I-phone – Page 3955 – Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

Analyst: iPad to sell 28m in 2011, impacting PC market

Both All Things D and AppleInsider report that, according to the analyst Maynard Um at UBS Investment research, the iPad is having a negative impact on the PC market. In a note to his clients, the analyst Um says, “Sales of traditional notebooks appear to be feeling pressure from the iPad, causing a scramble by vendors to launch iPad-like tablets. We believe that a majority of this impact is occurring on the lower end of PC sales as the iPad is priced close enough to this range that it becomes attractive to consumers looking to make purchases within this segment.”

Um goes on to say, “We are not sold that the iPad is purely cannibalizing PC sales, as the functionality of the iPad cannot yet deliver the functionality of notebook PCs. However, consumers who purchase iPads may be more willing to delay purchases and upgrades of existing PCs.”

As a result of this, Um points to a “conservative” projection that Apple will sell 28 million iPads in 2011, and raises his target price for AAPL stock from $340 to $350. Um also pointed out that there is no evidence to say that the iPad is cannibalizing Mac sales.

However, in contrast, V3.co.uk reports that 28 million is “a bit high,” according to analyst Tin Couling at analyst firm Canalyst. Canalyst predicts that Apple will have sold 12.5 million iPads by the end of this year, but shipments of the iPad will only reach 20 million in 2011 as new tablets flood the market, competing with Apple’s iPad.

V3.co.uk notes that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is going to be one of the first major competitors to the iPad, but analyst firm Canalyst showed concern over its £650 price tag, sighting that it could make the entry level iPad, at £429, look reasonable (we’re inclined to agree with that).

And still, only a few short days ago , analyst Katy Huberty from Morgan Stanley predicted that Apple is aiming to build as many as 3 million iPads a month by the end of the year. Meaning that Apple could make up to 36 million iPads next year, well above what both other analyst predict Apple will sell.

Apple announced in June that iPad sales had reached three million in its first 80 days. We’ll have to wait and see where it goes from there, but analysts seem to agree that Apple’s iPad will likely dominate the tablet market well into 2011.

TUAW Analyst: iPad to sell 28m in 2011, impacting PC market originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: iPad to hit Target in October

This is hardly definitive proof, but it’s still interesting. A tipster has sent Engadget some snapshots suggesting that a new electronic device will hit Target shelves (Target is a department store in the US) on October.

The mystery item (its name is hidden) comes is six variations, with item numbers that match the iPad price points exactly. Additionally, screenshots from a Target PDA have the item placed in the store’s Digitial Audio section, which is where the Kindle and iPods are sold.

Could it be the iPad? It’s possible, but these weak images won’t let us say definitively. We’ll find out on October 3rd, the day it’s supposed to go down.

[Via Engadget]

TUAW Rumor: iPad to hit Target in October originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW’s Daily App: HYBRID 2: Saga of Nostalgia

Gamevil’s new action RPG HYBRID 2 is an excellent game, but it’s not one that I would recommend for just anyone to pick up. We’ve spotlighted plenty of great casual games and apps here on the Daily App, but HYBRID 2 doesn’t fit in that category. If you’ve never played a Japanese-style action RPG, you’ll probably get lost right away. There is a pretty solid tutorial for the combos, but soon after that, the game quickly falls into the kinds of tropes that only someone who loves old school RPGs can deal with; there’s a convoluted plot in which the world has to be saved from a supernatural threat (again), jerky controls with lots of stats to oversee and upgrade, and even lots of typos and some Engrish in the menus.

Don’t get me wrong — HYBRID 2 is actually a lot of fun. If you’ve played the first one, you’ll automatically know what to do, and even if not, you can skip right past the cutscenes and get right into the excellently stylish 2D fighting and rewarding level grinding. Once you actually wrap your head around it (and your fingers around the less than trustworthy D-pad and virtual buttons), there’s some great hacking-and-slashing action to be had, with hundred-hit combos earning XP and loot all the way through the quest-based storyline.

The game is worth the US$4.99 for the right person. If the action sounds good to you and you aren’t about to let a cluttered interface and clumsy story get in the way, have at it. Everyone else will probably have to wait for Dungeon Hunter 2 to get their action RPG on.

TUAW TUAW’s Daily App: HYBRID 2: Saga of Nostalgia originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The HDR race continues as TrueHDR gets updated

We’ve been keeping a close eye on the race for the best HDR (high dynamic range) photo app for the iPhone. In my latest survey, I advised that progress would be fast as paid apps move to compete with the free Apple HDR software, and that’s what’s happened.

