Saturday 30 December 2017

Moving Forward: 2018

2018 is just around corner and definitely what we will have by next year is determined by what we plan and the knowledge and skill we acquired by far.

iReka Soft has learnt so much thing in mobile apps development, but yet many more things to learn.

Overall I always wanted to create world-class mobile apps that can be enjoyed and loved by many people in the world with matured and exceptional products.

The revenue for iReka Soft are servicing, paid app, in-app purchase and also ads, in mobile apps development iOS (iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV), Android and also macOS.

For year 2018, iReka Soft is expected to deep dive into Apple ecosystem, which are iOS and macOS. Android experience is something great but I have to decide to focus more into things that I personally enjoyed and need more focus until it's really a success.

I think developing Android app was a incredible journey. I made severals Android apps for Google Play with Android Studio, Android Studio is better than Eclipse, and I scored some jobs on Android, developed and published Android apps that garner 4~ stars with 10k downloads for local-targetted app. But personally, I appreciate what I have learnt, maybe someday I will open back Android chapter or can collaborate with more skill person in Android. I love Android, but it's a decision for more focus on Apple technologies.
Let's talk a little bit more into techs.

## Swift / Objective-C

Although I love Swift 3, 4 but I need to maintain still profitable yet veteran apps, I must keep using Objective-C. Alongside with Swift, which is clean and simple to moving forward.

## Laravel (PHP)

On the other side, I will also keep coding for backend with Laravel and with front-end code with HTML/CSS.

With internal system IRIS, I will use that for managing mobile apps backend. Which is important to get feedback or give the data to the mobile apps.

I will also maintain WordPress for iRekaSoft.com website.

Firebase is in my sight to use it. It's so crucial to combine with Google stack for mobile development. Firebase can do many things nowadays.

## Google / Firebase

Will keep using AdMob and also will do research on Facebook Audience Network.

## Video marketing

Well this can be skill I can say, video marketing is crucial to promote apps nowadays on social media. I don't want to say more but wait for more quality video and good audio coming from us.

## App Design UI/UX

Something that I keep doing this is to have a good UI. With iPad Pro, I will sketch down the idea with some good fidelity to have the good result.

Alright that's for now for 2018 forecast write up. There is still a lot to learn and to capture market by bringing good value to the world.

Peace out.

Thanks 2017!

2017 is a best year so far for us at iReka Soft. Although it's a mix between up and down but overall and revenue wise it's still some of the best year.

Here are some highlight:

- Expense App released early this year, iterated throughout the year with Apple Watch app and iPhone X support.
- FaceClock Analogue continuous improvement.
- various cool iOS projects
- Android project, however I decided will close shop for Android development. Will collaborate with other developer for Android development. I will focus on iOS development.
- Teaching Laravel course to MAMPU
- MyHolidays app for iPhone and iPad with 2018 data.

And also some stuff happened in 2017:

- Taught iOS for 2 classes with DevCon in Magic, Cyberjaya.
- Collaboration with REKA, Xfero and Etikaf.
- Strengthen developer community in Cyberjaya.

Courses that I have attended:

- IMKK
- Design Code 2
- ARKit Course
- WWDC17 (videos)

In summary:

In mobile development, the competition is worldwide and it's huge. Although the development and publishing become easier, but to have the quality on the bar it's a challenge. iOS has the platform that is more controllable in terms of quality, therefore I will go from iOS to another platform step-by-step. It's not to mention Android has more user base but it's also super fragmented and hard to cater all of the devices. So I will go deep and deeper with iOS development and content creation.

With collaboration around my logistic, it's clear that having more right people can make the development for client can be less painful.

I am so grateful for this year of 2017, it's something that I have the result from what I have built for the past couple years and also paving ways for the next years to come.

Thanks 2017. I will end this year by chill out with family.

Wednesday 13 December 2017

Apple Watch Series 3 GPS 42mm Nike+

The full name is quite mouthful.

This is my first Apple Watch ever in my life. I have it for around in less than 24 hours. I am excited to using it.

Continue from last post, I bought it at C-Zone, and the tempered glass in Telstar in 1st Floor.

I did activate the watch on the go when I reaching to the parking spot.

With the help of W2 chip, it helps detect iPhone when it's nearby. On the iPhone a menu to connect with Apple Watch was appeared on my phone.

Then on the phone I have to scan some code on the watch. From there the syncing has started. It took about 10-15 to have initial setup with iPhone.

Of course I play around with the watch and the apps. Here are some thoughts:

- Watch Face, with Nike edition, we have extra special Nike watchfaces analog and digital. And with others options of watchfaces, we can slides to more than 10 watchface options that suit yourself on that time. For example when you feel like more active, use the Nike watchface with health related complication. When you on funny mood, use Mickey watchface.

The Apple Watch's screen is turn off when it's idle mode. When we turn the watch into ourself, the watch will turn on for about 15 secs.

- iPhone photo shutter app, it's convenience to take picture with phone. It's cool.

- GoPro, quite hard to use because, iPhone need to connect with GoPro wifi first then activate the app.

And of course I already tried to debug my app on this watch as well.

OK. Will catch you later.

Tuesday 12 December 2017

Completed the Ecosystem with Apple Watch

Today I went to IOI City Mall, looked for not only an Apple Watch, but also its screen protector or something like tempered glass for the watch. For your information, shops like Machines, Harvey Norman, All IT and C-Zones don't sell tampered glass for smartwatch. I found smartwatch tempered glass at a specialist shop (not gerai) on casing and accessories. It's the same level with C-Zones.

