Mobile App Development

Wanna Pet a Zebra? How About a Monkey?

2012-05-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

There's a hidden gem in the desert, 60 miles north of Las Vegas along Interstate 15, and well worth the time. The drive in can be a little deceiving, because it looks like a dusty residential area, with parking on a dirt lot. But inside the gate is a whole different story. The first thing that caught my eye while standing in line was a large black animal with the head of a large cat and a thick black tail, short legs, long thick hair, on a leash, with a crowd of people gathering around not just taking pictures, but also petting the creature. Later, I found out this is called a bear cat.

Bear Cats smell like Fritos Corn Chips. This guy is very docile, almost the same tempermant as a dog.

So it turns out this is an exotic animal petting zoo, Roos-N-More. The zoo is only open on specific days, so you will need to plan your trip ahead of time and admission is just $10, plus there are optional kangaroos and otter tours for an additional price. They also provide small food bags for a minimal cost so you can entice the animals.

Camel kiss

This odd looking animal is a bushbaby, plus it's a baby, so it's a baby bushbaby :-)

Baby monkey 2 months old, not ready to be held yet.

The kangaroos are surprisingly docile and the small ones will nibble (not bite) your finger.

Toucan's have a long thin tongue that doesn't look like a tongue at all. This bird's about to take her hat and glasses

The anteater liked to dig for ants, but not eat them. Anybody know what anteaters say? I have no idea, but as the official mascot of my college, they were always depicted saying "ZOT!"

This guy starred in this Rascal Flatts video. The handler in white shirt talks to the monkey as if he understands English, which, evidently he does.

Otters here. You can pet the otters on a private otter tour, just don't bring ANY food into the habitat. The handler will tell you these guys are master thieves and have been know to take iPhones and keys, then immediately run into the water. One guest immediately lost a bracelet upon sitting in the grass next to a friendly one.

I was a little intimidated to walk up and pet this guy. I mean, just look at the glove this handler is wearing. Owls might look friendly in the movies, but they have a talons and a sharp beak and can do some serious damage. Just like all the animals here, this one seemed to thrive on the attention.

Me and the coatimundi. On a previous trip, I got to see this guy climb on people's backs as they formed a line and hunched over. They have thick fur and almost human hands.

The same coatimundi eating a carrot

A baby Lemur. Poor guy was tired, fell asleep while being held.


Zebras LOVE carrots, but the zoo doesn't sell carrots so be sure to bring your own. And watch out for the camel, 'cause that camel pushes his weight around to get to the carrots.

This zoo is one of the most interesting places I've been to near Las Vegas. I highly recommend taking a day trip to this out-of-the-way destination. The zoo is called Roos-N-More and you can find out more information at their website www.RoosNMore.com. The zoo is only open certain days and certain hours, so be sure to check the website for the days you can visit. On my previous visit, I saw a baby porcupine and (2) 2-toed sloths, so you never know what animals they're going to have on display. Plus there are some less exotic animals to see, like an emu, llama, pigs, rabbits, guinea pigs and great danes.

Funny Text Message from Stranger

2012-05-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

I receive text messages from people I don't know from time to time. Here's a short exchange that took several days to complete. For some reason, he thinks my name is dougy.

Promoting a Band using ClientTouch.com

2012-05-01T11:01:00.001-07:00

Fan Base is More Important Than How Good Your Show Is
Don't get me wrong, being able to put on a good performance is essential, but what might not be obvious is that building and communicating with the fan base is more critical than how good the show is. That might sound a little counter-intuitive, so here's some background. When it's time to negotiate the pricing, being able to pack the house is what's important to everybody, the promoter, the venue and ultimately the band. More bodies means more opportunity for dollars to flow and thus gives the band more leverage. For example, if you are in a band where you know that you can bring in 200 to 400 people to see the show every Friday night, that gives you flexibility when it's time to negotiate prices and ticket sales. If you know that you can bring in more people, then that's even better. So one of the most important aspects to becoming a successful band is building and communicating with your fan base.

