Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Life Goals up to 80th spot in Productivity



Life Goals Progress

Life Goals hit the App store at position 106 with a bullet! Over today it moved up to 80th spot. For some reason it seems to be doing really well in Denmark - thanks to all my Danish supporters!

I know this because I'm using the free iPhone app called PositionApp. I would recommend this program to all developers, it makes it really easy to keep track of your Apps progress. There is currently no data from Apple (via iTunes Connect) so this is the only feedback I have on sales.

Life Goals v1.0 launched on iTunes

Life Goals iPhone App is now available from Apple iTunes.

Click here to have a look.

Saturday, 20 February 2010

New Kintarla Web Site Launched


New Kintarla Web Site

The new and improved Kintarla web site has been launched.

You can sign up to our mailing list from here and reserve your bottles of 2009 Shiraz and 2010 Verdelho. These are our first vintage for those two varieties and we only have 1800 bottles of Shiraz and 2000 of Verdelho.

We will shortly be adding the ability to buy the wine on-line (once I work out how to do it) and if you sign up to the mailing list then you will be the first to hear about it. As usual comments and feedback is welcome.

Both varieties are being bottled at the end of March and should be available for shipping in April.

Sunday, 14 February 2010

iPhone - Life Goals v1.0 Submitted for Review













Life Goals v1.0 Complete!

I just submitted my first iPhone App to the iTunes App Store for review.

I'm not sure how long it will take from here but I think it will be 7 -14 days before I hear something.

It took me just over 4 months from turning on Xcode for the first time to wrestling iTunes Connect into submission. The whole code signing and provisioning process is hard work.

Eventually I ended up following the process here and everything seemed to upload smoothly. I know in my search to ensure that I did this properly that there are a lot of other people who had problems with this.

If you would like to know more about Life Goals then pop over to Reefwing Software.

Saturday, 13 February 2010

WRITING QUOTES - From CS Weekly

Some more writing quotes aggregated from CS Weekly:

"It is defeat that turns bone to flint; it is defeat that turns gristle to muscle; it is defeat that makes men invincible. Do not then be afraid of defeat. You are never so near to victory as when defeated in a good cause."
- Henry Ward Beecher

"Writing makes a map, and there is something about a journey that begs to have its passage marked."
- Christina Baldwin

"A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never heard). It is classic because of a certain eternal and irrepressible freshness."
- Edith Wharton

"You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist."
- Isaac Asimov

"A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer."
- Karl Krauss

"No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous."
- Henry Brooks Adams

"My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way."
- Ernest Hemingway


"The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium."
- Norbet Platt

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."
- William Wordsworth

"If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water."
- Ernest Hemingway

"Nothing matters but the writing. There has been nothing else worthwhile...a stain upon the silence."
- Samuel Beckett

"When I face the desolate impossibility of writing 500 pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day's work is all I can permit myself to contemplate."
- John Steinbeck

"For a creative writer possession of the truth is less important than emotional sincerity."
- George Orwell

"But words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think."
- Lord Byron

"Writing is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public."
- Winston Churchill

"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible."
- Vladimir Nabakov

"I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions."
- James Michener


"One writes out of one thing only -- one's own experience. Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from the experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give."
- James Baldwin

"The good writer seems to be writing about himself, but has his eye always on that thread of the Universe which runs through himself and all things."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday, 7 February 2010

LifeGoals Demo Video Posted



LifeGoals

Version: 1.0


[Coming Soon to the iTunes App Store]


The LifeGoals demo video is available now at:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvYyX8-rqz0


This was made using:


  1. 1.The Xcode simulator;

  2. 2.SimFinger (to generate the transparent “finger” dot, add fake apps and set the carrier text);

  3. 3.iShowU HD to record the video; and

  4. 4.iMovie to add the titles, credits, transitions and soundtrack (music was bought from Jamendo PRO).


    Read all about LifeGoals and how to design the life you want at www.reefwing.com.au


Friday, 29 January 2010

Kintarla - 2009 Shiraz


Kintarla 2009 Shiraz Label

Our 2009 Shiraz will be bottled in the next month or so. This is our first vintage so we are very excited and on a steep learning curve.

Designing the labels was a lot of fun. There is an old dead tree which we wanted to feature on the front label. The visual designers at the Label House have done a great job (in our opinion anyway).

