Posts Tagged lithops

Cactus Album icon

“Cactus Album

This weekend I completed the icon for my new app, Cactus Album, coming soon to the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. I went for a more realistic approach, in-keeping with the album theme of my other app, Bonsai Album.

As far as development goes, I’m working on the last few features including the iPad interface, CSV import / export, and local notifications for watering. The app should be feature-complete sometime this week, with a Beta test to follow shortly thereafter.

If you’re interested in participating in the Beta test, or would like to be notified when the app launches, you can sign-up for email announcements via the Cactus Album page.

For more information about Cactus Album, see my earlier blog posts, or visit the Cactus Album Facebook page.

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Cactus Album Preview #2

Track your cacti and succulent collection on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch – Coming Soon!

Last year I announced Cactus Album, my forthcoming iOS app for cacti enthusiasts. Development is progressing well, so today I’m posting a few more screenshots from the app.

Cactus Album is great for keeping track of the unique requirements and milestones of all your cacti and succulents. Better still, it’s all stored on your iOS device for quick reference and easy record updates.

If Cactus Album interests you and you’d like to either participate in the Beta test or be notified when the app launches, head on over to the email sign-up page. There’s also a Cactus Album Facebook page. If you’ve got any questions, suggestions, or other comments, I’d love to hear them either here or via email: CactusAlbum AT andrewnicolle DOT com.

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Cactus Album Preview

Track your cacti and succulent collection on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch – Coming Soon!

Last month I announced Cactus Album, my forthcoming iOS app for cacti enthusiasts. It’s still early in development, but I thought I’d give you an early peek at how the app is progressing so far.

Cactus Album is the app I wish I’d had back when I first caught the cactus bug. It quickly becomes overwhelming to keep track of the unique requirements and milestones of every plant in your collection, and having such an app on your iOS device is a great timer-saver for record-keeping.

If Cactus Album interests you and you’d like to either participate in the Beta test or be notified when the app launches, head on over to the email sign-up page. There’s also a Cactus Album Facebook page. If you’ve got any questions, suggestions, or other comments, I’d love to hear them either here or via email: CactusAlbum AT andrewnicolle DOT com.

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Announcing Cactus Album for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

“Cactus

Having recently completed the iOS 7 updates for all my apps, I began thinking about a new project for the iOS platform. It would have to be something I was personally interested in, and in a niche which is not currently well-served by any of the existing apps in the App Store. This is easier said than done, given how the App Store is stuffed to the gills in seemingly every category!

Today I’m pleased to announce my new iOS app, Cactus Album, coming to the App Store in 2014.

Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I have a bunch of other interests aside from writing apps. While I’m heavily into Bonsai (and created an app for that), I’m also a collector of cacti and succulents. This hobby began as a child when a neighbour in Australia got me started with a few tiny cacti, one of which was already 10 years old at the time. Since moving to the US, my parents have looked after them, and from what I hear, they’re still doing great.

About 5 years ago I caught the cactus bug again and was always on the look-out for new specimens at nurseries and on eBay. You can see a bunch of my acquisitions on Flickr in the following photo sets: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Over the years I’ve also visited the fantastic cactus and succulent collection at the Chicago Botanic Garden, collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens (Sydney, Australia) and Adelaide Botanic Gardens (Adelaide, Australia), and the cacti and succulent show and sale at Chicago Botanic Garden.

One thing you’ll slowly learn is that while most cacti thrive on neglect, some are rather picky about exactly how they’re neglected. They need fast-draining and coarse soil, plenty of light, occasional fertilizing, and water free of many of the additives you’ll find in tap water. The more pickier cacti have specific watering schedules, sometimes requiring no water for months at a time. Failure to adhere to any of the above may lead to sick or dead cacti. RIP, poor Lithops.

It would be nice to have an app to keep track of specific cacti, wouldn’t it? For the longest time I resisted writing such an app, being rather busy on other projects. Over the past few weeks I’ve been researching apps on the App Store for keeping track of my cacti and succulent collection. While I found several with information or photos, I didn’t find much at all that would suit my purposes.

No doubt there are many other cacti fans who would appreciate an iPhone or iPad app to organize their collections. A good many of these are probably getting by right now with cobbled-together spreadsheets or databases on their computers, or maybe not tracking anything at all. This niche is definitely small, but it’s an area where there seems to be a noticeable gap in the market.

I don’t have a full feature list locked down at this point, but if you’re familiar with my Bonsai Album app, you should get a fairly good idea of what I’m planning for Cactus Album. It’ll be a universal app, meaning it’ll work on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you’re interested in learning more about Cactus Album, visit the Cactus Album Facebook page or sign up at CactusAlbum.com to be notified via email when the app launches (and also when the Beta test begins).

I’m excited about working on Cactus Album, and I look forward to providing more information closer to launch!

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