It’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog and for good reason. Since March, the wife and I have been traveling and taking mini-vacations every other weekend. This weekend, we are flying to Seattle, WA to visit with my sister and to drink some brews at Pike Street Brewing Company. Work has been busy and I have a new dedicated role, as Mobile Applications Guru. My boss likes to call me iJeff, hmmm…

Anyway, what I really wanted to post about is a game that I’ve been thinking of building for some time. It’s similar to the old Atari game call Toobin’, which was one of my favorite games back in the late 80′s and early 90′s. I’m at a point were I’m creating creating levels for the game and building up the content. I really think this game could be big, because it’s pretty fun and has become addictive. It has an endless style of play game and tons of achievement will be added. If your interested in helping me build the level, beta test, or give some feedback, please contact me. You’ll be famous when your name is added to the credits.

So, keep your eyes peeled for a new App coming to the App Store in a month or so. American River Tubing will be hopefully climbing the charts to #1.

Yep, it happened again, I fell in love. Not with my wife or another woman, but with a hop-head beer I’ve never tasted before. It all started two weekends ago when my wife planned a trip to visit my old stomping grounds, Sonoma county. It was my birthday weekend celebration and she was taking to 4 breweries in Sonoma; Lagunitas Tap Room, Russian River Brewery, Bear Republic Brewery, and 3rd Street Ale Works. All four breweries had outstanding beers, the Russian River Pliny the Elder was a close second, which even beat out Bear Republic’s Racer 5 IPA, but the one that stood out the most and now has my heart, is Lagunitas Hop Stoopid Ale.

The Hop Stoopid ale has everything a hop-head wants, and I guess I’m now an official hop-head. The beer pours a brilliantly clear amber gold with a cap of fluffy off white head about a half finger high. Tons of lively carbonation bubbles rise out of the bottom of the glass and serve to maintain the head for an extremely long time. When you sit it, it is firmly bitter with lots of hop flavor up front. Pineapple, apricots, and roses are the dominant flavors in this heavenly delight. I can taste some grapefruit and some tropical flavors which make a strong round flavor. It has a nice, slightly sweet, caramel malt backbone. The alcohol flavors are not overpowering, but certainly contribute to the overall flavors. It’s loaded with citrus goodness and tons of grapefruit, all around.

In addition, this beer has a good amount of pine and rounded out pineapple favors. Just a little bit of malt shows through with a touch of sweet, in a sugary way, and the faintest bit of caramel. The carbonation is ample, filling my mouth with prickly bubbles and a slight foamy feeling. The alcohol is on the high side and is really sensation-able, but it tastes so good. Every time I finish a glass, I’m always looking for more. I truly love this beer. With 102 I.B.U., I could be drinking this with every meal.

Beer: Hop Stoopid
Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company
Style: Ale
ABV: 8.0%
Score: 99 (out of 100)

Last week during my winter break from work, I was able to sit down and drink another great Sierra Nevada beer. This time it was the Estate 2009 brew. Yes, it was a little over priced, $9.99 for a 24oz, but well worth the experience.

The unique feature about this beer is that the hops are grown on-site at the brewery in Chico, CA. As you can see from the photo to the right, the beer has a thick foam when poured and it has a deep copper, orange color that extends to the foam head. It also has a pretty significant haze to it. The aroma is all hops, with a hint of a citrus grapefruit note. When you start drinking, it begins bitter and continues bitter, with lots of hops and a little higher than expected carbonation level. The body is big, I mean really big. There’s no lack of malt in this beer and the malty sweetness fills out the palate. Caramel, apricot and mild fruity notes complement the citrus hop aroma. Over all this beer is an excellent IPA, but not for the faint of hearts. If you don’t like the sharp bitterness of an IPA, stay clear, but if you do, shell out the $10 and drink yourself into heaven.

