nategraves

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good, general purpose development conference? I went to WWDC and Google IO last year and both are (unsurprisingly) very platform specific. So, I'm hoping to find something more general; although a good language oriented conference would be fine too.

Today, in the office, we had a brief discussion of some of the industries or fields that seem to have had relatively little technical innovation over the past decade. Some industries seem to be getting a lot of attention from technical minds these days (e.g. the power grid, alternative fuels, etc.); others seem more stagnant and some may not stand to gain a lot from technological advancements.

But, I'm curious to hear others' opinions. What industries are using technology and practices that are antiquated?

So, my friend and I just released our first iPhone application. The app, called Green Wars, is basically a remake of the old game Drug Wars (aka Dope Wars). You can find the app by searching in the app store or you can find screenshots and a link to it in the App Store http://www.orangatank.com/greenwars. The game is free and doesn't have any ads.

We've had an interesting time developing the app (filled with all kinds of Apple hoops to jump through). Now the application has been accepted and we're trying to figure out what to do next. We've got the original gameplay pretty well nailed, but now we're just twiddling our thumbs wondering what to do next. We don't know which direction to take things from here. So Hacker News, we're turning to you for some inspiration. What would you like to see come next? Any suggestions for new features or gameplay options?

While we're okay with you telling us that the game sucks, we're hoping for some constructive feedback.

So, recently I've sat in on a number of discussions on Twitter and I find myself still divided.

On one hand, I hear the opinions of social media marketers who look at Twitter as a new and exciting way of engaging in conversation, creating greater brand loyalty, and turning customers into brand advocates.

On the other hand, I look at Twitter's widespread adoption and variety of uses, and I find myself wondering if Twitter will be another flash in the pan. I also wonder if the fact that Twitter makes their data available for other applications to use and that they're starting to place more emphasis on search will end up giving the company greater relevance for a longer period of time.

So, do you think that microblogging is a long-term trend with the web? Personally, I think that Twitter's user base will continue to grow, but that many of it's early adopters will move on to the next fad as soon as it comes along.