Nur's Idea Studio

App: Party of numbers game

2012-01-14T20:50:00.001+02:00

I wrote an Android game using Phonegap: Party123

The game is made from floating number buttons that the player pushes in ascending order and gets points.

Party123 is based on a numzzz, a web game I wrote that can be access here.

It's wrapped in a native Android app using the Phonegap framework.

כתבתי משחק אנדרויד: Party123

המשחק בנוי מכפתורי מספרים מרחפים שהשחקן צריך ללחוץ עליהם בסדר עולה ולקבל נקודות.

Party123 מבוסס על numzzz, משחק ווב שכתבתי שאפשר לשחק בו פה.

זה עטוף באפליקציית אנדרויד נייטיבית בעזרת Phonegap.

To Show & Tell or to Hide & Keep?

2011-11-19T15:51:00.001+02:00

The idea-producers I've met so far, divide into 2 groups:
the show & tellers,
and the hide & keepers.

The show & tellers are very tempted to show the whole world their v0.1's. Be it in a form of a model, sketch or a very early version.

Most people have the weird nature of telling you only the bad criticism. It is an important fact to understand, so you don't abandon your project. You can write down these criticisms and improve your creation.

On the other side there are the hide & keepers. These idea-producers keep their ideas to themselves and are afraid somebody else will steal it from them and make millions instead of them.

What they need to understand is this rough statistic:
Every idea you thought about, probably 1000 people have thought about also.
From the world population:
1% have great ideas.
1% of them keep track of their ideas.
1% of them act on their ideas.

So telling other people about your precious idea will not open a contest to fulfilling it. Additionally, your ideas become your personal dream. Now why would anyone want to fulfill YOUR dream?

I'm more of a show & teller. I think the golden path is in the middle. One should improve his idea enough before showing it to the public. And when it's ready for the public, show & tell in every possible occasion and gain criticisms to improve.

App : Wikipedia Bookmarklet

2011-11-19T13:03:00.001+02:00

Highlight some text, press the bookmarklet, and automagically get the wikipedia page for your selection.

Drag the Wikipedia Bookmarklet to your bookmarks

בחרו טקסט, לחצו על הכפתור, ואוטומטית קבלו את הדף ויקיפדיה על הערך שבחרתם.

גררו את הכפתור ערך בויקיפדיה למועדפים שלכם

KnockBox Trash-Can Adapter for a Coffee Machine

2011-11-09T22:13:00.001+02:00

In a cafe, the barista knocks the old coffee out of the espresso machine handle using a KnockBox.
A professional KnockBox is a trash-can with a rubber rod going through its diameter.

I wanted to create one for myself. My concept for a DIY KnockBox was different from the professional KnockBox. I wanted to create a KnockBox that doesn't take up too much space.

I decided to create a small KnockBox adapter that sits on the edge of the trash-can, and fits great in a small apartment. I created a plastic mold and covered its 'knockable' top with Silicone for muffling. For the DIY plastic, I used the recipe from my post about working with plastics at home.

The DIY-KnockBox Trash-Can Adapter works great! It makes dropping the old coffee easy, and dims the strong knocking sound.

What I learned from this design and creation:
The finished product is full of air bubbles, which makes it fragile, and during drying the form I planned changed a bit. Next time after melting the plastic I will degas it before molding and drying it.

בבית קפה, הבריסטה דופק את הקפה הישן מהמכונת קפה בעזרת נוקבוקס. נוקבוקס מקצועי הוא פח עם מוט גומי שעובר בקוטר שלו.

רציתי ליצור אחד כזה לעצמי. הקונספט שלי לנוקבוקס עשה-זאת-בעצמך היה שונה מהנוקבוקס המקצועי. רציתי ליצור נוקבוקס שלא לוקח הרבה מקום.

החלטתי ליצור מתאם נוקבוקס קטן שיושב על השפה של פח האשפה ומתאים בול לדירה קטנה. יצרתי יציקת פלסטיק ואת הצד העליון שעליו דופקים כיסיתי עם סיליקון לעיטוף. לפלסטיק עשה-זאת-בעצמך, השתמשתי בהוראות מהפוסט שלי לגבי עבודה עם פלסטיק בבית.

המתאם נוקבוקס לפח-אשפה עובד מעולה! הוא מאפשר לזרוק קפה ישן בקלות, ומעמעם את הרעש החזק של המכה.

מה שלמדתי מהעיצוב ומהיצירה:

המוצר המוגמר היה מלא בבועות אוויר, מה שהפך אותו לשביר, ובמהלך הייבוש הצורה שתכננתי השתנתה קצת. בפעם הבאה אחרי ההמסה של הפלסטיק אני אוציא ממנו את הגז לפני היציקה והייבוש.

JavaScript: how-to conditional function call on common arguments

2011-10-28T21:29:00.000+02:00

While reading the source code of ImageDiff - a JavaScript library for calculating diff between images,

I came across a technique for

conditionally calling one function or another, on the same argument passed to whichever function

Here's the snippet:


(x ? alert : prompt) ('hi')

The value of x determines whether alert('hi') or prompt('hi') will be called. Both functions are passed with ('hi').

I hope you'll find this snippet useful when you need to

conditionally decide what function to call, on the same arguments.

Working with plastics at home

2011-10-21T14:39:00.003+02:00

I wanted to learn how to work with plastics.
My perception of working with plastics was big factories and expensive tools and materials.
However, after a research on Youtube, I found many resources on how to create plastic at home.

The one that worked out best for me was melting styrofoam cups with acetone and forming it.

The technique:
In a paper cup,
Pour a little acetone,
Break pieces of styrofoam,
Put the pieces in the cup and let them melt.
Keep melting pieces until you have enough material to work with.
Form the dough-like material
and let it dry for a couple of days.

Put safety goggles on, it bubbles.
Work in a well-ventilated room, materials are poisonous.
Wear gloves, it may burn your skin.
Don't light fire next to the experiment, it's super flamable.

רציתי ללמוד לעבוד עם פלסטיק.

התפיסה שלי לגבי עבודה עם פלסטיק היתה שצריך מפעל גדול עם כלים וחומרים יקרים.

למרות זאת, אחרי מחקר ביוטיוב, מצאתי הרבה משאבים שמלמדים איך לעבוד עם פלסטיק בבית.

הטכניקה שעבדה לי הכי טוב היא המסה של כוסות קלקר באצטון ופיסול של החומר.

הטכניקה:

בכוס נייר,

מזגו קצת אצטון,

שברו חתיכות של כוסות קלקר (סטירופום),

שימו את החתיכות בכוס ותנו להן להנמס.

המשיכו להמיס חתיכות סטירופום עד שיש לכם מספיק חומר לעבוד איתו.

פסלו את החומר הבצקי

ותנו לו להתייבש יומיים.

תרכיבו משקי מגן, זה מבעבע.

תעבדו בחדר מאוורר, החומרים רעילים.

תלבשו כפפות, זה עלול לעשות כוויות.

אל תדליקו אש ליד הניסוי, זה סופר-דליק.

App : Text To Speech Bookmarklet

2011-09-28T16:51:00.001+03:00

I wrote a bookmarklet that reads text out loud in your browser.

Simply drag this link to your bookmarks bar: read out loud

To use the Text to Speech Bookmarklet:

Select text in your browser
Cick the bookmarklet.
Then an mp3 will load and play. (Sometimes you need to refresh to make it load)

It uses the Google Translate TTS API, which is actually a hack-API. Using the Google Text To Speech API is explained here.

I found it great for making phrases stick inside my brain.

Introduction to Gamification - Getting Started

2011-08-24T20:08:00.000+03:00

I read a great book about gamification - Gamification by Design and decided to share some main points i drew from it.

What is Gamification?

Gamification is creating stronger engagement between your users and your product by applying game techniques.

When we gamify a product, we call our product a game, and our users - players.

Traditional examples of Gamification

Buy 9 coffees, get 1 free
Earn points on purchases you make with your credit card and convert them to prizes
Travel X thousands of miles with an airline and get extra services and advantages

Modern examples of Gamification

Foursquare and stackoverflow give you badges and points for achievements
Farmville gives you the reward of seeing your crops grow

Types of players

Most players play to socialize.

