Thoughts & Musings
I barely tweet, so don’t expect much in the way of blog posts
2023 Fight Scores numbers update
It's been a few years since I last looked at the numbers for my iOS app Fight Scores. As I was preparing for a fairly major feature release for it over the Christmas period, I figured now was a good time to revisit...
Random thoughts on AI
I’m mainly writing this so I can revisit and laugh at myself in the future, but as the tech person in my friend group, I often get asked how I think the future of AI is....
Using AI to create a King Arthur picture book
About a year ago, disappointed by the lack of illustrated, child friendly versions of the classic tales of King Arthur, I rewrote The Sword and the Stone for my daughter. Here I use Midjourney and Dall•e to illustrate this book.
Designing the ClickHouse brand
I don't often write about work achievements, but this one is special, so I'm making an exception. Last week at ClickHouse, we unveiled an exciting new brand identity, complete with vibrant colours, distinctive typography, and a brand-new website.
Importing PostgreSQL data into ClickHouse Cloud
I wanted to share a very quick and easy technique that I use to insert data from my iOS app, Fight Scores, into a ClickHouse Cloud service.
Fight Scores by the numbers
I'll start this update with the disclaimer that Fight Scores, my iOS app for creating and sharing boxing scorecards, was never intended to be a big money spinner. Over the years I have updated its sales model, from paid upfront to ad-based, and finally to tip jar...
Running rails 7 apps
Over the years I've spun up countless rails apps, most of which don't amount to much, I usually just use whatever the latest Rails build is.
A 2020 site update
After a long year, I decided to take a decent amount of time off work over this upcoming Christmas period. While it’s important for me to get away from the computer to give myself a chance to recharge, I also can’t help but start a few side projects.
A new look for Fight Scores
I'm happy to announce that version 3.0 of Fight Scores is now available to download from the iOS App Store. Behind the scenes this has been a complete rewrite, however I wanted to concentrate on the user facing changes today.
A Welcome Improvement
This week Apple announced the new SKStoreReviewController API. In short, correct implementation will pop a modal asking the user to review the app that they’re currently using. This in itself isn’t big news, lots of app developers have implemented their own version of this functionality. It’s the details of what Apple have done that bares paying attention to.
A long time coming
I sat down to start work on the second version of Fight Scores last November with hopes to have it out by the following Spring. Those hopes ultimately proved naive as development has taken much longer than that.
App Store Pricing Models
I've spent the last few months considering pricing models for the new version of Fight Scores, an update to my app due to be released in the coming weeks. Fight Scores 1.0, released in May 2015, was initially positioned in the iTunes Pricing Tier 3, this means it had a price of £2.29 / $2.99. I later lowered this to Tier 2 (£1.49 / $1.99)...
Working on Fight Scores 2
I released Fight Scores in April 2015. Over the period that it's been available it's sold at somewhere between $1.99 and $3.99 in the United States. Total sales are closing in on 100 units worldwide, admittedly modest but I'm fairly pleased with how the app turned out and how it's been received by those who have bought it.
What's holding back the iPad?
This week Apple released the iPad Pro. In doing so they have unintentionally* reopened the debate about how useful iPads are to people and how useful they can eventually become. The detractors will tell you iPads are devices meant for consuming media only, you cannot do "real" work on them...
Learning Apple's Swift Programming Language
When Apple announced their new programming language, Swift in August 2014, I thought it was a great time to try my hand at developing my first native iOS app. I had dabbled in learning Objective C a number of times but it had not stuck, now with Swift, I could see a...
Logo Design Examples with Vector Graphics
I just thought I'd share a couple of logo designs that I've been working on recently for a personal project. I've created these shields using vector graphics in Sketchapp. I had tried a number of different shapes but felt that the shield best captured the look...
The Process of Designing for a Hiking Site
A while ago I wrote about my process for relaunching my website, today I thought I’d go into a little more depth with regards to my design process. As an example I created a fictional project to work on, here are the details...
Font Sizing for the Mobile Web
In Search of a Boxing Database API
Recently I’ve found myself frustrated with the world of boxing. Not for the reasons that you may think, of course there’s the overpaid egos, the weak undercards, the occasionally horrendous refereeing decisions and dodgy decisions. They have however, always been around and they probably always will be...
My iOS Screens and favourite iPhone apps
Just a quick post to share the current app setup on my iPhone 5S, I often see others share theirs and always find it interesting so I thought I would do the same. Before I get into the apps - I like to keep my background wallpaper light and simple, I’ve...
How (and Why) I rebuilt my personal site
It occurs about once a year, sometimes more, and it's something that almost all web designers and creative types experience. I'm referring to the feeling that your website looks dated, your personal brand needs a shot in arm, or that you're just in a different place to where you were the last time