Hot Off the Keyboard Press

Building a Company

Again, and yes, once again, I’ve decided to take the road less traveled. And if before, I was doing everything because it’s fun (with regular pay), although extremely tiring, now I’ve decided to push myself further. That is, taking one great risk—building our own company.

You might say that the safest way to do this, if ever there is, is to do it when I’ve already saved enough, settled down, and reached the top of wherever I’m currently in. I know, right? I also thought about it like that before. But it just occurred to me, if I move on just because it is secure to go to that path and leave my dream for later, I might have the tendency to forget about the dream. Or I might just let the dream be a dream, something I want to reach but will never ever take the first step to do so. You know, something that is just good to think about when you’re bored with your current life.

I don’t want to be bored.

And crazy as it seems, I will pursue this path because I, together with Nyaw, have this vision: giving the power to people to create things that they can be proud of. We want to provide the platform for them to do so.

There are many websites catering to collections of pictures, sketches, music, and many more that are being shared to others. Why, I’m currently using one now! But we want to go further. Aside from a community to share created ‘stuffs’, we also want to change the experience in creating and consuming these ‘stuffs’. You might think I’m so vague right now, but as we go along, I’ll share more to you.

Now, the question is: is it the right time to do this? Before, I have discussed here that the timing is not really important. Whether you achieve something now or later, the feeling of accomplishment will be the same. But is it?

We do this now because we can. And we will.

Created using Scribeit for iPhone.

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Join me in this journey. And I hope you too can find that something in your life that you want to pursue. When you do, never hesitate. Give it your all! ^^

Life, nico & i, Realization, Technology, Yumecraft

building a startup, iPhone, iphonography, risk, scribeit, technology, the future, Yumecraft

May 17, 2010

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Why Scribeit?

Recently, Nyaw and I have been tweeting and posting a lot about Scribeit. Why? Well, because it’s our big project after the free (and forever free) iPhone app that we released before, which is AnywhereBingo. Actually, Scribeit is not THAT BIG in terms of features. It is simple and it focuses on just one thing: Texts.

Brief History:

One day, I was manipulating my photos using some available iPhone apps like PS Mobile and Shakeit Photo. I thought, isn’t it cool to add texts as well? Yes, just like those emo images we always see in Tumblr. And sometimes, I want to add a signature somewhere in the pic before uploading. Isn’t that cool?

But there’s no available app that can do that. Most apps use some sort of comic bubble or cloud, some use random cut-out letters (which I also thought about, before seeing that it’s already there), some have limited number of lines, or simply put, the available ones don’t give me full control on how and where my texts will be placed on my image. What I can do is use Pastebot to copy my pic from iPhone to Mac (without the hassle of email, although it’s also easy) and use either Picassa or Gimp to add the text (with any font, any size, any color) anywhere. Can I do this in iPhone alone?

So, Nyaw created Scribeit. ^^

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Scribeit for iPhone enables you to create and design using texts. Since the iPhone is equipped with a camera, any fantastic moment is never missed, right? Adding texts to such photos can be useful as watermarks (ownership protection), captions (e.g., date and place), artistic creation (e.g., poetry, haiku, quotes), and many more. Moreover, the accurate and easy-to-use touch technology of the iPhone makes it very easy to use Scribeit to move around texts on a photo or canvas, resize the view, and manipulate text font styles, colors, sizes, and even transparency. In the future updates, we will add the ability to rotate the text and more text effects (shadow, text stroke, etc.).

This is one of my early Scribeit creations, when it was still so raw and under development. ^^ Now, I’m so happy that this pic is seen by many since it’s one of the screenshots submitted to the App Store. I have created lots of Scribed images already, most of them are uploaded in my 365 project in Facebook or in my Tumblr. It turns out, a lot of people likes the one with Bee (my hamster).

You can visit http://scribeit.tumblr.com for more details and for a complete guide on how to use it.

There is also an ongoing promo wherein 20 people can have Scribeit for FREE. The details are here.

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Now, why Scribeit?

Because you’ll discover how cool texts are once again… when you use it. ^^

For those who want to join us in developing iPhone/iPad apps, just send me a message or something. Or if you have any app requests, perhaps we can do something about it. Thanks!

Lovelots,

App, iPhone

iPhone, iphonography, scribeit, typography

May 13, 2010

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#002: Gachapin

#002: Gachapin, originally uploaded by engelene.

What makes my bag different…

Uncategorized

February 12, 2010

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New Year in Japan

It’s my second new year here in Japan and so far, here are the interesting things that I found out the Japanese are doing during this season:

Preparing and eating Osechi – my labmates told me during our bounenkai that Japanese moms spend a lot of time to prepare Osechi for new year. This ‘food set’ should be eaten from January 1-3 only, when moms are also on holiday. (They are free from house work and all, yeah!!!) I so wanted to try Osechi but since we had no chance (we were in snow country), I must wait for 2011 to do so. ^^ They said that Osechi doesn’t have that much taste though. Perhaps, everything is just boiled without much seasoning. ^.~
Going to Shrines to ring the ‘Bell’ – one of the nearest shrine here in NAIST is the one near Todaiji in Nara Park. If ever we’ll feel like going out tomorrow, we might, perhaps, visit that one or some other shrines in Kyoto. Japanese tradition, from what I heard, states that ringing the bell is like a call to ‘heaven’ to bless the person with good life all throughout the year. And for the girls who are 18 and boys who are 23, they must pray harder because, for some reason, these years are supposed to be the hardest. Doushite? Wakaranai…
Fukubukuro (Lucky Bags) Hunting – Now this one sounds the funnest of all. Shops all over Japan have ‘Lucky Bags’ being sold for ¥2000, ¥5000, ¥10000, ¥20000, or even more, wherein if you’re lucky, you’ll get more than the worth of what you spent. This is considered an exciting way to spread ‘luck’ in Japan. Apple Stores too have such a tradition, of which we just sorely missed. T.T There’s still tomorrow to grab some goodies somewhere. Perhaps, we’ll get some coolness stuff in Nippombashi tomorrow. Nendos and One Piece stuffs, here I come!!! Oh, and actually, these Lucky Bags are popular for fashion thingies, which I am not so into. ~.~ Shinsaibashi and those stores in Namba streets would be great for 2010 bargain shopping.

Anyway, we spent New Year quite differently, again, but I think it is better than last year’s slacking mode in my room. Haha! I am so looking forward to this year. So many projects and activities and events on the way. ^.^

Hihi, New Year celebration ends tomorrow anyway, so Nyaw and I still have another day to try doing some Japanese holiday tradition too. Hope we’ll have the energy!