Flow

Flow is being "in the zone". Being completely focues and immersed in a task. It's the space between being challenged by the task and being adequately skilled to solve it.

We want our players to get into the flow in our game.

How to create a game loop

We create an achievable challenge and reward the player for achieving it. The challenge gets more difficult as the player advances.

What should be the first challenge I let my player achieve?

Welcome your players with a very achievable challenge. We don't want them to leave so soon..

What should I reward my player for achievements?

The best reward is status. Surprisingly, stuff as rewards are least effective for motivation.

I hope to implement these ideas in my apps and my word as I learn more about Gamification.

How-To: Getting Started with Git Tutorial

2011-08-24T20:00:00.000+03:00

Introduction to Git - revision control system

Git is a compact and agile system for source code managment.

What is a revision control system?

Developers want a system to save & load changes they made to source code.
So that code is not stored locally and prone to be deleted.
So that peer developers can keep their code common and updated.

So that a developer can revert to an older version easily.

Main functions of a revision control system

Commit - sending one's changes to the repository.
Check-out - downloading the current version of the code merged from peers' commits.

Referring to different versions of the source code

Branch - a version of the code.
Trunk - the base branch, common to all peers.
Tag - a branch with a catchy name, like 'beta', or 'v2.3', etc..
Fork - a branch from somebody else's source code, like from github.com.

How is Git different from other revision control systems?

Git is distributed, which means each developer's computer acts as a repository. Local versioning allows more control over changes before committing them to the central repository.

Interaction with Git - how do I use Git's functions?

Most developers choose the Command Line Interface, called the Git Bash.
Find your way to your local repository using 'cd', and use Git commands to manage source code.

Some of the most useful git commands:

git init - starts a new repository
git commit - commit your changes to local git
git checkout - check-out code to your local repository
git merge - merges a couple of branches
git tag - give a catchy name to a branch

I've started working with Git only a few hours ago, and I'm sure there's a lot to learn. Hope you find this Getting started with Git Tutorial effective!

Improve your Google Search Techniques (or: Google-Foo Training)

2011-08-09T20:14:00.000+03:00

Everybody knows how to search Google, right?

Apparently not.

The sarcastic will point you to lmgtfy.com, a joke website that will show you step by step how to type the query into the search box and click the search button.

The difficult part in searching Google successfully is writing a concise query.

In this post I will go over some basic Google-Foo techniques that will make you better Googlers.

The secret for a good Google search is: Imagine the Perfect Result.

The page that has all the answers for your questions. It is focused on the exact topic you are researching on.
That's the page we want. And we will find it using the techniques in this post.

Avoid the following in Google search queries:

don't bother punctuating
don't bother capitalizing
don't search for a single word
don't bother using too common words (on, at, the...)

Searching for an Exact sequence, searching for a few variations using OR, and blocking certain words using the "-" operator

When you want to search Google for an exact sequence of words, wrap the sequence in " ".
If you want to drop a word from a Google search, put a "-" before the word to drop. i.e. "Swiss -cheese".
In order to search in Google a few variations of a word, use OR in capital letters. i.e. ‎"cat nip toys OR accessories". A best practice regarding apostrophes is to search "july's OR Julys" - with the apostrophe OR without. We don't want to lose useful results because of an apostrophe.. Same with singular and plural forms: "old cars OR car for sale"

Using wildcards in Google search

If you forget a word, or want to let google do show-up it's dictionary magic, use the * wildcard. Replace it with the word you want to let Google think-out. "designer * for sale" will result in designer bags and designer clothes and designer shoes for sale..
If we're searching for numbers, we can give a range using ".." between the numbers. i.e. "google history 1999..2001"

Word switching in Google search queries

Google search is smart. Google knows their vocabulary. Sometimes Google switches words.

When you're searching for "music contribution service", google will give results also for variations of the stem of "contribution": contributor, contribute, etc.. If you want to disable word-switching, put a "+" before the word to keep: "music +contribution service".
On the other side are synonyms - words that are similar to the word you wrote. If we want to broaden our search of "italian chair design", we add a tilde "~" before the word to find synonyms for: "italian ~chair design". This query will also search for "italian furniture design" and such..

In summary, Google search is an amazing tool. It is easy to find easy results using these easy tips for enhancing your Google-foo

App : Rotatophone

2011-07-16T19:48:00.000+03:00

Do you remember the old phone dials? The rings you had to rotate with your finger, the notorious 0 that took the longest? If you miss that, I wrote a mobile web app that lets you dial the old way.

זוכרים את החיוג בטלפונים הישנים? עם הטבעות שמסובבים עם האצבעות, ה-0 המושמץ שלוקח הכי הרבה זמן? אם אתם מתגעגעים לזה, כתבתי מובייל ווב-אפ שמאפשר לחייג בדרך הישנה.

Rotatophone

Shabbat Shalom in Tel-Aviv

2011-07-15T20:08:00.000+03:00

Tel-Aviv, my hometown in Israel, is known as the 24/7 city of fun.

Today I saw two Jewish ladies give away pairs of Shabbat candles to women passing by. Some took it with gratitude, and some refused.

This brought an idea to my mind: What are the "pairs" of Tel-Aviv for Shabbat, rather than candles?

I came up with these posters.

תל-אביב, העיר שלי, ידועה כעיר הבילויים 24/7.

היום ראיתי שתי נשים דתיות מחלקות זוגות של נרות שבת לנשים שעוברות ברחוב. חלק מהנשים לקחו והודו, וחלק סירבו.

זה העלה לי רעיון: מה הם ה"זוגות" התל-אביביים של שבת, יותר מאשר נרות?

הפוסטרים האלה הם התוצאה.

Top line: "In Israel it's Shabbat Shalom"

Bottom line: "In Tel-Aviv it's a Nice Weekend"

Letterman HTML5 Game : Reviewed at HTML5games.de

2011-07-13T21:46:00.000+03:00

I was very happy to get an email from HTML5games.de saying that they have played with my HTML5 game -

Letterman

liked it, and posted a review!

It's a great website to watch for the new upcoming media of HTML5 and specifically games.

Worklight

2011-07-13T19:58:00.001+03:00

Worklight is an Israeli startup that develops a platform that enables enterprises to develop cross platform apps.

The platform is comprised of an IDE and a server. The IDE is an Eclipse plug-in. The server is based on Tomcat and is developed and flavoured by Worklight.

The big idea behind the Worklight cross-platformism is that behind each native app there is a single web app. Write once, run everywhere.

How does it work? The enterprise developer writes a web app with HTML, Javascript and CSS. He then adds Environments - Android, Blackberry, iOS, and Windows Phone. The Worklight platform automatically transforms his single web app to native apps for each of the platforms.

The developer can add server and database interaction by writing Adapters. The adapters take care of HTTP requests and SQL queries, transmitted securely to the back-end services the enterprise has.

Adapters are comprised of two parts. Decleration and Implemetation. The decleration is an xml doc that declares the offered procedures. The second part is a Javascript implementation of the declared procedures, written using the Worklight Javascript Server API.

Each app built with the Worklight platform can have customizations per OS, with special design and native pages.

The Worklight platform can be downloaded here for free trial.

I started working in Worklight as a Mobile Infrastructure Developer in the beginning of this month. It's a great company, with amazing developers, and a product sure to conquer the enterprise mobile apps development industry. I am planning on being a linchpin in this company, learn and develop a lot.

How to Wake Up to a Good Morning

2011-07-12T18:32:00.000+03:00

Waking up to a good morning is the basis of a good day and good lifestyle. I am working on my morning routine for starting a wonderful day, and want to share some of my insights with my readers. Some of these tips you may know, and some even implement. So here they are.

Waking up to a good morning is based on sleep. Sleep 8 hours. This will ensure proper freshness throught the day and an alert mind.

Waking up to a good morning begins with your alarm clock. Wake up every day at the same hour. I set a song by Royksopp as my alarm clock tone in my phone. The song is positive, has high pitch sounds, and has a good beat. These properties make me wake up with a smile, reminds me of birds chirps, and makes me wanna move, respectively.

