I just published my first video game tutorial on #skillshare - "How to make a game like Flappy Bird in Swift." Check it out!
This was a lot harder than I was expecting - it took me 3 days to shoot 3 minutes of video, do the voice overs and edit in After Effects. I think I'm now ready to shoot a feature film!
Check out my new FREE app - Drone Explorer!!! A blatant Flappy Bird rip off, however it was released as part of an upcoming video tutorial on how you can build your own version of the game. At its peak the Flappy Bird app was earning $50k per day! Feel free to download my version and give it a 5 star review! Here is the link.
Sick of trying to decode unintelligible aviation weather information?
Visual Aircraft Forecasts (VAF) for Australia reduces the complexity of aviation weather forecasting by providing graphical representations of the weather data provided by the various authorities.
Visual Aircraft Forecasts for Australia aggregates data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Open Weather Map organisation.
The first tab of VAF focusses on aviation specific information and includes:
a) Aviation Briefs which are available for 10 regions in Australia. It is derived from the Aviation Weather Packages on the BOM web site.
b) AIRMET/SIGMET - The latest graphical and text based versions are provided (from the BOM). You can use two fingers to zoom in and out of the PDF's on this screen.
c) METAR/TAF - Are decoded for a selected list of airports. Display includes wind direction and speed, cloud cover, visibility, temperature and QNH. You can add additional airports using the + button (top right). To delete an airport, swipe left. In the Settings Tab you can select whether this data comes from BOM or NOAA (default is BOM). You get slightly different data depending on the source, but there are a lot more sites using BOM. Only the major airports are on NOAA but you also get Lat, Long, Elevation and Altimeter. Tap on a METAR to bring up the detailed version and to view the raw data.
d) Forecasts - these are the new Graphical Area Forecasts from BOM. You can use two fingers to zoom in and out on this screen as well.
e) NOTAM - from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). NOTAMs are sorted by creation date. You can search for an airport using its ICAO code (e.g. YSSY for Sydney/Mascot Airport).
f) SIGWX - Significant Weather from the BOM. You can use two fingers to zoom in and out on this screen.
The BOM tab provides more generalised weather information, including:
a) Rain Radar - downloads an animation of recent rain radar information. Select the map of Australia in the menu bar to zoom in on a specific state.
b) Satellite Images - from the Himawari-8 weather satellite. Includes satellite notes from the BOM.
c) Observations - will provide an animated graphical display of the latest weather measurements from a list of 133 locations in Australia. Data shown includes weather, temperature, relative humidity, sunrise/sunset times, minimum and maximum temperatures and wind speed and direction. Drag the table up to show the forecast for that location and drag down to refresh the current data.
The Local tab provides information similar to Observations but for where ever you are at that moment. The first time you tap the Local Tab it will ask your permission to access location services. You need to accept this otherwise the app doesn't know where you are and can not display the local weather.
The Settings tab allows you to select:
- whether UTC (Zulu) time is displayed on certain screens along with the local time.
- the METAR data source (BOM or NOAA).
- wind speed units (mps, kph or knots).
- displayed temperature units (°C or °F)
The Feedback button allows direct support from the Developer. Please use this for any bug reports or feature requests.
Note: Airservices Australia is the official provider of the Aeronautical Information Service, which includes the delivery of aviation meteorological products.
Therefore, all information for the purpose of flight planning should be obtained from Airservices Australia.
Two of my stories (Memories and There is No Pain) feature in the Eclectic Slice of Life Anthology. The anthology, is available for purchase online just click on the picture above.
Personality - FREE iPhone App
The Reefwing Personality Profile is a tool to gain insight into your character. Answer just a few quick questions and you will be provided with a description of your personality traits. The App allows you to email the results, so you can share them with your friends. The results are based on extensive research but are not meant to be taken too seriously.
Life Audit v1.2 - FREE iPhone App
You need to know where you are to get where you are going. By answering just a few questions, our free App Life Audit will give you a graphical representation of your Life Balance. As the pace of life increases at an exponential rate we sometimes forget to focus on what is important as opposed to what is urgent. Using Life Audit you will quickly be able to see the areas of your life that are getting the most focus and more importantly, the areas that you are neglecting.
Life Goals v2.2 Out Now!
Life Goals (rated 9/10 at the iPhone App Review site) can help you design the life you want. If Life Audit has indicated deficiencies, then Life Goals can help you correct them. By categorising your goals and rating the impact and effort required, Life Goals will automatically prioritise your tasks and tell you what your next best steps are. This way you focus on doing what will have the greatest impact on your life.
Mini-story: Grease
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Magnus didn’t especially like the coffee, but the place was near his hotel,
and any caffeine was at least marginally better than nothing.
He’d been sitti...
SDF headless tests, part 1
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In the last few posts I have shown some of the experiments I did with font
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msdfgen-at...
The Bottom Feeder Has Moved On!
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A happy little message for anyone still following this dusty old blog.
I am still writing! Not a lot, but I am making quality free content. I just
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Hello everyone, Thank you so much to everyone who participated in Haven
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DIY Coronavirus Tracking
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Everybody enjoying their shelter in place, we trust? Yes, it’s interesting
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objc_msgSend's New Prototype
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Apple's new OSes are out. If you've looked through the documentation, you
may have noticed that the prototype for objc_msgSend has changed.
Previously, it ...
Dealing Cards
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Most of my games and prototypes lately are very board gamey and almost
always involve dealing random “cards” to create a hand of cards. For
example, in Sub...
Response: The Laws of Core Data
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Recently, I saw a post from Dave DeLong and knowing his history with the
framework I read it with extreme curiosity. Unfortunately, that read led to
this p...
RadioKit with iOS 10 / XCode 8 support
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The current version of RadioKit (version 2.15.4) is compatible with iOS 10
and XCode 8. If you already have an existing license, the current lib file
can ...
Parallax UITableView header with Auto Layout
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I’ve been working on a thing at Shopify, where I implemented a header
containing an image that has a parallax effect when scrolling up and
expands when scr...
WWDC 2014
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We're less than a week out from WWDC. The conference really snuck up on me
this year. I never even got around to updating my WWDC First Timer's Guide.
Re-r...
Device orientation vs interface orientation
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Just today I got bit by confusing device orientation and interface
orientation. I really should know better. Device orientation is of course
the orientatio...
Tell Me Cow Bird – What Went Wrong?
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It has been almost a year since the last blog post. Most of the time we
were working on our own apps, a few client jobs as well as on our latest
game Cow B...
Attention, Public Transport Users!
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Please, for the love of all that you hold dear and sacred, please, please,
*please*, refrain from brushing your hair and clipping or filing your nails
on p...
Finally: Slush Pile Completed
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It took much, much longer than anticipated even given our two-month
extension, but I finally emailed the last author a few minutes ago. All
authors have be...
Progress Report V1.2
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Day two of writing progressed. I've slipped into a new routine where I come
home from work and spend an hour or two writing before moving onto other
things...