RustyBrick, Inc. - All News & Blogs

Frozen Coke With Top Busted Off

Barry Schwartz — Fri, 27 August 2010 10:48:52 EDT

This morning, we opened the fridge to find a Diet Coke that blew up. The fridge is on the fritz, it is freezing things even though we turned up the temperature. So last night, this can of coke froze, and cleanly took off the top of the can. I've never seen this happen before.

The top of the can cleanly just peeled off, kind of like when you use a can opener but even cleaner.

Too bad the fridge is now covered in Diet Coke. At least it is all frozen.

It is a good thing some of our clients sell fridges - I guess.

Source: Frozen Coke With Top Busted Off at RustyBrick.

Selichos Now On The iPhone

RustyBrick — Thu, 26 August 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Yesterday we released an update to our iPhone Siddur that included an Edut Mizrach English translation update and the ability to buy Selichos in the iPhone Siddur for Nusach Ashkenaz Lita.

This morning, our standalone Selichos iPhone App was approved by Apple. So if you do not have the iPhone Siddur, just download the Selichos app in iTunes. The app costs $2.99 or you can download the in-app purchase within the Siddur app for 99 cents.

Again, Selichos is Nusach Ashkenaz Lita and it only shows you the Selichos you need to say for that day/night.

We made this app in partnership with Davka, who provided the content.

Source: Selichos Now On The iPhone at RustyBrick.

Ashkenaz Selichos For Siddur Now Available On iPhone Siddur

Barry Schwartz — Wed, 25 August 2010 14:19:00 EDT

Rosh Hashanah is right around the corner and that means many are saying or will be saying Selichos daily/nightly. I am happy to say that we were able to get Selichos for Ashkenaz users, by partnering with Davka. The Selichos is Minhag Lita and is available in version 4.7 of the iPhone Siddur.

Selichos will show up automatically in the Siddur every year under Bedtime Shema, in the "Select Prayer" screen in the iPhone Siddur. We will actually have it show up in advance so that you can purchase the upgrade prior to having to say Selichos.

How do you get it?

When you load up the Ashkenaz section and see "Selichos," click on it. The menu will then give you some information and ask if you want to pay 99 cents for the upgrade. If you agree, you are set!

The Selichos will show up automatically and show you the Selichos you need to say for that day/night. It will not let you advance or go back. Don't forget, this is a smart siddur and does the thinking for you.

We are also releasing a standalone Selichos App, which is now available for download over here. The standalone app works pretty much like the siddur, but only has the Selichos Minhag Lita text in it. The app is also a bit more expensive than the in-app purchase in the Siddur. The standalone app currently costs $2.99.

Here is a screen shot of the first night:

Source: Ashkenaz Selichos For Siddur Now Available On iPhone Siddur at RustyBrick.

English Edut Mizrach iPhone Siddur Now Available

Barry Schwartz — Wed, 25 August 2010 14:09:36 EDT

I am excited to announce that we now have english translation available for Nusach Edut Mizrach. It has been a long wait, first came English Ashkenaz iPhone Siddur, then English Sefard Siddur and now we have finally introduced English for Nusach Edut Mizrach. This is available in version 4.7 of the iPhone Siddur.

The English translation is provided by Avraham Sutton and has been a big hit in the other nusachs. I suspect it will be as popular in Nusach Edut Mizrach.

How much does it cost? If you bought Ashkenaz or Sefard English you will not have to pay an additional $8.99. It will only cost you $1.99 to add Edut Mizrach. But if this is your first English translation purchase, it will cost you $8.99. In summary, the first English translation purchase is $8.99, the others are only $1.99 each.

How do you get it?

Open the iPhone Siddur and go to Nusach Edut Mizrach. Then on the top right, it should say "Upgrade to English." Then follow the prompts. If you never purchased an English translation, you will be charged $8.99, but if you have already purchased the translation, you will only be charged $1.99.

Here are screen shots of the process:

And now you should have English!

Make sure to read the original English iPhone Siddur post to fully understand the various features available to you.

Source: English Edut Mizrach iPhone Siddur Now Available at RustyBrick.

The Return Of SMX SphinnCon Israel - January 9, 2011

Barry Schwartz — Wed, 25 August 2010 10:04:59 EDT

I am so happy to be able to help bring back the informal Search Marketing Expo event back to Israel. The event is named SphinnCon and it is the largest SEO/SEM focused Israel-based conference. You can register right now for only $75.

I have the honor of programming the event and working with local Israeli SEOs to pull this off. This year the event is taking place at one of my favorite Jerusalem hotels, the Inbal. They can fit over twice as many people as our previous host (who rocks). Plus, we are doing a full day event, as opposed to a half day event.

I officially announced the event 14 days ago and we have already sold a tremendous amount of seats. We have also secured gracious sponsors, including our premium sponsors Answers.com, Majestic SEO, Analytics Ninja and others who are not 100% confirmed yet. The Inbal is the Wifi sponsor and we have some other sponsors as well, which I can't mention yet. If you are interested in sponsoring, here is a PDF document of the prices and options.

Want to speak? Fill out our speaker pitch form.

Want to attend? It is currently only $75 to attend, but the tickets are going fast. I recommend you register asap so you don't get locked out. We always sell out, and sell out quick. The event always turns out to be a huge success. So please register now.

To see more details about the event, go to the SphinnCon page. I am currently working up the session agenda and accepting pitches, but like I said, don't wait - register now.

Source: The Return Of SMX SphinnCon Israel - January 9, 2011 at RustyBrick.

Rabbi Moshe Tendler Stops By

Barry Schwartz — Tue, 24 August 2010 16:21:43 EDT

We have had our share of Rabbis stop by the office before but I wanted to tell you about a recent quick visit by Rabbi Moshe Tendler.

Rabbi Tendler is well known for many reasons, some including his work at Yeshiva University in New York, his work in medical ethics and him being the son-in-law of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. But to Ronnie and me, he is the Rabbi we grew up with.

Rabbi Tendler is the Rabbi of Community Synagogue of Monsey, founded in 1953, the place where Ronnie and I had our Brit milahs, where we had our Bar Mitzvahs and where we Aufrufs the week before our weddings. In fact, Rabbi Tendler married both of us at our wedding ceremony.

He stops by every now and then because he knows a lot of people in the building. He rarely stops by here, but when he does, it is always nice to see him.

Anyway, he is likely the most famous Rabbi to stop by our offices.

We also had a very famous author stop by a couple times, his name is Hanoch Teller. Doesn't hurt to have people at their level stop by the offices, don't you think?

Source: Rabbi Moshe Tendler Stops By at RustyBrick.