I will not buy an Apple Watch if I did not find a screen protector. Because the Apple Watch is too expensive to wear naked. And by founding it, I purchase my Space Gray Apple Watch 42mm Nike+ at C-Zones, then go to the accessory shop which is the same level. And that is it, in 12/12/2017 I completed the whole Apple Space Gray 2017 Collection.

Speaking of 12/12, there is actually an online sales in some retailers online shop such as Switch and Machines. In addition, Lazada also has its own Apple section, and Lazada has became an authorized Apple reseller now. In conjunction with 12/12 online revolution, Lazada also offer some sales on various of products including Apple products. I actually ordered an Beats X, blue one. Black version already sold out. It priced at RM480 from normal RM600. Well the earphone also complete the whole experience of mobile technology.

You know this year, the technological improvement is quite massive. And, as I turned 30 on this year 2017, it's making that I have ready for years coming for mobile app development. The software that I will build will need to support these latest devices. So it's an investment generally for my business. And sometime I can call this kind of business is lifestyle business. Solving lifestyle problem and hopefully many people has this kind of problem that need some great solution for that.

I wrap it up with, to thanks to Allah for rezeki given and families member that have been support me until now. See you on the next post.

Friday 8 December 2017

Hello December

Hi December 2017. Datang juga kamu untuk tahun ini. Kejap je masa berlalu dari awal tahun 2017 tup tup dah nak penghujung 2017. Ape pun nak habaq 2017 memang awesome.

Kawe ready sokmo nak start 2018 nanti. Benda nak fokus pun lebih padu, maksudnya lebih spesifik.

Update sekarang, tengah belajar ARKit guna SceneKit. Kalau nak tahu ARKit tu adalah framework Apple sediakan untuk develop augmented reality. Phone pun kena power juga nak run ARKit ni. Ape pun ARKit memange awesome juga. Dia bukan sahaja untuk hiburan atau hype semata-mata, tapi boleh dijadikan sebagai utiliti juga tau. Contoh app macam Measure Kit app. Boleh ukur benda dalam dunia nyata.

Ape pun jangan berhenti untuk belajar benda baru dan lebih advance. At the same time juga, saya ada masuk course Code Design by Meng To. Itu juga bagus dalam memperhalusi seni reka graphic untuk mobile app. Bukan main tembak sembarangan je. Lagi-lagi kalau kerja indipendant ni, kena belajar dengan orang yang lebih hebat, dan mereka tu memang lebih banyak bekerja dengan pelbagai lapisan client.

Alrite, bertemu di post seterusnya. Btw, saya ada juga start YouTube channel bernama Hijazi Tech, untuk saya kongsikan some tech, unboxing or review. Stay tune.

Thursday 30 November 2017

Slim and Sexy

Ni kisah Apple. Walaupun mereka tidak nyatakan kepada umum, tapi saya rasa Apple ni sebenarnya menjual seks dengan barang-barang mereka. Jangan salah anggap. Seks kat sini bermaksud cantik, langsing, mengiurkan lantas menjadi seksi.

Ye, saya menggunakan MacBook Pro Touch yang baru. Saya pada dasarnya tidak suka ia kerana tidak mempunyai pelbagai ports. Tapi, tapi sebab dia seksi saya still sayangkan laptop ini. Serius lain dari laptop-laptop Apple sebelum ni, ini kali pertama saya pakai color space grey. Sebelum ni semua laptop Apple color aluminum silver.

So agak exciting di situ. Jadinya hitam itu menawan bukan ? :)

p/s: Selain MacBook Pro 2017, barang Apple lain semua saya beli Space Grey. Semua sedondon dan seksi. Tapi kena pakai 'baju' properlah.

Hiccup Hampir Sebulan

Sebelum saya dapat setup my dream home office, sebelum ni memang terjadi benda yang agak membuatkan bisnes saya sedikit hiccup. Dia mungkin sedikit berpunca dengan emosi, dan kurang juga sebab machinary. Dalam konteks software ni, komputer yang anda buat untuk develop lah.

Nak dijadikan cerita pada bulan September saya ingat, saya ada buka casing Macbook Pro Retina yang dulu. Jadi nampak lid dan body tidak 'ngam', so apa yang saya buat adalah menghantar komputer tersebut ke kedai yang saya pernah hantar dulu untuk baiki chip dan tukar bateri di OKCS Bangi.

Yang menyedihkan adalah bila saya minta mereka betulkan lid tersebut, dengan tidak semena-mena screen tersebut tidak menyala lagi. Memang pelik lah sebenarnya. Sebelum ni OK je, then entah macam mana depa buat jadi macam tu. So, mereka suruh tinggalkan komputer untuk pemeriksaan lanjut. Tapi saya juga yang tidak bersetuju, nak hantar ke OKCS Seri Kembangan, bagi mereka tengok juga, mungkin sebab lebih dekat.

Tup-tup tunggu punya tunggu dah sebulan juga komputer tu kat kedai, actually mereka hantar ke service centre di Imbi, test punya test still tak dapat baiki juga chip visual ke screen. Lama siot nak test punya test ni. Memang saya rasa macam tak ada dah harapan MacBook ni nak kembali normal semula. Si bos OKCS Bangi ada bagi suggestion untuk jual sahaja laptop tu. Ish ish ish. Sedih gak kan. Gitu lah hidup Macbook Pro tersebut, dah berjasa kepada saya 3 tahun 7 bulan camtu, hampir 4 tahun kan. Pada masa tersebut masih elok dan gagah lagi, tapi apakan daya.

