I wanted to write a post about the rise and fall of Show Time but I’ve decided that I can’t really begin to write everything I want to say in one post. There’s so much I’ve learned and want to share so I’ve decided to start a new blog dedicated to the whole process of concepting, creating, and marketing apps. You can find the new blog here called Appvised (Appvised.com).

I will go into detail about everything Show Time and provide facts and figures about the entire process. Enjoy!

I’ve been rejected twice already but have a good feeling about it this time. Last time I was rejected for 1. using keywords in my name (Show Time - Clock, Alarm, Ambient… seen plenty of similar names but whatever) and 2. giving away an iPad for my contest which you can’t do because its from Apple (seen plenty of similar iPad giveaways but again…whatevs). I have a good feeling that I’ve changed enough to conform to Apple’s iron ruling fist to get accepted this time. I’ll be running a pretty large ad campaign at launch aside from the contest and PR stuff. Fingers are prematurely crossed.

The tentative date for launch is August 23rd which is about 1 year from the date I wished I had launched it.

Finalizing everything for launch now. On top of getting my marketing campaign in order, I’ve got a new feature to the app: Sleep Pattern Alarm. This new feature will wake the user up in a 30 minute window depending on when it believes you to be less groggy by measuring your REM sleep via the accelerometer. More details about that soon. Meanwhile, I’ve also added an 8th clock theme “Classic” and I’m just giving all the design a 40th pass over to make sure it pops. Above is the final (probably) icon and I’ll be posting a video on youtube to feature my process/struggle with all the designs so everyone can see how much work goes into every version of everything. Also, I’ll get the official “commercial” up on the youtube channel soon as its been done for over a month but didn’t want to release it until I’m near ready.

Here’s a clock that won’t be in the final version. Also, cut the gamer clock for the time being. While I plan to roll out updates, giving users new color variations, whole new clocks and other stuff, unfortunately not everything makes it into the first version. Anyway, felt this clock above was more a design with a clock shoehorned in. There’s lots of other cool clocks in the works that will roll-out post launch. Might not update the app like when Pocket God first came out but expect to make much more regular updates than most.

On another note, about a week left in development. Also, final commercial should be finished this weekend as we finally recorded the voice over; the soothing sounds of a distinguished Irish man.

In my agonizing trials of using the Open Social platform on Myspace to publish the “Show Time Mini” clock widget, it finally occurred to me that I am running a blog, and blogs we designed for complaints. I’m going to keep this rant concise and just say that Myspace is utterly falling apart with bugs and poor management. Like most people, I abandoned Myspace a while ago for a friendlier Facebook interface. I prefer profiles that don’t crash my browser with your 1000 pictures of your niece, beer pong Youtube videos, or 3 songs from different genres all playing at once in a cacophony that hasn’t made me cringe at my computer since the sound of my 56k modem of yesteryear.

Anyway, rant over… Been trying to submit the Show Time Mini widget to Myspace only for them to reject it numerous times and now I need to re-approve my email address to even have access to the developer section. Tried 17 times to validate my email with no luck. Contact their help section with the bug only to wait 5 days for an automated response that explains I need to contact their help section… What?

Here’s step 1 of how to contact their help section:

“1. Contact MySpace (on the right) and tell us what’s going on”

I can’t even get through step 1 because there’s nothing “on the right”. Its not a web page its an email. You can’t trick me, there’s nothing there.

So far gotten Show Time Mini submitted and approved at Friendster, Orkut, Bebo, Widgetbox, Apple (OSX Dashboard), and iGoogle. Awaiting approval for the Yahoo Widget and hoping to hear from them soon. Originally I thought I’d do one for Facebook, but Facebook doesn’t let Flash live on your profile page without first clicking on it. This bothered me at first but then remembered why I like Facebook in the first place and why I can sacrifice my flash app for the sake of a better user experience.

I’m going to keep trying with Myspace as its obviously still a popular site. Let’s hope I don’t need to write rant #2.

Last Sunday we finally shot the commercial for Show Time. The footage should be in the hands of the editor early next week. By the way, I’m the one on the left.

Check out more photos on Flickr

Get the free widget for your blog or social profile here: http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/showtimeapp

Specific widgets/apps coming to Myspace, Windows Vista, Yahoo, OSX Dashboard, Tagged, Orkut, Friendster, and Netlog soon. Hopefully this will hold you over til those get done.

I’m working on it!!!

Show Time App Commercial Date

Finally locked a date for the commercial shoot: June 14th. Expect a full gallery of images from the shoot. To summarize the plot, the lead character holding an iPhone can’t take his eyes off Show Time even with the bizare distractions in the background. He eventually wakes up when the alarm goes off and we realize he was dreaming. Oh and he wakes up next to a howling raver werewolf. Can’t wait to for 3-4 hours of makeup… What did I agree to?

The Show Time App's Facebook App

This is a taste of the upcoming Show Time App… Facebook App. This is a free application you can use on your Facebook page to show your friends you’ve got style. The app will let you choose from 3 different colors: lime, blue, & pink. Stay tuned for the release and link here.

Hey there good-lookin’… Here’s a taste of the first 4 clock options in the Show Time App. When all is said and done there will be a total of 6 at launch with more coming in future updates. Most themes are viewable vertically and horizontally depending on the rotation of the iPhone / iPod Touch. All themes also include several color schemes. Keep it here and you’ll see some of those color schemes soon.