Do We Charge For Other People's Work?

Michael Butler — Fri, 20 August 2010 14:27:46 EDT

A few days ago a client made a joke about software/web development companies (i.e. us?). It was generally along the lines of “they just charge you for work that other people already have done.” Before I go on, I want to emphasize that this was just a joke, and the client is very happy with us and knows we are putting a lot of hard work in our products and services. He knows we do all of our web construction in-house and that when he speaks with us he's speaking directly to the developer, not some middleman.

I suppose he was referring to the plethora of tools, apis, widgets, and software packages that a developer may use when developing a product. These “third-party” modules might be licensed (non-free) or even open source (free). Some developers might use more “pre-made” tools than others, but it got me thinking, where can you really draw the line between something created “from scratch” and something that is “pre-made”?

For example, the lowest possible form of programming on a computer is simply feeding the computer a long series of binary data, in other words ON (1) or OFF (0) input signals, which cause a great number of “switches” to be flipped and eventually produce some form of output, maybe to add two numbers together for example.. But of course no one manually feeds 1s and 0s into a computer! Early programmers created assembler utilities to translate simple English comands into binary code to feed into the computer. After that they created higher level languages which would translate more verbose and feature rich language code (such as C or C++) into assembly language. And even further than that, scripting languages such as Javascript and PHP were created for the world wide web, focusing on telling the computer WHAT to do, as opposed to HOW exactly to do it.

For example, if you’re an iPhone developer, you’re using Apple’s wide selection of user interface widgets and controls to construct an app -- things such as cover flow, screen transitions, or multitouch gestures. Part of this is because you have to adhere to Apple’s "human interface guidelines" so it will be easily navigable by the user -- but more importantly it allows you to do more things with your app in less time.

So whenever you sit down to program on a computer (with modern programming languages and tools), you’re doing things made possible by an innumerable amount of milestones that were achieved before your time. You could just say that all these things make doing your job easier; but the truth is, all of these virtual, “pre-made” assistants that exist in the software development world allow you to take your work further and do more things; things that simply weren’t possible or feasible in years past.

It really isn’t any different in other industries where using new technology can advance your products & services further. It's just a combination of invention and innovation.

What do you think? Do programmers have it easy with the amount of tools and conveniences available, or are we pushing the boundries further?

Source: Do We Charge For Other People's Work? at RustyBrick.

Making More Office Space

Barry Schwartz — Mon, 16 August 2010 11:48:20 EDT

I am excited to announce we may have a temporary solution for our lack of space problem here in the office.

Our office neighbors are willing to lend us two of their offices and use of their conference room until our lease is up. By then, we should know better what we want to do and would have more options.

This gives us more room to expand but it will be a weird layout. The top three offices on the left will all be connected some how. There won't be a hallway to get to each room, instead you walk through each room to go through a doorway on the other end.

Here is a picture, since I know that I am writing this while on the phone and I am sure the words I am writing make no sense.

Again, this is temporary but it does give us more space for the next year and a half. That is, if the office building approves it.

Source: Making More Office Space at RustyBrick.

AT&T Gave Me A Free Microcell & Twenty-Dollars

Barry Schwartz — Tue, 10 August 2010 13:43:52 EDT

As many of you know, I have five bars in the office due to purchasing a MicroCell for the office. It works well, has some sporadic issues here and there, but overall, we are all happy with it.

Then Alex had to one-up me by getting a free MicroCell from AT&T. I admit it, I was jealous! So I called AT&T and spent an hour or so on the phone arguing with them about paying for service when I am already paying. (I'll spare the argument, but all AT&T customers know what I mean by that). In the end, the guy said he would give me a $50 credit on my bill for the trouble. I took it.

To make a long story short, I was near an AT&T store the following Sunday. I went in there and told them the story. They said, since you already have the $50 credit, why don't you buy the MicroCell, mail in the $100 rebate and you will be even. I told them, the rebate is only if I sign up for a $20 monthly MicroCell plan. They said, just call after the 30 days and ask for a credit for that. I said okay, walked out with a new MicroCell for my home and figured it would end up costing me $20.

Oh boy was I wrong.

Today, about 30+ days later, I called and cancelled my MicroCell monthly plan. I then asked nicely for a refund for the $20 plus $8 or so of pro-rated MicroCell service. The woman said, "how about I credit you $50?" I said, "um, sure!"

Next thing I know, I have a free MicroCell and an extra $20 or so.

So Alex, how about that! Not only did I get a free MicroCell, but I also got $20 free.

Source: AT&T Gave Me A Free Microcell & Twenty-Dollars at RustyBrick.

20% Of Our Visitors Are On iPhones

Barry Schwartz — Tue, 10 August 2010 10:21:31 EDT

I was checking our stats today and was curious what type of user base is using mobile devices to view our site.

I knew we attract a large mobile audience due to all our iPhone Apps, but did you know that 20% of our users are visiting us on iPhones?

Not only that, about 30% of our visitors are on mobile devices, not including the iPad.

This is why we decided to have a mobile friendly template design for users, when we decided to revamp our web site a bit back.

Here are some charts:

Source: 20% Of Our Visitors Are On iPhones at RustyBrick.

How Do You Fit 16 Workers In 1,000 Square Feet?

Barry Schwartz — Fri, 06 August 2010 13:55:21 EDT

Image credit: Cranky Yellow

RustyBrick is doing well, we are growing at a safe but nice pace. But we are in the same office space as we were in 2002. In 2002 we had a total of 3 people in a space of about 1,025 square feet. Starting this Monday, we will have 16 people in the same space.

We are working on getting more space, some how, working with the owners of the building. Either by expanding our current space, using parts of other offices here or just moving to the adjacent building. I hate the idea of moving, but honestly, it is not like we have to move dental equipment or big machines. At most, we have office furniture, lots of computers and servers and then all the networking.

I hope to have a clearer vision of our expansion plans early next week.

I would like to make a public apology to our awesome staff for putting up with the tight space. Hopefully things will get better in the near future!

Here is a diagram of the office layout today compared to in 2002, done in OmniGraffle. Besides for cramming more people into the same space, we lost our conference room.

2010:

2002:

The diagram is pretty good, but 100% not perfect.

Source: How Do You Fit 16 Workers In 1,000 Square Feet? at RustyBrick.

Download iPhone Template In EPS and AI Vector Format

Mabelyn Arteaga — Thu, 05 August 2010 14:04:31 EDT

Surely I don't really mean "BLOW IT UP!" but yes I really do urge you to do so!

One of our clients came to us yesterday with an urgent project. They wanted their iPhone app screens recreated in high resolution EPS format for 2' x 3' display posters they needed printed for a convention.