Getting Fans to Sign Up
So on to how to build a fan base. Make it easier to sign up by distributing sign-up cards and pens around the venue beforehand. Offer prizes each show for signing up. Some bands have a sign-up sheet on a clipboard on stage where fans can add their contact info, others let users sign up on a website. While clipboards and websites will help, that's more work for the fan and the less likely you'll get fans to sign up on the spot. The key is to make it easy for fans to sign up and encourage fans to sign up. Make it part of the show if possible and keep in mind that the power of the Mic. Fans tend to do what you tell them to if done on the Mic.

Communicating With Your Fans
So now you have a stack of names and contact info, now what? We all start out trying to manage our fan base with our personal email account, just typing out the list of emails from each card. That's fine for 25 fans or so, but what about when you have 500, 1,000 or 10,000 fans? At some point you're going to need help.

ClientTouch.com
We use a web-based product called ClientTouch.com for $30 a month. Here's how it works... We get between 50 and 100 contacts each show. Those contacts are entered into an Excel spreadsheet, then uploaded to ClientTouch.com. For each new show, we create an HTML based email template that will be sent to all of the fans on a specific day. The email template has images and links so the fans can find out more information if they choose, plus they can forward the email to friends. Now that we've been using the product for a few months, inputting the contact info takes about an hour per show and creating a new email template takes about the same.

The Bottom Line
So you're probably wondering whether it's worth the time and trouble. In our case, we were able to double our customer base over a 4 month period and we've almost outgrown our venue. I would certainly say it's worth $120 and 10 hours worth of work to double the customer base.

HootSuite 500 Internal Server Error

2012-04-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

The Problem
I see many frustrated users looking for a solution to the dreaded 500 Internal Server Error generated from HootSuite's Bulk Schedule feature. The solution is a little elusive because the error screen does not accurately describe the problem and HootSuite's forums do not consistently explain why the problem occurs nor how to resolve the issue.

The Cause
In the cases that I have seen the issue is caused when accented characters such as those used in foreign language are put into the CSV file, either in the tweet or the URL. For example, the following words will cause the error,

Mañana
Café

The details of why accented characters cause this problem is a little technical, but has to do with how English language characters are represented in ASCII versus non-English language characters. All English language characters can be represented with ASCII values less than 128 whereas non-English language characters are represented with ASCII values greater than 128. So any tweets or URLs with characters with ASCII values greater than 128 many times cause the 500 Internal Server Error.

The Solution
There's a few different ways to solve this issue
1) My personal favorite solution is to use an Excel template that defaults to UTF-8 encoding that can be download at http://www.HootSuiteBulkUpload.com. This is a little near and dear to my heart as I am the author :-) but it only runs in Windows Excel and you have to enable Excel Macros.
2) Option 2 is to remove or replace the accented characters with non-accented characters (not ideal)
3) HootSuite's recommended solution is to encode the file as UTF-8, which is easier said than done.

If you're using Windows Excel and some versions of Mac Excel, when you Save As CSV, there's an option next to the Save button called Tools.

If you select Tools | Web Options..., you'll see a tab called Encoding, where you can specify UTF-8 encoding.

If you're a Mac Excel 2008 user, you'll want to save your file as CSV within Excel, then open your file is a text editor like TextWrangler where you can specify the encoding.

Conclusion
Unfortunately HootSuite does a poor job of explaining why this error occurs and there's quite a few links in Google that you have to wade through to get to solution that works for you. If you're lucky enough to work with Windows Excel, then your best solution is to download the FREE spreadsheet template at http://www.HootSuiteBulkUpload.com. Otherwise Mac users have one extra step which is to load their CSV file in a text editor capable of saving with an encoding option.