Beer: Estate 2009
Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: American IPA
ABV: 6.7%
Score: 92 (out of 100)

Every year Sierra Nevada brews a harvest IPA. The unique feature about this beer is that the hops are wet and/or fresh hops, meaning that they brew the beer with hops that have been harvested within the last 24 hours. This brew usually has a unique citrus aromatic hoppiness and is somewhat sweet for an IPA. When I had my first sip, it reminded me of Will Ferrell in the movie “Old School”, were he just finished a beer bong, he states “Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it’s so good!” Anyway, the brew has a clear golden/coppery color and when poured has a tremendous foamy head with great retention and lacing. This brew has a straight and abundant bitterness, a bit of a light body, and a thick creamy head. It’s not quite watery but it does not have the malt base of other Sierra Nevada IPAs. I must say, “I love this beer.” It’s worth ever penny and I’m planning on purchasing a case or two soon.

Beer: 13th Annual Harvest 2009
Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: American IPA
ABV: 6.7%
Score: 97 (out of 100)

Well, it’s been a while since I last updated any of my web sites. It’s been a busy and project filled year. I figured since the holiday season is here and the projects at work have been slowing down, it’s time to do some refactoring and redesigning. I know next year is going to be a wild, crazy, and busy ride, so better get what I can get done now. So I started by changing iGolfScorecard.com from a Joomla based site to a WordPress site. Personally, WordPress is much more simple and does everything I need to do, so it was the logical choice. Any way, I set everything up, configured the theme, and organized the site content. Check it out for yourself and tell me if you like it or not.

Okay, now I’m more than a little frustrated with Apple. I submitted Hi Jinx Pro and Lite (v2.0.1) over 6+ weeks ago. This version was a bug fix version that corrected a crashing issue and also addressed some other minor user experience items. Remember, I submitted these two apps on the same day, even within the same hour. It took 5 weeks to get Hi Jinx Lite approved, but no word about the Pro version. Usually, when I submit these apps, they both get rejected or approved within a day or two of each other. Today I received the dreaded rejection letter. This one doesn’t make since to me, because the app was already approved and the rating and description was not updated. The app was rejected because the App Store rating level  was too low (I assume). The rejection letter reads as follows:

Follow-up:  48911984

Dear Mr. Morris,

Thank you for submitting Hi Jinx Pro to the App Store. We’ve reviewed Hi Jinx Pro and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store at this time because it is not appropriately rated. Our review indicates that the application content is not consistent with the current rating because it contains alcohol use or references.

Please visit iTunes Connect to resubmit your binary and rate your application appropriately.

Regards,

iPhone Developer Program
****************************

I’m just stupefied!

You have to be kidding me! 6 weeks to reject an app because Apple think “it is not appropriately rated”. This almost makes me want to stop the two new iPhone projects I’m working on and start coding for Android. Just freaking change the rating to the correct level and freaking approve the app. Personally, I feel if Apple wants to put an App rating, the App Store reviewer should create the rating and set it, not the developer.

I guess the main issue I have with this rejection is that this app was already approved at the current rating I submitted last time, 12+. Plus, the Hi Jinx Lite app was approved with the same rating, 12+. This is the second time Apple has approved one of the Hi Jinx apps and rejected the other, when they both have the same functionality. I know the solution is to change the rating to 17+, which I already have. But the thing that sucks is I have to resubmit the app and then wait another 6+ weeks to get another email, hopefully an approval letter. I’m just another frustrated developer hanging on the whim of Apple almighty hand of rejection.

Hi Jinx Pro was resubmitted Aug 31st, 2009. The wait game clock has been reset. Let’s spin the wheel and see how many weeks it taked to get another letter.

Last week I received the dreaded rejection letter from Apple for a new game I created, called Alien Splat. The rejection can be justified and sadly enough, I can agree with it. The rejection letter reads as follows:

Dear Jeff,

Thank you for submitting Alien Splat to the App Store.  We’ve reviewed Alien Splat and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it does not adhere to the iPhone Application Programming Guide as
outlined in the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement section 3.3.5; “Applications must comply with the Human Interface Guidelines and other Documentation provided by Apple.”

On iPod touch, it is not possible to make the device vibrate, though your application may feature vibration.  When Alien Splat is installed on an iPod touch, the user can turn the vibration switch on or off on the Setting screen.  Please see the attached screenshot.