The next step is to update our website which is looking decidedly dodgy at the moment.

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

Kintarla - Vintage 2010 Verdelho


Australia Day Harvest

We had our first crop of Verdelho picked on Australia Day (26 Jan 2010). About 1.5 tonne was the final weight of grapes which we supplemented with another 1.5 tonnes from neighbouring vineyards.

The fruit was a bit damaged from hail that we had in December but seems to have held up fairly well considering. Lisa skidded the ute into one of the end posts due to the wet and greasy conditions (it rained the night before). I think we should have bought a 4WD!

Last year the Shiraz wasn't ripe until late Feb, it will be interesting to see if there is any difference this year. We did a heap of bunch thinning on the 25th Jan which should help the remaining bunches ripen. We probably dropped about 1/3rd of the crop.

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy - Hard Level 10 (Crazy 88's)



The Jab Solution...

This level seems to be a favourite with folks. Here is another solution submitted by Jab.

Over to Jab to explain...

Hi everybody.

I am happy to see that many people love this game as I do ^^
I manage to go until wave 261 with 2 830 millions , but the score did not save..
Hopefuly, I took screenshots :-p
My technique is simple : I do not juggle. I use all kind of towers and make the creep pass by the corner back right after the fast 8.

Jab



Wednesday, 20 January 2010

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy - Hard Level 10 (Crazy 88's)

Tactics for getting High Scores over 3,000,000,000

Kevin from Chicago sent me through his tactic for generating huge high scores (Thanks Kevin). Let me hand you over to Kevin to describe how...

"My simple trick to getting high scores (and not necessarily high levels) is at the very beginning of the game. If a creep comes to within the last one or two hexes before the exit when you kill them, you get a bonus: x5, x10, x20, or x50 if it is really the last moment.

These scores affect the scoring multiplier for the entire rest of the game.

So, to get significantly higher scores without any kind of fancy trickery with your pattern, just start the level by killing the creeps just before they exit for several rounds. There are few pretty predictable positions to kill creeps for bonus points in the first rounds. Once you know what you are after, you can get the multiplier up to x500 within the first 10 or so rounds.

After I get the multiplier up, then I focus in on just making sure none of the creeps escape, which is pretty easy in this level.

Attached is my high score and my pattern. I am pretty sure a more optimal pattern exists, but this one works quite well.
I made it to level 237 with a similar pattern, but it won't go much further. There just doesn't seem to be enough time to micromanage the towers vs. specific creeps..."

Kevin from Chicago

Sunday, 17 January 2010

Kintarla - 2010 Vintage


It is an exciting time in the vineyard as the 2010 harvest approaches. We have just finished the label design which was great fun. The following are the tasting notes for our 2009 Shiraz, which are currently in French oak barrels and will be bottled in March:

The wine is crimson red in colour with a vibrant purple hue. This is an elegant Shiraz offering aromas of ripe plum, cherry, spice, and toasty oak. The complex palate is rich and full, offering great flavour intensity, balance, and length. This well structured wine should mature gracefully over the next 5 years”

We are hoping to get a Shiraz and Verdelho crop this year. Both took a hammering during the hail storms in December but fingers crossed. The Semillion didn't make it - maybe next year!

The following are some notes from our vineyard consultant on the December conditions and there effects on the grapes.

The weather features that affected the vineyard this month were:

Ø After a very warm November, December was also a degree warmer than the average daily temperature based on the 30-year average, and we had 15 days over 30C, and quite a few close to 40C. These hot days were interspersed with very mild days.

Ø The first 3 weeks of December were very dry and we were beginning to run low on water levels stored in dams and in the soil. Christmas time heralded the beginning of the cyclone-influenced cycle we are seeing now… warm dry days followed by humid, showery milder periods lasting 7 to 10 days.

Ø Humidity stayed low during the first half of the month but once the rain started on Boxing Day it was very high, and has remained that way well into January.

The results of these conditions were:

- Many vines kept growing and new disease infections appeared. Downy mildew pressure returned in the last week of the month, and spraying was problematic with the regular showery, and often windy, conditions. Once downy mildew infection became established, it has been very difficult to totally eradicate, although in most vineyards it is now under control.

