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Earlier this year, we launched an iPhone app called Statehouse (iTunes link).  It’s a simple app in its current form.  The data had already been collected by Jake over at Kansas Grassroots, so the hard part was done.  Over a beer on a Tuesday we decided we should make an app, it hit the App Store for download Friday afternoon that same week.

That would not have been possible for us to do without Titanium Mobile.  That’s not to say it couldn’t have been turned around in the same amount of time using Objective-C and Cocoa Touch, but we couldn’t have done it.

Regardless of how much I like the Objective-X style languages, I’ve yet to do anything more than dabble in them.  There’s a mental overhead in switching languages–it’s amplified if you’re not proficient in the language you’re switching to.  Being able to do this app in Javascript is what made it possible to hack together an app over the course of a few days.

The new TOS are not poured in concrete, yet.  Hopefully they’ll clarify their intent and tools such as Titanium will be deemed allowable.

If nothing else, though, this and the other announcements out of Cupertino today show the fallacy of putting all of your eggs in someone else’s basket.  Two complete industries were undercut today and a third hangs in the balance.

I’m trying to parse this.

Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

Emphasis mine.  You have any thoughts on it?

UPDATE: Looks like Appcelerator (who’s been quiet on Twitter about this) is wondering the same thing.

It’s clear that products like Titanium, Unity3D, Ansca, MonoTouch and others are now a bit in question for iPhone 4.0+ with this language. We’re all trying to get our heads around what this means and trying to reach out to Apple to get clarification.

Hang tight, we’ll try and give you more information as we can figure it out from Apple. We don’t want to make any false promises or claims – and most importantly, we want to make sure we’re abiding by Apple’s rules.

UPDATE 2: John Gruber picked up on this as well.

There was no mention of this change during the announcement event today, but the language in the agreement doesn’t leave much wiggle room. It could hardly be more clear if they singled out Flash CS5 by name. (Wonder what Adobe does now? CS5 is thisclose to release and the iPhone compiler is the flagship feature in this version of Flash. They’re pretty much royally fucked.)

Nathan Borrow did a side-by-side comparison of the New York Times website on the desktop and iPad.  The simplicity on the iPad is amazing and a much more engaging site.  Couple that with some tools (sharing, favoriting, navigating, etc.) that quietly hide themselves when not needed and they would have a home-run.

Typical story on nytimes.com:

Same story on the iPad:

Beauty and simplicity shouldn’t reside on a single device. It’s time for a reexamination and return to what matters.

It truly is a shame that so many amazing non-profits are hidden behind horribly thought out websites.  Most of these sites deluge their visitors with information, even though great sites such as Charity Navigator exist to provide raw statistics and facts about non-profits.  The problem is that most non-profits are missing the point.  Their websites are there to tell a story.

Let me say it again: a non-profit’s website is there to tell a story.  Nothing else.

People are natural story tellers and are drawn to an authentic story.  Each of the websites linked to above have an amazing story behind them just waiting to be unleashed.  A story that engages their visitors and potential donors.  A story that sticks with them while they navigate their life the next few days.  A story that ends with another beginning.  One the visitor is a part of—where they help chose the ending by getting involved and helping that non-profit reach its goals, whether those goals are getting girls back to school to defeat the spiral of poverty in East Africa; feeding the abandoned, mentally ill of India; or helping people afford water while lifting themselves out of poverty.

When I left Ning a year ago this day I set out to figure out how I could increase my impact on the world.  Through a series of fortuitous events, I ended up working with non-profits, helping them tell their story online.  I need to make sure I remember that.

Everyone has a story to tell.  These organizations are trying to change the world with theirs, and we’re there to help them.