post

360iDev – You do Mac apps?

December 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Have you ported your app/game to the Mac Appstore? Thought about it?

The current video on the 360|MacDev home page is Dave Wiskus and Kyle Richter talking about building an iOS app that lead to building a Mac App.

360|MacDev 2010 was pre Mac Appstore and the dialogue was great. Tons of talk about what the future would look like post App store.

Guess what, it’s the future!!! Come talk to Mac app successes, and learn from the best and brightest! Check out the rock star line up and schedule.

Don’t miss out! Register now!

Filed Under: Announcements, Community, Denver, Geeking Out, Networking, Reasons to Come, speakers Tagged With: , , , , , ,
post

360idev – 42 session recordings for 2011

December 2, 2011 By 2 Comments

Not bad.

The 360|iDev 2011 session recordings bundle has 42 70 minute sessions in it. I think that’s the most sessions we’ve captured and been able to produce to date.

Next year the plan is to try something different as Flip cams just aren’t designed for capturing conference sessions, and really with the exception of Mike, seeing the presenter isn’t that important to the presentation. :)

 

We’re going to focus on getting better at capturing the screen only. Our speakers show a lot of code, and that’s the important part. We want you to be able to watch the video and clearly see the code. Where ever possible we did that this year if a screen recording existed, but many didn’t. We’re also working out the best rendering methods (video production isn’t something we’re trained in, LOL) to make sure the videos aren’t crazy huge, but are still viewable.

If you haven’t already taken a peak at the videos go check ‘em out. They’re pretty damn cheap and even the bundle isn’t a bank breaker.

If you attended 360|iDev 2011 you received an email with a code in it. that code is good for the bundle, use it as you need to get the videos.

 

Of course the videos are all DRM free mp4 files. Watch ‘em on as many devices as you want. Show your coworkers or business partners.

 

See you in 2012!

Filed Under: Announcements, Community, Content, Denver, Reasons to Come Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
post

360iDev 2011 – Survey results

November 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

For those who attending 360|iDev 2011, thank you for doing the post conference survey. It’s now closed, so if you didn’t, shame on you! That survey is really important to us in planning the event, and getting sponsorship!

Before announcing the winners and their prize i wanted to post some details of the survey. First, we had 355 tickets sell for 360|iDev 2011. We planned on having 300, but let in an additional 55 people. On the other hand the post conference survey only had 113 responses. About 1/3 of our attendees answered the survey. Hopefully that ratio gets better next year. This survey helps us when sponsors ask how many people are X skill set. How many are designers vs. developers (5% are designers of those who responded). If you attended but didn’t do the survey, well you missed out on helping us, but more importantly, missed out on a chance to win a $500 prize.

Years of Experience with iOS

 

I mentioned this in the keynote too but it’s clear that 360|iDev is NOT a hobbyist conference. In Fact it’s clear that the best and brightest who’ve been around the block since there was a block are attending 360|iDev.

I think a chart like this is really healthy for an event. If it was too heavy on the less than a year of experience side, there’d be too little hands-on knowledge to share.
If there was too much “I’ve been doing this forever”, there wouldn’t be enough people to learn. Part of what makes the iOS community so awesome and healthy is the sharing of knowledge and welcoming of new blood.

This type of distribution to me is healthy and what we aim for with 360|Events. It’s a community, not an exclusive club where only the anointed can hang out, and it’s not a intro to community class where no one knows what they’re doing.

 

 

I love that the iOS community comes from so many places. Many think it’s people who were doing Mac Desktop stuff, etc. but in fact as you can see, it’s people who were doing Flash stuff, other mobile technologies, even Java… :)

Background

 

It’s great to see that there’s no real well spring of iOS developers. Anyone can do it. Anyone can be successful.

 

How many 360|iDev events have you attended

There’s a ton of data in the survey, but I think I’ll end with a really promising bit of information. As you can see, we had a ton of new people show up to 360|iDev 2011. Not only was it the first 360|iDev to sell out, but it had a huge turn out in new blood for the community. Maybe they just haven’t been doing the conference thing, or as we saw above are new to the platform. In either cas that’s awesome. Very very awesome!! We’re very happy to have so many people finding 360|iDev and enjoying it.

 

It’s good to know what we do is being enjoyed by so many! It helps re-enforce why we do it :)

 

Oh yeah and the winners. Did you know when we do these post conference surveys we give away two $500 prizes.

 

Chris Patterson & Nick Bhardwaj are the lucky winners. They’ve got an email waiting for each of them with their prize options.

