We’ve gone international people.
We created the “Australian Open 2012 Official Program for iPad” for Tennis Australia. It’s an iPad app that includes the full print program in two versions, either a PDF View showing it exactly as it appears in the printed magazine or a story version with the PDF’s text inline and much easier to read on the device.
In addition to this we’ve included a news feed and live scores so you’ll be able to see the action real-time in app/
And as you can see from below, we’ve gone world-wide. I’m not certain what they’re all saying but it it’s anything like the feedback we’ve received so far from other english speaking folk, it’s all good.
明日からテニス４大大会のオーストラリアOPが始まるので、『Australian OPEN 2012 app for iPad』ダウンロードしました。錦織圭選手の活躍を楽しみにしています。
لمستخدمي الآيباد والآيفون ، تطبيق بطولة استراليا المفتوحة 2012 الان متاح على الابل ستور google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&…
This would have to be our biggest app to date. We’re pretty proud of how it works. It was conceived by us and built in collaboration with another team of developers quite quickly over the Christmas break.
Geoff, the boss, tweeted about it.
Can’t get to the OzOpen? You can still get the official program free on the iPad, a product of @slatterymedia. iTunes:bit.ly/AOP2012
- Examine 2011
What did you achieve in 2011? What did you plan to achieve but didn’t? What got in the way? Take time to do some honest reflection, but don’t beat yourself up. Instead, start thinking about how you want 2012 to be different, including any behaviours you want to change. - Set SMART Objectives
SMART stands for Specific Measurable Attractive Realistic Timeframe. Be specific about what you want to achieve. Make sure it’s measurable so you know when you’ve achieved it and notice the important milestones along the way. Make sure it’s attractive to you. Be realistic about what you can achieve — but that doesn’t mean you can’t think big. And set a timeframe to achieve it by. - List the Benefits
What are the benefits of you achieving your goal? How will you feel, look or what will you have? If your goal is going to the gym regularly, will you have more energy, feel more confident, enjoy the changes in body and have a sense of accomplishment/. Create as long a list as you can. These are your positive motivators. - What’s at risk if you don’t succeed?
It doesn’t feel good to fail and can have negative effects on us emotionally, mentally and physically. Create a list of everything you want to avoid that could happen if you don’t succeed at your goal. Using the gym example, you may want to avoid poor health, not fitting into those new clothes, or having to tolerate procrastination. These are your negative motivators. - Indentify Three Obstacles to Success
Every goal has potential obstacles, from self-limiting believes and procrastination to budget and external forces. A well-planned objective means that you have to consider what might get in the way and most importantly how you might sabotage your own success. If you’re honest about the year just gone, you might already know what your worst enemy might be. - Identify Two Solutions
Every obstacle has at least two solutions if you’re willing to see them. If you’re a procrastinator, you need to develop new habits, get someone else to keep you accountable, and break the goal down into smaller easier-to-achieve parts. Brainstorming solutions with someone else is always a good step, especially if you’re too attached to the obstacle itself to see it differently. - Create a Motivation Strategy
Some people like affirmations, others prefer images of success or focusing on how you physically feel when you’ve achieved something. Whatever strategy works for you, build it into your plan. Some strategies could include putting up photos of what success looks like to you, or you could speak your affirmations to yourself everyday in the mirror. With affirmations, speak in the first person, positive and present tense and, most importantly, speak them out aloud. - Develop an Action Plan
If you don’t take your first steps with 24 hours of setting your goal, you’ve just cut your changes of success in half. Do something now — anything — just get started! Perhaps start by breaking down the goal into smaller, more manageable tasks and set deadlines for completing each of the steps. Keep the task list somewhere you’ll see it every day, like on the fridge, and track your progress. If you forget about the list, chances are you’ll forget to do anything. - Plan Your Celebration
How will you celebrate achieving goal? This is the most forgotten step in the process and without it, it’s very difficult to push yourself toward the next goal. If your objecting is a really big one, be sure to celebrate the milestones along the way. Treat yourself to something you really want (like new clothes to match your new body), or just something you enjoy but don’t do regularly — like take a bubble bath. - Don’t Do It Alone
Ask a friend for help or consider hiring a coach to support you along the way. Whoever it is, their role is not as cheerleader but as someone to hold you accountable to your actions — or inactions. When you do achieve your goal, be sure to celebrate with the people who helped you.
