TouchPad 4.0 Now Available

Posted on: November 29th, 2011 by lvandal
Categories: App Store, TouchPad | Tags: , , | Comments Off

At last, TouchPad 4.0 is out with even more Lion Love! This version took more time than planned and most of the work was made deep down in the app, mostly in preparation of Screens 2.0, which uses the same VNC framework we’ve developed for the past years and had to be revamped. The result is a super solid app that won’t give up!

Some features, such as the dragging gesture, were changed so we recommend you take a look at the revamped help documentation, bundled in the app. However, there’s still many new features. Here’s some of them:

 

Modifiers toolbar now always visible

There’s more than enough real estate (especially on the iPad) to have the bottom toolbar shown at all times. No need to bring the keyboard up to access the modifier keys or the arrow keys.

More media players

We’ve added a couple new media players such as EyeTV.

Use the Siri dictation key on your device keyboard to send text to your computer

That’s a cool new feature. If you have a iPhone 4S, open the virtual keyboard and tap on the dictation key to launch Siri. Dictate whatever text you want TouchPad to send to your remote computer. Neat!

New shortcuts

We’ve added many new shortcuts, mostly for Lion, that can be attached to both three and four finger gestures. The shortcut manager has also been revamped to show actually which keystrokes are being sent to your computer.

See the revamped help documentation or TouchPad’s settings for more info.

Improved support for international keyboards

Many keyboards were fixed or added, such as Finnish and Arabic.

Improved screen zooming gesture

That one took a while to track down but we eventually found the cause of the issue some users were experiencing. So now, screen zooming should work flawlessly with any keyboard settings.

Many bug fixes and performance improvements

TouchPad is even more solid than before and version 4.0 gets rid of many annoying bugs.

Availability

So there you go. We hope you’ll enjoy this new version, which is, by the way, a #free# update for all current users!

TouchPad 4.0 is available on the App Store for $4.99.

More information on TouchPad’s Product Page.

Screens Connect for Windows v0.9 Now Available!

Posted on: May 6th, 2011 by lvandal
Categories: App Store, Edovia, Screens | Tags: , , | Comments Off

Better late than never as they say!

Scwin

We’re happy to announce the release of Screens Connect for Windows, version 0.9. We’ll be working on the 1.0 release in the coming days but we thought some of you would like to get a preview.

We tried to bring the same experience from the Mac version to Windows users, including WinSparkle, which is a port of the Sparkle updater on Mac.

Requirements:

  • Windows 7 or later,
  • A properly installed VNC server, such as TightVNC,
  • A properly installed SSH server, such as freeSSHd,
  • A running Internet connection.

Known issues:

  • Incomplete documentation (SSH). See Screens’ Getting Started Guide for more info on how to install and setup freeSSHd

Download link: http://edovia.com/scwin

To send bug reports and comments about Screens Connect for Windows, visit our help section: http://help.edovia.com

Screens Connect 1.3 for Mac now out!

Posted on: April 29th, 2011 by lvandal
Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Comments Off

Our helper app, Screens Connect, has been updated to version 1.3

What’s new in this version:

  • Service Status now available from the system icon menu,
  • Re-introduction of the Disable feature in the system icon menu,
  • Improved Computer Alias validation,
  • Added 3 finger swipe gesture support in help viewer,
  • Removes all port mappings when turning Screens Connect off and before rebooting,
  • Several bug fixes and improvements.

To update simply wait until Screens Connect tells you about the update or click the Screens Connect icon in the menu bar > Check for Updates…

If you do not have the helper app, which makes connecting back to your Mac while you’re away dead easy, you can download it here: http://edovia.com/screens

Screens 1.5 Now Available!

Posted on: April 28th, 2011 by lvandal
Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off

Big day today as we announce the release of Screens 1.5, a major update to our VNC client for iOS. It’s been more than 3 months since our last update and while we wanted to push a new version into our user’s hands, we wanted to make Screens even better and we hope you’ll find the wait was worth it!

Screens VNC for iOS v1.5

What’s new in Screens 1.5:

Since 1.5 is a major update with many new features, we invite you to read the Getting Started Guide to have more details about what’s new!

