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360iDev 2011 – Dates and Location Announcement!

February 7, 2011 By 1 Comment

See you in Denver, in September!

We’ve been working on finding the right place to hold 360|iDev here in Denver and think we found it. The Crowne Plaza Downtown. Yeah, DOWNTOWN.

We know the Austin location was not right downtown, so getting around was a cab or shuttle ride, and a kind of pain in the ass. SO we’re right downtown. 2 blocks off the 16th St Mall, tons or bars and restaurants, and lots to do!

We’ll be updating the Hotel page with details and the room booking link today or tomorrow, but the dates (September 11-14) and location (The Crowne Plaza Downtown) are 100% locked in!

What’s next?

  1. Hotel page. As soon as we have the booking information we’ll update the page. We got an awesome room rate for attendees, that INCLUDES in room internet!
  2. Call for papers (I’d suggest you check this site Wednesday morning, just sayin’)
  3. Creative junk! We’ll be coming up with the (actual) logo, sticker, etc so stay tuned, it’s gonna be sweet! Don’t think the shirts won’t rock this time!

What’s this mean to you?

Well mostly it means, if you didn’t buy the faithul ticket already, it’s gone. Sorry we told you, the moment we lock in the details that ticket goes away. Starting now, and for the next 3 weeks, the early bird ticket is on sale. This ticket will be the last chance to save some coin. If you’re not sure it’s gonna be worth it, ask around.

If you’re wondering why September, I’ll tell ya. We’re only doing 1 360|iDev this year. That’s it, just the one. We’ll be packing the awesome of 2 into 1 bad ass event. We’re waiting until after WWDC so that we can all talk about the awesome stuff we’re working on, that’s likely to be NDA until then. Plus early September in Denver is awesome. Great weather, great time of year.

See you in Denver!

Filed Under: Announcements, Community, Denver, Reasons to Come Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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360iDev – Community goodie give away!

January 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As we approach 360|iDev 2011, we’re cleaning house. Literally, it’s my house and all the conference ‘stuff’ is in the garage. You may or may not know we’ve had the shirts from Austin available for purchase since we got back, they’re an awesome deal, and a great wa to get a one of a kind shirt even if you missed the conference.
BUT we’ve got a lot of them. Oh and we’ve got 360|MacDev shirts too (You can buy one here if you’re so inclined) in case you weren’t able to make it. Both shirts are one of a kind, and other than the ones I’ve got in my garage, won’t be made again.
So…
If you run a cocoaheads, or other NSsomething group, and want some give aways for your members, and have about $11.00 to spend, we’ll stuff as much as we can in a USPS flat rate box and ship you shirts and maybe a koozie or two, and whatever else we’ve still got laying around that is 360|iDev. Even some books.
Why $11? well shipping ain’t cheap, and while we love and support the iOS community, 360|conferences doesn’t make enough money yet to pay my salary, so shipping boxes around the country just ain’t in the budget I’m afraid.
However the Flat rate USPS boxes are a great way to cram as much as i can into an affordable package for User Groups. If you want 2 boxes, it’s $22, etc, etc.
No strings, we just don’t want the shirts, etc to go to waste, and figured it’d be a cool way for User Groups to have more raffle goodies and giveaways.
All we need is an email with the following information.
Group Name:
Shipping Address:
Attention:
Paypal Email address:
How many boxes:
Send that to. info AT 360idev DOT com.
When we get the email we’ll send a paypal request and the box will be on it’s way.
We’ll do a random sampling of sizes and qty in each box, sorry it’d be too much overhead to allow groups to customize the order.
Of course if  you want a specific size, you can still order one :) At least until we’ve shipped them all out.
Please spread the word. We hope to get rid of all the shirts and make room for new ones :) We like having them around, but they take up space, and we figure it’s better to give them to anyone who wants them. Plus I won’t lie, better on the backs of iOS developers than in boxes in my garage!

Don’t forget too! You can register now for 360|iDev 2011 in Denver, CO. The price will never be lower than right now. The moment we lock in the exact dates, the price goes up. Don’t worry, tickets are completely refundable if the dates don’t work for you once we announce them.

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360iDev – Speaker Michael Simmons

November 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Michael Simmons (Long lost cousin to Brent Simmons) came to us late in the planning for 360|iDev, but is such a great guy we just had to have him with us!
He’s got a ton of experience in the iOS community from helping launch successful apps to now running his own shop!

Q: How long have you been doing iOS development?

