Blog | Eric Paul Snowden » software

Atlantic Records is Hiring a Freelance Designer/Developer

Eric Snowden — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:14:05 +0000

Atlantic Records is looking for a junior front-end designer/developer hybrid with an appetite for new technology. The primary responsibilities for this position include web design and development (with a focus on design) and research into new web technologies. We’re looking for someone with creative ideas and problem-solving abilities. Ability to work both on your own with guidance from senior team members, and as part of a group. This is an on site (NYC) freelance position.

You’ll be joining a team of 25+ digital creatives working in a fast-paced, exciting environment where your work will be seen by millions of people. The Atlantic Records Digital Media team develops and markets all digital initiatives at Atlantic Records including label and artist websites, interactive promotions such as contests and eCards, mobile apps and websites as well as bespoke online marketing projects.

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Ability to design and build for the web, with a desire to learn more about both from senior team members

• Solid Photoshop and Illustrator skills

• Ability to hand code HTML, CSS and Javascript

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS

* Strong attention to detail and an eye for design* Strong desire to explore new technology and make recommendations on best practices and usage* Ability to communicate effectively to technical and non-technical staff

* Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Web/Graphic Design, User experience or equivalent experience

BONUS ROUND

• Knowledge of PHP, JQuery, Actionscript 3.0 and audio/video editing/encoding

* Experience working for or interning at a major entertainment company

Please note the job is ON-SITE and full-time freelance. Pay rate scales accordingly with candidate’s applicable experience.

Interested parties should send resumes and cover letters to careers@atlantic-records.com with the subject line “Freelance Web Designer/Developer”.

Atlantic Records is Hiring a Freelance Web Developer

Eric Snowden — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:08:27 +0000

Atlantic Records is seeking a front-end developer who can drive the creation of artist websites, social media applications and help grow our mobile web/app offerings. You’ll be joining a team of 20+ digital creatives working in a fast-paced, exciting environment where your work will be seen by millions of people. You should love researching new technology, and technology companies, and will serve as a digital ambassador to the rest of the label. This is an on site full-time freelance position.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Own the build and qa processes for web development projects
Strong HTML, CSS and Javascript knowledge
Experience using JQuery
PHP/MySQL skills
Ability to consume third party APIs from Twitter, Facebook and other partners
Experience building websites on a platform (WordPress, Tumblr, Drupal etc)

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience
Strong desire to explore new technology and make recommendations on best practices and usage
Knowledge of Search Engine Optimization
Strong attention to detail and an eye for design
Ability to communicate effectively to technical and non-technical staff

BONUS ROUND

Magento experience
Mobile website development experience
High level knowledge (with a willingness to dig deep) into mobile app development with Appcelerator
Familiarity with 960.gs, Modernizr.js, Less.js, Node.js
Flash and Actionscript 3.0 experience
Experience working for a major entertainment company
How to Apply:

Submit your resume to careers@atlantic-records.com with the subject line “Freelance Web Developer”. This job is on site in NYC.

Must have apps for the iPad 2

Eric Snowden — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:00:40 +0000

It’s thinner. It’s lighter. It’s faster. None of these are the real reason to love the iPad 2. Ultimately as evey device in our lives gets thinner, lighter and faster comparing specs tells you very little. The iPad is the software and these apps are the reason I use my iPad more than my iMac, iPhone or Macbook Pro.

GarageBand

GarageBand on the iPad is spectacular. Not only is it the only touch app that doesn’t leave me wishing for the desktop version, but it is the first touch app that is clearly superior to its desktop counterpart. It splits up mixing and recording in the clearest way I’ve seen, takes advantage of multitouch and the smart instruments are actually smart. The best thing I can say about this app is I’m in the process of exporting all my Logic recordings to Garageband so I can start using my iPad as my primary recording device.

Download GarageBand

Screens

Screens lets you login to remote Macs and control them using your iPad. It’s a simple IP based setup with no extra software to install and can remember multiple machines. It also has great multitouch functions to make your Mac feel like a touch device.