TrueHDR, a US$1.99 app, has been updated to add a fast Autocapture mode and a SemiAuto mode (where you can drag the exposure control points around to get the best picture).

I thought it was worth another quick look in order to see how the updated TrueHDR compares to Pro HDR ($1.99) and the built-in iPhone 4 camera (with and without the HDR processing).

Gallery: iPhone HDR apps comparison

TUAW The HDR race continues as TrueHDR gets updated originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tutorial: How To Substitute Remote UIWebView Requests With Cached Data

There are times when you may want to load a web page, but usually for interfacing purposes will want to substitute remote requests with local data. This is can be a great time saver as rather than create an entire interface within your app you can load up a webpage then insert your customized iOS components.

Matt Gallagher has created a tutorial illustrating how to intercept remote requests by overloading the cachedResponseForRequest: method and redirecting specific requests to the local cache. Some sample code is included, and Matt gets into some of the specifics on the NSUrlCache and setting the cache within your app as the shared cache.

The full tutorial and sample code can be found here:
Substituting Local Data For Remote Requests

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6 Cross Platform iOS And Android Solutions That You Can Use Right Now

Write once, run anywhere…

Arguably adherence to that philosophy has resulted in subpar applications, but the reality of things is that on the iOS platforms cross platform development is destined to grow with Apple’s new policy on third party development tools. Android is also a growing force, and who doesn’t want extra money they don’t have to put in much time for? Some of these tools can even be used for iPhone development on windows.

I’ve put together this list of frameworks and tools that allow you to easily create applications that run on both iOS and Android platforms. All of the frameworks listed here are already being used in apps within the app store, are well supported, and are available right now.

Native App Creators

Airplay SDK – This is a solution that has been used by many larger gaming companies that allows you to create cross platform applications. Particularly useful to those developing 2D/3D games. (Free for indies with company earnings < $100k)

Corona SDK – A solution allowing for the creation of apps using Lua. Overall development is similar to scripting with Actionscript 2.0. Founded by former Adobe developers. ($99/yr)

Flash CS5 (Adobe Air For iOS)- Using the packager for iOS you can compile Flash CS5 apps even without touching a mac. (Approx $600, $200 if an upgrade).

Hybrid App Creators (HTML/Javascript and HTML/ruby based)

Appcelerator – This is a solution that allows you to develop native apps with HTML/Javascript (run through a UIWebView on iPhone) . (Free)

Phonegap – Similar to Appcelerator, I mentioned these two as they seem to have the most vibrant communities, and most extensive support. (Free)

Rhomobile – This is a solution that uses Ruby, especially loved by Ruby on Rails developers. (Free only for noncommercial applications, prices vary)

There were many other HTML/Javascript solutions that could be listed here — they’re a dime a dozen — so I only listed Appcelerator/Phonegap as they seem to have the best support.

Conclusion

My guess is that if you wanted to use Flash, you’re already using it. The Airplay SDK looks like an interesting solution if you’re starting out as there is no up front cost. Corona is an inexpensive solution, and Lua is a great language to program with. The HTML/Javascript solutions are great if you are developing an app that does not require high performance, especially if you’re a web developer.

If you believe there is another solution that should be added please mention it below, as stated at the beginning only solutions that real apps have been created with, that is already available to the public will be listed here. You can check back in the future as more will be added.

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Tutorial: Getting Gravatars – MD5 Encryption And Simple Data Retrieval

In the past I’ve posted about how to extra data from web services, particularly parsing XML and JSON. Some web services are much simpler than this, and don’t require that level of overhead. An example of this service is the Gravatar service (for those who don’t know those little images you see beside comments are typically from users registered on Gravatar.com).

In order to get a gravatar all you need to do is encrypt the user’s e-mail into an MD5 hash, add that information to a URL associated with the gravatar api, and in return gravatar.com will send you the URL of the image.

Mugunth Kumar has created a tutorial illustrating this process here:
Add Gravatar Support To Your App

Here’s the blood and guts of it:

1. The “CommonCrypto/CommonDigest.h” includes a function known as CC_MD5 which allows you to convert the user’s e-mail into a MD5 hash tag.

2.From there it’s simply a matter of accessing the URL on gravatar at “http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/HASH” and that will give you the URL of the user’s avatar.

Mugunth has also added a sample project on Github:
http://github.com/MugunthKumar/Gravatar

There probably aren’t many situations when you’ll specifically need Gravatars in your app, but it’s especially good to know how to perform the MD5 encryption, as it is commonly required by web api’s.