Las Vegas McCarron Airport Terminal 3 Concourse E

2012-03-29T15:34:00.001-07:00

The new terminal 3, at McCarron Airport is scheduled to open in June 2012. The new terminal is much like any other airport terminal although there's some big improvements into how to move passengers in and out of the terminal efficiently compared to terminal 1. If you want to get into the details of which airlines and whatnot, check out this PDF provided by McCarron.

Wifi is completely free throughout the terminal, BTW.

Here's a few pictures of the new terminal.

Passenger drop off area

Ticketing area

Self-check luggage terminal

Interesting architecture in the ticketing area

Inside concourse

Gate 7E

Chairs run in an arc and there's plenty of plug-ins for electronics

Welcome to Las Vegas sign inside Concourse E

Moving walkway

Welcome to the United States sign

Looking for CSI Experience at MGM Grand?

2011-11-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been at Caesars Palace and cannot find the parking garage? Or find the closest parking for the Apple Store inside the Forum Shops? Or find the best freeway exit to get to Harrah's?

I have lived in Las Vegas for nearly 20 years and every once in a while, I still need a map of the where the nearly 40 casinos are on the Strip. The other day, we were meeting friends for a show at Bally's and running late, so I needed to know which freeway exit to take, then which way to drive on Las Vegas Boulevard, then the quickest route through the casino to the box office. Everything I needed was in a tidy mobile app called Vegas Casino Maps with an overview map of the Las Vegas Strip, plus every casino map on the Strip. I created this app from a personal need and this app comes in handy all the time.

Have you ever wanted to know where the nearest ATM or restroom is? How about what restaurants are at a casino you haven't been to for a while? Do you know where the Voodoo Lounge is at The Palms?

This app will help you navigate the strip like a local. Find out more at http://www.VegasCasinoMaps.com

HootSuite Bulk Upload

2011-10-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

If you have been frustrated trying to use the Bulk Upload in Hootsuite.com, here is a free utility that gets the CSV file right the first time. This is an Excel spreadsheet that will optionally randomize your tweets and create output files that can be imported directly into Hootsuite.com in the correct format. There’s no need to tediously manipulate the date format and the endless trial and error, tweeking the file. The file(s) upload correctly the first time, every time. Here's how it work.

Step 1) Download the Excel File

Step 2) Open the Excel spreadsheet and enter tweets

Step 3) Click this button to check for errors

Step 4) Enter the dates and times in MM/DD/YY HH:SS format

Step 5) Optionally enter a URL that will be shortened

Step 6) Optionally randomize the tweets

Step 7) Create output files

Step 8) Open Hootsuite.com and click the Schedule in Bulk button

Step 9) Click the browse button

Step 10) Double click hootsuite.csv file

Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour from Las Vegas with Papillon

2011-09-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

My wife and I took a wonderful helicopter ride from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon this weekend with Papillon Helicopter Tours. We had an awesome time, and the operation was first-class all around, well worth the price and was quite romantic having a champagne picnic inside the canyon.

The actual trip takes a half hour of flight to the picnic area, a half hour picnic and a half hour flight back and when you add in the drive to Boulder City, weigh-in, safety video, pictures and all, it takes about 4 hours from start to finish.

I thought all of their helicopters were white with a multi-color emblem, but we rode in a red EC-130 helicopter, 3 seats in front, 4 seats in back. Jim was our skilled, friendly pilot, tour guide, chef and photographer, which is more than a few hats to wear and he was excellent in every aspect, so we made sure to tip him at the end of the trip.

The temperature inside the canyon is pretty much the same as Las Vegas so dress appropriately. If it's hot in Las Vegas, it's going to be hot inside the canyon and best to schedule an early flight. The aircraft has air conditioning and individual headsets so you can talk directly to the pilot but we all just listened to the pilot/tour guide and took pictures on the way out, nobody talked.

On the flight to the canyon, there are excellent views of Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam whereas the return flight is more direct over the desert and not as scenic but breathtaking nonetheless.

