November 10th, 2006 at 5:39pm • Posted by
Martin Ott
Usually, I start development with trying to identify the core problem of the application to be made. This core problem then needs an adequate solution because otherwise the whole app is not gonna work at all. For Portal we need a decent file synchronization engine. I started digging around for some cool algorithms at CiteSeer or Google Scholar. Here is a list of some seemingly relevant and interesting papers:
This makes a good pile of bedside reading. Well, I’m just kidding. You want to read this hard-core stuff any time during the day but certainly not before going to bed. I’m going to weed through these papers in search for an applicable algorithm or at least for some inspiration. Now I’m off for some reading…
September 16th, 2006 at 6:27am • Posted by
Martin Ott Now they are out of the bag. We have selected 24 finalists and I think they are a great mix of the 2700+ ideas that have been submitted. Well, there have been a few that didn’t fit so well into the scheme of the contest. Jason already wrote a post about that. He didn’t mentioned the so-called ‘world peace’ submissions. Gaining world peace with just one click and not only on planet earth. There were a few of them and the made my day although they didn’t quite fit into the picture.
Again, I want to thank all of you for submitting your ideas and making this contest a huge success so far.
The 24 finalists represent a broad range of ideas which might polarize the community but also show the variety of submissions in general. While working my way through all the entries my opinion was once again confirmed that people are looking for solutions. They need tools to get their stuff done. Some of them are in need of applications to get their specific job done others want something to express their creativity and emotions. But what all have in common is the need for something that not only just works but is also fun to use. It should be worthwhile to use and it still should not stand in the way.
You can think of the 24 finalists what you want. They might not be world-changing but if you put them into the perspective I gave you then imagine how the final products could affect people’s life.
So now it’s up to you to figure out who will be the final three. Let the elimination rounds begin.
September 3rd, 2006 at 3:21pm • Posted by
Martin Ott I was blown away by the number of ideas submitted. Over 2700 entries in 12 days. That’s amazing. Thank you all out there for your creativity and enthusiasm. We started to judge the entries a few days ago and still haven’t had the chance to look at every entry. But we will be ready when we announce the first finalists next week. With the announcements of the first finalists, My Dream App is entering the next phase and it’s getting even more exciting.
Back to work…
August 21st, 2006 at 5:29am • Posted by
Martin Ott The My Dream App contest has finally started. Though I joined the team just a week or so ago I have awaited eagerly that we reveal what has been brewing for some time now. The whole crew worked very hard to make this happen. We have a fabulous line-up of guest judges. Everyone is ready and we have everything in place. Now I’m very excited to see what all you out there come up with.
For me, it will be a whole new experience building an app from the ground-up with community participation in every step of the process. In the past developers often sat down in front of their machine and thought about what would be the next killer app. They often ended up developing something they would benefit from in their daily work. Often it turned out well because someone else also was in need of their apps. Today we turn the table and let the community tell us what they dream of and what they would need.
Together with the MDA team I’m looking forward to work with you and making your dream come true.
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Martin Ott
SubEthaEditMartin Ott is a Mac software developer who co-founded TheCodingMonkeys, a company determined to produce software that stands up to the Macintosh ease-of-use while solving complex problems. With the release of SubEthaEdit 1.0, his company revolutionized real-time text collaboration. He commits his experience and passion to My Dream App to make your dream come true. Find out more about him on his blog here.
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