James Purser [INSERT WITTY CATCHPHRASE HERE]

 Just a quick update on the iphone version of the openaustralia search app:

House of Reps Search:

Currently hardcoded to search by postcode. Need to include a Picker so that people can choose how they search for their members, however, the Picker widget on the iPhone is hucking fuge! Seriously, the thing looks like something out your local hotels Pokie room.

Senate Search:

Nothing done here yet

Hansard Search:

While the general search functionality hasn't been touched yet, I've started working on the  Rep related Hansard search, tends to crash right now, but still going :)

My Rep:

Nothing done as yet.

If you want to have a look at the horror that is my objective c then have a gander over here

 Okay, I finally decided to put bit to processor and start an iphone version of the Open Australia Search app that I've been writing for Android.

Now, my knowledge of Objective-C and apple development is miniscule, so what's up there now is just enough to build and present the "front view" off the app, but I've already had offers of help from people more experienced in this strange and esoteric environment so we'll see how we go.

Anyways, here's the source:

http://code.google.com/p/openaustraliasearch/

And here's the very, very rough design document I did on the train last night:

http://code.google.com/p/openaustraliasearch/wiki/DesignDocument

Oh and as gentle reminder for those of you with android devices, version 0.3.2 has been released. Use the QR Code below to install it:

 Just a quick note to let you, dear reader, know a couple of things:

LCA2011 Paper Submissions

The traditional extension to the linux.conf.au paper submission process is going to close at the end of tomorrow (14th August 2010). So if you've got any last minute brain waves or inspirations get in quick.

LGWN10

For the second year in a row I'm going to be helping out with the audio recordings and general organisation of the Local Government Web Network Conference.

LGWN10 represents the only (as far as I know) grass roots conference aimed specifically at those working with the web from within the Local Government sector. It's constantly evolving and this year the morning sessions have been dedicated to four Local Government case studies, ranging from metro Councils such as Pittwater (who's going to be talking about how they pitched the use of Social Media to their senior management) to regional Councils such as Tamworth (who will be walking us through their migration from an eggs in one basket portal site policy to  a more flexible online presence policy).

All in all it's going to be an excellent conf :)

Well, it's ten to seven in the morning, and I'm on the train to Sydney so I thought I would put some thoughts down.

Ding dong the witch is dead, or is she?

Last week, the Coalition finally announced their position on the Labor party's mandatory ISP filter, stating that they would oppose it or scrap it depending on whether they won or lost the election. This caused much celebration and crowing on the twitters, with many declaring the filter proposal dead, buried and cremated. "Huzzah!" they declared, "the witch is dead!".

Except of course the witch isn't dead yet.

All of those celebrating today seem to have forgotten their recent history. The filter proposal that the Labor party took to the 2007 election was an opt-in model with a much tighter purview, it was only after the election that it expanded to the beast we see today. Given that the Coalition  is the party that brought the phrase "Non-core promise" to the national language, what insurance do we have that the Coalition won't change their mind after the election? 

I'm going to hold off on the dancing in the streets.

Mark Latham - This elections WTF

Seriously, channel 9, do you even care about being taken seriously anymore?

There was an excellent question in last nights Q and A to Julia Gillard:

"How big a tool do you think that Mark Latham is?"

To which Julia Gillard answered reasonably well:

"There are some things that just can't be measured"

If 9 had any journalistic integrity left whatsoever they would be giving Latham the bums rush as soon as possible.

Family First - A tale of two candidates

Okay, it's Sunday morning, I have a coffee in hand and I haven't had a chance to blog lately, so here we go:

This election has officially jumped the shark

That's it, this election is officially a joke. Neither party is offering significantly different policies, the media seems to be more concerned about the Days of Our Lives that is the Labor leadership squabble, and now we have channel 9 bringing Mark bloody Latham into the mix as a "guest journalist"

The only real spark of interest has been watching the twitter stream when people start to have a go at the journo's for being more concerned about Rudd and Gillard than the policies the parties are putting out. I've read many complaints about how much each party is controlling their various media packs, however it takes two to tango. The media is meant to be there to hold the parties up to the light, not help them keep mushrooming the populace.

