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360iDev 2012 – Party On

August 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Took a little longer than normal, but we’ve locked in all the details for the parties during 360|iDev. They’re listed below, and also in the conference app int he “reception” track

 

Sunday night.

The Welcome Reception, sponsored by Gold Sponsor Millennial Media and Telerik starts at 6pm in the main foyer. This is your chance to have a beer, meet other attendees before everyone’s brains turn to mush with new information!

Monday night.

Push.io, Technical Integrity, Double Encore and others are sponsoring a night of beer drinking Mini-Golfing fun just down the street from the hotel. They’ve got a shuttle lined up, and the hotel shuttle will also help get people there and back. Make sure you practice your putting before hand!

Tuesday night.

Xcellent Creations and Lextech are sponsoring our truckless foodtruck bash. Food trucks can’t park in the hotel, and beer can’t go outside it, so… the hotel has created three unique “trucks” that will be in rooms throughout the conference space. There’ll be music, lots of different places to hang out, and more. It’s fun, bring your adventurous appetite!

Wednesday night.

Well we don’t do a party Wednesday night, most folks are already on planes. BUT we do usually do a straggler dinner of some sort. It’s a fun way to end the conference with one last meal with friends old and new.

 

Make sure each night you thank these awesome folks. Parties aren’t easy or cheap and it’s because of these great companies that we can have them.

 

There’s not many tickets to 360|iDev 2012 left! Get yours now! Before it’s too late!

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360iDev 2012 – Some things we’re gonna try this year

May 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I often waffle back and forth on talking about things I want to try for the conference. One because I like stuff to be a surprise for attendees, but also in case I can’t do what I was planning, no one knows.

Now I’m thinking of trying a different approach. I’m gonna talk about our ideas, so we’re a bit more locked in and on the hook to make sure we don’t slack off on executing them. This post is to keep me on my toes and deliver the event I want to deliver

 

Speaker Labs:

We did this last year, and got a ton of great feedback. Folks commented that the price of the conference was covered in the time saved by consulting with a speaker on an issue that had been holding things up. That’s awesome. Last year the labs were a bit hard to find, and since I wasn’t sure about them, I didn’t make a ton of noise.  So the labs will be back this year for sure, and easy to find and use.

I’m also going to merge them a little with an idea I got from another event. Speaker Bar. This one is still pending hotel approval and sponsorship, but the idea is that in the labs room, a speaker will be manning a bar (Don’t get crazy it’ll be beer and wine most likely), and while she is pouring drinks, she’s answering questions. It’s like the basic lab idea, but less formal and less “here’s my code, take a look” and more “what’re your thoughts on using this approach?”

The bar will likely be in the lab room, in the corner, so it’s sort of an all-inclusive speaker room where everyone knows there’ll be speakers hanging out helping.

App Tear-Down:

This idea isn’t my own either. In fact I attended an awesome small business/boot strapped entrepreneur conference where they did live tear-downs of websites. I don’t know if this will be lunch sessions, or something else, but the gist will be, you hand your device to an MC who is on stage with an ELMO (those handy little see what my device looks like on the projector screen deals). The MC (likely a speaker) will be part of a small 2-3 person panel, and they’ll walk thru the app or game and offer feedback. Probably a bit harshly given time constraints. The idea is that these folks might not have seen your app/game and don’t know what they should know. We all do things with basic assumptions built in,and when someone doesn’t have them, it exposes those gaps. The idea here is to offer fun constructive feedback in a crowd.

Spit-n-polish:

This is more an overall thing, but I’ve been wanting to make 360|iDev a little more polished for a while. Not big event, stuffy shirt, no swearing polished, but overall impression polished. That means things like a slide deck in between sessions instead of a blank screen, music playing before general sessions, instead of a big silent room. A more polished app with some cool new abilities built in. Hopefully more, but those are what we’re working on right now. To be clear, the vibe of the conference isn’t gonna change. We’re NOT gonna waste money on huge stages, with couches and fake plants, and a big 50′ screen. Those are nice, but those are what makes conference tickets cost more.

