Category: Tutorials

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Pay Per Install – A Legit Way To Send Your iOS App Up The Charts?

Recently, there have been some startups (at least two that I know of) that provide developers with the ability to pay users to install their apps.  Users typically receive a small amount above the app price (typically a couple dimes) install an app, and some software is used to verify that the app has been installed and the user receives payment for their install.  What I’m talking about here goes beyond the pay per install you see on some mobile ad networks — this is actually overpaying per install.

Some of the comments that I’ve read are from developers passionately against this method of app promotion — the reason being that it is a way to game app store rankings, but isn’t any promotion such as buying iAds or Admob impressions really a way of buying app store rankings?

Looks Like A Much Better Deal Than Mobile Advertising

I can understand why Apple would be against this, after all, if you could reduce the cost per aquisition of a customer down to a bit above your losses, why would you need to pay $14.90  per download like in this iAds for developers experiment?

You can find two of the companies here: Apperang, App Lifter, Ads Reloaded

My personal feeling is that this is just another way of advertising, I’m not sure that I would use it, but I know there are developers profiting from this.   I agree that if you’re buying fake positive reviews then you should be punished, but just buying downloads is different.

I don’t believe that the argument that users will be downloading apps is legitimate, I’m sure that everyone who buys apps on a regular basis has bought apps they didn’t really care for.

What are your thoughts on this, do you feel it is legit, or should it be stopped?

Update: If you are looking for some other companies and information on this service Under The Bridge has further information on this topic.

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

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The Cost Of Hiring An iOS Developer

As I know that many of the people viewing this site are contract iPhone and iPad developers, and many others are also looking for a dev to hire I thought I would bring up an article I found on the costs of doing iPhone development.

From what I can see the costs are pretty much bang on, unless of course you’re looking for a bargain basement dev on one of  the freelance websites.

Here’s what the article suggests are the base costs just for development:

– Hourly wage $50-$250/hr
– Relatively simple/small app $3000-$8000 dollars
– Outsourcing on a bargain basement freelance website $15/hr

Don’t forget design, marketing, and the frustration and hours wasted of  dealing with someone who speaks a different language, and lives in a different time zone if you go for the bargain basement freelancer.  As always design and prototype your app as well as you possibly can and that will bring down your costs dramatically.  I know the hourly rates probably seem high to the average person with an app idea looking for a local North American dev, but if you value your time and sanity then it is well worth the money.

The article goes into things a bit further and gets into some examples, it can be found here:
iPhone App Development Costs

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

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New Open Source iOS Game Released Using Cocos2D And OpenFeint: Puff Puff

If you have been to this site before you may have noticed that I am trying to find all the open source iOS apps available and have been placing them in the Open Source iPhone Apps listing.

I came across an extremely beautiful game that has been released open source.  The game uses the open source iPhone game engine Cocos2D and the OpenFeint social gaming network.

You can see the game in this trailer:

I have not had the chance to look at the source extensively, but if those guy’s know half as much about programming as they do about making an app trailer then there should be quite a bit to learn from it.

You can get the source code here:
Puff Puff Arcade Game Source Code

You can find the app in the app store here:
http://itunes.com/apps/puffpuff

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

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Silverlight Tutorial – Using Yahoo Pipes to Access Cross-Domain JSON

If you’ve ever sat down to create a web application in Flash or Silverlight you might have run into cross-domain access restrictions. For security reasons, client side technologies won’t let you access data on a different domain if the remote server doesn’t explicitly allow it. Many APIs grant cross-domain access, however there are times there is no way to access the service directly. That’s where this tutorial comes in. Back in 2007 Yahoo! released Pipes, which allows developers to combine and filter web-based information which is then re-hosted by Yahoo. The great thing about this is that Pipes allows cross domain access.

The app we’re going to create today is a simple Silverlight app that displays the most recent 25 “Hot” Reddit posts. You can play with the app below. We’ve dealt with Silverlight and cross-domain issues before. The previous tutorial used Pipes to access Twitter’s XML. This tutorial, on the other hand, will being using Pipes to access Reddit’s JSON API.

?

Create The Pipe

The first thing we’re going to have to do is create a pipe. You’ll have to have a Yahoo account to do this, and everything is free. Once you’re logged in, you’ll see a large “Create Pipe” button at the top of the main Pipes site.

Create Pipe

After you create the pipe, you’ll see a blank canvas.

Blank Pipe

Every pipe starts with a data source. For this pipe, drag a “Fetch Data” module onto the canvas. For the URL, enter the address of the desired JSON data. In our case, we’ll be using reddit.com/.json. Reddit’s API is pretty simple -basically you stick “.json” at the end of any regular page to receive a JSON feed of the same data.