Don't snooze. Wake up only once. These 5 more minutes of sleep have no real impact on you, other than messing up your waking up mechanism. When the clock rings - wake up and get out of bed!

Next, don't sit. You should immediately do something in your good morning. Enter a good morning routine. I stretch side to side, drink a whole glass of water and immediately brush my teeth. Not to mention the board room of course. During that whole time - stand up! Don't let the sleepiness take over and ruin your good morning.

Coffee. The strong smell in the morning makes your whole system wake up. Don't even get me started on the caffeine.. I spend 5 to 15 minutes every morning making myself 2 cups of coffee from my beloved espresso machine. I grind the beans myself, extract espresso and froth the milk. Believe me, it's better than waiting in line for 5 to 15 minutes in the coffee shop.

Have Breakfast. You fasted for 8 hours. Your body needs nutrition to start up the day. I prefer something salty, like a piece of bread and cheese. Sweets on the morning give me heart burn during the day, and tend to make me hungry again faster. Additionally, eating something in the morning can create bowel movement and free your belly for a wonderful day!

Entertainment. I drink my coffee and have my breakfast while reading tech news. Some read politics. I get stressed and irritated by that. Listen to your mood while reading different kinds of news. I sometimes watch a couple of cat videos on youtube. That always makes me smile and laugh.

Take a shower. Everybody will thank you for that. Your hair will get a nice shape, your skin will be fresh and clean from the night, your whole face will wake up, your eyes will freshen up, and you will smell good. That's also a good time to shave and look sharp.

Leave 5 minutes before you HAVE to. Take into consideration that you need to walk to the bus/train/car. And oh man... You forgot your wallet at home! should that dictate being late to a bad day? I hate running to the bus. So I do my best to wait for it. As the chefs say: "The sauce should wait for the pasta". Your are the sauce.

What is your morning routine? Do you have extra tips on waking up to a good morning?

Good morning and have a wonderful day!

Cat Food and Information Hiding

2011-07-02T01:40:00.001+03:00

Today I went to buy Mizi some cat food. I didn't want to carry the boxes all the way home, and I knew the pet shop had a delivery service.

I asked the shopkeeper "Do you still deliver now?"

My question brought to my mind an Object-Oriented Design principle. Information Hiding.

I trusted the shopKeeper's API, queried it for a definite answer and acted accordingly.

His Java method would look like this:
public boolean isDeliveringNow(){}

And my logic would be:

if(shopKeeper.isDeliveringNow()){
 shop();
}
else{
 comeBackTomorrow();
}

I could have asked him "What time do you stop delivering?" and implement my own logic to respond to his answer.

Or even worse, I could have asked the guy "What are the shop's delivery hours?" and get an array of dates and times that I would have to process.

The concept of Information Hiding basically says that we should design our software so that others can interact with it without knowing all the tiny details inside our machine's logic. If we updated our logic, their interface with our API would stay unchanged.

In the context of specificity of questions, I think that you should start from the most specific question. If you're not understood or the answer seems wrong, start drilling down to the lower levels of the information.

Take into consideration that it would make you implement a lot of logic and look like a suspicious person.

And another thought. When you ask someone "Why didn't you do XYZ?", what do you mean? Do you want her to do XYZ, or do you want an excuse why she didn't do XYZ? This question returns an excuse. We don't want an excuse, we want action. Find a better way of leading to action, like just saying "Please do XYZ."

App : SitUps - Healthy Sitting at a Computer

2011-06-29T15:14:00.001+03:00

Everyone knows the tingling palms, knees, back pain and sore eyes you get after working long periods of time on the computer.

Sitting right and routine exercise solves these pains.
I wrote a webapp that reminds you to do some exercise every 30 minutes and explains how to sit correctly.

SitUps

Good luck!

Android how-to: Multiple ListViews in one LinearLayout

2011-06-10T17:21:00.000+03:00

In an app I'm working on, I wanted to put two ListViews in one LinearLayout.
How do you show multiple ListViews in a single Activity in an Android app?
How do you create a UI similar to the Anrdoid Market app UI?

Step 1. Designing a custom layout in a layout .xml file:
Declare a LinearLayout.
Declare android:weightSum="1.0". This sets the total weight from which each View on the screen can take part (see in a minute).
Everywhere you want a ListView, add the element.
I nested mine inside a vertical LinearLayout, because I added more Views to it. This LinearLayout takes a .4 part of the weight on the screen (Divide how you want).
(Note: I hid most properties to keep it short)

<LinearLayout android:weightSum="1.0">
<LinearLayout android:layout_weight=".4">
<TextView></TextView>
<ListView android:orientation="vertical"></ListView>
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

Step 2. Designing a layout for each item in the ListView:
You probably want a TextView. I didn't try it, but I guess you can put images here also.
<TextView></TextView>

Step 3. Filling the List with items in the code:
create a new class that extends Activity. Note that we are not extending ListActivity which provides a good framework for a single ListView.
public class MultipleListViews extends Activity
In the onCreate method, setContentView to your custom layout.

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.custom_layout);
}

Next, get the ListView object using findViewById.

ListView lv = (ListView)findViewById(R.id.list_view1);

Now comes the part we fill-in the items into the list with an array of String, using the ArrayAdapter generic to String

lv.setAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, R.layout.list_item,strings[]));

Repeat step 3 for each ListView you want to populate with items on the Activity.

And that's it! you have a single Android Activity with multiple ListViews!

I hope this how-to helps you create complex custom layouts and advanced apps on Android by showing multiple ListViews in a single Activity.

App : TelofunDroid

2011-05-19T21:22:00.001+03:00

My first Android app!! That's exciting!

The development was very fast and I learned Android-development on the job

The app shows a list of bicycle rental stations in Tel-Aviv

Tap on a station shows info about the station:

how many bicycles are available for renting, and etc..

In addition, in a click of a button, the app finds the user's location and fetches the nearest station from a server I wrote.

It's like TelofunApp.com, only a native app

Download Now! FREE

האפליקציה הראשונה שלי באנדרויד!! זה מרגש!

הפיתוח היה מאוד מהיר ולמדתי אנדרויד במהלכו

האפליקציה מציגה רשימת תחנות אופניים להשכרה בתל-אביב

לחיצה על תחנה פותחת מידע על התחנה:

כמה אופניים פנויים להשכרה וכו'.

בנוסף, בלחיצת כפתור האפליקציה משיגה את מיקום המשתמש ומקבלת משרת שכתבתי את התחנה הקרובה ביותר.

דומה לTelofunApp.com, רק באפליקציה נייטיב

הורידו עכשיו! חינם

TelofunApp.com : Nearest Station

2011-05-19T18:43:00.000+03:00

Added a Find Nearest Station functionality to

TelofunApp.com

I used the HTML5 GeoLocation API and wrote a Servlet who makes the calculations

הוספתי פונקציית "תחנה הכי קרובה" ל-

תל-אופון

השתמשתי בAPI של HTML5 למיקום וכתבתי שרת שמבצע את החישובים

How to remove HTML tags from a String

2011-05-15T18:34:00.000+03:00

I am working a lot lately with parsing HTML, and needed a fast JAVA function for cleaning HTML tags. Found it on Dzone.

clean = html.replaceAll("\\<.*?\\>", "");

App: TelofunApp.com

2011-05-14T17:48:00.000+03:00

Info about Tel-Aviv bicycle-rental service in a Mobile Web-App.
Lists the stations, real-time availability of bicycles on each station, and near-by stations.

I wrote this one in a weekend, while learning AJAX.

TelofunApp.com

מידע על שירות השכרת האופניים בתל-אביב באפליקצית מובייל-ווב

רשימת תחנות, זמינות אופניים להשכרה בזמן-אמת, ותחנות קרובות

כתבתי את האפליקציה בסופ"ש תוך לימוד AJAX

App : DrumBox

2011-05-05T18:48:00.000+03:00

I decided to learn jQuery, and it's awesome.
This one is a stay up late project, a Drum Machine built entirely with jQuery and HTML5 audio.
Check the bars you want to play on the chosen drum's row, set the BPM, hit play and PARTY!!