 

I’m really excited about this year’s event. I can’t wait for September to roll around, it’s gonna be a great time! Hope you’ve bought your ticket. Don’t wait until we’re sold out!

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360iDev 2011 – Party like it’s 1999, except it’s 2011 and Prince isn’t here

September 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Though you never know, Prince could show up… Ok probably not, but still.

So you know there’s parties during 360|iDev but what are they?

Well they start Sunday and go thru Wednesday!

Sunday night we have a welcome reception in the hotel from about 6-8pm. It’s a nice and mellow way to start the conference. Meet new people and re-connect with folks you know from twitter and the internet or only see at conferences.

There’s a Speaker Sponsor dinner from 5-6 to show our awesome speakers and sponsors how much we love them (don’t worry attendees we love you too and you get lots of parties).

There’s also a Night of Meat forming. More here.

Click for larger map

Monday Night Push.io is hosting a party at 1-Up. If drinking a 40 of King Cobra while playing Dig-Dug is your idea of fun, 1-Up is for you. Actually even if that’s NOT your idea of fun, 1-Up is a blast :) It’s a classic Arcade game bar. The entire space is arcade games and pinball machines. It’s a blast from the past for those of us old enough and a damn fun time for everyone!

 

Tuesday Night On3 is sponsoring a party at Mellow Mushroom, just a few blocks from the hotel on the 16th St Mall. The entire restaurant is ours, including the awesome patio. There’s TVs all over so don’t think we won’t be doing some Rock Band or youtube roulette or something else fun. The bar is open (beer only, sorry wine people) and the food will be flowing. Not only will there be an awesome buffet set up but the entire menu is open to us so if there’s something you want they’ll whip it up for you. How awesome is that!

The Parties start at 7pm. That gives you time to drop of bags and such in your room and make your way out of the hotel. Groups will form in the lobby to head out together and our awesome volunteers will be stationed along the route to make sure you know you’re almost there :)

 

The map right over there on the left has points for Mellow Mushroom (B) and 1Up (C). The easiest way to get to both places is the 16th St Mall Shuttle. It runs up and down 16th st all day. You can get on at Glenarm and get off right in front of Mellow Mushroom, and get off at Market St. Station for 1Up. It’s the easiest easy to get there. Depending on the weather it’ll be a nice walk too. 16th St. Mall is a great walk with lots of people watching and is a great slice of Denver (yes, that means hobos and tourists as well as locals)

 

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360iDev 2011 – THE SCHEDULE

April 6, 2011 By 4 Comments

This took longer than I planned. Not because I was being lazy.. ok not entirely. Mostly it was that I had 137 submissions, and could only accept about 1/3 of them. Sorting, and selecting is kind of a soul mashing experience. I loved every topic, and every presenter. The submissions ran from folks I already know and have shared a beer with to new folks I’ve never met, but can’t wait to.

In the end, this is what we’ve got. I hope you like it as much as I do. I also hope I’ll see you in Denver this september.

Visit the schedule

 

 

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360iDev – Game Jam sponsored by you, the iOS Community!

November 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I can’t say how awesome the community is! Apple is freaking lucky to have such cool folks, who can go above and beyond for each other, building apps for the iPhone. Not to diminish the iPhone but truly, any platform would rock with folks like you behind it!

The 360|iDev Game Jam, sponsored this time around by non other than our awesome community members is ON! Whether you’re a veteran game maker, or newb looking to get a start at games, the Game Jam is for you! It’s a great time!

It’s simple, the game jam starts around Tuesday night 8ish. It ends, Wednesday morning, around 9ish. Anyone who’d like to present their game is welcome to join me during the Wednesday keynote to show off their game. Past Game Jam efforts have landed in the app store!

We’ll have plenty of Red Bull, and soda, and red vines and what not to keep everyone going.

Whether you’re gonna get yur game jam on our not, thank all these folks for making the Game Jam possible!

See you in Austin!!

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360iDev – Party it up with Disney Monday Night!

October 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This is obviously for attendees only but make sure you RSVP for Monday night’s party for a chance to win some cool goodies!