Fetch Data Module

When you connect this module to the Pipe Output module, you should be able to see it in the Debugger window.

Pipe Output

There are tons of other things we can do with this data, but for the purposes of this tutorial, our Pipe is done. All we needed was for Yahoo to give us cross-domain access to this data. We can now save our Pipe.

Save Pipe

I named this pipe “Reddit”.

Pipe Name

Run The Pipe

The last thing we need to do is run the pipe.

Run Pipe

After you click the “Run Pipe…” link, you’ll be taken to the pipe’s page where you can do basic administrative stuff. The thing we want to do is get a link to the JSON output for this pipe. To do this, all we need to do is click the “Get as JSON” link.

Get as JSON

The link initially provided by Yahoo doesn’t support cross-domain calls. Thanks to a post by Jonas Follesø I found out all that’s needed is a simple change to the URL. So take the link that Yahoo provides:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=…&_render=json

and change it to:

http://pipes.yahooapis.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=…&_render=json

Create the Silverlight Project

Now that we have the data, it’s time to start building our application. The first thing we need to do is create a new Silverlight 4 application.

New Silverlight Project

When it asks whether or not to create a website for the application, simply use the defaults.

New Silverlight Website

Now we need a class to hold the information obtained from Reddit’s API. Let’s call the class, “RedditEntry”.

namespace RedditViewer
{
  public class RedditEntry
  {
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the title of the reddit post.
    /// </summary>
    public string Title { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the thumbnail image.
    /// </summary>
    public string Thumbnail { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the url to the Reddit comments page.
    /// </summary>
    public string Permalink { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the url to actual contents.
    /// </summary>
    public string Link { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the number of comments.
    /// </summary>
    public int NumComments { get; set; }
  }
}

Because we’re going to be using the DataContractJsonSerializer class to deserialize our JSON data, we need to add some markup to this class so .NET knows how to parse the incoming data. The first thing we need to do is add a reference to System.Runtime.Serialization.

Add Reference System.Runtime.Serialization

Now we need to add attributes to support the DataContractJsonSerializer.

using System.Runtime.Serialization;

namespace RedditViewer
{
  [DataContract]
  public class RedditEntry
  {
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the title of the reddit post.
    /// </summary>
    [DataMember(Name="title")]
    public string Title { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the thumbnail image.
    /// </summary>
    [DataMember(Name="thumbnail")]
    public string Thumbnail { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the url to the Reddit comments page.
    /// </summary>
    [DataMember(Name="permalink")]
    public string Permalink { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the url to actual contents.
    /// </summary>
    [DataMember(Name="url")]
    public string Link { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the number of comments.
    /// </summary>
    [DataMember(Name="num_comments")]
    public int NumComments { get; set; }
  }
}

I got the names of the fields by looking at the JSON output in the pipe editor.

Highlighted Pipe Output

Request and Parse the JSON Data

Now that we’ve got an object to hold our data, we can go ahead and create a function to request and parse the output.

using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;

namespace RedditViewer
{
  public partial class MainPage : UserControl
  {
    public MainPage()
    {
      InitializeComponent();

      RequestRedditEntries();
    }

    private void RequestRedditEntries()
    {
      // Create a Uri with the address to the Yahoo Pipe.
      Uri pipeUri = new Uri(
        @"http://pipes.yahooapis.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=…&_render=json");

      // Create a WebClient to request the information.
      WebClient webClient = new WebClient();
      webClient.DownloadStringCompleted += webClient_DownloadStringCompleted;
      webClient.DownloadStringAsync(pipeUri);
    }

    void webClient_DownloadStringCompleted(object sender,
      DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs e)
    {
      // Show the results in a MessageBox.
      // TODO: parse results.
      MessageBox.Show(e.Result);
    }
  }
}

I created a function, RequestRedditEntries, that is initially called when the page loads. This function creates a WebClient that will go out and download the JSON from the Yahoo Pipe. When the request is complete it will call the event handler webClient_DownloadStringCompleted. At the moment, this handler simply displays the results in a MessageBox. If everything went well, you should see a huge alert filled with JSON data. If something went wrong, the properties inside DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs can tell you what happened.