The inside screens were simple enough but when I went to look for an Illustrator file or EPS file of the new iPhone 4 I came up short.

We found one file of the iPhone that was done at an angle but there didn't seem to be any readily available EPS's of the iPhone shell straight on. Apple provides photoshop templates but nothing for Adobe Illustrator.

I did manage to find the internal UI elements vectorized but after about an hour of searching it became clear that what I needed wasn't readily available as a graphic file. I attempted to live trace the high res PSD's that Apple provides but it just didn't look right. I became a little frustrated so I decided to made my own iPhone 4 EPS Vector file.

Hopefully this file can benefit others as well so we've put it here for your convenience and download.

It's resolution independent so feel free to make it any size you want! Cheers!

You can download it by clicking here or on the image on the right. The .zip file contains the EPS and the AI file.

Source: Download iPhone Template In EPS and AI Vector Format at RustyBrick.

Free iPhone Siddur Codes: 2nd Birthday of iPhone Siddur

Barry Schwartz — Wed, 04 August 2010 15:36:21 EDT

iPhone Siddur was first approved by Apple for inclusion in the iTunes App Store. This is our premium iPhone app, the one that brings together Jewish iPhone enthusiasts from around the world and we are so proud to be a part of that!

To celebrate, we are giving away ten free iPhone Siddur and five free iPad Siddurs. You can see those redeem codes below and it is a first come-first serve basis (i.e. they expire after first use).

A bit of history, we started developing the iPhone Siddur in June 2008, submitted it to Apple on July 25, 2008. It was then approved by Apple on August 4, 2008 but didn't end up in the App Store until August 6th. Normally there is a few hour delay between approval and it becoming available in the store, but the first app took almost two full days.

Anyway, here are those codes and happy birthday iPhone Siddur!

iPhone Siddur Redeem Codes:

4PEAR6T7X96N
JFR67E3ARNHA
9TFTHX39RMPN
F6P6KJ76HHYL
9JPNPT6WFJ66
J7LE9JTLXANH
MNT6RAJTFTAP
KFE7HHNKK447
K7MHRETPXY97
4A34YF996P4X

iPad Siddur HD Redeem Codes:

LWREA7966T4M
AFXLPW74PJ6P
W34M97XN7TT9
76K9E6JERFP6
PNX4PK6L4N43

How do you redeem these codes? Apple has instructions over here and please take this opportunity to leave us a positive review in the App Store for these apps.

Thank you!

Source: Free iPhone Siddur Codes: 2nd Birthday of iPhone Siddur at RustyBrick.

RustyBrick Web Spamming? No, It's Not Us!

Barry Schwartz — Mon, 02 August 2010 09:20:40 EDT

Image credit: love♡janine

This morning, I received a really nasty email from some anonymous person. The email read:

first_name.. alexiha
last_name... alexiha
title....... spammer
company..... yours
email....... spamselves@rustybrick.com
telephone...
interest.... other
comments.... Spamming is an insult to you and us.

You will be reported at UF any time you spam us.
rack off.
how_hear.... You f*cking spammed my favorite forum you dimwits!

At first, I deleted the email thinking it was spam. But then I was checking my feeds and noticed a ton of mentions of my company name in Google. Check it out yourself today for a search limited to the past 24 hours for [RustyBrick]. There are several forum threads which had spam from my company!

I was shocked and upset. No one from my company would do that, so why would someone from another company do that with my company's name? Do we have enemies? Does someone hate us? Was it a bug?

Most of the spam has been pulled by the forums moderators, but much of it linked to pornography sites. Here is a picture of a couple examples:

Of course, the person who emailed me about this didn't leave a way to apologize for something we didn't do. But that is understandable.

I emailed someone I know at Google who told me that to him/her it looks like a misconfiguration of their forum spamming software, where they put my company name in the software as opposed to something else. Because how would they benefit from my information with links to porn web sites or pill web sites?

Just setting the record straight here.

Update: One forum sent me the spammer's IP address. Guess what, it back-traced to somewhere in India. Surprise, surprise.

Source: RustyBrick Web Spamming? No, It's Not Us! at RustyBrick.

Google Offers Free CSS Font API for Designers

Michael Butler — Wed, 28 July 2010 11:24:13 EDT

Designers of web content, rejoice! Tired of using the same six web safe fonts for all of your websites? Another solution to the boring web fonts problem is now being offered by a collaboration between Google & TypeKit.

For many years, web browsers have actually supported custom font embedding in web pages using simple CSS rules -- even IE6 supports it! But there were always two major roadblocks to universal adoption of the technique: 1) Internet Explorer only supports embedding the proprietary EOT font format, which is designed to convert and embed a regular font file into a format that discourages unlicensed use of the font. Other browsers (like Firefox) only support embedding TTF or OTF files. 2) Web administrators were weary of serving the font file raw, because they could be sought after for illegally distributing the font. Font foundries were weary of allowing designers to embed due to possible widespead distribution and unlicensed use.

Google Font API solves Problem 1. Because the two browser groups support different font formats, it really comes down to a server based solution which detects the user’s browser and serves the appropriate CSS and font format (TTF or EOT). All you have to do is put 1 line of HTML which grabs a CSS file from Google and you’ll have access to apply the font in all browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, and IE6/7/8.

Google has sort of approached Problem 2 by creating a free font directory which will serve up 18 stylish fonts under an open source license so there will never be a problem using them legally. If you would like to use another font that is not in the Google Font Directory, you can check if it is in the TypeKit directory, and change a few lines of code to point to that provider -- but you have to pay a nominal fee for access to the TypeKit library fonts.

Here is how the Google Font API differs from other techniques:

sIFR allows you to use any font you want, and loads everything from your own server. But it does require you to convert your font into a SWF file using a free tool, and it requires Flash support which might slow down the user's browser. Also, sometimes sIFR just doesn’t look right, or parts of the page blink when loading.
Cufon is similar to sIFR, but is faster and doesn’t require Flash -- it uses javascript to render the font in SVG or VML depending on the browser.
Roll your own - You can serve up your own raw TTF or EOT file from a PHP or other server based script, doing some basic browser sniffing to send the correct CSS & font to the user. This is like what Google & TypeKit are doing but instead you'd be doing it from your own server. But be warned, you aren’t legally allowed to do this for most proprietary font files!

This just in! Google has now added a Font Previewer page so you can dynamically play with the font faces, sizes, and styles right in the browser. When you're satisfied, simply copy & paste the code to use it on your website!

Source: Google Offers Free CSS Font API for Designers at RustyBrick.