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[Via: Under The Bridge]

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Submitting iPhone Apps To The Apple App Store – A Step by Step Guide

Here’s a quick step by step guideline that you can print and keep hand, to use when your app is ready for submission. I am assuming that the reader of this article has an iPhone Developer License.

====== Step 1 ======

Certificate is an essential element to submit or test an application on iphone. It comes with code sign(Signatures) which would verified when an application is submitted on apple store or when tested on iphone.

One can bypass these if an application is installed on jail-break iphone or when submitted on Cydia but this is not possible when one wants submit it to Appstore.

One has to through 2 step procedure to create a certificate from developer portal. I simply copied those two from “iphone developer portal”

[1] Generating Certificate Signing Request

[2] Submitting a Certificate Signing Request for Approval

Generating a Certificate Signing Request:

[3] Open the Utilities folder and launch Keychain Access from the Applications folder.

[4] Set the value of Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) to “off” in the Preferences Menu.

[5] Select Keychain Access -> Certificate Assistant -> Request a Certificate from a Certificate Authority.

[6] Fill in your email address in User Email Address Field. Confirm that this email address is same as provided at the time of registering as iPhone developer.

[7] Fill in your name in the Common Name field. Confirm that this name is same as provided at the time of registering as iPhone developer.

[8] It is not necessary to have an Certificate Authority (CA). The ‘Required’ message would be eliminated after finishing the following step.

[9] Click the ‘save to disk’ radio button if prompted, choose ‘Let me specify key pair information’ and proceed.

[10] If you choose ‘Let me specify key pair’ option then one has provide a file name and click ‘Save’. Select ‘2048 bits’ for Key Size and ‘RSA’ for the algorithm in next screen and proceed.

[11] CSR file would created on the desktop by Certificate Authority.

Submitting a Certificate Signing Request for Approval:

[1] Once CSR file is created log in to the iPhone developer program portal and go to ‘Certificates’> ‘Development’ and select ‘Add Certificate’.

[2] Click the ‘Choose file’ button, select your CSR and click ‘Submit’. The portal will reject the CSR if Key Size is not set to 2048 bit at the time of CSR creation.

[3] This will followed by notification to Team Admins by email of the certificate request.

[4] The change in the certificate status would informed by email on approval or rejection of the CSR by Team Admin.

Download/Installing Certificate on your machine

[5] Once the CSR is approved the Team Members and Team Admins can download their certificates via the ‘Certification’ section of the Program Portal. Choose ‘Download’ next to the certificate name to download your iPhone development certificate to your local machine.

[6] Once this is done double-click the .cer file to launch Keychain Access and install your certificate.

On installation of certificate on your MAC the next step is to create an App ID.

Note: You have to follow this step only once and late you don’t have to make certificates for your other applications.

====== Step 2 ======

Follow the following steps to create an App ID:

[1] Go to ‘App IDs’ and click ‘App ID’ after logging in to iPhone developer program portal.

[2] Populate the ‘App Id Name’ field with your application name (that is – iPhone app) and in ‘App Id’ enter something like com.yourdomain.applicationname (i.e com.edumobile.iphoneapp) and click submit.

[3] Please do note down the “App Id” as this would be utilized in Info.plist, bundle identifier tag.

====== Step 3 ======

Next step would be to create a Provisioning file for our Xcode and is the last step for creating binary which would submit it to Appstore.

[1] After you navigate to ‘Provisioning’> ‘Distribution’ click ‘Add Profile’ in iphone developer program portal.

[2] Choose “App Store” in “Distribution Method”.

[3] In “Profile Name” enter your application name (i.e iphoneapp) which will be your provisioning profile name as well.

[4] In “App ID” select the app name(i.e. iphoneapp) which you created in Step 2.

[5] After downloading the Provisioning profile copy it to your/YourUserName/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profile.

====== Step 4 ======

Now everything is step up, open your project in Xcode

[1] Click “i” Info button after selecting your project from “Group & File” in left side bar.

[2] Navigate to “Configuration” tab and select “Release”. Click the “Duplicate” button from bottom, name is “iphoneDistribution”.

[3] Click on “Build” tab and choose “iphoneDistribution” and enter in “Search in Build Settings” filed ‘Base SDK’ and select the current selected Device and change to what gadget your application is targeting (I prefer “Device-iPhone OS 2.0)

[4] Now in “Search in build setting” field enter “code signing identity” and choose the provisioning profile created earlier in Step 3. Apply the same to the child property “Any iPhone OS Device”.

