We are proud to announce the release of a new iPhone app – The LOST Whispers

This is the first entertainment app we have created, and a good prank app we believe it is. What you can do with the app is simple.

Yup. That’s what the app does – Play creepy whispering sounds and terrify your friends!

For more info about the app, visit whispers.just2us.com, or simply download now.

Just like my other apps that have gone v2, SG Blood is upgrading to v2 too!

SG Blood is an app for blood donor, and was first released in Jan 2009. I didn’t update the app much over the year, partly because it works well and has no bugs, and partly because I have no improvement planned for it.

But today, I am proud to announce a new feature for the app: Checking blood stock level!

The feature is kindly provided by donorweb.

In the previous post, I have highlighted what’s new for SG 4D. In this post, I will be highlighting what’s new, from a technical point of view.

I am excited to write what is technically new in the app, as there are aplenty, and we have used many awesome technology from iPhone 3.0 SDK, including CoreData, In-app purchase, Facebook Connect library, etc..

1. Google’s AppEngine

I lied. Not only did we use awesome technology from iPhone, we used awesome technology from Google!

The server side is now completely powered by Google’s AppEngine. This brings about several benefits: cheap/free server hosting, scalable architecture, stable+distributed+fast servers.

The process of retrieving 4D results is also technically more sound, using REST with JSON, and a proper cron job for web crawling. This makes me happier and sleeps better.

2. Core Data

Not only the server application is improved, the client application too, with another awesome technology!

In short, Core Data is the iPhone 3.0 SDK framework for managing data (or commonly databases). The list of features and benefits can be found here.

What Core Data meant for SG 4D is that all the results, I meant all 24 years of results, are easily stored and queried using the framework.

No longer is your analysis of a 4D number done on the server side. When you asked to analysis a 4D number, your iPhone will query the large set of data using Core Data, and give you the analysis instantly!

This also means more advance analysis is possible in the future!

3. In-App Purchase

In-App Purchase is the ability to purchase items right from the app. This is a breakthrough for iPhone 3.0.

In SG 4D, you can now purchase/unlock the Premium Features immediately. Hence, it is not needed to download a lite version, and subsequently upgrading to a paid version.

We have also simplified the purchasing of the Premium Features by just having a $3.99 purchase to get all the features, including future features such as push notification!

4. Copy-and-paste

In iPhone 3.0, the most awesome feature should be none other than copy-and-paste (pun intended).

In SG 4D, you could now copy and the 4D results, and paste it anywhere – SMS, Email, twitter, etc..

To make things easier, we also added functions to Email and SMS to your friends.

5. Wallpaper Selection

You are now able to select your favorite wallpaper that goes along with the 4D results!

You might have noticed that the minimum OS requirement is now 3.1 (instead of 3.0). This is due to one of the SDK API we used for selecting, resizing and cropping your photo.

Anyway, the photo above is my 3 hour old nephew, born on March 31, 2010 (Wed). And my dad strike 3rd prize, even before using him for wallpaper (:

6. Sharing on Facebook

Facebook Connect for iPhone is a library for integrating apps with Facebook.

For SG 4D, you could now set your status to help to share SG 4D app with your friends. Right now, we know this is nothing much.

In the future, we are thinking you could post status, such as “I strike 1st prize!”, “Bought 1234 for this wed, sat and sun”, etc.. If you have any idea on better use for Facebook with SG 4D, we are happy to hear.

7. Reviewing on AppStore

We would like you to review the app, no matter good or bad.

To help you to help us review, we have added a function under More to bring you right to App Store to write a review.

In addition, 14 days after you installed the app, SG 4D will prompt you to rate and review us.

Conclusion

SG 4D version 2 is a big overhaul, technically more sound, and has promising future.

SG 4D version 2 was released with tons of changes. It is a very exciting release, a big overhaul, and with lots of new features.

In this post, I will highlight the significant changes for end-users. In the next post, I will talk about the changes from a technical perspective, which would include the new technologies that were used – CoreData, In-app-purchase, Facebook integration, etc..

How did we come thus far?

Before we start with the changes in the app, let’s look at a short history of the app.

• Oct 2008: SG 4D was first released, and it became the Top 100 apps instantly.
• Jul 2009: A minor bug fix, and it was also the last update for version 1.
• Nov 2009: SG 4D for Android was released.
• Jan 2010: SG 4D was squeezed out of Top 100. This is mainly due to a new and better 4D app arriving in App Store.
• Mar 2010: SG 4D v2 released

It is interesting to note a few things about the history. There was very little update for SG 4D, and when there are updates, it is usually minor changes and bug fixes..

SG 4D dominated and remained as the only 4D app until 2 months ago, when SG Live 4D was released. SG Live 4D provided a very fun feature – live broadcast at 6.33pm! This is a huge competitive edge, and consumers choose SG Live 4D over SG 4D since then.

