tumblr gear

tumblrgear r.1.5.0 release note functional enhancement & bug...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:26:29 -0500

tumblrgear r.1.5.0 release note

functional enhancement & bug fix:

added “open safari” in internal browser.
enabled “move to” button in initial load.
fixed some miscellaneous bugs.

special thanks:

shingoy, nishitani-san, naotake-san, mamiko noto.

metadata updated, meta#091124/b

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:10:24 -0500

due to modification of tumblr iphone page, tumblr gear r.1.4.0 had been unable to get the posts properly. this is already fixed (in meta#091124/b).

if you find any problems, please inform me via twitter @tumblrgear. thanks.

Big bag of hurt

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:08:11 -0500

redcloud:

covertheearth:

redcloud:

funsizebytes:

Dan Wineman (below), on all of the things that Tumblr got wrong with the iPhone app (Hint: just about everything). More from me after the break:

dwineman:

Yes, reblogging is still as broken as it used to be, if not more so: there now seems to be no way to cancel a reblog without quitting the app. The Cancel button is inexplicably missing, there’s no Back button anywhere in the interface, and clicking on the Tumblr logo opens the desktop Dashboard in a pop-up.

As far as I can tell, all the things that were awful about the 1.0 Tumblr app are still awful in the 1.1 Tumblr app, except that now it doesn’t reload your dashboard at page one every time you breathe on it. So that’s nice, at least.

But by far the worst misfeature is the way it displays photo posts. The iPhone OS provides a perfect solution: the two-finger pinch/stretch gesture, which dynamically zooms in and out of images; plus, you can double-tap to make any image instantly resize to fit the screen. It’s precisely this feature that makes web browsing on an iPhone more comfortable than on any other mobile device.

Yet the iPhone Dashboard intentionally disables this great feature, instead providing just two choices of image size: thumbnail (way way too small) and 100% (way way too big, so you have to pan around to see the whole image). In other words, the OS has a fit-to-screen feature built in, and Tumblr’s developers actually wrote extra code to disable it. What a tragic, boneheaded mistake. The workaround used to be turning off the iPhone Dashboard, but that option’s gone now.

(Tumblr actually isn’t alone in making this mistake. The iPhone version of Flickr Mobile does the same stupid thing, but at least Flickr provides an app that’s actually usable.)

I say this with love: it’s time for Tumblr to grow up. Fix the bugs. Hire usability experts. Build a rich API and test, test, test. Get your stuff working so well—make your user experience so utterly painless—that you can do silly things like Sharks vs. Cats and Dashboard marriage proposals from time to time without looking like college kids drunk on venture capital.

(tj:)

But hey! Video uploads! Because everyone watches those, and few people ever want to look at pictures which are posted on Tumblr.

Yeah, TypePad Micro looks like a knock-off of Tumblr, but you know what? I’m betting that in 6 months, TypePad is doing this stuff better than Tumblr.

Remember, Twitter wasn’t first either.

1. Have you tried Typepad Micro? Usability Zero. Is that a thing? Seems clear to me they don’t “get it”. In fact, my experience with it made me remember just how many things Tumblr gets right.

2. Yes, Tumblr’s iPhone client sucks. Their “API” is virtually non-existant. But most users are on the web. Sure, there are lots of iPhones, but there a helluvalot more PCs and Macs out there.

3. Don’t forget network effects. Someone like Typepad is going to have to not just catch up, but be significantly better. I’m here solely for the people I know here. Ebay may mot be the “best” auction site by many metrics, but it’s where the buyers are. This is where the people I want to read and be read by are. In many ways, Posterous has been doing things better for a while now. I don’t see a massive emigration of Tumblr users.

Also, I wrote all this on my iPhone. But I used Tumblr Gear instead of the official client. It’s free. Check it out if you haven’t already.

For straight viewing, not posting onto tumblr, download the tumblr gear app. I blazed through 286 posts in 30 minutes. It tells me exactly how many posts I’ve seen since I last logged in. I can like and reblog. The reblog is without comment, but usually I’ll reblog and then add my comments later. It makes tumblr like checking tweetie.

And it’s free.

Exactly. For catching up, I like it even better than the web.

You *can* add comments on a reblog if you go into Preference and turn off Fast Like & Reblog. You’ll then have to confirm each Like, but it’s only one more tap. I find it an acceptible trade-off, for now.

(reblogged with comment from Tumblr Gear)

just fyi.. it’s able to toggle the setting of fast post by tapping page number (like “1/100”) in upper main view.

anyway, new official tumblr app really sucks. and i’m disappointed in their ability of iphone development.

navigation sheet when previous session is terminated due to open...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:06:18 -0500

navigation sheet when previous session is terminated due to open external process(safari). r.1.4.x.

Tumblr Gear Needs a Desktop Version

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:55:37 -0500

Tumblr Gear Needs a Desktop Version:

jdevl:

This is the sign of a good iPhone app, when it becomes my preferred means of browsing my tumblr list to the point that I want a version of the app on my desktop

the answer is tombloo, minibuffer, LDRize, AutoPagerize, and ReblogCommand on firefox. these extension and greasemonkey user scripts are more powerful & useful than tumblr gear. what i say must be true, and absolutely no doubt about it.

http://shanti.tumblr.com/post/21097674/all-tumblr-users-should-use-firefox-with-greasemonkey

r.1.4.x, “open safari” button.

