Words of Wisdom by MrWes » iPhone

Barking up the wrong tree

Wes Johnson — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 06:50:13 +0000

Sometimes we become so focused on the pursuit of a symptom of a problem that we don’t stop to ask if we are still focused on the real cause of the problem. This happened to me recently.

During the iPhone development process you have a choice of debugging the iPhone App using the iPhone emulator or using the actual hardware. The quickest way to test out your code is to build and debug using the emulator.

While developing an iPhone application for Podcast Stockton I used one of the iPhone Audio libraries. It never occurred to me that the emulator might not do everything the hardware does. I was testing out the podcast playback and experienced some unacceptable behavior while using the emulator. I spent the good part of an evening looking for the cause of the issue. It wasn’t until after I had spent many looking over my code that I finally decided to do a sanity check. I switched Xcode to debug using the hardware instead of the emulator; that’s when I discovered I had been barking up the wrong tree. The code that should have been working all along was working just fine.

When you run into an issue that should have been working, make sure to do a sanity check to see if it’s a symptom or a real issue.

In the future, when things seem a little off I plan to do a sanity check just to make sure I’m pursuing the cause and not the symptoms.

Barking up the wrong tree is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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More news, reviews for iPhone and Android

Wes Johnson — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:45:23 +0000

I recently posted about “iPhone App reviews” where I wrote about a video podcast called the “Daily App Show“. While I was watching one of my favorite video podcasts “Tekzilla” I came across another video podcast that covers iPhone and Android news and App reviews. The name of the podcast is “AppJudgement” by Revision 3. They also have a youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/appjudgment.

App Judgment takes a slightly different approach to demonstrating the programs. It has the look and feel of a professional news show. I have really enjoyed watching the AppJudgment episodes.

More news, reviews for iPhone and Android is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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iPhone App reviews

Wes Johnson — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:59:10 +0000

Over the past month I have been watching a new Video On Demand show on my TiVo. The show demonstrates a new App each day. I find the information presented very informative and useful.

Here’s what I learn with each show:

It shows off the main features of each App.
I can see what is being charged for these features.
I helps me make an informed decision about the usefulness of an App without purchasing it.

To see what they have available you can visit their website at http://dailyappshow.com/

At the time of this post, it appears they are posting videos for iPhone, iPad, and Android Apps.

iPhone App reviews is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Otter Box Defender update

Wes Johnson — Sat, 01 May 2010 06:33:23 +0000

It has been 90 days since I first bought my iPhone and the Otter Box to protect it. I wrote a post about it in January, iPhone insurance aka OtterBox Defender. During this time I have probably dropped my phone more than 30 times. I have never dropped my cell phone so many times in my whole life. It must be related to one of Murphy’s Laws; the chance of dropping something increases with the cost of replacing it or something like that. Here are a few of my thoughts about the Otter Box now that I’ve been living with it for a while?

Questions and Answers:

Would you buy an Otter Box again?
- Absolutely, without hesitation.
Would you recommend the Otter Box to other iPhone owners?
- Yes, I regularly recommend the Otter Box to new and experienced iPhone owners.
How much do you trust your Otter Box to protect your phone?
- I’ve seen some people do some pretty crazy things with their Otter Box enclosed iPhones. I’ve seen people drop them from pretty serious heights, and throw their phones against the wall without harm. When I first bought my iPhone, the salesman demonstrated the Otter Box by intentionally dropping his iPhone face down on the floor. That was enough to sell me.
- I don’t go out of my way to tempt fate with my iPhone, but whenever I do drop it, I don’t even worry about it now. I trust the Otter Box will do its job.

Some suggestions for Otter Box users:

Be careful to properly insert your phone in the holster with the phone oriented correctly. This is probably my only complaint about the design. It is not designed to go in upside down. If you insert it upside down, your phone may drop out of the holster. My suggestion to Otter Box, modify the design of the iPhone case or holster to allow for right-side-up or upside-down insertion.
Do not run with your iPhone in the holster. The holster doesn’t hold the phone that tightly.
Be careful about which iPhone dock cable you get. Not all iPhone connectors are the same. Some connectors are slim and will work well with the Otter Box. Other connectors are wider and assume that there is nothing obstructing the connection. Most of these cables are after market. The AT&T car charger iPhone dock cable works well. The Apple iPhone dock cable works well, too.

