Roberto Speich

A few words about yourself, where you live and what you do?

Roberto: My name is Roberto Speich, I am 41 and live in the outskirts of Paris (France). I started developing for the web more than 6 years ago, back when blogs were “the next big thing” and personal web sites full of blinking, scrolling and oversized clip-arts. It all started when I asked a friend if he could develop a web counter for me. I wanted to show on my blog who visited me and from what part of the world. Such web counters did not exist back then… But rather than developing the counter for me, my friend gave me a book on php, a programming language. He knew I used to program on an Apple II when I was a teenager and thought it was time for me to get back on the programming saddle. I followed his advice and my web counter became an instant hit. The following year I launched NeoWORX.net.

How did you come up with so many great ideas for your iPhone application? Who/what was your inspiration?

It was only a logical step to port the web traffic tracking services of NeoWORX to the iPhone. While the web has changed how people access information, the iPhone has changed when people do it. Previous generation phones were also able to access the internet, but the iPhone finally made the experience more convenient. And now more and more people want to get their information through a mobile device.

What impact did the iPhone application have on your business/life?

Thanks to its new iPhone app, NeoWORX is distancing itself even further from its competition. NeoWORX pioneered the market for country and city-based web counters in 2005, but look-alike counters soon popped-up everywhere. So Ihave been constantly innovating since my first product and the iPhone gives me the opportunity to take another step ahead of the competition.

How did you find about SeattleClouds.com website?

SeattleClouds was godsend. I had been looking for several months for a platform to develop iPhone apps without knowledge of its specific programming language. I had found several companies, but none seemed to fit my needs. Most of these companies simply offered to make static pages, essentially displaying RSS feeds and I needed more interaction with the app user. Every week I would check bookmarked companies for a change in their services, and look for newcomers. Then, one day I noticed a message in a forum mentioning SeattleClouds. My search ended on that day!

The SeattleClouds development platform is very powerful. To me, it has 2 essential features. It allows the use of javascript, the backbone of interaction with your app user, making such apps as quizzes or polls possible. SeattleClouds even allows to display server-side pages written for example in php. That opens the door to even more possibilities, like password-protected apps and database queries.

The other strength of SeattleClouds is its ability to update your app content even once it has been published in the App Store. Imagine: you change some text or an image in your app and your app users see it immediately on their devices! This makes a SeattleCloud app probably more flexible than traditionally-developed apps…

NeoWORX application review

Andrew: I’m originally from New York City, but currently living in sunny Sydney, Australia. I do marketing for Arts organizations, and in my spare time I write, make music, play sports and taste delicious beers from all around the world.

How did you come up with the idea for your iPhone application? Who/what was your inspiration?

Andrew: I’ve always enjoyed craft beers, and after moving to Australia I found there was a nice craft beer movement getting started here, so I figured I could make this guide to help people… Read More

Content rich is all about providing information that is considered valuable to your target audience. Information that users might find useful could consist of product or industry facts, statistics, reviews, tutorials, or educational information related to a specific industry.

When creating a content rich iPhone app, do not be afraid to think outside of the box. Unique ideas will generally garner more attention than the mundane and more common content concepts.

Here are some ideas on how you can build content for your iPhone application:

Calendar of Events

If your application appeals to a specific audience manage and maintain a calendar of events. The events should relate to a specific region or topic.

Product Reviews and Testimonials

Consumers will often refer to product reviews to discern what product they should purchase, what books they should read, what movies they should see etc. Product reviews with candid the reviews are most credible if both the product negatives and positives are illustrated.

Maps

Use Google Map Link(toolbox) to show your app users a visual representation or directions to surrounding communities or local events.

Photo Contests / Art Contests/Poetry Contest

Contests can be a great way to interact with your audience. Contests also make an iPhone app sticky, because contestants will frequently revisit the app to check their standing, or determine if they are an actual contender. All in all, contests can result in extra attention.

Writing Articles / How to Guides

When writing your articles, think about what your iPhone app users want to know, not what you want to tell them. In other words write for your audience not for yourself.

SeattleClouds platform provides the necessary tools to build rich content iPhone applications that comply with  Apple guidelines and will get your iPhone application approved by App Store

U2TOURFANS announced the release of a new iPhone/iTouch application that integrates its multiple services into a single interface, making it easy for iPhone users to find, use and switch between U2TOURFANS social media properties like, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and more To use the application, iPhone/iTouch users can download directly from the iTunes Applicaition store, by searching U2TOURFANS.

To accomplish this, U2TOURFANS partnered with SeattleClouds, SeattleClouds is an online publishing platform that allows you to create your own iPhone applications. You can then submit and sell your apps in the AppStore so people all over the world can download or buy your app.

