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iParty on App Store
Posted 4:52pm Wednesday 4th April 2012 by Equinox
As Blackbolt previously announced I am still alive and have returned back to the Team Blackbolt scene after a long holiday.
During my time away I started writing iPhone/iPad applications one of which is now available in the App Store. The app is called iParty and will strobe the flashlight (where available) and do various effects on the screen whilst playing your favourite music from your iTunes library.
For more information please visit http://www.workmonkeys.co.uk
Expect many updates and new features to come...
- Peter Tribe (EqUiNoX)
A Small Update to Round off 2011
Posted 2:17pm Sunday 4th December 2011 by Blackbolt
If you're reading this then there's probably still a chance that you're interested in one of the many projects that any number of Team Blackbolt team members are currently working on. 'Currently working on', that phrase itself seems to be lost on some people in this day and age. So I thought I'd take a moment out to explain what that means to us.
When we say we're currently working on a project, it means that it is under development, it doesn't mean that we're hard at work day and night, slugging away to finish it. Contrary to popular belief, we earn nothing from creating these beautiful skins, it's just a hobby. We trialled a donations system to help fund us early on, it was somewhat successful and the kind folks that contributed helped us secure hosting and a domain name for a few years. Now that pot has run dry we all fund this little site out of our own pockets. So anyway, back to the topic at hand, time.
It's funny how as time goes by, you have less and less of it. A few years ago, I myself would happily come home from work after spending close to 9 hours sat in front of a computer working my mind into a pulp and then again sit in front of a computer and get great enjoyment from creating something unique, Ellipsis. These days, the free time to do such things grows further and further apart. This doesn't mean that the project as a whole is abandoned or even delayed. The plan for instance for Ellipsis 1.3 has always been the same, whether it’s worked on daily, weekly or even monthly, the endgame is still the same and it will be done when it’s done. I learned early on with MC360 that creating a date for a project kills it. You lose time to polish things, others are rushed and not really creative and organic anymore. This is why Ellipsis took 2 years to make and will probably take longer to finish. If we could work on it all day every day, it might have been completed in a month or two.
So I guess where I am going with this candid post is to say that we're still here, we still work on things, but we do not compromise our personal lives for this work anymore, they do take a lower priority these days. This means that the going is slow, but it’s our passion and we will finish what we set out to complete, however long it takes us, we won’t give up.
So we’d just like to wish everyone a great holiday and a happy new year, check back often, some day they’ll be more greatness for you to see and be a part of every day.
- Steven J Weir (Blackbolt)
EqUiNoX Returns, Team Blackbolt are back!
Posted 7:58pm Monday 27th June 2011 by Blackbolt
As many of you may or may not be aware, EqUiNoX, our team leader had a little sabatical for many months, effectively dropping off the grid. During this time Team Blackbolt was carried by the excellent projects like Xperience and new joining members Hitcher, WingmanZ and Eumel. But the team was never quite whole.
Well very recently EqUiNoX, the lead coder for Ellipsis and the authority when it comes to XBMC interface development, has returned. The cogs have started turning again in the team and the creative juices are flowing. Our team is back and we're getting ready to unleash our best projects yet.
First on the agenda is Ellipsis, our beautiful XBMC interface that has suffered from lack of time and input from its creators, well our neglected project will become our finest I'm sure, we're going to finally finish Ellipsis with all the trimmings it should have once had, our goal is to become the default theme for as many XBMC users as possible, first we have to win over ourselves, we know it's weaknesses and we're going to address them, so keep watching this space.
We're back!
Release: Ellipsis 1.2.1 (XBMC SVN Rev: 3172)
Posted 9:52pm Tuesday 1st February 2011 by Blackbolt
Version 1.2.1 is essentially the same version as 1.2 with a few tweaks to help improve compatibility with the Official XBMC Add-Ons repository. You can update now via ZIP or SVN.
Very soon Ellipsis should be available from within XBMC's own Add-On download function. We've had a lot of help from TheUni with bringing our Ellipsis skin up-to-code with XBMC's standards. Jezz_X and JMarshall have been instrumental with their invaluable input also, so a big thanks to those guys also, couldn't have done this without you.
You can read the full change log on the project page for Ellipsis here. You can download a zip version of the build here or you can visit the Official XBMC Skins SVN here and build a copy yourself.
If you would like to discuss Ellipsis or if you have any ideas to help improve Ellipsis, then you can check out our sub-forum @ XBMC.org forums right here.
If you would also like to help contribute towards the time and effort we put into Ellipsis, you can donate using Pledgie below:
Release: Ellipsis 1.2 (XBMC SVN Rev: 3150)
Posted 10:17pm Friday 28th January 2011 by Blackbolt
Thanks to help from Hitcher and ppic, we've finally fixed the outstanding bugs and we've got full Add-On support in with a whole host of other fixes too. Go update now!
Moving forward, we've decided to approach Ellipsis' development in a more community input based way. We'll be using an public SVN, probably GoogleCode, and we'll be looking for users to get involved.
The focus for the '1.3' build is View Types and how we display your media to you. The place where Ellipsis falls down the most is the limited amount of views available to the user. So we're going to add as many new view types as we can, all the best ones from all the best skins out there will be added. So check out our website (www.teamblackbolt.co.uk) soon for details on how to get the development build of Ellipsis 1.3 when it becomes available.
You can read the full change log on the project page for Ellipsis here. You can download a zip version of the build here or you can visit the Official XBMC Skins SVN here and build a copy yourself.
If you would like to discuss Ellipsis or if you have any ideas to help improve Ellipsis, then you can check out our sub-forum @ XBMC.org forums right here.
If you would also like to help contribute towards the time and effort we put into Ellipsis, you can donate using Pledgie below:
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