I had a great time designing the website for CSfD recently and one of the bits I enjoyed the most was this set of collages I created for the header images for each section.
BT – A Song Across Wires
Today I have mostly been listening to BT’s wonderful new album, A Song Across Wires.
If you already know BT then you probably know all about it and what to expect, if not then you really should take a listen and see what you’re missing out on.
The only problem from my point of view is that there’s 3 versions of the album but only 1 version of the cover artwork, so I made a couple of variations on a theme for my iTunes library and thought I’d post them here for anybody else that’s sad enough to care about that sort of thing…
Just click on either of them to grab the full size versions.
Spendigo the holiday expense tracker app
I’m pleased to announce that my friend Torsten’s first app, Spendigo has just been released in the App Store. Apart from a serious amount of beta testing, I’ve also supplied the icon and splash screen.
Spendigo keeps track of your holiday spending so that when you get back you can find out where all your money went – in fact the app was called Where Did It Go? during development:)
It’s simple to add an expense, assign a category and get on with your day. The app handles currency conversions, different views of your spends and running totals (don’t worry, you can switch the running total off if you’d rather not know how much you’re spending until you get home).
A lot of love and hard work has gone into this app and if you’re looking for a way to track your holiday expenses then you really should take a look: click here for App Store link
AmbiHue app
AmbiHue, our latest app, has just hit the App Store
You may have seen those high-end televisions that feature ambient backlighting where the TV casts a wash of light on the wall behind itself, changing colour according to what’s on the screen. AmbiHue is designed to help you recreate the same effect in your own home for considerably less!
All you need is a set of PhiIips Hue bulbs. Place one or more bulbs behind your TV, launch AmbiHue and point your device’s camera at the screen. Now watch your bulbs change colour in response to the on-screen action! Of course you don’t need to use AmbiHue with your TV, you can just use it as a fun way to control the colour of your PhiIips Hue bulbs to create dynamic mood lighting effects. Why not point the camera at your clothes to match your lighting to your wardrobe? Or point it out the window so your home lighting changes to match the sunset?
If you’re interested, you can find it here
PhotoFrame app for Windows Phone
PhotoFrame has been the most successful of the apps we’ve released for iPhone, so it seemed the natural choice to see how it would fare on Windows Phone.
Since I know next to nothing about coding at all, the folks over at Digital Living Solutionshandled the build and publishing side of things.
The app only went live a few days ago so it’s a bit early to tell how things are going but once we’ve got a better idea, I’ll do a follow up post and compare the different experiences. In the meantime if you’d like to try it out, PhotoFrame for Windows Phone is available here.
Numbers in Graphic Design
I’ve just received my copy of Numbers in Graphic Design by Roger Fawcett-Tang.
It’s a stunningly in-depth look at, well, numbers in graphic design (the title gives it away really…). I found out about the project when Roger was kind enough to get in contact to ask permission to use some of my designs in the chapter on Clock Apps.
Highly recommended for anybody with an interest in, you guessed it, numbers or graphic design. It’s published by Laurence King and available from Amazon if you’re interested in getting a copy of your own…
Recent Peer 1 work
Just a quick update to showcase a few of recent projects I’ve been working on for Peer1 hosting, the UK’s fastest grown hosting company.
An A4 ad for a games expo brochure
Cover for a brochure for an e-commerce brochure
Design for office window graphics
Design for office window graphics
As a massive hosting company, they have their fingers in lots of pies so provide opportunities for all types of work – a great client to have and lovely people to work with… If you have any hosting needs, you should check them out.
Chameleon Clock rip-off update
If you’re interested in the story of how our App Chameleon Clock has been shamelessly ripped-off then you might like a little update…
Apple seem to have done very little so far other than to comment that ‘the dispute seems to be unresolved’. The other company are refusing to remove their App and I think it’s obviously about time Apple stepped up and helped protect the rights of their legitimate developers. I say ‘legitimate’ because the other guys business seems to be based around ripping off other companies apps and bolstering them with obviously fake 5 star reviews.
Our latest response to Apple is as follows:
‘Apple, please make a stand here. It’s ridiculous that their app is still available. Not only are Orangeport refusing to amend their application so that it doesn’t infringe on our IP, they now have the cheek to try and fight it out by demanding to see International Trademark Registration Certificates. This is just a delaying tactic as it’s obvious to anybody that they are blatantly stealing our idea.
Have a look at the App Store pages for both Apps and you’ll plainly see that a) ours came out first, b) they stole the name and concept and c) they even copied the images used i.e. screen 1: a chameleon lizard sitting in front on an iPad with green leaves in the background, screen 2: the iPad shown in front of a wood texture, screen 4/5: an iPad in front of a sunset.
Not only have they stolen the name, idea and marketing materials, they’ve also copied the App’s operation i.e. tap digits to change colour and swipe to adjust transparency – as described in their App Store text.
Even the reviews of their app are probably fake – only 5 star reviews and all from users who have never reviewed another app.
We strongly feel that an app like theirs should never have been approved in the first place and that as part of the approval process, Apple should, at the very least, perform a quick check of existing apps to make sure that the newly submitted app isn’t blatantly copying an existing app.
So please step in and stand up for the rights of your legitimate developers and remove their app from sale until such time as they resubmit it in a manner that doesn’t infringe our IP so blatantly.
ps. if you want more evidence as to what sort of developer Orangeport are, do an App Store search for WTHR and you’ll find not only the original and well reviewed WTHRdial app but also an Orangeport one with two of the most hilariously fake 5 star reviews ever (in the UK store) – bear in mind these are for a weather app:
‘That’s how a multi-functional application should look like. It does anything I need and more (over 12 functions). It’s so enormous that you surf it for days and still find something new each time’
‘One of the few applications that meet the aesthetic and function perfect! The information contained in a traditional style, lovingly illustrated and retailers!’
