May Meeting(s) plus important changes/news for June/July/August

1) Our May 1st mtg is rapidly approaching.  Since the first Tuesday falls on the first day of the month, it’s easy to forget about, so put it on your calendar and please RSVP to info@AppRochester.com.  6pm – 8:15pm at New Horizons in Henrietta, 50 Methodist Hill.

2) Topics for that May 1st meeting include:

- Professor Tom K. will continue his discussion of porting to Nook/Kindle/etc.

- Todd’s recap of both Rochester Startup Weekend (WHICH IS THIS WEEKEND! Price dropped to $49 from $99)

- Todd’s recap of NYC BigApps 3.0 Award Ceremony / event with Mayor Bloomberg

- Steve’s discussion of Push Notifications, which he’s enabled on both iOS and Windows Phone

- Show & Tell from members, including helping me redesign an app rejected by Apple

3) For our NEXT meeting, after this, instead of a June event, we will have a WEDNESDAY May 30th event (at New Horizons) with Microsoft’s Evangelist Dani Diaz presenting.  I’ve attended his talk in NYC and it should be a good use of your time.

4) For the summer (July and August) we will be relocating to RIT’s Center for Student Innovation, thanks to Professor Tom’s efforts.

5) For Rochester Startup Weekend, visit http://rochester.startupweekend.org/ and let me know if you’re going.  I have an app idea I could use a team for.

6) Congrats to our own members, Jennifer Shanley (Zwirlz app) for her nomination as Rochester Technology Woman of the Year and to Ryan Schnaufer for his winning the Young Entrepreneur Academy prize (Quiz Kid app)

7) We have some great sponsorships/gifts coming… stay tuned!

April meeting and events

Please RSVP to info@AppRochester.com for the Tuesday April 3rd AppRochester mtg, 6pm – 8:15pm at New Horizons, 50 Methodist Hill in Henrietta. We will have two presenters, in addition to your own app show & tell.

Paul Solt will be presenting iOS Basics – Learn how to work with buttons, actions, and gesture input using the interface builder tool and a small amount of Objective-C code.

RIT Prof Tom Kolankiewicz will present “Considerations for Porting your App to Popular eReaders: the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook Color & Nook Tablet”

Also, anyone interested in participating in Rochester Startup Weekend? Looks like fun…

http://rochester.startupweekend.org/2012/03/07/general-information-and-schedule-for-rochester-startup-weekend/

Also, BarCamp Rochester is coming up, April 14th. Details at http://www.BarCampRoc.org

March 6th mtg – Tips & Tricks

For March 6th, we will be presenting/moderating a discussion of Tips & Tricks! They can be technical and marketing based.

For example, I’ll present a few lines of code that detect if you’re running on an iPad or iPhone and adjust the user interface accordingly.

We encourage you to be ready to present your own as well. You can email me some text and or screenshots and I’ll put them in my presentation, or send me a PowerPoint/PDF/Keynote to display, or be prepared to present from your own system.

Remember, presenters get first dibs on the prizes… and I have some great ones from CES & MacWorld!

Please RSVP to info@AppRochester.com Meetings are at New Horizons in Henrietta, 50 Methodist Hill from 6pm to 8:15 and pizza/drinks will be provided.

See you tonight, Feb 7th for CES and MacWorld review plus app show and tell

Same time, same place… 6pm at New Horizons, 50 Methodist Hill in Henrietta

Jan 3rd mtg – The Business of Apps

Enjoy New Year’s Eve but make sure you’re bright eyed and bushy-tailed for our January 3rd event. We have two speakers who will discuss the business side of Apps, specifically a Lawyer and a Bulk Purchaser of apps.

Jennifer Lunsford is an attorney who helps startups plan for their future by offering a full range of small business services. She received her law degree from Boston University School of Law and her dual BA in political science and philosophy from Hartwick College. Originally from Long Island, she moved to Rochester in 2009 and now lives in the Park Ave neighborhood. For more details please visit www.jenniferlunsford.com.

Jen’s presentation will cover the pros and cons of various business entities, focusing heavily on the tax and liability benefits of each option for web-based companies. Q&A to follow.

Our other presenter, Brian Meehan, works for Allendale Columbia school.  Brian will share his a unique perspective as a bulk consumer of apps!  They have implemented an iPad 1:1 program at the school where the devices are managed by the students, not through enterprise management. They use cloud services heavily to keep users connected and buy apps in bulk and distribute through the mail merge function, 1 code per user.