Download Screens

Stash Pro

Stash is a password protected library for videos, images, documents and a private browser with separate history from Safari. The app has a decoy library, shortcuts to hide the screen (boss mode) and secret gestures that unlock your private stash. Not a replacement for multiple user accounts in iOS, but the best alternative I’ve found.

Download Stash Pro

Air Display

Air Display lets you use your iPad as a second monitor. It requires an installation of a Mac app to connect to your iPad, but is otherwise will auto connect when you open the app. Great for adding extra real estate when using a laptop.

Download Air Display

iSwifter

Say what you will about battery consumption or playback performance, but there are a LOT of sites that require Flash. And even sites that support iOS often have premium content blocked. iSwifter a basic browser that runs Flash (no bookmarks, multiple windows or even history) but it does that one task well. And when it’s a choice between a laggy version of Flash or nothing, I’ll take Flash anyday.

Download iSwifter

Textastic

While I’m not convinced Textastic is the ultimate code editor for the iPad, it works. It stands out when tweaking CSS or Javascript for a site meant to run on the iPad. It would be difficult to code an entire site in the app, but for editing up files via (s)ftp or dropbox this app let’s you make simple changes on the go.

Download Textastic

Flud

When Pulse was first released I loved it. The interface was different, it was easy to use, but over time I found myself using it less. The interface for Flud is VERY similar, but it’s ability to easily add rss from Google and auto categorizing content by type have won me over. It’s probably is more of a Pulse version 2 than it’s own idea, but better is better.

Download Flud

Zite

Zite is one of my favorite RSS readers two reasons – it’s simple to set up, and customizes your content the more you use it. My problem with TweetMag and FlipBook (both stunning apps) is I spend more time getting the app set up properly than using it. Zite hooks seamlessly to Google Reader and Twitter and automatically creates categories and stories based on what you already follow and groups them automatically.

Download Zite

Air Video

This app requires a little setup, installing a free video server on your mac, but allows you to stream almost any video from your Mac to your iPad. It can play back most videos, even non-supported video formats like FLV. You can have it play back as it encodes or save an encoded version on your Mac for realtime playback later.

Download Air Video

Muji Notebook

Notebook is great for sketching wireframes and taking notes – I rarely use paper for these tasks anymore. The interface is understated (in a good way) an it has a virtual screen that protects the iPad from receiving input from your palm while writing. Unfortunately, the handwriting recognition is terrible, see WritePad for this.

Download Muji Notebook

Sketchbook Pro

This is THE drawing app for the iPad. It has multitouch shortcuts for menus, powerful brushes and pinching / sliding to control the size and transparency of your selected tool. It’s downsides are the lack of a good blending tool and the limit of 5 layers.

Download Sketchbook Pro

Honorable Mentions

Twitter for iPad – This is my favorite Twitter client on any platform. It may not be the most advanced, but it’s the easiest to use and allows you to get through a mass of tweets easier than any other app. It also makes great use of multitouch allowing you to drag on a tweet with two fingers will show a full conversation, or pinch and zoom on a tweet will reveal a users profile. Download Twitter

MyFav.es – Although this is a web based service, it’s a great visual launcher for website bookmarks. Visit MyFav.es

Aweditorium – A new image based music discovery service. Clicking on thumbnails of bands reveals music and videos by the selected artist. It doesn’t make it easy to find a specific artist, but you will stumble onto great new music. Download Aweditorium

LiveView – Stream iOS Comps from you Mac to your Device in Realtime

Eric Snowden — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:45:03 +0000

LiveView, a new project from NIcholas Zambetti allows you to broadcast your working iOS application designs from your Mac to your device for testing. You start off by installing the LiveView Screencaster on your Mac, and the free LiveView app on your iOS device. The Screencaster app is a simple window, shaped like an iPhone, that you drag around your Mac and overlay on your iOS comps or emulator. As long as your Mac and your iPhone or iPad are on the same wireless network the image from you Mac is broadcast in realtime to your device. You can also enable clicks from the phone to fire off events on the Mac if you want to do deeper testing.

