Ziray Studio Labs

Rock Climbing Smith Rock

Mike — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:38:28 +0000

We traveled to Smith Rock State Park in Oregon to do some rock climbing. They have some great sport routes for all abilities. We had a ton of fun and would recommend it to all climbers.

Smith Rock Rock Climbing

Smith Rock

Top of a 5.10a

Climbing the 5.10a

Top of the 5.10a

Top of Caffeine Free (5.10c)

Ana at the top of the 5.10c

Ana repelling

Rock Climbing Smith Rock is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

New App: Boise’s Most Wanted

Mike — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:24:37 +0000

So I had one of those late night ideas for an app after seeing this site: Boise Area’s Most Wanted. I thought that would make a great app because who’s going to sit there and remember all those faces and names. However, if it’s on your mobile device, you can quickly look up that seemingly familiar face you see walking around the Boise area. Of course, this wouldn’t be so that one can play vigilante, but instead be a way for common citizens to be more aware while they’re out and about and call the police if they see one of these characters.

Anyway, since I figured it wouldn’t be too hard, I took about two hours while I was in a chat-based meeting with a few of my developers, and threw together this app that scrapes the HTML for the website and compiles it into a native iPhone app:

It’s all dynamic and pretty cool, although not very pretty. But what do you want from 2 hours of work?

I’ll probably release this on the app store after a bit more polish and maybe a big “Call Crime Stoppers” button that tells your iPhone to dial the hotline to report your sighting.

Other ideas:

Display bounty information – Some of these suspects have bonds as large as 10s of thousands of dollars!
Have a separate listing for the Arrested section. Because don’t you feel all warm in fuzzy when you see direct results of the police force’s hard work?
Aggregate the daily incident reports for easy reading on your phone.

What are some other ideas to add to this app?

Would you think this app would be useful to the general population of Boise and surrounding areas?

Do officers even have iPhones?

This was just one of those ideas that seemed like a good idea at the time, but I need honest feedback if I should continue development on it. So, let me know what you all think in the comments below!

New App: Boise’s Most Wanted is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Mobile App Development Boise

Mike — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:09:12 +0000

I’m proud to announce the opening of our office in downtown Boise for mobile app development. It’s located at 512 W Idaho St between the Flying M and Java Downtown Boise. We’re also located right next to the web and software development company known as Nerdy Dragon.

From this office, we’ll be creating iOS applications for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch as well as developing applications for Android phones and tablets. Stop by with your iOS device and we’ll give you free copies of some of our apps. We have created over 15 successful applications and would love to share them with you.

You can also stop by our new website dedicated to the education, development and consulting on mobile application development. We’re still creating our app portfolio, but if you’re here, you probably already know about some the mobile apps I’ve created (hint: see the right sidebar).

I also started teaching mobile application development class at Boise State University in order to create developers with the experience to create their own apps. Hopefully these students will go on to start and develop their own mobile apps and increase the mobile app industry in Boise and make Idaho an authority on mobile app development.

I’m super excited about the new office space, the new website and the future of mobile app development in Boise.

Mobile App Development Boise is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Koh Laoliang, Thailand

Mike — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:49:05 +0000

As part of our trip to Thailand, we stayed on a small island for 3 full days. They had rock climbing, snorkeling, kayaking and lots of relaxation. We did a lot of rock climbing in the afternoons since it was too hot to climb during the day. Probably the most memorable part of the trip.

Koh Laoliang, Thailand

The river to take us out to the island

On the island, we did some rock climbing. That's me at the top

A little better view

I'm near the tree line, center top.

View of our beach as we leave for a snorkeling trip

Side of our island

Our island is on the left. We're going to explore the island on the right

Humans on the second island

Our boat

Random dog on the island

Our island in the distance

These fish formed a dark cloud just under the water near the shore.

Sunrise

Sunrise on the island

Koh Laoliang, Thailand is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Railay Beach, Thailand

Mike — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:01:27 +0000

As part of our much belated honeymoon, we ventured to Thailand with two goals in mind: rock climbing and scuba.

The first night we were there, we found a tiny rock climbing shop down from our hotel, the Haleeva (which I’d recommend, though a bit up from the beach, but we didn’t care). They took us on their boat to Railay Beach, a peninsula accessible only by boat since the top is bordered by large mountains. We climbed for the first half of the day, ate lunch on the beach with two girls from Germany (we met so many Germans on this trip) that we met rock climbing and walked over to West Railay Beach where it was filled with people enjoying the beach.

