1. Dear Tumblr,

    What was up with Tumblr’s outage last night?  I blame David Carp personally for the fact that my posts last night received fewer than average “likes.”

    As you may have seen, I made a pretty ridiculous amount of progress on the iPhone app.  After leaving work and before going to my brother’s house for chicken fajitas, I was able to implement the sticker menu AND build out a small test library of stickers.

    I was at first worried that I would have to do some sort of local database or web API hit to load all the stickers into the app.  But in the end, I decided to simply convert each little sprite into a base64 encoded data url, and include that url in a static Javascript file that is included in the app.  That means I can draw the sprites in Make Pixel Art on my iPad, use the built in sharing features to upload it to the internet, then use Make Pixel Art in Chrome to load the sprites and export them as data urls. It also means all of the assets in the app can be manually edited by just tweaking a text file.  No image files, no database calls, no nothing!

    I just love data urls. If you copy this string into your browser’s location bar, instead of talking to a web server somewhere to request a file, the browser will simply display an image because the url IS the image:

    data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAADIAAAAyCAYAAAAeP4ixAAABB0lEQVRoBe2X0QnDMAxEk+I5OkBnyJAdKovUi7S4JeGQY+if78TlJxcbgnzSQ9b6ej7e921bRk/d90Vhv5wHqPWUl4J8/3YZtODi2kpLMO4u5BLrX4WJeJKyjGp/tH78gWzfjByJYXl3jGBgSrz8+ghZvaOZX/1HfGakc23yQseIEhfonfsIusGg89y1mpvxvoUOqzDjeQSzxqDzMBL5UGEiVoH7SHRk9ndeRtBZJV48j2DmGHReRpS4wEpwH0E3GHQeRpqb8b6FDqsw43kEs8ag8zAS+VBhIlaB+0h0ZPZ3XkbQWSVePI9g5hh0XkaUuMBKcB9BNxh0Hkaam/G+hQ6rMJNmHvkA+lmtpWbQ8lYAAAAASUVORK5CYII=

    This is such a convenient way to represent data that would otherwise require a separate file and file delivery mechanism. As everything becomes smaller and more mobile, being able to simply package up a bunch of files into a series of short strings will be more and more helpful.  I can imagine scenarios where entire applications will be delivered via simple links, no additional downloads necessary.  IF YOU CAN SEE THIS LINK, YOU’VE ALREADY INSTALLED MY APP.

    I am very easily excited by extreme edge case scenario.

    If you are interested in doing more than just reading me talk about my apps, you can sign up to be a beta tester.  This afternoon, I will send out beta versions of both Make Pixel Art for iPad and “PixelVision” for iPhone.   Click here to get set up with TestFlight, which is the tool I use to deliver betas.

    OR, if you would to help out but don’t to mess with beta versions, send me a photo (or a link to a photo) that you’d like me to pixelize with my new app, and I will pixelize the shit out of it!

    Thanks for reading, internet. You are my BFF.

    posted 4 months ago on Feb 1, 2012 | Permalink | 5 notes

  2. Tumblr Notes

    1. retronator said: Cool, love reading your updates. I was already in the first beta test, so I’m all set if you wish to include me again. Thanks! P.s. would love to see if chrome and ios version could share your inventory.
    2. 8wholebits said: I signed up for the beta. Pixelvision looks awesome!
    3. doug said: Awesome! My favorite use of data URLs are for the dramatic decrease in HTTP calls they enable. Download speeds are getting better, but latency in mobile is still huge.
    4. benbrown posted this

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This is Ben Brown's blog about technology, community, and life in Austin, TX.

I run XOXCO, a boutique product development firm. We mostly make websites for Finland.

Right now, I am working on a pixel drawing app for the iPad called Make Pixel Art, hence I am posting tons of pixel drawings! I also contribute to Bitnauts. Prepare yourself for the low rez revolution.

I have been posting to my personal website since 1995!

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