February 28, 2009

Plan of Attack

March is almost upon us and we have been just as busy as ever working on Alternative Visuals to continue too keep the high standards. A big surprise recently was that Carve A Pumpkin managed to pull off a top 25 spot on Apple.com didn't expect it too keep up popularity in the middle of Winter.

The popularity of the website has also steadily increased since the redesign of the website, we have just reached the 500 hit mark the past day. We thank everyone for there support and love of what we provide.

I would also like to discuss the plan for the future months to come. I just managed recently to get some concept codes working that will be implemented into are new widget, Pill Box. This puts the development of this new widget one step forward and we hope to get it out too the public in April, but nothing if for sure yet.

In May we plan to update the current 3 widgets:

Carve A Pumpkin - We hope to redesign the control panel to look similar too Build A Snowman, we will also add the successful randomize button to this widget just like Build A Snowman. The last feature will be one I always wanted but never got it added, it will save your settings and the pumpkin's appearance regardless if your computer is restarted or the widget is closed and reopened.

Build A Snowman - Minor Stability changes, and the feature that will save the settings aswell.

Dashboard Resurfacer - feature that will save settings and minor visual changes.

February 24, 2009

Expanding Our Social Network

We have expanded are social network by adding Alternative Visual accounts on Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. So you can enjoy great videos, participate in our Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter. We hope all of these new outlets can be used to share with those who have yet to discover the content Alternative Visuals has too offer.

So if you want, we strongly encourage any fans of our work to join one or a couple of the Social Networking groups.

February 22, 2009

New Website

The transition to the new redesigned website has been completed, at this point it is fully functional with no known errors or issues. We hope you enjoy the new look, in my opinion it's much better then what we had before!

Also the RSS widget is here, you can download it from either the website or the link on the side of the blog.

February 21, 2009

RSS Widget and Revamped Website Coming

I would just like to mention we are currently working on a RSS Feed widget, this can be used to stay up to date on all the Alternative Visual news, updates, and offers. We hope to have it out within the next couple days, shouldn't be that long since it's not a very complex widget.

The other small bit of news I would like to mention is that in the coming week we will be revamping the website giving it a nicer more professional look. This revamping process may lead too some downtime of the website, but this should be very minimal.

We hope your enjoying our Widgets, stay tuned for continual information and news.

February 20, 2009

News Update

I have a few things to mention too keep everyone up to date. For starters, we been having a few issues with the Apple Approval process and how we packaged our zip files and widget files. I hope to get this straightened out soon but each widget size might need to be separate on Apple.com for them to accept it. UPDATE: Apple accepted our widget, the widget is separated into the four screen sizes to download on Apple.com. Speaking of keeping things separate, on the Dashboard Resurfacer's main page I now have a separate download for each screen size, this will save bandwidth and maybe make things easier for you aswell.

The 2nd thing I would like too address is a new project we our working on here at Alternative Visuals. This new project is different in that, this one will be more of a useful tool then a "Just For Fun" sorta thing. This widget as of now will be called "Pill Box" like the name states it will take the idea of a pill box for managing medicine and take it too the dashboard. This widget will help those who take daily medication to remember when and if they need too take the required medicine. It will look like a real pill box container and function like one. As of now that is all we can say for it is still in the planning stages, we hope to release it at the end of March or beginning of April. This will be the last planned widget until atleast the summer of 09' and hopefully around that time we can do work on Carve A Pumpkin which is in need of update.

The last thing we would like to mention isn't completely confirmed yet, but recently we received an email from "JIL" (Join Innovation Lab) inviting Alternative Visuals to be part of there program. Here is some information regarding "JIL"
On April 24, 2008, China Mobile Limited, SOFTBANK and Vodafone announced an agreement to establish a Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) to develop mobile internet services. The three companies expect the initiative will help to accelerate the commercial deployment of mobile internet services.

The three companies will use the JIL as a platform to develop mobile services and drive innovation and synergy in the industry to the benefit of their combined global customer base. The JIL will launch projects based on emerging technologies and market demand.

The JIL will focus on the rapidly growing areas of mobile internet services, such as mobile widgets. Initially, the JIL plans to develop a platform for mobile widgets to encourage the development of innovative new services that can leverage mobile operators' unique capabilities. The JIL also welcomes the co-operation of vendors and developers in the creation of new applications and services.

