Category: I-phone

Over the weekend I went to visit some relatives I haven’t seen for some time. As is required by such family gatherings, I brought a large number of photographs to share with them.

I planned to show the photographs on my MacBook, which has recently been refurbished, but hasn’t had iPhoto reinstalled on it. Running late, I didn’t have time to install it as planned. As a last resort, I thought I’d just show the photos using Quick Look and scroll through them in full screen.

When I eventually got round to showing off my photos (you know, that rather drowsy time just after dinner), I realized that Quick Look won’t let you scroll through items when in full screen, let alone do a slideshow (which would be pretty useful). However, you can resize the Quick Look window to almost full screen.

Well, to say the least, with hundreds of photos to get through, people already getting bored, my finger hurting from scrolling and my wife giving me the look that says “I told you so,” I began to wish I had made the time to reinstall iPhoto. There was no internet access either, so I couldn’t even download something like Picasa.

At that point my cousin strolled into the room and said, “That must be taking you ages, why don’t you just do a slideshow using Preview?” He then selected all the photos in the folder, right clicked and selected ‘Open With Preview.’ With the Preview app open, he selected ‘View’ from the menu bar and then ‘Slideshow.’ It was that simple.

Thankfully, I was able to leave the photos to display themselves. People could watch as much or as little as they wanted, when they felt like it (the way such photo exhibitions should be!).

You can check out more things to do with Preview at this Apple support page.

Update: A few bright commenters have pointed out that you can, in fact, do a slideshow using Quick Look. First, select more than one photo, then hit the space bar or the Quick Look button. By selecting more than one photo the slideshow options will appear in the Quick Look window. Thanks!

TUAWMac 101: Use Preview to display a slideshow (update) originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Along with the up-front iTunes 10 changes (social awareness, monochrome sidebar, new-attitude icon), it looks like Apple has quietly dropped one store-centric feature from the latest version. Roberto Baldwin at Mac|Life notes that the feature allowing users to buy a section of a track from the iTunes Store for use as a custom ringtone has gone AWOL between 9.2.1 and 10.

Granted, there are lots and lots of ways to make DIY ringtones from tracks you already own or other sources, but the iTunes-authorized method was certainly convenient. Apple may be proud to announce that Ping already has over 1 million users, but now we know that none of them are making ringtones straight from the store.

[via MacRumors]

TUAWiTunes 10 drops custom ringtone purchasing originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another interesting week to be an iPhone and iPad developer has come and gone.  While the Apple did not turn Apple TV into a platform capable of running iOS apps the new iPod touch was announced, and thanks to the built in cameras for high def video, and facetime along with a new microphone it looks to be a best seller.

Some of the more popular resources from this week include a free app IDE for developing iOS apps on windows, a commercial game framework used in apps such as Call Of Duty: World At War Zombies that is free for indie devs, and a library that allows you to stream your apps right onto your tv without needing to jailbreak with an accompanying iOS tutorial.

Here Are The Most Popular iOS Resources From The Last Week:

Free App IDE For iPhone Devs On Windows: MobiOne – An excellent and rapidly evolving IDE for developing html/javascript based apps on the iPhone.  Even if you’ve got a Mac, if you can run Windows you might want to check this out.

Do Big Screen App Presentations Just Like A Steve Jobs Keynote – This is about a very interesting library and tutorial that allow you to display your apps on your TV without resorting to using libraries that are not app store safe or jailbreaking.

Free Commercial Game Framework For Indie Devs – This article covers a very powerful game framework that is free for indie devs, and allows for the creation of very advanced 2D and 3D games.

Quick Apple Special Event Roundup For Devs Who Missed It – This is a very quick roundup of the special event by Apple on Sept.1st made for busy developers.

Communicating With iOS App Graphic Designers – Communicating with designers can be tough, and I found this interesting article on how to better deal with designers that you are working it.

There you have it, thanks for reading.

Please share this using the buttons below!

©2010 iPhone, iOS 4, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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We’d like to say a big thank you to this month’s iPhone.AppStorm sponsors, and the great software they create! If you’re interested in advertising, you can order a slot through BuySellAds.

You could also consider a Quick Look submission, an easy way to showcase your app to all our readers.

Billings – Billings’ simple workflow and intuitive interface makes quoting, invoicing, and time tracking effortless.