 

Thank you again to everyone who took the survey, and to those who came to 360|iDev 2011. You’re a part of something awesome, and we’re truly honored to be a part of it, and look forward to even bigger and better things in 2012!!

 

John

Filed Under: Announcements, Community, Content, Denver, Geeking Out, Networking, Reasons to Come Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
post

360iDev 2011 – Not too late to Volunteer

August 3, 2011 By 2 Comments

Can’t quite cover the cost of travel, hotel and conference ticket? Well we can’t help too much on travel and hotel (Though there’s plenty of folks looking for roommates) but we can give you a free ticket. All we ask is that you volunteer to help make 360|iDev rock!

 

We need folks to help work the registration table, handing out shirts, and badges, as well as attend sessions to record the session videos.

 

Yup that means you still get to attend the conference, go to sessions, hit up the parties at night, all that good stuff.

You actually get all the benefits of an attendee, so you don’t miss out, we just assign you sessions to record. We do our best to make sure the sessions you’re recording are ones you want to attend as well.

We need a small army of volunteers, so don’t be shy. Check out this page for more information on submitting to volunteer. Hurry up, 360|iDev is almost here! Spread the word

Filed Under: Announcements, Community, Denver, Geeking Out, Networking, Parties, Reasons to Come Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
post

360iDev 2011 – Just 58 days to go!

July 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

You know what’s in 58 days? 360|iDev 2011. The only 360|iDev this year.

Space at the hotel is almost gone, staying elsewhere is always an option, but we’ve got a good rate with the hotel might as well save some money… Don’t ya think?

This post is the beginning of a series of posts I’m gonna write counting down to the conference. Not daily or anything, but often. Each will have things you should know about the conference.

 

The first and most important thing you should know about 360|iDev is why we do it. We do it because back in 2009 we recognized that the iOS developer community had no central event to come together around. We launched 360|iDev to offer that. We found speakers via forums like Touch Arcade, and the Apple Dev forums. We reached out to people we knew or had heard of via twitter.

We didn’t make any money, but we didn’t expect to either. Making money is a huge plus and we wouldn’t have been upset if we had, but it wasn’t the goal. Nor was filling a conference center with 600 people.

 

In fact the first 360|iDev in 2009 only had 166 attendees, some 30 of which were speakers. We jumped to 222 in Denver in 2009. Our return to San Jose in 2010 brought 301 attendees. Our most recent 360|iDev in Austin TX saw a slight decline in numbers, 235.

We never wanted to be a 600+ person conference. The community can surely support that, and based on the popularity of iOS conferences this and last year, surely there’s interest in events. But what we always thought was special about 360|iDev and our other events was that we don’t want to be the biggest conference ever. We want to be the one where you can walk the halls and say hi other developers and know that those people know the pains of Cocoas2D, or Gamekit, etc.

We wanted to be the conference where rockstars in the community are eating lunch with a developer who’s just getting started, maybe he’s just decided to go indie and live his dream. The conference where the speaker from the session you were just in is sitting next you in this session, because while she’s a bad ass at OpenGL ES maybe she’s still wrapping her head around something else.

 

From the start we believed that providing an event that brought the community together was reward enough, we still do.

 

Filed Under: Community, Content, Denver, Gaming, Geeking Out, Reasons to Come, speakers Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
post

360idev – Speaker Mike Lee

November 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Mike Lee is… well he’s Mike Lee, BMF. Mike is one of those larger than life guys, that’s at the same time the coolest dude you’ll meet. We’ve been honored to have Mike Keynote and do regular sessions at 360|iDev… Oops sorry, not Keynote, general session ;)

Q: How long have you been doing iOS development?

A: For as long as there has been such a thing. I was already an experienced Mac developer, so when Apple first announced the iPhone, I knew I had to be on it, and have been ever since.

That’s right! Mike is also presenting (Keynoting!) at 360|MacDev, our Mac Desktop Developer conference in December!

Q: What do you like most about being an iOS Developer?
A: In general, I love being able to express myself creatively, making things that haven’t existed before, and programming is better suited to my abilities than painting. With iOS specifically, I love the way the iPhone and iPad are small enough to get out the way, bringing programming to the next level, where it becomes less about being hosted on the device, and more about transforming the device itself. It’s the closest thing we have to programming the atoms of some future nanotool.

Creatively said! Totally agree. I try out lots of devices, and so far find myself coming back to iOS time and again. I’m not fanboi enough to ignore a better device or better apps, but have yet to see the right combo exist. A true testament to Apple and the iOS community.