Let’s now parse the output.

void webClient_DownloadStringCompleted(object sender,
  DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs e)
{
  List<RedditEntry> entries = new List<RedditEntry>();

  // Initialize the deserializer.
  DataContractJsonSerializer jsonSerializer =
    new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(RedditEntry));

  try
  {
    // Dig through the JSON and find the array of results.
    // The tree is: response -> value -> items -> [0] -> data -> children[]
    JsonObject jsonResponse = (JsonObject)JsonObject.Load(new StringReader(e.Result));
    JsonObject jsonValue = (JsonObject)jsonResponse["value"];
    JsonObject jsonItems = (JsonObject)((JsonArray)jsonValue["items"])[0];
    JsonObject jsonData = (JsonObject)jsonItems["data"];
    JsonArray jsonChildren = (JsonArray)jsonData["children"];

    // Iterate through every child.
    foreach (JsonObject child in jsonChildren)
    {
      // Get the data for the reddit post.
      JsonObject data = (JsonObject)child["data"];

      // Create a memory stream of the JSON text
      // to be passed to the deserializer.
      using (MemoryStream memStream =
        new MemoryStream(UTF8Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(data.ToString())))
      {
        // Add the entry to the collection.
        entries.Add((RedditEntry)jsonSerializer.ReadObject(memStream));
      }
    }
  }
  catch (Exception ex)
  {
    MessageBox.Show("Failed to parse JSON: " + ex.ToString());
  }
}

There’s a lot going on here, so let’s break it down. First, you’ll have to add a reference to System.Json and System.ServiceModel.Web. The top of this function is simply there to dig through the JSON output and find the array of Reddit entries. I downloaded a tool called JSON Viewer to help see the structure of the JSON.

JSON Viewer

If you want to make this a little cleaner, Yahoo Pipes has lots of ways to massage the data to make it a little more straight forward to parse. Once we get down to the actual array of Reddit entries, I begin invoking the DataContractJsonSerializer. This object can only work on streams so I need to wrap the JSON for a single entry in a MemoryStream. I surrounded the entire thing in a try-catch since there’s about a million things that can go wrong when requesting data from a web service.

We now have a collection of Reddit entries and are ready to move on to the user interface.

Build the User Interface

The user interface is not the primary part of this tutorial, so I’m going to just stick all of the XAML right here. I’ll explain it briefly afterwards.

<UserControl x:Class="RedditViewer.MainPage"
            xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
            xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
            xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
            xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
            xmlns:my="clr-namespace:RedditViewer"
            mc:Ignorable="d"
            Width="400"
            Height="600">
  <UserControl.Resources>
    <my:CommentLinkConverter x:Key="commentLinkConverter" />
  </UserControl.Resources>
  <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot"
       Background="White">
    <ListBox Name="_redditEntries"
            ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Hidden">
      <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
          <Border BorderThickness="0,0,0,1"
                 BorderBrush="LightGray"
                 Padding="5">
            <Grid>
              <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
                <ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
              </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

              <!– Thumbnail Image –>
              <Border BorderThickness="1"
                     BorderBrush="LightGray"
                     Width="70"
                     Height="70">
                <Image Width="70"
                      Height="70"
                      Stretch="Uniform">
                  <Image.Source>
                    <BitmapImage UriSource="{Binding Thumbnail}" />
                  </Image.Source>
                </Image>
              </Border>

              <Grid Margin="10,0,0,0"
                   Grid.Column="1">
                <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                  <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
                  <RowDefinition Height="*" />
                </Grid.RowDefinitions>

                <!– Title –>
                <HyperlinkButton VerticalAlignment="Top"
                                NavigateUri="{Binding Link}"
                                TargetName="_blank"
                                ToolTipService.ToolTip="{Binding Link}"
                                Foreground="Blue">
                  <TextBlock Text="{Binding Title}"
                            Width="285"
                            TextWrapping="Wrap" />
                </HyperlinkButton>

                <!– Comments –>
                <HyperlinkButton NavigateUri="{Binding Permalink, Converter={StaticResource commentLinkConverter}}"
                                VerticalAlignment="Bottom"
                                ToolTipService.ToolTip="{Binding Permalink, Converter={StaticResource commentLinkConverter}}"
                                Margin="0,10,0,0"
                                TargetName="_blank"
                                Grid.Row="1">
                  <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                    <Image Source="comments.png" />
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding NumComments}"
                              Margin="5,0,0,0" />
                    <TextBlock Text=" Comments" />
                  </StackPanel>
                </HyperlinkButton>
              </Grid>
            </Grid>
          </Border>
        </DataTemplate>
      </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
    </ListBox>
  </Grid>
</UserControl>

The entire UI is basically created as an ItemTemplate within a ListBox. I created an Image to hold the thumbnail and a couple of HyperlinkButtons to allow the user to click through to the content. I had to create a binding converter to convert the comments link since Reddit returns the link as a relative URL.

public class CommentLinkConverter : IValueConverter
{
  public object Convert(object value, Type targetType,
    object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
  {
    string commentLink = value as string;
    if (commentLink != null)
    {
      commentLink = @"http://www.reddit.com" + commentLink;
    }

    return commentLink;
  }

  public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType,
    object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
  {
    throw new NotImplementedException();
  }
}

Other than the binding converter, everything else is a pretty straight forward user interface. The last thing to remember is to set the ItemsSource of the ListBox to the collection of RedditEntries we parsed earlier.