Building a Backyard Kid Playhouse

Ronnie Schwartz — Tue, 27 July 2010 14:37:01 EDT

I've always loved power tools. Any time anything had to be assembled, fixed or manipulated, I was there. It all started when I was a little boy. When many of my friends played catch, I would play with my plastic contruction set. I built sky-scrapers, cars, anything. Then one day my father took me to the hobby shop. He introduced me to plastic models and bought me my first kit. It was amazing. I was able to channel my creative needs through this little sheet of white plastic. After upgrading to wood models, learning basic plumbing & electric around the house, and fixing broken electronics, I finally had my opportunity to express myself in a big way - my own backyard.

Last summer, I started to practice. I purchased the Blue Ridge Frontier from Gorilla and was determined to put it together myself. Took me a week without missing any work. I documented it with a boring video on youtube. The swing set is still holding up and I felt comfortable to start my uber project, build a playhouse for my kids from scratch.

I got some quotes for the parts and lumber and was not really happy paying almost $2,000 to do this. I did what most lazy dads do - push it off. Well, it turns out I had bad mold in my basement and I had to completely rip off all of my paneling down there. I saved the good paneling to panel my play house. All I needed were some 2x4's and screws. The entire project cost around $350 to do.

I would like to take a moment to thank my wife and kids for putting up with me during this process. Civia, my wife, helped me throughout the process offering design advice and paint colors. The kids were instrumental in the inspection process. Check out the video and pics below.

Source: Building a Backyard Kid Playhouse at RustyBrick.

Google Mobile Apps Ads Earns 5X More But iAds 5X More Valuable

Barry Schwartz — Mon, 26 July 2010 15:46:03 EDT

We have been testing Apple iAds in some of our free apps as an additional way to monetize those apps. We have tried Google AdSense Mobile Ads as well and some other networks. We pretty much are testing Google AdSense Mobile Application Ads versus Apple's new iAds.

What have we found?

The results are a bit surprising. Based on our tests, and I am talking lots of lots of impressions, Google Ads are earning us about 5 times more money than Apple iAds. But that isn't the end of the story. Apple iAds are 5 times more valuable to us than Google Ads.

Google has been able to pay us 5 times the amount of Apple simply because Apple can only fill 15-percent or less of our ad impressions. If Apple was able to fill 100-percent of our ads, we would likely be making 5 times the amount in ad income. But Apple currently, at least for our apps, cannot fill most of our ad slots.

Google's Revenue 5X of iAds, But iAds 5X More Valuable!

I am not allowed to share the specific statistics with you, but you can trust me, most people trust me.

For now, we simply have Apple running a 100%, and when Apple cannot fill the ads, we have Google fill the unused inventory.

I should note that when Yahoo first began competing with Google in 2005 with the Yahoo Publisher Network, earnings were way higher with Yahoo. Same with Microsoft contentAds, but now - neither can touch Google. I should also add that Google's inventory of ads have been unreachable by any of their competitors, which is what I am seeing even now with iAds versus Google AdSense for Mobile Applications.

Have you noticed this as well?

Source: Google Mobile Apps Ads Earns 5X More But iAds 5X More Valuable at RustyBrick.

Beware Of MobileMe Beta iPhone Calendar Issues

Barry Schwartz — Fri, 23 July 2010 15:53:33 EDT

I am the type of guy that wants to try the latest and greatest of everything. I do sometimes run beta software for that reason. Of course, there are certain applications I would never run in beta, and one of those - should have been my calendar software.

I use iCal, I subscribe to MobileMe to have my calendar synced over the air, in real time, via my desktop, iPhone and in the cloud on me.com. So when I upgraded to the beta, I was hoping to take advantage of some of the newer features, as I said it was a mistake. I should note, other's are also finding out it was a mistake but at least I was able to recover.

I received the email from Apple that I can now upgrade, so I did:

So I decided to upgrade and the upgrade said it went successfully but I had to finish a few steps:

I went through each step, starting with the iPhone steps. For some reason, my calendar items were not showing up on my iPhone. I tried everything. Resyncing, rebooting, deleting my MobileMe account from my iPhone and adding it back. Nothing. So I went on with the steps to get it working on my computer. My iCal on my computer worked just fine. But my iPhone wouldn't show my calendars.

I then tried Apple MobileME support, but that didn't go well. The live chat person said, "Okay, since the beat is not fully released we are unable to assist with any issues that may occur. We recommend leaving your feedback. If the beta is not working out for you, you can leave the beta." So that is what I did.

I left the beta. But leaving the beta was scary. On the first try, it said, "I am sorry but you cannot downgrade at this time." I tried again and it downgraded me. Then my desktop calendar went missing, my iPhone calendar was also gone. The only calendar that worked was the one up on me.com. I was able to overwrite my desktop calendar with me.com through MobileMe Sync and then it eventually showed up on my desktop. It also eventually showed up back on my iPhone after deleting and adding back my MobileMe account.

Lesson learned: Calendars, for me at least, is way too important for me to run a beta. Losing my calendar, even on just my iPhone (and my desktop for 5 minutes) was devastating. Yes, I am obsessive about backing up my computers but still, I can't back up someone else's cloud, can I?

Source: Beware Of MobileMe Beta iPhone Calendar Issues at RustyBrick.

Blackberry: RoadrunnerGPS vs Endomondo Review

Joseph Cohn — Fri, 23 July 2010 15:19:34 EDT

Recently I started running (yes jogging for exercise). It’s been quite a while since I’ve run consistently. But I am highly motivated to run these days.

I was looking around at different equipment runners use to track speed, distance, elevation, etc. What I found was, that most serious runners were using GPS watches that cost a few more dollars than my sneakers, which happen to not be cheap.

I needed to find something that worked, was simple to use and cheap. Looking at a clock before I left, then checking the clock again when I got back and then checking the distance on the odometer of my car was way too old school (I assume my dad does it that way).

I had recently bought an arm band to carry my phone (Blackberry Storm2) with me when I run so that if there ever was an emergency I had my phone with me and if I was in the mood I could listen to music and even respond to client emails while running (Just kidding about that last one).

I knew my phone had GPS and Blackberry has been trying to catch up to the iPhone by pushing their apps world. I knew there had to be some application that can easily take advantage of my build in GPS, a simple clock and the Google Maps or another map API.

What I found were a few apps that claimed they do what I just described above. Out of the five or so only two had good reviews.

RoadrunnerGPS http://www.roadrunnergps.com/ (Free Trial $2.99 to purchase)
Endomondo http://www.endomondo.com/ (Free)

Download and installation for both of these apps were fast and easy.

