iDealyzer - Woot! and more

It's been a while since I posted but that doesn't mean nothing is happening in the iDealyzer world. Quite the opposite in fact...

Last week I released updates to iDealyzer Free and iDealyzer Pro for the iPhone/iPod Touch. No new features but much needed bug fixes. Selecting the details for a deal and quickly returning to the list of deals could cause iDealyzer to crash. That bug is now fixed. The other problem sometimes reported is that Push Notifications preferences didn't seam to always take. That problem lies in saving the preferences to the push notification server. So now if for whatever reason the settings cannot be saved to the server you will get a warning message with the option to try again. If it still fails you should double check you have an internet connection and go back to the preferences to try again. But don't worry your preferences won't be lost as they are always saved on your iPhone or iPod Touch before trying to save them on the server.

What has been keeping me really busy is working on iDealyzer for the iPad. Having that nice big display to view the deals will be fantastic. Seeing the large images in all their glory will really add to the fun of shopping for daily deals. Development is going very well for the first version of iDealyzer for the iPad. Although it will not be available for the day of the iPad release it will be available soon after the release.

Once the iPad version is ready I will be back to adding more deals that you have requested.

I just received a cease and desist email from Amazon. For some reason they do not allow their data to be used in mobile applications. Therefore I have no choice but to disable the Amazon Daily Deal and Lightning box in iDealyzer It is a real shame as I found it very useful and I'm sure many users did also.

Looks like I'm not the only one getting this email. At least iDealyzer is only partially dependent on Amazon.
http://www.alwinhoogerdijk.com/2010/01/19/amazon-killed-our-iphone-apps/

Here is the email:

Hello,

It has come to our attention that you have created applications for use with mobile devices which use Amazon.com content. The use of a mobile application in conjunction with the Product Advertising API or the Associates Program without our express prior written approval is not permitted. You can find the complete text of the Product Advertising API License Agreement and the Associates Operating Agreement by following the links below.

Product Advertising API License Agreement:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/advertising/api/detail/agreement...

Associates Operating Agreement:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/agreement

As a result, we must insist that you cease this use of our services immediately and remove our logo from your site, getidealyzer.com. Moreover, because of this violation of both the Product Advertising API License Agreement and the Associates Operating Agreement, your Associates account has been closed and your access key turned off.

We thank you for your understanding and wish you the best of luck in the future.

Best regards,

Andrea - Associates Account Specialist
http://www.amazon.com
=============================

I have loved the Wootalyzer PC desktop app for a long time. It is extremely convenient to scan through the current deals. It has great notification features and controls. It has even helped me get a good number of Bags Of Crap. However it still means I need to boot up my PC. What I really wanted is Wootalyzer for the iPhone.

Wootalyzer have been promising Wootalyzer for the iPhone for a long time. But of course these things take time and there are always other priorities.

There are some great Woot! tracker apps for the iPhone already such as WootWatch and WootOn but they only cover the Woot! sites. I wanted more. I wanted an iPhone app that tracks as many daily deals as possible.

So this all lead to me creating iDealyzer There is still much work to be done but I feel iDealyzer is a good tribute to Wootalyzer. I hope you think so as well.

It's alive! iDealyzer Android is now available in the Android Market. Get it here.

This first version of iDealyzer Android is equivalent to the iPhone iDealyzer Free. There are many improvements planned as well as the addition of the features in iPhone iDealyzer Pro.

Wow, the rumor was correct. Apple is approving apps very fast. The update to iDealyzer Pro was approved in just 1 day and is now in the app store. So go get it now.

Progress on the Android version of iDealyzer is going great and its close to being done. However this post is not to talk about that...

A new version of iDealyzer Pro (1.2) has just been submitted for approval. This update has some great improvements to the details page:

• A larger image so you can see the product in all its glory.
• Pretty green more and buy buttons.
• AddThis button so you can share the great deal with someone else (or send to yourself if you prefer to buy on your Mac or PC)
• Built in web browser so you never have to leave iDealyzer (but with the option to open in Safari).

Rumor has it that Apple is approving apps quickly right now in preparation for the Apple Tablet. So hopefully you'll have the updated version soon.

Here is a screenshot as a teaser:

There have been many changes to iDealyzer over the last couple of months. Some that you can see but most of the changes you cannot. Let's start with the changes you can see.

• There are now 24 deal sites that iDealyzer tracks. Most of the new ones where due to user requests so please keep those coming.
• New logo. It's amazing what a difference a professional designer can make. Thanks Rick Burke!

What you probably have not noticed are the many improvements to the push notifications. Sending the notifications is not a trivial task especially when sending 70,000 a day. Many improvements have been made to the code, monitoring is increased to look out for something going wrong and a bigger server to ease the strain. Plus the Woot! sites are now checked twice as frequently and their notifications go out first. That all adds up to more reliable and faster push notifications.

What is next for iDealyzer

The Android version of iDealyzer is being worked on. Initially it will have the same features as the free iPhone version. However pro features will follow.

It took a lot longer than expected (over 2 weeks) but iDealyzer Pro 1.1 is finally available in the app store. Enjoy the many feature improvements.

iDealyzer Pro 1.1 has been submitted to the app store and should be available in a week. The main highlight is the preferences screen that allows you to control push notification and the display of individual deal sites. This is a highly requested and useful feature. Here's how it looks.

What's else is New In This Version?

• About page showing version, push key and support/review links.
• Faster startup and no loading splash screens.
• New items indication (count in title and bold/grey on item).
• More as well as Buy button in details.
• Display of sold out status.
• iDealyzer logo shown if no image available.
• Old image no longer shown while new is loading.