[5] Once this done close the Info screen and select the “Target”> “Your App” from “Group & File” in left side bar and click on “Info” button again from Xcode.

[6] To be on the safer side repeat step 3 and 4.

[7] With the Info screen still open click on “Properties” tab and enter “App Id”(i.e. com.edumobile.iphoneapp) in Identifier field.

[8] Now that all is done, click on “Build” (cmd+B) from Xcode>Build.

[9] You will find your binary file created on right clicking on “Product”> “YourApp” and selecting “Reveal in Finder”. Zip this file.

====== Step 5 ======

The next step is to submit the binary file created to itunesconnect.

[1] In your browser type https://itunesconnect.apple.com/ (this website is very slow over https) and login using your iPhone developer account.

[2] Click on “Manage Your Account” > “Add Application”

[3] On replying to a simple question from apple you can sumbit your application to app store. You also need few things in your system before you submit your application.

a) Application Name (must be unique)

b) Application description

c) Application Category

d) URL for your application feedback.

e) Icon of your application in 512 x 512 size.

f) Main picture of your application in 320 x 480 or 320 x 460 size. (You have option to submit up to 4 more pictures of your application).

Thats it… you’re done now! Don’t forget to bookmark and save this page for later!

Talkcast reminder: live at 10pm ET

It’s Sunday night in the USA, and that means two things: football, and we’re live tonight on Talkshoe. The big news of the week is the remarkable spirit of glasnost that seems to have taken over the iOS development world, as the formerly restrictive rules about third-party tools have been lifted. Never fear, though — we’ll find plenty of time for crackpot theories along with your comments and questions.

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the “TalkShoe Web” button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantage of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 — during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8.

If you’ve got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac or your PC, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients or using the Talkshoe client’s ShoePhone tool; basic instructions are here.

We’ll kick things off at 10pm ET/ 7pm PT. See you there!

TUAW Talkcast reminder: live at 10pm ET originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Best Resources In iOS Development (For Week Sept.4-Sept.10)

It was another eventful week in the world of iOS development (seriously, how often does developer news for anything or than the iPhone hit the major tech sites?!) with the big news being that Apple has taken a complete turn on their policy regarding third party development tools.

This has resulted in the continuation of development on the Flash CS5 iPhone packager, but even more importantly this means that any devs who were worried their apps could be pulled at any time because they used a tool such as Unity 3D no longer have anything to worry about. In addition to this Apple clarified many of their reasons for rejecting apps, and has improved the overall process of getting an app into the app store for developers.

There were also many great development resources released during the week, and here are the most popular posts from the week Sept.4 to Sept. 10:

The Cost Of Hiring An iOS Developer – This article explores the true hourly costs of hiring a developer to create your apps, along with the total costs for developing apps. Some very accurate approximations here.

Tapku An Amazing Open Source iOS Interface Library – This article uncovers a great library that adds many nifty interfacing effects on the iPhone and iPad such as coverflow.

Simple Tips To Avoid Memory Leaks in objective-C – This article illustrates some simple tips to help beginners prevent memory leaks from occurring in their obj-C programs, and points to some great resources from the past that explain memory management in objective.c

Creating A Custom Transition With Core Animation – This tutorial shows explains how to create a custom shutter animation, and points to a resource illustrating how to perform various other effects with core animation.

Large iAds Profit Growth After Open Sourcing App – This article uncovers how one developer’s iAds profits experienced great growth after open sourcing an app, and explores the marketing possibilities that could arise when an app is open sourced.

4 New Open Source Games Added To iOS Open Source Apps List – Thanks to Alex Curylo, this article shows off some open source games that have been ported to the iPhone platform.

New Open Source Game Released Using Cocos2D And OpenFeint – This article shows a beautiful open source Cocos2D game, with one of the best trailers ever for an indie game.

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3 Open Source iPhone App Store Games – Great For Beginners

As you probably know if you’ve been to this site before, I’ve been on the lookout for open source iPhone and iPad apps that have been in the app store. Recently I found out about 3 more open source games on Twitter. Looking at these apps in the store they appear to have done very well and you certainly have to admire the developer for putting original twists on these simple concepts and having success with it.

The games are from Matthijs Hollemans and look like great material for a beginner iPhone developer to learn from. The games will be added to the open source iphone apps list in short order.