But note that SG 4D version 2 was not released because it lost the competitive edge, though that is a huge motivating factor. SG 4D version 2 for iPhone was planned to release after SG 4D for Android, which includes a major overhaul. You would see why later.

Retrieving Latest Results Faster

The first improvement is to make the retrieval of the 4D results faster.

In version 1, 4D results were retrieved from Singapore Pools server. That way was sometime slow due to the server having a high load, and also because the retrieval process was not optimized. In version 2, all the 4D results were retrieved via Google’s cloud infrastructure.

This makes retrieval not only faster, but also more stable.

And similarly, SG 4D for Android retrieves results with the same architecture.

Email and SMS a Result

Users can now email or SMS a result of a particular day, informing friends of a result, or telling them they have strike lottery!

In fact, users can copy the result, and paste it in any apps eg. Facebook or twitter.

More Handicap Friendly

The app is now more friendly with VoiceOver turned on. The numbers are read out digit after digit with a slightly longer pause eg. 1-2-3-4.

24 years of Past Results

In version 2, we have made available 24 years of past results since May 1986 (when betting was computerized).

Disclaimer: You need to unlock the Premium Features ($3.99) to get 24 years of results. Without unlocking, only 3 years of results are available.

Checking Past Results Offline

Even better, we have made checking of the past results possible in offline mode! No longer do you need Internet to dig up a past result.

Analyzing Number Better

Number Analysis is improved in many ways:

• You can enter ‘R’ to represent any digit
• You can filter different prize category: Interested in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, starter or consolation?
• The analysis is done offline and no Internet is needed
• Its much faster, even with 24 years of data
• The results are shown neatly
• You can view the result for that draw, with your number in red

Removing Ad Banner

In version 1, there is always an ad banner at the bottom of the screen. Though no one has complained or requested for a ad-free version, we have made it possible to remove it.

In version 2, users may purchase and unlock Premium Features ($3.99) to remove the ad, and including other goodies.

Customizing your Lucky Wallpaper

We know you believe in auspicious number, auspicious outlet, and therefore probably an auspicious wallpaper. We do too ^^

More

There are a lot more things that we plan to put in the app to make 4D more fun. In future releases, you should find new features under More.

For now, we would hope you can share with your friends and families SG 4D for iPhone, and also for any other phones.

Good luck, have fun and download the app (:

After a long one year since version 1 was released, SG 4D version 2 for iPhone is released today!

This update is a major overhaul, and there are tons of changes, including the prettier icon above. I will be describing the details in separate posts later.

If you don’t like lengthy details, but simply want the best, then just download it from App Store.

If you don’t mind a bit of details, then here is the description from iTunes:

SG 4D is the app to checking 4D results from Singapore Pools. If you are into 4D lottery, then you must have this.

SG 4D Features:
✔ Get the latest results
✔ Email or SMS a result
✔ Database of past results since 1986!
✔ Offline checking of past results
✔ Analyze a number on when it last came out
✔ Customize your lucky wallpaper!

Good luck, have fun & play smart (:

txeet has been approved by Apple and can now be downloaded from App Store!

SG 4D (mobile website) has added many more years of past 4D results!

Previously, the system has only results since Nov 2006, but now it has since May 1986! The mobile website has also added a date field (ddmmyy) for you to search for a draw easily.

If you have SG 4D app on iPhone or Android, please wait for the next release that exploit the 20 years more of 4D numbers

Did you know?

Singapore Pools 4D betting was computerised on 31 May 1986, and it got off an auspicious start with the first prize number coming out as 8838 (“8” is auspicious for chinese).

Some of you might be wondering – what are you working on? Is there new releases of SG 4D, SG Toto, SG Wireless, or some other new app?

txeet, is what I am currently working on.

In Oct 2009, txeet was first released on Android. Thereafter, I have been working on an iPhone version. This screenshot is a preview:

In Feb 2010, the first version for iPhone should be released. I’ll pray hard, to Apple for its release..

This is a little secret. I have created a mobile website for 4D results at http://sg4d.just2us.com/

There is nothing special about it, other than that it was built with Google’s App Engine. Running on Google’s infrastructure and servers has its bonuses – Google ensures stability, performance and scalability.

Late last night, we found out that AppVault has added a all-too-familiar-looking Broken Apple to their website – because AppBox complained that AppVault was too similar and infringed on their copyright. Here is the original website from AppVault:

But if you go to the website now, you would see the below instead. Spot the differences?

Hmmm.. they took away MY BROKEN APPLE graphics! I am fine with you infringing my copyright, just give me due credits, can?

@AppVault, can you not silently drop my case? You don’t just remove an infringed material from your App Store blog just because you can :p