Tutorials – Page 5186 – Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

Node.js Step by Step: Blogging Application

ButtonPressed example in iPhone

This is the ButtonPressed example. In this example we will see how to load another view after pressing button. So let see how it will worked.

Step 1: Open the Xcode, Create a new project using View base application. Give the application “ButtonPress”.

Step 2: Xcode automatically creates the directory structure and adds essential frameworks to it. You can explore the directory structure to check out the content of the directory.

Step 3: Xpand classes and notice Interface Builder created the ButtonPressViewController class for you and generated a separate nib, ButtonPressViewController.xib for the “ButtonPress”.

Step 4: We need to add three UIViewController in the class in the project. So select the project -> New File -> Cocoa Touch ->ViewController class and give the class name ”FirstView”, “SecondView” and “ThirdView”.

Step 5: We need to add background image in the Resource folder.

Step 6: Open the ButtonPressViewController.h file and make the following changes in the file:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@class ButtonPressViewController;
@interface ButtonPressAppDelegate : NSObject {
}
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIWindow *window;
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet ButtonPressViewController *viewController;

@end

Step 7: Double click the ButtonPressViewController.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First select view and bring up Attributes Inspector change the background color “Black”. Now drag three button from the library and place it to the view window. Select the buttons from view window and bring up Attribute Inspector and change the Title name into “FirstView”,”SecondView” and “ThirdView”. Select the FirstView button from view and bring up Connection Inspector and connect Touch Up Inside to the Files owner icon and select FirstView: method . Do the same thing for other two buttons and select SecondView: and ThirdView: method. Save the .xib file, close it and go back to the Xcode.

Step 8: In the ButtonPressViewController.m file make the following changes in the file:

#import "ButtonPressViewController.h"
#import "FirstView.h"
#import "SecondView.h"
#import "ThirdView.h"

@implementation ButtonPressViewController

–(IBAction)FirstView:(id)sender
{
FirstView*firstView = [[FirstView alloc]
initWithNibName:@"FirstView"
bundle:nil];
[self.view addSubview:firstView.view];
}

–(IBAction)SecondView:(id)sender
{
SecondView*secondView = [[SecondView alloc]
initWithNibName:@"SecondView"
bundle:nil];
[self.view addSubview:secondView.view];
}

–(IBAction)ThirdView:(id)sender
{
ThirdView*thirdView = [[ThirdView alloc]
initWithNibName:@"ThirdView"
bundle:nil];
[self.view addSubview:thirdView.view];
}

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
// Releases the view if it doesn’t have a superview.
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

// Release any cached data, images, etc that aren’t in use.
}

#pragma mark – View lifecycle

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];

}

– (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
return (interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait);
}

@end

Step 9: Open the FirstView.h file and make the following changes in the file:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface FirstView : UIViewController {

}
–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender;

@end

Step 10: Double click the FirstView.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First select the view and bring up Attribute Inspector and change the background color. Drag the label from the library and place it to the view window and change the Text of the label. Drag the Navigation Bar from the library and place it to the top position of the view window. Now drag the button from the library and place it on the navigation bar. Select the button and bring up Attribute Inspector and select the “backbutton.png” and bring up Connection Inspector, connect Touch Up Inside to the File’s Owner icon and select BackButton: method. Now save the .xib file , close it and go back to Xcode.

Step 11: In the FirstView.m file make the following changes in the file:

#import "FirstView.h"

@implementation FirstView

–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender
{
[self.view removeFromSuperview];
}

– (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil
{
self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
if (self) {
// Custom initialization
}
return self;
}

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

}

#pragma mark – View lifecycle

– (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];

}

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];

}

– (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
return (interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait);
}

@end

Step 12: Open the SecondView.h file and make the following changes in the file:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface SecondView : UIViewController {

}

–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender;

@end

Step 13: Double click the SecondView.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First select the view and bring up Attribute Inspector and change the background color. Drag the label from the library and place it to the view window and change the Text of the label. Drag the Navigation Bar from the library and place it to the top position of the view window. Now drag the button from the library and place it on the navigation bar. Select the button and bring up Attribute Inspector and select the “backbutton.png” and bring up Connection Inspector, connect Touch Up Inside to the File’s Owner icon and select BackButton: method. Now save the .xib file , close it and go back to Xcode.

