Edi Budimilic

I’m swamped with work, with big projects that hardly give me any space to do a hobby development on the side, but I still manage to slowly do some progress.

I plan a series of posts transparently sharing all about the process of creating, promoting and making money doing these hobby projects. I will not talk a lot about active client and private startup projects in this series, unless if it’s a promotional thing. :)

I started working on mini projects to:

– create very small revenue streams
– learn new programming languages and expand knowledge on existing ones
– be useful, fun and innovate when possible
– share the experience with others

Even though I had a slow start – I managed to actually learn Corona SDK framework, learn Lua language (my favorite after JS), publish a game and create a productivity app – in just a few weeks of development (months in timeframe).

Why Corona SDK and Lua language?

Well, as I stated above, I wanted to learn something new but also something I could use for years, not just “try and forget”. Lua is awesome, screw the complicated “powerful” low-level languages, takes a ton of time to develop a calculator or even a game. With Lua, you learn as you go and is so simple it’s like you already know it. It takes hours, not days to build something useable. Corona SDK has a ton of advantages for building mobile apps/games and maybe just a few tiny disadvantages.

Corona SDK: https://coronalabs.com

Rocket Launcher – Going Interstellar

And this is what I first did with Corona. I wanted to build a shitty game and challenge myself with features, so I decided to integrate: real physics, iAd & later AdMob for ads, iOS Game Center for leaderboards, Flurry analytics, sounds, composer for screen management, support for different screen sizes and much more less noticeable stuff.

It took me a week to learn Lua, get familiar with Corona SDK and build the first playable version – a freakin’ week! So yeah, I’m pumping up my Sublime editor with plugins and marrying Corona SDK :) What’s even cooler, Corona was pretty limited for free users, but they got acquired by Fuse Powered Inc. and they made a $200 Pro plan free! Fuck yeah :)

I was trying to be smart by adding “Going Interstellar” in the game’s name, few months prior the premiere of the Interstellar movie. Guess what, the hunch was right! At times I got spikes with over 500 downloads a day, and months after it’s still stable at 20-30 downloads a day. I guess the game is not that shitty after all. :)

Ads in games can be really annoying and irritating for players, but I still wanted to test it and earn something along the way. That’s why I’ve put the ads on top, showing only when there’s no game action happening at the top half of the screen. With all the players (a bit less than 10k) I have a steady daily piggy bank income, it’s quarters but still – a few dozen of projects like this and I don’t have to do anything to make a living. But screw living, I’m an entrepreneur. I’m not doing it for money, it’s fun – that’s all.

Download: Rocket Launcher – Going Interstellar

QckMail – Send Quick Reminders To Your Email

This time I decided to build something I needed and still learn something new. I just bought a new Android phone so I can test Android builds, and for the first time ever, along with the iOS version, I’m publishing an Android one too. This wouldn’t be possible without the Corona SDK – a simple framework for iOS, Android and Windows, same code, multiple platforms.

It took me less than a week to develop this app. Still waiting Apple to review the app at the moment of writing this. I’ll keep updating my blog with all the progress and experiments I do. Expect download and sales numbers. Testing “Tier 1” this time, that’s $0.99 to be exact.

Download: QckMail – Send Quick Reminders To Your Email

There’s much more, more projects and more experiences to share. But that’s it for now, keep checking back for new interesting updates. Cheers!

I just love hackathons. For those who doesn’t know what a hackathons is, in short; Hackathon is usually a software developers gathering where teams and individuals create something from scratch before the hackathon ends. It usually lasts 12 to 24 hours. And why I love it so much? I learn something new each time I attend a hackathon; I set a goal to complete the project on time; and all that by hanging out with the like-minded people. Love it!

A month ago, WhoHack (WhoAPI startup) team went to Osijek to OSChackathon #2. We have built something amazing and even too ambitious. We created a car racing game built on these technologies: Objective C (iOS App), node.js/socket.io (for multiplayer), HTML5 (front-end game engine). Too bad I can’t show you, haven’t record it yet. It requires few people to demonstrate :) But.. you can watch us presenting it, without a sound and not the best picture quality but hey, at least something: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjGisKZE1DY#t=3124s

My latest adventure was at the local’s 10 people (friends) hackathon, officially called HackWorks. Our lead hacker, Damir Sarcevic, had the best project, prepared the grill and fed us all :). I was working on a remake of the game my old game development team and I made, long ago. The game is CaveShip.

You can check the PC original here:
http://generationstars.com/?game=4

Hackathon mobile version, here:
http://budimilic.com/games/caveship/

Open it on you phone in landscape mode and touch the screen to keep the ship up from the gravity pull. If you still want it to try on your PC, press the UP key for the same effect. Game still doesn’t have any game rules like ship energy, level selection, a menu, etc.. I’m happy with the work done.

Check the photo gallery Kornelije Sajler took while working on his project:
http://flickr.com/photos/23706006@N03/sets/72157633879185633/

Next time I’ll try something bit harder. I’ll try to create a remake of Speedy Lander, using Corona engine writing code in Lua. Wish me luck!

We at WhoAPI are almost done with the MVP version of the service. The API works but the website with client administration is still due.

I was thinking about creating something completely new for users to log in to the service. A passwordless login!

Let me explain: 

Facebook & Google use dual authorization for maximum security (opt-in feature). For example, you open the facebook on your new computer, click log in and wait for the SMS with temporary password to arrive, you enter the pwd and you’re in for good on that particular computer/browser.

What if all websites work like this but only with the temporary password for one time log in. So imagine, you come to our service like whoapi.com, you enter the email and click the log in button; password comes to your email/sms (depends how you setup your account), you enter the password and voila, it works, without a password to remember. Every time you come back, session stays alive. If you’re on a computer you don’t own, just Log out and the authorization for that computer/browser gets deleted.

