(r)Evolution

This day has come. I knew it had to happen sooner or later, but now I can tell that it's time. SimpleBeat project is evolving, I've decided to take it much more seriously and bring it to the next level.

First, I've quit one of my jobs to make time for the project. It was a tough descision, but it had to be done.

Second, the amount of study and coding time will increase drastically. Literally there will be no single day I'm not coding and studying (note that 'coding' is in first place). I am re-taking some of the previous iTunes courses, taking additional courses in Visual Design, and setting up a real work-place (with minimal distractions and maximum productivity 'helpers').

Third, this site is going to become quite a different place, I am starting to turn it into more 'Personal Creative Business' and less into 'A Guy Chatting About Something' type of a place. Structural re-design, emphasis on mass-appeal, the homepage. Blog will remain, but in a less dominant role (probably as a sub-page).

Four, the project will at some point evolve into business-model. Not quite profitable at the beginning, but hopefully profitable enough to support me in the future. I'll be starting a company, first of my own, and then expanding if needed.

Five, expanding into social networking. I've resisted this in the past because I couldn't figure out how to do it and at the same time not to be too obtrusive, especially to my friends. :) However, I believe I'm on a brink of finding the right balance and it's time to make it happen.

There are Six, Seven, Eight... and so on in this list of SimpleBeat evolution, so maybe it's more accurate to call it revolution. No matter what the name is though, it's going to be fun, exciting, hard, challenging, and totally worth it. At the very least it's a better life when you're active! :)

4s

Cristmas came early, I've got myself a present, the new iPhone, the 4s. To say I am satisfied is to say nothing - I am very happy and excited about the latest Apple product! Especially considering the fact that my current phone is iPhone 3G (not even 3Gs).

It is very snappy, quick and powerful, the camera is great, and even half-working Siri (which still does not support European maps and locations) is quite useful. It is fun and easy way to set reminders, calendar events and quickly check things. I am yet to check how it works for messages and e-mail, though I suppose it'll work just fine. I'm also surprised on how accurate the speech recognition is. Most of the times Siri gets what one says exactly right!

As much as I enjoy the fact of this upgrade, there is also a practical issue: I'm now able to check all my iOS apps on the latest hardware, which will be relevant at least a year. This is not to mention that developing for iPhone 4s would be my priority.

Christmas Comes Early!

My blog posts are going to become irregurlar for at least a month, and the main reason for that is... Christmas and New Year holidays! Unfortunately for me (or maybe just the opposite, a very fortunate side-effect) the main job I have (acting) features a 'reverse' schedule: when everybody else is having day-offs I am working and when people usually work I have a day-off.

This comes out badly only in the situation of long holidays: the New Year. The business in theatre starts looming, so drains my free time for any side-projects! :)

And these times have started early this week with the first rehearsals. So, I'm late already on this post, and this will continue into the following weeks. I'll do everything possible to keep up with the studies and blog updates, but it's going to slip from time to time: gotta make living and it's not by coding just yet! :)

Also I had some family emergency business this week which complicated things even further. It all turned out to be just fine eventually, but I had to take time off from all my other activities.

To end on a positive note though there is going to be official launch of iPhone 4s in Russia on December 16th, and that's when Christmas actually kicks in for me! :)

Lion

Unlike the previous time this week was not much of coding and studying.  It was rather maintenance and workflow adjustments.  I'm talking about the latest OS X which I've finally got to install, Lion.

The system did improve, and in many ways it is a great step forward:  Mission Control and Fullscreen Mode both quickly became my favotites.  And the way it's implemented on Macbook's trackpad is even more compelling!  XCode in Fullscreen Mode is just pure joy to code in!  Nothing is distracting, no pop-up dock, no upper menu to eat up valuable space, maximum efficiency with its 64-bit archetecture.

This upgrade did however take some of my time to get used to and tweak some of the settings (for example, the reverse scrolling in windows wasn't something I would want to persist;  it was relatively easy to fix, just one switch in the settings).  I also had to re-install the XCode (this time the free version compatible with Lion) and since I started with the update and clean-up I also bought the three iLife '11 apps (just one glimpse:  love iMovie Trailers!)

As you've probably also noticed I updated the design here, but I'm still figuring it out, can't yet say it is the one I will stick to.

The week ahead is more coding and studying, some interesting lectures are waiting!

A (very quick) Break

Decided to take a very quick break.  Next week is going to be the most consuming in all possible terms (mainly time), so I'm off the usual coding/learning schedule.  All I had time to do was to review a couple of lectures from Stanford course to keep myself 'in the loop', and did a bit of general programming-related reading via Zite (I think I've already mentioned this really nice free iPad app before, but it is indeed a great way to skim through relevant articles).

Most of the time I've been preparing for my day-time job project due November 10th (which seems to be turning into something original and viable already, but not related to coding in any way), and keeping up with my second day-time job (thankfully it's a remote one with flexible hours, but also not related to coding).  After November 10th I hope to have more time to pick up with mastering iOS app development.