Step 14: In the SecondView.m file make the following changes:

#import "SecondView.h"

@implementation SecondView

–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender
{
[self.view removeFromSuperview];
}

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
// Releases the view if it doesn’t have a superview.
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

// Release any cached data, images, etc that aren’t in use.
}

#pragma mark – View lifecycle

– (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view from its nib.
}

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];
// Release any retained subviews of the main view.
// e.g. self.myOutlet = nil;
}

– (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
// Return YES for supported orientations
return (interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait);
}

@end

Step 15: Open the ThirdView.h file and make the following changes :

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface ThirdView : UIViewController {

}
–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender;
@end

Step 16: Double click the ThirdView.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First select the view and bring up Attribute Inspector and change the background color. Drag the label from the library and place it to the view window and change the Text of the label. Drag the Navigation Bar from the library and place it to the top position of the view window. Now drag the button from the library and place it on the navigation bar. Select the button and bring up Attribute Inspector and select the “backbutton.png” and bring up Connection Inspector, connect Touch Up Inside to the File’s Owner icon and select BackButton: method. Now save the .xib file , close it and go back to Xcode.

Step 17: In the ThirdView.m file make the following changes:

#import "ThirdView.h"

@implementation ThirdView

–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender
{
[self.view removeFromSuperview];
}

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
// Releases the view if it doesn’t have a superview.
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

// Release any cached data, images, etc that aren’t in use.
}

#pragma mark – View lifecycle

– (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view from its nib.
}

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];
// Release any retained subviews of the main view.
// e.g. self.myOutlet = nil;
}

@end

Step 18: Now compile and run the application on the Simulator.

You can Download SourceCode from here ButtonPress

TiVo announces plans for updated iPad app

Do you own a TiVo Premiere or Premiere XL box? And do you use the free Tivo iPad companion app as a remote control for that box? If so, you’ll be happy to hear that TiVo has announced plans for an updated version of the app.

While the update isn’t available on the App Store at this time, it adds new features for cable partners who provide customers with branded TiVo boxes. The app will add the cable operator’s Video on Demand service into search and browse, so TiVo users can easily pull up VoD content for viewing.

The announcement, made today at the 2011 NCTA Cable Show in Chicago, did not provide details on when the new app version would be available.

Show full PR text

TiVo Enhances iPad App to Benefit Cable Operators

New Version of TiVo’s Companion Application Adds Operator’s VOD Catalog and Integrates VOD Prominently Into the Overall Search Results

CHICAGO, IL, Jun 13, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in advanced television services including digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that it has enhanced its TiVo App for iPad to include new features tailored to its cable partners. Launched on the App store earlier this year, the TiVo App for iPad enables users to search, browse, explore and share their favorite entertainment all without interrupting what’s playing on the television. Once found, the user simply “flicks” the selected content from the iPad to their TV screen.

The new version of TiVo’s companion iPad application automatically adds the operator’s Video on Demand into the search and browse features within the App, allowing viewers to quickly find a TV program or movie and enjoy it on TV. The App also automatically detects and integrates the operator’s branding, linear programming and VOD catalog when connected to a TiVo box provided by the operator.

“Operators are constantly looking for new ways to connect with their subscribers,” said David Sandford, TiVo’s Vice President and General Manager of TiVo’s service provider business. “The enhancements we have made to our iPad App help cable operators bring TiVo’s innovative user interface directly into the hands of their subscribers, thereby offering consumers the ultimate remote control and viewing on demand experience. We have only just begun to refine our offering to the operator community and look forward to bringing additional elements to the TiVo iPad App.”

To learn more visit www.tivo.com/ipad.

TiVo made this announcement during the 2011 NCTA Cable Show in Chicago.

