You pay Apple $99 for their developer program, build a package file and release it. With someones UDID, you can have them download the app for testing through the app store.
You can also use https://testflightapp.com/ which has some unique features and a different procedure, but, some very cool tools that go along with it for feedback.
You pay the $99 to Apple, then you can associate XCode with a local phone and develop/test your app. You can also get the UDID number from another person's phone, and distribute the app to them to beta test. I believe there is a limit of 25 beta testers + the developer's phone.
You can also use testflightapp.com which has its own SDK and will notify people on updates and has a pretty good customer experience manager built in, allowing you to get feedback from within the app. Apps can be deployed through them for beta or production and you can collect a number of metrics. I've not actually worked with it yet - I'm at roughly the same stage you are and am buying an IPhone today to test my app.
Note that you need not just to generate those certificates and download them. You need to also manually open the keychain access and import those files in there. Only then will the Provisioning Profile in the Organizer show up.
The other day I was thinking, what ever happened to Mz. Glad to see you're still around.
WordPress.org/.com doesn't really allow 'editing' beyond creating a page and setting it as the homepage, selecting templates, etc. Almost all of that should be able to be done through a web/tablet browser. This would be similar to most of the other companies wrapping WPMU as a WordPress hosting option.
WebFTP can be a possible solution if you're on a tablet and don't have proper FTP. Some of the inexpensive paid hosts offer it through their control panel.
I'm not sure how large your existing sites are, but, dropbox and other such avenues exist for making a backup. If you can tar.gz it, some email accounts have somewhat liberal storage allotments and you could mail the sites to yourself as an attachment.
As far as Android friendly, I don't know what would be actually be anti-android. Are you running into Tablet/Browser issues with javascript heavy pages? If so, perhaps one of the alternate sites like posterious (unsure whether Twitter's involvement will kill this) or tumblr will suit your needs.
The problem is that free usually connotes simpler, less flexible services, so, if you're looking for more sophisticated products that are browser manageable, you're probably going to have to put a little cash behind it.
Whatever happened to Mz: I am currently homeless and have been since December 31st. So I haven't been posting much. I am trying to declare bankruptcy and trying to figure out some means to support myself that won't help keep me sick. It has long been my goal to develop an online income but that never panned out. Working full time in an industrial park and battling my health issues left too little time, energy and mental focus for working that out on the side. Plus it appears to me that no one takes my current sites seriously. I have been repeatedly told by people on HN that they "aren't commercial" and cannot be monetized.
I do have a posterous account. I am not aware of any means to monetize a posterous site. I would like to ultimately figure out a means to make money online. I am seriously considering not bothering to back up my current sites and trying to make a fresh start online. The CF community mostly is not interested in knowing what I did and basically thinks I am an egomaniac, charlatan and snake oil salesman. I don't mind helping people but it has helped very few people, left me feeling abused and is not making money. Without an audience, I do not know what to write about. Without new content going up, there is nothing to attract traffic. I do not know how to overcome that issue given the open hostility with which the CF community has long treated me. Now that I am homeless, I can no longer afford my self sacrificing idealism. I need to sort out my financial problems. I wish it weren't so. But I just cannot do this anymore.
Thanks for the info. I will follow up on it and see if I can get some new project(s) launched and maybe even figure out how to make money online.
I’m relatively new here and hadn’t caught one of your posts before. Tonight I saw your reply to the Instagram post, someone’s reply to you, and I started to read through your HealthGazelle and KidsLikeMine sites and comments on HN.
I’m grateful and happy that people here have reached out to you, and so I want to try as well. I’ll summarize here and follow up with an email after I’ve had some time to give it some thought.
-- You are a great writer, and your blog posts are a compelling mix of passion with the mundane, common sense and a bit of adventure with trying new things to feel better (“Teeth” and “Throat” on gazelle are examples). Have you thought about publishing an e-book? Just today I heard an “On the Media” story on how people have made money by writing for the Kindle/Amazon platform and pricing their books (of varying quality) at 99 cents. [1]
Though the majority of your CF community may not be ready to listen to your experiences on reclaiming your (and your family’s) health, I think the broader general public is hungry for real-life examples of how people are finding health again. Especially through nature/naturally and on a budget, two things that it seems you are able to do well. And I know you would be able to come with some great book titles that would catch people’s attention (here’s a quick example: “What a walk in the ocean can cure, and other natural health remedies that have worked for my family”).