RoadrunnerGPS:

The first day I ran I used the RoadrunnerGPS. I clicked to open it and it asked me some basic profile information (height, weight, etc.). It also asked me for my email and password. Once that information was configured, all I did was click the start button did my usual run and hit stop. When I hit stop I got a message saying "uploading to your account." I then it showed me the results. 3.97 miles in 37m 18s.

What was even neater was when I got to the office, I went to the roadrunnerGPS website logged in and viewed my “workout”. It even gave me an option to share my run (here is an example). It gives you a graph of your speed, layered on top of a graph of the elevations right above a Google Map with my route highlighted. One of the features I like about this is when I mouse over the graph is shows me where I was at the time.

Endomondo:

Two days later I used the second app, Endomondo. This app is a much more complex app and allows you to set the sport plus about a million other options. It was pretty simple to add my profile and create and account but was definitely a bit more complex than the roadrunnerGPS app but still pretty simple and quick. I ran the same circle as I did on the last run except that this time I ran it in reverse. You can the results over here.

This app came back that I only ran 3.91 miles and the time was a lot better than what I normally run maybe because I ran solo and not with my usual running partner.

I was able to see the speed and elevation together with a Google map but this app does not have the nice mouseover features like the RoadrunnerGPS app did.

The my account section of the Endomondo website is a lot larger then the RoadrunnerGPS account section. You can add friends set up teams and what seems like a million other features. It also free.

I should note, Mike uses Endomondo on his Android device and has done a detailed review of the app.

My Synopsis:

Overall I think I like the Endomondo app.

However:

I know that I have measured the distance in the past and it was 4.2 miles on my old-school odometer. But ff you visit My Google Map, Google has it as 4.2 miles.

Hmm I wonder why it seems so off from the apps I used?

Support the Run.

On Wednesday night the 28th of July, I will be running in a 200K relay race. Yes that is about 125 miles.

An old friend of mine called me about three months ago and asked me to participate and help raise awareness and funds for ALS. Specifically for a friend of his who was diagnosed with this terrible disease. I had just started running again for the first time in years and committed to running. Now I am stuck and have to run the race. To read more and possibly help a good cause, please visit my page on the Jrunners.org website.

Source: Blackberry: RoadrunnerGPS vs Endomondo Review at RustyBrick.

When Is Pi Day? March 14 or July 22

Barry Schwartz — Thu, 22 July 2010 09:46:47 EDT

Today, technically is Pi Approximation Day but some people consider today the official (unofficial holiday) of Pi Day. The day was founded by Larry Shaw and it is a day for math geeks to be even geekier.

Pi Day is typically on March 14th, i.e. 3/14, which is close to the value of Pi (π) 3.1415926. But technically, today, 22/7 (European style) is an even closer value to Pi (π). Yea, ²²⁄₇ is one of the closer approximations to π.

For more information on the unofficial holiday, see Wikipedia.

We do somewhat celebrate it here by having Mabe design special themes for the Search Engine Roundtable. Here is today's theme, followed by some older themes:

And one from Google from March 14, 2010:

Source: When Is Pi Day? March 14 or July 22 at RustyBrick.

Get Our Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Today!

RustyBrick — Wed, 21 July 2010 00:00:00 EDT

I am proud to announce a new Jewish RustyBrick iPhone app is available for download today. It is the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch iPhone App and it looks great!

The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch provided a quick version of the Shulchan Aruch, making it easier to learn Jewish law (halacha). The iPhone & iPad version makes it even easier.

Features Include:

Browse 221 Simanim of Kitzur Shulchan Aruch
Search by keyword
Discover Jewish laws randomly
Bookmark halachot for later
Email halachot to friends, family or colleagues
In-app upgrade for English Text*

Note: The English translation is an additional cost and is not 100% complete yet. It contains 195 out of the 220 simanim and is provided by Yona Newman.

You can learn more about the app at rustybrick.com/iphone/kitzur and download it on iTunes today.

Source: Get Our Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Today! at RustyBrick.

Make Tisha B'Av More Meaningful with Netflix "Watch Instantly"

Ronnie Schwartz — Mon, 19 July 2010 22:17:35 EDT

I found myself in Shul (Synagogue) tonight, Tisha B'Av - an important Jewish fast day remembering our hard times specifically the destruction of the two Temples, and was about to use my paper Eicha when I actually remembered I can use my iPhone Tanach App. Using the iPhone version is easier and keeps my place better then paper. The best thing is that it's hard to get distracted with email when you are using the phone for this purpose. There are plenty of ways to use new technology to aid religious inspiration. On to my iPad.

Immediately after getting home, I cleared off a spot on my living room floor next to my couch. On Tisha B'Av, from night until half way through the day, we are required to be in mourning for the destruction of our Holy Temples. Jews mourn by fasting, forgoing hygene, external appearance and generally being uncomfortable - basically thinking about the object of mourning and not themselves. That is easier said then done. There are so many distractions nowadays - like my iPad.

I picked up my iPad and perused through Netflix's Judaica genre for inspiration "Watch Instantly" movies. Documentaries I felt would be more appropo then watching something like "The Ten Commandments." PBS had some nice flix about the Jewish struggle through history, vast amount of Holocaust films, and Nova specials on archelogical findings relating to the revolts of Bar Kochva. Since I was pretty tire, I settled on the broad overview of Jewish History. It wasn't anything earth-shattering but kept me focused on the meaning of the fast day. Now I can go to sleep and feel the loss of the Jew's Holy Temple, the Bais HaMikdash.

Source: Make Tisha B'Av More Meaningful with Netflix "Watch Instantly" at RustyBrick.

iPhone Hebrew Translator Gains Copy & Paste, iAds & More

RustyBrick — Tue, 13 July 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Apple has approved an update to the Hebrew Translator iPhone app. The update brings iOS4 stability and compatibility improvements. It also allows you to keep the app open for multi-tasking or backgrounding.

The most significant update was the ability to copy and paste from third-party sources into the app. For example, let's say you are viewing a web page that is in Hebrew, you can simply copy the text from the web page and paste it into the translator app. The translator will then use Google's technology to convert the Hebrew (or English) into English (or Hebrew). This was one of the most requested features. Below are some screen shots of how it works:

We also enabled you to use the native Hebrew keyboard. Just go to settings and flip the switch to make that happen. Finally, we added iAds, in addition to the already existing Google Ads.

Screen Shots:

Source: iPhone Hebrew Translator Gains Copy & Paste, iAds & More at RustyBrick.

iPhone Morse Code App : SOS

RustyBrick — Fri, 09 July 2010 00:00:00 EDT

SOS · · · — — — · · · SOS

I wanted to introduce the most important iPhone App in the world. Are you ready? It is the Morse Code LED iPhone App. Yes, you have to download it for free now!

