L’il Johnny’s back… sorta… on the iPhone!
Way back in 2004, when Turdhead.com first appeared on the Web, it began “not with a bang, but with the sad, pathetic whimper of a foolhardy third-grader trapped in a tank full of piranha.” Our first Flash game, Li’l Johnny’s Aquarium Adventure, made quite a splash for its sick humor and… well, I guess that’s about it. It remains, however, one of the most popular items on the site, and people still ask whether we’re ever going to update it for these new modern times. And to those imaginary people, I can now officially announce that, yes, the Aquarium Adventure is back — on the iPhone!
Our sister site, CodeCooler.com, has released an updated version of the classic game (now Alien Aquarium Adventure with a new protagonist and some fancy new graphics for our new favorite mobile platform, iOS. Check it out, as it’s due to hit the App Store any moment now… and you can win a copy before it’s even released just by tweeting about it.
It’s here: UltraEdit for OS X!
Anybody who’s followed Turdhead.com in the past few years knows that one of my biggest (OK, my only) gripes against OS X for Web and Flash development has been the lack of a full-featured text editor that works the way I, a Windows refugee, might expect. That’s not to say there aren’t some great editors out there (People swear by TextMate and BBEdit, after all, and Vi(m) has been around since the start), and after several years, I’ve even become content with my own choices (first jEdit, and then later, the ever-improving Komodo Edit, which I have to say I’ve learned to really like).
But last week, it finally happened: I’ve been reunited with my first love! UltraEdit, the text editor I began using in 1994 and missed sorely when I switched to the Mac in 2003, has finally joined me in my Mac development world. IDM Computer Solutions has obviously spent a lot of time developing and testing this release, and it shows: UltraEdit 2.01 looks and feels as if it’s been here all along: It’s a pure Mac app, and it includes all the power and extras one might expect from an editor now in its 16th revision on that other platform.
Granted, reacquainting myself with this old flame will be a learning experience, now that I’ve become comfortable with Komodo Edit over the years, but I look forward to re-learning its powerful simplicity. If you’ve never tried it, give it a spin. (And if you HAVE tried it, you’re going to love it… again!)
Fantastic job, and kudos to Ian and company at IDM! Good to have you back in my workflow.
Dammit, Adobe! Why is it so hard to register your *!*^@# software??
Just got my new copy of CS5 in the mail, and couldn’t wait to enter the new code and get rid of the nagging “Demo mode” dialog at the start of all my apps. I skipped CS4, so this upgrade is a huge deal for me. Fortunately, I’m eligible for the academic version of the software, so of course I knew I would have to jump through a couple hoops (never mind I already submitted all my academic eligibility info just to BUY the software, but now I have to give it to another site in order to register it. But no matter, if that’s what it takes).
So, on to the fulfillment forms at good ol’ Adobe.
Step 1: Enter your product code. No problem!
…
Wait. WTF? My product code isn’t valid? SO I can’t even get TO the hoops I need to jump?
For fact’s sake, Adobe! How can just about every other company in the world get their registration system streamlined, and yet I end up climbing walls every time I try to buy one of your apps?
BTW, CS5 is AMAZING! Just hope I can use it before my $500+ trial expires.
On Apple and Adobe and all things related…
Shut up. Just… shut up.
Please, Internet, can’t we just talk about something else?
You just missed your chance at $300
Our contest to create a truly cross-platform ActionScript 3 editing tool came to a close last month, and a lot of you should be kicking yourselves right about now:
Thanks to an overwhelming response of exactly zero (0) submissions, it turns out that any one of our reader(s) could have entered a dead tarantula as their sole entry, and we’d have been forced to hand over the $300 prize money.
In fact, it could have been more — although we received no entries, we have actually been inundated with offers to “sweeten the pot” for the winning entry: First the kind folks at ActiveState ponied up a free license of Komodo IDE to the winner, and then several others came forth asking to help enhance the prize pool with cash donations and other goods.
Unfortunately, the actual contest results were abysmal — not a single entry submitted before the deadline, and no word from anyone registered as to whether they made any progress whatsoever. On the plus side, I did discover that running an open internet forum for developers may in fact be the best way to attract robots selling porn, home mortgages, porn and, um…. porn.
My guess is that we targeted the wrong audience with our call — we spoke to traditional Flash developers (who truly want the tool), rather than the Java or Mozilla-platform developers who are more familiar with the APIs and libraries necessary to produce it. At this point, I’m considering making this a “standing prize” and reaching out further to the open-source development community, but for now, my own work schedule makes it difficult to devote too much time to the cause (especially as I’m slowed down by sketchy ActionScript development tools on my platform of choice.
I’m up for suggestions on how to proceed, though, and I’m confident that eventually, we’ll have what we need in terms of a strong, platform-independent ActionScript 3 editor (without the overhead of Eclipse). While I’m partial to the aging but bendy jEdit myself, I can’t help but think OpenKomodo might be the “next big thing” — especially since it shares its Scintilla-based roots with FlashDevelop, SEPY and the (I think now defunct) SCiTE|Flash of Windows fame.