Lots of projects want to simplify the app development process, and there are even more startups working on automating the process. Ultimately it's fine for prototyping, but not much else. Performance becomes an issue and you rapidly hit it wall with anything but native apps.
It's good to get your feet wet and get excited about the platform, regardless of it being Android or iOS, but at some point you need to just bite the bullet and pick up a good book and start working.
I like the first answer from quora, but with one exception.. That being an understanding of business and priorities. Great engineers understand that ultimately, they're responsible for shipping product in a business setting.
In your personal open source project or side projects you can afford to be experimental and push the box, but when you're in a business setting, you need to balance the need to ship with the desire and drive to be experimental and solid. Get from point A to point B balancing risk, reward, and speed.
Zynga continues to implement Lean with it's products. They don't develop any new feature in any product without concrete proof of user interest. Put up the "store" sign, make it clickable, if enough users click it, develop the feature.
The coin game introduced chaos into the event. If the desire was to maintain order, providing an open ended game play mechanism where players have to game one another doesn't promote a system of order.
This guy did a great job of gaming the actual game and did what players in real games do all the time. Find the easiest way to competitive advantage through the available mechanics, even if it is through a loophole in the rules.
Maybe they would have been happier if he had traded his credit card for the bag of coins instead.
Box2d is amazing, and powers about 90% of physics flash games and now a good portion of iPhone games as well.
It's also a great example of a creator having buyers remorse about the licence used. At somepoint the creator decided to be altruistic and release it in a way that it could be used far and wide in applications across hundreds of platforms. Now people are using it in fabulous projects and very rightly, getting famous and wealthy through those creations.
That said, Angry Birds isn't successfull because of it's physics engine. In fact, there isn't one single element of the game that makes it successful. The Rovio guys studied their audience, listened to feedback, and invested everything in creating a killer app.
Box2d was one bolt in the process, and if the licence had prevented the developers from utilizing it, they would have swapped it out for another model. It wasn't the lynch pin to Angry Birds' success.
I actually just recieved my Sony LiveView in the mail today. Worn like a watch, it's more of a phone accessory than anything else. I can get updates as to phone calls, messages, and twitter, all without pulling out my phone which is usually buried in my pocket or in my jacket pocket.
The wrist is prime real estate for devices now. If apple didn't have a plan for this, I'd be shocked.
Book and movie distribution channels have approximately 2 years left to evolve or die. Music faced the same thing and decided to fight a losing war.
They can be smart and embrace the change before it overwhelms them or be stuck culturally in traditional distribution and get swept away before recovering as music has done through iTunes and indy.
Get used to this. Borders is clearly just the weakest of the pack. Lots of book stores have tried to diversify into markets they don't understand to try to compete. Culturally, they can't handle amazon or apple working in their space.
As tablets and phones drop to the 300 / 150 range respectively, bookstores are going to go the way of music stores in the very near future. B&N has a great chance right now with Nook Color. They should drop the e-reader only aspect and launch a fully supported android device with a kick ass e-reader in it.
Lots of people root their Nooks and turn them into good tablets, B&N could pop out a basic tablet at $250 right now and eat a huge chunk of the market that's going to appear near the end of the year.
I was very excited when I saw a demo of this, but the review I watched seems to imply that it sucks for bluetooth connectivity. I'm wondering inPulse has the same issues.
Voted up for Corona. For 3D Games, look to Unity. I know people are have allot of success developing cross platform using it. But for 2D on mobile, Corona wins.
If they ever decided to go the Appcelerator work and come up with a deployment that also targets OSX and Windows at the same time, they'd absolutely rule.
I'll echo the same as most other posters: Internet is the limiting factor.
I love working there. No distractions is a great way to shut out the world and focus. My local libraries limited internet access to an hour a day. If 3g was cheaper in Canada, I'd just man up and get a stick or tether to my cell, but I'd need a line of credit to make that happen.
I'm just really starting to get into Android and was hoping for the chance to really get in and get excited about the technology. Much like it was in my first experience with the web all the way back in 2007.
I'm really disappointed that I won't have the chance to go. I hope it's not because tons of people are going for the free device.
I've actually become a huge Android advocate to my friends, but things like this irk me something awful.
It's good to get your feet wet and get excited about the platform, regardless of it being Android or iOS, but at some point you need to just bite the bullet and pick up a good book and start working.