A Tasty Pixel » Software

Loopy is on sale

Loopy, my loop-based musical instrument and musical notepad app, is going on sale in anticipation of Loopy 2, which is on its way, with a release expected a little later this year.

Here’s some recent feedback on Loopy (about which I’m thrilled!):

Loopy does more of what I wanted than my Boss looper pedal that I paid £180 for! CUJ1mmy
This app lets me get creative. The timing and sync is perfect and has a very polished interface. Joza coza
This is an example of someone going the extra mile to take advantage of what the iPhone can do – a refreshing change from the 1000’s of apps that all look, sound, and probably taste, the same. Apple – give this guy a job! Gerry

Grab Loopy for half price on the iPhone App Store!

Part 2

Talkie is my newest product, a Walkie Talkie for iPhone and Mac.

In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about basic broadcasting. This works fine with one network device, but it’s worth discussing how to send through all devices, so you can communicate with others connected via, say, Ethernet and WiFi simultaneously.

So, in Part 2 I’ll write about the approach I took in Talkie for broadcasting from all network devices (a.k.a. network interfaces), so that one can communicate with others connected via WiFi, Ethernet (on a Mac), and any other network devices simultaneously.

Part 1

Talkie is my newest product, the result of a collaboration with a good designer friend, Tim Churchward, who did the user interface.

Talkie is a little different from many of the other walkie talkie applications on the App Store (aside from the fact that much of it was written by me from our motorhome in Tunisia!), and I thought I’d write a little about some of the tech underpinning the app, and some of the choices we made. Along the way it may get a little tutorial-esque.

This first part will introduce our initial motivations, and will talk about basic broadcast communications — the broadcast communications part may be very familiar to some, in which case it may be worth skipping to the next instalment.
In the second part, I’ll continue the theme of networking, and will talk about what I ended up with for Talkie’s network code after addressing a couple of things, including switching to multicast.
Finally, I’ll talk audio, dual platform development, and anything else I think of along the way (Actually, I’m aching to talk about one particular upcoming feature that had me jumping up and down when I first thought of it, but for now, mum’s the word on that one.)

Talkie 1.1 for iPhone

Talkie 1.1 is now available on the iPhone App Store, and it’s better than ever.

The new version connects to other Talkies via Bluetooth completely automatically — start Talkie on your iPhone and within seconds you’ll be connected to anyone nearby using Talkie on the same channel.

Also new are WiFi and Bluetooth connection indicators, and an audio meter for when you’re transmitting or receiving.

For a limited time only, Talkie is available for $1.99. Grab it on the app store.

— And don’t forget, Talkie for Mac is absolutely, 100% free for use with Talkie for iPhone.

A Tasty Pixel’s store and Talkie for Mac Premium

I’m happy to announce that the store is now open for business! We accept PayPal and all major credit cards, in four currencies.

Talkie for Mac 1.0 is now available, and can be registered to access the features of Talkie for Mac Premium:

Talk to others using the free version of Talkie for Mac
Push-to-talk calls with anyone over the Internet, coming next in Talkie for Mac 2.0

…On top of the features of the free version of Talkie for Mac, of course:

Zero-configuration operation: Start Talkie, and start talking
12 distinct channels
Configurable global hotkey to transmit while performing other tasks
Unobtrusive interface
Incoming and outgoing audio indicators
Mute facility
Talk to others using Talkie for iPhone or Talkie for Mac Premium.

Talkie for Mac is here

Talkie for Mac is here!

Note: Talkie has been retired since mid-2011. It may return at a later date. This post remains for historical purposes only.

The current features of Talkie for Mac:

Zero-configuration operation: Start Talkie, and start talking
12 distinct channels
Configurable global hotkey to transmit while performing other tasks
Unobtrusive interface
Incoming and outgoing audio indicators
Mute facility

The application can be used with Talkie for iPhone for free, as well as with the registered version of Talkie for Mac, codenamed ‘Talkie for Mac Premium’.

To talk to others using the free version of Talkie for Mac, though, Talkie for Mac Premium is $4.99 — available as soon as the store is up and running.

So, go and grab a copy of Talkie for Mac now! Then, leave a comment below and tell me what you think.

Introducing Talkie

A Tasty Pixel’s new application has hit the App Store: Talkie!

This bad boy stands out from the crowd with an engine that works not only over Bluetooth, but also over WiFi networks. Talkie will broadcast over the network so that any other iPhones running the same app — or any Macs running Talkie for Mac — will pick up the signal. No setup needed, it just works.

Should be great for uni students, or folks in large offices, and Talkie for Mac should fill the gaps for those without iPhones.

Talkie for Mac will come in a free edition, which offers two-way communication with the paid versions of Talkie, and the ‘pro’ edition which works with everything. That means you only need to buy one copy, then set your friends up with the free version to talk away.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be writing a little about Talkie’s guts and development, so stay tuned.

AutoRate 1.5.0 release

Thanks to the efforts of Brandon Mol and a few dedicated testers, AutoRate 1.5.0 is ready for public consumption. Sporting a brand new rating algorithm and shiny new interface, this new version features more intelligent, more adjustable rating.

Software