Anyway just before I actually made my move to Orange, O2 decided to implement a proper billing system and I was able to get my latest bill in PDF format. In fact I could download all my historical bills in PDF format as well… Looking back was this even a good reason to switch supplier anyway?

IMG_4845I am currently in the process of joining the iOS Developer Program which will then allow me to release apps for iPhone to the Apple App Store.

You can download all of the stuff to start developing apps for free from Apple just by signing up as an Apple Developer. If you want to test them on your iPhone, iPad or iPod then you need to sign up to the developer program which costs $99/year (£59/year). This allows you to test your apps on your own hardware and then release them to the app store when you are happy.

I do not have a completed app yet as I am still working hard on learning the quirks of the language but it is going pretty well. It all seems to make sense so far so I have high hopes for creating something in the not too distant future.

You never know maybe I will reach the heights of apps like Angry Birds! This little game has become so popular they even have a range of Angry Birds Plush Toys.