Aug
11
Wondering what ShopSavvy will look like with full ‘Metro’ styling? Wonder no more. If you want to get on the wait list for the Beta (or just get notified when it is available) sign up here. See all of the screenshots on Flickr:
Aug
8
Jaime, one of the Gamerator guys, sent me an update on our unit today. If you missed my post last week, we are getting a Gamerator (Kegerator + Video Game) for our office. They are still working on the joystick and keg system, but it is almost done. They should be able to ship on August 17th (whohooo!). Here are some pictures of our unit under construction:
Jul
30
Yesterday I wrote about the back story on our need to release an updated Scanner Kit SDK for the iPhone. If you are a developer who has already used our SDK in your app to scan barcodes or you are a developer thinking about using our SDK in your app – please download our new version ASAP. From the release notes:
NEW – (Friday July 30th, 2010) – Version 4.0.0
Download the Scanner Kit SDK for iPhone today!
Jul
30
Many of you know that we are in the midst of building out the new office for Big in Japan, but you may not know that we are outfitting the space with all of the best amenities for our developers – stuff like a fully stocked bar to an in-office gym with showers. My latest acquisition is perhaps the coolest. We have your run-of-the-mill pool table and foosball table and while we were thinking about adding a cabinet-style arcade game I have been reluctant to order one because a) we couldn’t decide on which game and b) what a huge waste of space. Of course that all changed when I saw the Gamerator. The Gamerator solves BOTH problems. First, it includes a BOATLOAD of classic and current video games resolving the ‘which game to buy problem’. Second the space inside of the cabinet is used by a kegerator (i.e. beer).
From Thrillist: “Legitimately badass keg-cade hardware includes a 26” HD flatscreen, a Golden Tee-style trackball next to a standard double-joystick setup, two critical cupholders, a spout/overflow drain below the joysticks, a refrigerated keg chamber w/ standard tap and C02 setup, and an optional, toggle-able international tap for kegs of the non-domestic stuff, for when you’re playing Ca-Stella-vania. On the software side, a legit user interface means easy navigation of the 85 classic arcade games (fromSpace Invaders, to Rampage, to Mortal Kombats I – III) that come pre-installed, while 1,000 downloadable games can be accessed via an included one-year subscription to GameTap, which they describe as “Netflix for video games”, so…Netflix.”
So get your order in fast (they are selling like hot cakes) or make sure you make it to our first Startup Happy Hour in October. Visit Gamerator.com for more info.
Jul
29
WARNING: Don’t update your app if you use our Scanner Kit SDK until you get our new 2.0 version (hopefully released tomorrow).
Earlier this month Apple stopped accepting apps that made use of UIGetScreenImage call (allowing apps like ShopSavvy to take a snapshot of the iPhone’s screen). This ‘call’ has always been private, but Apple made an exception to allow apps like ShopSavvy to work. Apple made it VERY clear from the start that this ‘private’ call would not longer be available once they released their new public API for the camera in IOS4. The new public API is amazing and makes ShopSavvy and our Scanner Kit SDK work like a dream.The downside is that if you have implemented our SDK in your app (or any other barcode scanning library that worked prior to IOS4) Apple will reject your app if you try to update it right now.
Our team saw this coming a mile away and has been working tirelessly to update our scanner kit to stop using the private call in favor of the new public API and as of today our Scanner Kit is working really well. We will be testing tomorrow, but hopefully by the end of the day we will release the SDK publicly.
The new SDK will use NONE of the private methods and will also work significantly better as we replaced all of our slow, shaky, hacky work-around code with Apple’s new officially supported, high-performance camera API calls. Our new 2.0 version scans faster, is more accurate and since it is not using any private, unsupported methods, it will not break whenever Apple releases an update.
Finally, another important thing to note is that Apple is dropping support for the iPhone 2G (original iPhone). They aren’t allowing users to install iOS 4 on it. Therefore it won’t be possible publish an app/update that does real-time barcode scanning on a 2G because iPhone OS 3.x can’t interact with the camera without UIGetScreenImage() which is now back on Apple’s blacklist. Apple said they will grandfather in the old apps that use this and won’t pull them out of the store, they just won’t approve any updates or new apps that use UIGetScreenImage. If you are a 2G user or OS3.X user feel free to use ShopSavvy Classic as it will never be updated – it is Grand Fathered in the app store.
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