TapLynx

We are big fans of interesting informational apps that make keeping up with a field we’re really interested in more, well, interesting. One of our favorites we’ve seen deployed by a TapLynx customer is PsychExplorer. The PsychExplorer app was developed for both iPad and iPhone and features an easy-to-navigate stream of information and updates about the field of psychology. Even better, it is being used as an educational tool for students across the globe. Last week we chatted with the app’s builder and visionary, Michael Britt, to learn more about PsychExplorer:

How did you get into the world of developing apps?

I built my first app in 2008 and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I got caught up in the whole app frenzy thing.  It seemed like it would be a cool thing to do.  However, there were other – in my case educational – reasons.  My podcast and blog is education focused and I found that after a year I had one very popular video episode.  It was getting a lot of positive comments from students who were saying how helpful it was to them for their tests.  So I started to think that it would be cool to take the idea behind the episode and expand it out and put the information into an app that students could carry with them and have with them just before their test – right outside the class door even.  So at that time I put the idea for my app on eLance.com and I found someone who tried to build it.  It didn’t work out so well, so I had to find another freelancer to re-build it.  Finally, I decided to build on my own on TapLynx. I learned a little about how Xcode works (but believe me, just enough to get the project done) and then went through the unbelievably complex Apple provisioning process for a non-coder, but finally got the app in the App Store.  It was tough, but rewarding.

Why PsychExplorer? What is the idea behind the app?

I learned a few things from my first app experience: 1) my first app was way too “nichy” – the app would only appeal to a certain audience who happened to have an iPhone and who knew that the app existed and who remembered to buy it at the one time in their lives when they needed it.  Obviously it didn’t sell very well, but the feedback was encouraging.  So I wanted to make an app that would have broader appeal.  I turned to the old (but very useful question): what do people really need?  What problem could I solve with an app?

One of the problems in my field (psychology) is that there is so much news, research, opinion, etc., being pumped out daily that it’s very hard for a psychology professional, teacher or student to keep up with it all.  Over the years of doing my podcast – The Psych Files- I had identified what I considered to be the most credible sources in the field of psychology – credible news sources, credible bloggers, podcasters and twitterers.  These were they ones I turned to for info and ideas for my podcast episodes.  Of course, I was way too busy with family and work responsibilities to create an episode out of every good piece of news so I had to pass by a lot of potentially interesting news items. Then I thought: if I’m having trouble keeping up with all this news, so is everybody else in my field, so why not create an app in which I share all this news?  Essentially I had, over the years, curated all these great news sources.  Now if I could only create an app that I could constantly update and which would update itself as well since a lot of my sources had RSS feeds.  That’s when I heard about the TapLynx framework.  Taplynx is perfect for a curation project.

How do you people use PsycExplorer? Where do you see the most user engagement with the App?

The feedback I’m getting is that people use PsycExplorer exactly as I intended: to keep up with the field of psychology.  Professionals are able to skim the latest news, teachers are finding useful ideas for lectures and they’re finding videos they can show in class. I personally choose every video. When i find a good video on YouTube I add it to one of my YouTube playlists, and the RSS feed from this playlist gets sent into the app.  I have to give a lot of credit to Walter Tyree of Tyree Apps for helping me customize TapLynx so that it could be set up the way I felt my audience wanted to sift through the news.  He knows TapLynx really, really well and I couldn’t have done this without him.   So I’ve got news, videos, audio, tweets: everything someone interested in psychology would want to check out available from their mobile device.

Do you use push notifications? How does the feature amplify your brand?

I absolutely want to get push notifications integrated into the app.   I feel PsycExplorer gives users only the latest and most important news, but there’s still a lot of news to get through.  Sometimes there’s a story that breaks in the middle of the day that I think all my users should know about.  I don’t want it to get lost and I’m sure my users don’t check the app every day.  I want to use push to remind them that the app is there on their phone and also to remind them of the value it brings to them –  keeping them in touch with the most important news as it happens even. It’s next in my plans.

Why did you decide to build on TapLynx?