_redditEntries.ItemsSource = entries;

And there you have it. We’ve created a fully functional Silverlight app for viewing the main page of Reddit. Since Reddit doesn’t support cross-domain access we used Yahoo Pipes to provide it for us. The entire source of this application can be downloaded below. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them or head on over to our forums.

WordPress hack: Automatically add post name to the body class

The only thing you have to do is to copy the following function and paste it on your theme functions.php file. Once saved, the post/page name will be automatically be added to the body class.

function wpprogrammer_post_name_in_body_class( $classes ){
	if( is_singular() )
	{
		global $post;
		array_push( $classes, "{$post->post_type}-{$post->post_name}" );
	}
	return $classes;
}

add_filter( 'body_class', 'wpprogrammer_post_name_in_body_class' );

Thanks to Utkarsh Kukreti for this great hack!

Looking for WordPress hosting? Try WP Web Host. Prices starts at $5/month and you can try it for free!

WordPress hack: Automatically add post name to the body class

Best of AppStorm in August

We’ve collected the top five reviews, roundups and how-to articles from across the AppStorm network in April. Whether you’re interested in Mac, iPhone, or Web apps, there’s bound to be something you didn’t spot over the course of the month.

Now would be a good time to explore a part of the AppStorm Network you’ve never seen before!

Best of iPhone.AppStorm

Apple Media Event: iPods, iTunes, Apple TV and More!

Earlier today Apple held its annual live media event covering all things new in the land of iPod, iTunes and even AppleTV.

They’ve released a ton of enhancements and upgrades across the board and we’ve got your one-stop coverage. Below you’ll find a brief overview of all the goodies you’ll be blowing your paychecks on in the coming weeks.

30 Helpful Apps to Bring on Vacation

Vacations can be quite complicated. Finding flights, booking hotels, procuring transportation, scouting tourist locations, and grabbing a quick bite to eat are just some of the daily tasks you’ll have to juggle. Fortunately, your iPhone makes the perfect travel companion and can make all of these tasks a lot easier.

Below we’ll take a look at 30 incredibly helpful apps that will help you spend more time enjoying your vacation and less time worrying about the particulars. Most of the apps are free so you can start downloading right away without dipping into your travel budget!

Flipboard for iPad: Does It Live Up to the Hype?

Today we’re going to look at an iPad application that has received quite a bit of hype over the past few weeks – Flipboard. Aiming to be your “personalised social magazine”, Flipboard comes with a gorgeous interface, and a wonderful concept.

Although there are plenty of RSS, Twitter, PDF and eBook readers available for the iPad, there hasn’t yet been anything along these specific lines. Flipboard sets a lofty target in terms of functionality – one that was never going to be easy to meet. Read on to find out how well I think they pulled it off!

Producteev: The Ultimate Free Productivity Solution

Today we’re going to take a look at Producteev, an awesome todo app that might just be enough to have you saying adios to Backpack and Remember the Milk.

Unlimited projects and tasks, labels, due dates, reminders, collaboration, automatic web/iOS syncing, email integration, this is the free task manager you’ve been waiting for.

100 Amazing AppStorm Recommended iPhone Games

Over the past few months, we’ve run a regularly weekly series entitled “Game Friday“. Each week, we take a look at five of the best new iPhone game releases, or five particularly great games in a certain category. With so many games available for the iPhone, it can be incredibly difficult to wade through all the sub-par apps. We’re here to help!

Today, we’re offering a one-stop shop for all your iPhone gaming needs. We’ll be looking back at the different games we’ve featured over the past few months, and selecting 100 of our favourites. That should be enough inspiration to keep you playing for weeks to come!

Best of Web.AppStorm

20 Killer Email Marketing and Promotion Apps

One problem with email marketing is that even a tiny mistake or a misplaced keyword could mean that your email will end up in the spam folder. There are a number of apps that help you to maintain the balance between being informative and less annoying. Today we’ve rounded up a list of prominent players in the marketing & promotion field, after the break.

30 Incredibly Useful & Fun HTML5 Mobile Apps

It might be in its infancy, but HTML5 is the next 500 pound Guerrilla and much more as far as Internet is concerned. With features like plugin-less video playback, offline storage, geo location etc., HTML5 is on the verge of giving walled gardens like Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, Cocoa a good run for their money. After the jump, we have compiled a list of HTML5 web apps developed for accessing from your smartphones.

15 Simple Ways to Integrate Facebook into Your Website

Since now that it is clear we can’t beat them it is time to join them. There are umpteen number of ways to plug websites of any shape & kind into Facebook thereby nurturing a community, encouraging conversations, improving user engagement and increasing page views.

The choicest options and tools to tap into the billion eyeballs audience are coming up after the jump.