Why do we trouble our self with remembering long, strange passwords we are forced to create? For example, password must include: at least one big letter, at least one number and be 8 to X characters long. Come on, that sucks! I developed a technique of my own to have different passwords on all the websites but in a way to remember it easily. That’s good but that one more website that forces me to enter a non-alphanumeric sign changes everything, again! I know, you can use Roboform, 1Password or similar tools, but I don’t want to use any tools on any device!

Breakthrough for security when passwords leak! I was just reading how EA Origin Accounts got Hacked, and they now advice all the users to change their passwords. This is bad! If they had a system like this one, they (EA in this example) would just deauthorize all computers without bothering their users about it.

As the subject says, what do you think about logging in to websites without a password at all?

P.S. password can be an optional “thing” :)

I’ve watched a video on YouTube where some guy bypassed the security lock on his jailbroken iPhone by viciously pulling and inserting his SIM card; some crazy method to bypass the lock and see the phone contacts :) definitely not worth a try if you found a locked iPhone in some bar ;) By watching that video, a thought came to my mind, actually two of them. Why this guy didn’t tried to tap the “contacts” button while on an emergency call, and why he didn’t try to launch the multitasking by double tapping the home button. I have tried both methods and it worked!

Double tapping the home button while on a Emergency call screen showed all the previously used apps, you could easily switch between them but not go to the home screen; so I tried the other method. Call the iPhone from your other phone if you know the number, answer it, tap the “contacts” button and now hit the home button; that’s it! You’re on a home screen with full control over device. Don’t forget this only works on jailbroken devices, I have tested it on iOS 4.2.1 and iOS 5.01.

Check the video:

Are you up to the challenge with possible failure which can put your social life in second place and risk your relationship with love ones?

Don’t hope to be in those 5% of startups that succeed with little to no trouble. Startups can be really hard! I can just tell you to brace yourself because you learn only with your own failures. Good advices can only prepare you for a good hit, be it a good or a bad one.

What do you think is the Ultimate question somebody can ask you as a startup?

I’m a Bitbucket.org user and please don’t judge me for that. There are a lot of different opinions about Bitbucket vs. GitHub, but mine is the only one that matters to me since I’m extremely satisfied with the features and the use of Bitbucket. Why would I switch to any other source control service? Now that we cleared that out, let’s talk about this post’s subject. :)

The problem:

Actualy two of them. I have a hosting account in Slovenia, they block all foreign IP’s to connect to FTP, so It’s pain in the but to make some changes on the script there. My other problem (while working on WhoAPI); if you have let’s say 20 hosting accounts all over the world and you need to update the same script that’s on all of them, how would you do it? (no control of the server modules, so no automatic deployment)

 
The research:

I found no scripts that can solve these problems. I’m sure that they exists, but I lost two (if not more) hours trying to find a finished and a working one.

 
The solution:

I made a script (one file) that you upload to your server, change two lines of code, set the Bitbucket settings to ping the script as soon as you make the change to your files on your repository (30sec. job) and you’re done! What this script does is it download’s your script from the Bitbucket repository and extracts it, so you have the latest version of your script always live.

No FTP, no drag&dropping files or scp-ing to the server directly. Out of the box solution for easy automatic script deployment. And yes, It’s in PHP :/ I would like to write the same thing in Python, and Node.js version would be cool as well.

Check it out here: https://bitbucket.org/edifreak/autopullrepo
 

Yep, after long wait we’re finally doing it. Here’s the story. We loved what we saw when iPhone was first introduced and the potential after Android showed what can be done with the apps (before the iPhone introduced the AppStore). We’ve been eager to get involved in all the hype these platforms created. So after three long years we bought a Mac Mini and started developing our first app. I must not forget to mention my brother Dino Budimilic who had the time to learn how to use the Mac, Xcode and all what comes with it :) He helped us create the app.

The app we’re making is all about our existing web service on http://crodns.com. It’s a domain availability checker with whois information on demand. We’ve already created the WebApp that works on all smartphones (at least we like to think so) which you can try here: http://m.crodns.com

Here are some screenshots of the icons we made. You may notice which icon we decided to go with on the Loading screen:

In-app screenshots and videos are coming after the release. My estimate is we’ll submit the app to the AppStore before this month ends. I don’t expect any problems with Apple’s approval :)

This version is intentionally made for regional market, that means it’s localized. But we didn’t forget the Global market, no! We’re planning to release the English version right after this one, as a separate project. We haven’t yet decided which domain to use for it, but we’re sure to find out using our first app ;)

It’s hard to blog about anything when you don’t have time to manage your initial work. So just to leave an update, I’m still working on a new GEM Studio website along with other customer projects. Our new website will bring lots of fresh and innovative ideas to the local corporate web. We aim to receive at least one recognition prize for design, smart use of new web tech. and innovation. I’ll put more updates with video presentations of our new website qualities once we start with finishing touches.

It’s very interesting to see how the words are generated by a software. This whole article was fully composed using Google Scribe. It’s a word suggestion text writer. I would like to see this implemented in WordPress or just to see it as a javascript plugin. It’s not only good for writing the content faster but also for those times when you’re trying to find the right word in your head. And yes, instant spellcheck ;)

I’ve tested their engine by writing “I like it” and accepted all the suggested words after that:
“I like it and I’ma let you finish but Beyonce had one of these days I’ll bet your life..” :)

Go ahead, try it: http://scribe.googlelabs.com

There are many things I look forward to see in the near future. Technology that will hopefully redefine how we interact with information and other people in a good way. I’ve found some videos, concepts of the future. Enjoy!

Future of screen technology:

Microsoft’s Vision of the Future:

The Future of Mobile: