James Andrews

While its fresh in my mind I think I am going to write about the DragonCon iPhone application. Thursday evening I was browsing either Twitter, or Facebook or Livejournal. I don’t remember which when I saw a link advertised for a Dragon*Con iPhone. It was basically advertised as a replacement for the little panel list booklet that I can’t read because the text is so fraking small. I was pretty psyched.

The application is pretty simple in design. There is a main page that has update information. There is an “Events” button, a “My Schedule” button, and a “Speakers” button. For DragonCon the “Events” button gave you a list of all the panels on all the different tracks and concerts from various acts at the convention. This was really handy. Not having to dig out a little booklet that was hard to read was a real PITA. You clicked on an event and the there was a way to add the event to your “schedule” page that had a day calendar look. You could plan your entire weekend and then all you would have to do is go to your “Schedule” page and see what you had chosen and life was nice and easy, not marking the little book and trying to find an event you read about but were unsure about, simply add it, and then go through the schedule and cull out the things that overlapped or were too far away for you to make it from the previous track. The idea at it’s simplest form is great. No wasted paper, and much easier to find panels.

It’s got problems thought, and to be fair the Application is called “Follow Me” and is created by “Core-apps LLC”. It is an event organization app that allows you to have information on panels exhibitors and updated information on. DragonCon is simply their client.

The biggest problem is the load speed. DragonCon has a LOT of events, and since the application talks to the internet to update those events you’re talking a connection EVERY time the application is loaded. It seems to load the XML (assuming it’s XML) EVERY time instead of doing something simple like checking the last modified date against a db to see if the schedule has changed. With 30000 people at the convention and most of them connected to cell towers trying to make connections for tweeting, surfing or using FollowMe. That lead to a VERY slow user experience. The app should only ever update when the data has changed, and then, only modify new data since that change. There are also a lot of things that they could have added to make the experience of using the application a lot better. “Speakers” for example gives list of all the speakers, there’s no cross talk to the events telling allowing me to see what events that speaker was in. There was no way to search only different tracks. All 3 days of events were listed in one list. Separating out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday would have made it easier for those of us trying to get to the sunday list late friday night to plan things. Instead you have to scroll through hundreds of panels that happen Friday and Saturday. Little things that with a little more thought could make this application rock the convention world.

Basically the idea is great, the execution needs some work. Yay DragonCon for doing this, They may want to consider a web version as well for those non-iphone users. Any web developer with half a brain could write something similar in a couple weeks, and then you’d make everyone’s life easier.

FollowMe gets 2 of 5 stars. DragonCon for using the tech to make my con experience better gets 5 for 5!

Saturday I was in a bad mood. Things had happened that just really irritated me. Lots of Friday night drama with one of my con-room-mates having his phone stolen, and a bunch of other stuff that just shouldn’t have been included in a convention weekend. I wandered around the con until I found the Hacker 101 panel. It really wasn’t what I expected. I expected more discussion of well, actual hacking. It ended up being more of a discussion on ways to protect yourself from hacking. I had a good time, and left in better spirits, so thanks to “Pope Johnny X” and crew for a good Hacking 101 session.

Still down and planning to go to my con room and drink I bumped into a couple felling 501st NEGers. Who oddly enough were also not really enjoying the convention. We started chatting and eventually we ended up back in my room, and them my room mates showed up and they brought more people, and before I knew it I was feeling like D*C 2009 was the best thing ever. I just didn’t enjoy the crowds and much preferred the debauchery and hanging out with friends while observing the crowds from the 4th floor of the Marriot. My Saturday ended much better than it began and I am grateful to those friends who let me go off on my drunken tangent.

