Aug 28th, 2010 by flingsoft
I just wanted to post a quick update and let everyone know we are quickly working on Movie Vault 1.1 as well as 1.2 and also an iPhone version. The reception within the app community has been well above what we expected, so we are spending our time making sure this next version resolves some of the issues people are seeing. We are also working on our backend servers to make sure the streaming experience is as good as possible.
For version 1.1 we are focusing on:
- Improved application stability during app usage and movie watching.
- Bug where you can lose the movie detail window forcing a relaunch.
- Fixes to the player screen to move up the scrubber and remove the textured back.
- iPad to VGA out support as well as component out support.
- Improved backend and increased bandwidth for faster updates and installation.
- NEW Genre backgrounds for a number of categories and updated.
- Updated movie covers (thanks to our passionate community for helping on this!).
There are a number of items people are requesting which will take us a bit more time, so our first focus is to improve stability and get these fixes out. We will keep everyone post and thanks again for the awesome support!!
Filed under:
movie vault,
Aug 16th, 2010 by flingsoft
When the iPad was first announced, it quickly became clear to most people that this device was going to be more about consumption than it was about creation. Sure people have done some amazing things with apps like Brushes and of course the entire iWork suite is available, but everything feels very scaled down. It just wasn’t there to be a creation device, but it was the perfect platform to consumer content. Comics, news, social, and especially TV and Movies.
The device was perfect for consuming media. No one ever loved watching movies on their iPhones, they simply tolerated it. Now we have a device and a big beautiful screen to play with and media never felt better. The one problem we have though is that content is lacking. Even if you subscribe to Netflix, the library is finite. The Apple Store is a little overpriced for most to purchase from, so we found a hole in the app marketplace and tried to fill it.
And so, we are proud to present Movie Vault for iPad. Its all about FREE movie content for you, no strings attached.
All about Movie Vault
Movie Vault is an all new iPad app with the single purpose to provide access to a catalog of over 1200 movies and television shows from the last 100 years. We have fully catalogued these movies including fully-searchable information on directors, actors, writers, and more. We also hunted down the cover art for a truly awesome experience.
Using it is simple, when you first download the movie listing is downloaded from our server. In doing this, we can provide up-to-date movie listings without the need to update our application constantly which means less work for you. You can then swipe left or right between Genres, select from the Genre menu in the top left or search by keyword which is included in the Genre menu. When you find a movie just tap it once to get more info and then tap “Watch Movie” to start it up. Give it a couple seconds to let it start and site back and enjoy. Its that simple.
The best part is, everything is streamed so you can enjoy it over Wifi OR over 3G. With Apple’s streaming technology you get a great experience and our servers take care of the heavy lifting.
What are some of our favorites movies?
I have always been a Horror guy and especially love films like George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. There are also great Sci-Fi film and if you really aren’t sure then do a search on Lugosi, Price, or Karloff.
If you are feeling a little more upbeat try some great Comedies or maybe even a Musical or too. And do not miss out on some of the great Crime, Mystery, or War films. There are a ton to choose from. I would say most of all to not let the age fool you, some of the movies in here are unbelievable and are you really going to argue with directors like Alfred Hitchcock, among others.
We really hope you enjoy it. Building this library and prepping this data for streaming has been a true labor of live. We look forward to hearing feedback and can’t wait for the next version. Get it now for $4.99!!
Filed under:
ipad, movie vault,
Aug 10th, 2010 by flingsoft
For those that have been following us on Twitter, you have probably noticed that we have a new app in the queue with the App Store review gods. I thought I would take a moment today and give you a little insight on the process and to give you an idea the sense of frustration a lot of developers feel. I am not going to talk about the app itself because well, its a SURPRISE but you may get a few hints as you are reading.
A Word About Our Expectations
Our first two app releases, FotoFling and FotoFling Worldwide took almost 2 months from submission to release. This was primarily because the store was still in its infancy and Apple hadn’t ramped up their review process. Our second and third releases came much much easier, this is due probably both to the limited complexity and timing. Basically, it was easy to review.