MiniBooks – A handy iPhone app from FreshBooks that lets you track your time and invoice your clients while you’re away from your computer.

Flickpad – Checking out photos on Facebook has never been this easy and fun. If you have an iPad and like Facebook photos, you need this app!

Cretouch – Dress your device with Creative Touch, a series of delightfully designed iPhone cases and protective covers in a wide range of styles.

iPhone App Secrets – The secrets about how one person created the app Gratitude Journal for just $500 and made over $7000 her first month. Full of great iPhone development tips!

Xilisoft iPhone Magic – Xilisoft iPhone Magic is the ideal iPhone manager to synchronize your iPhone with your computer. Never again will you have to worry about losing your iPhone files.

iPhone 4 Reception Case – The all new Reception Case™ from IvySkin is the solution. The Reception Case™ is an ultra thin protection solution unlike any other in the market.

4Media iPhone Max – The best alternative to iTunes (iTunes 9.2 supported), 4Media iPhone Max for Mac can backup iPhone files to Mac and iTunes, transfer files from Mac to iPhone, convert video/music files to iPhone supported formats, and rip CDs/DVDs to iPhone.

taskList – Capable enough to apply a task management system that suits your style, yet simple enough that you won’t get lost spending more time making a list than doing the stuff that’s on it.

My Virtual Girlfriend – My Virtual Girlfriend is an interactive, 3D girl dating game that combines humor and simulated romance.

Tift Shift Focus – Tilt-Shift-Focus lets you create tilt-shift photos without expensive equipment or professionel image editing skills. Turn your photos into miniature worlds, zoom in on the details and turn a simple image into a stunning visual experience.

Aqua Globs HD – Very easy to get into with the main aim to gain points by joining cute wiggly globs. Touch and drag to navigate them and join them together.

Knowing the latitude and longitude of your users can open up all kinds of possibilities in your apps. In an upcoming post, we’ll be discussing how you can use your user’s location to determine their local weather conditions and forecast. But for now, we’re going to focus on Part 1 of this two part tutorial: CoreLocation.

Apple’s done a great job of abstracting GPS, Cellular Triangulation, and Wifi Access Point location lookups into CoreLocation; making it extremely easy to determine the approximate location of your user regardless of their device and network connectivity. Additionally, Apple’s new iPhone Simulator finally supports CoreLocation as well. This significantly eases the process of testing your location code.

The first thing you’ll need to do is add the CoreLocation framework to your project. This is pretty straightforward. Command-Click on ‘Frameworks’ -> Add -> Existing Frameworks

Select ‘CoreLocation.framework’ and click ‘add’.

The class below implements the LocationManager delegate methods required to get the user’s location. You can just as easily implement the LocationManagerDelegate protocol in your AppDelegate or elsewhere in your App. Though I’ve found that having this class makes it super easy to drop in location support into new projects instead of having to cut/paste delegate methods (ugly). Anyway. Take a look:

//
//  LocationGetter.h
//  CoreLocationExample
//
//  Created by Matt on 9/3/10.
//  Copyright 2009 iCodeBlog. All rights reserved.
//
 
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <CoreLocation/CoreLocation.h>
 
@protocol LocationGetterDelegate <NSObject>
@required
- (void) newPhysicalLocation:(CLLocation *)location;
@end
 
@interface LocationGetter : NSObject <CLLocationManagerDelegate> { 
    CLLocationManager *locationManager;
    id delegate;
}
 
- (void)startUpdates;
 
@property (nonatomic, retain) CLLocationManager *locationManager;
@property(nonatomic , retain) id delegate;
@end

Notice that we’re defining our own protocol with a method that takes the new CLLocation as a parameter. We’ll be implementing that delegate method in a minute. Now for the class

 
//  LocationGetter.m
//  CoreLocationExample
//
//  Created by Matt on 9/3/10.
//  Copyright 2009 iCodeBlog. All rights reserved.
//
 
#import "LocationGetter.h"
#import <CoreLocation/CoreLocation.h>
 
@implementation LocationGetter
 
@synthesize locationManager, delegate;
BOOL didUpdate = NO;
 
- (void)startUpdates
{
    NSLog(@"Starting Location Updates");
 
    if (locationManager == nil)
        locationManager = [[CLLocationManager alloc] init];
 
    locationManager.delegate = self;
 
