Archive for the 'Development' Category

Treasuremytext: cloud based SMS storage for Android. V2.

Published
by
Katie
on August 14, 2009
in Apps, Development, Features and SMS
. 0 Comments

We’ve been busy working in our Android app version 2 and it’s now live and a whole lot more fully featured than version 1. The Treasuremytext for Android application automatically archives all sent and received messages from your Android phone to the Treasuremytext web app. Once you set it up, you don’t need to do anything; all your new incoming and outgoing messages are archived automatically. Many Android users have been fans of the Treasuremytext app but have asked for a few new features. Here they are:

  • Simple one Touch setup
  • Saves sent and received SMS automatically
  • Contact filters let you save only the SMS you need
  • Backup, Organise, Print, Email (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc) your SMS via Treasuremytext.com
  • Twitter Integeration

To install, search for Treasuremytext in the Android Market. For more info visit Treasuremytext.com or see info about the app on Cyrket here.

Automatic SMS Web Backup for Android Phones Launched

Published
by
Paul Stringer
on March 9, 2009
in Development and News
. 0 Comments

The Treasuremytext Android App is now available on the Android Market (U.S. Only)

It took a little longer than expected but resulted in some significant changes to the app since we won the Developer Challenge based on a feedback from judges.

This is our first app which fulfills the request of many users which is for automatic backup of messages to Treasuremytext. We plan to roll this out to more smartphones in the future. This is where we see the future of Treasuremytext. Although SMS forwarding will always be an option, with more people taking up Smartphones we’re able to give people a much better experience through an app.

One thing we worked very hard on and are incredibly pleased with is the zero configuration authentication process we’ve implemented. It implements OAuth which is seen in our iPhone app but without need for passwords, logins and all that to’ing and fro’ing from site to app. This is still a pain on a mobile device and we think this is a much better way to do it. We’ll talk more about the actual implementation in a future post.

We’re trying to put together a quick video demo but in the meantime just go grab it and try it out, there are screenshots here.

We’re not sure how to link to the actual app in Market but just go to it on your Android phone and search for Treasuremytext in the Communication Apps section.

We’re finalists in the T-Mobile Android App Competition

Published
by
Paul Stringer
on January 28, 2009
in Development, Events and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

On Thursday 29th T-Mobile are holding a press event for the launch of the G1 otherwise known as the Google or Android phone for the Netherlands.

After the recent Android Dev Camp in Amsterdam details of a competition for Android Apps was announced. The prizes range from G1 Phones to a trip to San Francisco.

After attending the event we got pretty excited about Android and realised we could build our dream Treasuremytext app on this phone. One which can automatically save your SMS in the cloud at Treasuremytext without you having to do anything.

We went back to the office and got to work and on Monday with 20 minutes to spare we submitted our Android app for the competition. Today we got a phone call and we’re amongst the 10 finalists and the winners are going to be announce tomorrow.

We’ll be there, we’ll let you know how we got on. Those of you with G1’s look out for Treasuremytext in the Android Market soon.

Here’s a bit of blurb from our submission which describes the app.

“Treasuremytext for Android

Treasuremytext for Android is a tiny background app that provides a seamless solution to archiving your messages on the Web from your T-Mobile G1.

Utilizing Android OS support for background services and deep integration with mobile SMS services the app is able to automatically forward each SMS as it is received. After setup it requires no action from the user. Messages can later be accessed on the Treasuremytext web site.

A Streamlined Mobile/Web Experience

The app communicates with Treasuremytext in the cloud using a REST based API. Many web services rely upon a token based authentication scheme (OAuth) including Treasuremytext.

This can prove cumbersome for the mobile user as it generally involves a round trip to the services website. With the access provided by Android to both Internet and SMS communications channels the developer has been able to implement the entire authorization between device and Web service with a single tap.

The users password is never required and accounts are setup automatically on the service if needed for access another time.“

Make the jump to 2.0

Published
by
Paul Stringer
on October 3, 2008
in Bugs, Development and iPhone
. 5 Comments

When releasing the new TMT for iPhone 2.0 app I made a couple of changes under the hood of our API. One of the things we did was to remove and clean up a couple of patches that were in there to accommodate a couple of bugs in the first TMT for iPhone app v1.0.

These bugs mostly arise around issues to do with & and = signs in messages. If you’re still using the old app you’ll have discovered messages containing these characters no longer save, anyone who gets a lot of messages with smilies in such as =) will notice this a lot.

To avoid confusion about what’s going on here we’ll be deprecating the API key for the v.1 app in the next few days. The app will try to reauthorise but you’ll be getting instead a nice message asking you to upgrade to 2.0.