RSVP HERE

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360iDev – Speaker Brent Simmons

October 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Brent is a long time supporter of 360|iDev. in fact he’s been at every one I think. The first one he came as an attendee, and we didn’t even know we had a celebrity in our midst!

He’s a great guy and has been an active part in the Mac and iOS community for a long time! Hint he’s really like 83 years old! But you’d never guess it looking at him, he’s ageless ;)

Q: How long have you been doing iOS development?

A: About 30 years. Started on an Apple II Plus. Of course, we didn’t have Core Animation in those days. Or lower-case letters. And it wasn’t a phone. And it wasn’t actually iOS. But still, I felt like saying I’ve been doing this for 30 years.

I think that’s fair! iOS or not, that’s an impressive time in the larger MAC community! We thank ya! NetNewsWire FTW!

The first time I ever used a computer with a touchscreen was even longer ago — our class took a field trip to see the Plato system at the University of Delaware. (I grew up about three miles away, a Fightin’ Blue Hen fan.) I’ve been waiting for the future ever since then — I’m so glad it’s finally here.

AWESOME! Though I still want my damn flying car!!

Q: What do you like most about being an iOS developer?

A: Mostly it’s the espresso.

It IS good isn’t it!

Q: What’s your favorite Game?

A: Seeing how little sleep I can get and still function effectively.

Current high score?

Q: What’s your favorite App?

A: It’s a tie between OmniFocus for iPad and TouchUp.

I love OmniFocus, though the price point is a bit steep :( but I can’t argue they make awesome apps!

Q: Robots or Ninjas?

A: Robots make better drinking buddies. “Hey Robbie — want another beer?”

“Affirmative.”

Ninjas — you can’t ever find ‘em when it’s time to go out.

Or when the bill comes.

Q: What would you change about the iOS platform if you could change just one thing?

A: All the stuff with code-signing and provisioning profiles and limited number of slots and AdHoc builds and certificates and all that — it’s a huge pain, a waste of time when I could be writing code.

Yeah I don’t have a better idea but there must be one! The current method is terrible. I really hope Apple is working on this internally, and will pull an Apple soon and wow us with a better way of doing things!

I know it’s not realistic to get rid of all that. But I still would if I could.

Q: What are you most excited about 360|iDev Austin?

A: That it’s in Austin is very cool. I’ve been once before, for SXSW, and had a great time.

But mainly I’m looking forward to seeing the people — meeting new folks, seeing old friends. And then of course there’s a great speaker line-up, so I expect to learn a bunch of stuff I can use.

w00t!! Yeah I’m excited to be in Austin, i think it’ll be a great time! Can’t wait to meet my future new friends in the iOS community.

Q: Lastly, what would you tell someone on the fence about attending 360|iDev Austin?

A: It’s the year 2010. There’s no more time for fence-sitting. Those days are over. Make the call, imaginary person. (And, by the way, the correct call is to go there, because it will be awesome.)

Indeed it will!! There’s really no reason to fence sit! Go register right now!!

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360iDev – Speaker Dave Wiskus

October 5, 2010 By 2 Comments

Dave found 360|iDev before he was even a part of the community. At the first ever 360|iDev Dave was in San Jose for his then day job, and came out to meet Brent Simmons at some event Brent was attending. Dave and I both live in Denver and knew each other, but he didn’t know I ran events. I saw him standing outside the conference and invited him in… A year and some change later the rest is history :)

Q: How long have you been doing iOS development?

A: About a year and a half. I quit my day job about seven months ago, and joined Double Encore shortly after that.

It’s been awesome to watch Dave move from guy who owned an iPhone to successful iPhone developer all from that first meeting at 360|iDev San Jose ’09

Q: What do you like most about being an iOS Developer?
A: The community: these people clearly love what they do. This isn’t a job, it’s a lifestyle.

The iOS Community truly is one of the best I’ve ever experienced! Whether helping each other promote apps, or collaborating on a project there’s no end to the greatness of this community.

Q: What’s your favorite Game?

A: Mail. Or Words With Friends.

