Olivier's Blog - Computers

1.0.3 on AppStore

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:16:26 -0500

Following this last entry on 1.0.3, I've just received news from Apple that the new version of AMT Mobile should hit the App Store within a couple of minutes.

I hope you all enjoy the complete train schedule on you iPhone or iPod touch :)

AMT Mobile in the medias

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:22:07 -0500

AMT Mobile is part of an article about mobile apps in this month's Jobboom magazine.

You can see the full article on their website. Magazine is also available in Quebec for free.

News on 1.0.3

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:41:42 -0500

Nous vous remercions pour vos commentaires et nous en tiendrons compte pour améliorer nos processus à l'avenir. Nous procéderons à une nouvelle révision de votre application dans les plus brefs délais.

Let's hope it will be quick.

No 1.0.3 I guess...

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:13:20 -0500

Monsieur,

Nous regrettons de ne pas pouvoir ajouter l'application AMT Mobile à l'App Store en raison d'une erreur qui produit un arrêt de lapplication sur iPhone 3GS OS 3.1.2

Pour reproduire le plantage de l'application :

Lancez l'application
Sélectionnez Trains
Sélectionnez Montréal/Deux-Montagnes
Sélectionnez Deux-Montagnes
Ajoutez Vers Montréal comme favori
Sélectionnez Stations
Sélectionnez Grand-Moulin
Ajoutez Vers Montréal et Vers Deux-Montagnes comme favoris
Sélectionnez Stations
Sélectionnez Favoris
Sélectionnez Modifier
Sélectionnez l'option de suppression pour Grand-Moulin vers Deux-Montagnes
Sélectionnez Supprimer
Sélectionnez l'option de suppression pour Grand-Moulin vers Montréal
Sélectionnez Supprimer
Sélectionnez l'option de suppression pour Deux-Montagnes vers Montréal
Sélectionnez Supprimer

L'application se plante.

Vous trouverez ci-joint des fichiers «crash log» aux fins d'examen. Vous trouverez de l'information sur le contenu des crash log à l'adresse suivante :
developer.apple.com/iphone/library/technotes/tn2008/tn2151.html

Nous vous prions de résoudre ce problème et de télécharger la version corrigée sur iTunes Connect pour que nous puissions terminer lévaluation de votre application.

Si vous avez besoin d'aide supplémentaire pour résoudre ce problème, le service de soutien technique aux développeurs est à votre disposition. Nos techniciens offrent un service personnalisé et sont en mesure de répondre à toute question portant sur le codage et la programmation. Nous vous prions d'inclure dans toute demande une description détaillée des étapes pour reproduire le problème, des instantanés d'écran, ainsi que tout fichier pertinent.

I have corrected the bug, which was present since the first release of the application! Too bad this never showed up in the crash logs Apple provides (they are always empty...) Oh well.

Submitted the corrected binary. Worst case scenario: going to take 2 weeks for an answer.

1.0.3 new features

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:18:32 -0400

Version 1.0.3 of AMT Mobile has been submitted to Apple, it should hit the App Store within a couple of days (hopefully).

In this version, the most requested feature has been added in the station view. You can now consult the full schedule of every line in both directions. After selecting a departure time (which selects a specific train number), you can see all the stops across the line and their associated time at every station. Schedules are available for weekdays, as well as Sundays and Saturdays for lines that operate on weekends.

Of course, you can still see the next departures first, so you can catch a train right away. However, to prepare your trip in advance, click on "Complete schedule" (or "Horaire complet") at the bottom of a station view. You can of course reach that view from clicking one of your favorites, or going through the list of all the stations by lines.

You can click on the left image to zoom in and observe the feature.

AMT Mobile 1.0.2

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:04:39 -0400

Good news of the week, AMT Mobile 1.0.2 is now available on the App Store.

This minor release fixes the Info-Train panel to use the new shiny (and less functionnal) AMT website.

New version AMT Mobile

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:31:11 -0400

Well, a new version of AMT Mobile will soon be finished. Once submitted, it should hit the App Store in a couple of weeks. The next version will bring even more features and ease of use.

In the meantime, a new domain is now available, the whole project will be available through www.amtmobile.ca

AMT Mobile Launched

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:18:00 -0400

Didn't take long, AMT Mobile is available on the App Store.

I have created a small landing page with the application details. I will add support and FAQ soon to that page, as well as the French version of course.

AMT Mobile

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:38:59 -0400

After a lenghty process, AMT Mobile will hit the Apple Store in the next hours.

If you take the train in the Montreal region and you want something to track the schedules, or even know when the train is out of service (believe me.. this happens quite frequently), go grab a copy, it's just 99¢

Am I working for the AMT? No.. Do they know about this iPhone App? No.. Why did I do this? Because I was bored back in March and some people were insisting on me putting this on the App Store.

By the way, between the time I submitted the App and the actual launch date, someone has released a global public transportation mobile app. I think it's something like YUL Mobile or something (not to name it!). Of course, my app is better, faster, more efficient and saves the environment, but feel free to try both, I'll read the comments and improve as necessary.

iPhone apps

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:05:45 -0500

Stay tuned, I should release my shiny iPhone app on the App Store shortly. Just have to go through that program enrollment thing with Apple, spending $100US at the same time. Oh well...

I'm really puzzled to see if there really is a business model behind building those apps. At 99¢, ROI takes a long time. Worst when you consider development time and costs (more on that in another post).