About TiVo Inc. Founded in 1997, TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) developed the first commercially available digital video recorder (DVR). TiVo offers the TiVo service and TiVo DVRs directly to consumers online at www.tivo.com and through third-party retailers. TiVo also distributes its technology and services through solutions tailored for cable, satellite and broadcasting companies. Since its founding, TiVo has evolved into the ultimate single solution media center by combining its patented DVR technologies and universal cable box capabilities with the ability to aggregate, search, and deliver millions of pieces of broadband, cable, and broadcast content directly to the television. An economical, one-stop-shop for in-home entertainment, TiVo’s intuitive functionality and ease of use puts viewers in control by enabling them to effortlessly navigate the best digital entertainment content available through one box, with one remote, and one user interface, delivering the most dynamic user experience on the market today. TiVo also continues to weave itself into the fabric of the media industry by providing interactive advertising solutions and audience research and measurement ratings services to the television industry www.tivo.com

TiVo and the TiVo Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of TiVo Inc. or its subsidiaries worldwide. Copyright 2011 TiVo Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=1641565

SOURCE: TiVo

TiVo announces plans for updated iPad app originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dragon Remote Mic lets your iPhone dictate to your PC

Nuance’s Dragon Remote Microphone app is now available in the App Store. It turns your iPhone into a Wi-Fi connected microphone for dictation, but buyer beware: it is compatible with Dragon Naturally Speaking for the PC, not the Dragon Dictate Mac product. Chances are, we’ll see compatibility with the Mac app in an upcoming release.

While there are plenty of rumors swirling around Nuance’s presumptive major role in iOS 5, this app is not part of that mix. It’s designed to work only as a microphone for the desktop apps.

The purported settings screenshots from iOS 5 that surfaced this weekend imply that on-device dictation powered by Nuance’s code will be available as a system-level service on iOS devices, and that wouldn’t require that users run a separate Nuance front-end app.

Even though Nuance’s absence was notable during WWDC last week, Nuance voices were found in the developer’s preview of Lion and references to speech technology were discovered in iOS 5’s internal preferences.

Dragon Remote Mic lets your iPhone dictate to your PC originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Foxconn sees financial drop after plant explosion

Foxconn saw a large drop in revenue after the explosion at its Chendgu plant last month, according to Digitimes. Foxconn’s May revenues dropped 2.14% month-over-month to US$6.95 billion. The revenue fall off was a direct result of the explosion, according to the company. The explosion that killed three workers on May 20 is thought to have been set off when aluminum dust used in a polishing process was accidentally ignited.

Just hours after the explosion, Apple issued a statement saying they were working closely with Foxconn to find out what caused the event. The plant closed for almost two weeks after the explosion before reopening on June 2. There has been no word yet on the official results of Apple’s or Foxconn’s investigations, but the Chinese government has urged Foxconn to ensure worker safety in light of the tragedy.

Foxconn sees financial drop after plant explosion originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ten ways to replace iWeb and MobileMe hosting

Yesterday, we reported on a rumor that Apple’s website creation software, iWeb, is about a year away from obsolescence, along with MobileMe’s hosting of iWeb sites. An iWeb user allegedly sent Apple CEO Steve Jobs an email asking if he should start looking for another website builder and a new host, and Jobs provided one of his patented terse replies: “Yep.”

In my post about this, I mentioned some alternatives that TUAW readers might want to look at. Here I’m going to take a more detailed look at several easy website creation tools and hosting alternatives, so that you can start making your plans to move away from iWeb and MobileMe. I will not be covering professional web design tools in this post, as iWeb is designed for easy creation of sites. Instead, all of the suggestions I’ll make here are aimed at the folks who just want to create a relatively good-looking website quickly, without a lot of training.

iWeb hosting via FTP

If you want to keep using iWeb for a while but would like to move your iWeb site away from MobileMe hosting, then get yourself a domain name, get a web host, and start publishing via FTP.

iWeb 3 made it possible to publish your website on a traditional web host. You set up the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) settings in iWeb’s site publishing settings, and pressing the Publish Site button takes care of uploading graphics, text, and any changed pages to the host.

Just about every major and minor web hosting provider supports FTP. Note that some of the standard iWeb features, including password protection, blog and photo comments, blog search and the hit counter don’t work when you use FTP for publishing.

