I have no experience with Heroku, but I would definitely recommend Dotcloud. I run my webapp, iphone and android app with the same backend on dotcloud and I can scale it up or down depending upon the traffic. Except for a few minor issues the service is holding up pretty good.
My first webapp http://www.drawmics.com is like twitter for comics/images. I haven't got time to work more on it, but it's pretty good at the current state. It usually gets 50 views per day. Check it out.
When I wanted to develop a mobile app, I started with PhoneGap and then Appcelerator, but I really didn't like the outcome. The UX didn't cut it in terms of visual appeal.
Then I decided to learn Obj-C and started to go through the Stanford lectures on iOS 5. The only thing I did for 15-20 days was to listen to all the lectures without even jumping into coding. After the lectures were over, I started to work on the exercises. That helped me a lot.
I didn't have any idea how Obj-C works and did a whole lot of research after each lecture what it was about and what constructs were used.
I would recommend anyone who wants to learn iOS programming to go through the Standford lectures (https://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/ipad-iphone-application-de...) and do the due diligence after each lecture to get in-depth knowledge. It is going to take time, but it is worth it.
I love the interface and the colors. Also a nice use of tabs on the top. Here are a few questions and comments that I have:
1. How does one edit a list and add a picture?
2. Can a note be smart enough to fetch a relevant picture and display it alongside?
3. There should be an info page explaining all the buttons on the tabs. Some are obvious, but I couldn't figure out what other buttons are for.
Overall, warm colors and a fresh design to look at.
I got some good review comments on my Finderous mobile app. Now I am pivoting it to make open/closed location based groups. Similar to meetup but a lot more casual.
A good starting point would be to have your design elements aligned in such a manner that they conform to the Fibonacci Golden Ratio. Here is a link to a few articles that describe Golden Ratio usage in web designing:
I just listened to the audio. I practice positive affirmations myself and your scripts associate a visual+auditory elements to the affirmations, which is great. I think I will have to make a habit of listening to them daily.
I am working on integrating location based casual groups in my current app Finderous (http://www.findero.us). Features that I am implementing:
1. Multilevel groups. i.e. groups at city/county/state/country levels.
2. Open/Closed groups. Anybody can join an open groups. And if you have a passphrase, you can join a closed groups.
3. Multiple threads in each groups.
I don't stretch before coding per se, because I am usually standing while coding, so I am already alert. but I do stretches in between coding sessions, like may be every 20-30 minutes. My wife is a physical therapist and I usually follow most of her advise to keep myself energized throughout a marathon of coding.
I guess there is no success without failures. So if the next Steve Jobs walks in he/she must have had great many failures under the belt. One can't expect people to be greatly successful just by the way they walk/talk.
I use Sendgrid API for transactional emails and Mailchip Api for newsletters. If you mean to send transactional API, I would suggest Sendgrid. It offers easy to implement APIs and gives you an option to categorize your transactional emails which can help you a lot in analytics.
You know what, my standard answer would be: "Go take a degree if you want to cross the screening barrier at companies for a job. This is what companies usually do to avoid spending time looking for individuals who don't have a degree but are awesome".
But over a round of beers at a nice pub I would say is that the education system is highly overrated. If everybody started looking for talent of an individual, leaving aside the educational certificates they hold, we would have society working at its full potential.
In my opinion, the aim should be learning, not getting a degree. Also to get higher up, you don't need a degree. Just because one has a degree doesn't mean one is capable of executing the task assigned to. Suppose, you get a degree and grab a job, but you fail to deliver. Are you still gonna get higher up? Now say, you get in without a degree, but really churn out a stellar performance at work. Is anybody going to stop you from climbing up? What is the difference between the two scenarios? One is of course the degree and the other one is the quality of work you are putting in.
I really didn't give you an answer as you might have subconsciously made a decision but I hope I have propelled you to think more and take a right direction.
First of all, congrats on never giving up. I like the idea of PriceFlurry, but right now there are too many clicks. Here are a few suggestions:
1. Instead of an empty location, populate the location with a default city, and/or get the location using IP or geo location in the background.
2. Put a few small icons for heavily used categories such as entertainment, food, travel and an icon for "more" which will open a current box when clicked.
3. I think you can put the input boxes just beside the description on the upper pane. Easier for users to read and start interacting sooner.
Thank you for your suggestions, daveid. I think you are right in postponing the get location button until the users start interacting with the site. I will put on the change location and random question button more prominently.
One practice that I use is to set an hourly reminder on my phone to tell me that I need to focus and, that I have long term plans and dreams. Positive enforcement, and it works like a charm every time I have used it.
Thanks, I believe integrating social components in one's app has become critical to app's marketing. I have put facebook and twitter sharing in my app and I will put email a friend option as well.
Congratulations ronyeh. That's wonderful. Can you please share with us how you have marketed your app? I have an app of my own (Finderous) and I am trying to figure out ways to market it.
Martin, what an awesome thing to do to help us. I considered myself a designer until my brain got blocked churning out new design ideas and now I can surely use some feedback and help on my site and mobile app. I am looking for feedback on my project at http://www.findero.us. Thanks a bunch.