So for original iPhone 2G with iPhone Software 1.* hold outs if there weren’t enough reasons already to get yourself to 2.0 this is just one more, don’t be scared now it’s real easy.

TMT for iPhone 2.0 Instructions

UPDATE Friday 17th October - Today we disabled the original iPhone 1.0 app.

WoCoding at WOWODC

Published
by
Katie
on June 10, 2008
in Development
. 0 Comments

wowodcimages.png

Treasuremytext is built using Apple’s enterprise level development framework WebObjects.  Ahead of WWDC this week, Paul has been busy at the World WebObjects Developer Conference organised by the WebObjects Community.
Paul will no doubt post in more detail later, but here are some pics for the conference!

Timetravel on Treasuremytext

Published
by
Katie
on May 2, 2008
in Development and Features
. 0 Comments

tmt_timechange.png

Setting the date of messages is now possible on Treasuremytext (we’ve just added the ability for you to change the timestamp and reset the time and date on your messages). So instead of displaying when you saved a message you can change it to display when you received a message.

This is a long awaited feature for many of our users who like to build up an accurate archive of their texting activities. So those archived messages announcing a birth, wishing you a happy valentine’s or a happy new year - can now all be set to the right date and time!

Getting Satisfaction: and revolutionising customer support

Published
by
Katie
on January 1, 2008
in Development
. 0 Comments

getsatisfaction.jpg

We’re using a new super cool web service called ‘Get Satisfaction‘ to help power our customer support for Treasuremytext.

We pride ourselves on offering pretty good support to our users, answering queries quickly and making sure we go just that little extra to help people treasure and archive their SMS messages. Many of our supports queries relate to the same problems; and we try to offer guidance through FAQs etc, and of course fix anything that’s broken.

The old way of doing Customer Support is to deal with individual queries; well, individually, and all in private - so the rest of the community doesn’t benefit, just the person asking the question.

Now, for better satisfaction, we’re using ‘Get Satisfaction‘ which is customer support with a difference. If you have a query on how something works of if something’s broken, or if you’d like to suggest a feature, you post it on Get Satisfaction. Then company representatives can respond, but so too can the rest of the community - this really is “people powered customer service”!

From a business perspective it makes perfect sense for us to show our support queries publicly, to show our responses and our efforts to fix any problems; and it helps to get other people involved. Also, Get Satisfaction is just a really lovely site to use; you can track conversations about things of interest to you, and of course you get that nice feeling when you’re able to help someone else out with something.

So from now on we’ll direct all Treasuremytext support through Get Satisfaction. It’s just really good!

iPhone app in the making

Published
by
Katie
on November 16, 2007
in Development and iPhone
. 0 Comments

mikeandpaul.jpg

Last Sunday we met up with Mike Lewis (who we met at Barcamp Berlin) in Amsterdam for a slice of apple pie and a chat about iPhone apps. Paul and Mike are going to be making something pretty neat that will hopefully fix our problem with forwarding, deleteing and archiving messages from the iPhone.

Now I got myself one here in the UK, I also have the problem that I can’t use my own application. We need to fix this!

And (note to self) - a discussion I had yesterday reminded me that perhaps people also want to save messages the ’send’ too……

FavIcon generator, my how things have changed

Published
by
Paul Stringer
on October 19, 2007
in Design and Development
. 0 Comments

iheartsms.jpgThe last time I had to make a favourites icon with it being a windows .ico file and me being on a Mac meant an afternoon of trying to find instructions about how to do it & then tracking down oddball plugins for Photoshop to do the task.

Today a 0.13456 Millisecond search on google for ‘How to make Favourites Icon’ yielded HTML Kit. 30 Seconds later I had my new heart shaped Favicon which should now be displaying in your browser if you visit the beta.

It includes an option to make an animated scrolling one just for some late 90’s web throwback feel. I resisted as I think we’ve already gone to far with our under construction animated gif

It’s only a small thing but it keeps underlining how much the Web has shifted in just a few short years from being mostly a resource of hyperlinked documents to being a place of services and applications. A few years ago it gave me instructions on how to make a favourites icon, now it gives me the actual service to accomplish the task, web you’ve come a long way!

New Development Kit Arrives

Published
by
Paul Stringer
on September 27, 2007
in Development
. 0 Comments

iPhone arrives
Our latest bit of development kit has now arrived - we’ll be doing a lot of playing testing with this in our commitment to ensuring a smooth Treasuremytext2 experience on all web platforms ;)