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App of the Week: Crochet Concupiscence

February 1, 2012 @ 2:32 am

Kathryn forced me to go to the dictionary with the name of her blog. “Strong desire” is what I was told. Well, I have a strong desire to learn to spell Concupiscence, but it is going to take some work. If you have a strong desire to crochet, then Crochet Concupiscence is the app for you.. The website is http://www.crochetconcupiscence.com.

Here’s her description:

Crochet Concupiscence celebrates the passion of crafting through the lens of crochet. Frequent updates bring you the latest in all things crochet from crochet artist profiles to crochet book reviews, pithy crochet quotations to crochet spotting on celebrities. If you enjoy crochet, art, fashion and crafts in general then you’ll enjoy the site!

You can get the app for yourself on the Crochet Concupiscence download page.

 

App of the Week: Operation Shutdown

January 18, 2012 @ 1:29 am

True, it’s not baseball season, but I just love the story around the name of this Pittsburgh Pirates’ blog. Those of you not familiar with Derek Bell and his infamous ‘Operation Shutdown’ in 2002, should really check it out. My wife loves it so much she thinks about doing it herself. By the way, Pittsburgh is a blog heavy, and app heavy, town. If you are a fan of Pittsburgh sports, then you have a rich set of blogs to choose from. The website is http://operationshutdownblog.blogspot.com.

Here’s their description:

Blog about everything Pittsburgh Pirates. The Origins of Operation Shutdown In the spring training of 2002, after batting .173 the previous year, Derek Bell was expected to compete for a starting job. However, he thought that he didn’t need to, saying that “Nobody told me I was in competition. If there is competition, somebody better let me know. If there is competition, they better eliminate me out of the race and go ahead and do what they’re going to do with me. I ain’t never hit in spring training and I never will. If it ain’t settled with me out there, then they can trade me. I ain’t going out there to hurt myself in spring training battling for a job. If it is [a competition], then I’m going into “Operation Shutdown”. Tell them exactly what I said. I haven’t competed for a job since 1991.

You can get the app for yourself on the Operation Shutdown download page.

 

App of the Week: Sabres Hockey Central

January 11, 2012 @ 2:09 am

This is one of my favorite, and best, success stories for apps. Kevin Freiheit, signed up at BlogRocket, published his app to the Android Market, and then it just took off. SHC is an independent hockey blog and their app is one of our most successful. They have a great Buffalo Sabres site, which of course, makes their app content good. If only the Sabres would cooperate by having a good season. The website is http://sabreshockeycentral.com.

Here’s their description:

Stay up to date with the latest Buffalo Sabres news and information with SabresHockeyCentral.com

You can get the app for yourself on the Sabres Hockey Central download page.

 

App of the Week: Playstation Home Gazette

January 5, 2012 @ 4:50 am

Reviews and previews of everything related to the Playstation Home. If you want the latest on your gaming – Dream Yacht, Home for the Holidays, Asura’s Wrath, then our App of the Week is the app to have.. The website is http://pshomegazette.com.

Here’s they description:

PS Home Gazette is a daily online publication that covers Home’s content updates. We review each new item so you can make an informed decision before you buy. In addition, we post daily news articles to help keep you up to date with Home and the PSN in general.

You can get the app for yourself on the Playstation Home Gazette download page.

 

App of the Week: Thyme For Cooking

December 21, 2011 @ 6:45 am

Does braised veal with olives and capers appeal to you? Or pork and onions? Maybe cauliflower gratin? Well, how about anecdotes about dogs? You can find all of them in our App of the Week from Kate at at http://thyme2.typepad.com/.

Here’s her description:

Simple cooking using fresh, seasonal ingredients; restoring a 300 year-old stone farmhouse and wondering why we decided we needed not one but two giant-breed puppies…. And stories about bumbling our way through life in France. One American expat’s story.

You can get the app for yourself on the Thyme For Cooking download page.

 

New Android Market Developer Agreement

December 13, 2011 @ 3:56 pm

Just wanted to let the people with their own Android Market Developer accounts know that there is a new developer agreement you’ll need to agree to.

I logged in the other day and was presented with it. It said I had 30 days to accept it and, I believe, it said that the app would be removed if I didn’t. So, login and check it out.

Revenue Sharing Changes

November 10, 2011 @ 10:57 pm

Beginning with Q4 2011, the start of October, we are moving to a better revenue sharing plan for our publishing partners.

We will now be doing a straight 50/50 revenue share on all apps.  There will no longer be a minimum amount per month before revenue sharing.

We will pay monthly on all balances that are $25 or more.  Payments will take place 45-60 days following the end of the month.

For those of you creating an Android Market Developer account, this means your first payment will be $50 to cover the cost of the account.

We are very excited to make this change as it will provide more money to our smaller publishers.

Getting An Android Market Developer Account

November 10, 2011 @ 10:42 pm
Here are the instructions, with a few pictures, on how to sign up for an Android Market Developer account.

Step 1

Sign into your google mail account.  You can use the same account you used at www.noticesoftware.com to create your app.

Step 2

Visit this link:  https://market.android.com/publish/signup

Step 3

You will be asked to fill out ‘Listing Details’.  The important item here is ‘Developer Name’.  This will show up as the app owner in the Android Market.  We used “Notice Software LLC”.  Here is a screen shot of what it looks like.

Step 4

After clicking ‘Continue’, you will need to pay.  Click on the ‘Google Checkout’ image (see screen shot below) and pay the $25 fee.  It’s a one-time only fee.

 Step 5

After paying, click on the ‘return to Android Market’ link and you will see an empty “All Android Market listings” box.  You have finished registering for a Developer account.  

Those Mysterious Alerts

August 8, 2011 @ 10:50 pm

Over the last few months, we’ve intermittently been told about alerts getting sent when the reader no longer has the category turned on that the story sending the alert is for. It has had us confounded for quite some time.

We couldn’t reproduce it. We couldn’t be sure the reader was wrong. We couldn’t pin down anything concrete. It wasn’t the same apps creating the reports. It wasn’t the same types of categories creating the reports. Just baffling.

Well, we finally figured it out over the weekend. An old change in the code base coupled with another old change in the code base created a logical anomaly. Ok. Not an anomaly. We just had some code that evolved into incorrect behavior. We weren’t registering the turning off of categories for alerts in some cases.

We are happy to say it is fixed. We’ll be rolling this fix out for all new apps and for all old apps in our next big release wave. The big release wave should be later this week.

Jakob Riis and a Rock

April 29, 2011 @ 1:32 pm
As a fan of the San Antonio Spurs, I’m very aware of this quote from Jacob Riis:
Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
It hangs in the Spurs locker room and is the motto, or creed, by which they approach their business of winning basketball games. And, more importantly, the method by which the approach the business of winning championships.

One can read this simply. If you think of the stone cutter as skill-less laborer whacking at a rock mindlessly until it breaks. You can then approach your business in the same way. Just work, work, and work some more. And eventually success will happen.

But, if you view the stone cutter as a skilled professional. One who delivers each blow with an intention. Then, the quote has a lot of depth to it. Success is the result of many decisions implemented precisely. Even though many individual decisions may not have a measurable result, it still plays an important part of the success.

Additionally, the message is that there are no shortcuts. Success is the result of working to be better everyday. One day at a time. If a day shows no success, you have to keep the goal in mind. Every day should be executed toward that goal.