Our goal however was to find a cave that was recommended to us. A bit of a ways up the beach, we found more rock climbers and eventually found a cave with fixed ropes and ladders inside. A flashlight was definitely needed (one was lent to us by a local climbing shop) as we traversed back and up inside this cave. It eventually came out 50 feet above the rock climbers we had previously encountered with a gorgeous view of one of the beaches.

Railay Beach, Thailand

Top of the climb in Railay, Thailand

Ana at the top of the route

After a little while, it started to get crowded

Low tide

On the boat back to Aonang

Aonang Boardwalk

Sunset

Railay Beach, Thailand is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

NetRef – New iPhone App

Mike — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:15:20 +0000

NetRef is our latest iPhone app, published through LTZ. With NetRef, you can look up all default passwords and IP addresses for those new or old routers. Once you set up your router, you can use the built-in Ping feature to ping and test the connectivity of the router. The Ping feature also includes DNS resolution so you can ping a web address as well as a IP address.

We developed the app with the help of Jonathan Cost who has a strong expertise in networks and network hardware. Check out http://netrefapp.com to download the app. We’re always adding more routers and features, but if you have any feedback, we’d love to hear from you!

Initial App Design

Router Manufacturers

Router Detail View

Ping a Server

Reference Material and Tips

Router Manuals in PDF

All models available

NetRef – New iPhone App is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

City of Rocks

Mike — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:00:25 +0000

We visited the City of Rocks National Reserve in southern Idaho and camped there for two days. We also got our first real rock climbing experience.

City of Rocks

City of Rocks is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Dive Centers, iPhone apps and More

Mike — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 22:26:55 +0000

For those of you who follow, you always want to know what I’m up to.

Some might think I’ve spent all this time opening a dive center here in the New River Valley. In fact, I think I’ve only spent about 10% of my time doing that.

iPhone Apps

We have two that are completed and awaiting final testing. This is usually the longest part of creating any application. We haven’t had any of our live apps crash yet, and I prefer to keep it that way. So, we do a lot of testing. And when we think we’re done, we test some more.

Lab Work

One must think I’m getting my PhD in Environmental Engineering. I do have a degree from the College of Engineering (Computer Science), but Environmental? I would never have thought. But Ana is finishing up and I’m helping out. That means preparing batch reactors, measuring gas production and writing a thesis. Luckily I’m only helping in small quantities and the lab work is completely done. Now it’s just data analysis and finishing off that thesis. I guess it’s science, and we use a computer, so it’s kind of what I went to school for.

Businesses

As I mentioned, we opened a dive center in Blacksburg. But we also created a state of the art website for it that’ll allow the company to grow into something much more than a dive center. We had the awesome team from HellowYellow design us the site, and they did an amazing job. We’re working on a ton of new features to the site like class registration, videos, etc. How hard can all that be? Well it’s part of a much larger picture, so a little harder than you think.

Part of that larger picture is this: It’s not about opening a dive center and sharing our passion for scuba. It’s about taking a business, any business, and making it the best at what it does. Most dive center websites look like theirs were created in 1996, by a dude with 10 minutes of html experience while sitting on a beach, drinking coronas.

So we started something. That something has grown to include several businesses, several partnerships, several clients and a lot of change. That change will upset a lot of people, namely those on the other side. How many, will be our measure of success.

Dive Centers, iPhone apps and More is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Avalon Dive Center – Blacksburg, VA

Mike — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 06:14:39 +0000

Ever since December of 2010, I’ve been working hard on helping to open a scuba dive shop in Blacksburg. I’ve done my fair share of retail before, but my role has largely been on the technical side.

We’ve realized that the usual way things are done are: scuba instructor opens a shop, creates a website and attempts to make a living doing what they love. The problem is, these people are usually not business people, they’re not designers, they’re not programmers, they’re not using the latest technology. Take business people, programmers, designers, marketers, and influential people who all use technology on a daily basis and have a passion for scuba diving and combine them into one package. That’s what I feel the Avalon Dive Center is. We’re many people with many talents getting together to share our passion with others in the best way we know how.

Avalon Dive Center – Blacksburg, VA is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Mobile Application Development

Mike — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:06:19 +0000

I’ve been doing a ton of application development for LTZ lately. Not only have I been working hard at getting iPhone and Android apps finished, but I’ve also been updating the website and making sure our apps are properly represented. Take a look at the website to see the changes that have been made!

Mobile Application Development is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Colombia

Mike — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 03:02:47 +0000

The past few months have been one great thing after another.

