I have to do more Art next year. No more excuses. It’s time to get moving. Move along, that is all.
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2010, I’m impressed.
I have to admit, I’m impressed with this year.
I’m impressed with the team here at Offshoot, I’m impressed with the clientele that we’ve managed to maintain and bring on in the last year and I’m impressed that, even in a bad economy, we’ve managed to be smart and grow the business with a strong vision and action plan for 2011.
If I go back to my thoughts at the end of 2008, I really had no idea where the business would end up. The whole world seemed to be crumbling in the financial apocalypse. I was hopeful we’d make some moves (providing there was still some sort of an economy) in 2009 but the realist in me knew that without a fundamental shift in my approach to managing the business and the type of “client” we were focused on servicing, the prospective for growth in 2009 was nil.
By the time summer rolled around in 2009, things started to change. Little did we know that the seeds for 2010 were already being planted. We picked up a couple of great, new clients. The type of clients you think you shouldn’t be doing work for because they’re too big for a small development shop of 5 people. But the timing to start working with these clients was good, actually perfect. Not only because the new work meant more cash flow but because we could actually serve the needs of these clients.
For the first half of 2009 we had spent a good chunk of time honing our skills, approach and internal systems in preparation for the new work. We overhauled our CMS, built a new job manager from the ground up and finally had someone doing project management full time. The lesson? Had we not had put considerable time and effort into making our internal processes tight in the slower (some might say uncertain? 
) parts of 2008 and 2009 I’m certain that 2010 wouldn’t have turned out like it has.
I know where we’d be this year… We’d have tried to build large scale applications and spent triple the time we thought we would have on development or we’d have delivered products that clients weren’t ultimately satisfied with the finished product. I’m impressed we capitalised on our downtime to get ready so that when the opportunity came to do the work we knew we were capable of doing, our biggest worry was the work itself, rather than the systems what would allow the work to get done.
So, as we begin wind down at the office and make plans to reconnect with friends and family over the Holidays I want to say thanks. Thanks to Team Offshoot and our friends, family and clients that came out to annual Holiday party (even if you couldn’t make it we still love you!) that all had a part in shaping this year.
Amazing!
The title of this post speaks for the video its self.
I’m going to be singing that tune all day!
Happy 25th Birthday Super Mario Brothers!
This week marks the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Brothers. It’s hard to believe that a quarter century ago a video game character named Mario would be the face of an international gaming company and generate billions of dollars in games, movies, toys, clothing and TV.
To test your Mario skills we thought we’d have a little pop quiz… While most of you will use Google to generate these answers we encourage our hardcore gaming enthusiasts to put their knowledge to the test.
1. What was Mario’s original name and how did his name change to Mario?
2. In the movie “The Wizard” what Mario Bros game do they showcase at the tournament? (This is easy people)
3. True or False: Composed by Koji Kondo, the main soundtrack theme to Super Mario Bros remained in the Billboard ringtone charts for over 125 weeks.
4. Name the actor who does the voice of Mario?
5. What video game was Mario first seen in?
6. True or False: Mario and Luigi wear the same clothes in the movie that they do in the video game.
7. What is Mario’s last name?
8. True or False: In the NES classic Super Mario Bros the graphics for the bushes and the clouds are the same
9. What superstitious date was Super Mario Brothers released in Japan?
10. Name your favourite Mario game.
We’ll post the answers in a bit but for the mean time let us know how you did!
Centered Flash and Firefox 3.6+ on OSX
Go figure, A Flash bug that only affects newer Firefox builds on Apple OSX.
We were working on a slick Flash header for a client and noticed something odd. Where the transparency of the flash document met the content below it, things would be thrown out of alignment by 1px.After cross-examining web browsers across several platforms we noticed this issue was only affecting Firefox on Apple OSX. A quick Google search turned up this bug thread over at Mozilla:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=550246
The problem is the way the Flash object is drawn when it is in a div that is centered. When the width of the window is an odd number, the document is thrown out of alignment. When the width of the window is an even number, things look perfect.