Waving Away

I've already written about this on my wave blog, however I'll mention it here as well: If Google doesn't feel it can support the development of the Wave and associated technologies then it needs to hive them off into something similar to the Apache Foundation.

The Island of Doctor Nauru

Are we so seriously damaged as a country that we can actually think that prison camps on an island as far from anywhere as possible is an acceptable solution for such a small problem as boat borne asylum seekers? Did we learn nothing from the last time this was attempted? Yeesh.

Oh and Labor you're not getting out of this one scott free. East Timor?!? If you want to help out the East Timorese economy why not give a bit on the whole oil and gas fields thing. You know, something that might actually create jobs and build an economy?

Okay here's the next release of Planning Alerts AU.

This version now checks to see if GPS or Wireless Location Detection services are activated and prompts you if they aren't. Changed the Icon and marker graphics (if anyone wants to contribute graphically, please feel free :)).

So here it is:

Planning Alerts AU - 0.6

Okay, here's version 0.4 of planningalertsau, the android app I'm building based on the Planning Alerts API.

In this version I've fixed the following:

Map crashes when there are 0 alerts

• Added About dialog
• Preferences Menu option now works in AlertsDisplay
• Alert TextView now clickable (calls AlertWebDisplay and displays Planning Alerts Page for specific Alert)
• AlertDisplay now shows a message if there are no results

Now, there are still councils for whom Planning Alerts doesn't have results for and they are still looking for help, so if you want to contribute please head along and let them know

As always if you have a bug, please submit it here. It would be helpful if you could include the following information:

• Suburb
• State
• Postcode
• Longitude and Latitude

It'll help me when testing to see if the issue is a Planning Alerts or planningalertsau issue :)

I finally had enough time to sit down and have another crack at the Android App I'm building based on the very cool planning alerts api.

This new release has added basic google maps integration. Once you have successfully returned a list of alerts you can hit the menu button and select Map to view the various alerts.

How to use it:

On a fresh install, before you select an option, you need to fill out your address details, to do this, select the Menu button and then Preferences. Fill out your details and you'll be set.

Future Features:

Saved Searches: Currently the app pulls down a fresh set of results with every call. This needs to be changed so that the user can select a search that they want to keep track of

Request Settings on Initial Launch: Users need to be directed to fill out their details when they first launch the app

Future Bug Fixes:

Error Handling: currently there is really very little error handling within the app. This means we have situations where the app will crash if you attempt to view a null list of alerts.

Any way here's the QR Code:

Edit:

And thanks to Simon Rumble for the first "defect" :)

Hey Google,

Look, I have to say, I love the Android. It represents all that Apple is not, a truly open platform that lowers the barrier of entry for new developers across multiple industrial segments (you know, phones, tablets, tv's and so on).

However I had to do something I really didn't want to yesterday. I had to buy an ipod touch so I could start learning how to code for the iphone family. Do you know why? Because I can't sell apps in the android marketplace, and neither can anyone else unless they're in a very small group of countries. Sure I can distribute apps for free (which I will be doing once the openaustraliasearchdroid and planningalertsau apps are at version 1.0) but seriously, if you want to tap that market of iphone developers, you're going to have to open up the market.

Why can't I sell any apps? Is it due to the fact that the Google Checkout system doesn't appear to support Australian merchants either? I've tried looking for an official explanation but I've struck out. There's lots of assumptions and rumours, but nothing there to re-assure people that the issue is going to be dealt with soon.

Look Google, I like you (I don't trust you completely, but that's another story). I love Wave, Gmail and your search rocks my world. Hell I've interviewed twice with your unique HR process. The people I've dealt with in Google have been decent, enthusiastic and knowledgable, let's not let a simple thing like a borked marketplace programme  get between us hey?

Just a quick note to let everyone know that version 0.2 is now out.

This version has definitely fixed the 1.5/1.6 version installation problems as well as the JSONArray issues I was having before.

I've also been asked to consider building an iphone version of the app. I'm looking at what's required, but the first step seems to be download 2.3GB of code (including iPhone Emulator and IDE), which makes Androids development environment seem positively anorexic by comparison. 

Anyway, heres the new version