What happens if you are lost on a dark island and you don't have this app? What will you do then? Trust me, download the app today and when you find yourself all by yourself and need to send out an SOS, you will be happy you downloaded this app.

In all seriousness, we thought it would be fun to release an iPhone App that sends out morse code signals through the iPhone 4's LED flash. Just type in your own message or select from a quick list of pre-defined shorthand messages and the app will automatically transmit LED flash pulses in morse code format to your friend. There is even a settings for speed of the flash.

As Wikipedia says, morse code is "one of the simplest and most versatile methods of telecommunication in existence." So make sure to download it for free now!

Source: iPhone Morse Code App : SOS at RustyBrick.

LED Flashlight iPhone App

RustyBrick — Wed, 30 June 2010 00:00:00 EDT

There are dozens of iPhone Flashlights on the market, all of those were designed for the iPhone 3GS or prior. We designed a new iPhone Flashlight named the iPhone 4 Flashlight that was specifically designed for the iPhone 4.

What is special about the iPhone 4? The iPhone 4 has a built-in LED flash for the camera. We are utilizing the LED flash to provide a true light source to power a true flashlight.

Here are Off and On Pictures:

OFF

Here is a video demo:

As you can see, this is a real flashlight app for the iPhone. For more information, see the iPhone 4 Flashlight page.

Source: LED Flashlight iPhone App at RustyBrick.

Introducing: Siddur HD For iPad

RustyBrick — Mon, 14 June 2010 00:00:00 EDT

We have very exciting news to share with you all, or at least those that ordered iPads. Our incredibly popular iPhone Siddur is now available as a standalone HD (high definition) version on the iPad. We are calling it the iPad Siddur in HD.

It has all the wonderful features of the iPhone Siddur but specifically designed to work exclusively on the iPad. The design and features take advantage of the extra screen real estate by giving you quick summary information on the screen at all times. You can see Zmanim summary for today and the week, you can see summary Jewish calendar information, special alerts and have quick access to all the additional features. Plus, the navigation elements and touch screen features utilize the special iPad specific pop overlays, making it faster to get to where you need to go.

You can download it now by clicking here or for more information check out the iPad Siddur in HD.

Here is a video demo:

If you already own the iPhone Siddur, you will still have to buy this version separately. This is a different product and thus requires a new purchase.

Source: Introducing: Siddur HD For iPad at RustyBrick.

iPhone App For Touring Old City of Jerusalem

RustyBrick — Thu, 10 June 2010 00:00:00 EDT

We are excited to announce a new app named the Guide to the Old City of Jerusalem.

This app is Rabbi Leibel Reznick's authoritative 2010 Edition of "Touring Jerusalem: The Jewish Explorer's Guide to the Old City of Jerusalem" designed to be read on the iPhone.

Take an iPhone or iPad guided tour of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, with up-to-date maps and full-color photos. There are over 50 historical and archaeological sites and includes the area around the Temple Mount and the archaeological remains of the Second Temple.

We hope to continue to add new features in the upcoming months.

For more information, click here and download it now.

Source: iPhone App For Touring Old City of Jerusalem at RustyBrick.

Rambam / Mishneh Torah Now On iPhone & iPad

RustyBrick — Wed, 09 June 2010 00:00:00 EDT

We, RustyBrick, teamed up with Davka Corporation to release the Mishneh Torah for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, featuring the complete Hebrew text of the classic code of Jewish law authored by Moses Maimonides (1135–1204), one of the foremost rabbis and Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages.

Users can browse the fourteen volumes of the Mishneh Torah on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, and study the texts, search the texts with the program’s Hebrew search function, and bookmark and email selections for future reference. The program is a Universal App, and is optimized to run on all iPhone OS devices. The Mishneh Torah for Phone and iPad gives unprecedented portability to this classic work, and is an ideal study tool for both formal classroom instruction as well as for on-the-go study by rabbis, scholars, and all students of Jewish law.

Written more than eight hundred years ago, the Mishneh Torah ranks among the greatest and most significant Jewish legal works of all time. A masterpiece of clarity, form and function, is consulted and referenced on a daily basis by rabbis, scholars, and students of Jewish law.

Device Requirements: iPhone,iPod Touch, or iPad, Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later, and 4 MB of free space.

Pricing and Availability

Mishneh Torah is $14.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store or through this link. So download it now by clicking here.

Company Bios:

Davka Corporation, established in 1982, pioneered the usage of computers in Jewish education. Today, Davka is the world’s largest developer of Judaic and Hebrew software, with innovative titles in the areas of Jewish history, Hebrew language, customs, tradition, and more.

RustyBrick is a New York Web service firm specializing in customized online technology that helps companies decrease costs and increase sales. RustyBrick's Web services include; Web page design, Web development, logo design, e-commerce, mobile Web development, iPhone development, search engine optimization and more. Since 1994, RustyBrick has been creating Web software for businesses and organizations of all kinds.

Source: Rambam / Mishneh Torah Now On iPhone & iPad at RustyBrick.

Yad Eliezer Remastered Online With New Site & Backend Solution

RustyBrick — Mon, 25 January 2010 00:00:00 EST

RustyBrick is proud to have been given the opportunity to not just revamp the Yad Eliezer web site, but help streamline their back office capabilities through web technologies.

Yad Eliezer's new design is a complete overhaul of the old design. The prime focus on the new web site is to convey how the non-profit organization makes a difference in the lives of so many people who live in Israel. The core focus is to help poor families in Israel live a normal life. By breaking down their various charitable programs, and making it easy, simple and even enjoyable for donors to give money or their time, we hope to help the very important organization raise capital in the future. As you can tell, conversion is key.

Some of the important programs Yad Eliezer offers includes:

Food Boxes to Israelis to feed poor families
Feeding Babies in Israel who are malnourished
Israel's Meals on Wheels to feed the homebound
Shabbat Kitchen program
Furniture & Appliances for Israelis in need
Israeli Big Brother & Sister programs
Supporting Widow & Orphans in Israel
Medical programs such as emergency medical funds, Israel dental clinics and many more
Celebration programs for Israeli Weddings, Kol Kallah Bridal Fund, sponsoring Bar Mitzvahs or Jewish Holiday Funds

You can see how these programs helped thousands of families in Israel by viewing the Yad Eliezer Multimedia section or Blog. Plus, you can learn how to volunteer your time to such an important cause.