The helicopter is very stable and the ride is very similar to what you experience when a commercial airplane is in the landing pattern, which is a little bumpy at times, but not bad and the flight is only a half hour. At the picnic area, helicopters kept coming until there were maybe 6 or 7 groups that all gathered together inside the picnic area. And 1/2 hour is not much time to eat, meet the other passengers and take pictures, so make sure you take the time to get the photos you want first. In my opinion, a picture with the helicopter and river in the background really captures the moment.

DotNetNuke 6.0 Skin, change icon inside the search box

2011-09-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

If you have ever wanted to know how to change the icon inside the search box inside DNN, this blog will show you how. The default icon is the DotNetNuke symbol show below. For reference, we are using DotNetNuke 6.x, with the DarkNight MegaMenu skin.

1) Open the skin .ascx file, and look for this line

<dnn:SEARCH ID="dnnSearch" runat="server" UseDropDownList="true" EnableTheming="true" Submit="Search" />

2) Change the line to something similar to this

<dnn:SEARCH ID="dnnSearch" runat="server" UseDropDownList="true" EnableTheming="true" Submit="Search" SiteIconURL="~/Portals/_default/skins/DarkKnight/images/mto.png" />

mto.png is a custom 16x16 pixel image that was manually placed into the images directory.

3) Save the skin file, then refresh the page

Using a Pico projector to demo iPhone app

2011-08-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

Laser Projector
Microvision makes a SHOWWX+ projector virtually the same size as an iPhone http://www.microvision.com/showwxplus/. There are other pico projectors on the market, but the Microvision SHOWWX+ model was chosen specifically because it uses lasers to display the image which also means the image is always in focus, which is a big plus for a portable projector.

While the SHOWWX+ seems to be made for the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch devices, many apps do not support video output, which means the apps simply won't display output on the projector. For example, Hulu Plus and the native app Photos don't support video output. However, Netflix, YouTube and iPod Videos works great. There are a handful of workarounds, one of which including jailbreaking the phone. But for my purposes, I just want to demo my apps using a projector.

Implementing Video Out for my app
Luckily Rob Tyrell has already blazed a trail for iOS developers to follow to add video output capability to an existing iOS app with a library called TVOutManager. It's as simple as adding the TVOutManager.h and TVOutManager.m into the classes and updating the app delegate AppDidFinishLaunching method, by adding
[[TVOutManager sharedInstance] startTVOut];
Then build and run the application, plug in the projector and see your app on both the iOS device and the projector.

I did have a problem with my app at first and while I could see my app on both the iPhone and the projector, panning and zooming would not render on the projector until the transition completed which made the app appear choppy, but only on the projector. This was resolved by setting kUseBackgroundThread to YES in TVOutManager.m
#define kUseBackgroundThread YES

My app is hard coded for a portrait mode so I did make a minor adjustment to TVOutManager.m deviceOrientationDidChange, and commented out all of the code for orientation changes.

Vegas Casino Maps version 1.10 available for iPhone now includes floor map for Fry's Electronics http://www.SmartLittleKid.com/vcm.html

2011-08-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

Syncing iPhone Between Mac and Windows computers iTunes 10

2011-07-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

To sync your iPhone between a Mac and a Windows computer, there are 2 files that need to be copied from your primary computer to the other.

In Windows in Libraries\Music\iTunes	On the Mac in Users\<username>\Music\iTunes
iTunes Library.itl	iTunes Library
iTunes Music Library.xml	iTunes Music Library.xml

Notice that iTunes Library.itl is a different name on the Mac.

