Version 2 of LifeCast is currently under review and has an exciting new feature for Utterli users.
A new event type, Audio Recording has been introduced which can be insderted into any LifeCast. If your LifeCast is Utterli enabled you can then post your audio Utter to your Utterli blog.
Is that cool?
We have experimented with posting audio to Wordpress and to Tumblr with varying success; Wordpress users need an upgraded account to post audio but unfortunately we have no way of telling from your credentials if you have an upgraded account. Tumblr only allows 1 (yes ONE) audio post per day. For those reasons, we have switched off audio posting from LifeCast to Wordpress and Tumblr (because we kind of think we would receive the flak for those limitations imposed upon us from the blogging APIs).
2.0 is also a much more stable application than previously so we hope that your user experiences improve drastically with this release.
Your thoughts, as always are very welcome - just get in touch at
www.sleepydog.net or post here.
Regards
Damien
p.s. here is a link to an utter version of this post.
http://www.utterli.com/u/utt/u-ODIwMzk2OQ#utt-ODIwMzk2OQ
LifeCast version 2.0 is now in Beta and the big news is that audio is supported.
Here is a recording I did earlier!
To post audio with LifeCast you will need an Utterli account - it’s free so why not give it a go?
In the future we hope to support audio in Tumblr and in MetaWeblog (which means MovableType and Wordpress) so stay tuned to see progress.
Regards
Damien
Happy new year to all you lifecasters !
Posted with LifeCast
Quizmas Review from Gadgetrepublic.com
“…we thought we would go for something fun, entertaining, and above all, free. Featuring Santa and testing our knowledge of all things Christmassy, Quizmas fits the bill.”
“Quizmas is one of the most popular free apps in the App Store right now, and no wonder- it is something frivolous and cheery to while away the time and play with family and friends as you enjoy a big glass of mulled wine or eggnog.”
…continued
Regards
Damien
Screen Grab of the U.K. App Store Trivia section 05/12/2008
Thanks to a feature in the U.K. app store, some iPhone users have seen just how funny and zaney Quizmas is! On the 2nd December, Quizmas was featured and downloads for that day spiked 20 times higher than on the 1st December. Downloads are still increasing and the reason is that once you get a feature on the front page of the app store you are far more likely to see your application featured elsewhere in the store.
For instance, Quizmas is in the “What we are playing” feature within the Games section and is climbing up the ‘Top 100 Free Apps” list too (currently 31st).
To be still at Number 1 on December the 25th would I think be just too much to ask - but, one never knows AND at least we are a contender! In Top of the Pops parlence, Jimmy Saville would have named dropped us at some point!
Happy Christmas from everyone at Sleepydog!
A big upheaval is on it’s way to LifeCast. It has to do with the way we distribute LifeCast through the iTunes App Store and unfortunately it is going to impact on you our dedicated users. Let me explain what will happen and moreover let me explain why it is happening.
At the time of the iPhone release, SleepyDog had not received it’s development certificate via the Apple Developer Program. Without such a certificate it is impossible to distribute software via the iTunes App Store model. However, our lead developer (AR) had in fact received his own personal development certificate. We also had version 1.0 of LifeCast ready to go and wished to be there on day 1 as we had planned a big day.
So we released LifeCast v1.0 on AR’s provisioning (provisioning is the security model which ties a development certificate and the application ID together). Subsequently, all of our updates to LifeCast have been on AR’s provisioning. Without AR’s provisioning, SleepyDog would have had to wait a further two months to release LifeCast.
Great! So what? Well, after SleepyDog received it’s own development certificate and we could in theory provision software for release on iTunes, we have put no small effort into, simply moving LifeCast, lock stock and barrell onto SleepyDog’s provisioning - to no avail. Apple, have unfortunately, been unable to help us with this task.
Remember Lightsaber © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM ?
If you followed events surrounding the original Lightsaber you will remember it was pulled and has subsequently returned copyrighted (correctly) but what hasn’t happened is, it has not been released under a new provisioning (THQ Wireless Inc. who own the licensing for Star Wars © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM, on mobile devices), it is still released on provisioning for ‘TheMacBox‘. Why? because to do otherwise would destroy the link between the original Lightsaber and all those customers who downloaded it. Hey Presto! A new provisioning would mean no update notification for all those users who downloaded it before it was pulled.
A situation which could be avoided if Apple had a process for moving an application from one provisioning to another. Imagine, you write the killer app, release it on iTunes, it is a massive success and you get offers of $$$$ for your app. Apple cant move that software to your buyers provisioning. Your buyer would have to re-release the app from new under their own provisioning and start from a fresh customer base.
THQ Wireless Inc. have released, Star Wars The Force Unleashed © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM under their own provisioning but to reach all those customers who originally downloaded Lightsaber, a new version of Lightsaber was released STILL under the original provisioning of TheMacBox which had a link to the paid for version (legit, copyrighted and endorsed) of Star Wars The Force Unleashed © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM.
Lightsaber © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM Splash screen with link
The only thing tying THQ Wireless Inc. to the $$$ available from those original downloaders is that link. In a perfect corporate world THQ Wireless Inc. should be able to approach Apple and say something akin to, ‘Hey we and TheMacBox have talked and reached agreement, please move Lightsaber to our provisioning’.