20 Back to School Apps and Tools for Students

A lot of you may be dreading school, but it doesn’t have to be all bad, especially if you’re prepared. For all our student subscribers out there, we at Web.AppStorm have compiled a list of websites and tools that are guaranteed to help you get the most out of your education this semester. Go back to school with confidence!

Forrst: Share More Than Just Snaps

Forrst is a fantastic place for developers and designers only where you can share snapshots, links, and code snippets with colleagues or friends. Also, you will be able to ask questions publicly and receive answers from your counterparts, or perhaps from a Forrst Ranger.

The concept is pretty similar to Dribbble but you are able to share more than snaps, which gives you a brand new social experience in the web technologies environment.

Best of Mac.AppStorm

80 Of The Most Useful Mac Tools and Utilities

Macs are awesome straight out of the box, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make them a lot better with a few quality downloads.

Today we’ve rounded up eighty of the most handy utilities to improve the basic functionality of your Mac in a number of ways. Below you’ll find almost every kind of utility you could need, from hardware controllers to maintenance software and file organization tools.

2001-2010: A Mac Odyssey

Apple have come an incredibly long way over the past decade. From the release of the very first version of OS X, right through to the iPhone 4 and iPad in recent weeks, the change we’ve seen both in technology and Apple as a company has been remarkable.

We’re paying homage to this fascinating journey today with our very own infographic, highlighting the rise of Apple over the past ten years!

5 Mac AntiVirus Tools for OS X (And Do We Need Them?)

Wait aren’t Macs supposed to be immune to viruses? Can Macs really be attacked by malware? Should you be protecting yourself?

Today we’re going to take a look at five popular Mac AntiVirus utilities and jump head first into the raging debate about whether or not they should even exist. No matter which side you’re on, you’ll definitely want to check out the information below.

Power Up Your Clipboard with ClipMenu

ClipMenu is an incredibly neat little app that we’ve mentioned in several recent articles here on AppStorm. However, we’ve never given it a proper review and wanted to take the time to show you just how cool it is.

If you’ve downloaded ClipMenu before and only given it a brief try, there is a lot of functionality that you might have missed. Below we’ll walk you through the full feature set so you can be sure to take full advantage of all that the application does.

50 Essential Mac Apps for OS X Beginners

So you just unboxed that shiny new Mac, fired it up and heard the glorious chime. Now what? It can be a little bit overwhelming to start from scratch and build a library of useful applications but we’re to help!

Today we’ll take a look at 50 awesome apps that are perfect for new OS X users switching over from a PC.

Share Your Ideas

Is there something in particular you’d like to see on the site next month? We’d absolutely love to hear your suggestions for articles, topics and giveaways – just let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading AppStorm!


Unison: Making Sense of Usenet

Ever heard of Usenet? If you haven’t, you’re not alone. Even many people that have heard of it either don’t understand it or just can’t get into it because of the lack of modern clients.

Today we’re taking a look at Unison, an app that seeks to change the complicated and enigmatic nature of Usenet by providing you with a user friendly interface that makes it easy for even a complete beginner to dive right in.

What Is Usenet?

Last week in our Colloquy review we examined what IRC chat was and how, despite it’s age, it is still an active protocol with thousands and thousands of daily users. Today we’ll again turn back the clock to a web technology that dates all the way back to the 80s. Yep, in turns out they did in fact have networked computers even before Marty and Doc Brown took a spin in the DeLorian.

Usenet, not to be confused with Skynet, is a complicated network of “newsgroups” all devoted to specific topics in much the same way that chat rooms are in IRC. However, where IRC is a live discussion system, Usenet is a threaded messaging system in which users post and reply to different messages over an extended period of time. So where IRC was the predecessor to browser-based chat rooms, Usenet was the predecessor to web forums.

Accessing Usenet

In order to access Usenet you first need a newsreader client. This is where Unison comes in. The second thing you’ll need is a service provider. While many ISPs once provided free Usenet privileges to their customers, this trend is in rapid decline and the ISPs that still offer this service are rapidly decreasing.

Fortunately, the good folks at Panic (the creators of Unison) also provide a service plan for anyone that needs access.

screenshot

Panic’s Usenet Service

As you can see, for $9/month you get 300 days of binaries and unlimited transfers. Just in case you’re not sure whether it’s worth it, Unison comes with 24 hours of free access to Usenet.

Getting Started With Unison

Because it’s from the same people that make Transmit (an awesome FTP client), Unison is predictably one of the best Usenet clients available for the Mac. The Interface is so good that even someone who knows nothing of Usenet can get up and running in minutes.

screenshot

The Unison Welcome Screen

When you open up Unison for the first time you are presented with a friendly welcome message and three simple options: use your existing server, sign up for service through Panic, or take Usenet for the 24 hour test drive that I mentioned above.