Mungkin kisah sakit Macbook ini start dari hantar ke kedai untuk tukar baterinya. Ini kisah 3 bulan sebelum hantar betulkan lid tersebut. First, hantar dekat kedai MacNote Seri Kembangan, take note, nama kedai MacNote, tapi staff dia cam tak bagus, serius tak da tauliah tentang Mac. First, buka laptop pun masukan skru balik salah. Benda-benda asas ni kalau salah, apa lagi nak buat benda lebih kompleks macam tukar bateri, kalau tak betul cara meraka buat. Walaupun mereka staff bawahan, mereka perlu diberi tunjuk ajar yang betul, cara nak cakap dengan customer. Sebab, mereka boleh pula compare dengan PC, MacBook bateri tak boleh cabut, PC boleh. Memang lah camtu kalau tak tak de korang nak buat MacNote kedai komputer. Kalau macam PC lagi bagus, boleh tukar cam tu je bateri tu beli kat kedai. Sebab pengguna ada masalah macam tu lah, korang buat bisnes tu kan?

Jadi, bukan nak condemn kedai-kedai komputer ini, mereka juga ada membantu menyelesaikan masalah komputer Mac saya yang lain. Cuma, bila comes to my own main machine, in the future, I will not give risk to give them to open it. Memang perasaan tu cam tak best langsung bagaimana mereka handle computer kita. So, kalau boleh hantar kat Authorized Service, walaupun lebih mahal. Sebab risiko dia jika dihandle oleh orang yang tak bagus boleh menyebabkan komputer anda lebih rosak dari kondisi sekarang. Bahaya tu. Kalau anda rasa tak kisah kalau something happen dan anda ada backup, dan bajet anda kurang, boleh cuba kedai-kedai komputer biasa tersebut.

OK, sampai sini sahaja coretan maintaining komputer anda. Sebab, komputer bukan tahan selama-lamanya pun, akan ada masa ia perlu diservice. Jadi sila fikir sewajar-wajarnya. Saya dah lakukan kesilapan dan ini adalah perkongsian anda. Kalau terbaca post ini boleh share juga pengalaman anda service komputer.

Terima kasih, Hijazi.


Wednesday 29 November 2017

iPhone X and MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Praise to Allah, as the company has been operated, I have been saving up for the next cycle for the mobile app development. And at some point of time we have to catch up with latest technologies as tool to keep me relevant and to serve better, and create better products.

As the title mentioned, I have a chance to be among the firsts of Malaysian users to get their own iPhone X when it's first launched in Malaysia. I got it at IOI Puchong at EpiCenter on 24th of November 2017.

And recently received the new MacBook Pro 13" with Touch Bar just today. I ordered it on Apple Store in night of 20th November which is my birthday. So it took about 9 days to reach to my hands.

I took some unboxing videos, and hopefully will be able to edit and upload it somewhere. I might think people will not interested in that video but yeah, why not I think as a hobby.

OK, until next post, stay awesome.


Monday 13 November 2017

Moving Out in Cyberjaya

I have been busy for weeks for moving out phase. I am moving out from terrace to a condo house also in Cyberjaya.

So there is so much help from latest tech that can help mea ease the journey of moving stuff.

To start off, we hunt for the house using apps like mudah and also iProperty. But mudah help us (me and wife) to find a suitable agent.

Then we use MaidEasy to book a move-in package cleaning. It's cost about RM275 for a 1000sqft house.

Then we use theLorry.com app to book for moving in lorry. I tried using their web app and also their native iOS app too. I had problem when to enter the coupon code which can give 10% of the discount, but not working on both on app and website. We used 3-tonned lorry with 2 workers. It cost about RM420.

We bought some boxes about 20 boxes, from the box company.com, we not purchase online but go to their store at Endah Parade, Bukit Jalil. They also sell other things like bubble and wrap for move-out process.

All in all, we are happy of moving out and we can have a better life moving forward.

Till then.

Tuesday 17 October 2017

iPad Pro with iOS 11 and Apple Pencil

I got my hands on iPad Pro with iOS 11, which I am using almost a week now. I have iPads before, namely, iPad 2, iPad 3 (with retina display) and the last one is the iPad mini which I bought in Singapore in 2013 while attending iOS 7 Kitchen. Fast forward this year is 2017 and I have not has interest in new iPad like almost 4 years. Because it’s not that compelling so much to use iPad when you have iPhone, and it’s not so mobile and the capability is almost the same like iPhone, right?

Well that’s is pretty much change with iOS 11. Many productivity features has added into iPad, and many are exclusive for iPad. 

Actually I bought this iPad Pro because of the Pencil, and with the new iPad Pro size of 10.5 and iOS 11, all become more attractive. 

Apps that utilize of the Pencils are: SketchBook, Graphic, Notability and Adobe Draw. I am not an artist but still have skill with penciling. 

On the top of that using this new iPad Pro, I can try out some neat stuff with ARKit. 

And, I found out the iPad Pro is very useful to take note when you learn something on the web or tutorial. Like learning programming, or planning app development.