-- Have you thought about Kickstarter? I haven’t posted a project there, but it seems that there are only two components to listing a project there: 1) a short video describing the project and 2) a written description of the project and the levels of backing. And with your tablet (shoots video?) and skills, you have what you need.
I think your potential funding rewards could be very attractive to folks (eg, $1 gets name added to supporters on site, $10 pledge gets that and an early edition and any updates to your next ebook, $100 gets the person a 1-hr phone/Skype conversation about ways that you’ve been able to get healthy naturally, etc). IANAL and I don’t know what disclaimers you’d need so that you don’t run afoul of medical/legal issues that this might bring up though (related, I did sell a table on craigslist years ago and the lady that bought it gave me a self-published book she published on getting healthy naturally and her belief that her daughter’s health issues were caused by excessive flouride, MSG and aspartame, and she wasn’t a doctor).
Searching Kickstarter for “homeless” turns up a handful of film projects; searching for “health” yields 300+ projects... [2]
Please forgive the late-night ramblings, something just made me want to jump in and try to help if I could.
Hang in there – though with the fight and spirit I’ve read in your posts, it doesn’t seem like I need to even say that...
Thank you for writing. I have had people suggest Kickstarter before and I have looked at it. I don't grok what qualifies as a "project". I cannot wrap my brain around why people praise what I have already done but won't donate money, won't promote the site and won't tell me something like "All you need is a rad t-shirt!" It always involves creating something new to get something back for my work. Further, people seem to be openly hostile to me as a person who gives advice. They like me far more as an entertainer. And entertainment sites, like webcomics, do make money. If I have to start from scratch to make money, a new project that lacks the boatloads of emotional baggage and personal scars seems far more logical.
Looks very nice, but definitely room for competition; i.e. some of the ninja categories are pretty sparse, few ninjas seem to have been rated, etc. Not a household name - yet.
Also seems to be geared towards consulting - i.e.: the design implicitly suggests that you'd be hiring someone for a block of hours, as opposed to signing up for a recurring lesson stream.
They launched Feb 28th at Superconf.net so, they haven't been open for very long. I do know they have multiple monetization systems for people, but, I think most of their early beta testers are doing the per minute/per half hour/block of time.
Basically, time decay and velocity of votes affect the vote ordering. The older an article is, the more votes it needs to stay in the top positions. Therefore, the 304 points/15 hours and 122 points/9 hours have roughly the same weight as the 16 point/2 hour submission.
In the late 80s, VASCAR was heavily used on I-95 between Baltimore and DC - a route I used to travel a lot. Coming from Baltimore to DC, I was pulled over and given a citation for 67 in a 55 or something similar.
VASCAR is a method that is used with a stopwatch and a simple computer that divides distance travelled by the elapsed time. To avoid too much error, markings on the pavement are usually fixed and marked at a tenth of a mile or a quarter of a mile interval. In this case, they were using the time at which the car left the shadow of a bridge, to two traffic cones on the side of the road on an uphill stretch of I-95 - http://g.co/maps/x6az8
When I got the ticket, I asked two things - how did you know how fast I was going and when did you set up? He answered that they had started writing tickets around 9:45 that morning and the ticket was issued at 2:15 in the afternoon. Instantly, I formed my alibi.
Since we knew that the lines on the street weren't painted, we knew that the sun travelling across the sky would alter the point at which the car came out of the shadow, and, we were using two traffic cones on the side of the road that didn't cast much of a shadow to judge the position of the car. I forget the math based on the time that they measured it, but, it was something on the order of 12-18mph error based on the angle of the sun, time of the year and their setup time versus when I was stopped. I had pictures, a handout showing the math used referencing geometry books with footnotes explaining the sun's positional changes, the distance that the shadow would have moved over that time period, the increasing error throughout the day.
