Posts Tagged log

Introducing Plant Album

Plant Album is now available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Plant Album

Download on the App Store

Today my new iOS app for gardeners, Plant Album, hit the App Store. Plant Album is available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with iOS 8.0 or higher. Organize your plants into gardens, tracking watering schedules, keep dated log entries, and more.

Plant Album is localized into several languages, including English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Portuguese.

The Plant Album database can be moved between your various devices, so you can back it up to your computer over a local WiFi network from either an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, and restore it onto another Apple device. You can also import or export data without modifying the existing data on your device, or transfer the database directly between devices via AirDrop.

The Gardens, Plants and Logs tabs of the app display thumbnail images in table form for each garden, plant, or log entry. In addition, the garden and plant thumbnail images can be viewed in a scrollable grid. This makes it easier to locate an item in your collection visually, or based on the name, garden, or species. As with my other apps, the user interface has been designed for quick and easy data entry.

You can find more details on my website or on the Plant Album Facebook page. There’s also a free Lite version you can try out. This version is limited to 3 gardens, 3 plants, 3 watering schedules, and 3 log entries with 3 photos each, and only supports backup and export over WiFi. Otherwise it’s identical to the full version.

If you’re interested in the origins of Plant Album, you can read more in my earlier blog post.

I hope you find Plant Album to be a fun and useful gardening app, and I welcome any feature suggestions and comments you may have. Enjoy!

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Orchid Album v1.3 update now available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

The Orchid Album v1.3 update is now available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Orchid Album makes keeping track of your orchids easy, whether you’re new to orchids, or an experienced collector. It’s the ideal tool for organizing your plants, watering schedules, and notes.

“Orchid

This update contains the following changes:

  • Added French localization.
  • Added Italian localization.
  • Added German localization.
  • Added Spanish localization.
  • Added Portuguese localization.
  • Bug fixes

If you’re enjoying the app, please take a moment to rate or review it on the App Store!

You can learn more about Orchid Album at my website or on the Orchid Album Facebook group.

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Orchid Album v1.2 update now available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

The Orchid Album v1.2 update is now available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Orchid Album makes keeping track of your orchids easy, whether you’re new to orchids, or an experienced collector. It’s the ideal tool for organizing your plants, watering schedules, and notes.

“Orchid

This update contains the following changes:

  • The Orchids list now shows the ‘In Collection’ state for each Orchid
  • Added a “Hide when not in collection” filter option to the Settings screen. This allows Orchids not in your collection to be hidden from the Orchid list
  • Added Wired and Ground Container Types for Orchids
  • Log thumbnail photos are now shown in the Orchid Log History list
  • Bug fixes

If you’re enjoying the app, please take a moment to rate or review it on the App Store!

You can learn more about Orchid Album at my website or on the Orchid Album Facebook group.

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Introducing Orchid Album

Orchid Album is now available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Orchid Album

Today my new iOS app for orchid enthusiasts, Orchid Album, landed on the App Store. Available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with iOS 5.0 or higher, Orchid Album is a great tool for keeping track of your orchid collection, watering schedules, and notes.

Orchid Album can store multiple full-screen captioned photos for each orchid or log entry. The photos are captured either via the device camera, or from the photo library. They’re stored internally in high resolution, scaled up or down when displayed depending upon the capabilities of your device. Orchid Album takes full advantage of Retina and iPad displays, but also works great on previous generations of hardware.

The Orchid Album database itself is portable between your various devices, so you can back it up to your computer over a local WiFi network from either an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, and restore it onto another Apple device. You can also import or export data without modifying the existing data on your device, or transfer the database directly between devices.

The first and third tabs of the app display thumbnail images in table form for each orchid or log entry. In addition, the orchid thumbnail images can be viewed in a scrollable grid. This makes it easier to locate an item in your collection visually, or based on the name or genus. As with my other apps, the user interface has been designed for quick and easy data entry.

You can find more details on my website or on the Orchid Album Facebook page. There’s also a free Lite version you can try out. This version is limited to 3 orchids, 3 watering schedules, and 3 log entries with 3 photos each, and only supports backup and export over WiFi. Otherwise it’s identical to the full version.

If you’re interested in the genesis of Orchid Album, you can read more in my earlier blog post.

I hope you find Orchid Album to be a fun and useful app, and I welcome any feature suggestions and comments you may have. Enjoy!

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Orchid Album Preview

Track your orchid collection on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch – Coming Soon!

Development on Orchid Album is coming along well, so today I’m posting a few early screenshots, along with the just-completed app icon.

Orchid Album is my forthcoming iOS app for orchid enthusiasts. It’s a great tool for keeping track of all the details and milestones in the lives of your orchids, and everything is stored on your iOS device for quick reference and easy record updates.

