Today we have an interview with Jon Read, a man you have probably not heard of. But, for those of you who used to own a Psion PDA he is likely to be responsible for having taken a lot of your time a few years ago- he certainly did for me. It turns out that he has done a lot since that time, but none of it matters to me as much as his crowning acheivement- he made Jumpy!!! Read on to find out what he really did and what makes the man tick-

1/ How did you get involved in programming games for Psion and was it a worthwhile venture for you?

I had always been interested in programming ever since I got a Commodore 64 as a kid.  My first Psion was an Organizer II CM, which is where I first started developing in OPL (Organizer Programming Language), and managed to implement some fairly basic things that I was overly impressed with at the time.  I eventually upgraded the CM to an LZ (Four lines of text! 64 whole kilobytes of RAM!), paid for by working weekends in Woolworth’s coffee bar.

From there, I remember the product brochure for the Series 3 dropping through my door, and my jaw hit the floor as soon as I read it.  It was a dream machine!  4.7MHz CPU, 240×80 LCD bitmapped display, multitasking!  I had to have one – but no way I could afford it. After much pleading and negotiation, I extracted a promise from my wonderfully generous father that I could have one for Christmas/Birthday.  I was still at school at the time.

So, with Series 3 in hand, my OPL programming really took off.  After learning the ins and outs of the system, Jumpy! was born in early 1992. I remember spending many hours working on the optimization alone – finding exactly which combination of operations and resources could be used together to extract maximum speed from the machine.  I may be wrong, but I’m not sure than anyone else ever got a full-screen scrolling game working as fast on the Psion handhelds – that’s not a great claim to fame, but I have precious few so I’m running with it

I released Jumpy! as shareware, and got letters (and even hand-drawn pictures, all of which I still have) from all over the world from people who were playing and enjoying the game.  I think that’s what pleased me most; at this time I was earning practically nothing from it.  I went to university, and had begun to drift away from Psion development, until one day I received a letter from Psion.  They had found Jumpy! on FIDOnet (remember, this was well before the Internet was available to most people outside of universities and large institutions) and wanted to release it on a Games Pack, if I would agree to that.  Would I?  Hell yes!

So, Games Pack I was launched with Jumpy! on the front of the box.  I wasn’t paid a fortune – £0.40 per copy sold – but as anyone who has struggled financially as a student will know, the money was incredibly welcome.  Incidentally, if anyone has a boxed copy of the Jumpy! games pack, please consider selling it to me – I don’t have one, and never have had.

Fast forward to 1993, and the launch of the 3a.  Again, no way I could afford one, even with royalties drifting in from sales of Jumpy!, so colour me excited when I get a call from Psion asking me to write another game for a forthcoming “Games Pack 3a”.  Yes, they would supply a Series 3a for me to work on. Fantastic!

Six months or so later, I sent Psion the final code for PopOut (a breakout clone).  This didn’t make quite the same splash as Jumpy! did, but did OK and received some very good reviews.

After university, I was offered a temporary job at Psion Software.  I worked there for 3 months and was exposed to what was to become the operating system for the Series 5.  Then it was back to university to start a PhD, part-way through which the Series 5 was launched.  I loved that handheld – even more so as Psion loaned me one to encourage me to write some more games for it.  I still have that loan unit, I’m guessing they don’t want it back any more…

In any case, it worked – I ported Jumpy! to the Series 5 and updated it to Jumpy! Plus, adding more features and more levels.  I also back-ported the Plus version to the 3a (and Siena), releasing it as shareware.

That didn’t signal the end of my involvement with Psion though. Again, another phone call out of the blue, telling me about a new product they were working on and how they’d like to get one of my games included in its ROM by default.  The game they were interested in was a version of the classic SameGame (I had released a version for the Series 3/3a/5 and Siena), which ended up being renamed “Cascade”, shipped on the lovely Psion Revo, and probably caused quite a few wasted hours for many people

Unfortunately there were no more Psion handhelds.  Psion Software became Symbian, Psion themselves drifted into relative obscurity, I got a job, and that was the end of my game development.

I do still maintain epoc zone, and my personal Psion pages still exist here.

2/ Have you programmed other titles for different platforms and would you consider doing so again for the latest smartphones?