Till on the next post. iPhone 8 / 8 Plus is coming to Malaysia this 20th October.

iPhone 8 64GB ( RM 3,649 )
iPhone 8 256GB ( RM 4,399 )

iPhone 8 Plus 64GB ( RM 4,149 )
iPhone 8 Plus 256GB ( RM 4,899 )

Meanwhile iPhone X (ten)’s price also known on the Apple website for Malaysian market, but yet to know when there are available.

iPhone X 64GB ( RM 5,149 )
iPhone X 256GB ( RM 5,899 )

_____

For comparison to older iPhones.

iPhone 7 32GB ( RM 2,749 )
iPhone 7 128GB ( RM 3,249 )

iPhone 7 Plus 32GB ( RM 3,349 )
iPhone 7 Plus 128GB ( RM 3,849 )

Monday 25 September 2017

iPhone X and its predecessor

Yes in the middle of this month Apple announced the new super-major generation upgrade since iPhone 2G in 2007, the iPhone X. Back in 2007 iPhone was a revolutionary phone. It was. The iconic home button. Simple yet super powerful, it has been proven for 10 years and counting. 

Along the way Apple has perfected it’s craft. Let’s have some recap:

  • iPhone 2G: Home screen, big capacitive screen.
  • iPhone 3G: GPS
  • iPhone 3GS: Compass, Video Camera
  • iPhone 4: Retina display, selfie camera
  • iPhone 4s: Siri (virtual voice assistant)
  • iPhone 5: 16:9 screen ratio
  • iPhone 5s: Touch ID 
  • iPhone 6: NFC (for Apple Pay)
  • iPhone 6s: 3D touch
  • iPhone 7: dual camera, water resistant
  • iPhone 8: Wireless charging

Yes almost every iteration of iPhone there is new significant feature(s).

On the iPhone X, it’s about rethinking what an iPhone can be. Is anyway can be better?

Apple’s answer come to your face. Face ID. Face ID is a method to authenticate your phone with your face. 

Another thing is to make the iPhone all screen, and no home button at all. Apple use more gestures to manipulate functions that replacing home button.  

## iPhone as Life Style Produts 

Just like iPod, unlike MacBook, iPhone is an life style product. That is the factor that make the iPhone can be sold in massive number. We carry it everywhere, it’s designed to be not so tough, and become slower over time that we will keep upgrade it. And as we use it socially it impacts people around us to use purchase them too. And the phone is a necessity so people gonna buy it. There are lot of factor to buy iPhone as your next smartphone. Apps also one of them.

But, yet, Android came in, the price is become cheaper yet it’s seem reasonably good to use. For me Android democratise the modern smartphone. And Apple fan still will embrace the technology that Apple provide, well because we love new technology. 

And hey it’s shows when we use new iPhone X. The new vertical dual camera. We can post the animoji in Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget the studio lighting shots. 

For usability case, it’s not bigger than the Plus version, and it should be easier on the hand. 

## Summary

All in all, Apple has never been healthier nowadays. It keeps learning, R&D new stuff for our exciting future. At the same time, make Apple the biggest tech company, and super rich. 

As app company we understand what is Apple heading, and what kind of business that we can build upon their technologies. 

Saturday 2 September 2017

September 2017: State of iReka

We had several discussion points for app businesses last month: for Cyberjaya city.

For Cyberjaya city, the council seems like the idea of having an app that can communicate among citizens in the city. In addition we can know what's happening and what's inside the city.

We have build a back-end system that stores: events, posts, POI, and push notification panel.

It's still on progress, but surely it's something fun to build and hopefully to be rewarding in the future.



Saturday 12 August 2017

Hello August, Malaysian National Month

Hello August. It's a Malaysian National Month.

We will celebrate our 60th Merdeka Independance Day on 31st August 2017.

We had some stuff to share on this month.

We are still in MaGIC, Cyberjaya.

We had meeting with CiC, Cyberjaya innovation Council for upcoming Cyberjaya Mobile Apps.

We also had meeting for closing the websystem for surveying for JAD Sensei.

Meeting with REKA for enhancement of Cyberjaya apps.

I also learn something from friend from ARLETA, also resides in CWS, Magic.

Also we learn more around inside the CWS, company like Sekai Property, CIEF, Everyweb and BotAhead.

It's a cool month. And don't forget to cheer 'merdeka' in the end of this month.


Sunday 16 July 2017

Hello July, Hello Q3 and H2

Officially this month enter the second half and Q3 of 2017. How time flies.

Critically what we thought here is as mobile devs, it can be though sometime to think about coding all the time.

Because programming, personally, for me can be hard. It requires more brain power. When you are not well, or sometime don't have the right feeling, programming can be tedious and hardship.

I know people out there also can find programming is hard, and just keep thinking programming is hard. But yeah, if it's more complex, with a lot of theory and logics that wired up together, things can get a magnitude harder than when it's in individual component.

## iReka Update

I personally like to use Expense App (http://irekasoft.com/apps/expense) and we made some nice update on the app like be able to add more expense in history mode. Usually when we see the history, and sometime we think that we should add something, we will go back and add. But no more, because I added new expense in history view. And another thing I did was adding video preview on the app. Hope it can show how convenience of using widget to enter your expenses.

I am getting into the continuation of the past project, Uber for Battery project. It's getting more complex since it will add additional layer of managing inventory. Customer -> rider -> branch. That's all i can say for now.

Learning more WWDC, and testing out Xcode 9 beta, ARKit. Nothing much just try out some sample codes from the web.

## Wrap Up

Thanks for reading this and please let me know if anything specific do you want to know about app or web development.


Sunday 11 June 2017

WWDC and June, and Work In

Hello June!!

It's WWDC month. And I was exited. From the keynote to the most of the sessions. We can see it all online. Thanks Apple.

So it's iOS 11. Many great update, AR, VR, more iPad empowerment features.

And for me, I don't really jump in into Xcode 9 yet.

