Yesterday I got an interesting phone call. It was from the car wash service that provides convenient car washes at work -- drop off the car in my normal parking lot, go to work, have clean car when I'm ready to go home. The car wash people called me and said, "We've noticed that we haven't heard from you since November? Is there a problem with our service?"
Now, see, that's an interesting question and the timing is significant. I'm currently two months overdue on my last dental appointment, my car is dusty from said lack of cleaning, I haven't followed up with my doctor to renew prescriptions, I'm behind on listening to podcasts, I have a heck of a lot of sleep deprivation built up, and worst of all I've played all of two hours of games in that time.
Just what happened to me?
Well, back around the end of last year, I sort of dropped off the face of the planet, almost as if I'd been kidnapped by a secret organization and kept in small rooms, fed on a diet of cheetoz and Diet Coke until my release into the real world could be negotiated.
And, you know, that's sort of what happened.
Working for my employer, once in a while I get an opportunity to be involved in a particularly interesting project. Back in the day it was Carbon for which my team provided the infrastructure for defining Carbon and created the rather groundbreaking (if I do say so myself) Carbon Dater tool, which was the start of my career as an engineering manager.
A bit more recently, I got to play a very small part in the Intel transition.
And there have been various other projects here and there. This time around it was the iPhone SDK.
I've had intense projects before, but never before have I worked as hard for as long as I did on this project (and I'm humbled by the fact that many others have worked much harder for much longer). My entire department went full-bore on this project, working so intently that for the first time ever we actually became part of an Apple rumor; in trying to determine whether an SDK was actually coming on schedule, the TUAW site included this tidbit:
2. People who are in Apple's documentation department are working triple-quadruple-double-secret overtime.
I won't get into the specifics of our contributions, other than to say it went well past just providing documentation, and that I'm proud of the results and very interested to see where this project goes in the future.
I probably should get some sleep, too...but first I need to schedule that haircut...
Mar 8 2008, 4:39 pm
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Popisfizzy
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Psh, haircuts are overrated. Just ask BYOND's very own Jesus.
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Good job. And I know you can't answer this, but I've found it hard to find an answer else where. Can applications created in the SDK do more in the system than java apps on normal cell phones? For example, an IM on a PC doesn't just get run, then closed a few seconds later.
You run it and leave it open, in case someone comes online that you want to talk to. Java apps are almost useless to my needs. I honestly was underwelmed by the SDK announcement. Not saying you didn't do your job, but rather that it sounded a lot like(from a consumer perspective) what you get from Win Mobile or Android, only more limited. As a developer, it all sounds good enough, but I've never attempted to make a program for anything but PC, and hardly that. So I couldn't speak to its quality if it was right in front of me. I guess only time will tell what will come of it all. Do you get to rest now? Or is there still too much to be done for the June launch of the consumer level deployment? If it makes you feel better, I know an entire section of the market that feels the same way as you every year from January to April. Accountants. I work for an accounting firm. I only work 8-6 on average, but most accountants work at least 8-9, and right now many of them are working more like 8-11 as the corporate deadline is March 15th. It's not fun, that's for sure. I've had a few times where I had to work late for days in a row. Working 'till 2AM or later then getting up at 7AM and getting ready for work again. It's not fun at all. Pretty checks though. | |
Can applications created in the SDK do more in the system than java apps on normal cell phones?