Two reasons to use Taplynx: 1) customizability – Walter was able to organize the app exactly the way I felt it needed to be organized in order to present the information to my audience in a way I knew they would find familiar, and 2) I needed to be able to update the app immediately with breaking news.  The fact that I can do this with the Taplynx Config file hosted on my site is amazing. This allows me to see a piece of news, put it directly into a custom RSS file, upload that file to my site and have that news in the hands of my users immediately.  That’s cool.

Any other cool projects you’re working on?

I just released a test preparation and study tool app called Psyc Test Hero for iOS and Android apps.  This is another educational tool, so of course it won’t be an Angry Birds.  Unless you’re making game apps I think the only way to make your money back on apps is to have more than a few out there.  You also have to get the word out that your app exists. My podcast is absolutely essential for that piece. Now I’m just waiting for TapLynx to make an Android version!

Here at TapLynx, we keep throwing out the thought that TapLynx would be the perfect tool to get apps out there that help people better navigate their communities. Whether they’re neighborhood or city centric, we love the idea of an app that tracks what is going on nearby. Recently, we discovered inSW1, a perfect example of a beautifully built neighborhood app featuring the Victoria neighborhood of London. Last week we spoke with Gareth Creaney, the designer of inSW1, to hear more about one of our new TapLynx favorites:

What inspired the idea behind inSW1?

London and the SW1 area are steeped in history and culture. Businesses have collaborated as the London Victoria Partnership to protect, enhance and promote the area. 2012 is the year of The London Olympics and Queens Diamond Jubilee where London will see a huge increase in visitors and media attention. The inSW1.com aspires to provide information & support to help improve the area and assist growth through a wide range of business and visitor support services. London starts here!

What’s your favorite place in the Victoria neighborhood?

I’m from a small village in Ireland which is worlds apart from the hustle & bustle of one of the world’s busiest cities. I do get to travel to London frequently though. Victoria is at the heart of London’s numerous tourist attractions. You can see major London musicals including Wicked and Billy Elliot at theatres in Victoria. London Victoria Station, the Victoria tube line and the area of Victoria in London were all named after Queen Victoria, the longest-reigning British monarch.

There’s also The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Changing the Guard, Westminster Abbey but my most recent favourite has to be a visit to the Churchill War Rooms where the books and charts have remained exactly where they were left at the end of World War II in 1945. My granny also witnessed the bombing raids on Belfast from the house where i grew up which became known locally as The Belfast Blitz.

Why did you choose to build your app on TapLynx?

The decision was easy really: I reviewed a number of products and online services over a couple of weeks. The way in which TapLynx consumes RSS feeds really complemented our website content management system incontrolCMS. As our customers updated their website the app was also pulling down this new information in real-time. We could also connect all their social media outlets through the app incorporating latest news, audio, video and image galleries. We built the app in a few days and submission through the appStore was painless.

The app is native and can be extended through plugins which I’ve also incorporated. For example, A feedback tab where the user can email a pic from their phone to the team @inSW1, an audio player for streaming radio & mp3, a web view which enables us to call web pages directly within the app & the list goes on ….

I’m really looking forward to the latest release which includes iAd support and we’re working on an iPad app right now using the TapLynx framework for iPad. With TapLynx, so much can be achieved in a very short space of time.

This month’s featured app, Arosa, has all of us in the office daydreaming of hopping a plane to Switzerland. The app is the perfect example of a TapLynx app beautifully designed to feature a town’s nature, nightlife, weather and events for locals and visitors alike. We recently caught up with Arosa’s designer Georg Obermayr, of German agency Adverma, to hear more about his work with apps and the creation of Arosa:

How did you get into the world of apps?
Georg: When the AppStore was launched we saw very quickly what impact it would have on the marketing strategy of our clients. As an advertising agency, we realized that a complete new marketing channel came into being. We looked into ways to bring our knowledge of publishing systems, marketing processes and graphic design in this new business.

Why Arosa? What is the idea behind the app?
Georg: The idea was to establish an information platform for everything about Arosa. We looked at all the interesting things for people on vacation in Arosa and for people excited about their next trip to Arosa.  We packed things like up-to-date news and offers, weather forecasts, skiing info and maps into the app. There is even a section for nightlife tips. All these things are maintained on a day-by-day basis.