This move is expected to enable different widgets and applications to run seamlessly on different handset platforms and operating systems across different mobile operators, while safeguarding customer security, data privacy and billing systems. The development of a widget platform is expected to benefit both developers and users.

They plan on using some of our widgets and get them running on "JIL" the widget and code will remain ours and they keep all acknowledgments for Alternative Visuals. We have accepted the offer and hope this will benefit both us and "JIL"

More information: www.jil.org

February 15, 2009

Dashboard Resurfacer: Download Now!

Dashboard Resurfacer is officially here and ready for download! We hope you enjoy this widget like you did our other previous widgets. I'm hoping that this widget becomes a great success, so please download and give it a try!

I have submitted the widget too Apple and we can expect it to be available through Apple either Monday or Tuesday, it will all depend on how long the approval process takes. Hopefully like our previous widgets this one will become a Staff Pick aswell.

On a side note, I would like too mention we will be releasing some information on our next planned widget this Friday, so stay tuned for that.

Dashboard Resurfacer:


Download Now (OS X Required)

February 14, 2009

Dashboard Resurfacer on it's way and email is working

The release date of Dashboard Resurfacer for tomorrow night (EST) is a gurantee at this moment as we put the finishing touches on the widget and prepare for release. Once again as a reminder if you want a gurantee download for tomorrow we suggest coming to the site for the download, Apple's approval process can take a day or two.

As we finish this widget we are already planning another widget, this widget will be another unique one for us as always. This Friday I will post more information on it including a name and short description.

Also I would like to mention the email is now fully functional and ready for use, contact@alternativevisuals.com

February 12, 2009

More News

It has been a busy week for us, with multiple things going on for the website, widget, blog and more. A lot of things have been changing and improving for the better lately, and things have just been busy for us here at Alternative Visuals. Some things I would like to mention about, current changes and future ones are as followed:

Dashboard Resurfacer: This has a new tentative release date of this Sunday night (EST) it will be a fully featured release and we hope you can wait for what is expected to be a great widget. Note: Although I'm releasing it Sunday night Apple tends to take a day or two for widget approval so If you want it that night come too our site for it.

New Email: We will be activating our new company email within the coming day, this email will be used for all contact and support and should make things easier for us and you. The new email is contact@alternativevisuals.com but don't attempt emailing us until atleast Friday night when we have it fully set up.

New Domain: The biggest bit of news is that thanks too kinda contributors too alternative visuals we managed to purchase a .com domain for our website, www.alternativevisuals.com GO AHEAD TRY IT!.

February 10, 2009

Opinions: What features does Apple need to upgrade the old stuff.

iPhone and iPod Touch are with out a doubt one of the top gadgets of all time. They are sleek, and do everything you want them to do and then some but even the strongest gadgets have there issues. Here are a list of what I (ajvizz) thinks needs to be added. 

iPhone/iPod Touch

iChat: It's hard to find a good instant messenger in App store they are either overpriced or not worth getting. iChat would be great because it would be made by apple for an apple product. Not only that but don't you think video chats would be cool for the little device. Which brings me to my next point....

Front Camera: Like I said before you can use the camera to do video chats with friends in your contacts!

Wireless Syncing (Free): Sometimes you are on the run and you don't have time to connect your device to the computer. So all you do is press a button or application and they update each other. 

Better RSS Reader: Yes, iPhone/iPod Touch both have the RSS intergraded with Safari browser but the problem is there are no badges to tell you if it updated. 

--------

Combine Mac Mini + Apple TV.

- Apple to team up with Satellite TV companies 

- DVR TV Show right from your TV

- View Photos, Movies, TV Shows and listen to  Podcast/Music in which you bought or recorded 

- Syncs with you iPhone/iPod Touch wirelessly (Even syncs live TV to your iPod devices)

- Sit in your couch and view the stuff on your TV screen. 

- Blu-ray player if you would like to watch movies.

- keeps everything organized

- App store for various features

- also Mac OS X will run on it 

...in other words its like a Satellite TV Box + iPhone that connects your TV :)

It comes in 3 flavors hehe... 250GB ($599.99), 500GB ($1099.99) , and 1TB ($1499.99) + an optional TV service (Get HD Digital TV and DVR) for 18 dollars a month.