The great thing about this solution is that you can just change the host for your website, point iWeb to the new host, and publish your same old site to the new location. Not much is lost in translation, and you won’t need to go through a lot of redesign work.

Unfortunately, iWeb probably won’t be supported in the future and may eventually stop working with future releases of Mac OS X. The other negative? You’ll need to pay for web hosting from one of the many hosting providers. You can also use your own Mac as a web server (no matter how old), but that’s the subject of another post…

iWeb hosting on Dropbox

If you have a lightly-used iWeb site and don’t feel like spending money on web hosting, consider getting a free Dropbox account and hosting your iWeb site there. I wrote some instructions on how to use Dropbox as your iWeb host a while back, so check them out.

Advantages? You can continue using iWeb for a while longer. Disadvantages? Dropbox isn’t designed for large-traffic web hosting, and might shut you down if your site is wildly popular. Likewise, if you have a huge and complex iWeb site with a lot of photos, you might go over the free 2 GB free storage limit and have to start paying for web hosting.

Facebook

Do you just want to have a “site” where you can post pictures and videos, let your friends know what you’re doing, and get comments on your content? Then you may just want to move over to Facebook. It’s free, and most of your friends and relatives are probably already using it.

Facebook is fine for the new material you create, but how do you move your old posts to the land of Zuckerberg? It’s probably not going to work very well. I can envision some sort of long session involving copying and pasting text to Facebook, but with the constantly changing wall of content on Facebook, your old content is going to be wiped off the wall fairly soon.

If you have a lot of your iPhoto pics on your iWeb site, then you’re in luck. Just open up iPhoto, put all of those iPhoto pics into an album, and then use Share > Facebook to move the photos into a Facebook album.

What if you’re looking for a more personal and unique site? That’s where my next suggestions come in.

WordPress / WordPress.com

When I want to put a website or blog together quickly, I use WordPress. This blogging tool (content management system) has been around for years, and it is wildly popular. Over 14% of the top 1 million websites were created in WordPress, and the most recent major release of WordPress had been downloaded over 32.5 million times by February of 2011. There’s even a professional version, WordPress VIP, which our sister site TechCrunch uses as its underlying CMS.

WordPress is not a Mac application; rather, it is an AMP (Apache / MySQL / PHP) application that runs on a server (or on your Mac). You log into a dashboard from your favorite web browser, add content, change the look and feel of the site with themes and plugins, and then publish your changes. There’s no need, as in iWeb, to make changes locally and then wait for your modifications to be uploaded to a server.

For beginning WordPress bloggers, I recommend a free WordPress.com account. It’s a great way to learn how WordPress works, all your content can be migrated to another WordPress host at a later date if necessary, and the fairly new step-by-step tutorials are an incredible way to learn all about this powerful content management system.

If you decide to head out on your own, most major web hosting providers have one-click installers for WordPress. In other words, you sign up for a hosting plan, then say that you want WordPress installed. A few minutes later, you get an email from your WordPress site saying that you need to log in and create an administrative account. Do that, and you’re on your way to blogging superstardom. Among the hosting providers that provide one-click installations of WordPress are Bluehost, DreamHost, MediaTemple, and GoDaddy. Note that you’re going to have to pay for a hosting plan, so maybe the $99 you’ll be saving every year by not renewing MobileMe will pay for your web hosting.

WordPress is remarkably powerful, and a vast developer community is constantly creating new plugins to add functionality to the tool and designing new themes to make pages that are unique and beautiful. If you can’t find a theme to your liking, there’s always Artisteer, an app that you can use to easily create your own custom theme.

iWeb users who might have set up a small shop using something like Google Checkout or PayPal buttons can actually get a real web commerce site going with WordPress. There are several plugins now available for WordPress that integrate with shopping cart services like FoxyCart.

Finally, WordPress is an excellent way to get familiar with most content management systems. For anyone who has aspirations to become a professional blogger, starting with WordPress can get you familiar with the tools and workflow that you’ll need to move on up the ladder.