Here are the steps in detail:
Step 1) Exit iTunes on both computers
Step 2) Locate the 2 files on your primary computer (Where you normally sync your iPhone with iTunes)
Step 3) Copy the 2 files to a USB drive
Step 4) Rename "iTunes Library" to "iTunes Library.itl" or vice versa on the USB drive
Step 5) Locate the 2 files on your second computer and make a backup copy
Step 6) Copy the 2 files from the USB drive to the second computer
Step 7) Plug your iPhone into the second computer, start iTunes and sync. This step can take quite a while depending on how much data is on the iPhone. Mine took about 10 minutes.
Step 8) (optional) Authorize iTunes

Flash CS5.5 for Mobile App Development

2011-07-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

I gotta say that Adobe did an awesome job with Flash CS5.5 changes for mobile app development

www.SmartLittleKid.com/mobileapps.html

Flash CS5 namespace is invalid in the application descriptor file

2011-07-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

While trying to publish a CS5 Flash project for the iPhone, I kept getting an error "namespace is invalid in the application descriptor file" The only solution I could find was to uninstall CS5 and Air, then reinstall, which also did not work right away. I managed to get my hands on Adobe Flash CS5.5 and I gotta hand it to the Adobe team for the mobile app features. Flash CS5.5 published my project to an ipa file, copied to iTunes and uploaded to my iPhone and uploaded to Apple flawlessly the first time.

www.SmartLittleKid.com/mobileapps.html

Replace Cable TV with Roku

2011-07-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

I replaced a $190/month cable bill every month with $16/month using Roku. Honestly, who watches $6 worth of TV a day? I'm still in shock because I feel like I have more options now that I have a Roku and I'm only paying $16 a month between Netflix and Hulu Plus. The guy at Cox cable kept asking what he could do to keep me as a customer and it all comes down to the price tag, and it's hard to argue that they have a better price. Plus there's minimal commercials on the Roku. I did keep the cable modem because Roku does require an internet connection. We have 2 TVs, and thus 2 Rokus, one using the wireless Roku connection and one connected directly to the network hub and paid $99 + tax at Fry's http://www.frys.com/product/6495502?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG There is a noticeable delay using the Roku remote control compared to cable, but I am more than okay with that.

Competitor Named App Very Similar To Mine Trademark Infringement Cybersquatting

2011-06-26T03:51:00.000-07:00

I had diligently checked the app store for similar apps to my first before submitting to Apple. Nonetheless, somebody may have beat me to the punch and released a similar app 2 weeks prior to mine However, I did file for a trademark for $325 on my app name shortly after submitting which gives me specific legal rights that trump whoever was first to market.

I contacted the competitor politely asking them to change their app name because it was sufficiently similar to my pending trademark name to cause confusion and they agreed to change their icon, but not their descriptive name. It might be splitting hairs, but the similar descriptive name places their app right next to mine on app store searches and thus my claim that it will cause confusion. Likewise, I have several print ads with my app name and having a similarly named app could also cause confusion. Just for reference, my app name is "Vegas Casino Maps" whereas theirs is "Vegas Maps: Casino Maps for the Las Vegas Strip and Beyond" Needless to say, I will follow up with another request and possibly have an IP attorney draft a letter to both Apple and the competitor claiming trademark infringement.

The response I got back from the competitor suggested that they were first to market and that my pending trademark was a supplemental trademark and thus not sufficiently distinct inferring that I would not have any enforceable rights. Nonetheless, a supplemental trademark provides these specific rights

Bring infringement suit in federal court
Can be used against future application of confusing similar mark
Owner can use ® to symbolize federal registration
Owner can enforce some uses of trademark on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Twiter, Facebook, etc.

Additionally, Apple can be considered in collusion if they allow another developer to infringe on my IP rights, therefore Apple is pretty good about protecting IP rights of trademark owners.

After a few weeks of polite emails back and forth, we came to an agreement wherein the competitor agreed to completely change their app name.

So why go through all this trouble? In my case, the app is making enough sales to make it worthwhile to protect the name and ultimately the revenue I worked so hard to acquire.

Getting a Trademark
If you would like to get a trademark, here's where to start http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/index.jsp

The trademark application can be done online and mine about 2 hours. They suggest you watch a short video before filling out the application which is well worth the time. Be prepared to pay a non-refundable $325 fee with a credit card for the application.