DrumBox

App : Letterman HTML5

2011-04-30T03:45:00.000+03:00

Microsoft are running a competition for HTML5 apps.
I ported Letterman to HTML5 and submitted it.

Please Vote for my app

LettermanGame.com

App: DangoApp.com דנגו אוטובוסים במובייל

2011-04-24T15:14:00.001+03:00

Dango is a mobile webapp that gives info about Tel-Aviv busses in a fast and easy way.

The idea for Dango was born when I tried desperately to navigate the bus company's messy website from my phone in order to get the stations list of an unknown bus in the middle of nowhere. Painful memory. Too much flash animations, unnecessary features and jumping ads.

Dango gives the important info about the bus you need, in a minimalistic mobile web view.

DangoApp.com

דנגו זאת אפליקציה וובית למובייל שנותנת מידע על האוטובוסים בתל אביב בצורה מהירה וקלה.

הרעיון לדנגו נולד כשניסיתי לגלוש באתר המבולגן של דן מהטלפון שלי כדי למצוא את רשימת התחנות של אוטובוס לא מוכר באמצע שום מקום. זיכרון כואב. יותר מדי אנימציות, אפשרויות לא שימושיות ופרסומות קופצות.

דנגו נותן את המידע החשוב על האוטובוס הדרוש, בעיצוב מינימליסטי למובייל.

דנגו

App : LangoApp.com

2011-04-12T18:40:00.000+03:00

LangO lets you write Hebrew and Russian. Everywhere, from any device.

It's a mobile web app that allows users to write Hebrew and Russian using a variety of devices that doesn't necessarily have those languages as native writing languages.

The user types English letters and LangO changes them to Hebrew\Russian automatically.

The user can click on his hardware keyboard or tap on the buttons with his touchscreen.

LangoApp.com

App : Ynet Title Changer

2011-04-07T20:45:00.002+03:00

בעבודה היינו משחקים בהחלפת כותרות בYnet

למשל שבר רפאלי יוצאת עם מישהו מאצלנו.

כתבתי Bookmarklet בJavaScript שמקל על העריכה.

תגררו את זה למועדפים שלכם:

מחליף כותרות
ותתחילו לצאת עם בר רפאלי!

Nubu approved as Microsoft BizSpark Start-Up

2011-04-07T16:11:00.000+03:00

Nubu, my Start-Up, is officially approved as a Microsoft BizSpark Start-Up.

Big honor and great new possibilities!

Nokia business school

2011-04-07T15:59:00.005+03:00

What I learned in the past year, working as a Sales and Service Representative for Nokia.

Look sharp
Dress respectfully, smell good, and be polite.

Love the Product
When the product is a part of your life, it's easy to sell. When you love the product, you project it to potential buyers.

Good Customer Care Sells
Trademark your customer service. Customers will choose you over your competition if they can trust you in a rainy day.

Communicate Your Efforts to the Customer
Every customer brings new efforts. Discounts to approve, products to customize, and prices to offer. Let your customer know you are making those efforts. Communicate those efforts so the customer appreciates it.

Buy = Need + Want
Your customer is considering the product because she needs it. What will drive her to full-heartedly purchase it, is wanting the product. Make her desire the product. Show its sides which should be further explored when she opens the box.

Instead of Breaking Objections, Calm them Down
When your customer raises an objection, dont break it and dont get hurt. Where does the objection come from? Calm the customer by giving him answers to his fears.

Sell through Natural Dialog
We are human. Try to reach out to your potential buyer by creating an open dialog. If you open up, the customer will too. read more

Tailor Custom Products

Every customer wants and needs something else. Refine what he needs from his coarse requirements, and suggest the perfect variation. Offer 2-3 options, without explicitly dissing any of them. Also, learn to communicate a single option's many sides.

The Customer is Not God
In contrary to the saying, the customer is not always right. In some cases the customer is even knowingly wrong.

To conclude, I learned a lot from working at Nokia. I think everyone should work in sales and service for one year. It's a concentrated Business Course.

App: HebO - Simply Write Hebrew on Nokia

2011-04-07T15:27:00.000+03:00

Many Israelis buy Nokia phones without Hebrew. While installing a Hebrew operating system, they face the possibility of SIM LOCK + a fee.

HebO solves this problem.

Using HebO, you can Simply Write Hebrew, using a virtual keyboard. The user types English letters, and HebO turns them into Hebrew.

HebO is a Free app!!

ישראלים רבים קונים מכשירי נוקיה בחו"ל בלי עברית. כשהם צורבים מערכת הפעלה בעברית, הם נתקלים באפשרות של נעילת הטלפון + תשלום.

HebO פותרת את הבעיה הזאת.

בעזרת HebO, פשוט כותבים בעברית, בעזרת מקלדת וירטואלית. המשתמש מקליד אותיות באנגלית, וHebO הופך אותן לעברית.

HebO בחינם.

App : Lights On

2011-04-01T22:33:00.000+03:00

Every Friday my girlfriend and I dance to celebrate the weekend.
We wanted to buy club lights, but found it expensive.
So I decided to write a micro webapp that projects colorful lights from the screen, according to the tempo!

So turn the music up

and turn the Lights On!!

App : Letterman

2011-03-26T19:06:00.000+02:00

My first game was published on Nokia's Ovi Store a few days ago :

Letterman

Remember the Matrix Game?

Letterman is a Mobile version for this game, faster, better, prettier.

Join the hundreds of downloaders, and...

Download now! Free!

How to Get Screensize

2011-03-16T22:05:00.000+02:00

In many cases you wish your application to start in different places on the user's screen.
The following line does just that:

Dimension dim = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();

A nice use is putting a form in the middle of the screen:

setLocation(dim.width / 2 - this.getWidth() / 2, dim.height / 2 - this.getHeight() / 2);

How To Send an SMS from a J2ME Application

2011-03-11T20:13:00.000+02:00

I'm writing an application that sends SMSs.
Instead of writing an SMS editor and contact picker, I decided to use the device's native SMS editor.

So, How to send an SMS from a J2ME application?

Use the MIDlet method : platformRequest(String url);
This method accepts Http://www...'s and also the special link for sending an SMS:
"sms:xxx?body=yyy"
xxx=number
yyy=text

Buzz Words Injection for Sales

2011-02-25T16:06:00.007+02:00

Your user read all about you and your competition. He contacted you before he decides to go for it and buy.

He doesn't want to hear the general info your website says all over again. What will drive him to buy is further info that specifically suits him. The fast, easy and fun way to sell is using Buzz Words Injections.

Your user knows all the buzz words:

Location Based Apps, Mobile, Free, Fast, Responsive, Beautiful, Business, Push, Fun, Tasty, Synchronized, Cheap, Economic, Designed, Classic, Well-Built, Communicate, Developer API, Easy to Use, and etc...

Your job is so easy: inject the customer with customized buzz words!

Your customer is a business man? (Well, he's dressed like one.)

Think of his life story. He loves his job and is committed to it, and he also maintains his personal life in his daily routine.

So, what buzzwords do you inject?

Cheap? Economic? Hell no!

You inject Business, Synchronized, Mobile and Communicate.

When he hears these words, he will expand them in his mind and create a fantastic story surrounding the product.

Your customer is a senior citizen? Inject Economic, Reliable and Easy to Use.

Young tech geek? Free, Apps, and Developer API would do the magic.

Turtle-neck and designer glasses? Inject Designed, Classic, and Well-built.

Listen to your conceptions and intuitions, because they're probably right. Each industry has its own buzzwords, so go ahead and make a list of buzzwords related to your product.

Tactile buzzwords give a sense of touch:

"Glass covered", "Single sheet of metal" are compact words that expand to a deep touch-related feeling in the listener's body and brain. After hearing these words he HAS to touch the product. And once he puts his hands on it, he will never leave.