Tumblr

Want a very easy to use and free way to host a website? Tumblr‘s a good start. You can sign up for free in minutes and be posting immediately after that. There’s a selection of Tumblr themes — none of which I found to my liking — that you can choose from, and all you need to do to post is have a web browser or use an iOS app like Tumblr (Free) or QuickTumblr ($2.99, for iPad).

As you can see from the Tumblr dashboard screenshot above, once you’ve logged into your account you have a choice of what you can post. Each one of these buttons leads to a data entry page that you can use to post a specific type of content.

On Tumblr, you can create some social engagement by choosing other tumblelogs to follow, or by liking/favoriting posts which you can quote or reblog on your own site. Tumblr’s bookmarklet and email posting tools are pretty snazzy, and they make it easy to clip and share popular links or videos. You can call in posts from your cellphone, if you like blogging in audio format. We even have a TUAW Tumblr for material that might not be suitable for the main site.

I personally don’t like the vibe or feel of Tumblr, which is why I use the next tool for some personal posting.

Posterous

The only thing you need to start a Posterous blog is an email account. Why? Because you can actually do a lot of your posting by just sending emails to a special Posterous address. You can also use the web-based editor with Safari, Firefox, Chrome, or any other modern web browser to update your information. Posterous is completely free, and there’s also a free iPhone app for posting on the run.

I’ve been using Posterous on and off for three years for my personal blog, and I really like it. There are some great themes — the current one I’m using uses a grid of fifteen photos to show the last fifteen posts, and it works very well on an iPad. Speaking of the iPad, I recently found out that I can use the handy Writing Kit app ($4.99) to write posts in Markdown and then email ’em to Posterous for publishing. It also has some of the same posting options as Tumblr, and it offers a Groups feature for collaboration & sharing among friends or family.

[Since it’s graduation season, don’t miss the Posterous “instant collaborative photo album” trick, which leverages the geolocation features of the Posterous iPhone app to cluster pictures around an event. So slick. -Ed.]

As far as I’m concerned, Posterous is the best for free hosting of personal websites. It’s incredibly flexible, drop-dead simple to use (I mean, how hard is it to send an email?), it has links to and from the social networking world, offers great looking themes, supports your own private domain names, and never seems to have any downtime. However, for small business sites, which are one of the other main uses for iWeb and MobileMe hosting, it’s really not appropriate.

Squarespace

Businesses looking for a way to make beautiful sites with associated hosting should take a peek at Squarespace. This is a combination of a typographically-friendly web-based design tool and hosting that produces some great-looking sites. As with MobileMe hosting, you can have Squarespace host your own domain, and the hosting prices are relatively low — $144 to $432 per year depending on how popular your site is, how many editors you want, and how many big business features you need.

As with WordPress, Squarespace is easily integrated with shopping cart services. And when you see small business sites like this or this, you can see how professional and compelling Squarespace websites can be.

Drupal / Drupal Gardens

WordPress probably powers more websites and blogs than any other content management system, but Drupal is another hugely popular tool. It’s an open source system like WordPress, meaning that the software is written and supported by a community, and the base files are free for the copying. Drupal powers the websites for The Economist, Examiner.com, and even the White House, so you can see that it’s a professional system.

For those who are making the move from iWeb and MobileMe hosting, Drupal Gardens might be a good place to start.

It’s a hosted system similar to WordPress.com and offers a lot of the power of Drupal 7. It’s free for low-bandwidth use, with paid subscriptions for more users, more traffic, and support. Drupal sites can be extremely idiosyncratic in style, and the content management system has built-in features like forums, polls, galleries, and more. The free account is a great way to get your feet wet in the ocean of Drupal, and you can then either move to a paid subscription or put a Drupal installation on another host and move your content.

RapidWeaver

I’ve talked a lot about web-based blogging tools here, but what about easy Mac-based website tools? RapidWeaver ($59.99) from Realmac Software is a favorite of a lot of Mac users. In many ways, RapidWeaver is similar to iWeb. You create a site using a template, add pages, drop in addons (like widgets in iWeb), and then publish your site. While you’re working on your content, you can toggle between an editing mode and a view of the site as it will look when it’s published — that’s helpful for making sure that there are no surprises when the publish button is pushed.