You can get the answer by registering as an iPhone developer (it's free) and then looking at the documentation. But since the project is still under NDA, you are correct that I can't provide specifics at this time. I honestly was underwelmed by the SDK announcement. Not saying you didn't do your job, but rather that it sounded a lot like(from a consumer perspective) what you get from Win Mobile or Android, only more limited. I've gotten a chance to spend time with non-Apple people who do mobile development, and they universally tell me that, from just a development perspective, this SDK provides vastly more than any other mobile development environment on the market. In particular, the development environment is miles ahead of others. Descriptions of the IDE from these people always include words like "Sweet" and "Amazing". For consumers, they will have wireless downloads of apps from the App store (part of iTunes) without having to re-enter their credit card info, etc. They get apps that are custom-designed for a screen that excels any other smart phone, with multi-touch and accelerometer capabilities that are quite impressive. They get a mechanism for being notified of app updates and being able to easily install the updates (does any other mobile system provide that?) If you haven't used an iPhone it's hard to describe the difference between this and other phones out there. I was a Palm user from day one, and I had a Treo for a while before the iPhone came out. Back then, if necessary in a crunch, I'd grit my teeth and venture into the browser to try and cull a single link or bit of information from web pages where I could see a tiny bit at a time, rendered in a featureless manner...it was painful and I maybe accessed the web three times on that phone. I access the web a dozen times a day on my iPhone at least, no exaggeration (I'm not alone -- Google reports 50 times the search traffic of other devices from the iPhone). I use the email constantly -- something I didn't bother with on my Treo. On this project I discovered the wonder of text messaging (I used it a tiny bit on the iPhone previous to this, but now I'm addicted)...I now send dozens of text messages a day, and I couldn't even figure out how to send text messages on my Treo. I spend hours and hours a day using my iPhone (especially on a project like this one!) -- previously, I spent maybe two minutes a day using my Treo. The Blackberry is probably the closest to the iPhone in functionality, but it pales in terms of display and UI. I should mention that my enthusiasm for the iPhone is not related to my employer. There are plenty of apps and products my employer provides that I don't use and have no interest in. There are things we provide that I think could be much better. I choose not to talk about the things I'd like to see improved (better for me to do that internally), but when I say I like or love something, it's because I do. The iPhone has been a life-changer for me, as the iPod was before it. It's a wonderful coincidence to happen to work for the company that provides the products I also happen to most use as a consumer. Do you get to rest now? I have miles to go before I can sleep... | |
Can't say I have got to touch an iPhone yet. I do have an iPod, and it works great for listening to music and podcasts, but iTunes is very problematic and way heavier than I need, as all I need is a Podcast downloader and a syncer. The store is completely useless to me, as I buy my music elsewhere and I use far better programs for music and video playback. Even ignoring all the extra bloat that iTunes packs, it doesn't do a great job of syncing. At least once a week when I go to connect my iPod, it completely ignores all the podcasts that I listens to and remarks them as new on the iPod and I have to go and manually remove them. I also can't resync my iPod without fully disconnecting it and reconnecting it. And there is no option to have it auto-sync when a new podcast is downloaded, or every few hours. A function that would make a world a difference to me. But the real problem is I feel locked in. I bought an iPod, but I must use iTunes to get any use out of it. Problem is, iTunes doesn't do everything for me that I want.
And now that I got completely sidetracked, I'll bring it back to point. Apple likes to claim that the iPhone uses a real copy of OSX, yet they treat it like it is a flip phone from 5 years ago. Only Apple approved software that doesn't get the same types of freedom that desktop software gets. Sorry if I sound cynical, but I feel the same way about most mobile creators/controllers. I can understand restricting access to the EDGE network to accepted programs, but why not give them the type of power that you would expect on a desktop program? I know, designing for a phone and designing for a desktop are two different things, but why not let the developers decide how it should turn out. One of the biggest things I think a developer could do is create an application to keep an eye out for WiFi, and if WiFi is found, automatically download podcast updates. That way your phone could be picking up new podcasts when you stop at a light outside a Starbucks. Once again, I don't mean to be a downer on your work. As I said before, I'm no judge on that type of stuff, but sounds like you worked hard on it, and regardless of whether or not I'm excited about it, there are a lot of people who are. I'm just tired of people shouting "Cell Phones are the new PCs" and yet I still can't use a cell phone like a PC. If my 30GB iPod 5.5G ever dies on me, I'll likely get a Touch, but I'll also likely jailbreak it the second I get it home. I never liked the idea of my cell phone being my music player because I listen to hours and hours of podcasts everyday, and I'd hate to kill my phones battery because I was listening a bit too much one day. I spent nearly 8 hours on my iPod today listening to an audio book. The Touch seems like a good item because of the mix of iPod abilities and all the applications of the iPhone. But what I am secretly hoping for is someone to come up with something better. Something that isn't tethered to a PC, but is completely its own device. The Touch and iPhone have all the building blocks, but Apple didn't bother taking the final step, my guess would be because of DRM. | |
You sound like a slightly-more-responsible version of me. Except that I don't have a job in Apple but that's beside the point.