My trademark took about 6 months to process and I now have a frame-able piece of paper that shows the certified trademark from the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Other Benefits of Have a Trademark
Somebody else is cybersquatting on the website name VegasCasinoMaps.com and the owner wants $3500 for the domain rights. I offered them a reasonable $500, and they counter offered $1750. I'm all for free enterprise and all but a trademark only costs $325 and with the trademarked name, the cybersquatter has virtually no chance of retaining any rights to the domain name once I contest it with ICANN.

Update: I ended up purchasing the domain for $1750 and took a week to transfer the domain, rather than try to fight them in court, which could have taken months and quite a bit more money. Even with the ICANN arbitration, there's a small window of time, something like 21 days, where the cybersquatter can file a counter suit in federal court effectively bypassing the ICANN arbitration and the loss of $1200 ICANN arbitration fee. And once the federal suit has been filed, the venue will be in whatever state the cybersquatter filed in.

I still find it fascinating that I had to pay, while the cybersquatter effectively broke the law.

About Me
If you would like to know more about my apps, here's my website http://www.SmartLittleKid.com

Review of Gizmobie 3M Skins for Macbook Pro 15, Returned for Refund

2011-06-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

While at Frys, we noticed some interesting designs for Macbook Pro skins and since there were no prices posted, we took it up to the cashier. After $34.99 + tax, we were walking out the door with one. Instruction on how to attach the skin were supposed to be at their website but when I went there, there were no instructions. I did, however, manage to find instructions at another site. After carefully mounting the skin and smoothing it down along the edges, no matter how much I pushed on the edges, they refused to stay attached to surface of the laptop. The skin attached great on the flat surfaces but where the case bends, the skin would not stay attached, so there is a sticky lip of the skin all along the rounded edges of the laptop. I suppose there is a possibility that the skin will relax after a while and may stick better, but to be honest I would have expected the product to work better. Therefore, this skin is going right back to Frys.

Vegas Casino Maps mobile app update

2011-06-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Airport Car Rental map has been added and Circus Circus map has been updated http://tinyurl.com/4ywzsrg #LasVegas #Android #iPhone

Getting Started with Mobile App Development

2011-06-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

If you are just getting started with mobile apps, here's some advice about where to start. I use Adobe Flash Professional CS5 for my app development because the same project can be used for iOS, Android or Blackberry app development. There are just as many Android users as iPhone users, so you can double your customer base by learning a single product. RIM has a fair market share too and certainly worth learning about how to release apps for that market.

Recommended Path
1) Install Flash Professional, free for 30 day trial, then about $400 for a retail version
2) Read the first section of Professional Flash Mobile Development to get the development environment set up and run the HelloWorld application
3) Learn Flash by watching the Free Videos from Adobe (40 hours)
4) Learn Action Script by watching th Free Videos (8 hours)
5) (optional) Google "Flash Games" to see what other people have already done
6) (optional) Create a new bank account
7) Register with Apple ($100), Google ($25) and BlackBerry (Free for now) as a developer. (Note: You will need a PayPal account to sign up with BlackBerry.)
8) Submit your app to Apple, Google and BlackBerry. Preparing the app for submittal is fairly involved and somewhat different for each platform and is not covered in detail this blog posting.

Obviously, mobile app development is a fairly involved process that takes persistence more than anything else and here are some of the items you will need

Items You Will Need

Computer (Mac or Windows), I have use a Lenovo laptop and a Macbook Pro laptop
Adobe Flash Professional CS3 or higher, around $400
Mobile device(s), I have an iPhone 4 and Samsung Captivate and swap the same SIM card between the 2 devices.
Book Professional Flash Mobile Development, $26.39 at Amazon
(Optional) Wacom tablet for gesture events on a computer, $129 at Frys

Video Tutorials

I'm a big fan of video tutorials for learning software products, and luckily Adobe publishes a boatload of free videos at http://tv.adobe.com, and I would suggest watching some or all of the Flash Getting Started Videos
Flash uses a programming language called Action Script and here's where you can learn about how to program in Action Script video tutorial series
(Optional) If you want to model 2D physics in your apps like Angry Birds, you can add a free library called Box2D. Here's an extensive tutorial about how to use the library functions and part 2 is an excellent tutorial on a comprehensive example of how to use Object Oriented Programming techniques.