If you use RapidWeaver, you’ll need to have a web hosting provider. The app supports FTP publishing, so just about any web hosting provider will be able to accommodate your site.

Realmac has a store for RapidWeaver themes, plug-ins, and another feature called Stacks. Themes define the look and feel of the site, plug-ins provide extended capabilities like forms or ecommerce, and stacks are another way of including features that are not built into the basic app. There’s a free trial available from RealMac before you buy RapidWeaver from the Mac App Store or direct from the company.

Sandvox

Another venerable web creation app for Mac is Sandvox 2 ($77) from Karelia Software. For a website creation and publishing experience that is close to that of iWeb, but with a lot more features and flexibility, Sandvox is probably the way to go. Even the user interface for Sandvox looks a lot like iWeb.

As with both iWeb and RapidWeaver, there are a variety of themes included, many of which come in more than one choice of color. Unlike with iWeb, you can edit the raw HTML of your website and even run it through the W3C Markup Validation Service from within the app. Sandvox includes a long list of objects (essentially the same as iWeb widgets or RapidWeaver plug-ins). Things like Amazon lists (for use with an Amazon Associates account), a built-in Facebook “Like” button, Flickr thumbnails, or a built-in Twitter feed are easy to drag right into a Sandvox page.

Once again, you’ll need to get web hosting from any of the many providers out there. Sandvox supports publishing not only through FTP and SFTP, but WebDAV as well. You can download the app for a free trial and see if Sandvox is for you.

Conclusion

These are just ten of the possible web creation and hosting solutions that iWeb users have available to them. If you’re currently hosting an iWeb site on MobileMe, it’s a perfect time to start thinking about what you’ll do in the post-MobileMe world. Whether you choose to continue using iWeb for a while and just host your site elsewhere, or decide to go with another tool or a web-based content management system, there’s no better time to begin planning your website redesign or move.

Keep in mind, though, before you tear up every bit of your carefully crafted iWeb workflow: it is still June of 2011, and there will be a full year before the MobileMe servers go dark in June of 2012. It’s likely that we’ll be hearing something more from Apple with regard to iWeb site migration around the time of the iCloud launch later this year. After all, as Fortune points out, this isn’t the first time that an Apple web publishing tool has been kicked to the curb — .Mac HomePage got the boot in July of 2009.

I did not include professional-level tools like Adobe Dreamweaver in this list, since we wanted to show tools that anyone who is well-versed in the use of iWeb could easily use. If you favor other easy-to-use web creation and publishing tools, let us know in the comments.

Ten ways to replace iWeb and MobileMe hosting originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: iTunes costs $1.3 billon per year to run

An interesting report from asymco estimates that it costs Apple US$1.3 billion per year to run the iTunes store. That sum was reached by examining known numbers, like the total number of songs, movies, TV shows and apps that have been downloaded, plus the number of iTunes accounts and how much Apple has paid out to developers. Those figures were cross-referenced with the average price of songs and apps to get a monthly “content margin.”

Asymco estimates Apple’s monthly content margin cost for iTunes at $113 million, which is more than $1.3 billion per year. Based on past statements by Apple executives, asymco assumes that the iTunes store is a break even business, and any profits it realizes go right back into its maintenance and expansion. Specifically, Asymco’s researchers believe that most of the profit goes into serving content (traffic and payment processing), while some goes to “curation and support” and anything left over goes towards increasing storage capacity and other services.

Report: iTunes costs $1.3 billon per year to run originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Click-and-drag iPhone app creation for business

Ever want to design an iPhone app but have no coding skills whatsoever? Not to worry; several companies are offering click-and-drag iPhone app creation. App Press has a service that allows the user to upload custom images and assemble those images into the layout of an app.

Once you’ve added your images and text, the App Press team will assemble your app and submit it to the App Store for you. Prices can be steep, however. App Press charges a monthly fee ranging from US$15-99 for access to its CMS designer tool. After that, a one-time iTunes developer setup fee, including three months of free app creation or issue publishing will cost you another $1500. You can see example’s of App Press-designed apps here and here.

