Holtwick IT

Beta Testing

holtwick — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:31:34 +0000

If you like to become a beta tester of out iOS software we will need the UIUD of your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad device you like to test on. Since the number of testers is very limited because of limitations Apple has set up, please just send one UDID. Please send your UDID along with your principal email address and your full name via email to dirk.holtwick@gmail.com.

The following short video shows how to get the UDID on a Mac using iTunes:

Twitter + Video = mov.io

holtwick — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:23:17 +0000

I’m happy to see the mov.io service has launched recently. Oliver Wagner and Oliver Köster have build a clean and elegant service to easily share videos on Twitter. I contributed the iPhone app to this project which is still in the approval process for the Apple AppStore. Hope you enjoy and use the new service.

Here is an appetizing video that explains the main features:

Google Wave iPhone Client

holtwick — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:42:13 +0000

Visit the projects website getwaveboard.com

Google Wave might become the next big thing since it integrates techniques from email, wiki and chat. This kind of communication is migrating from the desktop computers to the mobile devices, especially to the iPhone. Therefore it is consequent to give this new service a nice shell on this device and so I wrote WaveBoard which is a little nice wrapper around Google Wave.

The app is in review state for the AppStore right now, but I prepared a little preview for the impatient

Ghana VAT Project

holtwick — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:29:56 +0000

I had the honor to work on a very nice project this year for the eGenix GmbH. It is about bringing a better VAT infrastructure to the African country Ghana. We used technologies like Python, Django, Javascript and YUI.

To get an idea of it I recommend to watch this lightning talk Marc-Andre Lemburg gave at the EuroPython 2009.

Update 2009-09-02:

African press is speaking about the start of the pilot phase:

Twittori – Geotags for Twitter status messages

holtwick — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:11:16 +0000

Twittori.com is our current project that adds geo tagging to Twitter messages. It is very easy to use and intends to bring a more useable geo dimension into the Twitter World.

I started a little service that adds geo location informations to single Twitter status messages.

Unlike other services this is done by a tiny URL that itself contains all geo location informations e.g. http://GE0.at/0MbEX8 which locates the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This is achieved by a modified ‘geohash’ algorithm (more on that at Wikipedia).

The second unique feature is that users can follow places in a similar way than they are used to follow users on Twitter. Therefore the earth is divided in discrete squares of about 0.25 square kilometers. You can keep updated by subscribing to a RSS Feed or visiting the web site.

An iPhone application is also ready but not yet approved by the Apple App Store. In the meanwhile you can watch a little demo on the web site under the ‘iPhone’ menu entry.

I hope this is an interesting project for the readers of Mashable. The URL of the project is http://www.twittori.com

The Website

The web site has been designed by Martin “Datendesigner” Jacobs. It aims to be clear and simple to use.

The iPhone App

The iPhone App is waiting to become approved for the App Store. It is very easy to use and provides a well defined user interface. A little demo on Twittori.com shows the details: http://www.twittori.com/content/iphone

The Technology

The Google App Engine is used for hosting. Therefore the server side code is written in Python. For the AJAX stuff we use Google Maps, Google Gears, jQuery, jQueryTools scrollable, jQuery mousewheel, prettyPhoto. The CSS is based on Blueprint CSS Framework.

Apple iPhone and iPod Beta Testing

holtwick — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:44:23 +0000

To get early access to an iPhone App in development we need to register your iPhone with the Apple AdHox Distribution System. Therefore your iPhone’s UDID is needed. See this article for further explanation how to achieve it: http://www.innerfence.com/howto/find-iphone-unique-device-identifier-udid

Once you have send your UDID and your iPhone is registered we will send you a ZIP file containing two files:

A mobile provisioning file
The iPhone app

Drag both on the iTunes icon and sync your iPhone. Now the app should be available on the iPhone for testing.