This new app is something altogether different. First, it is an iPad app (with the iPhone version following shortly). Second, it makes heavy use of server side interaction and in particular, it uses Apple’s video streaming technology. We didn’t need to use this, but we wanted to support 3G out of the box so we decided to go for it.
We knew this might be a longer process and we were hoping the system had stayed as smooth as our last run through… we were clearly wrong.
The App Submission Process
We first submitted the app on 7/22/2010 and at that point your app is classified as “Waiting for Review”. There isn’t a lot of clarity to the “states” and probably the first shortcoming of the process. Here they are:
- Waiting for Review
- In Review
- Rejected
- Ready for Sale
Seems simple enough right… yes, except things to stick between Waiting and In Review for a very long time.
Our Timeline So Far
- 7/22/2010 6pm - App was submitted to Apple for review. “Waiting for Review”
- 8/2/2010 1pm- App state switches to “In Review”
- 8/2/2010 4pm - App is “Rejected” due to issues with streams validating using Apple’s tool “mediastreamvalidator”.
At this point we investigate the issue and actually talk to the developer at Apple who wrote the tool. Come to find out, there is actually an issue where mediastreamvalidator is returning invalid responses when the mime type for AAC files is not configured correctly. Bottom line, this is not an issue for the app and can be resolved in about 5 seconds. If the Apple Review team understood the technology they were testing, then we could have resolved this over e-mail in under an hour. I explain to them hoping they can retest and got no response, so we were forced to re-submit.
- 8/3/2010 3pm - App (same as original) is re-submitted to Apple for review. Again, we are “Waiting for Review
As of today, we are still Waiting and based on the last timeline they should review it tomorrow 8/11 or early Wed.
How to Solve the Problems
There are some very simple ways to resolve some of the problems with the process:
- Add an additional state to the review process for applications that make use of server-side technologies where re-submission might not be necessary to fix a problem.
- Make resubmissions after rejection a higher priority than new submissions.
- Train the reviewers to think outside of the box of the tools they use, like I said in our case things could have been resolved in the reviewer understood the tool they were using.
- Add reviewers to your team and go Sat/Sun as well. It sounds extreme, but you have a lot of apps coming in.
- Look at the entire app before rejecting so we can handle multiple issues that may have been found so we don’t go through this repeatedly.
- Add a “Notes” area to iTunes Connect so we can see the issues the reviewer documented.
Our Love for Apple
Keep in mind, none of this is a bash of Apple. They have provided us with an incredible opportunity as designers and developers the likes of which we have never seen. We are simply being constructive based on our own experiences in an effort to improve the process. Bottom line, we still love you guys… but sometimes you still frustrate us to no end.
I will keep everyone updated on our process and hopefully have a nice big post about the new app shortly. Thanks for the support!
UPDATE 8/13/2010 10:30AM
We are back “In Review”, updates to follow!
Filed under:
appstore, itunes,
May 1st, 2010 by flingsoft
After our initial work on some functional apps, we decided to have a little fun. Part of it was due to my young (2 years at the time) son and his obsession with the iPhone and little silly apps. So the next two apps were more about making something silly with some great design behind it. They were also based on the fortune cookie concept which is something simple for people to understand and something very “shareable”.
Fortune Monkey Lives!
Who doesn’t love a good monkey? We really set out to build something like Zoltar made famous by the movie Big, but with a little twist. To give it a little spin, he became a monkey and a gypsy and so much more… You can share your fortunes with friends or just play with it yourself, there are hundreds and hundreds of fortunes to choose from
And then the Buddha Speaks!
We then decided to branch out and do another version that was still fun but with a different spin. Buddha always has awesome teachings and was a natural fit. So we came up with a cartoon version based on the fat laughing Budda or “Budai”. Same functionality, but new content and different target.
Neither of these apps were about making money as there are a ton of these types of apps, but really more about having some fun with design and getting users something fun to play with. Both really successful from that perspective and the uptick in sales was not a bad thing.