I haven’t written games for any other platforms, but have worked in the mobile phone arena since around 1999 as an embedded software engineer. More recently I’ve been developing apps for the iPhone and worked with some pretty major manufacturers on operating system features for new Android handsets. Nothing much in a personal capacity, but that is due to change shortly as I leave full-time employment and go freelance.

So to answer the other part of your question, games on the iPhone/iPad or Android?  It’s definitely a distinct possibility.

3/ What phone do you use now and why?

I have an iPhone 3G.  Not a 3Gs, not a 4.  I may upgrade… but it’s not a priority for me at the moment.  In the day job I get to play with phones that haven’t even hit the rumour sites yet, so I don’t really feel the need to own the latest & greatest myself.

I tried using Symbian phones, but could never really feel for them the same way I did my Psion handhelds (and to a lesser extent, the iPhone).  My next phone may even be an Android device, though I’m really not a Java fan.

4/ Do you believe that the Psion range of PDAs were ahead of their time?

Absolutely.  What else was there?  There were a few Windows CE devices, and perhaps the DIP Pocket PC/Atari Portfolio, but in comparison they were slow, clunky and lacking in features.

Psion’s real masterstroke was in allowing the handhelds to be programmed, not only via a PC, but on the device itself.  This led to a massive amount of available software, much like the iPhone today, albeit without a central app store.  All of my games were written on the palmtop, not on a desktop PC.

5/ What game do you wish you had created?

Hmm, that’s a difficult one.  I actually wrote but never finished quite a few other games, including one RPG, some puzzle games, and card games.  I really wish I’d managed to get those out, especially the RPG, as nothing like it was ever seen on Psion palmtops. Unfortunately, as is often the case, life intervened and I never managed to devote the required time to polishing them off.

To be honest, I’m not a massive games player myself.  Of other people’s games, I think the ones I was most impressed with were De3ender and Stigma from Psion’s “Games Arcade” pack.

6/ How does it make you feel to know that many of us played your games for hours on end and still think of them fondly to this day?

To be honest, it doesn’t seem particularly real to me.  It was a long time ago, and I’ve *never* actually seen anyone playing a single one of my games. Having said that, I am proud of it in my own small way, and as I said I’ve kept all the letters I received.  By todays standards, these games are pretty poor, but I suppose we shouldn’t be judging them in comparison to apps on the colour-screened 1GHz+ handheld devices available now.

So yes… a little proud, definitely pleased, but it’s hardly the first thing I bring up in conversation when I first meet someone

Today we have an interview with Phil from Agent57 who make apps for the iPhone. If you have not had chance to look at The World Cup app from Agent57 it is the ideal way to build up to the biggest footballing event of the year. Still smarting that Scotland failed to qualify…

1/ Tell us a bit about Agent57. How did the company start and why did you enter the iPhone software market?

We started as a web development Company in 2008, but I have always been interested in software development. I always considered I would only develop for the Mac platform so I started getting to grips with Xcode, the Mac software development kit. Then along came the iPhone which seemed to be a perfect test bed. During the quieter periods, during the early days of the Company, I started developing a few frameworks that led to CarryOn and Sherlock. Then I took it a bit further and in October of 2009 I felt I knew enough to produce a commercial piece of software. I love football and thought there would be a market for a good World Cup App.

2/ How do you view the current iTunes app store model and are you optimistic for the future of the platform?

From an independent developers perspective, it’s brilliant. You do have to work hard with marketing your products but the model of the store, the delivery to end users and the payment system works well. I know there are some problems with the method of getting your App available, ie. the review process, but Apple are working on this, and we have seen the results of their efforts. We have submitted two updates so far for The World Cup; version 1.1 hit the App Store in 5 days after submission, version 1.2 was just 24 hours.

I am sure that Apple will continue to develop the App Store in the same way they have continued to promote and develop the iTunes Store. On that basis, we have to be optimistic that this will continue for some time. I have friends who are just getting their new iPhones now as if they had only been released a month ago. They are every bit as excited about the hardware, the built in software and the App Store as I was when I got my 2g iPhone, and back then we had no App Store.

3/ Do you believe the other mobile platforms are competing well with the iPhone?

