A bunch of cool stuff I discovered over the past year. This was meant to be an end-of-2012 list, but I'm lazy, so… yeah, here it is in mid-January:
I don't think I spoke to my family this Christmas, except via the medium of Letterpress. Mix scrabble with crack and you get Letterpress. So addictive — damn you @atebits!
Draw-It, Push-It is a clever Pictionary-style game for iOS, which lets up to 15 people play using iPhones, iPods touch, & iPads, all beamed to your Apple TV.
My friend Ciara wrote a funny book about Irish history. It's brilliant.
- Redis
I had some trouble with a MySQL server spazzing out and using up all the RAM. I implemented a Redis cache in front of the server and BOOM* — no more problems!
* explosion not guaranteed
- git-flow
I've used git a lot over the past few years and it's Just Great™. However, I'd never really been able to define a decent system for handling branches and merging. Truth is, I shouldn't have been trying. git-flow handles all this beautifully by adding a few simple commands to git.
I'm not a big fan of console-style gaming on iOS — more of a puzzler-fan myself (see: Letterpress, above) — but this is executed perfectly. The storyline is excellent, and it's so scary you'll poop yourself (just a little, don't worry).
- iPhone 5
Longphone is long… Ladies.
Seriously though, I still can't believe how light & solid this device feels (stop giggling). I've gotten over my initial discomfort with the taller screen (seriously). Best iPhone yet.
- App.net
Twitter have upset developers on several occasions over the past few years. Their latest attempt at shutting out devs saw a large number of users migrate to App.net. ADN is a much more powerful platform disguised as a Twitter clone. I tried out their API last year and it's obvious that these guys have big plans for the service, which reach far beyond posting pictures of your food — the best way I can think of describing it is that they want to become a utility for developers, like electricity or plumbing, allowing us to build new apps and services without having to worry about the infrastructure. Which is pretty cool, y'know?
Add a URL to Transloader and it starts downloading on your Mac. Simples! Great for getting those *ahem* Linux Distros from your iOS device to your Mac mini server (more on this here).
I listened to this album a lot last year. It's like having your ears rinsed out with warm cocoa. Translation: it's lovely. Listen to this and this for a couple of highlights.
- Episodes
A comedy series about two British comedy writers, who move to Hollywood to rework their hit show for a US audience. Also stars Matt LeBlanc, as himself, but it turns out that that's actually a good thing.
- Tokens
Super-useful app that helps take the pain out of generating and sharing iOS and Mac promo codes. A must-have for App Store devs.