I keep saying it, but it’s true! 2020 has been an absolutely awful year. However, there has been some good stuff that has happened throughout the misery, especially on this site. So, let’s take a look at the best things that have happened to Tectra each month of this year!
January - ZZZ 😴
January was not the most productive month. However, this wasn’t my fault! My laptop was getting upgraded (which proved to be a longer process than what was originally expected) and I wasn’t really able to work on much.
February - Back in business!
About mid-February, my laptop was upgraded and ready to go! I released updates for PDF Toolbox and Syndicate and got back into the flow of working on my software.
March - COVID changes everything...
March was a pretty productive month. I released a new Palm OS and Android app. On top of all of that, I also updated many of my Windows programs.
However, toward the middle of the month, everything changed when we shut down. One positive result of this was that I started programming more and more, allowing me to become a lot better at it.
April - PodStream is here!
I had recently finally fixed my iPod Video, so I decided to start working on a PIM program of sorts for iPods. PodStream was the result, and it let you easily manage notes and contacts as well as creating calendar events on your compatible iPod. I spent a lot of time working on this program but it was worth it. I was very pleased with the final result!
May - Palm Month
When May came around, I decided to dedicate the entire month to Palm stuff. I released updates for PreBook, introduced PreMail, and released a new Palm OS app called Owner Info. This month was a ton of fun and definitely one of the better parts of 2020!
June - ZZZ 😴 (again)
June got off to an exciting start. At the very end of May, I announced I was going to learn a new programming language: Kotlin! It took some time, though, to finally come up with an idea for an app. When I finally got one, I quickly started working on it, and this new app would eventually become binoc.
June - binoc
To be honest, releasing binoc was kind of a new start for me. Rather than releasing a handy little utility like a QR code scanner or password generator, binoc was a lifestyle app. I put a lot more effort into it than my previous apps, spending weeks perfecting it instead of days. When it was finally ready to be released, I was very pleased with how it turned out. The extra time paid off!
August - LifeBoard and paid apps
I had started working on a new app, LifeBoard, toward the end of July. By the time mid-August was here, LifeBoard was finally ready for release! LifeBoard was my first paid app and was really the start of a new era for this site.
September - Lynx Desktop
September saw the release of a new Windows Mobile app as well as the introduction of a new program: Lynx Desktop. This was my first Electron app, and though I can’t say I’m too fond of Electron at this point, it was fun making it! The month kind of got off to a rocky start, since my plans to write a UWP app didn’t work out. Despite this, I was able to do a lot in September.
October - new site, new project
I started off October by releasing a new Wear OS app: SpeechLab Wear. About a week or so later, I began working on Violoncello. However, by far the biggest change this month was the switch to a new site, which meant I could leave Weebly! The site was a bit messy at first, but I quickly polished it up and worked everything out. Overall, October was a good month for Tectra.
November - Violoncello is here!
November saw the release of Violoncello, which was my first app to have in-app purchases. I had spent weeks working on perfecting it, and I was very happy with how it turned out. November was a busy month, and it was also a very good one!
December - ???
Here we are! It’s been a crazy year, and it’s interesting to think where we all might be had the pandemic not occurred. However, one good thing that has come from staying at home all the time is that I feel like I have gotten a lot better at programming. It’s crazy to think just how far I’ve come in 2020. I’m now familiar with Kotlin (and Java to a certain extent) and I’ve been able to experiment a lot thanks to the extra time.
As this wacky year comes to a close, I would like to thank all who have been supportive of this site and all I have worked on. I’m excited to see what the future holds!
Anyway, thanks for reading, and have a splendid remainder of the year!