In addition to all the front end features you see here. We have helped Yad Eliezer streamline their back office processes by creating a easy to use content management solution, robust billing and donor system, and so much more. Make sure to check out the new Yad Eliezer site today at www.yadeliezer.org/.

About Yad Eliezer:

Yad Eliezer is Israel's Largest Poverty Relief Agency. Yad Eliezer began in 1980 in the kitchen of the Weisel family of Jerusalem. They prepared a food basket for a neighbor who could not feed her children, and were soon delivering monthly food baskets to hungry families. Yad Eliezer has now grown to encompass nineteen primary economic and social service programs that impact tens of thousands of individuals.

Yad Eliezer's scrupulous management and cadre of over 12,000 volunteers enables the organization to maintain limited overhead and administrative expenses. Indeed, over 96% of funds raised go directly to needy families. This achievement has earned Yad Eliezer the coveted "4-Star Exceptional" rating from Charity Navigator, which rates organizations based on how effectively and responsibly they utilize donations, and to what extent the charity is growing in terms of programs and services.

Yad Eliezer's mandate is to help families cope with financial difficulties and to empower them to break through the cycle of poverty and achieve self-sufficiency. Thanks to job training and other assistance, many families who were recipients of Yad Eliezer's food programs are now donors to Yad Eliezer. All this is made possible through the donations of caring individuals around the world - individuals like you.

Source: Yad Eliezer Remastered Online With New Site & Backend Solution at RustyBrick.

2.5 Million RustyBrick iPhone App Downloads

RustyBrick — Tue, 05 January 2010 00:00:00 EST

Today, Apple announced that over 3 billion apps were downloaded by iPhone and iPod Touch users. Wow, that is a lot of apps.

I decided to do some tallying of the number of downloads for iPhone apps RustyBrick has built and we have surpassed 2.5 million app downloads. This is inclusion of both RustyBrick iPhone apps, apps we built under the IntuApps brand and apps we built for our clients.

So that is 2.5 million RustyBrick built iPhone apps downloaded in less than 18 months. That is pretty huge! I also enjoy watching to see how many people are using our apps at the same time. Some of our paid apps, can spike to over 350 users using the app at exactly the same time - specifically our iPhone Siddur.

Many of our apps are localized to Hebrew now and can be used all over the world. We have built apps in pretty much all generes now and have grown our app development business tremendously over the past 18 months.

Overall, our favorite part of building apps is the community behind the apps. Thanks for all the support, ideas, encouragement and feedback (both negative and positive).

Source: 2.5 Million RustyBrick iPhone App Downloads at RustyBrick.

Aggregating Hip Hop Artists Tweets & News via the iPhone

RustyBrick — Fri, 18 December 2009 00:00:00 EST

We are proud to announce that the iPhone app we built for WorldLive Mobile, which aggregates and helps share Hip Hop artist's tweets is now live in the iTunes App Store. You can download the app for free by clicking here.

The iPhone app helps Hip Hop music fans follow their favorite artists on Twitter. It also allows fans to review the artist's albums, share them and buy the album on iTunes. You can even listen to a live stream of Hip Hop music as you use the app.

The cover flow based artist filter lets you slide through your favorite artists tweets in style. You can add and remove artists and even enable push notifications to be immediately notified of your artists Tweets.

Here are some screen captures from the app. Again, download it for free over here.

Source: Aggregating Hip Hop Artists Tweets & News via the iPhone at RustyBrick.

Never Forget To Replace Your Home Air Filters

RustyBrick — Wed, 02 December 2009 00:00:00 EST

If you are like me, you typically forget to replace the air filters in your house. I always hoped for an easy way to have this process somewhat automated. That is why we are proud to present On Time Air Filters. Once you tell On Time Air Filters about your house or condo, it will do the rest.

Setting this up is as easy as one, two and three. You go to the Air Filter Wizard and just answer three simple questions:

Pick Your Air Filter
Choose the Quality of the Air Filter
Specify How Often You Want It

Then you are done - On Time Air Filters will deliver the filters to your home or office on a set schedule. You are billed every time an air filter is delivered to your home. You can always change the frequency, quality or number of filters, at any time.

Don't know what to order? Use the air filter facts. Still unsure? Then ask MERV, the air filter specialist via email or on Twitter or Facebook.

For more about On Time Air Filters, visit www.ontimeairfilters.com.

For full disclosure, RustyBrick's owners have an equity stake in this business.

Source: Never Forget To Replace Your Home Air Filters at RustyBrick.

Introducing iPhone Bleeper by RustyBrick

RustyBrick — Thu, 19 November 2009 00:00:00 EST

Last night, our latest crazy iPhone app was approved. It is named Bleeper and all it does is allow you to record yourself and click on the "bleep" icon to play that bleep sound. Yea, kind of funny and pointless - but perfect as an iPhone App, don't you think?

The neat part is you can share you "bleeps" on Twitter, Facebook or via email. That is where it can get fun. Let me take you through the app, step by step.

Here is the main screen. You basically click "record" start talking and then click the "bleep" icon in the middle to make the bleep sound where you want. When you are done, hit the "stop" icon (which is what the record button turns into after you hit record):

When you are done, you can hit "play" to listen to your most recent recording. If you are happy with it, hit "share" and you are given three options. Share on Twitter, Facebook or E-Mail.

Sharing on Twitter requires you to enter your username, password and a short message to be sent in your Tweet.

Then you hit share and it sends it:

You can then access all public Tweets from Bleeper by clicking on the Tweets icon:

Clicking on the arrow on the right of the shared Tweets plays the audio right in your phone using the movie app:

If you listen to the Tweet in the timeline on Twitter.com, such as displayed here:

If you play it from here, on your desktop, it takes you here:

How about Facebook? We use Facebook Connect to send a status update to your Facebook profile.

Type in a message:

Hit Publish:

It is then shown on your Facebook profile page:

With a little audio player:

Sharing it via E-Mail basically attaches the wav file to your outgoing email:

That is basically how Bleeper works. You can download it for free on iTunes now.

Source: Introducing iPhone Bleeper by RustyBrick at RustyBrick.

College Scholarships The Web 2.0 Way

RustyBrick — Wed, 21 October 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Discus Awards changes the way college scholarships and high school awards work. Discus makes scholarships social and more 'web 2.0' by allowing you to submit more than just paper, you can submit videos, images and other multimedia - and be judged based on that. In a way, Discus takes the boredom out of the scholarship submission process and makes it fun and exciting.

The three step nomination process is clear, easy to use and enjoyable. High School students can nominate themselves, and parents, teachers, counselors and students can nominate a student they know. You select the areas where you think you excel in by dragging the categories to the applicable boxes. Then you describe in words, pictures, videos and so on why you rock at those areas. Then build a short profile about yourself, similar to how you would on Facebook and sit back and relax.

