Andrew Chalkley the (Micro) Blog

3 months in & we're making the competition sweat?

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 01:42:56 +0100

We might already be ruffling some feathers in the online dating industry.

Firstly, before launch we wrote a blog post, put up our initial marketing video and got some interest generated via hacker news. A well established dating company contacted us to offer to buy us out before launch. All they’d seen was our promo video and blog post. Hadn’t used the app, just liked the idea. We politely declined.

Fast forward to today and we’re publicising that Date.fm is now the first video chat dating app. We got covered for the first time in the major tech press on GigaOM. No one has ever before integrated live video chat in an app and made it so easy for people to connect and verify who they’re speaking to on the other end. This is revolutionary.

Date.fm also received a review on iTunes today for our current version 1.1.2, from a guy called “Bostonian”, and this is what he said:

“No gay fellas in Boston. Lame.

The design itself is simply alright. The video chat feature is cool, but it’s a paid extra.”

That’s a complete and utter fabrication. Date.fm is free to use, there is no In-App purchase, no cost to download, it’s completely funded via iAds and is completely free to the end user. Not only is it inaccurate with regard to our business model, it also is untrue that there are no gay fellas in Boston on our service. There are!

Maybe a disgruntled competitor doesn’t like what we’ve set out to achieve and are resorting to spreading missinformation through a fake review. Who knows.

Apple doesn’t seem to have an easy way to remedy this other than filing a “Report a Concern” link in iTunes.

We think this review, like our early buy-out offer, is a good indicator we’re on the right track. Watch this space.

Date.fm becomes the 1st Video Chat Dating App in the World

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:33:12 +0100

datefm:

We’re happy to announce that Date.fm has become the first video chat dating app in the world.

Working with TokBox, the provider of the OpenTok iOS SDK, we were able to integrate video chat directly in to our app and become the first in the App Store to utilize the SDK.

We think it provides great value to our members and will revolutionize how people will interact with potential partners, adding a level of safety and real life interaction not seen in any other dating service.

Press coverage

No more blind dates: Date.fm adds video chat to its mobile app - Ryan Lawler, GigaOM

On the Remake

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 01:09:00 +0000

I have just finished watching the Norwegian film Troll Hunter. There’s talk of a Hollywood remake and there has been a fray of disapproval by some people on those ever-so important message boards.

There’s almost a common consensus that remakes shouldn’t be made or that remaking something is some how lacking in creativity or originality. I’d beg to differ.

Stories have always been retold and embellished, reworked and tailored to their audiences. No matter what medium, stories have been rebooted, remade and been turn on their head.

How many times have the plays of Shakespeare been remade, in different languages, time periods and locations? How many times has the last Son of Krypton been sent from his dying home-world to Smallville Kansas?

The re-imagined, rebooted, gender-swapped-Starbuck Battlestar Galactica was amazing!

Mr Steven Moffat’s new take on the classic Sherlock’s are spectacular and dare I say Guy Ritchie’s adaptation is pleasantly refreshing and enjoyable also.

Stories, no matter what medium, wether it be oral tradition, the written word, a play, a movie, a tv-show or comic book shouldn’t be set in stone. The specific details aren’t necessarily what makes a story great. For example, it doesn’t matter if Peter Parker got bitten by a radioactive spider or a GM one, it’s how the narrative shows how he becomes Spider-man that gives it it’s appeal.

Remakes aren’t inherently bad. Original material isn’t always great. Pieces of work should be judged on the actual work itself and not pre-judged by a fondness of a particular incarnation or narrative, especially when the work hasn’t been made yet.

You can like both the original and the remake, it’s ok, the original won’t be offended.

Date.fm in Chinese, French & Spanish!

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:25:24 +0000

datefm:

Date.fm now includes language localizations for Chinese (simplified), French and Spanish! So if you have your iPhone set to one of these languages, Date.fm will automatically display the app’s text in your language. If you have Date.fm installed, be sure to update to the latest version.

Our user base is growing quickly, be sure to tell your friends. We have quite a few cool new things in the works, so watch this space for more news!

Date.fm is Featured on the App Store Social Networking Front Page for iPhone!

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:02:50 +0000

datefm:

We’ve just pushed an update for Date.fm v1.0.2, and we’re currently featured in the large image “new” space at the top of App Store Social Networking Front Page for iPhone! To see it, open iTunes then click on ‘Social Networking’ under the App Store tab.

Our user base is growing nicely each day!

Click Here to Download Date.fm in the App Store

Date.fm: Building and Launching an iPhone App and API Without Money

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 01:56:15 +0000

Date.fm: Building and Launching an iPhone App and API Without Money:

datefm:

Of course building an iPhone app and API aren’t free. They’re complicated projects, and require some very specific skills sets. Here are some explanations of how we’re making Date.fm happen without initial investments or capital.