Apple took a big gamble with the touch screen interface and the fact they had no hardware keyboard. It paid off, and now even Blackberry’s are surfacing with touch screens and virtual keyboards. Everybody is now trying to play catch-up with the hardware, and they’ve got a good chance of competing there. However, Apple have always produced the best user experience in terms of the man/machine interface and coming up with something that can beat a cut down version of OSX will more difficult to achieve. As far as third party software availability is concerned, I can’t see how any other mobile platforms could come close to the choice that the App Store offers.

4/ What smartphone do you use and why?

I use an iPhone 3GS. It does everything I could possibly need it to for a pocket sized device that goes everywhere with me. Before the iPhone, I used a Nokia N73 and a Palm Lifedrive (and before that a palm Tungsten). I loved all three of those devices, but the N73 was just a phone, I didn’t really use it for anything else. My Palm was my extended computer and diary. Once the iPhone came along I saw how it integrated with the desktop OSX applications, it was almost like having a MacBook with you. My contacts, calendars, IM, spreadsheets and word processing documents all came with me, all synced over the air and it just never let me down. I have more than ten friends who have iPhones now, but only one of them has an Apple Mac. Even though the others do not know how much the iPhone benefits from being part of a mobile/desktop setup, they all still love it!

5/ Has The World Cup been as successful as you hoped for so far?

In some countries yes, particularly in the UK, considering the World Cup is still so far off. In other countries no. Apart from Germany, sales to other Euro countries have been virtually none existent. Including the qualified countries like Spain and France,where the App is available in these languages, so maybe we’ll see these countries getting interested as the tournament approaches. In the USA, the greatest density of iPhone users in the world … worse than Europe!

6/ What football team do you support?

I’m Liverpool born and bred so there’s only one of two ways I can go! I’ll have to say it quietly after our performances this season, but I’m a Liverpool fan. I should give a mention too though to Tranmere Rovers, who over the years I have been watching football, I have probably seen play as many times as I have Liverpool.

7/ Anything you would like to add?

If you like football and have an iPhone … please buy ‘The World Cup’, then tell your friends. Getting the word out when there are so many apps competing for attention is really hard. If people know about it and choose not to buy it, I have no problem with that, at least they had the opportunity. One thing I want to avoid is having people approach me after July and say “That World Cup App looked brilliant … wish I knew about it before the World Cup started”.

Thanks Shaun for the opportunity to talk to your readers. I hope some of them find it interesting.

Web: http://dev.agent57.com
Web World Cup: http://bit.ly/TheWorldCup
Twitter: http://twitter.com/agent57Ltd
App Store: http://itunes.com/apps/theworldcup

I managed to get an interview with Martin and Mike who are Legally Addictive Games and they were even kind enough to offer 20% off Addictive Tower Defense for the next two days (see question 7 for details). All BlackBerry owners need this game- you really do.

1/ Tell us a bit about Legally Addictive Games and how you came up with the idea of Addictive Tower Defense?

Martin: I’m in the co-op program in my school, and I got an internship at the company that Mike was (and currently is) working at. We were talking one day, and Mike mentioned that he wanted to do a game for the BlackBerry (being the expert BlackBerry programmer than he is), and we eventually settled on making a tower defense game. I think mostly because we were talking about how excited we were about Starcraft II. At first it was just a pet project, a “see if we can do it kind of thing”, but then Mike started working on the engine, I built a map editor, and then we realized how fun things could be, and we thought that we’d see just what we were capable of.

Mike: I don’t know too many developers that would give up the chance to make a game and the great thing about never sleeping is that you can do it quite cheaply. I had experience with graphic design in the past, my brother works professionally in the art field, but I really didn’t know how this was going to turn out originally, I just wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t have a laugh at our expense come Christmas time. The concept started small and Marty kept having ideas for some great game mechanics so we started working and things just snowballed until we were an actual company.

2. How have you managed to make a BlackBerry game that I want to play over and over again when no-one else can?

Mike: I don’t think that it’s the big things that set the game apart it’s the small things. As a Bold owner, I’m used to clattering away on the keyboard and it is just second nature to me and that’s one of the first things that we set out to do, make a game that felt natural. The animations, holstering behaviour, all grew out of a desire to make a game that fit into your standard BlackBerry experience (pick-up and put-down) but that was a real, complete gaming experience.

Martin: I think that it’s because we made a game that we want to play, not as a distraction but as a serious game. Having no budget meant that we didn’t have to worry about running out of money, since we had no money to run out of, and so we could take our time with it. We talked a lot, were willing to throw out features that we didn’t like, and built in ways for us to change things like tower and enemy numbers easily. We ran a small beta test before we released, which was an incredible help – originally we had thought that the beta would just be to iron out any bugs we missed, but we got the Storm controls to the state that they’re in because of all of the great feedback.

3. What plans do you have for the game in the future?

Martin: Well, like you said, sound would be a great thing to add. More device support would be great – we have the game running on the 8300 now. We want to build a community around the game, something that I don’t think has been done with a mobile game yet. Downloading maps was a start to that, but you’re absolutely right that custom maps would be great, so we’re going to hopefully make a map editor so that users could make their own maps – again, inspired by games like Starcraft, which I think owes its longevity to its wonderful custom maps. We’d also like to start running contests – things like releasing a new map, and sending the person with the highest score on it a prize. Also, people seem to have been beating Addictive mode (which neither of us can do yet), so I think that we have to ramp up the difficulty in some of the future maps to keep these crazies happy.

Mike: The map editor is the biggest initiative we have for the near future, downloadable maps have helped us to extend the replayability of the game but we want to be community builders. Despite painstakingly testing the difficulty balance for the game, neither of us can actually beat addictive mode to this day! I think that’s what we’re hoping to find with the map editor as well, that players will take things to a level that we didn’t initially expect.

4. Are you planning any other games for the BlackBerry platform?

Mike: I would love to do it again. The community support has been great and just seeing our work being enjoyed by people we’ve never met is an amazing feeling. I think the OpenGL announcement from RIM is a call to all developers to step things up,  and we really want to be at the forefront of that movement.

Martin: Absolutely. We think it’s a great platform, and OpenGL ES will be a big help, even for 2D games. As for what it will be, we’re not sure yet, but I think that it will be something special.

5. What phone do you use and why?

Martin: Actually, I don’t own a phone, because the university insists on taking all of my money. Once I graduate (in April!) I think I’m going to purchase a Bold 9700 for myself.

Mike: I’ve worked with BlackBerry devices since the Pearl 8100, but I’ve been using the Bold for about a year now. After test driving the 9700 I think I’ll be sticking with my 9000, I just prefer the feel of it. RIM is known for making hardware that feels like you could put it through a wood chipper without leaving a dent and I think that’s true of the Bold in particular. The Storm 2 with OpenGL support might be enough to convert me to a touchscreen user though.

6. Has the game been as successful as you would have wished?

Mike: The community support has been fantastic and I think that is the success we’ve really been looking for. We have had some great beta testers that have stayed on and kept talking to us, we’ve spoken with  high score holders and we’re looking to start presenting some “professional” strategies on our site soon. That’s definitely the kind of success that keeps me excited. Also, to dispel any conspiracy theories, I’m not MoneyMike, he’s steadfastly destroying my high scores.

Martin: Well, I don’t own a Veyron yet, so no. Seriously though, we had no idea what to expect. So far sales have been modest – not disappointing by any means, but I think that as more people hear about the game, they’ll pick up more.

7. Cheeky question. Can PDA-247 readers have a 20% discount off your game for the next 2 days please?!?

Fine! Twist our arm, why don’t ya?! Use the coupon code “PDA-47” (without the quotes) for 20% off Wednesday and Thursday, because you asked us nicely. You can buy the game here.

Swindoe recently released BLK Berry which is a rap song dedicated to his BlackBerry and after a brief chat via BlackBerry PIN, he agreed to do an interview for PDA-247. In case you think the title is a little strange, the song does include the following in the chorus- “I’m a black boy, with a BlackBerry.”

1/ Tell us a bit about yourself- what motivates you to make music and do all of the other things you do such as acting etc.?

Music is and has been a huge part of my life for many years. I like the fact that I can be myself and express as I feel. Love fuels me day in and day out to reinvent myself and continue pursuing my dreams. Acting, painting and writing are extensions of my artistic swagger and vivid imagination. The combination of these things makes up Swindoe.

2/ What BlackBerry do you use and what prompted you to write a song about it?

I heard some of the bad reviews about them but I still luv my storm. I was on my way to the studio, bought the Storm, walked in the lab and heard the hottest beat of the summer. Fresh off the excitement of my new gadget I freestyle the track now known as BLKBerry.
Its just one of those tracks that sticks all day.