To fix this problem I adjusted the height of my Flash document by 19px, and then in CSS I moved my Flash document up by -19px. This moved the edge of the Flash out of the way of any elements that it would affect, in turn hiding the 1px misalignment from sight.
Anyone else have the misfortune of dealing with this issue?
Excessive Data Usage on iPhone 3Gs after upgrading to iPhone OS 4 (Explained: I point the finger at an impatient iOS!)
Update 07.22.2010: Removing the Activesync timing settings profile and upgrading to 4.0.1 just might have fixed everything! Scroll to the end of this post for the latest usability updates.
Update 07.15.2010: Still Not Fixed! I jumped the gun… Look at the bottom of this post for my updates.
Well, that wasn’t a part of the plan.
Anyone else notice unexplained, excessive data usage and a quick draining battery since switching to iOS 4? With a little luck and the magnificent Google, luckily was able to resolve my ActiveSync blues.
After upgrading (perhaps prematurely) to iPhone OS 4 on June 24th, I immediately began to have problems sending and receiving emails through my Exchange account using ActiveSync. To get rid of the issue, I decided to take the simple route and delete my account and start fresh. After the first reset, my mail, contacts and calendar synced up perfectly. Problem solved I thought.
The next day, I discovered many sent emails on my iPhone would end up sitting in my outbox for extended periods of time. For so long that my iPhone would continuously try to sync the email message to the Exchange server unless I went to the outbox and deleted the messages that were unable to be delivered. More worrying, was the fact that my brother was experiencing exactly the same issues on a different wireless carrier.
At first I thought it was a problem with my Exchange server and the version of ActiveSync installed on the iPhone. Ultimately, that thought turned out to be incorrect. At the time I had no choice but to accept the issue and figured it was a result of me being overly eager to upgrade to iOS. Rolling back to 3.1.3 was definitely a “to do” for the coming week.
Bugs and new software go hand in hand. Plus, between my iPhone, Exchange server version (2010) and the version of ActiveSync software running on the Exchange server, I didn’t really know where to turn to resolve the issue on my own. To add to my confusion, my Exchange host, Intermedia, responded to a trouble ticket I submitted stating that no one else had reported any issues syncing their Exchange accounts with their iPhones. I’d have to wait until iOS 4.0.1…
Here were the two issues with my iPhone since my upgrade:
1. Accelerated battery drain on my iPhone 3Gs
2. More worrying, the fact that I managed to transfer over 1 GB of data with my iPhone without my knowledge (I’ve never come close to transferring this amount of data on my phone over the course of a few days. If I hadn’t had the curiosity to check my data usage for the past month, I’d never have known I’d blown through 1 GB of useless data transfer over the course of a few days.)
Here were my worst data days:
June 28th: 453440 Kilobytes of data transfer
June 29th: 612016 Kilobytes of data transfer
These days, it turns out, were excessively bad because I forgot to delete the 3 emails stuck in my outbox. Also, I didn’t check my data usage until the 30th since I didn’t think that the battery drain and constant denial of Exchange server connectivity were related. Initially I suspected that the accelerated battery drain was a result of the increased processing power required to manage multiple open applications. It wasn’t until I saw the data wheel spinning next to my carrier’s name 30 minutes after trying to send a couple of emails that I put everything together. Immediately, I stopped syncing my Exchange account using push to limit my data transfer damage and stopped using the iPhone to send emails.
As it turns out,the cause of my expedited battery drain was in fact intermittent (at best) Exchange server connectivity issues. The good thing is that I have 2 GB a month of data with my phone’s account. The bad thing is that if I was out of the country while having these problems I’d be very poor.