Another company called Appirio offers a framework that allows businesses to easily deploy custom apps to its employees or clients. Appirio’s software package is also a click-and-drag one that produces iPhone and iPad apps which are linked to Salesforce.com’s cloud-based systems.

The cloud-based linkage allows business to push out updates to their apps without the need to redeploy the apps or the data the apps contain. In addition to letting users create click-and-drag apps, Appirio also offers plenty of templates for field survey apps, time and action-tracking apps, location-based apps, and search and display apps. Currently there is no set pricing for app creation through Appirio, but interest parties can contact the company here.

Finally, Nov8rix delivers a ‘fan site’ app framework that’s designed for creative artists, musicians, small businesses, faith communities and other organizations. It leverages the social media profile you or your organization already has, aggregating photos, news, events, tweets and media into an attractive package. The price is right, too; the company is running a limited-time offer of a basic subscription service (where you have to set up all your source content yourself) for only $19 a month per app.

[hat tip to Fast Company]

Click-and-drag iPhone app creation for business originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Store employee moves to create a union

The employee who formed the Apple Retail Workers Union in May has revealed himself to be Cory Moll, a part-time employee at a San Francisco Apple store. Moll told Reuters that he decided to go public with his union stance in order to encourage other like-minded employees to come forward.

In order to unionize, a majority of workers need to support the idea before a union can be formed. Moll says there’s currently less than 50 percent interest in most of Apple’s stores, “…but as people talk about it, we could get close in a couple of stores.”

Apple confirmed to Reuters that Moll has been an employee for four years. He makes US$14 an hour at the San Francisco store where he works. The San Francisco minimum wage is $9.92 per hour. In addition to a website, Moll has set up a Twitter account and Facebook page to rally others to his cause.

Apple Store employee moves to create a union originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UK’s Sky TV consolidates efforts, will stream to iOS devices

Here’s even more streaming video content on the iPad for users in the UK. Sky TV has introduced Sky Go, which will combine Sky Player and Sky Mobile TV into just one service, which will be free for subscribers and let the rest of us who don’t have a subscription watch for a monthly charge of about US$40. Note that this service would include not only Sky content but also channels like MTV, ESPN and Disney. For subscribers, that’s basically just like the Time Warner app, but without Sky TV already, that price (assuming it is available to North American customers, which might be a stretch) seems like a good one.

We’ll see — the service is going live on July 6, with the full non-subscriber service available sometime in August of this year.

Continue reading UK’s Sky TV consolidates efforts, will stream to iOS devices

UK’s Sky TV consolidates efforts, will stream to iOS devices originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Aunt TUAW: How do I deal with voice latency?

Dear Aunt TUAW,

Why is VoIP so freaking awkward? I really like using Google Voice with Safari but then I always end up talking over the guy I’m calling to. What gives?

Love,

Denny

Dear Denny,

It’s called latency, and it happens with all kinds of computer telephony solutions like Google Voice and Skype, as well as with iOS voice chat apps. What it means is that you’re talking in their past. It takes time for your voice signal to make its way to the other party, and theirs to you. Historically, this was mostly an issue for intercontinental or satellite calls, but the march of technology has delivered it to calls you make across town as well.

The lag in calls can vary from mere milliseconds up to a second or more, in bad cases. Google Voice in particular seems to have trouble with latency; traditional VoIP services may do better (assuming nothing’s wrong with your network connection). By comparison, plain old telephone service has latency of about 45 milliseconds.

You can find out exactly how much lag you’re dealing with by using a simple trick. Ask the person at the other end to mirror you as you slowly count to 10. Tell him or her to count along at the same time. You’ll hear the differential between your numbers and theirs, to get a sense of how far apart you are.

There are ways you can deal with the latency problem with VoIP. Here are a few suggestions that might be able to help.

Identify Let your partner know that VoIP is in use as early in the conversation as possible, and that there may be lag involved.

Switch to Wired Using a Wi-Fi connection can exacerbate latency. Try plugging in directly and see if that helps. You may also want to test a call while connecting your computer directly to your cable or DSL modem to see if your router is making it worse; most router manufacturers have specific configuration tips for handling VoIP traffic.