A: Since Apple officially launched the SDK, back in March 2008. Actually, even longer than that! Back in August  2007, I was helping some friends with an app prior to the SDK (when jailbreaking was the only was to do native apps).
Ah the good ol’ days :)

Q: What do you like most about being an iOS Developer?
A: The freedom and flexibility to create pretty much whatever you want. Plus, the community is great. I enjoy the people I work with and get to collaborate with on both a professional and personal level.
It’s certainly easy to eat your own dog food as it were as an iOS developer.
Q: What’s your favorite Game?
A: At the moment, it’s Cut the Rope from Chilingo/ZeptoLab, which is a lot of fun and challenging, too!
On my purchase list! Man! Running 360|iDev is expensive!
Q: What’s your favorite App?
A: No way could I narrow it down to a single favorite! So I’ll say Mail. After all, it’s the “killer app”. :)
Oh yeah. killer indeed!
Q: Robots or Ninjas?
A: Ninjas for sure. Particularly since Steve Jobs is one (since he purportedly tried to smuggle shuriken into the US) :)
I think he’s still at the padawan stage of ninja-hood, but yeah if Steve wants to be a Ninja who can argue!
Q: What would change about the iOS platform if you could change just one thing?
A: Improving the App Store app approval time (specifically for bug fix updates).
It’d be cool if there were two channels. New apps went thru one, maybe more indepth, updates go thru another. Or at least worse case, an emergency channel for bug fixes.
Q: What are you most excited about 360|iDev Austin?
A: Giving my first speech that’s not product-specific. I’ve always spoke and presented products. This time, I get to share my experiences and knowledge with developers, something I think will be very rewarding.
w00t! can’t wait!
Don’t miss out! Register Now!
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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: , , , , , , , , ,
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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 Jen Harvey

October 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
We’re really excited to have Jen Harvey with us in Austin, I think with the two Jens, Lindsay, and Jessica, we’ve doubled at least our women presenter count, which is always awesome to see! Jen is presenting on “The Reluctant SysAdmin: Managing the Server-side of a Client/Server iPhone app”. Talk about something that many developers probably don’t think about when dreaming up the next mega selling app. If there’s a server side component, whether it’s handling authentication or something more complex like data manipulation, success could be a problem if your back end isn’t set up right. If your app doesn’t stand alone, this is gonna be a good session to check out. Wednesday at 2:50p
Q: How long have you been doing iOS development?

A: Exactly 1 year, hard to believe – the year has just flown by!

Time flies when you’re having fun!!

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

A: The community rocks. So much knowledge sharing, so many really fantastic peeps developing quality apps.

Yes it does. The iOS community is why we organize 360|iDev. We love being able to help such a great community of developers in any way we can.

Q: What’s your favorite Game?

A: I’m not a big gamer, but still can’t choose just one. I had a real Swords & Poker II “issue” for bit. Then I got suckered into Chuck Gnome, and now I’ve been goofing with Trainyard like everyone else in the world.

Both of those games really took the world by storm, Swords and poker, i’ve never heard of, will have to track that down, LOL. I love that it was an “issue”

Q: What’s your favorite App?

A: Again, can’t choose just one! I’m a Seesmic addict on my iPod, but really like the native Twitter app on iPad. And *of course* HeyTell on both to send quick messages to friends & family. ;) Skype & Gas Cubby have both been pretty invaluable on the road, in their own special ways. On the work side of things, I spend a little time each day with PositionApp and the Pingdom app has been a life saver (although Push Notification bings now make me twitch just a little bit).

It’s awesome to see folks making tools for the iOS community, LOL. That’s great!! HeyTell looks interesting, checking it out after I hit publish!

Q: Robots or Ninjas?

A: Robots! Robots with ninja star fingernails?

I can’t see how that couldn’t possibly go wrong!

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

A: The complicated keychain…we automate builds, so every time we add a new build, I forget what we did to get it to work the last time…but that’s keychain…you have the same complicated issues with OpenSSL, too…maybe longer expiration for certs. :) All in all, though, our application development for iOS has been a pretty clean and positive experience.

Yeah even tinkering on my own (Yeah that’s where I’m at :D ) the whole keychain, cert, etc process is crazy daunting. I understand it’s probably for the best, but jeez. At least it’s a little easier now with the wizard.

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

A: Seeing everyone we met in San Jose again, meeting new folks, learning from everyone’s experience, and sharing a few of the crazy things we’ve learned after a year on the road supporting HeyTell.

Awesome! Yup it’s like a family reunion and that’s what we like. It’s a family reunion, that welcomes new members, LOL.

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

A: Go, go, go! I was on the fence before San Jose – no longer. Great people and talks–we learned so much that was helpful to us. We indies tend to live a little bit in a bubble, and it’s so nice to be able to get together with fellow developers to toss ideas around, validate what we’re doing, and so on–you can’t put a price on that. Also, Rock Band was totally fun and beer every night! The latter probably contributing a bit to me participating in the former. Fun times!