  • Revamped icon and more responsive UI,
  • Major speed improvements when connecting to Windows PCs, faster with Macs as well,
  • Fixed crashes sometimes occurring when disconnecting from a remote computer,
  • Fixed many compatibility issues with most Windows VNC servers,
  • Added Hebrew and Korean keyboard support,
  • Fullscreen modes (full, partial and off). Use a 3 finger tap to toggle between modes,
  • iPhone: Keyboard toggle button now exclusively on modifiers toolbar,
  • iPad: New Grid view. Great for those who have a lot of screens to flick through,
  • Privacy: Display a screenshot, a blank screen or an image from your photo albums when disconnecting from a remote computer,
  • Screens Connect status now available in the settings,
  • Now supports url schemes (see Getting Started Guide for details),
  • Lots of bug fixes and improvements.

Thanks to our beta testers and our development team for an excellent job on that new release!

Screens – VNC for iOS is available on the

Doing the right thing (updated)

Posted on: March 12th, 2011 by lvandal
Categories: Business, Edovia | Tags: , | No Comments »

Yesterday, as I do nearly every morning when I wake up, I took my iPad and fired up Twitterrific to see what went on during the night. Holy shit! I then came aware about the terrible tragedy that afflicted the japanese population, just a little over a year after the Haiti tragedy.

Japan donate
The irony made it so that this tragic event occurred the same day as the iPad 2 launch. Clearly, this has put things into perspective about our first world problems1 and complains about the new device availability.

I just felt bad spending all this time and money to get my friend Jake Desaulniers to buy an iPad 2 for me and ship it overnight. You know, I just had to have it, like right now! I could probably justify this by saying that I actually need the device, since I’m a developer and I have to make sure that my apps perform well and this couldn’t wait.

We often forget how spoiled we are here in North-America, how we take things for granted. In many parts of the world, people have it pretty hard.

I feel very fortunate to make a very good living doing what I love and I feel it’s just the right thing to donate a little to those who are in need.

Following Second Gear’s initiative, I decided to donate 100% of yesterday’s sales, which totalled about $700, to the Red Cross to help the japanese victims.

I encourage fellow developers to do the same if they can afford to. Customers usually respond very well to these campaings because not only they can give some money to a cause, but they actually get something in return. The developer, in turn, makes a good gesture and gains new users.

However, while I was writting this blog post, I realized that a similar event occurred last month in New Zealand2 and that it never occurred to me to help these people as well. I could probably blame it on the lack of coverage of the event or the context but nonetheless I plan to correct this situation in the coming days and donate some money to these people as well.

1 Some people were offended by the “first world problem” figure of speech. In no time was this directed towards the japanese people. I am aware that Japan is a not Third World country.
2 Following those people’s reasoning, I would also assume that New Zealand is a underdeveloped country. My remark was clearly taken out of context.

Looking for a C# guru to build Screens Connect for Windows

Posted on: January 20th, 2011 by lvandal
Categories: Edovia, Screens | Tags: , , | Comments Off

What? Windows? Really? Yes.

No, seriously. Really? Yes!

Windows users deserve some love too, you know? :) As you may be aware of, Screens has been a huge success since its release and we want to make our Windows users happy by porting Screens Connect, our helper app, to the Windows platform.

So we’re looking for a talented C# developer to help us achieve this. The ideal candidate has an extended and solid experience building quality Windows apps and has some knowledge about the Mac and iOS platforms.

If you’re located in Montréal, you can come work at our office but we don’t mind if you’re away. Talent is more important than location.

Update: We bit the bullet and we’re doing the development in-house. Expect an beta version real soon!

Screens v1.1.1 now available

Posted on: January 14th, 2011 by lvandal
Categories: App Store, Business, Edovia, iPhone, Screens | Tags: , | No Comments »
1291049343_icon-screens.png

Screens

VNC Made Easy

Head to the App Store to get this new version, which fixes a lot of issues:

FIXED:

  • Fixed multiple crashes
  • Fixed Norwegian keyboard
  • Fixed French Belgium keyboard
  • Improved compatibility with several VNC servers
  • Fixed SSH settings not being saved
  • Fixed password authentication
  • Improved performance

NEW:

  • Added Russian keyboard support
  • Added Danish keyboard support
  • Added possibility to hide local cursor (fixes crash with RealVNC server)

Product page: http://edovia.com/screens

App Store: http://edovia.com/appstoreredirect/appId=13&u1=blog

1 000 000 Downloads for Warships!

