Chicago Fringe Festival App
The 2012 version of the Chicago Fringe Theater Festival iPhone App is pending release and will be available soon. This years app features the schedule of shows, map with venues, @ChicagoFringe Twitter feed, and includes The Mosaic Photo System, which will be running live at Fringe Central for the length of the festival.
Mosaic Photo System
This week we saw the release of Mosaic for Android v1.2, fixing a major bug that was causing some phones to upload scrambled images.
We are patiently waiting … for Mosaic for iPhone v1.1 to be approved, after a few scary questions came back from the app review team.
Digispark
Finally, after starting to make plans for The Raspberry Pi computer and starting back into some Arduino hacking, I came across the Digispark, a mini Arduino that is small and cheap enough to be left in a project for a long time.
Technori Pitch
Last week (Week 83) I traveled to Chicago and attended Technori Pitch. The event was a great place to hear about some neat new companies, get some inspiration, and network with other people in the Chicago tech community.
The keynote speaker of the night was David Kalt, owner of Chicago Music Exchange. David has built and sold several businesses and has an incredible down-to-earth way about him. Check out his video:
Chicago Fringe Festival
This week we submitted the 2012 Chicago Fringe Festival iPhone App to the App Store. This year’s app has The Mosaic Photo System built in and we will have Mosaic running live at Fringe Central for the entirety of the festival. If you are in Chicago, be sure to check out The Chicago Fringe Theater Festival, August 30 – September 9.
Mosaic
The past few weeks have also seen a lot of work going into The Mosaic Photo System, in all sorts of areas. I have made improvements to every piece of software that is a part of the system, and made some upgrades that will keep the server running smoothly. I have fallen off the wagon on doing cold calls, and have recommitted to doing 1 hour of calls during each workday.
Mosaic Photo System
Version 1.1 of Mosaic for Android is available via Google Play. Android users can now browse photos that have been uploaded to their event.
Mosaic ran at a live event last Sunday. While it was great to see people enjoy the experience, some bugs were revealed:
1. Some Android devices are still uploading scrambled images
2. Some Android devices are uploading small images, which become pixelated when viewed on a large screen
3. Our EC2 Micro Server Instance couldn’t handle (less than) 10 users uploading simultaneously
All these issues are being addressed and will be resolved before our next scheduled event on August 22nd.
StartLouis
This week I attended the StartLouis July Meetup.
At 5:30 we held our first Mastermind meeting. We decided that we will meet in person before each StartLouis Meetup and will meet via conference call 2 weeks after each Meetup. The goal of the Mastermind Group is to provide an outlet where startups can share their experiences, ask questions, and get input from like-minded entrepreneurs.
At 6:30 we headed downstairs for a bit of networking and to hear talks from @pradeepr about SCRUM Project Management and @RussHenneberry about D.R.I.P. Marketing, Blogging, and more.
Mosaic Photo System
Last week I ran Mosaic during our 4th of July cookout and dug up some bugs along the way. First I tried running a new version of the Slideshow software, which wasn’t quite ready. Then we ran into a few bumps with the Android devices. The last few days have been spent debugging the Slideshow and Android app, adding the “Browse” tab to the Android app, and digging up some client work.
I also had a discussion where I realized that I have been avoiding doing the work that needs to be done to get Mosaic in front of event planners. I then went to work creating a list of DJs, Event Planners, and Venues and have set a goal to call 10 of them each work day.
Techweek Startup City Techweek 2012 has passed and Feltpad was lucky enough to have a table at the Startup City event on Monday. Startup City was the first time The Mosaic Photo System was running live at an event, and things went very smoothly.
Techweek was a great networking event and I will plan on attending next year with a profitable version of Mosaic. I have read that Techweek 2013 will be only 3 days, Thursday thru Saturday – rather than 5 days, Friday thru Tuesday that was Techweek 2012. I am no event planner, but I think this scheduling change will be a big improvement. This year, Friday was very busy but the weekend was slow – and everyone was hungover by Monday.
Mosaic Photo System
While running Mosaic at Techweek’s Startup City there were a few bugs that I noticed and those are being addressed. I have also started to implement some new ideas and continue to bring the Android app up to speed. Several possible partnerships arose out of being at Techweek and I will be following up on those during the coming week.
Google Glass
I will leave you with a video from the Google IO conference. Pretty amazing stuff, despite a few awkward “whoo-hoos!” from Sergy Brin.