hodgebodge

Nametrix: Doctor or Dancer? v1.4 is now out, and I think it’s pretty slick and more fascinating than ever.  Since its initial release, I’ve added several new features including native iPad support, political party analysis, a much larger professions data set, and sharing via e-mail.  It’s also snappier due to major performance improvements.

App store link

The original idea for the app occurred to me when my wife and I were coming up with a name for our (then future) daughter, and I realized that there’s so much more to a name than the basic popularity info and “name meanings” text that all the baby name apps and websites I found centered around.  Nothing out there provided much in the way of real data.  What do people named Julia tend to be like?  Turns out that Julias tend toward filmmaking, professional snowsports, and tennis.  They’re also usually Democrats.

I got started on the app during our daughter’s naps while I was on paternity leave, and the first version of the app was ready for launch 6 months later.

When I showed a pre-release version to some friends one night at happy hour, and they crowded around wanting to find out about their own names and their friends’ names, I knew that I had something special and that it’s an app for everyone, not just expecting parents.  Hence the name, “Nametrix,” which you could view as “Name + Metrics” or perhaps more as a feminine (“-trix”) version of the word “Namer.”

Here’s the latest description in the app store:

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Here’s another watch-related bodge sent in by Peter:

A Swiss Army knife, duct tape, and a cricket ball can save
YOU tens of dollars!

I like that this blog has offered ideas on how to reduce the use of
batteries (e.g., the vacuum cleaner suggestion).  I am all for this
approach, and have stemmed the flow of lithium into my carbon
footprint by employing only good old-fashioned mechanical power in my
wristwatches.  Sure they’re not as accurate as a quartz watch, (or
your phone), but who needs to know the exact time anyway?  Besides,
being late is fashionable, especially if you’re a municipal bus.  The
problem with a mechanical watch (and a battery-powered one for that
matter) is that, from time to time, one must get inside the working of
it to service or regulate it, and the manufactures have managed to
make that pretty difficult without special tools.  But fear not!

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