Costs

We do have one very critical expense, and that is…

Date.fm: How Quality and Simplicity Make Date.fm Something Totally New

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:14:18 +0000

Date.fm: How Quality and Simplicity Make Date.fm Something Totally New:

datefm:

Click here to watch a video to see how it works

When designing Date.fm, we spent a lot of time weeding out bad ideas and planning for potential pitfalls. What things might go wrong, and how can we prevent them? We figured out at what we wanted to do, and began planning to make sure…

Date.fm or 'Why We Think We Can Prevail in the Notoriously Crowded Online Dating Space'

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:46:39 +0000

Date.fm or 'Why We Think We Can Prevail in the Notoriously Crowded Online Dating Space':

datefm:

Click here to watch a video on how Date.fm works

We’ve been thinking about online dating services. And honestly, just saying it sounds embarrassing and boring, and it shouldn’t be. I don’t think most people like online dating, and for good reason: it’s an odd and unnatural process,…

Ruby on Rails Training in Leeds, Yorkshire

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:51:00 +0100

From Wednesday 26th October to Friday 28th October I’ll be teaching the Ruby on Rails Foundations course at the NTI Leeds.

In this 3 day course I cover how to build and deploy a fully tested web app written in Ruby on Rails® in the latest stable version of Rails; Rails 3.

Not only will you take away with you a deeper understanding of Ruby on Rails but you’ll also take away tools and techniques needed to enhance your development life even on non-Rails projects.

This course takes you from the fundamentals to using Rails in a variety of professional environments.

Delegates will be introduced to the Cucumber testing framework.

The course’s normal price is £700, but for businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber you can apply for 50% funding as part of the Yorkshire Forward and European Social Fund. 3 days of training for £350! Bargain!

But the funding ends at the end of November, so this will be the only opportunity to get the course for £350, so make haste and book here: http://www.ntileeds.co.uk/course/ruby-and-rails-i-foundations/

How to Use RVM: Ruby Version Manager

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 03:08:00 +0100

How to Use RVM: Ruby Version Manager:

secretmonkeyscience:

Click to Play Video

Show Notes

In our Ruby developer career there may come a time when we have to deploy our app with other versions of Ruby. We may also take a fancy to implementations such as MacRuby, and want to try them out. However, installing many different versions of Ruby on…

Video Posted: What I've Learned Developing for iOS

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 19:09:03 +0100

secretmonkeyscience:

Skills Matter posted the video of last nights talk. Check it out!

How to Use Homebrew

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:08:00 +0100

secretmonkeyscience:

We’ve just launched another free screencast on Screencasts.org.

Homebrew is a UNIX package manager for OS X that’s fast and safe to use. It doesn’t use sudo to install packages thus any package installed doesn’t affect any of your System files.

Check it out now - How to Use Homebrew.

Configuring ActiveRecord in Sinatra

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:31:40 +0100

We’ve just released another Sinatra screencast on configuring ActiveRecord in Sinatra applications.

Enjoy!

Build an iPhone App with Javascript

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 04:40:30 +0100

Want to build a native iPhone app without learning a line of Objective-C?

Check out our latest screencast now!

Building a URL Shortener in Ruby with Sinatra

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:18:52 +0000

We’ve just released a free screencast to show you how to build a URL shortener with ActiveRecord and Sinatra.

Screencasts.org is now available on iTunes!

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 02:53:27 +0000

Screencasts.org is now available on iTunes as a video podcast.

You can subscribe here - http://itun.es/i6X2XH

Please Share, Subscribe and Review - Thank you!

Video: Haml and Sass: Making HTML and CSS Tolerable

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 02:52:27 +0000

secretmonkeyscience:

All the videos for Øredev 2010 have been posted now.

Andrew Chalkley (of Secret Monkey Science) stepped in on behalf of Hampton Catlin and gives a talk on Haml and Sass and how they can make HTML and CSS more tolerable.

http://oredev.org/2010/sessions/haml-and-sass-making-html-and-css-tolerable

Recorded: 2010-11-11 at Øredev - ordev.org

Original Synopsis:

Haml and Sass are two languages that have been growing in popularity since I [Hampton Catlin] first introduced them in 2005. They both are ways to construct and conceptualize the HTML and CSS output of your web applications.

Originally a Ruby technology, there are now Haml interpreters in almost every language: PHP, Java, Python, .NET, ASP.NET, Scala, and Javascript.

Come learn about these two exciting languages and have your mind stretched a bit.

——————————————————————————————————-

Want to learn more and Haml and Sass? Secret Monkey Science’s Screencasts.org has free introductory screencasts on Haml and Sass.

Introduction to Haml

Using Haml with Rails 3

Introduction to Sass: Part 1

Introduction to Sass: Part 2

We’ve just launched another introduction video this time...

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 12:58:00 +0000

We’ve just launched another introduction video this time for Sinatra. Check it out!

We’ve just launched the follow up screencast, Introduction...

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:31:51 +0000

We’ve just launched the follow up screencast, Introduction to Sass: Part 2. Check it out :)

We’ve just released an Using Haml with Rails...

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 22:46:04 +0000

We’ve just released an Using Haml with Rails 3 on Screencasts.org.