The people behind SeattleClouds are a team of dedicated individuals with a long history in the technology field. Because of the potential that we saw in iPhone applications, we have developed a platform that can let any user create iPhone applications; no programming skills are required.

U2TOURFANS and SeattleClouds wanted a 360 experience unlike any other fan site connecting all of the elements that make up U2TOURFANS 360 experience. By connecting social applications such as twitter, youtube and facebook fans will be able to have the complete experience.

Editor-in-Chief Dre was quoted last night during the introductionof the application as saying.” This as the greatest birthday present to date, the launch of the application creates the 360 expeience that has always been the main focus of our media property.

These new features provide iPhone users with a desktop-like U2TOURFANS web application experience in terms of ease-of-use, speed, and feature richness but optimized for the iPhone. This experience is made possible by the iPhone’s general usability and the capabilities of its web browser, combined with U2TOURFANS/SeattleClouds innovative mobile web applications.

- Full integration with social media sites: facebook, twitter, blip.fm, youtube, posterous, trulia
- No programming skills required.

Many individuals and companies in the music, publishing industry, sports industry,  marketing and travel see opportunities in building their own iPhone applications.

Using SeattleClouds, you can add custom graphics for the background and menu tabs, as well as the ability to add images, videos, audio tracks, insert Google Map links.

Once your app is complete, you submit it to App Store on SeattleClouds Web site, where it is

processed. At that point, you can:
1.For a monthly fee, build and update your online app yourself anytime, also have the option to have SeattleClouds handle your end of the approval process for you.

2.Pay for an offline app and have SeattleClouds submit it to App Store for you.

3.Pay to download it, then use your iPhone Developer Account to submit it to the App Store approval process.

The cutting edge feature offered by SeattleClouds is previewing the application  on the iPhone, while users are in the process of building/designing the app. In order do this SeattleClouds built for their users  an iPhone app named SeattleClouds . The app is free to download on App Store.

SeattleClouds.com website provides a set of online tools that help build and design iPhone applications using HTML and CSS.
SeattleClouds.com is an WYSIWYG html editor which simplifies design and development of mobile HTML pages and helps compiling mobile HTML pages into iPhone apps.
On the website, you can create and design iPhone applications. You don’t need any programming skills. Designing iphone applications  is as easy as editing a word document.

ON THE IPHONE

Seattle Clouds Application
INSTALL

SeattleClouds iPhone application allows you to instantly preview the application on the iPhone even in the process of building. You can make changes to the app on the fly and immediately see these changes published on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Seattle Clouds App lists all published applications using SeattleClouds framework, including latest apps from Seattle based companies. This app also allows free previewing of HTML based apps built online on SeattleClouds.com (feature requires login)

Share]]> http://blog.iphoneseattle.com/2010/01/design-and-view-your-iphone-app-on-the-fly/feed/ 106 http://blog.iphoneseattle.com/2009/12/an-original-christmas-gift-that-will-surprize/ http://blog.iphoneseattle.com/2009/12/an-original-christmas-gift-that-will-surprize/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:36:27 +0000 admin http://blog.iphoneseattle.com/?p=36

Give a Christmas Gift Card that will make someone’s dream come true.

With this Gift Card your friends and family will build their own iPhone application on SeattleClouds.com Creating an iPhone application on SeattleClouds.com is easy. No programming skills required.

Ideas for iPhone applications: promote your band; support a great cause application; promote your business; create a family photo album; publish your book on iPhone and so much more.

Luckily, those days are over. With the rapid advancement of new mobile media publishing books became easier and reaching new readers became a matter of a click of a button.

Benefits of publishing your book on iPhone:

1. Unlike a printed book, there’s no need to print a physical copy every time someone buys.
2. Free to Distribute – Once you publish your book on iPhone it is instantly available to over 60 million readers all over the world.
3. Easy to Update – As easy as changing a word file.

Publishing your own book on iPhone is the same thing as building an iPhone application for your book that you can sell or give away for free (if want to promote your website, an event, other books).
If you instantly get scared just from hearing the word “development” we recommend using an online application builder for creating the whole application: publishing your book, editing, updating, inserting images, adding information about the author and finally submitting your book application to apple store.
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Learn how to build an iPhone application for your band, business, portfolio restaurant etc.

By definition, Cloud Services are a set of Internet services providing some solutions at high scale. Browsing the Web was one of the first internet service available. Now you can fully interact with Internet solutions. This is being done daily with services such as Yahoo’s email or Google‘s search. The distinction that Cloud Services provide over traditional desktop or Web solutions is that it enables you to combine both worlds. For instance, you can create a desktop client solution that consumes data hosted in a Cloud Service that can then be accessed from your phone. In this model, a rich client gives you the responsiveness you expect with the rich toolset you need with the reach of the Web. By definition, a mobile phone is always connected. It has to be, otherwise how would you get your calls. The iPhone has three ways in which it keeps the user connected to the Internet: EDGE, 3G, WiFi. These technologies keep the iPhone always connected. At the end of the day the iPhone is not just a phone. It is a computer running a fully functional operating system sitting inside of a piece of hardware that is always connected. Checking email, weather, and stocks is a simple as reaching into your pocket, holding your phone and scanning the data. Services like Internet Radio will deliver the same radio to your iPhone as sent to your PC.