Q: What’s your favorite Game?
A: That’s like asking what my favorite song is! There are a lot of games I love for a lot of reasons. Of all time, probably Puzzle Pirates. These days, I’ve been playing a lot of Angry Birds, but ask me again later.

To True. It’s one of those (and maybe should be phrased this way), “what’s your favorite right now?” questions.

Q: What’s your favorite App?

A: Keynote, hands down. It was the app that most inspired me to get into the business of writing apps, and continues to be an inspiration on the fine art of making your users look amazing.

Interesting! That’s the first time that app has been mentioned!

Q: Robots or Ninjas?
A: I suppose it really depends. I rely on robots on a daily basis, and spend a lot of time thinking about robots I want to build. On the other hand, when you need someone assassinated—for using a splash screen, for example—it’s hard to beat a ninja.

Hard to beat a ninja in both senses of the word! Plus Robots, at least for now, are easy to hear sneaking up on you, or your enemy.

Q: What would change about the iOS platform if you could change just one thing?
A: I would make it trivial to use the 30-pin adapter so we could expand the devices in hardware the way we currently do in software. I would love to use my iPhone to control robots.

Yeah it’s a bummer the 30-pin is so locked down. I too would love to see more devices act as docks for iDevices. I think (I Hope) it’s a future evolution of the platform that my iPhone or iPad, can be the driver of my media center, or an auxiliary monitor without extra steps and “server” apps

Q: What are you most excited about 360|iDev Austin?
A: The crowd at 360 is the most passionate I have ever experienced. They leave me as inspired as I can only pray to leave them.

Having seen your last 360|iDev general session, i can say that’s a high bar. Your talk was very inspiring and left us all wow’ed. I agree, I go to a lot of events and have yet to see a community like the iOS community.

Q: Lastly, what would you tell someone on the fence about attending 360|iDev Austin?
A: What kind of pussy sits on the fence hemming and hawing over meeting great people who can only help them in the longrun?

I dunno, but they’re out there! And I want to meet them and convert them :)

with just a week to go, if you’re on the fence, tell us why? What’s keeping you from coming and being a part of something so much bigger than you. You’re career (indie or corp cube monkey) will thank you on Wednesday night. Leave a comment if you’re on a fence, we’d love to hear from you!

Otherwise, Go register!!!

Filed Under: Austin, Community, Geeking Out, Reasons to Come, The Speakers Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
post

360iDev – Who attends 360idev?

March 1, 2010 By 2 Comments

360|iDev, since it’s beginning has attracted an awesome mix of people.

The first conference in 2009, had several sessions, including a sunday Hands-On about Jailbreaking, and what you can do in the jailbroken environment. We also had tons of people who had just put 1 or 2 apps in the store, we had a few folks who had already gone full time, whether as indie developers for hire, or running their own agency, building iPhone apps for companies big and small. We had authors and more in attendance. Mike Lee talked about the Apple community, and why it’s so awesome. We had sessions on how to market your app, what you need to watch out for legally and more.

Then in Denver, we noticed a shift, seeing more indie game developers in attendance. Keith and Natalia keynoted, David Whatley, an awesome late addition talked about being successful in the iPhone game space. Matt Drance formerly of Apple kicked off the conference, with an incredible keynote. We had developers talking about game design and development, being successful in the app store, making a living. We had developers talking about integrating push, getting crazy with OpenGL ES,  Core Data, Core Animation, and more. We also saw the first Game Jam take place, developers spent the night churning out games. Presenting them on Wednesday. Several are in the app store now.

Were seeing the same thing as we plan for San Jose 2010 (You should register). We’re seeing tons more successful developers talking about how to succeed, how to rock the app store, even how to rock the app store with out being a “Smash hit”. We’ve got sessions that are sure to blow your mind, and be worth more than the price of admission, just for those 80 minutes. The Game Jam is back, sponsored by Touch Arcade, Aurora Feint is holding a Game Bar, to highlight games using Open Feint and talk about the added coolness of using OF in your games. We’ve got sessions, on marketing, running your business, advertising, and more.

360|iDev has proven to be an incredible mix of technical sessions, unlike any you’ll see at other events, and business and design sessions that will inform and inspire.

So to answer the question, who attends 360|iDev? Everyone.

