Seb

[clafou]

New computer, sad realisation

I've done all my iOS work on a MacBook Pro that I got in 2009. It lasted me this long, and still performs very well. That's because over the years I was able to upgrade the RAM and the disk to an SSD drive.

I also had an iMac from 2007 whose RAM I also upgraded myself (but I never upgraded its hard drive, as even on that old model the disk is a bit too tricky to replace at home). But it has long been much too slow for dev work. So I have just replaced it at last with a new iMac, which is now my main development machine.

And it's great.

Except that like all new Apple computers, it cannot be upgraded, at least not DIY-style. I will never be able to upgrade the RAM or the drive. That's the cost of its fancy lightweight design, with a width of less than 1 cm on the edges. Opening it would require special tools to unglue the screen from the frame. Even if you did that, you would find that the RAM is soldered to the motherboard.

And that sucks. The ability I had until now to upgrade my computers is the reason why I was able to use them for so long.

And I know without a doubt that the super slim frame that Apple has chosen is little more than an excuse to justify a non-upgradeable design, which will force me and everyone else to ditch a perfectly good computer sooner than necessary. It also forced me to buy the maxed-out model at its inflated price since I want it to last as long as possible.

There is no choice: to continue developing my iOS apps, I can only use an Apple computer, and they are all like this one. Designed for planned obsolescence.

So yes, I have an amazing new computer. And I didn't like buying it at all.

[clafou]

Over half a million downloads!

To all the people who have downloaded the free Growth app since it launched in 2011: thank you!

You, and those of you who also bought the upgrade or my other apps, have turned me into an independent developer. It's a strange thing. I still have to learn how to adjust to that.

But my plans are pretty clear: I intend to make my apps so much better for you all.

[clafou]

A golden opportunity... to bring up tax justice.

[clafou]

Before (left) and after (right)

There are aspects of an app that you come to hate, and be embarrassed about, but that you keep in the app because you just can't find a way to make it better.

Growth has long featured an animated annotation to point out the Add button. It helped direct new users to the button they need to use to start entering measurements. But it was so ugly, with that arrow and text overlay! I really disliked it, but I felt that removing it might affect user experience. So I kept it there for years.

At last, I have replaced this in version 1.17, which has gone live today. It's a custom animation again (not ideal), but more subtle, with an animation of the + button to attract attention to it and invite a tap. I also disabled the other bar buttons that are no use when no data has been entered yet, so the next tap as a new user is more obvious.

I certainly feel it looks more polished now! But I'd be curious to hear people's thoughts.

[clafou]

Geeky details about Veganniversary

A great thing about doing a software project alone is that you are free to try new things, and so I picked the hottest technology around.

Veganniversary is a Node.js app hosted on Heroku with MongoDB for data storage, and on the client it uses AngularJS with Bootstrap 3. When I started this project I weighed my options and considered the more conservative options of .NET, Rails and even PHP as these would have been quicker for me at the time. I am so glad that I chose the most exciting route, Node.js. I have a soft spot for Javascript and I loved the idea of Node.js ever since I first learnt about it, especially as it ties in with something interesting I had studied during my MSc (events versus threads for high-concurrency servers).

I made a first attempt at Veganniversary in Node.js nearly a year ago using Heroku’s now abandoned Facebook boilerplate template and I encountered weird instability issues, like requests that would sometimes work and sometimes hang, and which I spent a whole day trying to fix unsuccessfully. No template this time, and apart from one weird Web server issue, it’s been working well. Node’s callback-driven flow makes it very different to other server-side code, but it’s fun and the performance implications are huge. Thanks to event-driven Node.js I’m counting on the app to do OK on a single dyno, which is good because I wouldn’t know where to find money to pay for scaling it up.

Edit: Made it a separate post to the veganniversary launch to spare most people the technical details.

[clafou]

New web app: Veganniversary

Today I am launching a web app that I've been working on lately, and which I have been wanting to do for a long time: Veganniversary.

I first encountered the word veganniversary when a friend used it to congratulate me on the anniversary of my veganism a couple of years ago. She's from Portland, it's evidently cool (Maureen Duggan, credit to you!)

The idea is similar to a birthday reminder app, but for veganniversaries. I think the day that someone commits to being vegan is a very special day. And every year that passes as a vegan is worth marking. The app also marks 1-month, 3-month and 6-month anniversaries to celebrate and encourage budding vegans among us.

It's live at www.veganniversary.net (the .com domain was already taken) and it is also accessible directly from within Facebook https://apps.facebook.com/veganniversary/

Future plans

I have big hopes and plans for this app. In the immediate I want to add Twitter and email support, pre-anniversary notifications to give people a chance to amend their details, to improve the anniversary pages, and to make notification sending timezone-aware. Later I plan to present estimates of the impact of each person's time as a vegan (in lives spared and in ecological impact such as greenhouse gases, deforestation and freshwater). And more in the longer term.

Open to collaboration

I would love to meet a vegan illustrator or other vegans with relevant skills to make this project better. Over the past year or two I contacted four different vegan digital artists, a fellow vegan developer, and I approached a vegan organisation, but I failed to get much interest. So I ended up doing it all on my own, and it looks a bit crappy and hasn't been promoted (no pre-launch of any kind), but it's there. With some luck the right people will see it and will offer to help to make it better.

Conclusion

It doesn't look like much, but a lot of my time and attention went into this little app. If you're vegan or have vegan friends on Facebook then it's for you! I hope you'll like it!

PS -- If curious about the technology, see here.

[clafou]

May 12, 2013 (translated)

Théo, almost 3 years old, picking this up: "Is this an airplane?"

Me: "No, it's a drone"

Théo (first time he heard this word): "A drone... Do you like drones?"

Me: "No, drones aren't nice. They aren't nice at all"

Théo: "Not nice...? What do they do?"

Me: ... (stumped)

[clafou]

Favourite discoveries of 2012

Thank you 2012 and serendipity for adding these wonderful things to my life!

Vegan vitamin D3 I was an idiot, not taking the sunshine vitamin all these years in Ireland, with my olive skin. It used to be that D2 was vegan and D3 was not, but all new vegan D3 supplements have been concocted with lichens or mushrooms exposed to light, instead of sheep.

Vegusto No-Moo It has a very short shelf life in my fridge due to nibble appeal, I haven't managed to keep it long enough to try it on pizza yet.

Pure argan oil No more face moisturiser for me, I just use this now (one ingredient).

Paperdolls Beautiful. I'm still kicking myself for missing the Fringe show.

The gift economy I went to a mind-blowing talk by Mark Boyle and it goes way deeper than what I realised. I'm sold.

Eden Farmed Animal Sanctuary Words fail me here. It's like a life dream that you feel you couldn't possibly make happen yourself (too hard, emotionally and physically) and then you see it being done so well and it leaves you in awe.