Awesome! I love mail!! one of my favorite games of all time! Words with friends (iTunes Link) is fun too! I’m jwilker

Q: What’s your favorite App?
A: Boxcar. Because it means never having to frantically delete a post that was intended to be a direct message because I didn’t realize I was using the SMS app.

awesome. I’ve done that enough to warrant using boxcar! (iTunes Link)

Q: Robots or Ninjas?

A: We live in the future; why should I have to choose just one? I demand a robot ninja.

The Future is frakkin’ marvelous!

Q: What would change about the iOS platform if you could change just one thing?

A: Smart image scaling. If I do every @2x asset with even-number pixel dimensions, the phone should automatically scale down for non-retina displays.

Kinda surprising that’s not in there, definitely a suck point to make Developers and Designers deal with that, that if nothing else screams SDK/OS feature.

Q: What are you most excited about 360|iDev Austin?

A: I want to see Mike Lee give his talk dressed as a pirate.

I heard that was done at some other event, I think he should dress like a care bear.

Q: What would you tell someone on the fence about attending 360|iDev Austin?

A: iDev launches careers. The networking opportunities alone are worth the trip, to say nothing of the speaker line-up.

Don’t miss Mike Lee dressed like a care bear, and 30+ other great speakers delivering 40+ kick ass sessions! Register now! See you in Austin!

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360iDev – Speaker Justin Williams

September 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I’ve never met Justin in person, but we’ve exchanged tweets on Mac vs. iOS events, and tracks within events etc. I’m super happy he’s on board as a speaker, and has submitted for 360|MacDev as well! He’s a great model of ‘the successful developer’
Make sure you check out his session ‘Punching Out: Selling Your iPhone Apps To Someone Else’ on Monday.
Q: How long have you been doing iOS development?
A: I started toying with the SDK when it was released given my Mac background, but I only just got in the App Store with my own products full-time in the past few months with the release of Elements and MarkdownMail (iTunes Link).
Awesome! It’s cool to have long time Mac Devs get into iOS, I think it’s a neat perspective.
Q: What do you like most about being an iOS Developer?
A: The Mac is still my preferred development platform, but iOS is turning into a really fun diversion since it allows me to build such focused apps. Little apps like my MarkdownMail product wouldn’t make much sense on the Mac, but they turn out to be pretty useful on iOS because the goal is to build simple, focused apps rather than cramming in as many features as possible.
Well said. I think the Mac platform for apps has a lot going for it (obviously as I write this on my Macbook, LOL). Exactly right on the being specific and purposeful, iOS is a very narrow platform, and best served by apps that do one thing really well.
Q: What’s your favorite Game?
A: The only game that has kept my attention is Angry Birds (iTunes Link).  I’m really not much of a gamer, but it’s a great way to kill a few minutes with mindless fun.
Q: What’s your favorite App?
A: QueueUp is a new app from the fine folks at BitBQ that I’m really enjoying lately.  It’s a really focused Netflix app that’s sole purpose is adding items to your disc queue.  I’ve never liked the other Netflix apps on the phone because they try to wrap every aspect of their API when all I really ever want to do on my phone is add discs to my queue or rate what I just watched.  QueueUp gets me halfway there.  It’s awesome.
Nice, will have to check it out! I’ve all but given up on the queue manager apps, most try to do too much, poorly!
Q: Robots or Ninjas?
A: Ninjas.  If I had a private plane like Steve Jobs, I’d try to bring ninja stars back from Japan too.
Shoot, i’d bring ninjas back. They’re better at throwing them, I suspect!
Q: What would change about the iOS platform if you could change just one thing?
A: I’ve got a laundry list and Apple has been slowly ticking items off of it.  My current dream is that they allow for sideloading applications onto the phone like is possible on Android.  I don’t expect it to ever happen, but it would silence a majority of the critics of the App Store platform and would give users an outlet to get those apps that Apple doesn’t deem appropriate for their storefront.
Yeah as an owner of an Android phone, the sideloading feature is nice. I’ve always wished that Apple would put a toggle in the settings app to pretty much accept “I’m a savvy user, please let me make some decisions for myself and my device. I accept the responsibility”
Q: What are you most excited about 360|iDev Austin?
A: I haven’t left Indiana since February, so I’m looking forward to getting out of state.  :)  I’m also really looking forward to the technical sessions.  While I enjoy WWDC, I find smaller conferences like 360, NSConference and C4 (RIP) offer a much more varied and rich amount of content because its from people who are using the tools in the real world.  WWDC is great for getting up to snuff on the new stuff coming soon.  360 will be great for learning how to really take advantage of what’s available today.
Yeah we try to not compete with WWDC (impossible) but make it clear the technical aspects of 360|iDev far outweigh what you’re get at bigger events that have a wider focus.
Q: Lastly, what would you tell someone on the fence about attending 360|iDev Austin?
A: Come to Austin.  The sessions are going to be great, but the real benefit of events like this is the camaraderie with your fellow developers.  It’s like drinking a giant jug of iOS Kool-Aid.
HA HA. so true!! Kool-Aid, with beer in it!
Don’t miss out! 360|iDev is gonna be awesome! Click here to register!
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360iDev – Speaker – Brandon Alexander

