Welcome GroundSpeed™

A few months back we started working with Spoke™ to begin rebranding JADR Consulting, LLC to communicate our core initiatives and services.  This will be a continual process and we look forward to communicating our message of making custom websites and mobile apps.  Our mobile apps are iPhone/iPad apps for the business to business market.  As the technology evolves we will branch out to other mobile solutions.  A new website is in development as well as all of the social media tools.  Current JADR Consulting customers will be handled with a smooth and transparent transition.  Thanks and stay tuned for more great things to come.

Kickstart(er) My Heart

In January, Gene Powell (Spoke), Jamie Wright (Brilliant Fantastic), and Don Miller (JADR) announced the launch of the Seed Coworking Community.  Over the past few months, we have worked hard to build out the venue in the St. Clair Village of downtown Toledo.  Coworking is essential for the creative people of Toledo to come collaborate and work together to better each other.  We are still on target to launch this Spring.  Now is the time that we are asking for you to become part of the Seed community at SeedCoworking.com.

This week we launched our "Kickstart(er) my heart" campaign through Kickstarter dot com which allows anyone (not just future members) to pledge any dollar amount to help us purchase furnishings for the space.  In exchange, you will receive some pretty cool swag and that warm, fuzzy feeling of helping form the community in Toledo.  As you will see, the community has already been very supportive.  Thank you!

After you pledge, we would also love for you to help spread the word by sharing the website link, @SeedCowork Twitter profile, and the Facebook Page.

Thank you!  Your support and generosity is greatly appreciated and it is the reason the community has so much momentum.

iOS Hide Keyboard Method

Programming in iOS is fun, but it is sometimes difficult to find the simple things.  I have decided to document these "little things" when I come across them to share with others.  I am also a believer in writing posts that are great references for its author as well.

Last week, I learned a nice tidbit from Jose Mojica on how to hide your iOS keyboard when you click outside of your text box or any object that doesn't have a keyboard associated.  It uses resignFirstRepsonder on the touchesBegan method as shown below.

The method is running whenever there is a touch on the screen.  If the UITouch object is not empty then we will close the keyboard for our txtInput object; which is an object created for a textbox in the xib.  It is very simple, but not very apparent.  Enjoy.

Creating a Terminal Shortcut for SubLime

At a recent programming (nerd) conference, I got to see the SubLime text editor in action and I liked what I had seen.  I have been a loyal user of TextMate, but I like some of the shortcut keys and the look and feel of SubLime.  The one issue I ran into immediately with SubLime was the opening of a project from Terminal.  Not a big deal, but I am always using git to get the latest code prior to opening the project, so it is very natural for me to want to use the keyboard to open up the editor.  There is a very simple fix that I thought I would share to handle this issue.  I used the unix 'ln' command to link the application to the command 'subl'.  This is easy enough once you know where the command resides within the application package.  The following syntax can be ran from the Terminal screen to create an alias to open projects up within Terminal.  Notice the backslashes to identify the spaces in the path.  Happy coding!

sudo ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text\ 2.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /bin/subl

Announcing Seed Coworking

The time has come to announce a venture in 2012 that I am very excited about.  Over the past few months, I have joined Gene Powell (Spoke) and Jamie Wright (Brilliant Fantastic) in securing a venue for Toledo's first coworking community in the St. Clair Village of downtown Toledo.  Coworking is essential for the creative people of Toledo to come collaborate and work together to better each other.

There is much work that needs to be done before our opening in the Spring 2012.  We plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign in the next few weeks.  We would also love for you to help spread the word by retweeting our posts from @SeedCowork or just mention us at the water cooler as you learn our progress.

If you are interested in joining the community, please sign up at our website and we will keep you up to date on our move in date, community events, and all other progress.  Remember coworking is more than office space, it is about community.  So come join us!

***Still have questions?  (nice FAQs courtesy of @jwright)***

What is coworking?

Coworking is about a community of like-minded creative professionals who want a different kind of place to work. A place free of cubicles and bureaucracy. A place where you can go and get inspired with fellow members. You can find more information at http://wiki.coworking.info. 

Is this just renting office space?

Seed is just a place where creative people work. It is not about the space. It is about the community. Yes, you have a membership but the value comes from the members within the space. Renting office space is just about the space.

How do I join?

Sign up for the newsletter here. We will be announcing those plans soon. If you want to get in early, you will also want to keep a look out for the Kickstarter campaign.

Who is behind this?

The founding members are three native Toledoans. Gene Powell (@gpowelldesign) of Spoke (@spokehq), Don Miller (@donmiller) of JADR Consulting, and myself (@jwright). All supporting members will have a vote and voice for where Seed goes in the future.

When will this open?

We are opening in the Spring. An exact date will be announced once we get closer to finishing construction on the space. Join the newsletter to get a jump on that announcement.

How much will a membership cost?

We are still working on exact figures but we assure you that this will be very, very affordable. There will be multiple plans based on your needs and budget. Stay tuned for the announcement of the membership levels.

Is this only for full time members?

No. There will be different levels of membership so that they will fit your needs and budgets.

Is there parking available?

Yes. We realize that downtown parking can be a deterrent for some but we have some parking available already and we will be working on freeing some more up shortly.

What is Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is a platform that helps you fund projects that inspire you through micro-payments. We are in the process of creating our campaign and we will share this soon.