Filed under:
iphone, buddhaspeaks, fortunemonkey,
Apr 12th, 2010 by flingsoft
In the beginning, the idea was simple… find a hole in the iPhone application landscape and fill it with something people needed. This hasn’t changed much obviously, but the amount of gaps in those first six months were so much greater than they are now. So we decided to tackle something that was relatively simple and something we felt was much needed. It was a way to get us into the store quickly, push us into iPhone development, and really just dip our toe in the water. From all of this, FotoFling was born. It was originally actually called MySnapFoo, so really happy that we changed that along the way.
FotoFling Development
FotoFling started off as something very very simple; “build MMS functionality into the iPhone platform”. Digging a little deeper, we soon discovered that our goals were much greater than what was allowed by the iPhone OS and the SDK. For example:
- No access to the SMS sub-system to send messages.
- Limited access to the user’s phonebook to negotiate between mobile/non-mobile numbers.
And so our first approach was very rudimentary. We decided to use a server side solution to handle the photo sending and make use of the e-mail to text messaging gateways of carriers to send the SMS notifications. This was for several reasons:
- Again, no access to the SMS sub-system to send messages.
- Cost of using API for SMS sending was fairly obscene depending on volume. Meaning, it just wouldn’t scale financially.
- No way to send an SMS other than using a major third party platform.
We pushed forward and soon our prototype was up and running. Our initial foray into iPhone design was complete with a clever catchy retro design and the functionality was pretty solid. We were ready to launch, it was June of 2008.
Apple’s Sign-Up and Review Process
Behind the scenes, we had been in the “sign-up” queue with a million other developers for months and after many back and forth exchanges with Apple developer support, we finally got our approval e-mail. It was clearly the most amount of time I have ever spent in order to give someone $99. So new developer account in hand, final binaries compiled, META information for the store ready and SUBMIT FOR APPROVAL. Woohoo!
And we waited…. for two months. Finally at the end of September 2008 (1 day after my birthday, Happy Birthday!) our little app showed up on the iTunes App Store. Priced at $1.99, we quickly moved to the top of the Photography category and ended up in the top 100 of the store overall.
We were feeling pretty good, but then things changed in the store.
Apple Policies Cost Us
Apple got lazy on policing apps that were submitted and soon we had a number of competitors. Competition is typically good, but most of the apps were from the same company and they actually were the SAME APP. Sure some were green and others red and had different names, but the interface was identical. This absolutely killed us in the long run and before two months was up there were over 20 apps that did the same thing, many of which were duplicates. They fixed this, but it took over 6 months to get there.
There is no way to tell how much launching earlier would have helped from the lack of competition, but this is all speculation. Also, the lack of real app monitoring post our release always would have cost us substantially. We are over it now, but it was brutal for all developers… not just us.
Customer Feedback
Now our app wasn’t perfect by any means, but some of the negative reactions from customers was almost insane and proves how well Apple does “hiding” the iPhone’s inadequacies. The biggest negative we heard was “this is not real MMS!”. The tricky thing here is that there was no way to do “real MMS” on the iPhone at this time. The whole point of what we were all doing was to give iPhone users an alternative way to accomplish this. So, while we were doing our best to put out a functional app that user’s would want to use, we got slammed in reviews (that you can’t respond to) about features that you literally couldn’t make the phone do. It was painful for us and we had no way in the iTunes store to tell our users…
FotoFling’s Status Now
The original FotoFling was AT&T only and that soon gave birth to FotoFling Worldwide. We dropped pricing, played with naming and UI elements, etc. We still get downloaded across the world which is strange given that we only support certain markets, but the prospect of “Free MMS” really appeals to some people.
To date, we have sent over one million messages and we are very proud of that fact.
We are not actively doing new development on this as the market is over-saturated and of course the fact that Apple has built MMS into the iPhone OS itself. We thank everyone who has purchased and will continue to support the infrastructure that runs this. We are actively working on new apps for ourselves and clients, but we will never forget how it all started!
Filed under:
iphone, fotofling,
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