If Orchid Album sounds interesting 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 an Orchid Album Facebook page. If you’ve got any questions, suggestions, or other comments, I’d love to hear them either here or via email: OrchidAlbum AT andrewnicolle DOT com.

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Introducing Cactus Album

Cactus Album is now available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

“Cactus Album

Today I present my fourth iOS app, Cactus Album. Available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with iOS 5.0 or higher, Cactus Album is an indispensable tool for keeping track of your cacti and succulent collection, watering schedules, and notes.

Cactus Album features the ability to store multiple full-screen captioned photos for each cacti or log entry. The photos are captured either via the device camera, or from the photo library. They are stored internally in high resolution, scaled up or down when displayed depending upon the capabilities of your device. Cactus Album takes full advantage of Retina and iPad displays, but also works great on previous generations of hardware.

The Cactus Album database itself is portable between your various devices, so you can back it up to your computer over a local WiFi network from either an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, and restore it onto another Apple device. You can also import or export data without modifying the existing data on your device, or transfer the database directly between devices.

The first and third tabs of the app display thumbnail images in table form for each cacti or log entry. In addition, the cacti thumbnail images can be viewed in a scrollable grid. This makes it easier to locate an item in your collection visually, or based on the title or species. As with my other apps, the Cactus Album user interface has been designed to make it as quick and easy to enter and view details about your collection as possible.

You can find more details on my website or on the Cactus Album Facebook page. If you’re not entirely convinced Cactus Album will work for you, there’s even a free Lite version you can try out. This version is limited to 3 cacti, 3 watering schedules, and 3 log entries with 3 photos each, and only supports backup and export over WiFi. Otherwise it’s identical to the full version.

In case you’re curious what prompted me to create such an app, you can read all about it in my earlier blog post.

If you enjoy cacti and succulents, I hope you find Cactus Album useful, and I welcome any feature suggestions and comments you may have. Enjoy!

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Announcing Orchid Album for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

“Orchid

With my forthcoming app, Cactus Album, still pending approval by Apple, I’ve been thinking about my next iOS project. Around the same time I commenced development on Cactus Album, I’d been considering another insistent idea. For years now I’ve received emails from people wishing I’d make apps covering some interest or other. Most of these ideas are well-served by existing apps in the App Store, and don’t typically sound like the sorts of things I’d care to invest months of effort into and years of support. However, some email last year piqued my interest, but I had to mull it over for awhile before deciding to proceed.

Since today is still Valentine’s Day in this part of the world, I figured it was the perfect time to announce my next iOS app, Orchid Album, coming to the App Store in Spring 2014.

For those who know me either personally or via Twitter, you’d be aware I have a bunch of interests in addition to app development. My interests lean heavily toward gardening-related hobbies, with bonsai, cacti and veggie gardening being chief among them. I’ve created a well-received bonsai app, and the aforementioned app for cacti and succulent collectors.

I was first introduced to the world of orchids during my childhood in Australia whilst enjoying the garden of some elderly neighbours. They had quite a collection in a shaded enclosure in their huge backyard, and it was always fun to see how their plants were progressing. Since then I’ve admired the collection in the greenhouses at the Chicago Botanic Garden, but hadn’t considered owning any until recently.

What changed was the announcement a few months back by the Chicago Botanic Garden of their forthcoming orchid show. I’ve been following their updates with keen interest as organization of the show progressed, and I’ve done some of my own research into these fascinating plants. I’ve since learned that northern Illinois is home to some great orchid nurseries within driving distance, as well as an upcoming show this weekend. With this nightmarishly cold winter we’ve been having, a taste of the tropics certainly sounds appealing! As of today, we have some nice Phalaenopsis orchids under lights in our basement, and have plans to attend the orchid show at the DuPage County Fairground this weekend.

During my research over the past few months, I’ve discovered that mobile options for tracking orchid blooms and other milestones are rather thin on the ground in the App Store. People seem to be getting by with spreadsheets and databases on their PCs, or they’re using specialist orchid applications for tracking their collections. These are often pricey, and quite possibly more than most people need. Since there seems to be demand for such an app, I’ve decided to make Orchid Album my next project.

I’m still considering the feature list, but you can get some idea of my plans for the general look and feel from my other gardening apps. Orchid Album will be a universal app, meaning it’ll work on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you’re interested in learning more about Orchid Album, visit the Orchid Album Facebook page or sign up at my website to be notified via email when the app launches (and also when the Beta test begins).

I can’t wait to get started on Orchid Album, and I look forward to providing more information closer to launch!

P.S. If you’re in the Chicagoland area, pay a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden over the next few weeks. Their orchid show is in full swing, and it sounds absolutely fantastic.

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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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