GeoIP 1.0.5 released

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:02:09 -0500

I just released GeoIP 1.0.5 on PECL. An excerpt from the ChangeLog:

Small bug in phpinfo() when printing version number could crash PHP. (in 1.0.4)
Fix memleaks, bug #14851
Small patch for MacPorts by jhohle
Add geoip_time_zone_by_country_and_region() and geoip_region_name_by_code() (thanks to Sid Dunayer)
Add continent_code field for City Database, only if using GeoIP lib 1.4.3 or newer

Since most of the features are very dependent on the GeoIP Library version you're using, I do suggest you upgrade the installed library on your system before upgrading the PECL counter-part.

I have also upgraded the PHP documentation, which should appear on the mirrors by next week. I am now working on documenting the added functions, mostly that FIPS 10-4 thing in geoip_region_name_by_code().

One thing to note about this release though is that the time zones returned by geoip_time_zone_by_country_and_region() with library 1.4.5 don't seem to make any sense here. I have opened up a bug report on SourceForge for libgeoip, will see if it gets resolved in the next release.

In the meantime, happy IP Geo Localization with PHP!

All new blog!

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:18:12 -0400

Please welcome... wait for it... my new blog! (you need to use Barney Stinson's voice for that phrase)

Ok, so what's the catch? It looks like the other one, what's different? In fact, what changed is the machine behind.

After many problems with ServerPronto, I decived to move everything back in Canada. My new hosting company is now iWeb, right here in Montreal. I wasn't sure at first, since iWeb is a little bit more expensive than others. After trying it, I am more than pleased with the service.

For example, when installing my dedicated server, I wanted to switch my Debian to Gentoo. I knew it was risky, but I needed my server to run Gentoo, mainly for seldom ebuild development. Everything ran smoothly, but I unfortunately made a typo in the network config file. Upon reboot, I couldn't access the machine and was stuck with a bricked server.

With a simple support ticket, I was able to get an IP KVM connected to my server quickly and interacted with it to bring the network back online. It might seem like a trivial event, but I am not sure what would have happened if it was hosted elsewhere. I would have probably ended up paying someone to type the commands on the shell, which is not always an easy task when the other person is more than a thousand kilometers away.

Since when PHPQuebec money driven?

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:19:38 -0500

Although this article might seem like bashing, it asks a very legitimate question about how much the PHPQuebec organisation should be money driven.

First, let's go back a couple of years in the past. I remember going to the annual conference when it was held at the École Polytechnique de Montréal. At that time, about the same amount of important speakers were there, I remember first seeing Derick talking about PHP bananas or something. That year, I think the ticket cost me around 150$, I was paying student price.

Years after that, the conference moved to big hotels with somewhat bigger conference rooms, but most of the time with awful food. The ticket went up, but I didn't really care, for two reasons: I stopped going every year, and I could get discounted PHP developer rate for my contributions on PECL.

Last year, it was the beginning of the end. The conference moved to a very fancy hotel, which seems to have brought the ticket price even higher. It was now around 500$ if I recall correctly, with no rebate for core developers. I then have a very painful discussion with Yann over emails, asking him why that rebate was gone. He decided to offer me a rebate price after all, it was just not published on the website.

This year, it seems the ticket was still highly priced. I've decided to email Yann, Sylvain, or anyone in the organization, asking if they could provide a rebate for core dev. Beginning last December, those conversations were one way, I have never received any reply on any email I was sending.

Now here comes the tricky part. While waiting for their answers.. ticket price went up. I finally decided not to go. Talking about this with Philippe Gamache, he told me he would email the group, asking why they could not provide a core dev price this year. Their answer was clear: "We don't have any special rate this year".

And bam.. why would they refuse to answer me last December with those words? I could have decided to go for the pre-sale price. I seems that at the end, the only thing matters: the money.

Don't get me wrong on this one, I'm not trying to get a free lunch or something, and I am willing to pay a certain amount to go to the conference. This being said, I don't see why I would pay the full price. The reason having a discounted core dev price, is that you want them to be there. You want them to evangelize about PHP and you want them to pass the torch to younger souls.

The reason I want to be there, is to talk to certain people about PHP dev. I have no interest for the conferences, although I might go see a couple of them. Last year, I think I've spent more time outsite the conference rooms, talking with Marcus and watching David suffer while Rasmus was trying to hack his Mac.

It's too bad though, as it seems the PHPQuebec organization doesn't want to provide that ecosystem anymore. So go on, pay full price, don't invest in a better future for PHP, and have fun. I guess I won't be there this year.

Webware 2008 Awards

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:02:32 -0500

Following shameless plug from our StartupCFO:

MOBIVOX, the company I am working for, has been nominated for the 2008 Webware 100 Awards in the communication category. Since it would be great to win, if you know about MOBIVOX, have tried it and feel it is a great product, please vote for us!

DoubleMetaphone on PECL

nospam@example.com (Olivier Hill) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:27:27 -0500

It's finally there... after quite some requests by external people, I've created a doublemetaphone module on PECL.

After some house-keeping, version 0.1.2 was born. It is still alpha, although it should not segfault or anything. The only reason going alpha is because I'm not sure the API should stay the same. After some feedbacks, I'll ramp-up beta and GA.

So, after a pecl install doublemetaphone, you can enjoy using the new double_metaphone() function.

If you have any comments, or found bugs, leave a comment here, or on the PECL bug system.