Well, I've been rather quiet on the site the past week or so and it's because I've had a fever for iPhone development. I've taken some time and have been working really hard on this iPhone Application to interface with Drummer Connection. Imagine you're waiting at the Dr's Office, chilling on your back porch, or just taking a poop, and you have your iPhone in your hand. You can press the fancy icon on your desktop and be off to a wonderful world of drumming at your fingertips. I'm doing it all! Drum Lessons, Drum Store Searches, Product Reviews, etc.  (be sure to wash your hands and iPhone if you are in one of the above listed scenarios...)

From my desk....

 

Here's my iPhone. Notice the Drummer Connection icon on the bottom right:

 

 

Once you click on the Drummer Connection icon, you'll get your Drummer Connection Dashboard: 

Some very basic icons, and an easy to use interface. You can read our news in an easy to read format, participate by rating content, adding content, and even Social Network with Drummers on this website!  

Here's a news article when you turn your phone sideways, you can read in landscape mode:

If you want to take a Drum Lesson, you'll be able to by clicking on the icon and you'll see a page that appears about like this:

 

 

 

You'll have a full blown media suite available as well. All of our video and audio can be played right on your iPhone or iPod Touch. 

 

 

Notice the clickable icons at the bottom of the pages which give you the Author Info, Comments, Ratings, Tags, etc. 

When you view our videos, you can view them in portrait or landscape mode. Using the latest H2.64 compression and the recommended settings from Apple's Development team, we have transcoded all of our videos to the best suitable format for streaming over the new improved 3G networks and WiFi spots.  Unfortunately, video streaming isn't really good with Edge networks, but you can get away with it if you have some patience. I was wathching one of our videos at a Stop light the other day over Edge and it works pretty spotty. Here's some pics of our video support. 

Full Screen portrait mode (holding the phone normal):

 

 

You can also go Landscape by turning your phone sideways and the iPhone's accelerometer will detect the movement and automatically rotate the video for you, which is the best way to view it. Here's a shot in Landscape showing the video controls from the iPhone's built-in Quicktime player:

 

 

There's so many features being built for this. Here's my immediate list before I release to the public:

• Drum Store Searches - You'll be able to search drum stores and receive a map so that you can find directions from your current location. iPhone 3G with the built in GPS should be able to locate you and automatically give you directions. You can also click on phone numbers on our website and automatically dial it on your iPhone. Sweeet.  You'll also be able to read reviews and see pictures of the stores you go to, provided we have that information on our site.
• Comments can easily be added to any content by simply using the textpad input on the iPhone. We've made it as easy as texting your friends...
• Ratings can be accomplished on items on our website easily. You simply click the rating icon, pick the rating you want to give and viola. That's it, you've rated content effortlessly.
• Friends Lists / Drummer Connections - You can keep track of your friends and view their profiles, media and etc through a swift interface. It's almost like going through your address book on the iphone!
• Upload photos from your  iPhone right to your Drummer Connection Gallery!
• Product Reviews - You can now look up the TRUTH about products backed by audio and video of them while you're out shopping! We don't work for any drum stores and we certainly do not inflate our opinions about products, so the reviews you see here are completely uninfluenced and hopefully valuable to you.
• Events - Get dates, maps, phone numbers and information about events. Lost the directions on the way? Click the event and your iPhone will give you directions using the Gmaps.
• Maintain your profile, watch your own videos, audio, etc. Each user's profile will be streamlined and extremely easy to use for your iphone.

I've also taken the liberty to ensure that the iPhone application is as slim and small as possible to provide you better access over your wireless networks.  This is going to be very cool. The usefulness of this application will spin your mind once you get inside of it. If you're a drummer, or someone who just likes drums, this will be a kick ass way to learn what you want to know.

Oh, did I mention that this application is FREE?  Also, it interfaces with our website, so all the information you enter to the application, such as comments, ratings, etc will appear instantly on our site. As well, your buddy lists and everything will be available once you login on your phone.

I'm a bit of a feature geek, so there's plenty more that I'd rather be
working on right now than typing up a list. So stay tuned, we'll be
making announcements soon and the app should hit the iTunes App store
here in a few weeks!

 

I'll leave you with this...