"Classic" - is a holistic word in the phonetic sense. It works your larynx, tongue, makes you exhale slowly, hold 'Sss' in the tip of your teeth. It's maybe somatic, but this is the way it works. It's like food. It's tasty! And thus creates desire.

I love tasty buzzwords.

Google name their Android versions after desserts for a reason. Android gives you the sweet User Experience of a handheld Donut, a Froyo or an Eclair.

BlackBerry is a fine example of using this kind of Phonetic Sugar to make users love the product. The name connects to the neurons in your brain that handle Fun and Prestige.

Coffee is on us

A study shows that your chances in a job interview increase if the interviewer holds a hot beverage. Give your potential customer a warm feeling of a cup of coffee. You can inject that with a real cup of coffee, or with words that create a warm feeling. If your company treats customers like family, let him feel that.

Inject ME.

People like hearing their name. First thing you do is ask their name and use it. "Hi Tom, it's nice to meet you, Tom. My name is Nur..." + a firm handshake + look in the eye. My inbox is full of newsletters. I get to those that have my name in the title faster than those that are general. It's personal. They injected ME in it. "Nur, this week's XYZ newsletter..."

The next time a customer contacts you, try injecting him custom-tailored buzzwords. If you take it, "he'll take it".

UI Liquid Centers

2011-02-24T20:15:00.007+02:00

How to Predict your User's UI Questions

While using your product, your users will have questions that reflect uncertainties in the UI. Some of these questions should be answered before they are even asked.

‎"What will happen if I click this?"

‎"How do I know if it really saved my data?"

‎"Did he delete it or not?"

‎"Do I need to click this once or twice?"

‎"What happens if I accidentally exit?"

and etc...

I found a wonderful solution in the Ferrero Pocket Coffee, a chocolate praline, filled with Espresso cream.

People eat pralines like this: bite one half, look at the filling, and bite the other half. The user asks "Can I bite the Ferrero Pocket Coffee in half, like I'm used to do with pralines?" Ferrero answered a question before it was asked, clearly and boldly: They wrote "Liquid Center" in the bottom of the wrapper. Bite in half at your own risk. You may ruin your shirt by spilling espresso cream all over it. They answer the user in the critical point - when he starts unwrapping the praline.

So how do we deal with Liquid Centers in the UI? How do we answer our users' questions before they are asked?

First step is scouting for Liquid Centers. Collect questions by trying the product yourself, while being verbosely critical and naive. Write down every question that rises. Don't worry about the answers yet. (If you're too protective of your product, let your Mother try it and listen to her feedback).

There's no mathematical scheme for finding Liquid Centers, but here are some guidelines:

Consider 3 points:

Before: User is at point A. What's his next move?

During: User found point B. He's hesitating. Is this for sure where he should be?

After: User went past point B and got to C. How does he know that?

e.g. Dan wants to send an email.

He opens his email app. [What does he probably want to do?]

Dan found a "New" button. [Does it mean "New Email"? "New Account"? "New Meeting"?]

After clicking it [Once? Double-click?],

he gets a New Email Window [Does the window communicate that?].

Second step after finding the questions is answering them in the most straightforward manner.

The answers can be represented in a Message Box or in a Graphical hint.

A link implies that a website will be opened with a single click.

A button implies that a single click will start a functionality.

A Message box says: "Fetching info from server..."

A graphical icon can differentiate a New Meeting vs a New Email.

and etc..

Back to Dan's example, let's deal with some Liquid Centers in the UI:

[What does he probably want to do?]

-> Send an email. So let's make that button visually focused.

[Does it mean "New Email"? "New Account"? "New Meeting"?]

-> "New Email". We put an envelope icon on it.

[Once? Double-click?]

-> Single click, because we set it to look like a graphical push button.

[does the window communicate that?]

-> New Email Window is written in the title.

To sum up, you should find the Liquid Centers of your app, and guide your user through them. Start by finding the probable questions, and finish by boldly answering them.

TODO ROI Table

2011-02-23T21:22:00.004+02:00

Congratulations!

You started implementing the TODO,DOING,DONE method for being productive ‏like a machine. You set lists of super-TODOs, mini-TODOs and micro-TODOs, but now you don't know which of the micro-TODOs you should do first.

There's a small and fast technique I created that I call TODO ROI Table. You sort your TODOs according to their ROI.

How is this done?

List all your TODOs (super, mini or micro)
List time* to complete each TODO
Estimate the profit* gained from completing each TODO
Calculate the ROI of each TODO. ROI = (profit/time)
Sort TODOs by ROI: 1st TODO is the highest ROI.

* whatever unit, just keep it uniform throughout the table.

Time: minutes, hours, days..

Profit: $, happiness, pats on the back..

Start DOING the TODOs, one by one, until you're DONE!

אפ: EngRus - כתיבת רוסית בNOKIA

2011-02-20T19:43:00.004+02:00

אי אפשר לכתוב ברוסית בחלק ממכשירי NOKIA.

כתבתי אפליקציה בJ2ME שפותרת את הבעיה:

כותבים באנגלית, נעזרים במקלדת הוירטואלית, והאפליקציה משחלפת את האותיות לרוסית.

זה באוויר וזה חינם. תורידו!!

http://store.ovi.com/content/98750

שתפו את החברים דוברי הרוסית.

TODO, DOING, DONE

2011-02-15T15:29:00.003+02:00

TODO, DOING, DONE - the Key to Being Machine-Productive

"What was I doing?...."

"What am I supposed to do now?...."

"What did I do yesterday?...."

"What do I have to redo tomorrow?...."

These are questions that rise during creative work on a project.

When you get a single TODO, in the form of a question or command, it's simple to just go ahead and do it. But when you're working on a project with more than 2 TODOs (and this is my definition of a project), you can get confused, forget and get very frustrated.

I solve this problem with the following method: I iteratively break the project into single TODO commands.

The method I found for myself is free, simple, and compact.

I call it TODO, DOING, DONE.

It's based on Scott Belsky's thoughts, the scrum software development method, and the 37signals menifesto.

All you have to do, is open a TXT file in your notepad. I prefer the simple Windows Notepad.

Name that TXT file: "PROJ_NAME-TODO-YYYYMMDD.txt" (e.g. "LocaDo-TODO-2011-02-15.txt"). Place it in the folder of the project.

In the file, write 3 lines of text with line breaks, like this:

"TODO:

DOING:

DONE:"

Pretty simple, right? Now comes the real work: fill in the spaces.

Iteratively break the project's TODOs into smaller TODOs. Do it again and again until you get to a single command TODO.

The guidelines come from Scott Belsky's post about TODOs that fit into POSTITs.

If your project is an application, break it into smaller pieces (super-TODOs):

1. Build GUI

2. Write code

3. Test & improve

This is the first iteration of breaking the project into smaller TODOs.

The next iteration takes each of the TODOs and further breaks them into even smaller TODOs (mini-TODOs):

1. Build GUI:

{

a. splash screen

b. welcome screen

c. register screen

d. login screen

e. forgot password screen

f. logo

....etc....

}

2. Write code:

3. Test & Improve:

You can see that we don't know what are the next TODOs in the 2nd and 3rd super-TODOs. We can leave it blank until we finish the first super-TODO. I believe that the GUI will tell us how the code will work, and what to test.

Again, iterate through each of the mini-TODOs you wrote (micro-TODOs):

1. Build GUI: <<-- super-TODO

{

a. splash screen: <<-- mini-TODO

background-color:black <<-- micro-TODO

text-color:blue

big-text:"Application Name"

small-text:"Application Slogan"

b. welcome screen

text:"Welcome to the App, here you will find...."

c. register screen

text-field: userName

text-field: password

text-field: password again

text-field: email

button:register

button:reset

d. login screen

text-field: userName

text-field: password

e. forgot password screen

text-field: userName

text-field: email

f. logo

colors:?

....etc....

}

Now you can see that when you reach the low resolution of micro-TODOs, byte sized commands, you can just get to DOING. Simply do one by one. You are now a machine - You just do what's on the list. This helps you hold the line against frustration caused by distractions and forgetting.