Modified from a list found in DNA Magazine’s January 2005 edition.
Our drive to Sydney was pretty uneventful. It’s almost a straight run now with only Holbrook remaining as the last little town to be bypassed. The Tarcutta bypass seems to have opened since last year and what was once considered the halfway point on a journey from Melbourne to Sydney is now a mere blip as you fly passed on a motorway.
Of course while we see these little towns, where we were often made to go from 110kph to 50kph, as annoying obstacles — and often speed traps — I do have to wonder what all the folks living in these towns are now doing for a living? As the “halfway point” I’m sure Tarcutta used to see a lot of folks stopping in town for a well needed rest. And now that respite is found at a service centre featuring a McDonalds, KFC or Hungry Jacks (AKA Burger King for American readers).
I was reminiscing on the drive, back to the days when; as a family; we’d take the drive to Coffs Harbour or Tamworth to visit family.
Back then mum would make sandwiches and bottle up some cordial for the trip. Rest stops would be made at designated town. There were no “service centres” along the way. Service was provided in a small township, petrol was put in the car by an attendant at the petrol station and our packed lunch was taken in a local park.
A lot of the majesty has been removed from the road trip. It really is now all about the destination and getting there as fast as we can. We no longer enjoy the journey, if we ever did.
I remember there was a lot of fighting on road trips. We were a family with four kids. There’d be a fight before we left over who was going to sit up front in between our parents on the car’s bench seat. There’d be fights as the three in the back, most often the three boys, would jostle for their space. Drawing non-existent lines with our fingers to designate “our spot” and chastising a brother should he even think of putting an ounce of flesh over that line. Of course there’d also be the deliberate fingertip placed over the line, just to get a reaction. These incidents would be met with the obligatory “If you don’t stop we’re turning the car around and going home!” and “Do I have to put you out here and make you walk the rest of the way?”
Back then, there’d be games of “I spy“, “punch bug” and constant animal imitations as we passed them in abundance.
Now we pass cars with kids in the back watching DVD players, wearing headphones. I think it’s a shame to see. I firmly believe the road trip isn’t just about going from one place to another. It really is about the experience of the trip and the experiences we gain as children through the interaction with our parents. I can’t recall a single conversation on these trips, not that they didn’t happen, in fact I’m sure they did, but I’m just getting older and those memories evade recall. I’m certain that interacting with our parents and our environment during these trips helped form us into the people we are today. I really don’t think staring at the back of our parents heads watching “Toy Story” for the 1,000th time would have seen us be the same people we are now.
I only have one firm memory of a road trip, for the most part they are a muddled bunch of snippets in my mind, but bear with me as I remember one particular trip to Tamworth to visit our Aunty Cheryl.
My sister, Jennifer, was just a toddler. It was near Christmas (I think just after) and just us kids and mum made the trip. I distinctly remember having to stop on the way home because we in the back had fed Jennifer a bunch of lollies and she had puked them up all over the place. I have this memory in my head of the smell and of us standing at the side of the road while mum used bottled water to clean the mess. And not only was there the puke, but we had been given plasticine by our Aunty, it was in a pack with instructions for making a Smurf figurine. One had been made and had obviously been held by Jennifer. In the heat of the summer it had melted in her carseat. I remember mum getting a little angry as we couldn’t say with absolute assuredness that Jennifer had not in fact eaten any of the plasticine and if that was a contributing cause for her being sick.
So yeah part of the trip yesterday was reminiscing. Feeling a little nostalgic and a little sad for the kids of this current generation who listen to iPods and watch screens, disconnected from their parents, their siblings and the world passing by their window. Another part was watching my partner, David, driving or sitting in the passenger seat. Thinking how lucky I have been these past 14 years to have someone beside me who still makes me smile just by being there.
I also played with my iPhone 4S, taking photos and testing time lapse apps. I’m thinking of making a time-lapse of the trip home. So here’s a few pics from the trip and the video at the end.