Because we are an advertising agency we also thought heavily about the processes for content creation. For that reason, we partnered with Quark and used their popular Quark Publishing System (QPS) to create and deliver content. Finally we came up with a complete cross-media marketing ecosystem. For example, when we create a new flyer for Arosa we are using QPS to deliver the contents of the flyer to the iPhone – automatically.

Why did you decide to build on TapLynx?
Georg: Building on TapLynx was way easier for us than coding it the hard way. With TapLynx we have been able to concentrate on our core skills, like the design or editorial parts, without worrying if the app by itself would be working. And this – of course – made the app cheaper and more affordable for our client. Really a great way to start into the app business!

How do you people use Arosa? Where do you see the most user engagement with the app?
Georg: The newsfeeds are really the most popular parts of the app. You always see what goes on in Arosa and what special offers there currently are. In the nightlife tab you can also see which DJs are playing at night. By just flipping through the different tabs, you get the complete picture of every possibility you can go out and enjoy in Arosa. The weather and skiing info tabs are also very popular.

Do you use push notifications? How does the feature amplify your brand?
Georg: Yes, we are using push notifications. They are a great feature to drive customers into the app and to point out everything happening in Arosa.

Any other cool projects you’re working on?
Georg: Yeah, of course! We are working on some other apps for the iPhone, one is kind of a calculator for an enterprise in the chemical industry. Although there are no news feeds in this app we are using TapLynx as a foundation because it makes the development easier for us. Plus we are also working on some cool digital publishing projects for the iPad.

We’re loving the I-5 North app here in the Push IO office. As music people, we’re always looking for new artists to add to our playlists. I-5′s TapLynx app features video and audio streams that deliver the Northwest’s hip-hop scene to any mobile device. Here we chat with Littleton Miller, the creator of I-5,  about the story behind the app:

How did you get into the world of apps?
Coming from an entertainment and music background I was looking to extend my reach past the normal channels of CDs and DVDs.  A mobile app was the perfect solution.

Why I-5 North? What is the idea behind the app?
Ironically, Apple actually sponsored the original I-5 North Project over 12 years ago: it was a DVD.  Being from the Seattle area and having close ties and a vast history with the Hip Hop community here, I decided to start visually showcasing the local talent with interviews, footage of live shows/performances, freestyles, poetry, etc. I wound up getting a  worldwide distribution deal for the DVD, and sold a decent amount of product internationally, and stateside in Borders, Barnes & Nobles, Circuit City, Best Buy and other big stores. Sometime later, the footage was licensed to MTV2 and I abandoned the project. That DVD alone helped me establish myself as a Director/Cinematographer/Editor, gave people outside of the region a look inside the NW Hip Hop community, and paved the way for other similar projects and products. Over a decade later, when I decided to pick up where I left off,  it was only fitting to do an iPhone app with the way people are using mobile today.

How do you see people using I-5 North? Where is user engagement happening?
Watching music videos online is very popular. I wanted to give that functionality inside an iPhone app for a particular demographic/community, while allowing users to submit their own content. I also wanted them to stay engaged with other related content like photo galleries, radio shows, interviews and rap battles.

What features do you use to make your app stand out?
My app features some of the hottest, independent, underground talent along the entire Interstate 5 corridor. Giving them a innovative platform to showcase their work is my main focus and I believe the upcoming features and updates will stand out most: I have plans to use push technology to instantly let app users know about live concerts and performances currently streaming through the app. Also, the current I-5 radio show is getting a lot of great feedback, so I have future plans to feature live streams and audio only interviews on the app.

Why did you decide to build on TapLynx?
Learning Objective C quickly didn’t seem to be an option for me and after fumbling through the “pay as you go” offerings, I just wasn’t impressed.  Luckily, I found TapLynx, and after doing some research and a whole lot of forum trolling, I had finally found a solution that was a great fit and simple enough to understand.