  • Developers who want to be a success in the App Store.
  • Developers who want to hear about what the rest of the world will be talking about in 6 months
  • Developers who want to level up their skillset
  • Developers who want to meet other developers, and share experiences, and a beer.
  • People looking for work (3 people who’ve spoken at 360|iDev, have been hired by Apple, coincidence? Probably, but who knows), indies looking for projects, people looking to hire developers, etc.
  • People who are already a success, making their living from apps in the App Store
  • Authors of THE books you’re reading to learn iPhone Development
    • From Manning, O’Reilly, and Apress
  • People with new projects and products to announce!
    • Where better to announce iPhone specific things than to a very targeted group of people.
  • People who want to connect with the iPhone developer community. Not the hobbyist community, not the authors for x publisher community, THE iphone developer community. The people doing it daily, making and selling apps. The people who eat, sleep and breath iPhone development.

The short answer is, the people who attend 360|iDev…

Want to make a nice living in the App Store. (Originally it was “Want to get rich on the App Store”, but I toned it down)

Want to get hired by Apple.

:)

Do yourself and your career a favor, be in San Jose April 11-14th for 360|iDev! Register now!

Filed Under: Community, Content, Drinks, Gaming, Geeking Out, Hands-On, Keynote, Networking, Parties, Reasons to Come, San Jose, speakers, Sponsors Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
post

360iDev Registration – $499, Time with Mike Lee and Matt Drance – Priceless

August 25, 2009 By 1 Comment

Many people dream of visiting the mothership, Apple HQ in Cupertino.  A relative few make it into the sacred walls to actually find work there.  To work at Apple, you have to be good great at what you do.  All the products we know and love are a testament to that fact.

If you’re in the iPhone development scene, access to those that have or are inside the sacred walls is truly priceless.  It’s the reason that WWDC sold out.  Now, we’re not claiming that chatting with these two fellas at 360|iDev beats chatting with entire teams at WWDC.  It’s close though!  LOL

Now, don’t get us wrong.  We’re making a pretty big deal about these guys, but they’re not all the show has to offer.  We have 40+ sessions led by the best of the best in indie developers, biz dev folks, etc.  They are definitely the substance of the show.  @drance and @bmf are just the lipstick and the eyeshadow (we’ll let them fight over which is wihich!)

However, even the speakers themselves realize how special it is to hang with these two.  Aside from their knowledge of iPhone dev, mac dev, objective-c, startups, etc., these two are just nice guys that you’d want to hang with and share some good times with.

We just announced yesterday that prices will steadily be going up after 8/31.  So hurry up and buy your tickets now while it’s still just $499.

Filed Under: Announcements, Community, Content, Geeking Out, Keynote, Networking, Reasons to Come, speakers Tagged With: , , ,
post

360|iDev Amazing Announcement, Part 2: Mike Lee to roam the show floor!

August 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

So you’ve all heard by now that Matt Drance is keynoting Monday morning.  That’s an “Amazing Announcement” for sure, but what about our last keynoter? Many of you will remember that Mike Lee kicked us off last time, but then had to leave.  We couldn’t blame him though as he then went to sign his new hire paperwork with Apple HQ.

Well, today we have some big news, bmf’ing news to be exact.  Yup, you guessed it, Mike Lee (aka @bmf aka “i <3 Obj C”) will be back to 360|iDev.  He’s not going to be keynoting though.  He’s passed that baton on to @drance.  No, instead, Mike’s gonna do what Mike loves to do: talk code with people.

I think this tweet from Mike’s twitter stream sums it up quite nicely.  To be fair, he was on his way to iPhoneDevCamp 3 but it’s still the truth:

I spend all week fixing code at work, then I go out on the weekends and fix code for free, because I love what I do, and I love developers.

That’s the kind of man you want to bump into at a conference.  For those that aren’t familiar with Mike Lee, he worked on Delicious Library, helped found Tapolous, and then went to work at Apple.  That and he obviously loves coding and developers.

We chatted with Mike early in the planning stage for the Denver show. He said his current employment position prevented him from participating in the show, but that nothing prevented us from enabling him to come out and talk code.  As he put it, “To be honest, that’s gonna be worth more to people than me talking.”  You gotta love a man who knows his strengths.

You heard it right.  If you are stuck with your code, want to learn a more efficient way to do things, or just want to know why Objective-C is so great, Mike’s gonna be there to comfort you.  The thing that you’ll notice quickly is that not only is Mike smart, but he’s also one of the nicest guys in the world.  After keynoting our first show, he left us a hand written thank you note.  People like that are rare, and so are opportunities to hang with them.

There’s only one way to guarantee that you’ll be able to talk shop with Mike.  That’s to head over to the reg page and buy your ticket.   Oh, and don’t forget, you get an additional 40+ iPhone development sessions by top notch techies.  Did you forget that it’s only $499 to attend too?  Talk about a bargain!

Filed Under: Announcements, Community, Denver, Reasons to Come Tagged With: , ,