Tips

If you are going to develop apps for an iPhone, you will need an iPhone. It's possible to develop Android apps with just the emulator, but I found it much easier to test on an actual device. If you have an iPhone, then you won't need an iPad for development, although it might help. I use an iPhone as my primary mobile phone and physically remove the iPhone SIM card from the iPhone and put it in the Android when I need 3G access. These 2 devices use different size SIM cards, so I use an adapter that holds the iPhone 4 micros SIM so the contacts match up with the Android contacts.
One of the great features of mobile apps is the ability to use gestures, like a pinch gesture to zoom out or swipe gesture to move to the next picture. The iPhone emulator will recognize 2 finger gestures by pressing the ALT key along with the mouse. However, I could never find out how to do the same thing with the Android emulator. Plus, some things are just easier using a tablet.
My first app took several months to complete before I submitted it to Apple. Then Apple took exactly one week to approve. Google does not have an approval process, so once you upload your app and click the publish button, it's available in the Market. BlackBerry has an approval process and so far, the process takes more than a week.
Try to keep notes on the submittal process so you can reference your notes later on when it's time to do an upgrade, otherwise its easy to get confused and frustrated by the process.

www.SmartLittleKid.com

Error signing up for Vendor Portal for Blackberry App World: Solved

2011-06-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

"We are not able to process your payment using your PayPal account at this time. Please return to the recipient's website to complete your transaction using their regular checkout flow. "

The solution was to have a confirmed credit card on the PayPal account. I also happen to have a verified bank account on PayPal, but I don't know if that is required by RIM. To confirm a credit card, the card has to be added to the PayPal account, then there's a process where they charge $1.95 to the card with a specific description. After 2 days, I was able to access the charge description online and enter that description back into PayPal. Once entered, I was able to complete the Blackberry registration. Now I have to wait for RIM to review the application and let me know what the next step is.

Background
Here's the background of how I found this problem. I had a signed bar file ready to upload to RIM, but I was getting an error just trying to sign up for the Vendor Portal for Blackberry App World on step 3 of 4, verifying my PayPal account. I have a verified bank account through PayPal and there are no online restrictions on the credit card I'm using. In fact, the bank has verified that the RIM transaction has been approved by my credit card. Nonetheless, I get the same error every time. I have tried to contact RIM support through their online form, but I wasn't holding my breath for a response... Also, I had already signed up with RIM for the BlackBerry SDK, so it seems a little strange that I have to repeat the entire process again to upload my completed app, although this time they're verifying a PayPal account.

Additional Info about registering
3 business days after finishing the Registration, I finally got an email back from BlackBerry App World requesting
Official company documentation (ex. Articles of Incorporation, Business License).
or an individual may provide either
1) A copy (front and back) of an official Government Issued Identification, clearly showing your name and date of birth or
2) A completed Notary Form attached. Anyone certified as a Notary can complete this for you (check your local listings).

Maybe I'm a bit impatient, but it's taking longer to get authorized to submit my app than it did to author it.

It took a day to review the Articles of Incorporation and Business License and this morning I uploaded my signed bar file. What was not obvious was that I needed another 480x480 pixel icon file and up to 50 screenshots that are no larger than 640x640 pixels. That screenshot size seems little odd considering that the Playbook resolution is 1024x600. But anyway, the upload process timed out before I could finish creating the icon and screenshot files.

If you would like to know more about my apps, please check out www.SmartLittleKid.com

Atlantic City Casino Maps for the iPhone

2011-06-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, casinos are designed to get you lost so you can't find the exit. Now you can find your way with Atlantic City Casino maps on your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch.