So, yeah, I presented for Chill or Grill for 'Work In'. It's my second time. First one, on another idea which was not realized.

'Work In' is essentially a replacement for your punch clock in device. It does it better than it. It's in the cloud. Employer manage from the cloud, employees have apps for iOS and Android. Them are millenials friendly. You know, this new generation of smartphones. They might want to 'work in' with smartphone too. And the UI is easy to get in. Log in, and clock-in. That's simple.

Yah, at date 11 June 2017, I have some little update for Work In.

I made the view for individual employees for each month. So employers can reviews each of their emoployee's attendance for every single time they clock-in and clock-out and it's duration on the web admin.

And I also update the Android app. More robust with Marshmallow detection on the location permission. Yeah I already uploaded it. It has some enhancement too.

More info about 'Work In' app go check out irekasoft.com/workin.

Wednesday 24 May 2017

Yet Another App will Be Published

Thanks to Allah, we will going for Ramadhan this year.

I am grateful to have people that are willing to use WorkIn app, for taking attendance.

It's a 'beta' product right now. You can use it properly with very minimal power to help you to solve attendance problems. However the polishness and completeness is on the way.

We are helping business owner to manager their staff easiliy with this system.

And also at the meantime I am publishing new iOS app for Cyberjaya City.

The WorkIn app, I will do some 'Chill or Grill' on this Friday. So wish me luck.

Monday 22 May 2017

Using GIT, and PUSH to LEMP Server

Personaly this is the latest achivement so far on developing web application using Laravel.

It's so important for me to develop locally and be able to push on the server so that we can have at least a local back-up if anything happen to the server. And also we can push to another repo as well.

What I am talking about is to deploy from local to staging, and to production with Git. Well, for now just for deployment. But it's good enough because it's the same concept to push for production as well.

To gain this mastery just took me a while. Because I am catering many of the development discipline including iOS and Android. Until now just using direct coding on the server to make changes which is DANGEROUS.

Well if the website is heavily used, then something bad will happen if you are tweaking the code directly. It's definitely not an ideal solution if the website has heavy users. It's also reveal that I am not having a big website yet to go on this git-push solution yet.

Well now we are a step more ready on this area. Web system area with better management, risk strategy.

And also we be able to push into the subdomain, so that the staging has it's own subdomain before we go for full production. Which is cool as well.

To configure the subdomain we have to configure the LEMP configuration at the files. (etc/nginx/sites-available and sites-enabled) Which I am not intended to discuss more here.

So yeah, I am feeling proud for acquiring this important techniques. And let the development moving on.




Sunday 14 May 2017

Projek Khas Semperna Ramadhan

Semperna ketibaan bulan Ramadhan tak lama lagi, saya ingin mengambil inisiatif untuk mereka bentuk aplikasi memaparkan waktu solat di kawasan-kawasan di Malaysia.

Konsep awal aplikasi tersebut adalah seperti berikut.


Rekabentuk app waktu solat. 

Saturday 13 May 2017

XMPP

XMPP on iOS guys?

It was a thought time that day when I was asked to deliver XMPP related iOS app which is quite hard to get resources.

Especially the killer part is the Swift 2 -> on new Xcode 8. Whew. It was not that easy. It was August 2016 methink.

So fast forward, now there is tutorial on Swift 3. Here we go.

https://www.erlang-solutions.com/blog/build-a-complete-ios-messaging-app-using-xmppframework-tutorial-part-1.html

https://www.erlang-solutions.com/blog/build-a-complete-ios-messaging-app-using-xmppframework-part-2.html


Eagle and Website

Last post I had mention that I am 'pakar' right. Actually I was more 'pakar' than normal guy. Haha. Just kidding.

Yeah, really, even though you can be expert on some field, it can be tough, not exiting, boring time to get through to get it done.

But, what I discovered. With friend at CWS, there is better, easier, but can cost something, for designing responsive website. It's called Webflow, access it here. Webflow.com.

It's a, nice, clean, codable, WYSWYG online editor. And I don't know the full potential yet, but it look promising. I have been watching YouTube videos about webflows and everything.

I tried on something like below.


I recreated iRekaSoft.com Bootstrap layout structure effortlessly (not so lah) with Webflow in minutes, which is nice.

And by the way, I should do the Eagle Project. I should be tested on this Monday. The client rentlessly asked for us to do our own 'dummy API' with always correct API. Well he said so because the API documentation is already out before the actual API is 'live'.

So yeah, it can be a shocking at first. But it may might be a challenge. Creating my own endpoint, but the route is the same with the documentation, so it should be fine right. 

But yeah, the mood is not there yet. I am playing around with Webflow because of nothing. 

And also yeah, I am also working on smart '-' app which is will be presenting on this Tuesday.



Sunday 7 May 2017

Developing Software Can Be Hard

Hello, Good Late Night.

So aku dalam nak sambung develop satu project ni. Jadi buka Xcode. Tapi browser ni merayau-rayau tanpa tujuan, just sometime bila kita nak buat sesuatu, mood nak develop tu tak datang. Susah tu sebenarnya nak buat kerja tapi minda dan fikiran tak boleh fokus, atau align dengan apa yang nak kita buat, jadi terfikir lah nak tulis benda ni dalam blog iReka Soft.

Penting juga ni, dulu time bekerja, pun sama jugalah. Benda-benda software ni, memang berkait rapat dengan jiwa dan 'soft' skill kita ni. Terutamanya tentang minda. Minda yang tak boleh fokus atau nak dalam state untuk memikirkan state macam mana nak selesaikan masalah. Jadi boleh jadi blur dan kerja tersebut berkemungkinan dilengah-lengahkan sambil nak cari mood katanya.