    // locationManager.distanceFilter = 1000;  // update is triggered after device travels this far (meters)
 
    // Alternatively you can use kCLLocationAccuracyHundredMeters or kCLLocationAccuracyHundredMeters, though higher accuracy takes longer to resolve
    locationManager.desiredAccuracy = kCLLocationAccuracyKilometer;  
    [locationManager startUpdatingLocation];    
}
 
- (void)locationManager:(CLLocationManager *)manager didFailWithError:(NSError *)error
{
    UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Error" message:@"Your location could not be determined." delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:@"OK" otherButtonTitles: nil];
    [alert show];
    [alert release];      
}
 
// Delegate method from the CLLocationManagerDelegate protocol.
- (void)locationManager:(CLLocationManager *)manage didUpdateToLocation:(CLLocation *)newLocation fromLocation:(CLLocation *)oldLocation
{
    if (didUpdate)
        return;
 
    didUpdate = YES;
    // Disable future updates to save power.
    [locationManager stopUpdatingLocation];
 
    // let our delegate know we're done
    [delegate newPhysicalLocation:newLocation];
}
 
- (void)dealloc
{
    [locationManager release];
 
    [super dealloc];
}
 
@end

CoreLocation gives you a few options for the accuracy of the user’s location. The more accurate the measurement, typically the longer it takes LocationManager to call it’s delegate method didUpdateToLocation. It’s just something to keep in mind when deciding what level of accuracy to use.

Next we need to actually invoke this code and start getting location updates. I usually do this in my AppDelegate’s didFinishLaunchingWithOptions, though you could also do it in viewDidLoad somewhere if you didn’t need to know the user’s location on app startup.

 - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {    
 
    UIActivityIndicatorView *spinner = [[UIActivityIndicatorView alloc] initWithActivityIndicatorStyle:UIActivityIndicatorViewStyleWhiteLarge];
	spinner.center = CGPointMake(self.viewController.view.frame.size.width / 2, self.viewController.view.frame.size.height / 2);    
    [spinner startAnimating];
 
    [viewController.view addSubview:spinner];
 
    // get our physical location
    LocationGetter *locationGetter = [[LocationGetter alloc] init];
    locationGetter.delegate = self;
    [locationGetter startUpdates]; 	
 
    // Add the view controller's view to the window and display.
    [window addSubview:viewController.view];
    [window makeKeyAndVisible];
 
    return YES;
}

Notice that I’ve set locationGetter’s delegate to self. So in your .h, make sure to add LocationGetterDelegate to the interface.

//
//  CoreLocationExampleAppDelegate.h
//  CoreLocationExample
//
//  Created by Matt Tuzzolo on 9/3/10.
//  Copyright iCodeBlog 2010. All rights reserved.
//
 
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "LocationGetter.h"
 
@class CoreLocationExampleViewController;
 
@interface CoreLocationExampleAppDelegate : NSObject <UIApplicationDelegate, LocationGetterDelegate> {
    UIWindow *window;
    CoreLocationExampleViewController *viewController;
    CLLocation *lastKnownLocation;
}
 
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIWindow *window;
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet CoreLocationExampleViewController *viewController;
@property (nonatomic, retain) CLLocation *lastKnownLocation;
 
@end

I’ve also added a CLLocation *lastKnownLocation that we’ll use in our delegate method (which comes next):

 
# pragma mark -
# pragma mark LocationGetter Delegate Methods
 
- (void)newPhysicalLocation:(CLLocation *)location {
 
    // Store for later use
    self.lastKnownLocation = location;
 
    // Remove spinner from view
    for (UIView *v in [self.viewController.view subviews])
    {
        if ([v class] == [UIActivityIndicatorView class])
        {
            [v removeFromSuperview];
            break;
        }
    }
 
    // Alert user
    UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Location Found" message:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Found physical location.  %f %f", self.lastKnownLocation.coordinate.latitude, self.lastKnownLocation.coordinate.longitude] delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:@"OK" otherButtonTitles: nil];
    [alert show];
    [alert release];  
 
    // ... continue with initialization of your app
}

This last piece takes care of storing the location, removing the spinner, and firing off an alert. If this was your code, you’d probably want to re-enable any UI elements that you’ve disabled and let the user start using your app.