If you win a Discus Award, you are eligible for a $2,000 scholarship, one of which will be awarded every month of the school year starting January 10, 2010. Winners also get their picture and profile on the Discus winners gallery.

About Discus Awards:
The Discus Awards spring from a partnership between longtime educational services company Campus Direct and the internationally regarded awards company, Recognition Media.

Campus Direct has worked closely with colleges and universities for more than 20 years, providing industry-leading products and services to schools, students, and parents.

Recognition Media is an owner and producer of leading awards programs and events in Internet, media, and advertising, including the prestigious Webby Awards called the Internet's highest honor by the New York Times, and five other international awards programs.

For more information, visit www.discusawards.com.

Source: College Scholarships The Web 2.0 Way at RustyBrick.

The Canadian Appliance Store

RustyBrick — Wed, 02 September 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Canadian Appliance Source features a custom web design, advanced custom e-commerce platform, fully featured content management system, and many useful features for Canadians to research and buy appliances for their homes.

Canadian Appliance sells ranges, cooktops, wall ovens, dishwashers, fridges, washers/dryers and so much more. The useful side-by-side comparison feature lets consumers research the perfect appliance for their home. The washer and dryer packages make it easy to buy the perfect combination for your home.

Best of all, you get the appliances in your local currency - Canadian dollars, and in your local voltage requirements. You can also use the web site to find a Canadian Appliance store and find hour their showroom times.

For more information about Canadian Appliance Source, visit www.canadianappliancesource.ca

Source: The Canadian Appliance Store at RustyBrick.

HealthMap iPhone App: User Contributed Disease Notifications

RustyBrick — Tue, 01 September 2009 00:00:00 EDT

HealthMap contracted RustyBrick and our partner, IntuApps to build them an iPhone app that finds disease outbreaks near you or anywhere in the world. Plus, the application allows iPhone users to submit outbreaks in their area, directly to HealthMap. In addition to finding outbreaks in your area and submitting information to HealthMap, you can also search for outbreaks by disease type.

Wired has written up a detailed article on this application/ The article is named iPhone App Finds Disease Outbreaks Near You. So read that for an unbiased review and explanaiton of the application.

Yes, we were the ones who built the Swine Flu iPhone App, which is how HealthMap found us.

About HealthMap:
HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization). Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. HealthMap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.

HealthMap is funded by Google.org.

The application can be downloaded for free in the iTunes Store.

Source: HealthMap iPhone App: User Contributed Disease Notifications at RustyBrick.

Bringing Children Books To Life With the iPhone

RustyBrick — Fri, 21 August 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Today, our first "e-book" was published for the iPhone in the iTunes Store. The app is named Goldilocks and goes way beyond what a typical e-book is all about. Goldilocks is completely interactive, allowing you and your child to read with the book and play with the book - all on the iPhone. You can download the app for 99 cents in iTunes by clicking here.

The app have voice overs to read the book for you or with you. Tapping on each word, will allow you to hear that word over the iPhone's speakers or ear phones. You can flip between pages and even click on the hidden bear to hear the bear squeak.

It is an extremely fun book for children to use and the interactive components not only make kids want to keep your iPhone or iPod Touch, but also help them learn how to read.

This app was designed and developed by RustyBrick in partnership with IntuApps.

To learn more on how this app was developed and the inspiration behind it, read Ronnie's blog post named Creating iPhone Children's Books.

Source: Bringing Children Books To Life With the iPhone at RustyBrick.

RustyBrick's First Palm Pre App Now Available

RustyBrick — Thu, 20 August 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Tonight, Palm has officially approved our first Palm Pre application. It is now available under the name Shabbat Shalom in the Palm App Catalog on your Pre device.

In fact, the official Palm Blog has announced the application as a great app to help you get ready for the weekend. In short, this application is a replica of the popular Shabbat Shalomg for the iPhone where you can find local Shabbos times for any location in the world. How is this helpful? If you want to call your friend who lives across the world, knowing when they start and end Shabbat and what the local time is, helps you know when they can answer the phone.

You can learn more information about our first approved Palm Pre app at the Shabbat Shalom Palm Pre page. Or you can download it by searching for Shabbat Shalom in the Pre App Catalog.

Here is a sample picture of the app:

Source: RustyBrick's First Palm Pre App Now Available at RustyBrick.

9 Years Coming, RustyBrick Launches New Web Site

RustyBrick — Thu, 20 August 2009 00:00:00 EDT

I am very excited to announce that after nine years without updating the look of rustybrick.com, we have finally totally revamped our design. It was a long time coming and the day has finally come.

Why now? A few reasons, the most obvious was the old design was, well - very old. But more importantly, our business has expanded and our navigation needed to support that. We added a new "software" section to feature our iPhone Apps, our web based software that we sell direct and other applications we sell direct. Our core business is still on the consulting and service side, but we do sell software directly.

Also, we needed to revamp our site to support mobile devices. In fact, a ton of our traffic comes from iPhones, due to the popularity of some of our iPhone apps. So we have a template designed specifically for iPhone and devices like it. So if you have an iPhone, do check out this site on it and you'll see, all the content you see on the desktop will be displayed in a new iPhone friendly design on your device.

Finally, we added a blog so that the RustyBrick'ers can reach out to the community more. Expect several blog posts from the team each week. The topics will vary from coding tips and techniques to design frustration and down to the culture at our offices. In fact, I hope to have the team blog about designing this site and all the challenges they had on the design and tech front.

I hope you like the new look for RustyBrick and we welcome feedback and bug reports at our blog!

Source: 9 Years Coming, RustyBrick Launches New Web Site at RustyBrick.

Matisyahu Uses RustyBrick iPhone Apps

RustyBrick — Mon, 03 August 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Matisyahu, the popular musician known for his Jewish reggae and for being a Chabad/Lubavitch Jew uses our iPhone Apps.

How do I know? Last night, he tweeted that he is looking for kosher food in Japan. A guy name Ross, replied to him, telling him to get our Kosher iPhone app. Matisyahu then replied to that saying:

wow I have the siddur but didn't know about kosher

So, Matisyahu, the famous musician, that has over 600,000 followers on Twitter and a huge following in the real world, uses our iPhone Siddur and probably now has our Kosher iPhone app. I bet he will be excited to learn that the next version will have an enhanced Chabad siddur. Update, it seems Matisyahu doesn't want to "box" himself into the Chabad sect, see more at Wikipedia, pretty interesting.

Source: Matisyahu Uses RustyBrick iPhone Apps at RustyBrick.