If you would like to know more about my apps, please check out www.SmartLittleKid.com

Playbook Dev error: barsigner error: Certificate chain not found for: RDK

2011-05-31T14:58:00.000-07:00

While going through the instructions on creating a signed bar file for Playbook from an Adobe Flash Professional CS5 project on Windows 7 64 bit laptop, I got an error that stumped me for quite a while:
barsigner error: Certificate chain not found for: RDK. RDK must reference a valid KeyStore key entry containing a private key and corresponding public key certificate chain
bar file in c:\rim\bin\VegasCasinoMaps.bar

The elusive solution for me was to register the RDK csj file with RIM.

<Register with RIM>
blackberry-signer -register -csjpin <yourpasswordhere> -cskpass <yourotherpasswordhere> client-RDK-123456789.csj

Blackberry sends 2 emails with 2 different csj files and evidently I had been using the PBDT csj file and NOT the RDK csj file. The next 2 steps worked great after getting the correct csj file registered with RIM

<DOUBLE SIGNING - FIRST STEP>
blackberry-signer -verbose -cskpass <yourpasswordhere> -keystore YOURFILE.p12 -storepass <yourpasswordhere> VegasCasinoMaps.bar RDK
lots of status feedback, bar signed.

< DOUBLE SIGNING - SECOND STEP >
blackberry-signer -keystore YOURFILE.p12 -storepass <yourpasswordhere> VegasCasinoMaps.bar author

If you would like to know more about my apps, please check out www.SmartLittleKid.com

Vegas Casino Maps

2011-05-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

#LasVegas Have you ever found yourself in a casino and can't find the exit? I don't normally go to the strip unless I'm meeting somebody from out of town. If you're like me, I don't know where every casino is on the strip and I don't want to drive down Las Vegas Boulevard more than I have to. So knowing which exit to take off the freeway is pretty important and knowing where to go inside the casino is even more important when I'm in a hurry. So the inspiration for Vegas Casino Maps for your iPhone or Android came from a personal need.

If you would like to know more about my apps, please check out www.SmartLittleKid.com

Mobile App Development

2011-05-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

With a couple mobile apps under my belt on the iPhone, I decided to take the plunge and start porting my primary app to the Android platform. I probably struggled more with getting the Android SDK environment set up than actually getting the application launched, probably because the setup took me several days to complete and inevitably I would start working on something else while waiting, then lose track of exactly what step I was on. XCode did not come easy for me so I wasn't looking forward to another native SDK for the Android. I happened to run across a book called Professional Flash Mobile Development which uses Flash Professional CS5 as the development environment with the ability to compile the project for iOS or Android. That's a huge plus to learn a single platform that can compile the app to different mobile devices. I gave it a try and with the help of this video tutorial about ActionScript 3 programming, I was up and running in a weekend and a working prototype assembled within the week and an app in the Android market in 3 weeks. By comparison, my first iPhone app took months to complete. I attribute the difference to better learning tools (like the videos) and a huge group of Adobe Flash users that had already posted answers to just about every question I would have along the way. My app has uses about 45 Adobe Illustrator files and the majority of my time was spent trying to figure out how to get the Illustrator files to work inside Flash. There are several different options, like saving to a bitmap, importing the AI file into the library/stage, using a load class to load dynamically. Each of these options worked okay, but the best solution I found was much more subtle. To preserve the vector artwork, importing into the library worked great until I had imported about 20 files, then I started getting really weird errors "5005: Unknown Error optimizing byte code" in my AS3 code that didn't make any sense because I wasn't updating any AS3 code, I was just importing AI files. After reading through several dozen posts and solutions that didn't work for me, I found out that Adobe Illustrator can export files to SWF, while still preserving the vector based artwork, plus the code worked exactly the same as importing the AI file, not to mention the exported files were much smaller.

If you would like to know more about my apps, please check out www.SmartLittleKid.com