For those of you who don’t know me yet, my name is Matt Tuzzolo (@matt_tuzzolo). This is my first iCodeBlog post; with many more to come.

Here’s the Example Project for this post. Enjoy!

Nobody ever claimed that the iPad was weatherproof, but that didn’t stop news anchor Chuck Scarborough from taking his tablet out to the seashore. Reader Michael Neumann saw the veteran NYC broadcaster using his iPad to show weather radar during Hurricane Earl’s race up the US east coast. He could have saved money on that case, though.

Chuck’s app of choice looks to be the Weather Channel’s iPad offering, but we’ve seen lots of TV-centric solutions for the magical and revolutionary gadget. If you have a favorite clip or featured appearance of the iPad on the tube, drop a link in the comments below.

Thanks Michael!

TUAWFound Footage: WNBC anchor shows Earl via iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good news, everyone! The software update that was “coming soon” to resolve iOS 4.0’s terrible performance on the iPhone 3G has gone “gold master” (GM) and should be available to the general public next week. I’ve had the opportunity to test this update out on my wife’s iPhone 3G, and I’m happy to report that it does indeed appear to resolve all the stuttering, crashing, and generalized slowness the iPhone 3G was suffering under even previous beta builds of iOS 4.1.

I tested her iPhone 3G out under the iOS 4.1 GM by doing things that would have brought her iPhone to a standstill before. First, I started a playlist in the iPod app and let it play in the background. Then I went into Safari, where she had four “tabs” open, and navigated to an image-heavy page.

Normally just loading such a page would have caused the background music from iPod.app to start stuttering, but even though I started scrolling back and forth through the page before all images finished loading, I couldn’t get Safari to freeze or iPod.app to stutter.

Next, I loaded up the Maps app and started navigating along an input route with music still playing in the background. This was a guaranteed way to bring her iPhone 3G to a screeching halt before, but no matter how much demand I placed on the iPhone, it took it like a champ. I tested Google Earth’s app as well, and it was far more responsive than I’ve ever seen it in iOS 4.

I’m not sure what under-the-hood changes Apple made to get iOS 4 running on the iPhone 3G at an acceptable speed (finally), but I did notice one thing: Spotlight Search on the iPhone 3G no longer searches through text messages. I verified this by comparing the Spotlight settings side-by-side with my iPhone 4; “Messages” was missing as an option on the iPhone 3G. On previous iOS 4 builds, one of the most popular suggestions for improving iPhone 3G performance was disabling Spotlight, so maybe that was the problem all along.

Your mileage certainly may vary, but for at least one iPhone 3G, iOS 4.1’s gold master release has finally made the phone just as responsive and useful as it was before iOS 4. And there was much rejoicing.

TUAWiOS 4.1 release may finally resolve your iPhone 3G woes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 05 Sep 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Normally, to get a game of Tichu going, you need to round up three friends. If you don’t have any card-playing friends who know Tichu, then maybe you have to tell them you’re going to have a Bridge party, then *bam!* you bust out the 56-card Tichu deck at the last minute. This sort of gamer subterfuge is a thing of the past, thanks to the brand-new Tichu app from Steve Blanding. Now, any number of players can enjoy the card game at any time: one person can play against three computer opponents or link up with other people on their iDevices (the $2.99 app is universal) and the computer will fill in any empty seats.

Why bother with all of this? Because Tichu is one of the best – and most well-regarded – card game around. The rules will be familiar enough to people who enjoy trick-taking games but it’s different enough to present a fresh challenge and is enjoyable every time. Keep reading to find out all about it.

TUAWApp review: Tichu card game ups the ante for digital trick taking originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There have been many tools for tracking app download, sales and reviews that have come and gone.  Some time ago I wrote a couple of posts showing different tools that were available for app tracking.  Since that time many new tools have come and gone, and since some users were still using and commenting on those pages I felt it was time to put things in a single list.

In this article I am going to list quality tools that are for Mac/Windows desktop, browser based and available in the app store for download.  The tools on this list get data through iTunes Connect, or through a tracking code you install within your app.  I decided not to list tools that simply organize data built from scraping the app store (as there are probably hundreds of those around now), but I did include some tools that use that data along with your iTunes Connect data to provide unique and useful data.