Yeah getting people off the fence is tough, once they’re off, they’re usually off for good, but yeah we have a hard time getting indies to see that value in taking the time, it’s great to hear yet another reformed fence sitter tell their tale LOL.

Don’t miss out on a good time, that will fill your brain beyond capacity. Register now!

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360iDev – Speaker Joe Keeley

October 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Joe Keeley isn’t new to speaking at 360|iDev, and his session, “more Quartz 2D” isn’t one to miss if you’re looking for some hands on Quartz 2D action! Monday 1:30pm, be there!

Q: How long have you been doing iOS development?

A: Holy cow – two years this month! (That happened fast.)

Yes it did! I still remember, and just sold on Ebay, my iPhone 2G. I remember the lines, the launch of the app store, it’s been a whirl wind

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

A: Freedom. And needing to have all the latest Apple toys for, you know, testing.

LOL, yeah it makes it a little easier to justify buying the latest laptops and iOS devices :D
Q: What’s your favorite Game?

A: Wish I had more time to play games!  I do have fun playing Doodle Jump and Harbor Master HD with my four year old daughter.  Well, actually, watching her trounce my best scores consistently is more like it.

Both awesome games by awesome folks! Love ‘em both! I can’t wait to play the FrankenDoodle update that Igor just released.
Q: What’s your favorite App?

A: Lately I’ve really enjoyed using Star Walk on the iPad when we go camping.  It’s nice to actually be able to see stars and know what you’re looking at!

That’s an awesome idea!!! Dang! Can’t wait for spring and summer to get here now!!! Stupid winter!

Q: Robots or Ninjas?

A: Hmmmm….depends on whether the robots obey Asimov’s laws. Probably robots since theoretically you can shut them off.

Well thanks to scientists, we’re now teacing robots to break the Asimov laws… why, i can’t even guess.
Q: What would change about the iOS platform if you could change just one thing?

A: If only you could merge changes to an XIB file – that would make team development a bunch easier.

Yeah I’ve noticed that Apple has a thing with binary files and files that are packages. Ever tried using SVN or GIT to manage pages files? ya can’t!!! It’d be so awesome to share and be able to merge iWork docs. Oh yeah I guess XIBs too :)

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

A: Learning all sorts of unexpected new things!  And hanging out with the best iOS devs around.  It’s a great and humbling experience.

Humbling in a good way I hope :) But yeah I’ve never met anyone who left saying, “I didn’t learn anything new.”

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

A: Fences are uncomfortable to sit on.  Try the nice green grass on the 360|iDev Austin side!  It’s much better.

You know it! I sat a wrought iron fence for an hour once, I was off as fast as I could!!

Don’t miss out. Register now!

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360iDev – Speaker Kyle Richter

October 18, 2010 By 1 Comment
Kyle Richter is an awesome developer, with a ton, almost literally, of experience! He’s got a lot of experience to share with the developer community.
Check out this interview with Mac|Life on Game Center. Oh yeah, Kyle’s kind of an expert on getting game center set up. He’s been working on it, since long before Apple released it to the consumers. His Session “Game Center, Beyond Games” is Monday at 1:30
Q: How long have you been doing iOS development?
A: I’ve been writing iOS software since the beginning, I missed most of the the jail breaking stuff but as soon as their was a SDK from Apple I was off and running.
The early Jailbreaking stuff was no doubt crazy times. I remember when the first one was released, and thinking, “wow, ok now the iPhone is interesting”
Q: What do you like most about being an iOS Developer?
A: The community, I have never worked in or even heard about an industry with a community like the Mac/iOS development one. Everyone is extremely approachable, helpful and friendly all the time.
Me either, the iOS/Mac community is incredible, and like none I’ve seen.
Q:What’s your favorite Game?
A: I wish I had more time to explore some of the more niche games out there, but I have definitely stuck with Field Runners as my goto iPhone game.
Nice,one more to check out! I’ve heard a lot of good things about Field Runners, a classic already!
Q: What’s your favorite App?
A: I spend most of my time in Mail or Twitter, but I really like the Discovery News app. There is always something great to read when I am stuck in a line or waiting for food at a restaurant .
Nice. Don’t think I’ve seen that one. Time to check it out!
Q: Robots or Ninjas?
A: Pirates? Robots are scary, we need to stop teaching them our critical information. Ninjas are just plain hard to spot, I am skeptical they even exist.
Apparently we’re now teaching them how to punch humans. What purpose this serves (other than punching us) i can’t even fathom. Well if you could spot ninjas easily it’d defeat their purpose in life.
Q: What would change about the iOS platform if you could change just one thing?
A: Code signing and provisioning are still a major headache. Xcode 4 does a lot to make things easier to work with but there is still room for a lot of improvement.
Yeah, that entire process is kind of frightening. I think Ninjas, and possibly pirates are the architects of that whole evil process.
Q: What are you most excited about 360|iDev Austin?
A: Seeing the community. The iOS community is the best thing about this profession. Networking with other developers has been priceless for me in my career, every conference is like a high school reunion with only your best friends.
Can’t wait to see everyone again, plus all the new faces! That’s the best part!
Q: Lastly, what would you tell someone on the fence about attending 360|iDev Austin?
A: When you don’t know what you are looking for books aren’t very helpful. Getting to speak to other developers one on one and attend sessions on topics you wouldn’t of otherwise read about is a great experience. Being part of the community is the most critical part of succeeding in this industry, there is no better place to get to know people. WWDC is too large and too busy to meet new people, conferences like this are the perfect size and timeframe to make new friends and contacts.
Yeah WWDC is fine and all, but yeah meeting new people is damn near impossible. We make 360|iDev, as accessible as possible, so that anyone new to the community isn’t afraid of meeting new people. Heck much of the evening receptions, I’m walking around introducing someone to someone else.
Go register right now! Seriously, you don’t want to miss 360|iDev Austin! Register!
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360iDev – Speaker Hendrik Kueck