Every TODO you're working on, cut and paste into the DOING section of the txt file:

TODO:

1. Build GUI:

{

a. splash screen:

________ <<-- notice the whitespace here

text-color:blue

big-text:"Application Name"

small-text:"Application Slogan"

b. welcome screen

text:"Welcome to the App, here you will find...."

....etc....

}

DOING:

1. Build GUI: <<-- copied from TODO

{

a. splash screen: <<-- copied from TODO

background-color:black <<-- *cut* from TODO

}

Once you're finished with that micro-TODO, cut and paste it into the DONE section:

TODO:

1. Build GUI:

{

a. splash screen:

text-color:blue

big-text:"Application Name"

small-text:"Application Slogan"

b. welcome screen

text:"Welcome to the App, here you will find...."

....etc....

}

DOING:

DONE:

1. Build GUI: <<-- cut from DOING

{

a. splash screen: <<-- cut from DOING

background-color:black <<-- cut from DOING

}

Now, like a machine, move on to the next TODO by adding it to the DOING section. Don't forget to copy the super-TODO, the mini-TODO and the micro-TODO.

Now again, and again and again, until you finish all the micro-TODOs in the first super-TODO.

Now you can break the 2nd super-TODO into mini-TODOs. And then into micro-TODOs. And now do it.

DONE? Next! Break the next super-TODO, and do it.

You're done. The project is finished.

You will learn how much time it takes to do each micro-TODO by writing the startTime, endTime and overallTime of each micro-TODO next to it:

DONE:

1. Build GUI:

{

a. splash screen:

background-color:black [14:45-14:50 = 5min]

}

Also write overall times for DONE mini-TODOs and for DONE super-TODOs. Ideally, also for the whole project. This will teach you the most.

Now let's talk about leaving things for tomorrow.

You will probably not finish all micro-TODOs on the first DOING iteration. What do you do? In the end of the iteration, simply copy-paste the remaining TODOs into a new TODO,DOING,DONE file.

When you gain confidence in your TODO,DOING,DONE lists, you will use the same lists for different projects. You will be able to make smart assumptions regarding time.

This is my method. I hope it will help you have fun and get more productive with your creative work.

Remember:

Break big TODOs into machine commands:

Project -> Super-TODOs -> Mini-TODOs -> MicroTODOs.

and get from DOING to DONE.

Good luck! Let me know how it works out for you.

אפ: nurne.com Reader

2011-02-01T00:44:00.003+02:00

אני שמח להודיע על השקת אפליקציה של הבלוג שלי

אפשר להוריד אותה בלינק הבא:

http://store.ovi.com/content/98048

הורידו והמליצו!

JTextPane autoscroll

2011-01-18T21:27:00.003+02:00

How to scroll to the end of an updating JTextPane

While working on a Chat client for school, I needed a way to scroll down to the end of the chat conversation JTextPane every time a message was sent.

I found the solution in coderanch.com

JTextPane output = new JTextPane();

output.setCaretPosition(output.getDocument().getLength());

javadoc for setCaretPosition()

Renovating online products

2011-01-09T12:55:00.003+02:00

I saw someone let his friend ride his Segway for the first time. Once he got his moves together, he had a huge smile on his face. When the owner of the Segway rode it, he didn't have a smile that big.

It seems like the first time you use a good product is like a crush. It's like falling in love. It's an euphoric time period in which everything about the product is perfect:

- In the shop, the shoe fits perfectly.

- Your new smartphone is the smartest on the first few months.

- The first bites are tastier.

How can you turn a Crush into real Love towards your product? Renovate.

When the Crush has faded from a lo-tech product (like a chair), you renovate by buying a new model.

In contrast, in an online product, you have the luxury of renovating Content & Design.

Active/Passive renovation in Content & Design:

Q: How come billions of searchers don't get bored from the good-ol'-Google search engine?

A: Because Google renovates.

How?

1. Design: Google posts Doodles - artful variations of their logo on the homepage. A designer's effort = massive renovation ("Did you see today's Google Doodle?"). This is an active renovation method, meaning Google did it themselves.

2. Content: Today's Google search yields different results than yesterday's Google search. The product is alive. The source of Google's content is the whole World Wide Web, thus it is renovated passively.

Q: How come millions of users don't get bored from the good-ol'-iPhone?

A: Because Apple renovates.

How?

1. Design: iPhone 4. (active renovation).

2. Content: hundreds of thousands of applications, created by external developers (passive renovation).

Same goes to Twitter, Facebook, and etc...

An interesting case is MySpace, which "Passivized" both Content and Design renovation, by letting users create skins and temaplates (Design) for their profiles (Content).

Same goes to Blogger, WordPress and etc..

Another interesting case is the way Facebook and Twitter are releasing their new current designs. They don't just set the new design. Instead, the user has to install the new design, extending his feeling of renovation ("I installed the new Facebook profile").

A line goes through these examples: Passive Content Renovation. These companies got their users to input data for them, and then they sell it to other users. That's amazing.

Compared to that, a newspaper is all based on active renovation. The writers renovate the content, and the designers renovate the design.

Q: How do you know that the crush phase is over?

A: Numbers: if statistics show that users abandon the product (low rate of returning users), prepare a massive renovation (preferably design) and let everybody know about it.

Media: Expect that media coverage will bring a lot of users to your product. 30 days later - issue a major update. (http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch15_One_Month_Tuneup.php)

Rumors: if the word in the street is that your product is boring, renovate and set a fact: "our product is now renovated".

In conclusion, in order to keep your users' love to the product, renovate your product's Content & Design. Let your users renovate for you, by providing them a platform.

Menus hierarchy

2011-01-03T15:40:00.019+02:00

Do Nested Menus have to be Nasty Menus

Did you know that your user is aware of only HALF of your app's functions? Did you know that he regularly uses only 10% of them? So why did you invest so much time and money in the remaining part?

In this post, I will give some guidelines on how to design nested menus for your advantage, so that your user gets the most out of your app.

First of all, we need to clarify the expression "nested menus". A nested menu is simply a set of functions (a menu) that is extended (nests) from a function in another menu. Nested menus can have a few layers, what I will refer to as "Depth".

It's like a bag. In some of the pockets you just throw things in. One pocket is for your wallet that has more pockets in it. In another pocket a woman may put a make-up bag that contains even more boxes.

A designer must choose the correct depth of nested menus on the scale of Deep and Flat. How many steps should it take to do X? And Y? How many clicks? Your user counts every mouseClick and mouseMove he makes. If your competition gives the same function for less clicks - you lost a user.

Know your user

Is your user a novice or advanced? Allow your new users to learn the functions: "I know what I want, but I'm not sure how to get it". Use tooltips to guide your user. Show your user how to become faster, by offering him key shortcuts.

Allow your advanced users to go ahead and run: "I know what I want, and I already know how to get it". Use keyboard shortcuts (control+key combinations).

Exercise: How do you copy the full contents of a text doc and paste it into a new doc? I believe you already have an efficient mental model of the actions you need to perform. Now, perform the same task using another technique. Try using another HID (Human Interface Device: mouse, keyboard)

App learning:

Microsoft Office programs allow you to choose which toolbars to show on the main window (Text, Paint, Paragraph, Help…). The user can simply drag and drop menus, dock them wherever, and edit the controls in each chunk of functions. It is recommended to use an event tracking system that calculates the top functions of your app.

Are you sure that you are sure that you are sure?

I once called my cellular communications provider's phone service. Before you get to a human being, you give numbered commands to a nice lady's voice. You won't believe the following dialog:

Lady: "Welcome. In order to receive service for the number you are calling from, press 1 (bla bla..)"

Me: "1"

Lady: "You chose to receive service for the number you are calling from. For XYZ press 1 (bla bla..)

Me: "1"

Lady: "You chose XYZ. In order to receive service for the number that you asked to receive service for, press 1."

Me: "Are you @#%& kidding me?..."

How does your user feel if you ask the same questions again and again when he digs into nested menus? Ask your user only the most important questions, and give the option of "Don't ask me again" / "Remind me later".

Please don't go...

Q: What do Facebook tell us when they nest Logout in the Account menu?