How the iPhone relates to Cloud Services? If you have used an iPhone then you already realize that you would not want to design a PowerPoint presentation on it, or write a lengthy document or any of the labor intensive activities you need a PC for. The sweet spot for the iPhone is in its ability for you to easily review information and make small, byte sized responses. In other words, it is the tool you need when you do not want to boot up your computer. What this means is that the iPhone will not replace your laptop or desktop. It augments it. The challenge this provides is that you now must have your data in two places. This is where Cloud Computing helps. Storing your data in Cloud services allows you to review your day to day activities on your iPhone while you are on the go and when you have the time, boot up your PC to do the heavy lifting work. There are multiple Cloud Storage offers on the market and many people use them. However, due to high volume of data it is often overwhelming to keep your cloud storage up-to-date. Here is the place where Microsoft Azure Connectivity Service comes into game. Using Connectivity Services, you can make your desktop data reachable from your iPhone. Ideally, one would want to keep all data locally on the desktop, because storage is free and hard drives are cheap. At the same time, one would love the ability to make small, byte size, changes on the data from a terminal device always “On” and available in the pocket. The iPhone clearly shows how Cloud Services are important.

However, the iPhone is only one device and there are many new powerful mobile devices being launched. This only increases the need for cloud services. Companies that provide in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of emerging trends in global connectivity are claiming “Apple’s iPhone sparked an explosion in consumer awareness of mobile applications.” However, “Most of today’s applications need hardware with more computing power, limiting their market potential.” To solve this, ABI Research proposes a new architecture based on software running in the cloud. This fact will drastically change the way mobile applications are developed, acquired, and used. In fact, cloud computing could dominate the mobile application market. ABI Research itself admits that the approach does pose some challenges, such as intermittent network availability. A cloud-based mobile service will become inoperable as the device loses its connection.

Still, next generation technologies like HTML 5, which enables data caching on the device, allowing work to continue until the signal is restored. “Cloud computing will bring unprecedented sophistication to mobile applications,” ABI Research notes. “To mention just a few examples, business users will benefit from collaboration and data sharing apps. Personal users will gain from remote access apps allowing them to monitor home security systems, PCs or DVRs, and from social networking mashups that let them share photos and video or incorporate their phone address books and calendars.” Following is a sample how to connect an iPhone application with an RSS feed published by Microsoft Azure .NET Online Services. In order to run the sample you need to download and install Microsoft .NET Services SDK from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/dotnetservices/ After installing, open Samples and go to \Samples\ServiceBus\ExploringFeatures\RelayAuthentication\WebNoAuth\CS35 and open HttpNoAuthenticationSample solution. Set Server project as StartUp Project and run it. The service in this sample creates a simple RSS feed and returns it using the .NET Framework 3.5 RSS/Atom features. The client part of the solution calls the syndication service and writes the feed content to the console. For our example we will not use the client. Instead, we will create an iPhone application that will call our syndication feed and display its content in an iPhone app. This is the simplest sample from .NET Online Services SDK and the simplest RssReader iPhone app created from an app template. Even though it is a simple scenario, it illustrates the potential of Microsoft Cloud infrastructure and unveils a new era of interactions between mobile devices and cloud infrastructures, which will make real a huge set of scenarios that we all can benefit from in our daily life. After you start the service, a console window should display your feed address: Service Address: http://<yoursolutionname>.servicebus.windows.net/services/SyndicationService Press [Enter] to exit Your syndication feed is now live. If you point a browser to this address, you will see an Rss feed published by your service app. Next step is to create a mobile app that will display that feed.

SeattleClouds.com is a website listing a collection of iPhone application templates and makes it easy to build an iPhone application. Go to SeattleClouds.com, select App Templates tab and choose RssReader Template. Click Create Application and switch to Design mode. In the Properties box set the value of Rss Url property to your Service Address. Click Apply button for your changes to take effect. You should see now a web simulation of an iPhone app displaying your feeds. SeattleClouds.com has an online designer, which allows building iPhone applications online, design and customization of iPhone applications. If you are a photographer, blogger, artist or a designer, that is all you need to run your entire business from home using Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure and exposing your work via an Rss feed live to the web and mobile devices.
This is only the beginning. .NET Online Services team is building a rich set of features targeting small businesses, including Access Control and Workflow Services.