Any other cool projects you’re working on?
I have some very cool ideas for the iPad that I’m sure will work great on the updated TapLynx framework coming soon. Before I do this, though, I need to expand I-5 North a little more.

(Screenshot of Video Playing, “Things I Couldn’t Say” by Dice)

Broadcast pushes are here! Now TapLynx developers can send manual “breaking news” pushes to all of their users whenever they want using the new Broadcast push functionality.

To send a Broadcast push, simply log into your push account at taplynx.pushio.com and click on Broadcast on the top right corner.

From the new Broadcast page, type in the text of your push, choose the application that you’d like to send it to, confirm that the push complies with Apple’s License Agreement and off it goes!

Broadcast pushes are sent to all registered users for a specific application, and are delivered immediately.

Enjoy!

With citizen journalism on the rise, Berkeley’s local news outlet, Berkeleyside, is leveraging the world of apps to let their readers report up-to-the minute news.

The Berkeleyside app streams the outlet’s content, Twitter feed and Flickr photos. The most innovative piece of the Berkeleyside app, though, is their Citizen Reporter tab. Via the Berkeleyside app, Berkeley residents can submit photos taken on their phones of news they see unfolding around town. They can then submit these photos to the Berkleyside staff, including relevant notes on what news is being reported. These photo messages land at Berkeleyside in real time, giving Berkeleyside journalists breaking news updates they can report out to the Berkeley community.

We love that Berkeleyside is digging into the power of mobile apps to maximize their news coverage in Berkeley. Check out more on their app here.

The Product Reviews app is based off of a respected source for technology news. They provide gadget reviews, guides, and analysis of everything tech. The site is already quite popular among bloggers and people on Twitter, and so now they are able to reach their audience through their new iPhone app they created using TapLynx.

They have included a number of features such as sharing and tab customization, and they have also further enhanced the framework by including commenting via Intense Debate. The app has really taken off so far, and you can download it for free here: itunes.apple.com/us/app/product-reviews/id421120569?mt=8

Visit the Product Reviews website: www.product-reviews.net/

We’re proud to spotlight a new app for the iPad created with TapLynx: CHIC.TV. CHIC was developed exclusively as a digital publication, and it is known for providing the best fashion and beauty content to its readers. They’ve been able to use TapLynx to quickly transform their site into a sleek iPad app, with more magazines planned for the future. A quote from their CEO:

“We have devised to use TapLynx as CHIC.TV iPad Magazine technology parter for their proven platform and the unlimited customization options they offer.” Says Rami Rinot CEO of CHIC.TV “In a relatively short time we were able to launch a slick and comprehensive fashion iPad fashion magazine that brings CHIC.TV ongoing constantly updated content as well as original content created especially for the app. This is all work in progress, as we plan to constantly improve the app as well as launch additional magazines using TapLynx in the near future.”

CHIC.TV Magazine is free and you can download it here: itunes.apple.com/us/app/chic/id418962338?mt=8

Visit the CHIC.TV website.

The Best App Ever award nominees have been announced, and iDygest has been selected as a finalist in the news app category! The collection of popular Dygest apps have been lauded all year long as superb sources for their respective categories (technology, celebrity, and gaming news), and we’re proud to promote them as excellent use-cases of TapLynx.

iDygest, the technology news app, is up for this award: go here to vote! Voting is going on now until January 25.

Download iDygest.

iDygest website.

We are extremely pleased to announce the very first TapLynx for the iPad app available in the iTunes store: PsycExplorer HD! (PsycExplorer for the iPhone was featured a few months ago on this blog.)

Michael Britt, the creator of the app, had this to say:
“I was really happy about how quickly I was able to convert my Taplynx-based iPhone app to an iPad app. Since I was already familiar with the TapLynx framework after using it to create my iPhone app, all I had to do to make an iPad version was to make some tweaks to my rss files and add some new graphics. I submitted the app and it was approved in just 3 days. The response has been very positive since the news articles and blog posts in my app are so much easier to read on the larger iPad screen. Video also looks great at this size. Obviously I’m very pleased I went with TapLynx to build my app.”

Download the PsycExplorer HD app for the iPad here!