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:25:53 -0500

r.1.4.x, “open safari” button.

tumblrgear r.1.4.0 release notefunctional enhancements: ...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:34:17 -0400

tumblrgear r.1.4.0 release note

functional enhancements:

implemented “move to post” function.
revised entire internal code around webview cache for supporting above function.
enhanced stability of the application.
optimized some internal processes for 3gs.
changed position of load-in-progress icon.

bug fixes:

fixed behavior when push notification comes.
disabled shake to edit/undo.
fixed some other miscellaneous bugs.

special thanks:

all who supported beta testing … many, so can’t individually list the name, but thanks a million.
shingo yamanaka … always provided me a shoulder to lean on. thanks for being there, ..seriously.
nishitani-san … gave me not only bread but also hope and strength to live. I really don’t know how to express my appreciation.
mamiko noto … my wife. I’ll find you again in another life, when we are both cats.

how to donate:

first get off the internet, and hit the town.
then you can easily find the collection box. maybe it’s around convenience store, kind of church, charitable organization, front of station, temple, street or something, ..I don’t know well though.
you can choose the favorite one, then do it as much as you want.

Thanks for being involved with test of next release.

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:00:05 -0400

Sorry but It is likely that the count of devices(udid) reaches almost limit of iphone developer program. So this time, I’d like to suspend the beta tester application.

Again, I’m really grateful for your commitment to develop this gear. Thanks.

Need your help for testing of upcoming release 1.4.0. for...

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:32:00 -0400

Need your help for testing of upcoming release 1.4.0.

for supporting “move to post” function, this release contains many fixes in internal code, especially around webview cache.

once it released at appstore, then it will take a very very long time to fix it again. (b/c of review by apple).

so please help me to test the beta release 1.4.0. if you can accept this, please contact me at twitter @tumblrgear and inform me your iphone’s udid. (D or @ or anything.., sorry i don’t know twitter very much.)

thanks in advance.

development of tumblrgear r.1.4.0 is now in progress. if you...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:19:00 -0400

development of tumblrgear r.1.4.0 is now in progress. if you wish to use beta version, please let me know your udid(description in japanese).

but please understand that the binary will be built and sent to you *early next week*(12 oct 2009 or later), and there is a possibility that the function “private bookmark text” will not be implemented by the time. sorry it depends on my primary job..

anyway, feel free to contact me, honishi at-mark mashmatrix dot com. thanks.

just tuned the js code link[***] for private bookmark text. now...

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:30:53 -0400

just tuned the js code link[***] for private bookmark text.

now it’s full-asynchronous, so it doesn’t block your browsing.

(meta#091006/a)

experimental & temporary change: hidden link to post private...

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:55:00 -0400

experimental & temporary change: hidden link to post private bookmark text. (meta#090916/a)

this link is displayed only on first post in the dashboard, and may be of no use to anyone. please note that this is *experimental* & *temporary*.

core concept text-based scraping engine. (not dom-based. and...

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:18:06 -0400

core concept

text-based scraping engine. (not dom-based. and almost all rules are written in regular expressions.)
metadata for scraping is located on outside of application. (s3)
dynamically create a page from tumblr html with *minimum* processing.

internal architecture

background loading queue. (nsoperationqueue. serial operation.)
background posting queue. (nsoperationqueue. parallel operation.)
2-layer cache. (html cache, webview cache.)
reusable & gradual warmup webview cache. (3 upwards, 1 current, 6 downwards. total 10 views. saving memory usage.)
metadata for scraping. (reading & writing through nsmutabledictionary.)
additional webview for browsing pages outside tumblr.
notification popup. (simple uiview & quartzcore.)
monitoring availability of network.

future plans

basic functions will be preferentially enhanced. (stability, performance, disaster tolerance and so on. then advanced functions.)
will be open-sourced.
metadata will be moved from s3 to wedata.

Changing Icon & Splash Image in R.1.3.0.. I didn’t...

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:57:51 -0400

Changing Icon & Splash Image in R.1.3.0..

I didn’t expect to get a lot of response about changing icon & splash image. This is because I personally got bored seeing same character everyday. So I have changed them. No more and no less, and it meant nothing.

The development will be continued, ..maybe.

release note for r.1.3.0 (build090719) functional enhancements...

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:09:10 -0400

release note for r.1.3.0 (build090719)

functional enhancements & bug fixes:

added post notification (new post count & last post in last dashboard).
fixed some other miscellaneous bugs.

Any codes of tumblr gear could not & will not be written...

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:39:30 -0400

Any codes of tumblr gear could not & will not be written without inu’s damemixx. I’d really appreciate these great works.

http://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/check_for_new_posts/after/xxx

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:31:00 -0400

using this call, sometimes the proper count of new posts cannot be retrieved. tumblr gear’s notification code should be rewrited. this notification will be included in next release.

experimental change on picture size.

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:18:00 -0400

for reducing usage of nework bandwidth, changed metadata for using medium size picture(*_250.jpg) instead of full size picture(*_500.jpg).

this change is included in metadata #090717/d.

release note for r.1.2.1 (build090708)

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:57:42 -0400

funcional enhancements & bug fixes:

removed obsolete configuration parameter(precache images).
added gradual warm-up webview cache.
fixed some other miscellaneous bugs.

new post notification.

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:04:32 -0400

new post notification.