A: "Come on, don't leave, you know you want to stay." It's a means of making you rethink leaving the site.

Turning a scientific calculator off is not done by just pushing the OFF button. You need to press Shift + OFF. It's a means of data-loss-prevention.

Additional example for data-loss-prevention: When you exit from MS Word, a message box pops up, asking if you want to save the file before you leave.

Don't nest it!
Nokia IM app uses this technique, but too deeply. In order to exit, you need to press about 9 clicks. One of the nested menus breaks the following rule: If you have only one function, don't nest it.

Internationalization (or: Panic attacks)
Ever loaded a website in a foreign language? Did you find it intuitive to change to your language?

Youtube:

Try finding English here (Youtube.com in Hebrew)

Nokia devices:
In order to change the phone language of a Nokia, you need to blindly dig in Russian/Arabic/Chinese/Thai menus:
Menu -> Control panel -> Settings -> General -> Personalization -> 4X down arrow -> Phone language.

Good luck with that ;)

To solve that, Nokia was smart enough to ask you what language to set, when you turn the phone for the first time.
This leads to the next rule: Give your user a panic button, a way out to the familiar area.

Check out what Facebook wisely chose to do:

They ANTI-nested the language settings: they simply put it on the bottom of their front page.

In conclusion, there are many options of designing nested menus. Some options are better for the user experience. A designer working on a UI with nested menus must take these rules and guidelines into account.

אפ: תוים מיוחדים לבלוגרים של אפיה

2010-11-27T14:11:00.004+02:00

גלה העלתה בעיה:

לא נוח לכתוב תוים מיוחדים (כמו ¾ ו-Ø) ששימושיים בכתיבת מתכונים.

החלטתי לבנות בשבילה אפליקציה שתעזור לה.

לחיצה על כפתור מעתיקה את התו, ואז מיד ניתן להדביק אותו בכל מקום.

להורדה לחצו כאן

(להפעלה: כפתור ימני על הקובץ, ..open with ואז java)

אפ: מחשבון BMI

2010-11-21T22:06:00.003+02:00

קיבלנו תרגיל בלימודים:

לכתוב מחשבון BMI פשוט לסלולר

אני צריך לרדת קצת במשקל..

נייר בועות

2010-11-20T21:49:00.004+02:00

אתמול בלילה החלטתי לבנות אפליקציית נייר בועות (bubble wrap).

הגרסא לסלולר מוכנה, והיא יוצאת עוד כמה ימים לOVI.

בינתיים, הנה הגרסא למחשב!

Peekaboo!

2010-11-19T19:41:00.004+02:00

אני לומד עכשיו J2ME.

גלה הציעה לכתוב משחק לסלולר, שמזכיר את Whac-a-Mole:

מכים (או מלטפים, או מאכילים..) יצור שמציץ כל פעם מפינה אחרת של המסך.

הגרסא לסלולר בפיתוח, בינתיים יש גרסא למחשב.

Happy Letters

2010-11-19T19:26:00.002+02:00

אפליקציה קטנה שמאפשרת לצייר עם אותיות בצבעים רנדומליים

שתפו את הציורים שלכם!

Victor

2010-11-19T18:41:00.004+02:00

התחלנו ללמוד GUI בעזרת Swing.

עלה החסרון בJava יחסית לVisual Studio של Microsoft: הויזואליות.

במקום פשוט לגרור את העכבר ולצייר כפתורים ותיבות טקסט, צריך להכניס פרמטרים מספריים למיקום כל פקד.

כתבתי תוכנה קטנה ב-Processing שמאפשרת לצייר על המסך קווים, והיא נותנת את כל הפרמטרים שלהם.

ה-UI מאוד פשוט: עכבר, גרירת כפתור שמאלי מציירת קו, וכפתור ימני מנקה את המסך.

תהנו

משחק מטריקס

2010-10-22T20:29:00.006+02:00

כתבתי משחק!

מטרתו לפוצץ אותיות נופלות.

העיצוב מטריקסי.

הממשק מינימליסטי.

נהיה קשה יותר ככל שמשחקים.

בשביל לשחק,

1. הורידו את הקבצים הבאים לדסקטופ:

ראשון

שני

2. תשמיעו את השיר הזה ברקע

3. הפעילו את הקובץ index

מחברת מפיות לרעיונות

2010-10-11T12:04:00.005+02:00

הרבה אנשים יצירתיים טוענים שהם התחילו רעיון על מפית בבית קפה.
הרכבתי מחברת שמנצלת את המוזה של מפית של בית קפה, בכל מקום.

הPurple Cookie App בTop 10 בתחרות של Ovi

2010-07-31T16:32:00.006+03:00

אני גאה להודיע שהאפליקציה שיצרתי לבלוג האפייה של גלה הגיעה לעשרת הפיינליסטים בתחרות עולמית של הOvi Store של Nokia!

עזרו לנו להגיע למקום הראשון,

והורידו את האפליקציה בחינם לNokia שלכם!

אפליקציה לצפיה בבלוג Purple Cookie

2010-05-13T13:45:00.003+03:00

גלה, חברה שלי, כותבת יותר משנה בלוג אפייה מצליח - Purple Cookie

הכנתי לה במתנה אפליקציית RSS בWizard של NOKIA

אפשר להוריד את האפליקציה מכאן http://store.ovi.com/content/37426

סרגל אלקטרוני

2010-01-08T21:07:00.004+02:00

אנחנו אורזים את הבית לקראת מעבר דירה. מצאתי חבילת זכרונות RAM ישנים באחד הארונות, והחלטתי לעשות מאחד מהם סרגל. ההשראה באה מהגאדג'ט הזה. שלפתי את הצ'יפים החוצה, שייפתי את ההלחמות, וסימנתי סנטימטרים.

התפסן

2009-12-29T01:25:00.002+02:00

הגאדג'ט הזה יצא לי במקרה, כשחקרתי חיתוך של בקבוקי פלסטיק. המטרה הייתה לבנות מכשיר עזר לדפיקת מסמר בקיר, אבל במקום יצא התפסן הזה.

פוצי

2009-12-26T13:28:00.003+02:00

פוצי, החתולה שלנו מזה 17 שנה, נפטרה אתמול. היא עשתה את זה בשקט ובצורה טבעית. הכנתי וידאו לזכרה, שמקיף כמה תמונות מאוד מייצגות שלה. פוצי תמיד תהיה איתנו.

כיסא זן

2009-09-07T19:34:00.003+03:00

כיסא הזן הוא שזלונג שמתפקד גם כמדף ספרים שחברה שלי ואני עיצבנו. הרעיון עלה כשעיקמתי טבעת של פקק של בקבוק סודה.

היפוכון

2009-09-04T10:52:00.003+03:00

את האפליקציה הזאת תיכנתתי בשביל חברה שלי, שעשתה קורס ביצועיסטים גראפיים, והייתה צריכה להפוך טקסט עברי בפוטושופ ובאינדיזיין. האפליקציה הופכת אותיות בתוך מילים, הופכת אותיות במשפט שלם, הופכת סדר מילים במשפט והופכת טקסט עברי שהוזן באנגלית לעברית (akuo -> שלום). אני גאה באפליקציה הזאת, כי בפיתוח שלה היה מעגל מושלם של יצור מוצר: פנו אליי עם צורך, מצאתי פיתרון ויצרתי אותו.

גלריה על המקרר

2009-08-29T22:10:00.003+03:00

הרעיון עלה לי כשתליתי את הקולאז'ים שעשיתי על המקרר בעזרת מגנטים, ונזכרתי איך כשהייתי ילד היו תולים על המקרר את היצירות שלי מהגן. המשתמש ממלא את שמו על המגנט ובעצם מצהיר על המקרר כגלריה.

BristleBot

2009-08-29T16:03:00.003+03:00

הבריסלבוט הוא רובוט רוטט חמוד שבנוי על ראש של מברשת שיניים. בניתי וריאציה שלו לפי ההוראות בסרטון הזה.