Hal ini terjadi salah satunya kerana fizikal juga. Badan tidak rasa sihat, dalam kondisi sekarang. Tekak pun rasa sakit. Sedikit sebanyak boleh effect performance kita kan?

Lagi-lagi bila kena hadamkan konsep programming yang advanced. Huu.. sakit kepala beb.

Tapi kalau boleh tukar mood tu dengan develop benda-benda light dan best mesti boleh kasi reduce pain kat dalam otak tu.

Jadi walaupun sesuatu program yang dah ada specifications tu nampak cam senang tapi dalam keadaan tertentu kondisi tak mengizinkan, jadi susah juga tu kan.?

Jadi jom lah kita submit untuk dapatkan kondisi yang terbaik.

See you later.
Hijazi

Thursday 4 May 2017

SyPhy Demo Day

Semalam telah berlangsung acara demo day di Magic Cyberjaya di mana terdapat beberapa startup mempamerkan kehebatan mereka di acara tersebut.

Salah satu nya dari client juga rakan untuk buat mobile iOS app. Tapi dekat di situ dinyatakan bahawa app ini 'masuk dalam almari' dulu. Tak da masalah pun. Cuma benda ni kita boleh predictkan. Biasakan bila ada client macam ni, mereka just saja je mintak itu dan ini untuk melengah kan masa dia untuk buat keputusan supaya tak nak teruskan development.

Benda ni just hati-hati dan perlu aware sahaja lah. Rezeki kita ada dekat mana-mana pun.

OK. Selain itu ada juga berjumpa dengan orang medical device trader. Beliau ada tanya soalan killer ni. Kenapa Android dengan iPhone development nya berbeza dan Android lagi susah. iPhone tak susah ker??

Hmmm. Susah kan nak jawab soalan macam ni. Dia mungkin ada kaitan dengan experience dan capability seseorang programmer tu. Termasuk juga dengan preference. Dan juga kepoweran komputer yang ada.

Apa yang boleh saya nyatakan buat iPhone ni lagi 'sedap' lah. Stabil, laju dan sempurna.

Android, awal-awal dulu memang clumsy giler. Sekarang dah ada Android Studio dan pelbagai lagi peralatan menarik, memang menarik saya untuk belajar Android, sehingga ke hari ini.

Jadi... kesimpulan nya develop untuk iPhone lebih rewarding. Berbanding Android. Tapi since ramai gila pakai Android kita pun kena lah juga untuk kasi bagi mereka service juga. Rasa tak lengkap pulak kan.

Sekian dulu dari saya Hijazi, untuk iReka Blog.

Wednesday 3 May 2017

Buat Website adalah Kepakaran Saya

Bukanlah sebegitu pakar, boleh kata dalam istilah 'specialized'. Walaupun kami kompeni buat apps, kami tetap tidak lupakan website dan webservice. Memang ia sangat-sangat penting.

Dalam post sebelum ini saya tersentuh tentang portal iRIS iaitu websistem untuk menguruskan aplikasi kami dengan lebih efficient dari segi back-end nya. Banyak fungsi general yang diselaraskan supaya ia boleh diguna pakai juga untuk client.

Jadi kenapa websistem penting. Guna dia untuk hantar 'push notification', buat analisa, dapat kan feedback dan sebagainya.

Selain dari itu, kami juga ada iRekaSoft.com. Ia adalah website Wordpress yang the lah di custom habis. Buat theme pun pakai tangan, guna bootstrap. Mana main ambil template orang, kalau tak puas hati susah tu nak adjust-adjust. Kalau buat sendiri semua boleh adjust kaw-kaw. Lagi satu, saya telah menuntut dengan sifu dari Kanada tentang mengoptimumkan penggunaan WordPress ni untuk marketing website.

Ya, itu point dia, WordPress ni bagi saya sangat sesuai menjadi website marketing.

Susah wo nak buat website proper. Tengok kalau orang buat website sendiri, tapi main ambil je template orang, then tak tau nak buat apa, carca merba kot jadinya hehehe. Tu lah kalau first time buat tu, biasalah kan.

So kalau marketing website ni, tak termasuk e-commerce tau, memang sebenarnya tidak lah susah tapi kena lah plan. At least bagi nampak lah sikit website tu professional. Ni jenama dah power tapi website hancus. Hancus lah brand bro. Memang lah sales banyak, tapi website pun nak kena smart juga ye.

OK, at first kita guna WordPress, memang bersepah theme kat luar sana tu. Banyak buat macam blog, tapi memang boleh customize lah. Tapi sebenarnya nak fully customize tu still susah juga, depends on the themes ye.

OK, sebagai rujuakan, saya refer je lah kat website iRekaSoft.com ni. Sebab ia dah lama, dan itu je lah website yang saya maintain, dan keep improving. Adalah benda sedikit sebanyak yang saya boleh share sikit pasal managing website ni.

Web Site Plan

Kena plan lah website anda tu, walau pun simple tapi penuh dengan maklumat dan capaian ke 'perhubungan yang lebih bermakna' seperti link ke Facebook page ke, hantar feedback ke, bagi Whatsapp ke, tinggal kan no phone dan nama ke, nak dapatkan order ke. Kan, rata-rata itu lah sebab kenapa kita nak buat website. Bukan nak buat cantik jerr. Cantik pun cantik juga tapi kita nak result betul tak?