The three games are all available in the app store:
Ultimate Countdown
Simon Sings
Fnurgletoe

You can find the Github with all the projects here:
http://github.com/hollance

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[Source: @mhollemans]

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If You’ve Wanted The Corona SDK The Price Is About To Go Up $150

First off, I’d like to say that this is not a paid press release, I’m not getting anything for this, but I thought this information could save some interested individuals some $$$. I don’t own a copy of the Corona SDK, but with Apple’s recent policy changes regarding third party tools I have been on the lookout for tutorials using Corona.

While going through my Google alerts I found out that the Corona SDK is currently sold at $99/yr, and this includes their upcoming Corona Game SDK. The price is about to go up to $249/yr for the regular Corona SDK and is going to be even higher for the Corona Game SDK.

For those unfamiliar with the Corona SDK — it is a framework from Ansca Mobile that utilizes the LUA programming language and was created for the rapid development of iOS applications.

You can check out the Corona SDK homepage here where you can find further details.

The blog post on their site regarding the price increase can be found here:
Last Chance To Get Corona For 99

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Alliance of the jailbreakers: Cydia acquires Rock

It’s official: the two largest jailbreak app stores for the iOS platform, Cydia and Rock, are getting together.

ModMyi is reporting that Jay Freeman (AKA Saurik) and Mario Ciabarra (AKA psuskeels) have been working through an acquisition of Rock Your Phone, Inc. by SaurikIT, LLC for several months now. That deal became official last night, and over the next 10 days there will be a transition from Rock to Cydia where users can continue to purchase and download apps from the Rock app. After that time, users will need a Cydia store login to continue buying apps. Many of the themes and apps on Rock are already found on Cydia; the remainder will be transferred to Cydia as soon as possible.

According to the post, Ciabarra will continue producing the Intelliborn line of jailbreak apps, which includes such big titles as MyWi, Tlert, MyProfiles, My3G, and Intelliscreen. At a recent “geek lunch” in Denver that Erica Sadun and I attended, Ciabarra noted that Rock Your Phone has been quite successful, with total revenues from startup in March of 2009 accumulating to over US$3 million in August of 2010. Ciabarra’s comments in the post indicate that he prefers doing app development to enhancing platform functionality, so the acquisition will let him get back to doing what he does best and loves the most.

Although the two stores have both had their supporters and detractors, the merging of Cydia and Rock should be a win for the two companies and for the jailbreak community as well.

TUAW Alliance of the jailbreakers: Cydia acquires Rock originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Sep 2010 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Namco talks Game Center

It’s funny — right in the middle of all of the fervor during the Game Center launch this week, the first company to the fore didn’t happen to be one of these big new startups that’s making headway in iPhone gaming. It turned out to be Namco, as one of the oldest brands around, Ms. Pac-Man, became the first title on the App Store to support Game Center. Now, of course, there are a few more games that support Apple’s service (and more every day), but Macworld has a great look at what’s coming next from Namco.

Turns out Namco’s planning to go all-in on both iPhone and Game Center — in addition to bringing a sequel to the Time Crisis on-rails shooter, it will bring a hidden object, ghost-catching game called Mishap; Gaijin Games’ great Bit Trip HD (already a hit on Nintendo’s WiiWare); and of course Puzzle Quest 2 very soon. There’s no official release dates or prices yet, but all of those should be out in the next few weeks.

With full Game Center integration, there will be plenty of achievement-chasing and leaderboard competition to be had, no doubt. We’ll look forward to all of those releases soon.

TUAW Namco talks Game Center originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reminder: Get your free iPhone case by September 30th

Apple’s iPhone 4 case program page reminds you that if you haven’t jumped on the free case they’re offering for the Antennagate issue, you’re running out of time. The free case program will expire on September 30th, so if you haven’t yet, run on over there, download the app to your iPhone, and choose a case for Apple to send off to you.

Or, if you are planning to buy an iPhone 4 but haven’t yet, you might want to jump on it before the month ends — some of the cases can sell for up to $30, so essentially you’re getting a nice discount if it was something you would have bought anyway. There are certainly plenty of other cases to buy, and I’ve been using my iPhone for the past week or so without a case at all and it’s worked just fine, but September 30 is the cutoff, so make a decision by then for sure.

A better question might be when we’re actually going to get the cases ordered from the app — of course it’s going to take a while to ship all of these free cases out to all of Apple’s customers, but at this point I’m wondering how long after the program actually expires before Apple has sent out cases to everyone who applied for one.

[via Mac Rumors]

TUAW Reminder: Get your free iPhone case by September 30th originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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