Mark Navarra, a recruiter with Wellington Steele & Associates, http://WellingtonSteele.com, has graciously sponsored the event. See you on January 3rd, 6pm – 8:15pm at New Horizons, 5 Methodist Hill in Henrietta, up the hill in West Henrietta Road just past Channel 13 and John Holtz BMW.  Please RSVP to info@AppRochester.com

Dec 6th mtg – Developing for Windows Phone, sponsored by Microsoft

Be sure to join us Tuesday Dec 6th, 6:00pm – 8:15pm at New Horizons, 50 Methodist Hill, Henrietta as we learn about developing for Windows Phone, from our own co-founder, Steve Maier!

Big Corona event requires Big Location -Strathallan Hotel!

Great news AppRochesterians! Local programmer Scott Singer has arranged for Walter Luh, one of the founders of Ansca Mobile, makers of Corona, a cross platform (iOS and android currently) solution, to sponsor and speak at our November 1st event, but due to the anticipated size, we will be holding the event at The Strathallan Hotel, 550 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607. We will have light refreshments, and the conference room is booked from 6-9 pm.

Please tell your friends so we can take advantage of the larger space, and everyone should RSVP to info@AppRochester.com.

Corona is giving away prizes and raffling off the following:

1 version of Corona Pro / 1 year free – $349 value
1 version of Corona iOS only / 1 year free – $199 value
1 version of Corona Android only / 1 year free – $199 value

And we will have coupons for % off Corona year fee.

Sep 6th mtg – Social Media w/ Skeeter Harris

Yes it’s Labor Day weekend, but we are still on for our Tuesday meeting, Sept 6th, 6pm to 8:15pm at New Horizons in Henrietta.  Directions, etc., at http://AppRochester.com

Please RSVP to info@AppRochester.com so we can plan for free pizza/drinks.

This month’s sponsor/presenter is Skeeter Harris (http://www.facebook.com/SkeeterHarris &http://twitter.com/#!/SkeeterHarris) an experienced social networker and videographer.  He will discuss how to really leverage facebook to promote your business/app in a more in-depth way than just having a fb page.  He will talk about the type of content that engages and builds “likes” and followers and what methods create the greatest exposure.  This is important to build your mobile app audience and should be applicable to all platforms.

Developers! Get some publicity for your apps!

Great article in today’s D&C regarding one of our members (co-founder in fact!)  Check out the story on Steve Maier’s Thoughts and Prayers app.

Looking to get publicity for your app?  Here are three ways to do so:

1) Speak at one of our meetings.  We currently have 75+ members, and about half show up to our regular meetings on the first Tuesday each month, at New Horizons in Henrietta.  You can present your app, get feedback, discuss development and/or marketing aspects, etc.!

2) Submit your app using our online submission form, so we can list it in the AppRochester Search Engine!

3) Join us at the upcoming Rochester SciFi Anime Convention (our equivalent of ComicCon) where AppRochester will have a big (14′x14′) booth, with electricity (and Wi-Fi, I am told.)  No charge but get in touch with us in advance and you might just have to pay the admission fee ($8 in advance, $10 at the door.)  Details at http://www.RochesterSciFiAnime.com

 

Aug 2nd topic – Appcellerator Titanium for cross platform apps!

We have a very exciting topic for the August 2nd meeting. Our own member Peter Traeg has been working with Titanium from Appcellerator and he will discuss his experience. We will also have Tim Poulsen on hand, an actual trainer and curriculum designer from Appcellerator, for the official scoop and perhaps some giveaways!

So, if you’ve been thinking about cross platform development, or even just an easier way to jumpstart your iOS or Android app development (as I am trying to do!) then be sure to attend.

Also, I have reserved a big (14×14) booth at the Rochester equivalent of Comic Con ,http://rochesterscifianimecon.com, Saturday September 24th, at the Main St Armory. We will have electricity and, so they tell me, Wi-Fi. If you would like to have your apps on my iPad so I can display them on a big monitor and/or projector screen, please give me a promo code if I don’t have your app already. You are also welcome to join me and bring your own mobile device, but you may have to pay the $12 admission fee ($10 in advance, $5 for ages 5 to 11.) I will have a sign made for AppRochester but if you have brochures, business cards, or anything that could display well, please let me know. For example, I just got the iCade from ThinkGeek and will bring that.

As usual, there is no charge for our meetings but please RSVP to info@AppRochester.com so we can plan for pizza and drinks, etc.

Remember, the good folks at New Horizons host our meetings for free, so please consider them for your training needs. See you 6pm – 8:15pm Tuesday August 2nd, New Horizons, 59 Methodist Hill, in Henrietta.