Bots

One of the issues I'm running into is server space. I have a very low budget plan that BOTS is quickly outgrowing and adding more room costs money. I've added some very small Google ads on the right to see if they can help with server costs, but I would rather by offer something you actually want.
Therefore, in 2009, I want to start offering BOTS swag via CafePress. The thing I need to hear from you is what kind of stuff you would be interested in? There's tons of options like T-shirts, coffee/tea mugs, underwear, etc. But It would help me to know what interests you.

Please let me know your ideas by commenting on this post or however you can get in touch with me and I will get started making them. Thanks in advance!

While recently browsing the iPhone's App Store, I discovered a company named iVerse Media who are producing comics for the iPhone by taking good quality comics, reformatting the panels and packaging them into "issues" that you buy as individual apps. The first "issue" is typically free with subsequent "issues" costing a mere $.99; a much cheaper price than buying the paper versions. Their reader is almost invisible as the comic takes up the whole screen allowing you to flip through the pages with the flick of a finger.

So, as I was reading one of these comics, I thought to myself, Hey self, why can't I make something like this for BOTS?  It would be cool! I'll even keep it free. Just a simple app that lets you flick through each comic; something the iPhone does natively. I written web sites. I've muddled my way through PHP programming. This can't be too hard, can it?
So, off to Apple's web site I went to sign up for their free Software Developers Kit (SDK). The whole process was fast and easy and even included a bunch of downloadable videos where Apple would explain everything I just downloaded. I waited until the rest of the house had gone to bed, put on my headphones and fired up the first video.

Instantly, a nice man in a nifty dress shirt began telling me how easy it was going to be for me to get started. Sure, the software I had just downloaded could be very complicated but Apple had nicely provided a lot of sample projects, templates, etc. for me to work from. Writing iPhone apps would be so simple, a caveman could do it!

Lies.

Once I got to the real meat of the videos, I became immediately aware that I had  jumped into the ocean in order to learn how to swim. The video guy kept talking but all I heard was "Blah blah writing blah-blah blah blah in the blah-blah iPhone blah blah blah so easy."
Ok, I said to myself, maybe these videos are just confusing because of the language. I don't need to write all that code and stuff. All I need to do is open one of their sample projects and modify it to be what I want.

Again, lies.

The end of the story is that I went to bed at 3am with a bunch of broken apps called "BOTS iPhone" on my laptop. So, barring the discovery of someone else's image flipping iPhone app code, there's no BOTS app for the iPhone.