Michael Schultz

RampChamp = iPhoneChamp

Michael — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:24:45 +0000

RampChamp is a beautifully crafted/designed application for the iPhone/iTouch. After months of waiting, it’s finally here and its WONDERFUL.

Games for the iPhone have been growing and growing…in number that is. However, the quality of the apps is appalling. It’s sad when Apple has sold over 1.5 billion apps right? It’s sad that I can only think of 5 apps (notice I said apps not games) in total that I actually use on a daily/weekly basis. RampChamp has just made it’s way to the top 5.

RampChamp is the best application on the appstore (period).

The guys at the guys over at IconFactory and DS Media Labs have truly outdone themselves and I only hope that they make many more applications in the future.

Hemolog: iPhone app (update)

Michael — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:49:37 +0000

Hemolog is the first iPhone application for Hemophiliacs. Hemolog allows you to create a record of all your infusions in a new and exciting way as well as have your records with you at all times.

For more information check out Hemolog.com and stay tuned for more updates.

**This product is in the development stages and will not necessarily look and function the same as illustrated in this video when it is complete.**

Using Your Time Wisely: iPhone Games

Michael — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:43:32 +0000

I think one of the keys to having a hit on the App Store, when it comes to games anyway, is to help your game infer a purpose. I wanted to highlight a few games that I’ve been playing lately who stay true to this formula as well as help me teleport through time with their addicting replay value.

iDracula-Undead Awakening – Becoming a “Van Helsing” of sorts is crucial to our survival as humans. If there were nobody to kill off all those ware wolves/demons/creepers and DRACULA, we wouldn’t be here. Would we? Updated 3/16/09 to include more levels, weapons and game modes. Available now for $2.99.

Flight Control – One of my new favorite hobbies is helping visually impaired pilots find their way safely to the runway. However, I always think it’s funny that they don’t crash on the runway once I have guided them there. Give Flight Control a try and see how many planes you can land! Now on sale for $0.99!

Dizzy Bee 2 – I’ve never been a huge fan of bees. Ever since one of them stung me on the foot when I was 10, I’ve held a grudge. However, I think my grudge has faded a bit after meeting Dizzy Bee. Dizzy helped my learn about the simple things in life, Fruit Friends and flowers. Now on sale for $0.99!

Blocked – Don’t let this one fool you, Blocked is full of purpose. The purpose being that you must break the blue rectangle out from his group of grey rectangle companions. The lack of a timer keeps the game stressless, however, a buzzer beater mode could be fun! Available now for $0.99.

Update:
Jezz – Oops, can’t believe I forgot this little gem. Thanks @davisf for the reminder. Jezz has brought a ton of joy to my soul where there had been a void since the Windows 3.1 days of Jezz Ball. Thanks to Menial & Kevin Anderson for bringing this game back to life! Available now for $1.99.

HemoLog: iPhone app

Michael — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:08:51 +0000

Hey guys! I just finished the first test of my new iPhone app HemoLog. I am really excited about the way things are going so far, although that isn’t saying much. However, getting this point has really helped me formulate what I want the app to accomplish as well as learning a few ways to accomplish it.

Please comment or send me a message and let me know what you think. I would love to hear any ideas or criticisms, everything will help! More updates to come soon.

HemoLog – Beta 1 from Michael Schultz on Vimeo.

Glims brings tweaks to Safari 4

Michael — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:46:32 +0000

With the beta of Safari 4 only being out for a few weeks I was beyond surprised to come across Glims. Glims allows for more tweaking of Safari 4 than you can shake a stick at. Some of my favorite features are:

Adds Favicons to tab labels
Undo “Close Tab” (cmd-z)
Auto-Closes download window
Adds new tab position option (right/left/leftmost/rightmost)
Always open links in a new tab
Dated download folders

Head on over to the Mac Hangout or download your copy here.

My New Portfolio

Michael — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 04:36:11 +0000

I recently discovered that I didn’t have a great place on the web to display my web design work. After that revelation I got to work and came up with something quite nice. Head over to portfolio.michaelwschultz.com to see a lot of the work I have done thus far.

Take Control of Safari

Michael — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:19:31 +0000

Are you a Safari user? If not, why aren’t you? Let me guess, Firefox has better plugins that suit your needs. I understand, but what if you were able to give Safari a bit more customization as well. Now don’t get me wrong, these are no Firefox plugins, but they are useful additions to help give you more control over Safari.

UPDATE: This technique does not work with Safari 4 Beta. SIMBL has not been updated yet.

The first step is to install the plugin framework, SIMBL or Smart Input Manager Bundle Loader. SIMBL allows you to then install plugins for hundreds of Cocoa applications, Safari being one of them.

Once SIMBL is installed on your system you will want to take a look at two different plugins that will help you take control of Safari. The first plugin is called Stand. My favorite feature is the ability to set a “close window” timer for the downloads window. I set it to “0″ so that when I finish downloading a file, the downloads window disappears instantly.

Another great feature is the ability to force links to open in new tabs rather than new windows. Safari has this feature built in I believe, but it never seemed to work for me. Stand also gives you the ability to add a visual tab bar to your browser. This is a really neat feature that takes a quick screenshot of the site you are viewing and places it on the new tab bar. This way, you can see all the sites you have open visually, rather than just a title.

Stand has a lot more to offer. So download it here and give it a try.

The second plugin is called SafariTabs. I found this plugin when trying to help out a friend (klein maetschke) who wanted to load a certain page everytime he opened a new tab. SafariTabs gives you the ability to do that and a few other things. My favorite feature is Tab Restore. Have you ever closed a tab by accident? SafariTabs enables your ?Z combo to undo the closed window, GENIUS! My only question is, why isn’t this built into Safari in the first place?

There are a lot of other SIMBL plugins out there so get going and seek out your favorites!