We made a mistake. Well, we missed something in testing with the XA database(that doesnt show up to most people if you were running XA 2.0 first). So its our fault.

And we can’t believe that Apple missed it too! They had the application ‘in review’ for over 12 hours after a week wait. And still ok’d it with a problem that affects a ton of mostly new users.

We had this problem debugged, an update submitted(and request to be expedited) all in the same morning it was released. And a simple workaround in place to fix the problem for people experiencing it.

But we don’t feel that is really good enough…and we’re sorry.

1. We can’t update fixes fast enough.

In the older Windows Mobile days we could have had a fixed app out in a matter of minutes after we fixed it, and saved hundreds of people from ever even having the chance of seeing the problem. There was just another level of trust there that Apple doesnt allow.

Why isn’t there a way that developer’s can get ‘trusted’ status from Apple. So if they have a minor update, they can go through a quick review channel. That way the fix is out there right away…

The quick channel right now is the developer finding an obscure form in Apple’s help system to basically beg for an expedited review, and then get a scolding “we don’t want this taken advantage of” letter back with a yes or no on whether they’ll do it quicker. This usually comes after a day or two. If they do agree, well then you’ll see the review start maybe a day after that.. So 3-4 days instead of 7-8+.

I know there are a lot of apps, and a lot of junk, so they are having to police. But what exactly did they do to review my app, if they didn’t catch what is essentially it not starting at all on some hardware if its a fresh install…

And I would think it would be somewhat obvious to Apple who is a more trusted developer, and who is turning out daily rss feeder or fart sound apps… Charge us a little more, and/or put it out there that if you do anything malicious you are kicked out of trusted status, and/or the AppStore. I know that a reviewer should be able to review a bug fix app(send it to the same tester that did the full review),and have them run through the whole thing covering all the screens of most apps in less than 10 minutes..

2. And then when a problem like this comes up, people think reviews are the way to get tech support.

Why is this bad?

Well, there is no way to get rid of them once its fixed. And about half the people don’t go back and change their review after it is… Go look at Extreme Agenda’s reviews right now. Some were nice enough to change their review, and some weren’t. But what is funny about that is if you actually read the product description. One of the first things I say is, ‘hey, if you have this problem email me and i’ll get it fixed’. And then towards the bottom I ask you not to use the reviews for tech support. In most cases(this not being one of them), I will not notice your problem review for weeks or months. Developers aren’t notified of new reviews, and have no way of contacting you once we do see the review, to see if we can help you fix it or get more information. Its just not a good idea, except to let your temper out, for getting tech support!

You aren’t really “showing this evil developer who purposely gave you a broken product”. Its amazing how many people think that if an app is broken for them, it doesn’t work for anyone and this app is obviously some kind of scam… What perpetuates that is we also have no control over refunds. Id give you a refund in a heartbeat if you are one of those people that can’t or won’t use tech support and try to spend a couple minutes resolving an issue. I know the AppStore and low prices promotes instant gratification, and I’m fine with that…

I had a fix for this done yesterday, but some people will still be seeing the problem after a week, and that part isn’t my fault.

So give us developer’s the benefit of the doubt at least initially if the app is not working correctly. There are a lot of factors, and a lot of different hardware and configurations that we can miss things or not be able to test for everything… and a good developer will help you resolve the problem as quick as they can.

And we are handcuffed by some of Apple’s systems, some that should be fixed up…

Thanks

We are almost done with XA 2.1 now.. It turns out there is a bug that a VERY few people are experiencing that we think we may have an answer for, that we want to push out. But we also had a target date of the first of April for a 2.1 submission, so I think we are going to finish off about 3 features, do testing, and then submit.

It basically means we are going to push a couple features back to 2.2 that were originally planned to make it in. Like getting contact grouping in there and acting like categories, for filtering and icons and… We have the code half in there but there is just too many ways this branches to get it done this week with the other things still on the table.

What did make it already:

1. Universal Support – Basically all done with the basic iPad update mentioned before.
2. Calendar Text – Yep, that’s done too. You can either have the main calendar use icons and time bars or show small text of the events now.
3. Mini Calendars day numbers will be color coded, red means a task on this day, or green if events exist on this day.
4. Time Bars on Days. All day views have the option to show the time bar in its title bar or in its own list cell. That includes week view days , and the mini month preview day.
5. Today Color – Another setting to change the grayish color that depicted today on the day background or calendar.
6. Hide Big Event Icons – The huge icon at the beginning of an event in a day list can be hidden now, and it will appear in the right icons at the smaller size now if this is turned on. No more big Calendar icon if you don’t use icons for all your events.
7. You’ll notice we’ve improved the drawing of the time bars as well.
8. Several other bug fixes and cosmetic and UI enhancements

What we still hope to get in there:
1. We are close to having category coloring setup, so you can associate colors with categories and then use these for the color coding in the time bars. Really hoping to add calendar coloring as a choice too.
2. Icon badges. We hope to put at least a couple of the planned choices in for the icon badge count.(Tasks OverDue.. events today.. etc)
3. ‘Last View” start on option choice.

We don’t think this is too bad a list for a .x update release. I know I’ve seen less… I hope you are looking forward to this and many other upcoming enhancements and are helping us spread the word on Extreme Agenda.

