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Tickets 1.2 in the app store

Posted by Michael Dales on 2012-01-20 10:05:39

We released another update to Tickets, our iPad app for managing your projects in the online bug tracking platform Lighthouse, bringing it up to 1.2. It's a small update, but follows our plan on slowly expanding the core set of features over time to help you make your iPad the best way to manage your projects.

The first thing we added was the ability to create new milestones when adding or updating tickets, meaning you can not only curate issues on existing milestones, but plan new ones when away from your desk too. The second thing we've done is expand the ticket list page to let you filter by tags, in addition to the existing set of filters.

So head over to the app store and start managing your projects from wherever you are.

Tate Trumps Anywhere

Posted by Michael Dales on 2012-01-05 08:33:53

We're delighted to see another app we worked on last year has just launched: the new version of Tate Trumps by Hide & Seek and Tate Modern, Tate Trumps Anywhere.

The original Tate Trumps (which predates not only Digital Flapjack's involvement, but also Digital Flapjack!) was a game that you played whilst in the Tate Modern gallery, letting you pit artworks against one another using a fun card game mechanic. However, when you left Tate Modern, the game no longer worked, as you needed to key in the codes on the wall in the gallery to collect artworks.

In this new version, which we were honoured to be asked to work on, having been fans of the original, we've added the app's own artwork gallery, giving you a random selection of art from Tate's permanent collection each time you play, meaning you can play the game anywhere you like.

So if you fancy a game that's both fun to play and will let you explore a bit of Tate's collection, then over to the app store and get Tate Trumps.

A new year, a new look for PlaceWhisper.com

Posted by Michael Dales on 2012-01-03 14:23:21

It's the new year, so time to release some things we've been working on for the last month or so - the new look PlaceWhisper website, and our new features: collections and embeddable maps.

When we first released PlaceWhisper 2 website back in August we enabled you to log in to the PlaceWhisper website and explore the things you'd created and collected on the web. However, it didn't add much to the experience of PlaceWhisper other than a larger canvas on which to view things. We said it was still being worked on, and here's the first fruits of that effort.

The new look

The first cut of the PlaceWhisper website initially tried to pack too much in, then when we released we removed unfinished features, and it left a website that was functional, but didn't hang together quite right. So we've gone back and simplified and cleaned up the website, so now it's a lot more functional and practical.

When you log in you'll be presented with an event list of what's happening in your bit of PlaceWhisper: who's been collecting your Whispers, what your friends have been creating for you to find, and so on. From there you can find a map of everything you've created and collectioned, and view those things in detail, and from there share them with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. You can now more readily manage your contacts and your own account too.

Collections

If you're a PlaceWhisper subscriber then you'll be able to create Collections - this is a new way to organise your Whispers. If you create a series of Whispers around a single theme, but they don't fit the notion of a trail, then you can put them together in a Collection. Collections will show up in the PlaceWhisper app's "what's local" menu, so they're a great way to get your content noticed by people, and people can then filter the PlaceWhisper app's view to just show the contents of a given collection.

Collections currently can only be managed and modified by you, but in the new year we'll be expanding that feature so that you can share your Collection with friends, and so you can build up the contents of a Collection as a team rather than as an individual.

Embedding your collections

One important new feature of collections is you can optionally turn them into a map that you and others can embed in your own website or blog. When you enable embedding for a collection, you'll be provided with the HTML code to place the map in another website. This map will then show all the Whispers in that Collection on the map, and people can click on the Whispers and read their contents.

This makes PlaceWhisper an excellent way to build up location content not just for mobile access, but also for the web. Here's an example we created, showing our favourite coffee haunts:

Looking forward to the new year

2011 saw lots of development on PlaceWhisper, and we're really pleased with where we've got to, but there's still more to come. We hope you'll join us as we grow in 2012, but until then, we hope you have a merry festive period and new year!

Christmas treats from Hide & Seek

Posted by Michael Dales on 2011-12-23 08:44:24

We're pleased to spot those nice folk over at Hide & Seek have made the iPhone version of their Boardgame Remix Kit, which we helped build, free for the xmas period!

The Boardgame Remix Kit provides a set of fun alternative rules for common boardgames, which make for an excellent way to pass the time over the festive period. No matter how many of you there are, what kind of mood you're in, or whether you want a quick game or a long one - there's bound to be a few games in there for you.

So as you prepare for family gatherings over this holiday, why not head over to the app store and make sure you pack the Boardgame Remix Kit onto your phone?

Tickets 1.1 is out!

Posted by Michael Dales on 2011-11-15 19:01:10

Tickets, our Lighthouse based issue tracking app for the iPad, has crept up to version 1.1. There's no new functionality in this release, but it does represent a big leap forward in terms of performance for those of you with large projects.

Having got functionality to where we wanted it in the first couple of releases, we went back to the networking and storage code and gave it a good going over to improve performance (Apple's amazing profiling tool, Instruments, was used in anger a lot!). Now even those with a number of really large projects are reporting that Tickets is as snappy as it is for those with just a few issues in their Lighthouse system. This means that no matter the size of your projects and the number of them, Tickets is the tool you need to keep track of things on your iPad.

So those of you with Tickets should go grab the update, and not and you're looking for a great way to manage your Lighthouse projects from your iPad, then head over to the app store now!