Please take a look at the system call “sysctlbyname” and the section on “CTL_HW” from the Apple provided iPhoneOS reference documentation. It is necessary to check the machine class and machine type to determine if the device is capable of supporting vibration.

<http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/System/Conceptual/ManPages_iPhoneOS/man3/sysctlbyname.3.html>

Furthermore, Alien Splat uses a standard ContactAdd button for an action which is not its intended purpose.   Applications must adhere to the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines as outlined in the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement section 3.3.5.

The ContactAdd button is to be used to display a people picker to add a contact to an item.  Implementing standard buttons to perform other tasks will lead to user confusion.  Please see the attached screenshot.  It would be appropriate to use a custom icon.

Please review the System-Provided Buttons and Icons section of the iPhone’s Human Interface Guideline here:
<https://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG>

In order for your application to be reconsidered for the App Store, please resolve this issue and upload your new binary to iTunes Connect.

Should you require more assistance with resolving this issue, Apple Developer Technical Support is available to provide direct one-on-one support for discrete code-level questions.  Please be sure to include any crash logs, screenshots or steps to reproduce this issue in your request.

Developer Technical Support
<idp-dts@apple.com>

Regards,

iPhone Developer Program
****************************

Once I reviewed the iPod Touch vibrate issue, it took 5 minutes to implement an easy fix. As for the Add Contact button, I just created new buttons that look nothing like Apple’s  pretty little buttons. The app was tested and resubmitted the following day, which was last week, Wednesday. Now, the waiting game is on. Will Alien Splat get rejected again or approved?  No one knows, only the all mighty Apple can make that decision.

Follow-up:  78781984

Hello Apple,

Thank you for submitting Mobile Safari to the App Store. We’ve reviewed Mobile Safari and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store at this time because it contains objectionable content which is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states:

“Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”

Parental Controls have been announced for iPhone OS 3.0. It would be appropriate to resubmit your application for review once this feature is available.

Regards,

iPhone Developer Program

I have been inspired by a friend, Matt Mallory, who has reviewed a few beers himself, to start reviewing the beers I drink. Since I usually drink at least a beer or two a week, I thought it would be a fun idea.

Over the weekend I purchased a 6 pack of Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen, from the local Whole Foods market. I’m normally not a big Hefey fan, but I have had a few food ones and Sierra Nevada is one of my favorite breweries. Sierra Nevada is known for is IPA and for good reasons (it’s great).

On the top label (neck label), Sierra Nevada usually gives you a little insight into how the beer tastes. As I read this label to get a feel for the flavor of the beer, I noticed that there were instructions on how to pour the bottle. It read as followed: “pour two-thirds into a glass, swirl and pour the rest.” This is actually special for Hefeweizen beers. Since Hefey are unfiltered or very lightly filter beers there is a lot of yeast and sediment on the bottom of the bottle. You really want to get this extra goodness in your glass, which makes the beer a little more cloudy. This will allow you to really taste the beer and yeast, which promotes all it’s natural flavors.

You’ll also notice that this beer will produce a good head (no jokes here), which allow the beer to aerate and this brings out the flavor that much more. The first few sips are refreshing. For me, it takes a little while to get into the hefeweizen flavor, but the flavor is a smooth raw silky hefeweizen flavor. You can taste the full round flavors of the beer. It’s definitely worth a second glass and even a third. It’s a nice drink during the summer weather and great with a barbequed New Steak. I would give this beer a 4 of 5 stars.

Well, it’s been some what of an exciting day today for WWDC, new MacBook Pros announced, Snow Leaopard, iPhone 3.0, and oh yeah, a new iPhone 3GS.

As a developer, we get first access to the iPhone 3.0 SDK and GM release, but since there are so many developers trying to download the software and check out what is new, we have been getting the Access Denied from the Apple Developers web site. Oh well, I guess this happens every time something new comes out. I guess I’ll just have to keep clicking refresh and logging in to see when we’ll truly get access to the new software.