That’s right! We are working on a new iPhone application. Yesterday we finished an important phase of the project. I think the worst part is over.
Next week, I will be testing the performance of the app, refactoring some code and finding bugs while my team focus on the visuals of the app.
More details? Coming to the App Store this March!
Something funny happened today: GPS data and location protocols of iPhone’s framework made me revive a love story that worths sharing.
All started today, while I was handling GPS positions and tying them with my new iPhone app. During one of the tests, I started Google Maps application and remembered it’s also capable of displaying 360º photographs of the streets. It’s a Google’s project called Street View.
Procrastination then took me to latitude 43.604363, longitude 1.442951 which happens to be the location of a southern-France city where I made a residence with my first photography teacher.
I spend a virtual tour across some of the streets I remembered, because it’s a city that keeps a lot of valuable experiences for me. I then landed on Avenue Tolosane, the very same place where one of my favorite songs, “Coke, Cigarettes and You” was inspired.
The story happened during summer. I was on that street because I had a date with a girl I really loved. I was going to meet her at a bus stop, but arrived a little earlier. In fact, I didn’t arrived by bus, I actually arrived after walking about 5 or 6 kilometers because my camera’s watch failed and started the journey extra-early (it was 2 or 3 hours forward).
Even after the long walk I was still early, so I went to a bar in the same street to kill some time. I ordered a Coca-Cola (you know how much I love it) and took seat at the bar’s terrace. My cigarettes just were over when I saw her walking down the street (like in that 1964 Orbison’s hit).
We spent a wonderful day and near the end got slept, then waked up at twilight. Just in time for me to catch the bus to the train station, I was leaving the city that same night. We walked to the bus stop (you guessed, over Avenue Tolosane) and waited for the last bus. It was starting to get dark and cold. We hug, I hold her tight and said goodbye. We knew there were good chances we would not see each other again.
After my arrival to Mexico City, I recorded a song during the following weeks, a love song about that day. It has no lyrics but it says something like:
In a place that is new and strange to me, I’ve found someone who makes it familiar.
Someone who doesn’t speak my language but I know how to make smile.
Someone that can tell me with her eyes she really liked that kiss.
Someone I would say: when I’m with you I don’t need anything else…
No wait, we both know that’s a lie, better say:
When I’m with you, I just need Coke, cigarettes, and you…
You can listen the track directly here, in last.fm
weee!
If you are one of the lucky ones to live in Mexico City and own an iPhone or iPod touch, your fantastic voyages accross subway, rapid bus system (MetroBus) and other rail-based systems are about to be mathematically optimal.
I decided to employ this summer vacations on the development of my first commercial application. I thought on something I really needed in my everyday and ended designing an optimal route calculator for the main public transportation systems in Mexico City. I called it Ubicate! which translates as ‘locate yourself’ and which is a phrase grown-ups love shouting at youngsters when they misbehave.
In brief, you input a start station, your destination and my software tells you the precise instructions to arrive shortly (or comfortably if there are too many line exchanges), dry and safe .
I’ve got some future plans for the software, first of all, international localization, some integration with the phone’s GPS system, etc…
You can visit the mini-site (Spanish) or even better, download it from the App Store!
Remember your purchase helps a young software-engineering student pay for his college expenses and vices: fancy restaurants, stripped Adidas sneakers in every possible color, luxury traveling, … Just kidding!!
If you liked the application’s logo, you should know it’s the work of a very talented designer and wonderful collaborator, Ulises Arvizu.
PS: I’m looking for a young developer to work with. Contact me if you feel interested. iPhone SDK experience strongly suggested)
Yeah Baby! This is my second week without smoking a flipping cigarette.
It has been damn difficult but I have managed to resist this devilish temptation with lots of water, candies and holding a non-lighted cigarette in my hand when in company of my extra-hardcore-smoky friends.
Good things to notice are: I get less tired when climbing stairs or doing my routines at the gym and feeling pleased at night when taking off my clothes (they no longer smell like an ashtray). On the other hand, I haven’t saved too much money with this initiative, after two weeks of going cold turkey I can barely afford a Big Mac at the nearest McDo or a glass of wine for my next date. But let’s keep it clear, quit smoking worths trying, specially considering your consumption note is going to arrive 20 or 30 years after your first cigarette and it’s going to come as a medical oxygen tank or as a couple of racking weeks attached to a medical ventilator before dying.
iPhone’s application Quitter has been helping me to track my progress.
