Latest Comments and Update!

Hi All,

Just wanted to reply to a couple of new comments on the Google Play Store for the Android App. I can't reply on the store itself - so hope the authors will read this (via Feedhammer!). I'd also like to give everyone a quick update on current developments.

First - to the last couple of comments:

Great app Great app. Any chance of a donate version to get rid of the adds

Firstly - thanks! And thanks for taking the time to give some feedback - very, very! much appreciated! As to a donate/no ad version -  I've been thinking about a few options in this area. Rather than just jump in and do another version with no ads for a fee - the approach I *think* I favour would be a no ad/extra feature version paid for on a yearly subscription basis. It would be optional - and a very, very small charge (pence) - but it would be interesting to look at that model - and just see how it works. It wouldn't come close to covering the hosting costs of this thing (at the moment - I'm building this to scale to a *lot* of data down the line) - but it would be an interesting exercise. That would be a bit further down the line though - and I'm planning some questionnaires and getting direct feedback before doing anything like that.. Hopefully by that point I'd have had more time to try do more advertising and build more of a community around the site - got loads of ideas, just not enough time (I want to build something that you guys feel is useful - pointless otherwise!)

Great app I love this app, it's my go to place for all things war hammer.

Awesome! Comments like that are why I'm sat on the floor now - typing this on a laptop balanced on an inflatable mattress at 11pm on a Friday night...

On that point - I've basically moved into a new *temporary* flat while working away. No internet access set up yet (tethering from a 3G connection at the moment). Working on 2 key strands at the moment - on the back end - I'm looking to migrate the whole infrastructure to Amazon EC2 (from Rackspace OpenStack) - that's running MySQL, Glassfish, Apache, Squid on Ubuntu servers. Trying to get it done before attending a training day in London with Amazon next week, but Glassfish isnt playing nice...

On the other strand - I really need to get an iPhone version available asap! I want to run some adverts - but really need an iPhone version available first. 

Android is a native app - and I initially looked at doing the same for iPhone. But Im changing tack and going the PhoneGap/Cordova route - which will allow me to write one app - and deploy it on Android/iPhone/Windows/Blackberry... It may mean one step backwards initially for the android version - but will make it much better down the line (I *hope*!)

Anyway - more of that to follow! Thanks again for your comments/reviews - if you use/like the app and haven't left a review yet - please, please do!

Click here to leave a review/comment!

Oh - and a shout-out to the guys at FoodHammer - just saw your mail - thanks for getting in touch! Unfortunately my web access and admin console is in a state of flux. Can't do much more than give you a tweet tonight guys - check them out - Michigans premiere WH40K charity event!!

FeedHammer: Logo of the Week

Our new logo was designed with the help of the 'British Design Experts' company - it grew from some initial concept designs - I chose the one I liked and then we 'chaosified' him a little. I wanted something that was clean, irreverent and simple, but didn't infringe on GW copyright in any way.

I was pretty happy with the result! - and I think the guys at the design studio were too - as we got voted their 'logo of the week' by the staff at the studio (see below).

As soon as I get some free time I might run a competition to name the little feller.... Free Mug to the best suggestion? Watch this space!

Death, and Rebirth of a Server!

We experienced a brief anomaly in the Immaterium yesterday - which had an adverse effect on our server availability for a few hours yesterday..

Apologies if anyone was adversely affected!

I host the back end stuff on Slicehost servers. They were acquired by Rackspace a while ago, and there has been a gradual move to migrate the servers to Rackspace OpenCloud.

Well, yesterday - while I was doing the day job, I clicked the button to migrate everything across to the new OpenStack platform...

Everything went smoothly - except for my Glassfish installation, which I just couldn't couldn't resurrect...

This meant that no data was available between about 11am and 7pm GMT.
In the end it came down to a reinstall, reconfigure and it all came back to life again

Always on a Friday....

Meanwhile - work progresses on the iPhone client!

As ever - if you like the product and have a moment to spare - a positive review is always welcome! I'll reply to the latest kind ones in a new update here shortly!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cor.news.feedhammer&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5jb3IubmV3cy5mZWVkaGFtbWVyIl0.

FeedHammer 2.2 Released on Android

FeedHammer 2.2 - just been released to the Google Play store!

This just contains some minor branding changes to bring the Android app in line with the new website branding. I was going to hold off until I had more changes to update - but I really want to start doing some marketing/advertising of the app to see how it affects downloads - and wanted consistent branding in place before doing this!

We currently have nearly 7000 total installs, with over 2000 active users. The graph of active installs still shows a healthy, steady curve upwards - and I can see that the ad network is serving over 1000 ads a day currently -  so I guess people are finding it useful! (although not many are clicking on ads - which is to be expected I guess!)

Please note: This will delete any saved favourites! (a bit rubbish, I know - but does anyone use this feature? I think this may be removed in the next major release - let me know if you find this useful!)

Whats Next?

Work is currently underway for version 3 of the client. This will be a major rewrite, and will move away from a native app to a PhoneGap app. This will allow me to write one version of the client for release on all the major platforms - Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile (and Blackberry - if anyone still uses them!)

This may mean taking one step backwards on current functionality, but it will provide a much stronger platform for future growth!

Feedback pleeease!

As ever - if you find the app useful - please, please leave positive feedback on the Android store. Thanks to all those that have so far - I'll do another roundup and response to the comments again when I've accumulated a few more!

Thanks to All!
Ade