3/ How do you use your phone on a daily basis? What are your main reasons for owning a BlackBerry?

If I lost my BB I would be devastated.lol. I use it for Facebook, Myspace, twitter, BBM, yahoo msg, emails, web, and composing documents. As a matter of fact, I and writing these comments using my BB. Its safe to say I’m a berryExtreme user;)

4/ What plans have you got for the future, music and smartphone wise?

The future looks bright. As a unsigned artist, I will continue to make good music and inspire the greatest things out of life. I plan to go on tour soon, but nomatter where I’m at ya can hit me on my blackberry!

You can also log on to www.swindoe.com for music videos and more.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry.

Most mobile software developers have had to question the direction they are heading over the past year and Creative Algorithms are no different Today we present an interview with Justine and Cory from Creative Algorithms and ask them how the transistion to the iPhone platform has gone for them.

1/ Has the process of developing for the iPhone been more difficult that you expected?

Justine: The process has been long because of learning new tools and a new platform.  Cory also worked towards making our code cross-platform, using C++ first, before tying it to Objective C, which is platform-specific.  This way we can reuse the code for future platforms.

Cory:  It hasn’t been that difficult, but we first experimented with an iPhone web app that required porting our code from Palm-specific C/C++ to Java.  Then we ported it back to C++ again for the iPhone native version.

Objective-C/C++ is a little strange at first, but the learning curve is short if you already know C++.  Apple’s API’s are straight-forward and their tools are excellent.  I’m not very fond of their keyboard layout though!  I ended up doing most of the coding on my PC and only loading it onto the Mac to debug it.

Justine:  As far as graphics and UI are concerned, the iPhone is so much better.  For example, we wrote a simple app for Palm a few years ago.  I felt it needed a snazzy background, just to spruce it up a bit,  At the time, graphically pleasing apps for Palm were commonplace.  I came up with a simple blue background with white sine waves.  The graphics data was too big to fit in a code ’segment’ (common limitation and source of frustration for Palm OS development) because I didn’t start with the PalmOS color palette.  In order to make it work, Cory would have had to write a graphics engine to handle it!  That was not worth the time, so we actually never released the app.  With iPhone, I can use Interface Builder for UI design and import any .png image for the graphics.  It is night and day from my perspective.

Cory: It was fun experimenting with all of the view animations too.

Justine:  The only thing that is frustrating on iPhone is the app real estate, due to the requirement of larger buttons for fingers to tap, instead of the fineness of a stylus. You can’t cram too much on one screen, which is a good thing, but you lose out on minimizing taps.  It’s a challenge to come up with a functional yet beautiful interface.  I want to ‘port the Zen of Palm to the beauty of the iPhone.  I think its possible to have the best of both worlds.

2/ What was the transition like and how difficult is it to make such a big change of direction?

Justine: I wouldn’t want to make a change like this unless it makes good business sense.  Since PalmOS is completely dead for future devices, it made no sense to develop new applications for it.  The transition took a long time because we weren’t platform-agnostic–much of the old programming was very code specific to Palm OS.

For me, it was frustrating because I don’t do the coding–I do the UI design, graphics, marketing, website, customer service, and all the business side stuff, so and the transition depended much on waiting on Cory.  While waiting, I tried to immerse myself in the new community and the new tools for communication, like twitter. However, when you aren’t immersed in the daily coding details, it can feel like it’s taking very long.  Plus, I’m not a very patient person.

Cory:  It took a lot of effort to refactor the code into a platform-agnostic model and platform-specific views and controllers.
For instance, I had to develop a lot of infrastructure that we didn’t have before, such as the model and its associated controls (buttons, checkboxes, fields, and so on) and messaging between those components and the views.  I also had to find suitable replacements for Apple’s date, localization, and XML libraries or develop my own.  We also tried to keep the design extensible so it will be easier to add more features in the future.  But in the long run, it puts us in a better position to support more platforms in the future.

3/ How does Apple compare to Palm in terms of development support?

Justine:  Cory will have to talk to that, but we did have some initial issues in getting our developer portal to work after we signed up for the iPhone Developer Program.  Apple actually recognized the problem before us and called us.  It was great to see that kind of proactivity.

Cory:  Apple probably has a better support system since it has been around longer, but I wouldn’t know; I just search Stack Overflow when I have a problem.

