App Seminar: Pekay's little author

yay~ i was hoping to be assigned this app after the lesson today. it looks cute.

UI:

I do agree that the UI is rather messy due to the inconsistent shapes of the buttons. but its rather engaging due to the animations, which is good for children because of their short attention span.

while building the storybook(on facebook), the app seems rather cluttered as well. but given the number of functionalities it provides, I dont see how that can be avoided. manipulation of the objects are prompted with symbols, which seem rather intuitive. they also support layers. I'm not sure whether really young children can grasp the idea of layers quickly though. I had problems grasping this concept when i first started with photoshop. then again, perhaps its because i am too conditioned by my use of physical media. do kids these days even use coloring books?

Functionality:

I think an app that helps people make a story book is a rather novel idea. I think it would be very attractive to people whom enjoying writing. (be it blogging, fanfic, comic strips) Plus, its very fuss-free, which is great for lazy people. It has lots of books for people to browse through as well. Personally, something like this would be my preferred mode of entertainment online as opposed to games.

Does it really help kids develop their imagination? im not sure. but then again i wouldnt know.

Platform:

I would agree that facebook may not be the best platform to reach out to children. the option to share your work throught social media is attractive though. Perhaps pekay should try targeting adults. i can imagine people using it for politcal satires haha.

Revenue model:

I'm not very business savvy but their revenue model makes sense to me. I can imagine kids bugging their parents to pay so that they can use the bear or the rainbow in their story books. reminds me of toys that come free with mcdonalds happy meals.

I think it would be quite awesome for pekay to have some collaboration with san-x or sanrio. more cute characters. yay.


and Prof. Ben, with regards to my last post, thanks for the kind offer but i think that episode hasn't impacted the project much. so not need for extension. theres assignment 2 anyway.

:(

just got news that my hard disk died today. :(

am trying not to let it impact daily operations ( CS3216 & FYP ) as much as possible by using my brother's comp for the time being. other than that, some ice cream is in order.

Since Im in a class full of IT savvy people, I'm hoping to get some advice here.

the following are my options:

- replace hard disk and reformat at fujitsu service center ( $130 + an afternoon's time )

warranty expired last month.

- new laptop ($2000++)

- borrow an old laptop from a friend (surprisingly, it has very similar specs to my current laptop)

im more inclined to to go for option one. I'm just afraid that once the hard disk is fixed some other problem would pop up and hence further extending this melancholic misadventure. what do you think?

On another note, im thankful for kind and supportive friends offering me help. i didn't even ask to borrow. friends in need are friends indeed.

facebook assignment and IE

week 3 now. with regards to the facebook assignment, im pretty glad i have more or less settled on a design. (Im usually not this fickle-minded though) although some changes are still to be made, at least there is a clear goal now. spent too much time dabbling with illustrator and jquery. I think illustrator pretty cool so im looking forward to the upcoming workshop.

about html5 and css3.
the main gist i have been getting about these 2 new technologies seems to mainly be animation and graphics. I think its pretty awesome that stuff can be rendered real time in a canvas. but browsers delivering delivering hardware-accelerated graphics is not something new. Chrome and firefox has been working on WebGL for awhile now. thats hardware-accelerated 3D graphics for you. even flash is moving in that direction with molehill. so. IE is still lagging behind. personally, i will be watching developments in WebGL closely. I think it has alot of potential.

on a random note, when i heard "mango" i kept thinking of the ladies apparel brand MANGO. ha.

planning and management

Software Engineering. hm. some parts of the lecture are a no brainer. Things like planning milestones and buffer time. easy peasy.

the difficult bit is sticking to the plan. and not just you but everyone in the team. It takes discipline to follow through, even more so when you are planning for an arduous journey. unfortunately, alot of people i have worked with in the past do not possess such discipline. For the average projects in nus, I have had group mates telling me that it okay to take it slow because there's buffer time to eat into. (thats not what buffer time is for)

As for myself, i find sticking to plans okay as long as im not burning out. I think thats my weakness. fatigue gets to me.

By the way, planning also only works when everyone in the team actually believes that planning helps the teams reach the goal. Some people think of it has just a formality and no amount of nagging will work on them. Not everyone believes in plans unfortunately. I'm still in the midst of figuring out how to work with these kind of people. If anyone knows, please enlighten me. A temple where i can pray for an amulet/talisman to ward them off will also do.

That said, I have no worries of that sort for my projects in CS3216. Everyone is so motivated and on the ball. I even recieved an email from my mobile cloud group today. haha. CS3216 projects may be painful, but i have no complaints as long as the pain does not come from my groupmates. provided i survive.

What I hope to Learn in CS3216

Hello World.

I would like to congratulate myself upon securing a place in this module. Although I might need to eat my own words in the next few weeks to come given its reputation. So. What do I hope to get out of this module?

Firstly, to learn the relevant technical skills. While I do have some experience in web programming, the furthest I have ventured is to build a database driven website. I would like to learn how to build apps and Facebook apps is one of them.

Also, to attempt to build something that is sound in terms of design and the technicals. most modules i have done so far focus only on either. Which is great as an academic exercise but clients and bosses usually have much higher expectations. Hence, I believe it will be beneficial to have some experience with slightly loftier expectations before venturing out into the working world.

Furthermore, since the class consists of people from differing disciplines, I suppose I would have the opportunity to hone soft skills.

Lastly, I also hope to learn what I do not expect to learn in this course. Coming from a technical background, I hope others will have a thing or two to teach me. Even if it does not seem applicable to me. Who knows? I intend to keep an open mind. :)

Cheers to a fruitful semester. good luck. god speed. may the force be with you.