July 2009 Archives
This might be a contemporary urban legend, but the rumor is that Google Android and Palm WebOS don't use multitouch in their UIs because of Apple's Patent #7,479,949. But how can this be if Keanu Reeves invented multitouch back in 1995? Check it out here:
At 1:21, he stretches a small planet on the screen using both hands.
At 2:02, he stretches a rectangle.
Heck, at 0:35 he even says iPhone! (probably "eye phones.")
This is a patent issue, so nothing about it is simple. But it seems like it's an old, non-novel idea to use two appendages on a touch screen to change zoom level on an object in the UI.
AVG decided to shoot themselves in the foot and run a near-daily popup ad campaign on their Anti-Virus Free Edition users' machines. Here's a response to user complaints written by one of their volunteer forum moderators:
Don't forget that you are privileged to be using an available Free AV product so you can expect AVG Technologies to be trying to encourage you to use their Pro (paid for) version. In the end of the day it's not really a lot to put up with....
Any response to this attitude is tilting at windmills, but I can't resist pointing out the irony that AVG uses the very same tactics (annoying popup ads) that their product is supposed to eliminate (malware can be responsible for annoying popup ads, among many other things).
Any recommendations for free antivirus software that has a better attitude toward their customers?
I'm doing my first AdWords ads for iLetDown, so I've written a few ads like this:
Relax and Pump Quickly
Trigger your letdown reflex!
Buy iLetDown for iPhone.
www.attachmentcomputing.com
These were working fine until yesterday, when I tried to edit them slightly, and all my ads were halted because... Apple has asked Google to prohibit the trademarked "iPhone" term from being used in AdWords ads.
Huh? So the maker of this phone that's being promoted as a platform is preventing developers from advertising the fact that they've created products for that platform?
I stayed away from Apple for a long, long time, so maybe I'm just being naive about how this part of the world works. Does Apple always crap on its community like this?
My first iPhone app is available on the Apple iTunes App Store!
iLetDown helps moms express breast milk quickly and easily by helping trigger the let-down reflex. Visit the iLetDown site to learn more.
You're probably wondering why I picked such a specific market segment (working, lactating moms who buy apps for their iPhones) rather than something general like a puzzle game. Mostly it was because I knew that marketing my own product would be hard. I wanted to learn the ropes with an app that I could write relatively quickly, rather than investing many months in a game and then making lots of mistakes with its marketing.
Do you know anyone who recently had a baby and is going back to work? If so, please let her know about iLetDown. Makes a great gift!
