development

I've created a few iOS and Android apps for mobile devices and tablets, but just a few days ago, my first 'desktop' app (for Mac OS X 10.7+) was released on the Mac App Store.

Behold, Quick Resizer ($0.99 on the Mac App Store):

I created the app mostly because I realized I would often drag an image to Photoshop to simply resize it from something like 1024x768 to 500 pixels wide, constrained. Quick Resizer makes resizing JPEGs and PNG files super-easy, and everything can be done from the keyboard (or the mouse, if you're so inclined).

Developing for the Mac is a bit different than the iPhone, but Objective-C and the libraries included are very similar, so it wasn't like creating the first iOS app!

If you like the app, feel free to rate the app on the Mac App Store after you buy it :)

My best zen face. (Photo from Scott Maentz).

I just finished my workshop presentation at the Catholic New Media Celebration entitled "Sanctifying Mobile Technology." I talked about some ideas I have to help Catholic parishes and organizations spread their mission through iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices.

My full presentation was recorded, but I don't have the video yet. However, I do have all the slides, and tons of links, over on the presentation page here on Life is a Prayer.com.

You can view photos from CNMC '11 in the linked Flickr group.

Dear Things developers (Cultured Code),

I know you are perfectionists. I know you're purists. Your software is inspirational, in a way. It's clean, it's fast, and it's functional. You make beautiful software, and I'm glad you've had such great success in the past.

But I have to say, "Goodbye."

The one and only feature that I've been waiting for—OTA sync—is still not here.

You've made some pretty status indicators telling me nothing, but impressing me nonetheless. You've posted some great developer stories about this feature, but given no backbone to your words.

Two times in the past year I'd almost made up my mind to leave behind my $100 investment in your company, but two times I've waited. This, I fear, is the third strike. How can I ignore so many different people praising your competitor's software, but sit on the sidelines with nothing but hope and dreams of what could be?

(Image adapted from Things blog)

Things, I will miss your beautiful, simple, functional interface. I hope you will take this lesson to heart: ship early, and ship often. You can't string your users along forever.

Sincerely,
Jeff Geerling

A companion app to the Catholic News Live website, my new CNL app has been approved for sale on the iTunes App Store.

You can purchase the CNL app for $0.99 here, or read more about the app (and see some pretty screenshots) on the Catholic News Live website. Catholic News Live delivers the latest Catholic News to your computer and iPhone, and pulls in news from over 50 different Catholic sources, every five minutes.

The App's highlight features are the ability to view news on a world map, and to share news via whatever social media you use. It's a very simple, but very powerful little app that will help you stay in tune with what's going on with the Catholic Church.

Future versions of the app will hopefully have a few more nice features, but I've already been using the current version of the app to read through my daily dose of Catholic news.

Just a little bit of an overview of a couple things I'm working on / where I've been:

• Super-top-secret... er... not-so-secret iPhone app about to be released
  I've been working on a Catholic News Live app for a couple weeks now, and I've submitted version 1.0.0 to the App Store—it's just awaiting approval before it will be for sale for the low, low price of $0.99!
• JJGWebView Class released on GitHub
  My second bit of code released on GitHub is a UIWebView controller and class (and demo implementation) for the iPhone and iPod Touch (iPad support coming soon, I hope), hosted on GitHub. More details here: JJGWebView in-app browser class.
• DrupalCon is Over
  I was in Chicago all week for DrupalCon. It was awesome. My first DrupalCon (of, I hope, many!) started off with a bang. It was great to see many of the people I interact with online, in person. Tomorrow I might be able to meet up with one or two more Drupal devs, before I head back to St. Louis. You can see my pictures from DrupalCon on Flickr.

More to come on the Catholic News Live app, once it's approved by Apple. I already have an update almost ready to push to the App Store after version 1.0.0 is approved. The update will fix a bug or two, and might add a really nice new feature I was trying to get in the first release :-)

Suffice it to say, it will be the best Catholic news app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Someday maybe the iPad, too!

I'm happy to announce that my first iPhone App—Catholic STL—has been accepted by Apple for the iTunes App Store, and is available for free starting today!

The Archdiocese of St. Louis also announced the App this morning, and has a 'mobile app' section on the website with screenshots, an introductory video, and more information about the App. The App is free, so what are you waiting for? If you live in St. Louis, or are visiting, go ahead and download it now.

The App basically lets users find parishes and sacrament times/parish information in the first section, read news in the second section, and read and post prayer requests on the Archdiocesan website in the third section.

I've also published some information about the App's development on the Archdiocesan Development website, and will likely be posting more news on the development front at some point in the next month or two. (I'm thinking about open sourcing the code we used for the Archdiocesan App, so other dioceses/Archdioceses could, at least, get some ideas for their own apps).

What do you think? Post questions or feature requests here or on the Development website, and be sure to rate the App on the App Store after you've downloaded and used it!