If you select the free preview option, all you need to provide is a username, password and email address. Once you click the link in the confirmation email, Usenet will automatically configure your free account with zero effort on your part. Keep in mind that it’ll take about five minutes or so for everything to activate and content to start loading.

Using The Directory

The most attractive feature of Unison is the Directory. Here the mass array of newsgroups are filtered into easy to understand topics. Whether you like gaming, music, Mac stuff or even animals, there’s a mess of newsgroups waiting for you.

screenshot

The Directory

When you click on a topic, an extensive list of newsgroups pops up for you to browse. Some of the newsgroup names are descriptive of what you’ll find inside while others are a little more cryptic. At this point it’s basically a trial and error game; try a few out and see if you can find some you like!

screenshot

A List of Newsgroups

Browsing All Groups

If you’re a bit more familiar with Usenet, the directory might not provide you with enough browsing flexibility. These users should check out the “All Groups” section where you can find a more exhaustive listing of all the groups available.

The groups are listed in a column view just like that of the Finder. Each category drills down to something more specific until you reach the newsgroup you’re looking for.

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All Newsgroups

Interacting With A Newsgroup

Double clicking on a newsgroup from either of the views shown above will insert that group into your sidebar and open it up in the main panel (control click to delete it from your sidebar).

When you open up a newsgroup it’s a lot like viewing threaded messages in Mail.app. The main panel contains a list of posts that have been made. When you open the little arrow next to a post you can see all of the various replies.

screenshot

A Message Thread Inside a Newsgroup

On the bottom there are options for sorting the results based on the post type. You can choose to see all posts, only written messages or only file uploads.

There are several email-like controls at the top of the window. From here you can refresh the listing, get more listings, reply to a post, create a new message, etc.

screenshot

Unison Toolbar

When you reply or post a new message, again the email metaphor is strongly present. Panic isn’t seeking to ripoff Mail here, instead they’re presenting you with a familiar interface so you feel comfortable posting and replying in Unison right from the outset with zero learning curve.

screenshot

Creating a New Message

As with online forums, the types of posts you’ll come across vary widely depending on the newsgroup you’re in. You’ll find everything from nerds providing tech support to adults engaging in the kind of activities they’re prone to engage in when anyone provides such a forum.

Wait, Files?

If you’ve never heard of Usenet until today, there’s a little devil sitting one your shoulder saying “I wonder what type of files people upload?” The kind that you’re thinking is exactly right.

Though there are legally legitimate file sharing activities happening here, Usenet is also home to a vast network of pirated content available freely to anyone willing to click the download button.

screenshot

Mac Software Available for Download

As an example, the screenshot above shows one of the many groups dedicated to distributing Mac software. I can’t help but find it very amusing that it’s conceivably quite easy to use Unison to pirate Unison.

It’s not just software either. Pretty much any intellectual property that you’re in the mood to steal is easily obtainable with very little effort. This includes media files such as music and videos. You can even preview media files before you download.

screenshot

Previewing MP3s

Since it can be tedious to locate specific items by searching individual newsgroups, there’s a built-in global search that helps you quickly find any application, song, video, or document you want.

screenshot

Global Usenet Search

Is it Safe?

Can you start pirating content from Usenet without any moral or legal implications? Probably not. More important for many of you though is the question of whether or not you’ll get caught.

The popular arguments online currently suggest that Usenet is currently one of the safer havens for pirates. The advantages over torrents are numerous. Among these is the fact that it’s not a true P2P file sharing network. Users download files from a server and aren’t forced to become sharers themselves. The government “usually” spends their time tracking down the distributors of the content rather than individual downloaders scattered across the globe.

There’s actually a raging debate over whether or not it’s illegal to download pirated content. Since copyright laws clearly state that it’s illegal to “reproduce the copyrighted work” many claim that a loophole exists for those that merely download and use the content without themselves distributing it to others.

However, it’s interesting to consider that merely clicking the download link creates a digital reproduction of a copyrighted work that you haven’t paid for. Further there are laws in place against buying goods that you know are stolen. If we as a society have deemed “purchasing stolen goods” as unlawful, then it could be seen as hypocritical to deem downloading pirated software as a legally legitimate action.

However, morality and legality aside, the most interesting reason that Usenet is said to be relatively safe at the moment is simply because most politicians, lawmakers, media personnel and law enforcement employees either don’t know is exists or don’t understand it in the least. “Torrent” is a hot buzzword and so popular torrent sites are being shut down left and right, but Usenet is an obscure secret entirely off the radar of many people in power.

As an example, most of you knew what a torrent was long before today but a large chunk of you had no idea what Usenet was before reading this article. As further proof, run a Google News search for “bittorrent” and check out the tons of articles that show up and contrast that with the content that shows up when you search for “usenet.”