Thanks

Update: Its Submitted. Got a bonus feature in too…

Well, we think Extreme Agenda 2.0 is already a big success with great features not all found anywhere else, and kept at a low low price. Thank you for helping us. With popularity it pushes us to be able to work on it even more and get it to where we really want it much quicker. We just submitted 2.01 which addresses some of the issues that popped up in the 2.0 release, and now we feel we are about at the point where we can move on heavily to 2.1.
So our plans, as stated elsewhere, is to create a quick update that adds a bunch of smaller feeling features that make the application way more powerful. We haven’t finalized exactly which of those features will make it in, but event coloring choices and calendar text along with some contact grouping stuff are ‘for sures’. There are a bunch more features that are being mulled over but now we have added what will likely be the biggest feature of 2.1… Universal Support!
We have huge plans for an iPad version, but as an experiment we compiled the 2.0 version using iPad settings and it turned out that with some tweaking and formatting it will be really useable without changing a ton. So we’ll get it ready to use now, and add on more later…
And we don’t want to charge you twice for what basically is the same application, so we will make it a Universal application so you can use it on either or both devices. A bunch more work will go into it to get it to the ‘neat’ planned version later, but we just think that will be part of the evolution of the product, and doing this will help get to that. So we’ll see how eventual updates go, but we plan to keep it all one product… And the goal is to get the whole app to where we ‘want it to be’ completely by July! So watch for even more updates after 2.1 too…

Thanks for supporting Extreme Agenda.

Hi there. Just figured I’d drop a little note to tell you that we are coming along big time on version 2.0 of Extreme Agenda. That is our main focus right now and we think it is turning out great. Go to Facebook and do a search on “Extreme Agenda iPhone” if you want to see a couple sneak peek screenshots of version 2.0. And join the group or follow us on Twitter as we plan on doing up the 2.0 release big with some giveaways and specials.

Oh and as a blog special sneak peek, we even have a new icon for the app:

We think the current users will be pleasantly surprised with the free update and any new users, we hope you pick up XA now, as the new regular price for XA after 2.0 will be $4.99. We’ve basically kept the price low to try to get the word out, and we’ve succeeded, but our main competition goes for over twice the new price, and while they aren’t innovating as fast as we are(check out our release notes on the XA page), they had a head start. But we feel that we’ll be about caught up very soon… 😉 At least with the features that really matter…

So check out Extreme Agenda now, and watch for 2.0 soon!!!

(and welcome to all you new Verizon iPhone users!)

We have recently submitted our 2nd productivity title for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This is a completely new product, wrote from the ground up to be a quick and easy list taking application(it may take some ideas from our ListWatch).

What sets it apart from the hundreds of iPhone tasks, todo, list apps?

Well, we wanted to go clean and easy and just useful. Eliminate taps, but allow flexibility and neat features. It allows you create 5 different kinds of lists, including numbered lists and checklists and even allows basic pricing with totaling if you need a list that does that(simple invoices or totaled grocery lists?).

But the cool features…

Well, we made it extremely easy to back up your lists to either a dropbox account in the cloud, or save the list file to your computer using iTunes.

And… you can BUMP a list to another Jot List user or merge lists! Think about the possibilities… You make a Todo list for your husband(or wife) and with one Bump to their Phone, he or she now has it. They add a couple things and checks off a couple that are done… BUMP… You get it back… Share Xmas lists, grocery lists, whatever lists quickly and easily…

Or share the lists in an email with no hassles. A formatted version of the list can be emailed with the touch of a button…

So check out a sneak peek…

Jot List

Update: And as soon as it goes live the iPad universal build will be submitted…

2nd Update: Come on Apple… Version 1.1 has gotten bigger already.. We now have TextExpander support built-in as well as sub-items. You can swipe from the left on any item(except on a ‘count’ list) and items will become indented sub-items. Eventually you’ll be able to collapse the list to hide sub-items, might get in there in 1.1 if Apple doesnt Approve Jot List soon… 🙂 I use this app every day, and its already exactly what I want, so I hope that’s a good sign…

Well, it is super busy here at Birdsoft.

We are totally excited about the recent release of Extreme Agenda for iPhone and the success it has already had. We are putting in a lot of hours to get an update out with a bunch of new features including some of your great suggestions.

We also just completed 2 updates, one hopefully making Poker Stacks more solid with OpenFeint(already approved), and the other adding Retina Display support to PokerTimer. We are also trying to sneak in a retina display All-In update as well as creating an awesome new productivity product. And we want them all done by the Holidays. Oh, and we are working on a neat consulting project too…

So we’re busy, but we’re having fun…

Update: Oh, and we have a new version of Metal Euchre submitted that should address the “Bidding” window problems once and for all…

We are wrapping up development of the 1.0 version of Extreme Agenda for iPhone and iPod Touch, and are extremely excited about it. It is on pace to be done and submitted within the next couple weeks!

It has some awesome features and a a very cool interface and look that will make using your calendar and todo application more useful and fun. And it will only be version 1.0, so we plan on going for feature parity with it’s older brother and then well beyond!!!

And to top it all off we plan to offer the initial version for a crazy low introductory price!

We are at the point where we will be building some ad hoc builds for beta testers, so if interested just email me…

Tell your friends and be on the watch for all new Extreme Agenda!!!

Check out a sneak peek here.