September 14, 2010 By 2 Comments

As we approach 360|iDev Austin, we’re beginning our speaker interview series. These little interviews are a great way to get to know our speakers, before you meet them in Austin.

Enjoy!

Q: How long have you been doing iOS development?

A: 2.5 years or so

It’s funny, that’s about how long most have been in it I’d guess, maybe a smidge longer, for the folks who were there at launch.

Q:What do you like most about being an iOS Developer?

A: I love the language, development tools and most of all the community. Without the vibrant iOS dev community, I wouldn’t be writing iOS apps. Furthermore, the level of quality demanded by the users makes every project challenging. I love that challenge!

Very true. I suspect iOS users are probably the most demanding as far as app quality. No offense to Google and Android, but there doesn’t seem to be much demand for high quality games/apps right now. I’m hoping that will change, and it’s good to see popular iOS titles being built for Android, I think that’ll elevate the game a bit.

Q: What’s your favorite Game?

A: Right now it is Isaac Newton’s Gravity (iTunes Link)

That looks pretty sweet! It never stops amazing me how many games and apps escape notice. Downloading now!

Q: What’s your favorite App?

A: I couldn’t live without Twitter for iPhone or News Rack/Flipboard for iPad

I tried Flipboard, and got a little disgusted. Overcapacity at launch is kind of a non starter for me. HOWEVER it does look nicely made. It’s a visually appealing app for sure! I really dig twitter for iPhone, though I think the iPad version is a little to forward thinking.

Q: Robots or Ninjas?

A: I would have to say robots because I could build a Robot Ninja to protect me from other Ninjas. It could also protect me from the coming Zombie apocalypse. Plus having an army of Robot Ninjas sounds pretty cool to me.

Someone beat you to it, but that’s fine, now you can save the R&D money and just buy two more completed Ninja Robots.

Q: What would change about the iOS platform if you could change just one thing?

A: Cocoa bindings! I started learning Cocoa and got a bit spoiled by Cocoa Bindings. Since my talk is on using Interface Builder, I would love to see more support for Cocoa Touch in IB.

Ah, interesting! I’m gonna have to pop my head into your session :)

Q: What are you most excited about 360|iDev Austin?

A: This is my first 360|iDev so I’m mostly excited to meet all the fine developers I follow on Twitter and the creators of fine apps. I’m also excited to be consumed in really technical stuff during the day and hanging out with everyone at night.

Well put. Yeah you’ll need the nights to let your brain cool down and process all the great technical content :)

Q: Lastly, what would you tell someone on the fence about attending 360|iDev Austin?

A: You can learn anything from the web, but where else can you meet the same people who write those blogs posts and create some great apps?

Exactly! The web is a great place to solve that niggling problem you’re having right now, conferences are about learning the next generation tricks, and meeting the people you may be working with someday. It’s about the face to face interaction!

Don’t miss out! Register now! 4 days, 3 parties, 5 hands-On sessions on Sunday. All for just $599! I dare ya to find a better deal!

Oh and the Marriott is dirt cheap too!! Register now!

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