I’m fully aware that Halloween has come and gone, but for some reason these little guys didn’t come out of my head until this weekend. I blame it on my new Moleskine since I bought one with a grid this time around. I have concluded that the grid is inhibiting my usual process because I have only been able to fill about 10 pages of it with useless doodles. (Normally by now, I would have about 1/3rd of it full).

Anyhow, these “popped” out of my head when I picked up one of my old sketchbooks (with blank pages) and thought I’d share. What’s curious about them is that as they were materializing on paper, I could pinpoint a certain personality with each. My favoritse would have to be the ware-wolf (paranoid insomniac) and the mummy (smart-alec pessimist).

I have recently been engaged in a fun experiment for a touchscreen using Actionscript and the Twitter API. It has been a fantastic learning experience in many ways, including AS3, object oriented programming, and above all, usability.

There are some things worth mentioning:
1. Making a virtual keyboard for a touchscreen is much more tedious than I ever dreamed. I have gained the utmost respect for whoever designed/developed the iPhone’s keyboard. Much has been said about its functionality and its surprisingly usable interface. I have tried to re-create a similar experience using it as my main point of reference and continue to be amazed at how well designed and though out this aspect of the iPhone is. It has been the seemingly little details that have made me stumble the most (i.e. showing the user where the carat is as a visual cue of where the next letter will land, or even something as simple as a shift key).

2. Twitter’s API is a blast to play with - particularly for those interested in data visualization. But none of what I have done so far would’ve been possible without Sandro Ducceschi’s (@_sandro) excellent Tweetr library for AS3. Even though it is still in heavy development, I have been able to implement any API call I can think of, including the new lists feature. Major kudos to Sandro for his dedication to this library and for keeping it open source!

Yes, there is also the Twitterscript library, but I have found Sandro’s work to be infinitely more usable.

3. Touchscreen technology introduces a whole new set of rules to be mindful of. With the lack of hover states for interactive elements, the feedback loop becomes a trickier thing to implement and consider. The lack of the mouse as in input method is both liberating and frustrating at the same time - as something as simple as scrolling becomes a challenge to design and code for.

4. The power of object oriented programming is becoming more and more clear to me as this experiment progresses. Encapsulation and inheritance are both concept I’m still trying to wrap my head around, but I see the clear benefits they bring to any coding project. One of my earlier complaints about oop and AS3 was that I felt that writing a simple action for a button took me twice as long as it did in AS2. Such a small detail compared to how much power oop can bring to your code.

5. And finally, I am now more confident than ever that understanding how to build and program an interactive experience opens up a whole new realm of design possibilities. So much, in fact, that I have been unable to settle on a final interface design for my experiment because I keep realizing I can push it further. Thank goodness for deadlines!

I’ve been thinking, as of late, about the ironies that surround Apple’s iPhone. I simply love the device - it has changed the way I interact and go about my day - and unfortunately, not all of it is good. But I have increasingly grown more and more disillusioned with the device, though not enough to boycott it…yet.

You see, when Apple introduced the iPhone, it fundamentally changed the rules of the game. The carrier was no longer to dictate to the consumer what device they would use, or what feature, or plan, or whatnot. Apple, in one blow, broke that model wide open - and carriers are still trying to figure out how to compete.

The irony is this: Apple promised to give power back to the consumer with the iPhone - which to some degree it did. But in the process, they have become exactly what they have set out to destroy - a giant bully. And this is primarily due to their flawed and arbitrary handling of apps and app rejections.

It is no secret that they have royally screwed this up - the really sad part is that instead of behaving like a leader, admitting their error, and correcting it - they have behaved like a bullish dictator, having no apparent direction and making no apologies for their obvious mistakes - regardless of whom they trample over.

So here I am left wondering if this is the change that Apple had in mind the whole time. Get the people hooked, and them sucker them in for the kill. I wonder if this is exactly what the music industry has felt like all this time when they complain about Apple’s handling of the iTunes store.

The final cruel irony is - even with all its flaws, horrible cell carrier, and laughable app policies - it’s still the best option out there. Sigh.

Woot! Got notice today that my interview with FlashDen posted on their blog today. Pretty neat.
Read it here.

It’s been some time since my last post. My apologies - I have been sucked into the Twitter vortex which I find fascinating to be honest. I mean, whodda thunk that 140 characters could reveal so many brand insights! But that’s a different post altogether.

Today I’m sharing some tips that I learned from Todd Dominey’s Twitter feed (@tdominey). For those of you who don’t know Todd Dominey, you’ll certainly know his work: SlideShowPro - the completely ubiquitous (and awesome) Flash slideshow gallery.

Both tips are AS3 specific, and oh so helpful.

Tip 1: A simpler trace function
I can’t tell you how many times I have had to type long, convoluted trace statements to see if whatever I’m working on is doing what I think it should be doing. Usually those trace statements look something like this:
trace ("array item " + i + ": " + my_arr[i]);

which would turn out something like this:

array item 0: blue
array item 1: red
array item 2: green

You’ll notice a lot of plus signs and quotes and stuff. Well, instead, try replacing the + signs with commas:

trace ("array item ", i, ": ", my_arr[i]);

Though it’s nothing truly magnificent, I find typing commas vs. + signs is much faster and easier to understand.

Tip 2: A simple for loop for arrays
This one is also quite simple in its function, but saves a lot of typing. Instead of looping through an array with a for statement, like so:

for (var i:int = 0; i < my_arr.length; i++) {
myFunction(which:int);
 }

you can use this:

my_arr.forEach(myFunction);

so long as myFunction accepts the right params:

function myFunction(element:*, index:int, arr:Array) {
trace (element, ": " , index);
 }

Pretty nifty eh? Yeah, I thought so too. Thanks @tdominey!