This weekend, with this knowledge in hand, I again deleted and set up my Exchange account on my iPhone. My hope was that some profile settings may have been adjusted since I last synced my iPhone to my Exchange account over ActiveSync. The initial sync up was great. However, just as before, I was having problems delivering emails. I noticed it more on emails with attachments (such as images) but even emails that were less than an kilobyte in size were again sitting in my outbox. To protect myself for any unwanted data usage, I turned off push notifications for my mail account and started to manually check emails. Responses to emails were usually done from my home or work computer. It was at this point that both my brother and I figured we’d be stuck with this issue until Apple updated iOS to 4.0.1.
Fortunately, there’s been a fix issued by Apple! I’m happy to report since applying the patch 2 days ago that I’ve had no problems sending or receiving emails and that my data usage is back to normal. Phew. Turns out the patch was posted on June 28th. I, only discovered it on Sunday.
So, if you’re experiencing a quick draining battery, excessive data usage and, most importantly, emails that are sitting in your outbox follow this link: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3398
Apple lists the symptoms as: “Immediately after updating to iOS 4, some users may notice that Exchange ActiveSync Mail, Contacts, or Calendars do not sync, or sync very slowly. In addition, some Exchange Server administrators may notice their servers running slowly.”
Perhaps the support page should also list the additional symptoms of severe battery drain and excessive data usage which are a direct result of iPhone not syncing or connecting properly with the Exchange server. Again, I’m happy to report that both issues are resolved since applying this patch to the iPhone.
07.15.2010 Update:
The Exchange connectivity issues haven’t disappeared. Unfortunately, the patch that Apple issued to increase the wait time for authentication hasn’t resolved my problems or the problems of many more iOS 4 upgraders. I’m able to send small emails most of the time (as opposed to 100% before my upgrade) but replies or emails with attachments fail 100% of the time.
On Tuesday I tried sending two emails, each with a 200kb image attached. Sure enough, they got stuck in my Drafts folder after trying to send themselves for over an hour. After a hard reboot (turning the iPhone on and off), the emails were sent. However, this is still not an ideal solution and will still cause massive bandwidth usage if you’re not careful.
I just read that iOS 4.0.1 was released but this update apparently only fixes the antenna issue on new iPhones and the calculation used to determine the signal strength. Also, to add to the sadness, users on this Apple Support Thread have upgraded and are still unable to send emails through their Exchange accounts.
07.15.2010 Update:
Okay, looks like the profile patch page I was referring to has been updated. Apple is now telling users to upgrade to iOS version 4.0.1 if it’s available to them. I can upgrade! I’ll try upgrading tonight.
07.17.2010 Update:
Okay folks. I’ve updated to 4.0.1. Here are my most recent notes:
- I can send emails no problem that aren’t replies
- If I try to reply to an email I get the spinning data wheel of death. From what I can tell, replied to emails time out. I also can’t stop the replied to email message from sending. Reply tos don’t even show up in my Outbox as they are attempted to be delivered. The only way to stop the email client from trying to send such an email is to off my phone and reboot. Otherwise, my phone dies (it did this yesterday).
- Larger emails (emails with attachments) have been able to be delivered
07.22.2010 Update:
Email is working better (maybe even back to normal?!)… I’m sending emails with no problems. Replies are working too. Even tried sending an email with an attachment (a 1.3 MB image!!!) and it went through.
I’m guessing my Exchange host Intermedia made some configuration changes on their end to support the iPhone’s possibly flaky Activesync protocol implementation because I am having, as far as I can tell, 100% email success in the past few days.
07.23.2010 Update:
Hmmm. Possible bad news. Had a couple spinning data wheels today when I opened my mail client on my iPhone. Got paranoid about data usage and rebooted my iPhone, though I was still able to send all my outgoing emails.
07.29.2010 – 08.02.2010 Update:
Had time outs again. I’ve isolated time outs when sending emails to when I am replying to a message. It’s only when I am replying to a message and if I can type the entire message or copy and paste what I wrote within 20 seconds of opening the message I can actually send it. If I type a reply for more than 20 seconds, I get the spinning data wheel of death and have to reboot.