I got the opportunity to spend New Year’s Day in Colombia, which is better than any fourth of July celebration in any American city. In the US, where there’s an hour of fireworks displays, in Medellín, Colombia, the fireworks last the entire evening, night and into early morning. If one didn’t know any better, you’d swear you were living in a war zone with constant gun fire. It was truly amazing. The same thing happens on Christmas.

I also got married in Colombia, so that was kind of a big deal. We rented out a extremely fancy club and partied until 4AM; then, we went to an after party. Also, my family got to see the amazing landscape that happens in no other place in the world except Colombia.

Too many things have happened since, so I have to keep this short, or not post it at all

Enjoy the photos:

Colombia is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

iOS Development Code Kitchen

Mike — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:53:34 +0000

I’ll be putting on a workshop on iOS and iPhone development this Saturday from 9AM to 5PM on the Virginia Tech campus. The event is free so if you’re in the area feel free to sign up:

http://www.ltzllc.com/2010/11/ios-development-code-kitchen/

The event will run all day and will be hands-on programming, but all levels of experience are welcome and encouraged to come.

iOS Development Code Kitchen is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Photos of the Week: Faces in Places

Mike — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:15:32 +0000

We went to a Latino Festival in Roanoke, which was filled with Colombians. The food was great, the people were interesting and the displays were very beautiful. We met a mother from Colombia whose little girl dress in the traditional dress from Antioquia, the state that Ana is from. Then two Colombian girls danced a traditional dance from the coast area of the country.

The next two photos are of ours and a friend’s dog on our recent hike to McAfee Knob.

Colombianita

Colombian Dance Team

Kiara

Ollie

Photos of the Week: Faces in Places is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Learn Spanish, or any other language

Mike — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:05:54 +0000

If you have a library card to the local Blacksburg library, across the street from Rocket Music and the police station, you can access a pretty good online tutor called Mango Languages. Just search for Mango on this page. Both the card and the subscription to Mango Languages are free.

Also, here’s a list of some websites to learn Spanish and other languages. Don’t pay for anything online. They’re all a waste of money. There’s a lot of great content online for free and most people don’t follow through long enough for it to be worth it.

Language Podcasts

Podcasts are also a great, free option. Go to the iTunes store, and search for Spanish or which ever language you want to learn and subscribe to as many teaching podcasts as you can handle. For Spanish, I recommend:

Learn to Speak Spanish with Discover Spanish
Coffee Break Spanish

Some language podcasts are taught by English speakers who have horrible accents, but they’re worth a listen, but don’t put much effort into replicating their pronunciation.

Books

After you go through those for a while, you should get a book if you decide to continue learning it, otherwise I’d stick with the online content until you’re positive you want to learn it. I personally have a good reason to try to learn these languages, but if it’s just for fun you might find yourself getting tired of it.

Books provide a level of intensity and authority that you’ll need, but only after you’re sure you want to get that far into it. Almost any book with an accompanying CD should be good, but make sure to look through the book to see if it matches up with the way you learn. By going through the free content first, you should understand which technique best suites you.

Learn Spanish, or any other language is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

I Am Not an Entrepreneur

Mike — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:13:34 +0000

Many people throw around the term entrepreneur. It seems most people put that in their bios. Don’t tell me you’re an entrepreneur, show me. What have you done?

When we started LTZ, our mobile and web app development company, we didn’t need any venture capital funding. We didn’t need a fancy office to rent. We didn’t need to do the whole fancy company launch. We just sat down at our computers and started coding. And when we finally had a product to ship, we did all the legal paper work and got ourselves a little LLC.

Sure there were risks. The risk of becoming single again was always there. Sure there were long days. 16 hours seemed to be the norm. And sure there were a few new technologies that we created. But when it came down to it, we just had a simple plan: work really hard and make some great products.

The business model we had, seemed like a great idea: become an authority and gateway for indie developers to develop their apps with. Sort of like a record label for mobile app developers, but without the whole ripping them off bit. We’d mentor and direct them to a finished product and take a minimal cut from the net profits. Any programmer can attest to the numerous projects that never make it to a finished, polished, tested app. But that’s exactly what separates the professionals from the amateurs: finished products.

Now, we’re looking at things differently and adjusting our model. We’ve found out a little more about what works and what doesn’t in this new space. When you’re such a small company, the saying, “If you want things done right, you gotta do it yourself,” turns into, “If you want something done, you gotta do it yourself.” It’s really hard to concentrate on writing good code when you’re the tester, the project manager and the client manager all in one.

I’ll talk more about the new direction we’re heading soon. In the meantime, we’re still working on the details and we’ll update everyone as soon as we finalize everything.

I am not an entrepreneur. I just create stuff.

I Am Not an Entrepreneur is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs