Shiny new website

Thanks to my lovely and talented partner I now have a revamped and redecorated web site. I’ve had the previous design for about 5 years I think so it’s great to give it a facelift.

It is a flexible layout that adjusts gracefully from the screen of an iPod touch to a Macintosh. It also has some nice high resolution images for my two just updated apps, Bargain and Identicode and the others will be enhanced when I update my other two.

Another thing that’s been updated is the photo of me which was somewhat overdue!

I hope you like it. 😊

A new podcast for all you Identicode fans

If you’ve downloaded Identicode already, or are thinking of buying it (go ahead, I’ll wait 😀), then you’re probably a Gerry Anderson fan, as am I. After all, it was my love of the TV Century 21 comic back in the 1960s that inspired me to write the app when I got hold of some old copies, spotted the codes at the bottom of the pages and realised I had no way of decoding them.

I recently bought a rather excellent Thunderbird 2 hoodie from the Gerry Anderson web site, though sadly it’s been so ridiculously hot since I bought it that I’ve just tried it on once and then popped it in a drawer! Because of my order, I was alerted to their new podcast which is just great. It’s hosted by Jamie Anderson (Gerry’s youngest son) and Richard James (actor and enthusiast for all things Anderson) who have a gleeful repartee which makes for a wonderful listen. There is general banter, Gerry Anderson news, some great interviews and the chuckle-inducing Randomiser operated by Chris Dale. It’s made my journey to work a whole lot more fun and I’d encourage you to subscribe. Free fun – what’s not to like?

Bargain and Identicode now updated on the App Store

Two years after the last Bargain update, and one after that for Identicode, they have been tweaked, enhanced, freshly polished and ready for you to download.

You can see what’s changed on my website, in the Release Notes or on Apple’s App Store.

Note that both now require at least an iPhone 4S, rather than an iPhone 4 as previously.

Enjoy.

Finally, some updates on their way to Apple!

Apologies for the delay, but I’ve started a new day job and it’s five days a week! That means less time available for apps, but have no fear – I plan to keep my apps available for the latest devices for as long as seems feasible.

Because I haven’t updated some apps for at least a year they may not play well with iPhone X – certainly, Pink Plaques does not look good on Apple’s latest device. The good news though is that I’ve just submitted both an updated Bargain and Identicode which work nicely on Apple’s latest – I’ll let you know when they’ve been approved for sale.

To get Pink Plaques ready to look its best on anything from iPod touch to iPhone X will need some significant changes, but I’m on the case. After that, comes Dicewords. There will be some other changes to Pink Plaques which I’ll detail nearer the time.

After that (whew!) it’s my first app for Macintosh – quite simple but hopefully very handy for those it’s aimed at.

Yes – I’m still here!

I know I’ve not posted for a while with any news but with nothing to report there were no posts!

However, things are happening now – quite a few things in fact.

Firstly, I’m working through each of my iOS apps to ensure that they play nicely with iPhone X. So far, Bargain is ready to send to Apple but a little more admin work needs to be done before that, but it’s “in the bag”. As a consequence of these iPhone X changes, Bargain now requires at least iPhone 5 or iPod touch 5th generation but hopefully that won’t inconvenience many of my users. 😉

Next will be Pink Plaques, followed by Identicode and Dicewords – more details to be posted as I update each one.

Secondly, my first app for the Macintosh 😲 is just being polished and is almost ready for the off. In my usual way, it subject is nothing at all like any of my iOS apps! More information to come soon.

Finally, when all the apps above have been made live by Apple I will be starting on a brand new app which is also nothing like any of the above! This will be my most exciting to date and one in which I have a personal interest. Most of my apps have been created in response to a particular requirement of my own and this is definitely one of those.

Anyway, time to stop typing and get back to those updates. More news to follow soon.

Dicewords V1.5 now in the App Store

Dicewords and Dicewords-X updates are now available.

This fixes a bug introduced in V1.4 where the dictionary setting set in preferences was ignored by the app. Sorry about that.

Enjoy the update.

Oops! Bug in V1.4 – V1.5 on its way

 V1.4 has a bug whereby the “Use iOS dictionary” setting in Preferences is not honoured by the app. This has now been fixed in V1.5 and it should be available very soon.

My humble apologies.

Dicewords update submitted to Apple today

Dicewords and Dicewords-X have been sent to Apple for review.

There are two main changes – the new Demo screen is now available for VoiceOver users and a crash due to tapping the Declare button immediately after the Demo ended has been fixed.

 

Both apps should be fine with iOS 11, but if not I’ll post an update to address any issues.

Enjoy the update.

Identicode V1.4 now available

This was the inspiration

Apple today approved Identicode V1.4 for sale. You know what to do, fellow agents!

This is the most feature packed release of Identicode to date so I hope you find it the best version yet. If you enjoy it, why not pop a review on the App Store; if not, then contact me and I’ll do what I can to fix it.

The above image is the cover of Identicode given away in the very first issue of TV Century 21 magazine, below is what the actual Encoder / Decoder looked like. I hope my 21st Century interpretation puts a smile on your face!

[[RED]]VFNECFSV &VWEK&UFVW EFN – FECP FE KZW SGG JKFIW

Original decoder
Here’s what it looked like back in ’65

Read all about TV Century 21

The very first issue of TV Century 21. Wow!

I recently found this wonderful blog called Blimey! written by the obviously knowledgeable and artistically talented Lew Stringer and it’s all about classic British comics. What caught my eye was this particular article, for obvious reasons. Those of you lovely people who’ve bought Identicode will probably find it a real treat, if you weren’t aware of Lew’s blog already. If you are wondering where Identicode came from then head over to Blimey! right now.

FAB.

Right, back to some more reading.