Back in March I started thinking about doing a photo project, something to force myself to take more photos. This turned into Threee, a project with Blaine Bowers, John Hoover and myself. We each take and post one picture a day starting April 1st. The iPhone 4 was recently released and we all got one on launch day. With the new phone comes the ability to record 720p HD video. This prompted me to think about a video project that we could do to go along with Threee. We came up with Ninety Second Week, shooting as much as you can during the week and compile it into 90 seconds to show off your week. We hope this turns into more videos then just those for 90SecWeek. As with Threee, the rules require the video to be shot using the iPhone only. We can also only edit using iMovie (full or mobile version) and the video has to be posted every Wednesday. I’m looking forward to this project and hope we can keep it going as well as we have with Threee. Check out the other videos at 90secweek.com.
I have lots of upcoming changes in my life including work, moving to a new house, son starting kindergarden, etc. For the past several months I have focused on client work and have not put any time towards any of my projects. The ones that were alive and kicking have now been left for dead and others barely made it past the planning phase while some have a few lines of code started. It isn’t that I don’t have any interest in my projects anymore but more that I haven’t been managing my time very well. I have had plenty of free time away from client work and the family that doesn’t get put to good use. After doing some thinking on my projects and what I really want to do with them I have made some choices and will outline some here.
2532|Gigs
www.2532gigs.com | Version 1.2.2 (stable) | OpenSource The Now: This was first complete opensource project and has had a great following, plenty of downloads, and is still in use. However, we haven’t had a release since January 29, 2008 which was just bug fixes. We have a few bugs still not fixed and several features half completed. We did start work on the next full featured version and completed several new features and fixed a few bugs but it never got completed and after several months it is still sitting on my HD. The Future: Several new and amazing features have already been completed and tested along with a few bug fixes. I plan to refocus and start a rewrite of the script to fit the new features and some future plans I have for it. This script is far from dead but will be on life support for a little bit longer. Goal is to have a new stable version by the end of the year.
FieldStatus
www.fieldstatus.com | Private Beta Next | Web App The Now: FieldStatus came about from a client script who needed a way to notify their club members of the status of their fields (it was a soccer club) via email and text messages. They were using a web app but that site was not only lacking some features but hadn’t been updated in some time and their contact email was bouncing. It is hard to use a site when there is nobody behind it. The project which started out as an opensource project turned into my first web app instead. The project has been started with lots of code laid down but currently no version to test (or at least public). The Future: I have been excited for this app since starting it. I have talked to several clubs and organizations who would like to use it and the prices they are willing to pay (most use the same dead site my client used before). This will be a paid service with a free version for smaller clubs/orgs. This is also far from dead and might be above 2532|Gigs on my list. My goal is to have a private beta by the end of the year.
undergroundCMS
no url yet | No Releases | OpenSource The Now: This started about from 2532|Gigs and the lack of a really good cms designed for bands and venues. I started planning and some outlining code until a new project called StashCMS was released the same month I started coding my CMS. StashCMS had most of the features I had planned to include and although the design was lacking and some minor features needed it was a great start for a first release. I didn’t see a need to continue this script when there was a really good alternative to use. I later was going to volunteer to code for StashCMS but before I could after the first main release the script died and the developer stopped providing support and said no future development. The Future: As I noticed from the people using StashCMS and the forums with people still looking for support or new features, there is still a place for a great CMS designed around bands/venues. So, when I thought undergroundCMS was dead it looks like it might come back to life sometime next year. No real goal for this but to see if while working on 2532|Gigs I can have a first beta release early next year.
Some other projects that are not dead yet but I still don’t have much information on including In The Falls which right now I don’t want to give out too much information, Team Management System which is in private beta for a client right now and will have a release early next year (this won’t be opensource, it will have a fee attached). There you have it, some of my past and future projects and some plans for them. Lets see how things go. I plan to blog more on the projects as I start the back up and get some releases ready.
That is a very good question. I am in the process of looking at some new clients and have recently made a partnership with another freelancer who is a little over booked with clients so I will be taking some off his hands. I am still working on my projects with my latest web app just around the corner. I also have a new project in the works but not ready to say just yet. Most of my work days right now are doing client updates. It seems I can go weeks or months and no client needs updates or work done and then when I get in the process of new clients my current ones start sending loads of updates. The good thing about updates is that the day seems to go by pretty fast.
Spring is of course here and one can only hope that we don’t have a repeat of last year. I really don’t want to have to deal with massive flooding again this year (the picture above is from Wichita Falls, TX during the flooding last year. It was not taken by me and you can see more here). Last year was bad enough. It also cut our camping trips to only two for the season when we had planned more. In fact we already have two camping trips planned so far with the first being the first weekend in June for my birthday in Lawton, OK at Lake Lawtonka. The other being around the 4th of July here at Lake Arrowhead. We plan to get another one in but not sure when or where yet. Need to start going through our camping gear in the next couple of weeks as well.
Moving to Wichita Falls, TX has a huge plus over Lawton, OK and that was the MPEC (Kay Yeager and Memorial Auditorium). They don’t get much during a year but they do get a few big concerts and shows. In January you may remember that we took the kids to see Playhouse Disney Live! which was great. On Monday I will be going to see Sevendust, Saliva, Neverset, and Overscene at the KY. I originally hadn’t planned on going but I’ve been a huge fan of Sevendust for years and Saliva is a great band. It should be a great show and I’m looking forward to it.
On top of going to the Sevendust show on Monday the wife and I will be going to see Jeff Dunham on May 8 at the Memorial Auditorium for his Spark of Insanity tour. I have loved Jeff Dunham for awhile and both of his DVDs are great. It will be great to finally see him in person. That is really all that is going on right now. Still working on my redesign which as of today is about 75% complete so it should be up very soon.