Website plan ni boleh lah, sketch atas kertas, ada home-page. Home page ni first page yang orang masuk. Macam diri kita juga tu lah first appearance anda as website. Orang tengok anda tu, apa elevetor pitch anda nak bagi kat visitor?? Tulis lah apa kepakaran anda, siapa yang anda nak bantu dengan produk apa. Ye lah bukan diorang kenal pun siapa anda. Bagi lah intro sikit, jangan ingat visitor ni dah kenal. OK, kat irekasoft.com saya tulis 'we expertise in iOS, Android and Laravel'. Haha simple je. Tapi itulah pengenalan kami. Jangan bagi blur sangat kat pelawat. Intro dulu der.

Sebenarnya tak de formula pun nak buat website ni. Tapi kalau nak buat marketing website, ini lah sedikit sebanyak tips dan praktikaliti nya. Jangan ingat website ni pasal teknikal jer.

Kesimpulannya, buat screens dari homepage ke products ke contact ke about dan lain-lain.

Gambar Bro

Macam nak buat magazine, website kan pun kena pakai gambar cun! Tu lah kasi plan dulu, tengok screens yang dah di sketch. Lepastu nak taruk content apa, masukan sekali gambar yang sesuai.

Kalau gambar orang tu boleh lah cari background yang transparent supaya nampak lebih pro.

Amacam, good luck yea.

Kumpul Database

WordPress ni tak bagus dia just guna guna raw database, tak macam Laravel websistem. Jadi saya biasa integrate WP dengan Laravel bila nak masukan database ni. So bila orang key-in nama dan email terus masuk dalam database Laravel. Jadi saya guna iRIS (see post before), untuk paparkan database.

ROI

Tak ada yang lebih bermakna jika website anda boleh generate duit. Ye lah, nak buat website tu kan memerlukan kewangan jugakan. At least bila dah pakai .com sendiri. Mesti mau dapat result. C'on buat website simple-simple je tapi biarlah berhasil kan.

Analytics

Measure lah website anda tu. Tengok berapa banyak visitor. Bukan senang nak buat website yang high-trafik. Pandai-pandailah nak guna social media untuk kasi viral itu website.

Blog

Blog. Walaupun saya tulis kat BlogSpot ni. Ia adalah free service. InsyaAllah kalau tak ada apa-apa ia akan terus kekal kat sini. Walaupun saya tiada kelak boleh jadi bahan rujukan.

OK, selain dari blog ini, di irekasoft.com ada blog sendiri, ia teknikal, ia mobile dan ia dalam BI, bahasa inggeris ok. Tapi result dia ada boleh tengok ada orang search on particular keyword. So memang increase page view everyday sebab kita perbanyakan kosa kata dalam website kita. Senang lagi lah orang nak Google kan.

Alright, memang shok sendiri sahaja tulis ni. Ramai lagi yang hebat-hebat dalam buat website dan blog ini. Tapi sebenarnya content is king kan? Ada kenalan saya ni memang buat duit guna ads untuk jana pendapatan dengan content. Ada juga member saya guna kan website untuk menghubungkan stokis, pembeli.

Akhir kata, website penting dalam era online ni, kalau anda nak bina brand. Walaubagaimanapun social media sekarang dah semakin kuat dan ia mungkin menjadi no 2 dalam online present. Namun ia tetap penting untuk dibina sebaiknya kan?














Salam IMKK

Akhir bulan lepas sempat saya pergi program IMKK yang ketiga. Istimewanya kali ini saya pergi dengan wife saya.

Program IMKK ini basically adalah program character building untuk menyediakan diri jadi lebih baik dalam pelbagai aspek. Kesihatan, perhubungan, kerohanian, kewangan, kejayaan, kepuasan dan lain-lain.

Namun amat dititikberatkan mengenai kewangan. Sebab banyak masalah dalam hidup ni berpunca dengan wang. Sebab tu perlu menjaga perhubungan dengan encik wang juga.

Pembinaan diri, dengan menanamkan sikap positif dan tidak mudah putus asa.

Marketing diri. Jadi diri sendiri yang terbaik. Hargai semua perkara yang kita ada. Dan terus berusaha untuk mendapatkan yang terbaik. Sambil beramal untuk hari kemudian.

Tulisan saya memang tidak sangat menyentuk mana-mana emosi, cuma nukilan kepala otak teknikal sahaja. Namun terima kasih kerana sudi menjeguk baca blog pemilik iReka Soft ini.

Thanks



Sunday 23 April 2017

Almost End of April 2017


Hola!

So bertemu lagi dalam blog iReka. So saya baru sahaja menyiapkan mengupdate Mac App 'App Icon Resizer' ni. Yeah! Ape yang best dia, dia support Xcode baru ni 8.3. Boleh lah nak generate Icon Set untuk semua icons korang. Senang je, drag masuk, select folder mana nak generete hola, drag folder tu masuk dalam Xcode. Kacang je!

OK lain-lain cerita baru update juga app member CWS ni, rivil app, sekarang version 1.1 dengan fungsi account. Boleh lah try nak cari tempat best-best time korang jalan jauh. Mana tau tempat tu viral ke. ;)

Lain-lain adalah saya ada lagi idea baru untuk buat app. Dia bukan idea terlampau baru, tapi situasi kat CWS memang macam memerlukan solusi ini. Solusi ni untuk start-up yang dah ada ramai intern. Ha apa dia tu kena tunggu next post lah OK.

Cun, jumpa lagi.

Friday 7 April 2017

iRIS - iReka Soft App Information System

It's has been a year long journey with Laravel. And we doing very slow but steady, to make our own control center to manager our apps and system. 





