Nicholas Pattens WorkLife

iPad App - Spatik

Some of you may know this by now, but I'm happy to say that my iPad app, Spatik is in the App Store and we're working on feature upgrades and bug fixes.

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So what is Spatik and why did I make it?
Every day I send out links to the content I find interesting in the design, art, tutorial, and architectural fields. I use Google Reader to organize all of my RSS feeds and have been maintaining only the sites that keep posting great things to share. After copying/pasting links and title headers and then selecting the exact time for the tweets to go out for 2 or 3 years I knew I had to find a way to make the process easier and faster.

Below is a brief description of the app:

Spatik is an iPad app that allows users to share timed messages/tweets to their Twitter followers. Spatik connects the user’s Google Reader, Twitter, and Bit.ly accounts to a browser. The user then is able to browse his/her RSS feeds from Google Reader and schedule tweets to go out with just a push of a button. Using Bit.ly, Spatik shortens the URL from the selected Google Reader article or website, copies the title of the post and delivers it in time increments of 15 minutes.

The user is able to move the tweet up and down to change the time at which it goes out, and can also change the text within the tweet. All of these tweets are synced to Spatik’s servers so the user can go through and set up a large number of tweets to be sent out and then continue on with their daily activities. Initially set for Twitter, Spatik will be adding many more services such as Facebook, StumbleUpon, Google Bookmarks, and Google Buzz. This will make it simple for users who already know what content they want to send out but are having a hard time actually setting up the links to go out in a timely fashion.

Spatik uses OAuth (Open Authorization), which allows a user to grant a third party site access to their information without sharing their access permissions or the full extent of their data. The user is in full control of what applications are connected to their data and can add and remove applications at any time.

Spatik has a mixture of use cases. Not only does it allow the user to follow their favorite websites via RSS, but it also can be used as a normal browser. Once a tweet is scheduled, the user can “favorite” it before it’s even sent out to their followers, adding yet another time saving feature. Individuals and companies can use Spatik as a tool to help save time when scheduling their daily tweets. The user doesn’t have to worry about copying and pasting in order to share with their friends and followers anymore.

Spatik can be purchased in the App Store [iTunes Link] for $1.99.

More information can be found on Spatik’s blog and website.

Follow Spatik on Twitter, Facebook, and Google.

You can also view more information in the press release and also on Reuters.

If you'd like to leave feedback and/or have any feature suggestions please let us know:

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Free Texture Pack 08 - Palette

Recently, I traveled to Indianapolis and while visiting a friend's art class I took these up-close pictures of the different palettes around the room. The preview images that you see below are 400 x 300px and the images inside the zip file are 1600 x 1200px. The download is 8.2mb. Let me know what you think. View my other texture packs.

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Album Cover: Nights in NYC

This is an album cover I created for @melfi over at NYHoosier. The cover has 6 layers and I used the font Chopin Script crisp at 16pt. I also added the NYHoosier logo on the bottom left corner. You can see the bigger version of this logo on his previous album artwork for "Into The Dark"

View and Download the tracks.

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How To Leave The Computer Weight at Home

For the past few months I've been contemplating buying a new laptop, but at the same time I'd rather not have the hassle of carrying it around when traveling. I already have an iPhone, iPad, and Samsung Galaxy S (Android OS). All I need now is a way of connecting to all of my files and the computing power that the iPad can't handle.

I will attempt to show you how you can have access to all of your files, even the cable TV that you're already paying for, and complete access to your home computer anywhere that you have an internet connection. Below is a graph of what you would need to buy in order to access your home computer away from and at home from your mobile devices while not sacrificing computing power and hard drive space.

Hardware
Cable TV/Modem
Wireless Router
SlingBox Pro HD
HDTV
Mac Mini Server
Pogoplug Pro
Data Robotics Drobo S
iPad
iPhone
Android Devices

iPhone/iPad Apps
iTeleport
SlingPlayer Mobile
Dropbox
Pogoplug
Netflix
Hulu Plus

Mac Mini Server Software
iTeleport Connect
Dropbox

Use examples:
You can..

use your HDTV as a desktop computer screen and connect a wireless mouse and wireless keyboard to your Mac Mini Server.
use your HDTV as a desktop computer screen while controlling it remotely with your iPad/iPhone through the iTeleport App.
watch your DVR on your iPad/iPhone from another room if someone else is watching the HDTV (at home or a far).
access all of your files through the Pogoplug, Dropbox, and/or iTeleport iPhone/iPad apps.
use the Mac Mini Server to sync up all of your devices to (iPhone, iPad, and Android device)
have multiple users on the Mac Mini Server, families can access the same server with different user credentials while using different devices in and out of the house.

Disclaimer
Obviously there may be different ways of doing this, and maybe I've left a few things out. So if you know of a better way of doing this please let me know in the comments. No companies paid me to include their products in this post and if there are substitutes to make this better please let me know.

You may also find this interesting: OWC launches Mac mini-based HTPC configuration at Macworld

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Successful Socialising

A while back I was interviewed for Computer Arts Projects Magazine and this is a new post about successful socializing.

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Web Designers to Follow on Twitter

I just ran across this post of designers to follow on Twitter that I'm listed in. Thanks for including me. Check out the other designers on this list.

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Flash Leads to Poor Online Communications

I just ran across this post about something I said a while back: “It still amazes me how big agencies are still using Flash… Do they not know mobile is the future?“

The good news is David Henderson agrees with me and goes on to give a great explanation as to why big agencies still use Flash.

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Computer Arts Projects - Issue 140

A friend of mine on Twitter let me know about my inclusion on page 64 in Computer Arts Projects - Issue 140. After not being able to find it in any bookstore/magazine store he was nice enough to scan the page and email it to me.

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Album Cover: Into The Dark

This is an album cover I created for @melfi over at NYHoosier. The cover has 4 layers and I traced out the Indiana state flag stars/logo, and the NY logo to combine them together. Once I had it completed with the white background I inverted the whole image to it's final state.

View and Download the tracks.