Let’s see what happens next…
Another App Store rip-off story
I’m not having a particularly great day today (I won’t bore you with the details) but the icing on the cake has been the accidental discovery that our Chameleon Clock app has been shamelessly ripped off.
I’ve posted about this sort of thing before but this episode is perhaps even more blatant. Our App Chameleon Clock was released on the 11th of July and although it didn’t change the world it seemed as if a few people liked it’s simple premise.
We’re just in the process of updating it for the iPhone 5 so I did a quick check in the App Store to reference which screenshots would need changing and came across Chameleon Clock™ which was released a couple of months later – plenty of time to code up an app as simple as this… I particularly like the ™ that they’ve added to the name implying that they were somehow the ‘original’.
It’s not just the idea that they’ve copied but the promotional images as well – including the Chameleon sitting in front of the iPad. Check out our app vs theirs.
The developers, Orangeport seem to have a bit of a habit of this sort of thing – a quick search in the App Store for WTHR (a beautiful designed, well reviewed weather app – http://www.wthr.co) also brings up WTHR by Orangeport…
It seems to me that if this is happening with Apps of this level – no offence to the guys behind WTHR but we’re not talking about household name apps here – then this practice must be rife throughout the App Store and it’s about time that Apple did something about it.
Surely it’s not too difficult for Apple, as part of the approval process, to do a quick search of their own store and see if there’s already an app with the same name and functionality? There’s obviously a grey area where apps might coincidentally have similar names and functionality, but in other cases (like the above) it’s just blatantly obvious what’s going on… It’s about time they tightened things up – the current situation isn’t good for developers who are seeing their hard work ripped off or for consumers who accidentally end up buying the wrong app. The only people that benefit are the bastards that steal other people’s IP…
Please Apple, sort it out.
A little tale of App Store shenanigans & skulduggery
As you might know my company, Chilli X, has an iPhone app called PhotoFrame and an iPad app called PhotoFramePlus. The other day I did a quick search for it in the App Store (I wanted to copy the link to send to someone) and I came across a competing app called PhotoFrame Pro HD by MAX CA APPS. So I thought I’d have a little look at the competition, and what I found turned out to be rather interesting…
The first thing I noticed is that they had copied the description of our app word for word. I won’t bore you by repeating it all again here but it is identical and couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.
Then I noticed the glowing reviews. Nobody had a bad word to say about the app but even stranger than that, most of them seemed to be reviewing a completely different app altogether and referenced features that didn’t seem to be a relevant to a photoframe app, like ‘photo filters’ and ‘liquid in the developing tray’. There was only one screenshot visible and that looked like a pretty straightforward slideshow app…
Have a look at a few of these gushing reviews :)
Get that tooooOOOOoooooOOOOOOooOOOo!!!!
by kirghiz43
Not only is this application very creative but it’s also one of the most entertaining apps I have downloaded in a while. I no longer find myself playing games when I am waiting for things but rather than opening this app and trying different development combinations.
Great app!
by deserves
Really great app! The endless combs of mixtures is great! tons of fun, lots of options for mixing slides! Really a powerful processing app. Also very fun and visually awesome
this app is amazing & perfect!
by clockman43
Better than any other photo app out there! It never crashes and the slide options are great. I would have paid much more for this app!
There’s a lot more like this and none of these enthusiastic reviewers ever seem to have reviewed another app before either. Although strangely, in the US store this app seems to have more ‘realistic’ reviews ie. ones that mention the actual app and specific features and have titles like ‘Not that hot’, ‘Bad execution’ and ‘Needs more settings’…
So I decided to look up the company’s website to see if I could get a better idea of what the app was like – but, surprise, surprise, the link given in the App Store wasn’t working and neither was their support link.
So I checked out one of their other iPad apps, CALCULATOR PRO HD (their capitals, not mine). From the pair of screenshots on display the app looks like a simple, albeit relatively nicely designed, calculator app. I’m not sure if they’ve copied the description for this app or not but it’s great!! If I thought that MAX CA APPS were nice guys I give them the benefit of a sense of humour – the incredibly long description of the app basically describes the advantages of ANY calculator. Apparently you won’t have to work out loan rates on the back of an envelope anymore or try and calculate what that 12% tip should be – this app can do it for you.
My favourite line is:
“Includes advanced features such as subtraction, multiplication…” Since when have subtraction & multiplication been advanced features for a calculator???
The app has the same obviously fake reviews and here’s a few of my favourites (bear in mind we’re talking about a freaking calculator app here…)
love more cool apps!
by algarvayke
This was definitely worth the price purchase. The app has so many awesome features and will only keep getting better. I love the new capabilities integration, fan map, and more and more!
Best app on the market!
by Paul merrin
This application is amazing, menu looks really good, plus has tons of amazing features! Definitely best dollar ever spent!
Excellent for relaxation or focus!
by William ammer
I was skeptical about this, but it works! Very cool!
Perfection!
by louloudah
Great app! All the information any user could possibly want, anywhere they want. Great work!
Works perfectly fine for me!
by DISKaw
I love this app, it is everything you need and then some. Download it! Do it, do it now!
Unbelievable!
by iandrana
This is totally unreal! I can’t believe that this actually works as good as it does! I am going to also download the other app which has all the utilities on it as well.
Yet again, all these reviewers seem to have only ever posted the one review.
Now I know this isn’t a massive deal and that there are some more blatant and well publicised App Store scams going on out there but, to me at any rate, it just goes to show that there’s a lot of dodgy stuff going on. I know Apple are swamped with apps to approve but at the very least, the should refuse apps that appear to have no contact details or support.
I’ve contacted Apple re. the above and will let you know if I hear anything back…