Check out LiveView here.

The Connected Album (Team Tank Edition)

Eric Snowden — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 21:34:49 +0000

On December 14th we launched a new version of the connected album for Tank’s record “Now or Never”. Our goal is to reward fans who purchased the album, regardless of format or purchasing mechanism. Fans who register are given access to a special section of the Tank’s website, exclusive content and a badge to show off to other members of the community.

Fans who buy the album will see the screen below after inserting the disc into their computer, or by launching an application bundled with the MP3 download of the album from Tank’s website. Fans who have purchased from iTunes or another online store can head to the Team Tank login page to gain access.

Fans are all given an exclusive welcome video from Tank, and can join “Team Tank” by entering their email address. Once they’ve joined, fans can access to a restricted section of the Tank website. Team Tank members will get first access to news, photos and videos as well as exclusive access to contests, a private message board and the chance to connect directly with the artist.

Check out Team Tank here.

Seen a font and want to know what it is? Check out What The Font.

Eric Snowden — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:20:11 +0000

Over the course of my career I’ve been asked (or have asked) “do you know what this font is?” hundreds of times. MyFonts.com has solved this problem by creating What The Font, a simple online tool that can identify fonts. You upload an image of a font, double check to make sure it recognizes the letters in the image properly, and click a continue. The font has been identified you are presented with buy links, the ability to rate the font, or the option to submit the font to the site to have it matched manually. The app works best when the font is isolated from other images or background texture, but in my experience it has proven very reliable.

Check out What The Font.

EGO – All your web stats in one mobile app

Eric Snowden — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:02:55 +0000

EGO is a mobile application that lets you check all of your web statistics in one place, from a mobile device. It supports Google Analytics, Twitter, Vimeo, Tumblr, Feedburner, Ember, Mint and Squarespace all in one application, with new services being added frequently. While the iPhone version only lets you view high level stats, like page views and follower counts, the iPad app lets you dig deeper and view the full sites associated with you analytics inline. A must have for anyone who wants to keep tabs on their website and the social web surrounding it.

Check out EGO here.

Stickybits – Attach Comments or Media to any Barcode

Eric Snowden — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:16:41 +0000

Stickybits is a service that lets you attach comments or media to any barcode. Instead of generating QR codes, you can make an object social by using the barcode it already has. To tag an object without a barcode you can either download a custom code to print yourself or buy Stickybits barcode stickers.

Download the Stickybits iPhone or Android application and track down a barcode. Using the app you can tag an object, view your tag archives, or see what other people have tagged near you. Each item gets its own page on Stickybits.com where you can comment, upload media and follow the conversation from the web.

Frankly, I’ve been waiting patiently for QR codes to matter but with companies like Stickybits using pre-existing targets, and the huge advancements in image recognition software QR has a hard road ahead. Stickybits is currently only on the iPhone and Android platform, but their unique strategy around making codes social may push them to the front of the pack.

Check out Stickybits and get the app here.

Thanks to Jeremy Kutner for introducing me to this one.

Talking about the iPad with Alternative Press

Eric Snowden — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:17:48 +0000

Check out my thoughts on how the iPad may effect the music industry at AltPress.com. Looks like I made the cut and was quoted a few times talking about the device. The interview was purely conceptual as none of us had seen the actual hardware, but I think everything we said holds up well post-launch.

Check out the full article here.

Adobe Flash Video: One Web. Any Screen.

Eric Snowden — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:48:39 +0000

Adobe released a new video today showcasing their upcoming Flash 10.1 and AIR 2 technology running on a multitude of devices. As part of the Open Screen Project you can see one of Atlantic’s new videos for artist B.o.B running in Flash during the piece.

Check out the video on YouTube.