October 12, 2010 By 1 Comment

We’re really excited to have Hendrik presenting on “Effectively using videos to explain and market your app” on Wednesday. Having seen some truly sad demo videos of apps, this session is a must! Especially if you’re doing your own marketing!

Q: How long have you been doing iOS development?

A: I started iOS development in July 2008, initially as a fun side project, procrastinating from my computer science PhD. These days I am a full time indie iOS developer. I released my first app Juxtaposer (iTunes Link) in October 2008.

Very cool!

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

A: I love the complete freedom of choosing what to work on and when and how to work on it. And being able to comfortably support myself doing it. Apple created this amazing marketplace for us which eliminates most of the major barriers and pain points of software distribution.

It’s definitely cool to see so many developers able to make a living doing what they love. The software industry needs more indie developers that can survive on their own, and Apple’s done a great job providing a platform for that to happen.

Also, developing and marketing iOS apps has been a huge learning experience for me, and I love learning new stuff. I am looking forward to more learning at 360iDev.

Q: What’s your favorite Game?

A: The game I probably played the most is Toki Tori (iTunes Link). It is a great platform puzzle game with super well designed puzzles. I also really love Osmos (iTunes Link), a fantastic ambient game created by good friends of mine.

I haven’t tried Osmos, but have heard a TON of great things about it!! Hope that friend is coming to 360|iDev :)

Q: What’s your favorite App?

A: I love Yelp for discovering good restaurants. It is especially useful when traveling, but even in my hometown Vancouver I use it a lot to find cool new restaurants to check out.

I also really like the Reeder (iTunes Link), Twitter and Simplenote (iTunes Link) apps.

Reeder is my current favorite news reader, but Net News Wire is always my go to reader. Both are great apps. I never took to simplenote, favoring Elements and Evernote more.

Q: Robots or Ninjas?

A: Definitely Ninjas. Robots are making a lot of progress though. I predict Robots overtaking Ninjas in awesomeness around 2020.

I’m calling my booky

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

A: Apple has been good about addressing one pain point after another. It is amazing how much better things are today than when things started in 2008. There have been huge improvements in the SDK, the dev tools, the devices, the App Store, payment processing, dev support, the review system and more.

If I could change one thing, I would add a feature to allow for charitable donations in apps. It should use the same simple one-click payment system as in-app purchases. Ideally 100% of the donation would go straight from Apple to the charity and Apple would forward the donation tax receipt via email to the user.

That’s a pretty slick idea. Gifting apps was a huge step, so it’s not far fetched that this could happen someday! I’d love as much flexibility as possible in purchasing/gifting apps.

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

A: I am looking forward to learning a lot during the sessions, but am maybe even more excited about the time outside the sessions: Making new friends in the iOS developer community and reconnecting with old ones. It will be fun times.

The non session stuff is a blast. It’s great to finally meet people you’ve emailed and IM’ed with, follow on twitter etc. Share a beer, some food, talk about code, and business. It’s a great experience! And of course the sessions are better than you’ll see anywhere else!

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

A: If you are an indie iOS developer, you absolutely should come. You’ll learn a lot in the many great sessions. But more importantly you will meet many awesome developers who have similar passions and ambitions and are fighting similar problems as yourself and are more than happy to share their knowledge and experiences.

Damn straight!

Don’t miss out on the best indie iOS developer event around! Register now before it’s too late!

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