Back to LifeCast. We are going to employ the same technique when we migrate LifeCast away from AR’s provisioning and onto our own. Let’s look at the model for migration.
Provisioning Migration
Essentially we are going to submit LifeCast version 1.2 to the App Store under our own SleepyDog provisioning on the 7th October. Once LifeCast 1.2 appears in the App Store we will release 1.1.2 under AR’s provisioning - Once that version appears in the App Store our users will notice an update and [hopefully] go through the process of updating they, just like the users of Lightsaber, will see a splash screen which will direct them to our new and updated version of LifeCast.
Our aim by using this model is to ensure that we have the best chance possible of retaining the link with our current customers. We appreciate that this is a great hassle for you but together with the Apple SDK update to 2.1, which addresses the issue of losing application data during an update those users who migrate to the SleepyDog provisioning version of LifeCast will start to enjoy a much better and rounded experience.
Regards
Damien
Today I’m allowing myself to leak a little bit of information regarding our plans for LifeCast. Many of you have asked questions such as, “When is support for X-BLOG coming in?” or “Will I be able to do X-ACTION to my posts?”. Here is the start of ‘the answer’.
In September (week starting 22nd) we plan to release a new LifeCast product, ‘LifeCast Pro’. As the name implies, the Pro version will have more functionality than the free (and always free), lite version. LifeCast Pro will have an associated price (as yet undecided). Both LifeCast and LifeCast Pro will continue to be supported and enhanced - we have no desire to discontinue the free version nor do we wish to disenfranchise those users who to date have used the application for free and wish to continue doing so at no cost to themselves.
We’re going to be able to achieve this because after a great deal of thought and consideration we have refined our LifeCast design philosophy to the point where we believe we can keep both our (future) paying and our non paying customers happy with our software while at the same time allowing ourselves to monetize our offering and thereby help us to keep our team paid etc.! So how is all this going to be achieved?
Both LifeCast and LifeCast Pro will interact with blog APIs (more on how this will happen in another discussion). While it may take a couple of releases to bring LifeCast and LifeCast Pro to the point we wish them to be at, our intention is that any blog we support, will be supported by both versions of the software so no matter whether you pay or not, the difference between the two versions will be one of functionality only.
Example:
LifeCast will be able to post images or post text to Wordpress whereas LifeCast Pro will be able to, in addition, post audio or a mixed content post of text and images.
Now it may take a while for the functionality set of LifeCast Pro to emerge (i.e. we are not promising audio posting in September - it simply isn’t ready yet). In fact the offerings of both LifeCast and LifeCast Pro in September will probably be mostly the same (So you may wish to stick with the free version until more features emerge) but consider this LifeCast in comparison to LifeCast Pro, will remain a Basic text or image poster to blogging APIs whereas LifeCast Pro will allow for extended functionality and access to web APIs that are not just blogs, for example ping.fm.
So what is our target for September? Two versions of LifeCast, both supporting Wordpress.
In another post I’m going to let you in on a new technology which we are going to introduce called, ‘reblogr.com’ which is going to be our enabler for both versions of LifeCast and essentially is the mechanism that will allow us to provide both LifeCast and LifeCast Pro in paralell.
Regards
Damien
In a staggeringly short, three working days, version 1.1 has made it from review to live in the App Store .
We hope your experience remains enjoyable and if you wish to drop us a line then email lifecast@sleepydog.net .
Got a problem with LifeCast? Go to getsatisfaction.com and let us know .
Team LC
Posted with
LifeCast
Great discussion about NofN with @josiefraser -like the idea of a GeekBall the same evening - glad we are gathering momentum 8)
Posted with
LifeCast
LifeCast version 1.1 should be on it’s way to the AppStore shelves shortly ! So what’s new in this release ?
Well, you asked for it, and here it is: photo posting to Blogger accounts ! We’re using the Picasa web albums to store your photos, and then embedding them in your blog. Picasa is photo album service provided by Google (who also own Blogger).
There is one extra step you need to do in order to post photos from LifeCast - just log into Picasa using your Blogger ID and password, and there’s a very simple form you need to fill out, to set up a display name for use on Picasa. Then, make sure you re-test your connection to your Blogger blog (this lets LifeCast also check the PIcasa connection). Once thats done, posting photos from LifeCast is totally transparent:
1) Go to http://picasaweb.google.com and log in with you google/blogger id.
2) fill out the simple form, if it asks you. If not, you don’t need to worry about this step
3) In LifeCast, open the configuration for your blog and re-test the connection. This lets LifeCast also confirm the Picasa connection information.
4) Get posting your images !
We’ve also taken the opportunity to significantly enhance the photos in LifeCast, both from the iPhone camera and when choosing from your library. Pictures are now upto 800x600 or 600x800 pixels square.
This does mean that you might need to be a bit more patient when posting photos over the cell network though, because the size of the image LifeCast is sending is that much bigger. Also, Tumblr users wont see the full sized image, because Tumblr seems to downsize images when they are posted.
Also, if you tap an image in the main image view screen, it will resize to fill the view, and the user interface elements will get out of the way. You can also rotate the iPhone to view landscape images better.
Look out for LifeCast version 1.1 on the AppStore shortly !