08.26.2010 – 09.02.2010 Update:
Like the Fat Boys, the spinning data wheel of death is coming back hard again. Can’t respond to emails. Even 2 word emails that I type out in less than 5 seconds time out. The time out on replied emails is practically instantaneous and can only be remedied with a reboot. I’m guessing that my Exchange host has changed some settings to help iPhone users but whatever has changed has made things worse once again. It’s happening on our other two iPhones as well.
4.1 is just around the corner. Question is, will it finally fix this HUGE problem?
09.08.2010 Update:
4.1 has eliminated my iOS Activesync nightmare. I can actually respond to emails through my iPhone.
How Do You Really Feel NY Post?
Here at Offshoot we have been following the World Cup like mad!
Because of our HUGE love of the game, my friend Geoff (who’s a sports guru) recently sent me this hilarious pic of the front page of the NY Post. This paper went to print following the U.S. loss to Ghana on the weekend.
I had to share it because really, this is definitely journalism at its best! My favourite part is the use of the underline. It makes me envision a kid stamping their foot.
My #1 iPhone OS 4 Usability Wish…
Okay, so I upgraded to iPhone OS 4 yesterday. A pretty painless process that took me about 20 minutes including the download. I read reports on Gizmodo.com that some upgrades were taking more than 2 hours to complete. Sorry, if you had to deal with that.
Anyway, I’m adjusting to the new iPhone OS 4 interface experience. Overall I’m pretty happy. However, I’m feeling like if I had never used an iPhone before upgrading to OS 4 I’d be much more nimble as I move through the interface. Right now, I find myself reverting to old habits from version 3 of the iPhone OS. With some time, I’m sure I’ll be up to speed and hopefully forgetting many of my subconscious habits from OS 3.
I do have one gripe when it comes to multitasking application management. It’s how Apple’s decided to handle the closing of open background applications in the multitasking menu. I’m not a fan (nor will I ever be) of having to hold my finger on the open application icons to initiate the closing process. To close each application that’s open by clicking on the minus button that pops up on the app takes far too long. To me, a much more elegant and quicker solution to closing down open applications would be to simply let me swipe the icon vertically to remove it from the multitasking menu, much like how I’d delete an email in the Mail application. Hopefully this is a feature that Apple’s going to implement in an upcoming update to the operating system.
Take a look at the screen grab below that illustrates my concept:
Family Bonding
James and I after completing our first half marathon.
Yay! We made it!
Is the iPhone tied to a specific carrier in Canada?
I don’t think so.
Even though Apple and Canada’s national carriers (Rogers, Fido, Telus, and Bell) will tell you (as an Apple Store employee told me) that when you buy an iPhone that you’ll be locked (FOREVER!) to the carrier you choose, there’s a way to get off your current provider and give it another go with another provider. The good news is that I’ll find out 100% next week when a client of mine moves a few iPhone 3GS’ from Telus to Rogers.
I found a nice scoop on the Virgin Mobile Canada website FAQs. I know 3G Virgin phones run on Bell and Telus’ new HSPA network but it’s the first documented proof I’ve seen in Canada that an iPhone has no association to a carrier other than the SIM card and downloaded carrier settings associated with a device.
So here’s the FAQ from the Virgin Mobile site:
Can I bring my iPhone to Virgin Mobile?
Yes. If you have an existing iPhone with another company and it has been unlocked, then a Virgin Mobile SIM card with a smartphone plan will work. Virgin Mobile can’t unlock iPhones for customers. Once unlocked and activated with an active Virgin Mobile SIM card, members will need to change their service settings to the Virgin Mobile settings to get up and running.
So, if you dislike your current carrier (in Canada a lot of folks do!), looks like all you’ll need to do is unlock your iPhone or restore it to the factory settings to initiate the switch up. Once this is done and you’ve inserted the SIM card provided by your new carrier you’ll be back up and running (providing you’ve given your new carrier your phone’s IEMI number).
This post will be a work in progress. I expect to have a detailed examination of results sometime next week.
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