Archive for category manicwave
Macworld review of Pastie
Brian Beem reviewed Pastie 2.0 over at Macworld
My favorite line
so it has earned a coveted spot on my home screen
His quibble with the SMS functionality
Pastie has a couple of quirky behaviors. For example, when you use an SMS action, the text isn’t immediately inserted into the SMS message; you must tap and hold on the message box, then choose the “paste” command. Hardly a deal breaker, but it still seems odd
is spot on. Apple does not provide an API to set the body of an SMS.
I’m looking forward to the arrival of an API that does for SMS/Text what the MFMailComposeViewController did for email.
Will design for food?
I’d rather offer money and the potential to see your designs live in the field.
Daniel Jalkut sums up most of what I’m going to say in this post.
The (short) History
manicwave Productions is my micro-isv focusing on Mac OS X and iPhone applications. My first product Pastie is out on the iTunes App Store and has been picked up by both CNET and LifeHacker.
Pastie has been a lot of fun, from concept through design onto development, marketing and distribution. I’ll continue to tweak Pastie, but now that I’m warmed up, I’m moving onto the desktop.
I have a series of related products lined up. I’m cutting code for the first in the series now.
The Mission
In order to meet my expectations for a great Mac app, I need help. Specifically, I need the efforts of a talented designer to help design the layout, comment on and contribute to the interaction model and provide guidance on all things graphical.
My success in software to date has been centered around pragmatism and self-awareness. In this case, I’m aware of my limitations in the graphical design space. To build the product that I’ll be proud of shipping, I need help.
The Charter
I’m looking for someone to assist manicwave on a part-time contract basis with all matters “graphical”. This will include:
- Review, refine and specify graphical design of cocoa based applications
- Assist in defining and refining the interaction model for manicwave applications
- Contribute to overall branding and identity of the manicwave brand
The Prerequisites
- Demonstrated technical skills with graphical toolsets
- Demonstrated technical skills with UI design – particularly OS X desktop applications
- Passion for great Mac applications
The Perquisites
Cash. Satisfaction for a job well done. The potential for a long-term working relationship with someone that loves creating great software.
The process
Send an email to jobs at manicwave.com and include the following:
- A short bio
- Links to your portfolio
- A brief narrative on some work that you’re particularly pleased with – and why
- Availability, compensation
- A few thoughts about what constitutes a good working relationship between a designer and developer
I’m looking forward to this next chapter in the evolution of manicwave. Please join me.
Lifehacker covers Pastie
It’s been quite a few days for Pastie
First it got picked up with a great review from CNET
This morning Kevin Purdy from LifeHacker writes a great mention as well. LifeHacker review
Pastie is out
My first iPhone application, Pastie, is live in the AppStore.
I’ve written several iPhone apps over the last year, but all failed to meet my criteria for a releaseable app. Some fell prey to my low boredom threshold, while others couldn’t find any elbow room in the already crowded app store.
Pastie is pretty simple, but compelling. How many times a day does someone call you while you’re in a meeting? Do you call or text your significant other when you’re leaving the office for home? “I’ll be home in an hour…”
My killer use case was the question: “What is the dial in number for the conference call?” I must have typed that message (or some badly abbreviated facsimile thereof) several times a week. Doing that in the car can be fatal!
Pastie originally was just going to be a clipboard for often used expressions. Like quick text entry on every phone except the iPhone. The technical limitations of the iPhone prevent anyone (save the jailbreakers) from offering in-app shortcuts. The next best thing it seemed was to have a clipboard that you could select from, and then paste it into either an email or an SMS.
One thing led to another and Pastie now supports email natively and uses the clipboard for SMS. The original use case is still supported.
I submitted the app for approval almost two weeks ago. The benefit of the extended approval cycle is that I’m busy at work on the next major version of Pastie. It will include multiple email recipients, text for both the subject and body of the email and maybe even some cover-flowish goodness to allow you to flick those often used expressions.
Check it out and give me your feedback.