Avoid Active Listening Many people show they are paying attention by interjecting feedback into a conversation like “yes” and “I know!” VoIP disrupts the normal flow of conversation by introducing an unnatural rhythm. If you’re saying “yes” or “I know” while someone is speaking, rather than in natural pauses, your conversation is going to stumble over itself.

Proactively set VoIP-aware talk patterns Using phrases like “go ahead” and “Okay, now you…” help transition between one speaker and the other, creating a smoother discussion pattern in a latency-burdened channel. Also, don’t be afraid to monologue to get your point across — normal back and forth discussion patterns are at their weakest with VoIP.

Offer alternatives It’s fine to say “Can I call you back on my cell?” when latency significantly hinders communication.

So, that’s what Auntie has to suggest. Surely she has missed a few obvious suggestions. Add yours in the comments!

Hugs,

Auntie T.

Dear Aunt TUAW: How do I deal with voice latency? originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW’s Daily Mac App: Caffeine

Caffeine, like a shot of coffee at night, keeps your Mac awake and your screen bright. We first covered it a few years ago.

A tiny menu bar utility, Caffeine prevents your Mac from activating the screen saver or sleeping when idle. Presenting as a cup of coffee, the icon indicates whether Caffeine is active, denoted by a full cup of coffee, or inactive, when the coffee cup is empty.

Caffeine is activated by clicking on the menu bar icon. You can define a set period of activity from five minutes to five hours, or set it to be active indefinitely via a right-click or in the settings.

While you can replicate the features of Caffeine using System Preferences, having a quick and easy sleep preventer in your menu bar is a real boon. It’s cute, effective, and best of all, Caffeine is absolutely free. Grab it now from the Mac App Store.

TUAW’s Daily Mac App: Caffeine originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Research suggests Apple, Samsung to overtake Nokia this quarter

According to Boy Genius Report, a report from Nomura Research predicts that Nokia will lose its lead in smartphone unit sales for the first time this quarter, being surpassed by Apple and Samsung.

Nokia has held the top spot in smartphone unit sales for the last 15 years. Dropping from first to third would be a blow indeed. It’s not all bad news for Nokia, however, as the company will maintain its lead in overall cell phone sales.

The Finnish communications corporation sells many low-end mobile phones in emerging markets, which boosts its numbers significantly. In February, Nokia announced it was dumping the Symbian operating system and embracing Microsoft’s Windows Phone, in hopes that the union would improve its performance among smartphones.

Research suggests Apple, Samsung to overtake Nokia this quarter originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Webcam antics with Rita and Frank

Here’s an unintentionally amusing and decidedly sweet video of an older couple, Rita and Frank, trying to photograph themselves with their computer, referred to in the video description as “their new Mac.” According to YouTube, the couple wants to take a photo commemorating Frank’s 84th birthday, which they’ll then share with friends.

As they wait in vain for the image to be snapped, they somehow managed to unknowingly shoot a video of the proceedings. We can only assume they’re using a Flash-capture web app of some sort, as Photo Booth doesn’t count down from 15. Of course, that’s a guess.

If you ask me, the result is much sweeter and far more charming than the photo could have been. Happy birthday, Frank!

[Via Gizmodo]

Webcam antics with Rita and Frank originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple almost worth more than Microsoft, HP and Dell combined

Before WWDC, Apple’s market cap exceeded that of Microsoft and Intel combined. This week another report compares Apple to Microsoft, Dell and HP.

After a slight dip in its stock last week, Apple is now valued at US$301 billion, which is slightly less than the $302 billion of Microsoft ($200 billion), HP ($72.8 billion) and Dell ($29.3 billion) combined. Apple’s position is even more impressive when you compare it to other tech and mobile leaders.

Last year, Apple surpassed Microsoft in market cap and is now worth 100 billion more than Microsoft. This figure is more than RIM, Nokia, Netflix and eBay combined. It is equal to Amazon and Adobe combined and is only $15 million shy of Intel’s total market cap. If it can grow that much in the least months, one wonders how much its lead will extend at the end of the next 12 months.

Apple almost worth more than Microsoft, HP and Dell combined originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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