Monday 27 March 2017

Aussie Apps

March 2017 is an exiting month for me. I had a chance to visit Australia in this month, and it's an incredible trip.

From business perspective to personal feeling I had a good time travel to the kangaroo's country. I flew from KLIA2 to Melbourne then had road trip to Sydney and flew back to KLIA2.

Of course, smartphone and apps, and off course internet connection changed how we travel and communicate on the go. As a app enthusiast let talk more on what tech we use while traveling.

WhatsApp. WhatsApp is an essential app ever for a smartphone. Not only we can communicate with anyone who has smartphone but also with group of people with the same interest. In this case, people who are in the same trip.

It helps a lot. When the tour leader want to announce the plan everyday for the tours. Of course we will have pre-plan for the trip, but things change, get feedback from participant and sometime plan has to change. So other than direct announcement, leader use WhatsApp to inform the latest to everybody.

Google Maps. It's a super useful mapping app and navigation. In addition it support public transportation as well.

Maps.me. Offline maps. Download the maps, then you can go anywhere without roaming charge.

Here are some other local apps:

PT App. Use for public transportation for Melbourne city.

Opal App. Use for public transportation in Sydney. It shows the credit for the Opal card.

Taronga Zoo. App for discovering the zoo.

Friday 17 February 2017

Yo February!

It's has been a hectic month for me, personally. I pray for the best on his journey for the next life.

And yes, we all will go to the next life too. Don't worry.

Anyway, we somehow also fall in love with this world and the tech around us. Us not excepted, we are still and keep loving to develop mobile apps.

This month I have released ExpenseApp 1.0 -> now 1.0.2 with bug fixes and as bonus the widget. It's really awesome, I use it personally to track my spending. It has Dropbox integration which can make your records directly exported to Dropbox's app folder.

Download App

Another than that, I've been busy for rivil app for 1.1 version. It's a roadtrip app that show interesting places from point A to B.

Now I will add login features and all related to the accounts. Integrating with the back-end and also updating the UI.

Till next time. Happy Apping.

Sunday 15 January 2017

The Bandung Story

This story is about oursourcing to our neighboring country. However it does not really tell the whole things about every agencies there. This is an experience that I heard from my friend that outsource a project to them.

It's an IT app project. iPhone + back-end. Generously have an admin page as well.

So months after months, the team keeps delaying the project. However the progress is not improving. The performance of the task is below the par. It's somewhat unaccepted to publish if you particular about quality.

There are problems with the result.

- They don't use the correct components to build stuff. It might looks like the mockup but it's not right. It can be deceiving, or ineffiicencies for user experience. Yes there is in the world that we call it custom, but when you custom things, things behave better not the way around. I saw this on multiple scenes. Some are okay but are not. For example to displaying a dynamic notifications you cannot use hard design a text, a view on a specific position. There is right way to do that which is using UITableView. On this issue, it can be considering as 'cover up', or cheating. It's the eye candy where you can show it to your client but on the back side it's just a cover up. Which is not going to working on the real situation.

- API design is broken. They didn't think about the project in whole. The UI on the iPhone is there but the API call is not exist.

The important of have CRUD for many related stuff.

- The client as designer also not really do well, because not giving the right asset. Thus make the result does not look at best because of asset bluriness.

What I can learn from it:

- I somewhat can see to be at the client side. I am a developer, but being on the shoes of a client who pay money to get things done.

- Analyze the specifications. Know what really matters for them. In short what solution we want to provide, how well it is. Is your client care about UI, design or user experience. It does matter because in the end of the day when you deliver the result those things they want to test it.

Knowing the hardest thing on the development. This need to be studied and identify as early as you can. Break the hard thing first. Really. If it's not possible, I prefer to refer to another developer that can help with the project. I pass it out when you possibly can not do it. We have speciality and limitation.

I know we can learn. But not everything and it may take so much time that you will might delaying the project. Client have date that they want to publish and do some marketing to let people know. Even investing on ads or what not. So not be on time can be hurtful.

- Teach client. Client is not in IT background. Bad thing can happen, and this not working, that is not working on certain condition. Teach them. They might think that you are actually did not do anything because they don't see the result. But actually, there is a lot of code and testing were involved. Teach in the way that normal people could understand. Give analogy for example, use common + jargon word. Now jargon at all cannot tell the deep inside the engineering stuff. Using common words make them able to relate, and somewhat understand.

So that's it from what I summarize today. Every experience we go throught we can learn from it, and we can do things in a better way in the future or today.

I feel satisfied when make good thing so, that is me. Sometime it turn out that product is not good enough it might be because of laziness and lack of motivation or inspiration.

Other way around is to embodied a system in the workflow so that we are forced to make thing at acceptable level.



Thursday 12 January 2017

Hello 2017!

Hello, Hola, Konnichiwa, Selamat Datang, Ahlan Wasahlan 2017!!

So exciting about this year, especially 2017 marks as iPhone's 10th birthday. We build iReka partly because the birth of iPhone. I like to do something with smartphone and yes today we are still here have the same mission to bring the best experience for mobile.

There is a lot more talk about the iPhone but simply put, it's one of the awesome tools after Mac computer done by Apple.

Well, for us there is a lot more to learn and to practice. We have strive to acquire have many knowledge to build apps, beautiful and functional apps. It's not easy, from one step to another. From app side, services side, back end side and interactive and functional user interface. It's a hard work for me to doing it persistantly for the past 6-7 years.

It's rewarding and exciting for what we can build next.