Originally I wasn’t going to post a response to the outcry of posts/comments about “government spending” on an app of which I was a developer on. However the more I sat back this evening I figured I have nothing to hide, but wanted to set the record straight.

It all started with a simple tweet from a follower of mine and thought it was a critique on the code which i’m sure could be enhanced (it was modified 20 times across 4 rounds). Yet it was a bit more involved than that.. lets begin…

Okay, so first off I was accused of developing an app for OSHA and was paid anywhere from $50,000 – $200,000 to do. Both figures and the range in between is far from the truth. I was hired by a development company in Boston to port an Android app to iPhone which was simple enough. However as the gov continued to make changes, updates and modifications it began to add up. (my personal favorite was the myth that a custom UI is against the iOS TOS). Yet in the end I made a minuscule fraction of what others are claiming. In fact I worked over a weekend just to get “another build” to the team.

Of course to my “luck” I never even was the last developer on the project yet my name was shipped with the source code when it really should have been the company I was working with. Well actually my companies name was included, even worse.. but whatever, the damage or lack of damage is done at this point. I just wanted to set the record straight, not even including the fact I do not label myself a ninja iOS developer and never have. I work on apps, learn in my free time and extend my overall programming knowledge to Objective-C.

I guess the takeaway from this post is don’t always assume what you read is the whole picture and more importantly developers that work with teams get paid a fraction of what the end client is billed.

As an aside my personal favorite comment on some pro-FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) website was my company must be somehow connected to a political arm and in turn won this amazing contract. Well if thats the case than someone owes me a bunch more money!

Update: Without getting into specifics on programming a few people asked me about old code and extending NSLocalisedString. The latter was done in an effort to mimic language switching in-app before the client decided we could use the devices language setting (my preference on the matter). The old code is because the app was never cleaned before being released, not sure why.. but there you have it.

While i’ve loved almost everything about Yelp over the years I was informed today a review I posted about a local motorcycle dealership had been removed. The reason was as follows:

We wanted to let you know that we’ve removed your review of Parkway Cycle. Our Support team has determined that it falls outside our Content Guidelines because it discloses private information.

Now the only “private information” I can see is the salespersons name but how is that not allowed? I didn’t want to cut down all of the reps just the one I dealt with. I know they sell bikes a lot so maybe it was just the one I got. However Yelp not only removes my review (which I’m guessing is because the dealership disputed it) they don’t even give me a chance to respond to the accusation. Bad form and bad business.

Here is the complete review, please comment/repost as you see fit. If you have a similar story about Yelp let me know.

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Update: took about a month, but finally got my $200 deposit back.

I was in the market for a 2006 Honda CBR600 and after some online searching I came across Parkway Cycles. I headed up to the store to take a look at the inventory and immediately was faced with “sales mode” which was an immediate turn-off. Well after looking around and answering various questions I found a bike that I liked. I spoke with Chris Fischer about the final price, process and optional financing but stressed I was only looking for now. After a few minutes of “this bike will be gone tomorrow” I decided to throw down a $200 deposit to hold the bike while I checked on a few things. Mind you a week after “letting it go” its still on the lot…

Well a few days later I decided right now wasn’t the best time to buy such a new bike, especially since its my first bike. I called Chris and got the main number when I was told i’d get a call back, but of course no call back. A few days later I call and tell them I want to cancel and have them refund my $200 deposit. Again they tell me i’ll get a call back, but still nothing. Finally I got someone on the phone and instead of being helpful they informed me I had to come in to the store to process the refund which isn’t the worst, aside from the fact I lived about an hour away and being in person to process a refund is unnecessary!

The next day I drove over to the store once again, waited a bit for the manager who handled my refund who assured me the deposit would be processed in a few business days. Well today is more than a week later and still no refund. I called the store once again when the front desk told me “I personally sent that in” and gave me some corporate number to call, which has been busy.

Basically if a company can’t properly process a $200 refund then how am I to ever trust them on a big purchase? Simple, I can’t!

Oh and as an aside Parkway Cycles is owned/operated by Cycles 128 and a few other dealers so basically be aware when buying a bike in the Massachusetts area. For now I will stick with Weymouth Honda who has been low-pressure, helpful and a joy to work with, even-though they know I am not buying a bike right this minute.
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Just found this filtered list, you can see my review and another that was recently posted flagged down. Seems to me Yelp is allowing the reviewed location to cut bad reviews out. At that point Yelp is useless and one step away from “Paid Advertisement”. Sad because I once fought to become “Yelp Elite” but now i’m becoming “Yelp Abandoned”.

Reposted from PixelBit Lab

Over the last few months i’ve been looking into various web apps to use over at PixelBit. After looking over many, testing a few and reading reviews i’ve formulated a small list of the top tools. We use others as well but these are the ones that shine.

Basecamp
Project and client management. The Suite is a good deal.

Sortfolio
Good advertising opportunity for little cost.

Quickbooks Online
Perfect tools for managing the business, paying employees and contractors. Also integrates with our accountants systems.

Beanstalk
Hosted SVN for secure, offsite backups. While we don’t use this for all code (contract restrictions) it works quite well for our small team.

TestFlight
iOS Developers “new best thing”. It makes testing a breeze and makes it possible to push builds in minutes with a clear communication with our testing pools.

Dribbble
While not really a web tool it really is nice to get feedback in realtime as a project is being developed.

MediaTemple
I have a love/hate for this host, but so far they’ve allowed PixelBit to scale (internally) and provide solutions for our clients.

MailChimp
Excellent newsletter and one-off mailing. Clean, Fast and Intuitive. Plus it has chimps, whats not to love?

There you have it, a little list of the tools we use. I will post some more “company information” in the future as we continue to grow. For now we are focused on our brands and clients, so much that we haven’t even finished our own website. Its the “cobblers children” effect for sure.

What tools and services do you use?

Note: NONE of these recommendations were paid or compensated to be added.