The officer stated that his VASCAR computer had been calibrated and he was a certified operator and all of my math was just mumbo-jumbo. They took a five minute recess - unheard of in traffic court - came back, and issued a not guilty on my case. The judge then asked if anyone else there had received tickets on that date from any of the six or seven officers that had issued tickets, and about 25 people raised their hands - all having their tickets dropped.
In point of fact, he probably was within 3mph of my actual speed as all of my measurements had been done based on a 1/10th of a mile rather than the quarter mile that they had used that day, but, there were a lot of happy people that day. It is a good thing I didn't realize that the cones were set at 1/4 mile, but, there still would have been some error.
Your site needs to have a strong benefit statement. I need to find out in two seconds whether it is worth me reading more. Your primary message needs to be well above the fold and needs to solve some pain point. Without that, any visits you get to your site are somewhat wasted.
Next, you need to think about how to get your target customers to visit the site. Who is your target market and where do they gather? Advertising on Facebook can be fairly well targeted so that you're not throwing away money advertising to people that aren't in your target market.
Finding people that are social 'kingpins' and getting them to become advocates is another method. Who are the bloggers that cover your space? Can they be contacted to tweet or blog about it? Can you develop a referral system or offer the app for free/reduced price in exchange for the referrals. Perhaps Klout.com can be used to identify some of your targets, or, technorati, etc.
J Conrad Levinson wrote some good books on Guerilla Marketing that talk about leveraging this, cross-promotions, etc.
Getting Press Releases accepted by the sites/magazines/periodicals that cover your market is another way. A well written Press Release directed to the right person can sometimes get you noticed.
Social buttons, Facebook Page, Twitter account - all generate buzz and make it very easy for someone to like/share the page. Include referral codes/bonuses so that your client become your best salespeople.
Your sales message needs to do two things. It needs to convey your Unique Selling Proposition (Rosser Reeves, from the 1960's) very quickly, and, tell me what pain you're going to remove. I need to have that 'aha' when I read your site that says, yes, I have experienced that, I hate that, this site solves that problem, let me try it out.
You also have to overcome the 'hot doorknob' syndrome. Someone passionate about the product has to get out there and knock on doors and recruit clients. Since you have the passion behind the project, when you're selling that to someone, that passion will infect them. People that see how excited you are about having solved their problem, will become advocates.
Network, network, network. You know people, they know people, surely someone that you know, knows someone that might use your product.
Get the product noticed. While writing X, we discovered Y was a problem with performance. We documented Z which fixed a problem with multithreaded quantum mechanics. Those stories bring readers, those readers look at what you're doing that caused you to discover that, they recommend what you're doing. Carsabi.com comes to mind regarding Solr - they solved a unique problem, documented that and I would bet probably got a lot of people to recognize their site from the blog post.
Almost any sales book will talk about what it tells to market. Service America is a pretty good book. Tom Hopkins, How to Master the Art of Selling. There are a few other good books, but, almost every sales book has the same message - solve someones pain.
Follow up. Both Twilio and Tropo do very well with this. Recently I had a situation I needed to fix, I set up demo accounts with both Twilio and Tropo. In five minutes, I had a simple script working with Twilio that took about 20 minutes with Tropo to get the same functionality. Tropo's documentation didn't make it extremely clear and I never did find a complete example without having to use urllib to get an auth key to talk with their service. However, that aside, both have sent follow up emails (automated I'm sure) that checked on progress, asked if I had questions, offered help and suggestions. While Tropo ultimately didn't do what I needed and I used Twilio for this quick project, Tropo's followup email mentioned a potential solution to another project I've been mulling over. Without that followup, I may not have reconsidered Tropo. And I knew about Tropo from superconf.net - they were a sponsor and I used their app to be SMS'ed a URL (ok, not a great use case), but, I did have prior exposure and I knew either could solve the first project.
Thirteen contacts with a person to make a sale and it costs more to get a new client, than to keep an existing client. Almost every sales book in the world will tell you this.
Simply. Build something awesome, spread the word, someone will pick up on it and it'll grow. The speed at which it grows is directly proportional to the number of people you pitch.
You can also use https://testflightapp.com/ which has some unique features and a different procedure, but, some very cool tools that go along with it for feedback.