Otter Box Defender update is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Create iPhone icons on a PC

Wes Johnson — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 06:09:36 +0000

Many times when people need to get a job done quickly they will go to their old reliable utility programs. I have a few of those. At the present time, when I need to get graphics done quickly, I use Paint.Net. It is a lot like Photoshop, easy to use and, best of all, it’s free. The only problem is it was developed for Windows. I needed to create some Tab Bar icons for an iPhone Application I’m developing. The task wasn’t too difficult, or so I thought. All I had to do was create a 32 x 32 pixel PNG file then transfer the file over to my Mac and import it as a resource into the XCode environment.

But it wasn’t actually the slam dunk I thought it would be. The file that was produced was missing some information so it didn’t display as expected.

Fortunately, for iPhone developers like me who still use PCs for some of their graphics, the makers of Paint.Net had the forethought to provide a mechanism for plug-ins. There is an extension for iPhone TabBar Icons that has saved the day.

To get the iPhone Tabbar Icon Maker extension:

Visit the link iPhone TabBar Icon Maker to see the forum discussion.
Search for iPhone to find the iPhone Tabbar link
Download the extension
Unzip the extension
Move the dll plug-in to the Paint.Net effect folder. If you used the default install for Paint.Net, the path would be C:\Program Files\Paint.NET\Effects

To use the TabbarIcon Maker in Paint.NET:

Launch Paint.Net
Load the Image
Select Effects menu
Select “Advanced” submenu
Select “iPhone TabbarIcon Maker Alpha From RGB intensity …”
Save file as PNG

BTW: If you have any suggestions for a good free paint utility for MacOS X, I’d love to hear about it.

Create iPhone icons on a PC is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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iPhone in the wild

Wes Johnson — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 04:07:09 +0000

This weekend I went camping at with my Venturing Crew at a remote Boy Scout campsite called Camp Masonite-Novarro in Mendocino, California. During this trip, I was reminded of a few things and learned a few more about my iPhone.

AT&T doesn’t have coverage where I was camping. I understand that coverage is sparse in some areas because of the terrain. However, I was jealous to discover that other non-AT&T phones were able to get through. This was a little frustrating for me.
iPhone Maps App depends on internet access. If it cannot connect to the internet, then your Maps App won’t even come up. I discovered this problem when waking up my iPhone. I don’t know if there is a way to overcome it. If there is, I would like to know. Maybe that will be an automatic update in the future.
Related to #2. If an iPhone App depends on the internet, it will be practically useless in the wild.
If you know you’re in a place without reception, switching to Airplane mode will help conserve your iPhone’s energy.
The iPhone 3GS compass reports your GPS coordinates, on the bottom of the screen, while it displays your heading. I never really noticed it before until I looked a little bit closer.
This last one isn’t something new but reminded me to always be aware of the speakers and microphone placement. I had set an alarm because I wanted to wake up at a specific time. I usually leave my phone on the nightstand, so the alarm always produces an audible sound without any problem. However, when you have your phone sitting in your gear and you want the alarm to sound, make sure you put the phone upside down so the speaker holes are facing out. If you forget the speaker placement the alarm will be muted.

iPhone in the wild is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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iPhone App keepers

Wes Johnson — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:20:02 +0000

When an iPhone App is free and the description and review of the App is favorable, all it takes is two clicks to instal it on an iPhone. It’s just as easy to remove iPhone Apps that don’t meet up to your expectations. My expectations are pretty simple.

My iPhone App keeper critera:

Does the App do what it said it would?
Does the App meet a need I have?
Is the user interface easy to use?
Would I download the App again?
Would I recommend this App to someone else?

I have downloaded a few Apps that I immediately removed from my iPhone. I wondered why anyone would release something that was totally useless into the real world. If I were the one who developed those Apps, I would have been embarrassed to release them for fear they would ruin my reputation as a real developer who produced high quality useful iPhone Apps.

There are other Apps, though, that I seem to use all the time. These are the keepers, that I recommend to other people. They have earned a spot on the first or second page of my Apps list.

