I’ve finally gotten around to updating different sections of my website. I’ve added a new page accessible from the top menu called “Apps”. This page details a few of the mobile applications I’ve developed and published through my company Kitty Code, LLC.
I’ve also added details on the new Beginning DirectX 11 book.

Few more changed to go…

I just spent the last half hour trying to help my son get our Xbox360 connecting to a game hosted by one of his friends. After much interwebs searching I’ve port forwarded the Xbox360. I hate port forwarding as it restricts me to a single Xbox device being able to play on the network as well as then assigning a static IP address which is a maintenance nightmare.

Of course, it doesn’t help my son has been able to play against his cousin just find for a while now without any specific settings.

With Apple’s iPhone app store hitting 20,000 applications, it’s already  a flooded marketplace making it difficult for any single application to get noticed. If this was an actual store, most of these applications would have long ago passed into the bargain bin and into oblivion. For a while now, developers have seen the app store as the next gold rush and jumped on board hoping to strike it rich. While some small developers have found a niche and made their development costs back, many apps are ignored and try desperately to find a market. Even though applications require a knowledge of an actual programming language that hasn’t stopped a ton of horrible apps from making it into the store. Now, comes along a company, 280 North, that has plans to make it worse. Their product allows those with the knowledge to make a webpage, the ability to put together a full iPhone application for sale on the app store. As if we didn’t already have a rush to the bottom when it came to price with most people refusing to even pay .99 for an app, this will push the price to nothing. Great for kids downloading apps to their iPod Touch devices, but a bad thing for developers actually trying to squeek out a business.

MobileCrunch.com has the full story on 280 North.

In a lot of way I really want one of the new Kindle’s from Amazon. I read a bunch of books, some technical but mostly fiction and my book shelf is way over full as it is. The concept of being able to keep all the books on a single small device is very attractive, but the price tag is what’s keeping me away. I’ve tried reading on the iPhone, but the screen really is too small and I’m constantly scrolling, which gets way too tiring after a while. The large screen on the Kindle would be perfect.

I can’t justify spending $360 on a book reader, so here’s a list of things that are less expensive.

Actual books – a lot of them

A new book shelf for new books

Another iPhone or iPod Touch

A new netbook – smaller laptop but larger screen = ebook reader for cheaper