BeetleBot

2009-08-29T15:53:00.004+03:00

הביטלבוט הוא רובוט BEAM פשוט וחמוד בצורת חיפושית שבניתי לפי האינסטרקטבל הזה. הוא רץ על שני מנועי DC, וכשהמחושים שלו נתקלים במכשול הוא עושה רוורס ומתקן. התכונה הזאת מושגת באמצעות חיווט מיוחד של שני מיקרוסוויצ'ים שמופעלים על ידי המחושים.

סדנאת לימוד סקצ'אפ

2009-08-29T15:09:00.003+03:00

יום אחד החלטתי ללמוד לעשות הדמיות במחשב. התחלתי בשירטוט ידני של מבטים והיטלים, ומחקר על עקרונות של פרספקטיבה ותלת-מימד. לאחר מכן התקדמתי לעשות הדמיות בסקצ'אפ החינמית של גוגל. אחד הדברים הראשונים שדימיתי הוא צורה מורכבת של עט.

פסל חיבוק

2009-08-29T14:58:00.004+03:00

החברה שלי ואני חגגנו לאחרונה 4 שנים ביחד. לאחד מהאניברסריז פיסלתי לה אותנו מתחבקים.

ארון ספרים ירוק

2009-08-29T14:46:00.003+03:00

אני מאוד אוהב את שילוב הצבעים ירוק, עץ ולבן. הקירות שלי לבנים והשולחן והשידה שלי מעץ. לכן, החלטתי לצבוע את המיטה וארון הספרים שלי בצבע ירוק ניאון רענן, שעירבבו לי במיוחד.

מחזיק אוזניות רובוטי

2009-08-29T14:16:00.003+03:00

אמא שלי דפדפה בבלוג שלי, ונדלקה על הרעיון של המחזיק אוזניה. היא הזמינה לעצמה מחזיק אוזניות מיוחד - ואני נענתי לבקשה. מיד התיישבתי לשרטט רעיונות, והנבחר מביניהם הוא פרצוף רובוטי שבו האוזניות הן העיניים והפה המרובע הוא הבננה. יצרתי אבטיפוס מקרטון, ולאחר מכן חתכתי גרסאת בטא קשיחה יותר מPVC.

חתולה שחורה

2009-08-29T14:12:00.004+03:00

קיבלתי את מיצי, החתולה השחורה האהובה שלי, ליום הולדת 7. את הפסל הזה יצרתי בהשראתה מחימר שהתקשה בתנור, שצבעתי בשחור.

סודוקיוב

2009-08-29T02:43:00.003+03:00

אחד הדברים שלמדתי בצבא, זה איך לפתור קוביה הונגרית. אחרי שלפתור קוביה רגילה נהיה לי טבע שני, חיפשתי אתגר חדש. הסודוקיוב הוא פאזל סודוקו שמורכב על קוביה הונגרית. האתגר הזה הוא כמעט בלתי-אפשרי, אבל היה נחמד להרכיב את הקוביה. הפשטתי קוביה הונגרית מהמדבקות המקוריות שלה, והדבקתי במקום מדבקות עם מספרים בין אחד לתשע. ההוראות מפורטות באינסטרקטבל

תרבות יום א'

2009-08-29T02:14:00.004+03:00

את הסרטון הזה הפקתי, ביימתי, ערכתי, והפצתי בעזרת הפלאפון הגאון שלי בלבד, בעודי תקוע במחסן אספקות קשות בבסיס חיל האוויר נבטים בדרום הארץ.

"Boredom is the mother of creativity" - רון ארד, מעצב תעשייתי

כיסא לבן

2009-08-29T01:59:00.002+03:00

זה כיסא רדי-מייד שהרכבתי מכיסא של אופני-כושר ישנים שמצאתי ברחוב שהולבש על כיסא התופים שלי.

מחזיק אוזניה מטריד

2009-08-29T01:50:00.003+03:00

מחזיק האוזניה המטריד הוא איש לא צנוע, שמחזיק לכם את האוזניה כשהיא לא בשימוש. פשוט תקעו את האוזניה על הצוואר שלו, גלגלו את החוט סביב הבטן, ואת הבננה שימו בין הרגליים. מטריד, לא?

רובורטט

2009-08-29T01:46:00.003+03:00

את הרובורטט (Vibrobot) הכנתי לחברה שלי כמתנה. הרובורטט עומד על 3 רגליים ארוכות, והוא זז הנה והנה בהתלהבות ע"י מנוע רטט. יש לו עיניים ירוקות זוהרות שקופצות כשהוא מתרגש.

DrawBot - רובוט מצייר

2009-08-29T01:32:00.003+03:00

את הרובוט המצייר דרובוט הרכבתי למוריאל, חברה של חברה שלי, כמתנת יום הולדת. הוא מורכב ממנוע DC שעל המקל שלו מוצמדת משקולת - מה שיוצר רטט, שלושה עפרונות כרגליים, ונר-אלקטרוני מחנות הכל ב-$. בניסיון מקרי, חיברתי את הנר האלקטרוני לרמקול פיאצו, והוא התחיל לשיר! כנראה ליצרן היו שאריות של מעגלים אלקטרוניים של מוזיקה, והוא השתמש בהם בתור מייצרי רעש רנדומלי שמדמים התנהגות של להבה. הצמדתי לצד הדרובוט את המעגל המזמר, כדי לגרום למוריאל להיות עוד יותר שמחה (הצלחתי?).

בונבונפון

2009-08-29T01:26:00.002+03:00

הבונבונפון הוא טלפון שפורק והורכב מחדש בתוך קופסת סוכריות. מפסק הניתוק נמצא בתחתית הקופסה, כך שהנחת הבונבונפון על משטח מנתקת את השיחה.

מחזיק פלאפון לאופניים

2009-08-29T01:20:00.002+03:00

את המחזיק פלאפון לאופניים יצרתי מפימו, שהולבש על מודל של פלאפון שהכנתי. לתחתית הודבק התקן שמתלבש על הכידון של האופניים.

קולאז'ים

2009-08-29T01:12:00.003+03:00

ערימת גליונות של National Geographic מטיילת בחדר שלי, ועלתה השאלה מה לעשות איתם - לשמור לדורות הבאים (שמבחינתם דוב הקוטב יהיה היסטוריה) או לזרוק. אופציה יצירתית שחשבתי עליה היא לעשות מהם קולאז'ים - סוג של תרפיה באמנות ומיחזור. התיישבתי על הרצפה הקרירה עם מספריים ודבק, והתחלתי ליצור.

מחמם ספל בUSB

2009-08-29T00:50:00.004+03:00

הרעיון לתחתית ספל מתחממת עלה לי אחרי שאמא שלי התלוננה שהקפה שלה מתקרר כשהיא עובדת שעות על המחשב. מצאתי מקרר נייד ברחוב, ופירקתי ממנו התקן פלטייר. כשמוזרם דרך ההתקן חשמל, צד אחד שלו מתחמם מאוד וצד שני מתקרר מאוד. הצמדתי את הצד שמתחמם לתחתית קופסת סוכריות קפה, והלחמתי את ההתקן לכבל USB.

Water me man

2009-08-28T23:37:00.004+03:00

הרעיון צמח מאטב נייר שעיקמתי בצורת בן אדם, שאז תקעתי באחד העציצים שבמרפסת. רציתי שזה יגיד לי מתי להשקות את העציצים. העיקרון שמאחורי הרעיון הזה הוא מעבר חשמל במים - ככל שיש פחות מים באדמה ההתנגדות גבוהה יותר. עשיתי קצת מחקר על התנגדות חשמלית באדמה, עד שהגעתי לערך הנגד המתאים. הגאדג'ט בנוי מבטריית כפתור, טרנזיסטור, שני נגדים ולד, מה שהופך אותו למאוד זול.

אני מאוד גאה ברעיון הזה. הוא הופיע בבלוג של MAKE וכתבו עליו תגובות טובות בכמה אתרים.

ברוכים הבאים

2009-08-28T23:30:00.000+03:00

ברוכים הבאים לבלוג שלי.
בבלוג הזה אני אכתוב על הרעיונות וההמצאות שלי - אלה שמימשתי ואלה שעוד לא.

נור