The Interface on the iPhone is Pretty Cool - 06/11/08

[Aaron Stanton]

The iPhone doesn't support Flash, sadly, which means that iPhone-carrying library goers ultimately can't - at the moment - use BookLamp on the go to find books.  Of course, the size of the book database impacts that as well, but I'll get to that in a second.

Dustin is tweaking the last changes to the Ajax based interface, though, and we're going to be rolling it out for testing in a few days.  Probably we'll let a few people test it in alpha before rolling it out into the open.  So, out of curiosity, we pulled the new site up on the iPhone, and it works pretty well.  The animations and such are not perfect, of course, but still cool, and makes the transition away from Flash worth it - even if there are more cross browser compatibility issues. 

After we roll out the new interface, you're going to see a cascade of changes take place - hopefully a number of important announcements, and a freeing of our hands in a number of cases.  In fact, I'm looking at an agreement right now, in my hands, that I'm fairly excited about.  One more of the ducks to be put up in a row.

Aaron

[Stephen Rollins]

In fact, I'm looking at an agreement right now, in my hands, that I'm fairly excited about.  One more of the ducks to be put up in a row.

Secretive as always, hmm?    Ah well, we'll find out soon enough.

Good to hear things are moving forward, as always!

[Jo Red]

Apple has released a FREE SDK for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  KPCB is also setting aside $100M VC fund (called iFund) for companies to develop products for the two iProducts mentioned above.  By the way I think KPCB was also responsible for raising capital (together with Sequoia Capital) to fund Google startup.

Anyway I think you should try pitching your idea there. This new iPod/iPhone platform is really cool and exciting ! I'm gearing up for it !!!!!  I wouldn't mind a small slice of that $100M cake :-)

Jo

[Mandi Taylor]

Wow, something optimistic!   
I'm getting an iPod Touch in the next few days, so I will personally be interested in that sort of thing soon.  I definitely think it's something worth looking into.

[Jo Red]

Here's the catch, the SDK only works on Mac.  So you need to purchase a Mac first before you can start developing :-)   Or maybe you can get away with one of those virtualisation software that can run Mac OS (eg., PearPC - open source).  It's a bit slow though.

[Aaron Stanton]

Actually, Dustin's machine is a Mac, and my father is a Mac-o-phile. 

And Jo, I don't know what to say... I don't know how to respond to a positive comment from you.    JK.  When we were in California, we were invited out to have lunch at the Apple Campus - we actually didn't have time because of other meetings,but it's still one of those things that would have been pretty cool.

I've heard of the iFund, but haven't read much about it.  Might not be a bad idea - I certainly think it'd be a unique app, and the groundwork is already in place.  I'll have to think about that.

Aaron

[Jo Red]

Actually, Dustin's machine is a Mac, and my father is a Mac-o-phile. 

I'm seriously considering buying a Mac, but will do after I come back from holiday. Or maybe I can find a good deal overseas ! 

And Jo, I don't know what to say... I don't know how to respond to a positive comment from you.    JK.  When we were in California, we were invited out to have lunch at the Apple Campus - we actually didn't have time because of other meetings,but it's still one of those things that would have been pretty cool.

Unless it was Steve Jobs who invited you for lunch, then giving it a miss and giving priority to other meetings was quite a good decision actually ;-)

I've heard of the iFund, but haven't read much about it.  Might not be a bad idea - I certainly think it'd be a unique app, and the groundwork is already in place.  I'll have to think about that.

Aaron

Actually I just stumbled on the iFund by accident. My friend's friend was showing me his iPod, and wow it looked really sleek (but very old).  He showed mw what it can do and WOW, it's really COOL !   He then told me of the new iPod Touch which is a must.  So I started doing some research on it, and scrolling down the page I saw the Apple Development Center link.  It got me curious and upon opening the link there was the iFund link !

Anyway you must do your homework before getting VC Funding.  Have a read of the Google story,  and take a look at Amazon, Yahoo, etc.  Who is actually driving those companies ?  The founders ?  or the investors :-)   And why did Steve Jobs ended up quitting the company he founded, only to be "hired" again later as the CEO ? 

I still want to develop applications for iPhone/iPod , but getting VC backing, well that's another matter to look into ;-)

Cheers
Jo

[mal]

I have an iphone and can help you test. I'm a beta tester as well. I could also maybe help test/debug different browsers. you might consider a framework which can handle the browser differences at least in theory. thx, mal

[Jo Red]

I have an iphone and can help you test. I'm a beta tester as well. I could also maybe help test/debug different browsers. you might consider a framework which can handle the browser differences at least in theory. thx, mal

He needs to digitize all the books on the planet first, IMHO.

[mal]

He needs to digitize all the books on the planet first, IMHO.

as they say in academia, an exercise left to the reader (no pun intended).

[Stephen Rollins]

All the books?  We don't want to wait that long.