In my free time I do independent software development, most of which has been jailbreak app development for the iPhone. Some of the apps I have released over the years include:
iDitDahText: Jay Leno aired
a segment in which he put the fastest text messenger in the country up
against two ham radio operators using Morse code to see which mode
is faster at communicating a message. The ham radio
contestants--only operating at around 25wpm--easily beat the text
messenger. (This was before full QWERTY keyboards were common on
cellphones; regardless, many ham radio operators can communicate to
50wpm while the fastest hams operate in the 70wpm range.) I was
inspired to write a keyboard alternative for the iPhone called
iDitDahText that allows users to enter characters by tapping in
Morse code. In addition to maintaining speeds equal to or beyond
QWERTY levels, one of iDitDahText's biggest advantages is
that--unlike with touch screen keyboards--users can type without
looking at the screen. In ham radio parlance, the interface is a
dual lever touch paddle (which also can be used as single lever
paddle), coupled to an iambic keyer and decoder. The following
youtube video demonstrates the app, showing text entry at 50wpm.
Snappy: When using the stock camera app I
often found it hard to prepare the camera in time to snap a picture,
especially with young children and pets. The native camera was slow,
cumbersome, and required users to exit all other running
applications. While hacking the camera framework for a different
application, I realized that I could write an app which would allow
quick launching of the camera from the lock screen, and directly from
a running application without needing to quit. Snappy received both
critical and popular acclaim, but over the years it has become
difficult to maintain because of the rapidly changing internals of
the iOS camera API. Additionally, the app was somewhat supplanted by
the native camera app of the newer iOS versions which allow users to
launch the camera from the lock screen. Snappy is currently not
supported.
Fast Photo Libraryis
a companion app to Snappy in the same way that the native Photo
Library app is a companion to the Camera app. FPL allows users to
browse their photo libraries quickly, either from the lock screen or
from a running application (also without having to quit the app).
Again, as with all jail break applications, FPL has been difficult to
keep going with new iOS versions. It is currently not supported.