Unison: Closing Thoughts

Though a large portion of this article was dedicated to Usenet, the intended focus here is actually Unison. I’m admittedly no Usenet expert, but Unison is by far the best client I can find (most seem terribly outdated). Before coming across Unison, I didn’t really have a grasp of what Usenet was or how to get to it. Unison makes the whole process easy to understand and makes it really simple to jump in and get involved.

The Unison interface is excellent and the functionality is flawless. Whether you’re looking for a way to wrap your mind around Usenet for the first time or are a seasoned expert looking for a great Mac client, Unison is the way to go. Check out the free trial for both the app and the service if you’re not convinced.

If you’re looking for a few alternatives check out Nemo, MT-Newswatcher, SABnzbd, and Hogwasher.

Leave a comment below and let us know whether you had ever heard of Usenet before today, whether you or not you use it (and how) and what you favorite Mac client is.


20 Free and Useful Adobe Illustrator Scripts


You have a unique opportunity to expand the functionality of Adobe Illustrator. There is nothing easier than using scripts, just select the object and run the script you need! The scripts presented in this post will save you plenty of time and will make your work more pleasant and efficient. Believe me, it is worth your attention. All the scripts have been tested in Illustrator CS3 and CS4.

Continue reading “20 Free and Useful Adobe Illustrator Scripts”

A Step-by-Step Approach to Conveying Ideas with Music – Audio Premium

In this week’s Audio Premium content, Ryan Leach explores how you can use music to express feelings and ideas in a completely intangible way. He takes a detailed step-by-step approach, with full examples including notation and audio examples.

To learn more about what you get as part of Audio Premium, read this. To take a peek inside this tutorial, hit the jump!

One of the greatest things about music is it’s ability to express feelings and ideas in a completely intangible way. Music can convey ideas as disparate as water, springtime, machinery, melancholy, and exuberance. When you’re just starting out as a composer or songwriter, using instrumental music to express specific ideas can be a daunting and overwhelming task.

The purpose of this tutorial is to present a step-by-step process you can use to convey a non-musical idea in musical terms. It is by no means the only approach, and often times pure intuition is the best way to go, but it’s a logical and easy way for a beginning composer or songwriter to get started.

I’ll begin by briefly discussing the basic idea of program music, and then go on to the step-by-step process, followed by a few examples of putting the process into use.

Here’s the kind of music you’ll be able to create once you harness the knowledge inside:

Download audio file (example.mp3)

Table of Contents

  • Absolute vs. Program Music
  • Program Music Today
  • Step 1 – Know What You’re Trying To Say
  • Step 2 – Rhythm
  • Step 3 – Harmony
  • Step 4 – Melody
  • Step 5 – Orchestration
  • Example – Step 1 – Sorrow
  • Example – Step 2 – Rhythm
  • Example – Step 3 – Harmony
  • Example – Step 4 – Melody
  • Example – Step 5 – Orchestration
  • Example – Filling out the piece
  • Conclusion

Existing Premium members can log-in and download. Not a Plus member? Join now.


Workshop #117: Monolation by Sigi Mueller

At Audiotuts+ we regularly put up a reader track for workshopping and critique (find out how to submit a track). This is how it works: you upload your song, and every week or so we’ll publish one here and step away from the podium. The floor is yours to talk about the track and how the artist can fix problems in and improve upon the mix and the song.

This track has been submitted for your friendly, constructive criticism. They have put their track (and their heart and soul) in your hands to learn and get useful feedback.

  • Do you enjoy the song or track itself? Does it have potential?
  • Can the arrangement be improved?
  • How did you find the mix? What would you do differently?
  • What do you enjoy about the rhythm track? What can be done to improve it?
  • Is the choice of instruments relevant and effective for the style/song?
  • Are the lyrics (if any) effective? Does the style, arrangement and genre of the song suit them?
  • Can you suggest any specific techniques that might improve the track?
  • Do you have any other constructive feedback?

Monolation by Sigi Mueller

Artist’s website: www.sigimusic.com

Description of the track:

An electronic song I wrote while listening and researching the early development of electronic music.

Download audio file (Monolation.mp3)

Terms of Use: Users can stream the track for the purposes of giving feedback but cannot download or redistribute it.

Have a listen to the track and offer your constructive criticism for this Workshop in the comments section.

Submit Your Tracks for Workshopping

Need constructive criticism on your own tracks? Submit them using this form.


