My first iPhone app has been released!

My first iPhone application, GrandDialer, is now available on the App Store. Basically it allows GrandCentral users to call people and have their GrandCentral number appear on the caller ID. The reviews have been pretty positive and I'm quite excited. It is free and seems to be getting a bunch of downloads (the audience is quite limited at the moment because GrandCentral isn't accepting new users). If I charged for it, would people pay? I think some would, but not everyone.

The App Store is a bit of a mixed bag; the centralized distribution is cool. The waiting for Apple to post it is a downer; the review system needs lots of work (the only way I can respond as a developer is to post a 5 star review which just isn't right).

I have some idea on what to add to the app, but I'm quite limited in what is exposed from GrandCentral.

If you have a GrandCentral account and an iPhone/iPod Touch, go grab a copy of GrandDialer!

Amazing customer service

In contrast to AT&T's customer service or lack there of, my wife had a great experience with Amazon's customer service. She purchased a case of Teddy Puffs for our son and when we received them, the expiration date was less than 6 months away. The boxes we have bought in the store expired about a year after we bought them. Amazon quickly refunded our money (about $32) and said we could keep them as they can't take back food. I was amazed at the response as AT&T won't give me my $20 back for their mistake (I still haven't heard from a supervisor). My only recourse will be to fight the credit card charge.

In any case, Amazon is definitely the first place we'll look to shop.

Unacceptable anti-spam system

A user contacted me about an issue this morning (basically a corrupted download of ReceiptWallet which most people would just re-download it and be done with it) and when I replied to the message, I got an anti-spam challenge that sent me to a link. The link brought me to the following form:

First off, on my web site, I say that I don't click the links to verify that I'm a human (I did this time because I was curious). Second off, look at how much stuff they want me to fill in. This is completely unacceptable. Is EarthLink's spam filtering not as good as Google's? Google's works quite well for me and I don't have to inconvenience people with this kind of baloney. When are people going to learn that these challenge and response systems just piss people off. I had my own system many, many years ago and stopped using it as it prevented legitimate people from sending me email.

(Not) leading by example

Today my wife and I were driving home from dinner and had just gotten on I-5 south to get to 163 North when she saw a San Diego County Sheriff's Deputy driving with a cell phone to his ear. Yes, this is illegal in the state of California! If he had been seen by a highway patrol officer, he should have been given a ticket (the city of San Diego has a 30 day grace period, but he was on the freeway). However, it is completely unlikely that he would have been pulled over. What is this behavior teaching others? Are law enforcement officers exempt from the laws? I'd hope not, but sometimes they act like they are. While on the topic, yesterday I saw a San Diego Police motorcycle officer make a right turn on red without even stopping. Now if I had done that, I would have been pulled over, but this officer (who didn't have his lights and sirens on) decided to break the law. Could I or should I file a complaint about either of these incidents? I have the identification number of the Sheriff's car, so I could file a complaint, but it would take too much of an effort to do so. (If someone from the Sheriff's department wants to contact me, I'd be more than happy to supply the information about this.