Andrew Stone (computer programmer)

Andrew "Andy" C. Stone is an American computer programmer best known for his iOS app Twittelator,[1][2] which to date has sold over a million units for the iPhone and the iPad. The founder, director, and principal programmer for Stone Design Corporation, Albuquerque, New Mexico. In his 25 plus year career as a programmer, he has published over 35 software titles for Hypercard, the NeXT workstation, Mac OS X, and for iOS iPhones and iPads. He retired from software development in 2015.

For those of a similar name, see Andrew Stone (disambiguation).
Andrew Stone
Andrew C. Stone
Andrew C. Stone
Born (1956-06-12) June 12, 1956
Cincinnati, Ohio
OccupationComputer programmer, former architect
NationalityAmerican
Website
stone.com

Hypercard

Andrew Stone was a contributing author to the Waite Group's Tricks of the HyperTalk Masters [3]

Stone developed software for Sandia National Laboratories called ProtoTymer[4] which allowed physical interfaces to be trial tested in a software version.

NeXT

Fascinated by Steve Jobs’ vision for the personal computer, Stone was the first independent developer for the NeXT Computer to ship a shrink-wrap product, TextArt[5][6] in October 1989. TextArt allowed designers to manipulate PostScript text with virtual knobs, dials and sliders. By 1990, TextArt had evolved into Create,[7] a drawing program which shipped in 1991. At the same time, Stone Design developed a multimedia database manager called DataPhile.[8]

Stone Design was a leader in electronic software distribution on NeXT and was a constant advertising presence on the first ever app store which was also invented using NeXT tools, The Electronic AppWrapper. According to an employee at the Paget Press (the startup responsible for the first app store) it was originally AppWrapper #3 that was first demonstrated to Steve Jobs[9] and showcased Stone Design Apps. where applications like Create and DataPhile were selling along with 3D Reality and other Stone Design Apps. Stone Design Apps can still be found on the iOS App Store today, making Stone Design perhaps the longest running developer actively using electronic distribution via any app store service.

A Screen Shot of Stone Design's 3DReality running on the Electronic AppWrapper, the first app store

Besides Stone's notoriety in the NeXT World as the first independent software developer to ship shrinkwrap product for the NeXT Computer, were the legendary raves[10] he and John Perry Barlow threw over 3 years, the first being held at the Exploratorium in October 1992. These parties are still being discussed today because of the mixing of LSD and the NSA together in the same space.

Stone's participation with the first government sanctioned Dimethyltryptamine research with Dr. Rick Strassman in Albuquerque in the early 1990s led to a collaboration in the underwriting of DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences,[11] documenting the research. Andrew Stone was a featured DMT volunteer in the documentary film DMT - The Spirit Molecule.[12] Andrew Stone serves on the board of the Cottonwood Research Foundation with Dr. Strassman, which provides scientific research into the nature of consciousness.

Between that time and Apple's purchase of the NeXT Corporation in December 1996, Stone Design developed a number of other products for the NeXT, including 3DReality, a 3D modeling and rendering package and CheckSum, a personal finance application.

Macintosh OS X

When NeXT became part of Apple on December 20, 1996,[13] Andrew Stone was asked to help introduce NeXTStep to Mac users[14] and developers. He demoed Create in the keynote presentations at both MacWorld Boston and WWDC in 1997. He was a contributing editor for Mactech for several years [15]

Stone Design began to develop for the pre-OS X Macintosh, turning out a healthy number of products for a small independent company, including PhotoToWeb, a slideshow & photo application for the Web; SliceAndDice, a tool for making javascript navigation bars; PStill, a conversion utility for turning PostScript and EPS files into .PDF files; TimeEqualsMoney, a time/expense tracking and invoicing application; PackUpAndGo, a cross-platform archiving tool; and GIFfun for making animated .gif files. All of these applications were eventually bundled together as Stone Studio, but the company continued to develop software, 16 applications in all, which eventually found their way into a single package called Stone Works, which included all the titles above plus eight additional applications including: FontSight, GlobalWarmth, iMaginator, Stone Studio widget, PreferenceCommander, VideationNation, StarMores, and Xaos – Videator Enabled.

iPhone & iPad

In 2008, Stone began to release apps for the iPhone. His first product, Twittelator, became one of the best selling apps for the micro-blogging service Twitter. Other products included iGraffiti, TalkingPics, Gesture, MobileMix, Soundbite, Pulsar, iCreated, TweetTV and Intentionizer. He has contributed to other apps such as 140Characters, The Daily, Wine.com for iPad, WeGetIn, Trekaroo and Bandojo.

Personal life

Since his retirement in 2015, Stone spends his time working on his organic farm, doing yoga, reading, hiking, and advocating for solar energy. He's married to internationally syndicated children's public radio producer Katie Stone, and has four children and four grandchildren. He has written an extensive number of articles on programming with the Cocoa code base. He also spearheaded a group called “the Cocoa Conspiracy,”[16] a loose knit ad hoc professional organization for iOS app developers based in New Mexico.

Interviews with the Press

Notes

    References
    1. Albuquerque Journal, 4/22/2009, Fleck, John. "Twitter Guru". Page 1, above the fold. Twitter Guru
    2. LeVitus, Bob. Incredible iPad Apps. 2011. ISBN 978-0-470-92979-7. Wiley Publishing Inc. Pages 158-159.
    3. the Waite Group. Tricks of the HyperTalk Masters. 1989. ISBN 0-672-48431-5. Hayden Books. Chapters 11 and 12
    4. Miller, Dwight P. and Stone, Andrew C. 1989. "ProtoTymer: Human Performance Instrumentation for HyperCard Prototyping." Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 33rd Annual Meeting 1989 Pages 249-253
    5. Philip Robinson. Fall, 1991. "Brick by Brick". NeXTWORLD. Volume 1, Number 3, Page 10
    6. Bruce F. Webster. 1991. "Key Software". NeXTWORLD. Volume 1, Number 1, Page 59
    7. Rick Reynolds. 1991. "TouchType and Create!". NeXTWORLD. Volume 1, Number 1, Page 79
    8. Ben Calica. Spring, 1992. "Flat and Sharp". NeXTWORLD. Volume 2, Issue 1, Page 57
    9. Carey, Richard (17 July 2015). "Electronic Recollections". Richard Carey, Writer and Author.
    10. Lt. Sullivan. February 1993. "Rave On". NeXTWORLD. Volume 3, Issue 1, Page 8
    11. Strassman, Rick. DMT: The Spirit Molecule. 2001. ISBN 0-89281-927-8. Park Street Press. Page xii.
    12. Schultz, Mitch. Joe Rogan. DMT - The Spirit Molecule. Time Warner. 2010. DVD, streaming Netflix and iTunes "..:: DMT - the Spirit Molecule | Documentary ::". Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2012-09-25.
    13. c|net. Kawamoto, Dawn, et al. 12/20/1996. Apple acquires NeXT, Jobs.
    14. Alibi Weekly. 07/14/1997. Silfer, Kyle. "The Hacker & The Heretic". Albuquerque. Cover Story.
    15. Stone, Andrew C. 1997. "Porting to Rhapsody from OpenStep" MacTech Volume 13, Issue 7
    16. Santa Fe New Mexican, 2012/09/21, Life And Science, section 3, page 3, Albuquerque programmer brings app developers together
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