The rain at the end of the month has come at a bad time in terms of coinciding with the vine stage of berry swelling and veraison. In any tight-bunch varieties (like Semillon and chardonnay) this has led to berries splitting. With the humidity levels as they are Botrytis was the inevitable result. This has red berries (eg in shiraz) rapidly expanded , the hail scars became loci for splitting, exposing seeds and flesh to Botrytis spores, ubiquitous to our Hunter environment.

It is tough being a farmer...

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy - Hard Level 10 (Crazy 88's)



Welcome to 2010.

Here is a solution to GeoDefense Swarm Hard Level 10 sent to me by Telo. I will hand you over to Telo now to explain what is happening...

"The first pic shows the route the creeps take, I drew on the route in pea green to show it clearer, and the second pic is my score at the end. I'm going to have another go at it soon! Hopefully do better second time."

Telo wiped out 239 waves using this strategy, which kicks the arse of my solution. If anyone can do better and is willing to share then shoot your solution through and I will post it.

Saturday, 28 November 2009

iPhone - Screen Capture


iPhone Screen Capture

The iPhone includes a handy feature to take a photo of the current screen.

To take a screen shot you need to hold down the "Home" button (at the bottom of the screen) and then hit the "power/sleep" button (at the top right hand side of the phone).

Your screen shot will then be available in the camera roll section of your photo app.

The attached photo should illustrate the process.

Saturday, 21 November 2009

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy - Hard Level 10 (Crazy 88's)



iPhone

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy

Hard Level 10 - Crazy 88's

Spoiler Warning!

My approach here is to split the screen into two regions and allow the creeps to channel between the two 8's.

I start with laying out the path near the exit. It takes a bit of trial and error to work out what the minimum number of towers work.

Interestingly my highest score is with 180 waves. Using another approach I got to over 215 but the score was lower.

Well that concludes the game! Hopefully Critical Thought Games will release some additional map packs. V3 of the iPhone OS has enabled in game purchases, more games should take advantage of this (IMHO).

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy - Hard Level 9 (Revenge of the Eye)


iPhone

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy

Hard Level 9 - Revenge of the Eye

Spoiler Warning!

There are a couple of different ways to skin this cat. Start with the towers near the exit to maximise your score - you may leak a few creeps.

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy - Hard Level 8 (Slightly Buggy)



iPhone

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy

Hard Level 8 - Slightly Buggy

Spoiler Warning!

Just lay the path at alternately upgrade the missiles and thumpers.

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy - Hard Level 7 (Looking Glass)




iPhone

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy

Level 7 - Looking Glass

Spoiler Warning!!

OK this strategy allowed me to get a highscore which is number 14 in the world.

The secret is to allow an opening at the edges and don't build too many towers early.

By wave 5 you need to close the gap so you can get the creeps that are only effected by thumpers and lasers.

The pictures should be pretty self explanatory.

Of course this is probably going to destroy my top 14 ranking ...

Sunday, 15 November 2009

iPhone Application - Life Goals


iPhone Application - Life Goals

It looks like Apple has accepted me (or Kintarla Pty Ltd to be precise) as a new iPhone Developer - Hurrah!

As this is my first program written in Objective C and Cocoa Touch, I'm keeping things fairly simple. The plan is to release a goal setting application before the 1st Jan 2010.

I'm finding Objective C to be quite a bit different to C#. The way that methods are handled is doing my head in but after a week or so of concentrated effort it is starting to make sense.

The Icon in the title page screen shot is a west African symbol of life transformation called SESA WO SUBAN. It means to "change or transform your character." You can learn more about these symbols at http://www.adinkra.org/htmls/graphics.htm

To get everyone in a goal setting mood for New Years, I'm collecting relevant quotes. Here are a few to get you started ...

Goal Setting Quotes

"Success is 99% failure." - Soichiro Honda

"You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream." - C.S. Lewis

Monday, 9 November 2009

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy - Hard Level 6 (Singularity)


iPhone

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy

Hard Level 6 - Singularity

Spoiler Warning!

There are a few different ways to complete this level.

Start off by channelling the creeps by placing the rocket towers near the entries.

You can then start building towers around the singularity. You need to build fast but once you get here it is pretty much all over.

Happy Swarming...

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy - Hard Level 5 (Thump This!)

iPhone

GeoDefense Swarm Strategy

Hard Level 5 - Thump This!

Spoiler Warning ...

Another fairly straight forward level, although difficult to get a high score.