Sunday was spent roaming around taking pictures, wishing I had bought more liquor and trying to fin gifts for my 2 nieces an my nephew. I eventually ended up at the Hacking 201 panel where we talked about a bunch of different things as well talked to a Hacker over the phone who is currently serving time in Prison. Who wouldn’t go into details as to why he was in prison. It was interesting for a while, but eventually I decided to jump ship, and go try to find something else. I have decided that I want to spend some time learning how to hack programs. Not do do anything illegal, but to understand how it is done. Something I currently don’t know. I am bummed I didn’t get to see the sucker who had to drink the shaken piss warm colt 45 for asking the worst question of the night, but oh well. Ended up at the pirate party which was fuck lame, an then finally just wandered around taking pictures, until I felt it was time to go to bed.

I ended up meeting a really cool woman on the flight home. Made for a nice short flight (the flight down felt way long). DragonCon 2009 has come to an end and I am back home in Massachusetts. I am exhausted, and glad to be home with the family.

Woke up later than planned and made my way to the Hynes for day two. Arrived and the place was packed. Registration was in great order from what I can tell. I think AB has fixed that problem. Yay!

I spent much time roaming the halls, talking to people I know. Stopped by the Funimation booth picked up Crayon Shinchan season 2 part 1. I’ll probably be watching that on Monday.

I didn’t go to any panels though. I guess I was just not enthusiastic about the selection. A lot of it is the same thing that you see year after year. Things like “How to make a plushy.” and “Lolliata Fashion” just don’t do anything for the male 36yr old demographic (ie me). Any of the panels that I would have been interested in seeing didn’t start until 8-9pm which kind of sucks for those who are in my age range who did pay for a badge (I did not, I was comped), that there may only be 2-3 panels a day that they may have any interest.

Now to be fair, most of the attendants are in a much different age group, and I am sure that the selection of panels suited them just fine. It just isn’t my can of Coke. (I don’t drink tea ).

I left early about 5:30pm, I didn’t feel like waiting around until 8:30pm for a panel that I might enjoy.

One last comment before I put Anime Boston 2009 behind me. This is more aimed at the Hyne’s covention center more than anything. The first year AB was in the HCC there was a cafeteria that had tables and chairs where people who bought food from the HCC vendors could sit and eat. Last year and this year, and probably back in 2007 as well the cafeteria has been gone. Instead they have set up vendors outside the area where the cafeteria was. There are no chairs and not tables, essentially no place for people to get off their feet and eat the meal they just paid $8+ for. It is absolutely ridiculous, these guys make a fortune off kids with ridiculous prices, and they won’t even set up a place for them to eat. NOT COOL!

With that I am done, enjoy the last day of the convention everyone, I have an attic to clean out.

Today was Day one of Anime Boston. I arrived close to 10am, and the halls were bustling with folk heading to registration, figuring out where and what things were. The usual day 1 activities. I walked around taking photos, lots of costumes I recognized, lots of others I didn’t Some were well crafted and others, well not so much, but you expect that from anime conventions.

Those of you who have not arrived at the con will be glad to hear that registration ran very smoothly. I peaked my head in there a couple times and saw little or no lines. The dealers room is gianormous, and artists alley is filled with a lot of neat items. I didn’t spend any money in the dealers room, and probably won’t but I spent money in artists alley, an may spend a little more tomorrow.

I made it to 2 panels. One was QA with “Laura Bailey” is the voice of a Shin Chan, one of my all time favorite anime characters. Very amusing woman, great sense of humor, and pretty much filled every request asked of her. During this panel the last person who went to ask her a question, said “I have a question, but it’s not for you.” He then turned and proposed to his girlfriend. How sweet!

Next I made my way to The Chibi Project panel. TCP takes destruction of toys to a new level. It all started around 10 years ago with a small PVC figure of the Sailor Moon character known as “Chibi Moon”. Since then TCP has been finding new and amusing ways to destroy toys. Tonight they even did a live experiment for the audience, but you’ll have to wait for the episode to air to find out what it was and if they succeeded.

So 1 day down 1 to go (for me anyway). I’ll report back tomorrow evening with more fun.