Posted on: August 18th, 2010 by lvandal
Categories: App Store, Business, Edovia, iPhone, iPod touch, Marketing | Tags: , , | Comments Off
warships_1000000.png

Today marks a great milestone: Warships has been downloaded over one million times! This in only 53 days! We never expected such a success, especially how bad the game was performing since mid-January.

Some figures

Before becoming free, Warships sold between 99¢ and $1.99. From december 09, 2009 to June 26, 2010 (Warships went free the next day), it sold 6,731 copies for a total of $4,5861:

warships_numbers.png

Figure 1: Daily revenues for Warships from December 09, 2009 to June 26, 2010.

As you can see, aside from the launch sales peak, Warships made an average of $10 a day, with days as low as $4! We had no choice but to turn to an ad-based model to fund support and maintenance of the game. We decided not to create a separate free version since ads would only be seen within the menus, not during the game2. Some users complained about it but once we explained the situation, they understood.

At first, we would only display an ad to our flagship app, TouchPad. Aside from the people actually buying the app from the ad, we use our LinkShare affiliate ID to generate more revenues. While not very significant, it generated anywhere from $5-$15 a day.

Then, we decided to give iAd a try:

warships_free_numbers.png

Figure 2: Weekly iAd revenues for Warships from July 12 to August 14, 2010.

So since we added iAd to Warships on July 13 to August 14th, the game made $2,218.65 in ad revenues. This represent a $70/day average. That’s a 700% increase, not counting the revenues from the TouchPad ad and our LinkShare affiliate ID!

While this looks good on paper, it’s still a pittance that only brings enough money to support the game. Moreover, iAd has been very slow to start and still has to prove to be a good source of revenue for developers.

In conclusion, we’re happy about our decision to make Warships free. It was a gamble that turned out well. You can download the game here.

Update: I forgot to include some iAd statistics about requests, impressions, etc. Warning: you won’t be impressed by what you’ll see!

warships_iad_stats.png

Figure 3: Overall iAd stats from July 12 to August 14, 2010.


1 All amounts mentioned in this post are in CAD.


2 Thanks for not reminding me of that nasty ad over board bug!

Warships: One Million Mark

Posted on: July 23rd, 2010 by lvandal
Categories: App Store, Business, Marketing | Tags: , | Comments Off

Since Warships became free on June 17th, it was downloaded over 700 000 times. So this means that, in a little less than a month, it nearly got downloaded one million times! This caught us by surprise to say the least! We’re also very happy about how many upgrades it got. This tells us that people are actually playing the game and not deleting it after a few tries.

Here are the download figures. Notice the 70 000+ peak on July 5th:

warships_Downloads_til_July23.png

Then, came the ad bug, which as crazy as it may sound, was a pain to fix1. As you can see on the chart, downloads plunged dramatically. Now that the bug is gone for good, downloads are picking up but they are in no way as large as they once were.

This is where you can help. We’d really like to achieve the One Million Mark by July 31st. All you need to do is download the game and play it. If you enjoy the game, tell your friends on Twitter to download it and so on2.

Warships is a nice game and you’ll probably enjoy the two players mode. We are planning to improve the game over time and fast-app switching will be part of the 1.4 update that should be submitted to Apple next week.

So thanks all and be sure to let us know what you think of the game!

Product page: http://edovia.com/warships/

iTunes Link: http://bit.ly/9b0DaQ

1 A longer, more detail post will be available in August to explain what happened and to tell you about the whole “Warships now free” experience.

2 The game is free and ad-based. It does generate revenues but we’re far from getting rich (see 1). Most revenues are reinvested in the game.

Warships 1.3.2 Release Notes

Posted on: July 20th, 2010 by lvandal
Categories: App Store, Edovia | Tags: , | No Comments »

✓ Fixes bug where ad would show up during game play.

Product Page

App Store Link

« Older Entries