My current keepers list:

Stick It – My favorite app for creating reminder notes that I use for my Wallpaper screen.
Dictionary.com – I visit the website on a regular basis on my computer. This App doesn’t disappoint. Whenever, I need to quickly look up a word. It’s only a click away.
LinkedIn – My network contacts are always available to me. I can quickly contact them wherever I have access to WiFi or 3G.
TweetDeck for iPhone - Allows me to keep current with what’s happening on Twitter & Facebook. The most useful feature, I can post updates to multiple Twitter accounts and Facebook at the same time or individually with very little effor on my part. Excellent interface.
Flixter – All kinds of information about the latest movies along with theatres relative to your location and their showtimes.
Yelp – wherever you are, you can find local places to eat, directions how to get there and reviews about their service and what’s on the menu.
iBART – If you have to use the BART system, the free App is really helpful for planning your trip. The premium version gives you the real time BART information.
Book Bazaar – I frequently find books I want to read at my favorite bookstore. I used to buy all the books at full price at the bookstore. Now, I find them in Book Bazaar and add them to my wish list. I know I can’t get to every book as soon as they’re available, but I can keep them in a wish list. As I finish reading books and looking for new ones, I can check my wishlist. The wishlist has information on the book like title, author, ISBN. I can check my local library for availability or, if I can’t wait, check the used bookstore availability and purchase the book for a fraction of the price.

These are a few of the useful Apps that will stay on my keepers list. It wasn’t my entire list of Apps, I have many others that I’m evaluating, plan to evaluate, or which fall under entertainment.

Entertainment:

Demonless – Heard about this App from Mac OS Ken. A Tetris-like game. Hours of fun
Traffic Rush – Control traffic running through an intersection. Make vehicles speed up or temporarily stop before they continute. A think ahead game.
Unblock Me – one of those puzzle games where you have to free a colored block with other blocks surrounding it. A logic game.

iPhone App keepers is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Going mobile with Social Networking

Wes Johnson — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:50:50 +0000

Many popular Social Networking websites have been converted into FREE iPhone Applications. Here’s a short list

App Name	App Functionality	App Notes
LinkedIn	LinkedIn website	Groups are missing from the iPhone App
Facebook	Facebook
MySpace Mobile	MySpace
Y! Messenger	Yahoo Messenger	Not compatible with desktop Conference
AIM (Free Edition)	AOL Instant Messenger
TweetDeck	Twitter + Facebook	Transmit to multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts simultaneously

For those that are iPhone users, are there other Social Networking Apps you use?

Going mobile with Social Networking is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Awesome iPhone apps

Wes Johnson — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:50:08 +0000

What makes an iPhone app awesome? Is it based on functionality or entertainment value?

Do you have iPhone apps that you can’t live without?

What feature or features compel you to purchase an iPhone app over one that is FREE?

In your opinion, which iPhone apps are awesome?

Which ones have you recommended to your family and friends?

What are your 5 top iPhone app picks?

Awesome iPhone apps is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Apple presence was missed at MacWorld Expo

Wes Johnson — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:58:16 +0000

Today was the first time I have been to MacWorld in over 10 years. In years past you could see that Apple had a major role in the Expo. They had a spot in the center of all the other exhibitors. This year, it seemed like there was something missing. Well, of course it was Apple. I missed them. They should be there to support their fans. Of course, it should probably be called AppleWorld since the focus of products being shown range from Mac apps & iPhone apps to all kinds of accessories as well as various publishers.

I realize a lot of companies are probably being very conservative this year. Most likely they are waiting for the economy to get better before spending a lot of money on booth space and all the other added fees that go with it (electricity, internet, etc).

The highlight for me was the “Mobile Applications Showcase” near the center of the show floor. Many times, you might see an app in the iPhone App Store, and you wonder if it’s really worth the money they’re charging for it. The “Mobile Applications Showcase” allowed vendors to show off the features of their applications, so attendees could try them out.

I found a few applications I’m interested in. I’ll be taking a closer look at them in the near future.

Will I be going to MacWorld next year? Yes, I’m planning on attending in 2011.

Apple presence was missed at MacWorld Expo is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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