Have fun writing documentation and doing other "top secret" stuff. I bet you're working on something like hydrogen-powered rocket shoes, which will end up becoming the most popular thing since the iPod. Oh yeah, if there's an iPod, where's my iCube? Or my iCircle? iSphere? iCone? iStar? iPolyhedron? | |
Danial.Beta wrote:
I can understand restricting access to the EDGE network to accepted programs, but why not give them the type of power that you would expect on a desktop program? I know, designing for a phone and designing for a desktop are two different things, but why not let the developers decide how it should turn out. What power do you consider to be missing? And it is very important to understand that a phone app is not a desktop app -- the biggest mistake I've seen people make in creating iPhone apps is to start out trying to recreate a desktop app. It just doesn't work in any way...not for the UI and not for the infrastructure. When creating a mobile app, you have to be very careful to make a simple, usable UI and be very aware of the fact that you have limited memory and battery life available. Plus, you must design around the fact that your app may be interrupted -- say, by a phone call -- at any time. The user's experience with and requirements for a phone are very different than with the desktop, and the developer has to completely build their app around that fact. | |
Mechana2412 wrote:
Oh yeah, if there's an iPod, where's my iCube? We did a cube; didn't work out so well... | |
Hmm, I thought you couldn't speak of your place of employment for many companies so that your opinions and etc couldn't be labeled as their own...Some of them, just don't care?
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Hmm, I thought you couldn't speak of your place of employment for many companies so that your opinions and etc couldn't be labeled as their own.
You might notice a distinct lack of opinions expressed that could fall under such an edict... | |
Yeah, it's hard when you work at a place like that. Any employer wants to hold you responsible for what you say about the company, but big companies tend to have a bit more troubles with it. I could tell you all that I thought my employer charged too much for his services, but I doubt any of you have ever heard of him, so it wouldn't matter. Deadron, on the other hand, works for a big company that can have troubles if he says the wrong thing, even if it is just personal opinion.
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Yeah I did notice a lack of that, I'm just asking since I have yet to even enter the workforce yet. Someone down the line told me that they couldn't even mention where they worked or something like that. They supposedly worked for a game developer company.0_0
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Like omgawsh, it's Deadron!
Howdy! | |
Someone down the line told me that they couldn't even mention where they worked or something like that.
I suppose that could be part of an employment contract, but no, even Apple is not that restrictive. However, this post aside, as a rule I don't bring up who my employer is for any number of reasons, and I don't comment in any way on company policies or business models. I have noticed other people, including friends, who comment extensively on their employer's policies and projects. Doesn't seem wise to me, but it's their choice... | |
I once worked at an aerospace lab and part of my contract/NDA was that I couldn't even mention that I worked in the aerospace department only that I worked for the parent company. When I stopped working for them the agreement changed. I could say I worked in aerospace, but not for which company. Good times.
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Nadrew wrote:
I once worked at an aerospace lab and part of my contract/NDA was that I couldn't even mention that I worked in the aerospace department only that I worked for the parent company. When I stopped working for them the agreement changed. I could say I worked in aerospace, but not for which company. Good times. ...so now people could figure out that you worked in aerospace and for which company by simply remembering...? | |
Popisfizzy wrote:
...so now people could figure out that you worked in aerospace and for which company by simply remembering...? Yep, I thought it was pretty stupid myself. But, it was their contract; I didn't write it. | |
100,000 downloads in only 4 short days. You guys must've done a pretty good job.
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100,000 downloads in only 4 short days. You guys must've done a pretty good job.
Compared to other mobile development environments, this is pretty darn sweet. | |
I dunno, I know how it is. I work as part of military intelligence somewhere in South Korea. I can't mention WHAT I do, just that I do something in intel in South Korea.
Classified environment is something that's really difficult to deal with, especially when you can't tell your wife what you do! Trust me, companies might have contractual nondisclosure that is difficult, but you have NOTHING to compare when it comes to government/military nondisclosure. You guys can be sued/fired for disclosure, while I can be imprisoned/executed. ^_^ | |
