Greenbelt , Tech

This time next week

This time next week the festival will just be kicking off. And in what is beginning to be another regular signpost in the Greenbelt year, last night Apple approved the 2010 Festival Guide App.

The most obvious new feature this year is the reinstatement of code from the original 2008 prototype. When thinking about how to depict a complex schedule in a mobile app, a chart with time running left-to-right and venues running down the page seemed a good fit. Unfortunately it didn't work well with the limited screen size of the iPhone, but with the introduction this year of the iPad it found its perfect home.

Somewhat by coincidence the foundations of the iPad version were - like the original app - developed amongst Greenbelt friends on Iona. There's clearly something in the Hebridean air that aids software development.

More and more this kind of work looks like an attractive full-time opportunity.