Greenbelt , Tech

This time next week

This time next week the festival will just be kicking off. And in what is beginning to be another regular signpost in the Greenbelt year, last night Apple approved the 2010 Festival Guide App.

The most obvious new feature this year is the reinstatement of code from the original 2008 prototype. When thinking about how to depict a complex schedule in a mobile app, a chart with time running left-to-right and venues running down the page seemed a good fit. Unfortunately it didn't work well with the limited screen size of the iPhone, but with the introduction this year of the iPad it found its perfect home.

Somewhat by coincidence the foundations of the iPad version were - like the original app - developed amongst Greenbelt friends on Iona. There's clearly something in the Hebridean air that aids software development.

More and more this kind of work looks like an attractive full-time opportunity.

Tech

Broken Android

"Why aren't there more apps for Android phones?"

Because the platform is fractured, the development tools are terrible and documentation doesn't match real-world experience.

About every six months I delve into Android development again, to try and get off the ground. But the sad truth is that it's just not ready yet. I would have thought things would have improved over the past two years, but Google just don't seem to be willing to draw developers to their platform and I've given up on them once again.

Android will remain nothing but a nice idea unless Google turn their ideas around. They may be nice phones but as a general platform they stink.

Music

Michael Been

Today I'll be listening to music by The Call and their lead singer, Michael Been.

Michael died of a heart attack yesterday.

His music was a key companion during my time at university. The drive of Let the Day Begin propelled me into the final decade of the twentieth century full of hope and opportunity. World on Fire from the little-known Light Sleeper soundtrack gave me voice when I needed to shout while the Red Moon pulled me back to earth.

I feel this deep down trembling in the earth beneath my feet.
It shakes the great foundations. I awake from my sleep.
I trust my life to providence, I trust my soul to grace
but nothing takes away this pain: I can't forget your face.
Now it feels like the world's on fire.
Yes it feels like the world's on fire.

Somewhere in this fascinating gel of blood and bone
I struggle through the day today, I brace against the storm.
Thoughts of you pursue me like an overwhelming tide.
There's something in the air tonight, it would do no good to hide
'cause it feels like the world's on fire.
Yes it feels like the world's on fire.

Night after night
like a fever it burns.
Night after night
the fever returns.

I deprive myself of feeling, both a blessing and a curse,
a love that can't be likened to a single thing on earth
Maybe I'll see better when the storm inside has passed.
Maybe I'll see better when I see your face at last.
'Til then I think the world's on fire.
Yes it feels like the world's on fire.