This list by no means displays every feature available within these tools, you’ll need to check them out for yourself.  I also didn’t include any tools which were in closed beta.

In the list beside each tool I have listed the platforms, and where the data used by each tool comes from.

App Tracking Tools

(Alphabetical Order)

App Annie (Web Based – iTunes Connect/App Store) – Currently in open beta (so free atm) provides historical and daily data on worldwide app stores.  Great for getting daily reports on competitor apps.

AppSalesGraph (Mac/Windows – iTunes Connect) – Open source (Python) tool that allows you to visually track app sales, reviews, and downloads on all your apps in the app store.  Simple, but the stats look good.

AppStoreClerk (Mac – iTunes Connect) – Simple OS X app that downloads and displays iTunes connect data into tables. Source code provided.

AppViz (Mac – iTunes Connect) – Downloads and displays iTunes connect data in beautiful into great looking charts and tables.  $29 for full version, free trial available.

Flurry Analytics (Web Based – Tracking Code) – Free analytics for tracking visitor data allowing you to see how many people are using your app, how often etc.  Useful info, but you’ll want to use something else to see iTunes connect sales data.

Google Analytics (Web Based – Tracking Code)  Not specifically for apps.  You can view this in your desktop browser, unfortunately in an iOS device you’ll need to download an app such as Google Analyticator.  Not specifically for apps, but can still provide useful data.

HeartBeatApp (Web Based – iTunes Connect) – Displays iTunes Connect in a beautiful web based interface.  Includes information on crash reports.

Localytics (Web Based – Tracking Code)  This is in the same vein as Flurry Analytics, has a free version that appears to have most of the features you would want, and a more extensive enterprise version.

MyAppSales (iOS) – A beautiful app for tracking your app sales data.  This is not available in the app store and you will need to purchase and compile it yourself.  Price 20 euros.

I can tell you though that AppFigures, and App Annie seem to have gained quite a following in the indie developer crowd so you may want to check those out.  If you simply want iTunes Connect data in a better interface, I don’t think you can go wrong with HeartBeatApp.  If you don’t want to use a web based tool AppViz is a beautiful app for the desktop, and MyAppSales for iOS.  If you want visitor data, Flurry is quite popular.  If you want something open source so you can figure out how to scrape the data AppStoreClerk or AppSalesGraph both provide source code.

If there is another tool that you like to use please post it in the comments below. Thanks!

©2010 iPhone, iOS 4, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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Even with all the tutorials now available, getting started with iPhone development can be tough.   There are just so many sticking points, and often it seems like even top-rated book authors will try to avoid dealing with those points.

I found this great tutorial that stands out from most, and what I really liked about it was that it gets into so many of the concepts that people just starting out have trouble with.

The tutorial is from Ray Wenderlich and covers the creation of a simple app, and some of what you will learn is:

– Interface builder basics
– Table Views
– View controller switching
– Using A UIImagePicker
– Adding Images

©2010 iPhone, iOS 4, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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The great Shazam app, which I’m still using after downloading it to my iPhone on day one, has released another update, bringing the whole suite of apps (including the paid Shazam Encore and the Shazam (RED) version) to version 3.3. This one updates the app for iOS 4.0 and includes Retina Display graphics and support for fast app switching. Version 3.3 also adds some setting customization options like “tag on startup,” improved artist info, a new Discover tab with tag charts and preview clips for the top songs tagged in 20 different countries, and quick shortcut icons for sending the music off to iTunes or to Facebook and Twitter.

Additionally, the free Shazam app now offers a subscription model upgrade to the paid version, which allows for as many tags as you want, extra features like “Drive and Tag,” and more information about the songs you hear with the app. For a limited price of $2.99, you can get access to Shazam Encore for an entire year, or for $4.99 (the price of the paid app on the App Store), you can get a “lifetime subscription.” Clearly Shazam wants to offer something a little cheaper for customers who aren’t sure if they’ll use the app that much, but honestly, if you want the pro options, the Encore version is worth the $5.

On the other hand, all I’ve ever had is the free version, and for the occasional “hear a song on the radio or in a store and wonder what the heck it is,” Shazam has served me quite well. Good to know it’ll now look and run better on the iPhone 4.

TUAWShazam updates for iOS 4.0, adds subscription model for Encore features originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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