I have a lot of projects I want to do but trying to keep tabs on them is one of my biggest problems. I’ve tried many different things (task pads, project managers, email), but nothing seems to work.

I figured maybe the best thing to do was to continue posting about where I am and where I’m going with my projects. It would keep those that use the things I make up-to-date as well helps me figure out what I need to work on.

So, here’s the first (BIG) update on my projects.

GameTrailers.com for Boxee 1.0 (and 1.01, 1.02, 1.03) released

Late last month, a completely revamped edition of GameTrailers.com for Boxee was released. The change was so dramatic, it was deemed honorable enough to receive the 1.0 version number.

Not long after that, small updates were released to fix minor issues here and there. 1.01 fixed a title issue, 1.02 took care of some UI issues, while 1.03 added temporary support for live coverage.

What’s next for GameTrailers.com for Boxee? In 1.1, I plan to bake in full support for live stream (when they do occur), which would be displayed on the main menu of the app. This will likely replace the pending “Search” function, something that still doesn’t work on the RSS Feeds provided by GameTrailers. 1.1 will also give credit where credit is due. Those that made this app possible deserve to be recognized for their help.

ABC News for Boxee 1.0 development

Another app that disappeared was ABC News for Boxee, which provided national and world news from ABC News and local news from ABC Owned and Operated Stations. Although it functioned alright, I removed it after not being sure what I wanted to do with it.

After getting GameTrailers.com for Boxee completed, I decided to take a crack at ABC News for Boxee again, but this version may be a little more ambitious (which is always a fault I have). The 1.0 release of this app will feature a new design and layout (following my mantra of keeping to what people know), but there will be tons of work done behind the scenes for something bigger. It’s this forward thinking that’s making this app a little bit tougher to get ready. It’ll definitely be worth it in the long run.

TWiT Netcast Network for Boxee 1.0 development

Another Boxee app I was working was TWiT Netcast Network for Boxee. The idea behind this app was not being happy with current TWiT app. I felt it could do a little more. For example, I wanted to be able to see what show was being broadcast Live before even loading up the player. To fix this, I implemented the TWiT Live calendar into the app. I also wanted to see the most recent episodes overall without having to change to another screen, so that was implemented as well.

I came to a stopping point in the app because I wasn’t sure what else I wanted to do with it at that point. Like most projects, when I come to a break like that, I move onto something else so that I can give my brain a little breather. When I come back to the project later, I can see exactly where I want to go next with it.

TWiT was a little different. While browsing the Boxee Application Library, I noticed two TWiT apps already existed: the official app from MediaFly and the unofficial app. After seeing those two, I felt a third TWiT app really wasn’t necessary.

I’m thinking about posting what I’ve already done onto my custom repository (apps.InternalServer.net) and see if anyone would use it just by an off-chance. If anything, I might just use it for my own. This one is still very much up in the air.

The Texas Army web site

This project for the reenactment organization my dad belongs too has been going a little longer than I would have liked it to. The biggest issue has been gathering information from the Army itself, but that’s not to say that’s the only problem I’ve run into.

When developing web applications and sites, I use the online development environment Kodingen. It’s a great service (still in beta) that provides just about everything you need to code a web site. Most importantly, it allows me to be able to develop web sites while I’m using my Chromebook.

Unfortunately, when I moved the developed web site to the live environment on another service, a LOT of features broke. After troubleshooting to hell and back as to what on earth was going on, I felt it wasn’t worth the time anymore. With a little help from the great people at Kodingen, I moved the Army’s domain to their service.

That too run into some hiccups. Did I mention Kodingen is still in beta? Even though I knew that, I still feel strong about the service that I was willing to take those risks. Those issues were ironed out and the site is back online.

That leaves me back to gathering information from the Army. Once that’s done, I can move on to some internal work for them.

Social Networking App for Mac OS X

This is going to be one of my biggest projects to date. When it comes to native Mac OS X applications for managing your social networking activity, there really isn’t one single app that does it great.

The official Twitter app is only for Twitter and limits your abilities to their services. There are NO native Facebook apps that are actively being developed. And the multiple protocol native apps that are available always seem to fall short somewhere or haven’t been actively developed as well.

So what is one to do when they can’t find something that works for them? They make something that works for them.

This is going to be my biggest task to date as I am going to be having to learn Objective-C, the language used creating applications on OS X and iOS. It will also require me learning about the APIs (Application Programming Interface) for many of the social networking and media sharing sites.

There have been a lot of one-man band developers out there. Some are able to create incredible apps, others not so much. I would like to be one of the people that’s able to create an app that many would find useful. Making a little money along the way wouldn’t hurt either.

If you’re a beginner that’s developed a Mac OS X app, how did you go about learning everything you needed to know? I’d love to hear some input on this.