I haven’t developed for the Pre yet, so I can’t compare Palm’s latest tools, but the PalmOS Emulator is a more accurate hardware representation than the iPhone Simulator.  However, the rest of Apple’s tools are superior.

Justine:  Also, since the iPhone has been around now for a while, it’s easy to take for granted the ease of delivery to the customer.  Apple has really streamlined that process. As long as you get noticed in the AppStore, the customer can easily purchase, download, and install your app onto their device.  This process had been seriously lacking on Palm OS and other platforms and was detrimental to sales.  Adding this ease of distribution is a big part of support for developers. I had a lot of customer service requests for help to just get the demo installed on the Palm handhelds.  Frustrated users do not tend to purchase software, so the AppStore is a huge improvement in that aspect.   Plus, Apple has actually promoted that software is available.  Palm often forgot to mention that third-party software was even an option.

4/ It’s early days, but has the move been worth it for you?

Justine:  Yes, it’s nice to be on a platform that has an optimistic future.  The trick now is to figure out the “rules” to make it profitable.  The pricing and exposure is very different than the Palm economy and the ESD’s.  The volumes are better, the commission is MUCH better, but the pricing is not, so it’s only marginally better than our early releases in the Palm world. The AppStore is a totally different animal, as far as exposure goes.  I have to almost start from square one, but I’m up for the challenge.  The frustrating part will be to get a catalog of apps developed, which is under Cory’s control.  Did I also mention that I like to be the one in control?

5/ What mobile device do you use and why?

Justine:  We both use an iPhone 3G.  I started with an iPod touch, but when Cory’s Treo died, we needed new phones.  We’re already on AT&T (only provider where we get coverage in our house), so it was an easy choice.  It’s also good to use the device for which you are developing–you learn the nuances, better understand how apps work and feel, plus you really need to test on a real device before release.  I like the iPhone better than the touch because I’m always connected.

Until I was, I didn’t realize I needed that much connectivity.  We haven’t yet upgraded to the 3GS because of our AT&T plan timing, but will eventually.

6/ Are you planning on developing for any other platforms?

Justine:  As Cory mentioned earlier, we also have a web app for Date Wheel.  This  was the first approach to a new platform that we took after Palm OS, before iPhone released it’s native SDK.  We have both a desktop- and mobile-formatted version of this web app.  We now hope to use this web platform to create cloud companions for our mobile apps.

We are looking at other mobile platforms, and have designed our new code for easier transport. However, each platform has a set of hurdles, so we’re currently evaluating them.  It’s just the two of us and if there is a learning curve involved (i.e. another language), it adds on time, which is our scarcest resource right now.  And while I’m technically minded (engineering background), it would take a while to get me up to speed on the latest programming methods.

So for now, we’re programming for iPhone and have recently released our Date Wheel date calculator on the AppStore. We’re still supporting our Palm OS apps (Trip Boss, Date Wheel, Serving Sizer, etc) and these apps have been recently certified to run on the Pre’s Palm OS emulator, Classic.

7/ Where do you see the future for mobile software development? Will it get easier?

Justine:  Right now, as mentioned above, there are so many platforms from which to choose, each with its idiosyncrasies.  Blackberry requires the code in Java, and Blackberry World is not included on every device, so the volumes aren’t leveraged as well as on iPhone.  Android doesn’t have enough devices or volume, and the Android Market is also difficult to use and not very obvious to users on the current devices.  We can reuse our C++ code, but the UI is Java-based.  The Palm Pre is also a low volume option and it requires learning Javascript. Symbian is an upfront cost-prohibitive environment for developers, so it’s risky to small devs.  Windows Mobile needs an update or it may go the way of PalmOS.  WinMob will be a platform to keep an eye on–they have volume and a new store coming on-device, but they aren’t there yet.

Ideally, from a developer perspective, a web app would be the easiest because you could use the same code and just tweak the interface, using CSS, for screen sizes, etc.  However, for adoption to be high, load times need to decrease, connectivity needs to be ubiquitous, and an offline solution is essential.  These requirements are being improved upon, but they are not there yet.

8/ Anything you would like to add?

Justine:  If anyone is interested in following the business perspective of developing for mobiles, please be sure to regularly visit our blog, Mobile Evolution.  I’m also very active on twitter, so short thoughts are posted there (@justinepratt).

Thanks for the opportunity to share our experiences.