A Random Pattern

My wife hit her dad’s truck coming out of our driveway today. Well, not exactly “hit”, more “scraped”. Not a big deal, but she was a little upset. After we made sure everything was alright, she headed back out to take the girls to a fall festival, while Dad and I did some work on the loft (pictures coming soon).

As they were driving, Sara explained to Tessa that she had a car accident, and that she felt bad about it because she made a mistake. (Can you tell we’re trying to teach Tessa some life lessons? ) She explained carefully that this wasn’t the same as the potty accidents that Tessa has sometimes. Tessa thought about this for a minute, and then interpreted it as only a four-year-old can:

“Mommy went poopie on Papa’s truck!”

Mommy couldn’t keep a straight face after this, and laughed so hard that soon Tessa and Selah were also laughing along.  Tessa was quite proud of herself for making mommy laugh.

Tessa wasn’t done yet, though. Since Sara had also explained that she had “been bad” and was “in trouble”, Tessa again coordinated this with her experience:

“Daddy spank Mommy!”

Err, no. I can only imagine how much fun Sara had trying to straighten those things out for Tessa.

The Final round of MDA came and went.  Victories were celebrated, dreams were crushed.  Those of you who took the time to vote after my plea Wednesday, Thank you.  It was a close and exciting vote.

The final winners were Atmosphere, Portal, and Cookbook.  Hijack was in fourth, by only 5 votes!  Unfortunately Whistler was a little further behind, and Blossom had the unfortunate job of holding down the final position.

In addition, there was some unexpected and unfortunate drama after the round finished, due to some fraudulent votes.  This was quite unfortunate, but seems to have been handled well (in my opinion).
The MDA experience is far from over.  In fact, anyone is welcome to continue following the development of the three winning ideas into final applications.  I’ll be posting updates here infrequently, when something particularly newsworthy or interesting happens.  If you’re interested in seeing a behind-the-scenes of how shareware / software is developed, it might be worth your time to follow along.  Head over to the forums, I’ll see you there. 

One last thing of note: Though only three app ideas were winners and awarded publishing contracts, several other ideas were very strong and had great community support.  There is a good chance, because of that, that some of the other apps will get picked up by other development teams.  I’ll be featuring that news here as well.  So far there is nothing official, but rumor has the following apps being looked into: Hijack, Whistler, Blossom, and Ground Control (4th-7th place in the MDA vote results).  Hijack has a particularly active group of supporters, with rough work-ups of code already in progress!  Ground Control has a great forum live and starting to hop with action.  I’ll be doing my best to support Whistler‘s development, though I can’t imagine a professional team not taking advantage of that idea.

Those of you who have been patiently waiting for other-than-MDA content on my blog, your patience will soon be rewarded.  :)  Thanks for sticking around – and let me know in the comments what you’d like to hear more about!

Alright, if you haven’t yet voted, you’ve got less than 24 hours to get to MDA and vote for my three favorites – Hijack, Whistler, and Cookbook!

Ok, that’s not really fair.  Go, read the descriptions of the apps.  Ask questions here or in the forums (or just search in the forums), then vote for what you think would be best.  But if you’re not quite sure, you can trust my seasoned opinion. 

Seriously, I think Hijack and Whistler are in danger of not winning.  Of course, it’s to also good app ideas like Atmosphere and Portal, but still . . .

Atmosphere I’m pretty sure will get done one way or another.  Portal’s a different question, there’s no guarantee that it will get done if it doesn’t win.  But the ones least likely to get done by other than the MDA dream team are Hijack and Whistler, and I badly want to buy both of them.

So your opinions count, even if you don’t think they do.  It’s easy, it will only take you about ten minutes, and I’ll appreciate it (even if you don’t vote for my favorites ).  Go, vote your conscience, and if you want let me know in the comments.

May the best app win!

(seriously, go vote.  Why haven’t you left yet?  Go, go!)

First, a quick run-down of recent blog posts, as well as mockups / idea developments of note:

Whistler – the music program for non-musicians – Another Whistler fan appears

My Dream App is getting closer final round – This MDA voter, not so big in Whistler.

Meanwhile, Whistler responds to requests from Judges and forum members to aim for simplicity and the consumer market, at least for now.

Portal has a three part series to wrap up it’s run, concluding with some of the best mockups yet and a clear vision from the contestant.  The special “Welcome screen” is an exciting new addition.
Atmosphere offers the most controversy on the board, with ardent defenders and detractors (possibly sparked by it’s runaway lead in last week’s semi-final vote). Mockups for the new forecasting feature are unveiled. This discussion of using a “time-slider” to move through the forecast is also provacative.

Hijack keeps it’s fans waiting, pushing anticipation until the last moment before the vote.  A mockup on how to post using Hijack is promised, but a video is hinted at.
Cookbook does a nice wrap-up of it’s core features and key benefits.  Recipe Management also underwent a few revisions to make the sidebar more friendly.
Blossom unveils several new mockups.  Ideas for rating individual webpages, a status icon, integration with OS X, and use of Leopard’s new To-Do list are presented.
Another voter weighs in with his pre-vote opinions.

Secondly, I have a surprise for you all.  I will be one of the judges in the final round, alongside some quite exciting and popular personalities.  So make sure, Monday or Tuesday (I think), to go to mydreamapp.com and vote (after reading the judges’ opinions, of course ).  See you there!  If you have questions, just ask in the forums or here in the comments.

This compilation of japanese advertisements is somewhat mesmerizing. There are some pretty impressive little mechanical tricks pulled off.

Watching a robot eat (or drink, in this case) until it dies is a disturbing, but valid, piece of art.  Coke plays a leading role in this artwork / video.

Why should you care?  Because this is a poignant commentary on today’s consumerism and where our “stuff” gluttony is taking us.  And because it’s fascinating watching a robot destroy itself.

Tessa checked it out – she approves.

Here’s a nice clean view, hopefully we can keep our living room something like this for a while.

So we finally got furniture in our living room.  We’ve been spending the last week enjoying every opportunity we find to lounge on our new seats. 

Mark Your Calendars: My Dream App is approaching the final vote. Next Monday, the final voting round opens. Follow the link for more information on the software and other freebies.

Also make sure to check back here, as I’ll have another round-up of MDA Forum activity as the contestants gear up for their final shot at a contract. 6 app ideas will enter, but only 3 will survive…

Note: The other ideas are good enough that another development team might pick them up.  They’ve got at least one buyer already lined up. 

I think this is one of my favorite comics ever.  The over-the-topness and understated-ness of it strike me just right.
See what happens when you don’t communicate clearly, then act like you’re clever (WARNING: this comic is somewhat violent).

Some time in the next few days, the final round of MDA voting is supposed to open.  I’ll be sure to post an alert here as well.  In the meantime, you can expect one more voter’s guide tomorrow.  It won’t be as long, don’t worry.  I think all the contestants are suffering from sleep deprivation. 

Also, Phill has hinted at some fun surprises in store for MDA’ers.  I won’t tell you where on the forums to look (until tomorrow at least), but really it’s not hard to find.

Meanwhile, at least one outed app continues to make a play for success!  That’s right, the much loved (and much misunderstood) Ground Control will carry on.  Russell intends to keep the website up and the idea alive.  Here’s hoping he can find a development team and get that thing made.

Oh, and once MDA is over, I’ve got a virtual flood of technical, familical, and philisophical posts just waiting to burst forth.  So, you know, look at the right column and click on the big orange button.  You know you want to.