I've published a minor update to RapiTools. You can download the updated version from here. This update fixes a localization issue with RapiSync on some locales.

My very first iPhone/iPad application is live. It has the very clever title of Spells. It's a simple app for viewing Pathfinder spells on the iPad.

Granted, it's not the world's most useful application, but I do hope to add more features to it in the coming weeks. It was mostly a small app so I could learn about iOS development and Apple's App Store submission process.

Since a number of people have asked me this in recent days, here's a link to a colorblind simulator. It's the one I used to create the image off to the side. The fourth option it presents (Deuteranopia), as near as I can tell, closely matches what I see.

There are other simulators out there, including this one that lets you upload your own sample images.

   Kinetic Clock  (3/25/2010 6:07 pm)
      Filed under: Computers, Personal

Continuing my obsession with bizarre ways to represent time, I'd like to present to the world my 2D Kinetic Clock.

Traditionally, a Kinetic Clock, as seen in something like the "Time Machine Clock," uses complex paths for the balls and weighted levers to transfer the balls from one row to the next. Rather than go down that route, I use a series of switches and vanishing segments to move balls from one row to the next one.

I might play more with getting a lever based solution running, but for now I'm happy with this one. It's not bad for something mostly done in an airport.

I've spent the week at MIX10, Microsoft's conference for web developers in Vegas.

Despite the supposed goal of the conference, it was almost taken over by the Windows Phone team to unveil their new Windows Phone 7 Series. It's a horrid name, and quite the departure from the previews Windows Mobile devices. It represents a new platform, not an upgrade from the older Windows Mobile platforms. The blogo-sphere has tons of more details, including the discussions on the seemingly random missing features.

I've always been passionate about the developer story in Windows Mobile, and the upgrade story here, "Learn a new platform, and rewrite your code", doesn't thrill me. That said, the new platform, C#, Silverlight, and XNA, is one I already know and use, so for me personally, I may just buy into the hype.

At least in spirit, this phone really feels like the much rumored Zune Phone. It constantly makes me think of the Zune, and while I think the Zune is a solid device, it pretty much has permanently been an also-ran device in the media player category. I'm not sure what the Windows Phone platform will bring to the marketplace to differentiate itself from the 800lb gorilla that is the iPhone.

What is the Dissenting Pebble?