Captivating and Amazing Out of Bounds Photo Effects


Out of Bounds (OOB) is an interesting photo effect where the object or scene in the image seems to jump right out of the photo or its borders. It is a photo manipulation technique to add an illusion of 3-dimsnsionality to a flat photo. Getting an interesting OOB effect depends largely on the photo angle and the overall execution of the concept. It is lots of fun to create an OOB effect. You can use any photo editing software such as Photoshop or Gimp. With some imagination, creativity and basic photo editing knowledge you can create an amazing OOB image that captivates the viewer’s attention. This article showcases 50 most spectacular examples of Out of Bounds photo effects. We have also featured some excellent tutorials if you are interested in learning how to create this effect in Photoshop. So lets venture into this mesmerizing world where you will find creatures, people, and vehicles jumping right out of the screen.

50 Captivating Out of Bounds Creations

The Train

Lizard Popping Out

Get Me Out

Get Me Out is an amazing surreal styled Out of Bounds effect. The old antique photo frame, the expression of the subject and the clever use of lighting and shadow gives the entire image an extra dimension and adds a surreal effect. You can easily create a photo effect like this with a great original image, some stock resources, if necessary and with the effective use of Photoshop . Some of the tutorials featured at the bottom of this article can also guide you to create a surreal Out of Bounds illustration.

Bridge

Napoleon

Wildlife Book

You would not want to read a wildlife book where animals come out of the book! The concept of creating an Out of Bounds effect with the book is brilliant. The idea is beautifully executed.

VROOOOOM!

You might have seen many Out of Bounds effects with a car jumping out of photo frame, but this one is fantastic. The dust, the tire tracks and the whole execution of the concept adds action and depth which makes the outcome realistic.

Dress Lady

Fish – Out of Bounds

Snake Book

Snake Book is another very unique and original idea where the subject, a snake in this case, is shown coming out of magazine’s page. It is amazing to see how 2 different images (a book and a snake image) are put together and how the whole composition is given an Out of Bounds effect.

Holding Hands

Holding Hands is a clever example of what you can do with Photoshop. The concept is brilliantly executed with five different images of hands pulled together to create a simple yet incredible piece.

Bridge To Somewhere

Hungry Snail

A cool Out of Bounds effect of a snail coming out of a photo for food. In this meticulously executed idea, four different source images are used and they work really great together.

Hang On

Taking Off

The Escape

The idea of television sinking in the sea and the cute joyous fishes jumping out of its screen makes The Escape a visually appealing piece of Out of Bounds photo effect.

Sports Gallery

Escape in Time

Cave Nymphs

Out of Boundry

Possible with Photoshop

Slides

Slides is an amazing and unique style of Out of Bounds effect with the creatures coming out of slides. The little details like water drops and dirt really add to the over all image and keeps the viewers attention.

Interactive

That is one smart monkey who can jump out of photograph for food, a very interactive piece indeed.

Waterfall

Humm, Pizza

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Humm, pizza is a drooling and mouth watering Out of Bounds effect. If you ever wished you could eat your favorite food directly from an advertisement or photo, you can do that with Photoshop.

The Lady Loves Chocolates

And if you think pizza isn’t enough, here are some chocolates.

Zodiac

Honeymoon

Honeymoon is a cool romantic example of Out of Bounds effect. The expression on the face of subject, the way he is jumping out of frame, the colors of the image and the background scene makes it an awesome piece of work.

OOB Guy

Battle

Out of Bounds – OOB Art

Loves Me

Surfing

Pulling Crackers

In Pulling Crackers, subjects are coming out of hinged picture frame. The soft pastel colors of the images in frame and all the decoration around it makes it a beautiful piece.

Internet Kiss

Riding China Style

Living Art

The Easy Way

Photoshop Solutions

A creative way to solve water shortage problems.

Comming Out Clean

Spiderman

Reaching Out of Bounds

Catch of the Day

Bubbles

Sticking Out

Snail

Beer

Hold Yourself Together

This actually is not an out and out photo manipulation but a drawing done with a graphite pencil from a reference. The style of this portrait is really very creative, all the pieces of polaroids with the hands holding them makes the concept an interesting Out of Bounds artwork.

Little Artist

Bridge

It is impossible to not get inspired and fascinated. Well, I also created one Out of Bounds effect.

Tutorials on Out of Bounds Effect

Create an Out of Bounds Fantasy Illustration

This fantastic tutorial from Psdtuts+ shows you how to create an Out of Bounds fantasy illustration where you create a painting on a wall which is a real world. It guides you through the process of creating a fantasy scene, making water pour out of a painting. You can create this surreal illustration with the use of absorption effect, colors and a variety of stock resources. You can also watch a video tutorial complimenting this text and image tutorial. If you have never experimented with surreal concepts in your artworks and want to incorporate it, we have an excellent Creative Sessions’ article, Incorporating Surrealism Concepts into Your Digital Artwork to guide you.

Out-of-Bounds

A simple and easy tutorial that can get you started with Out of Bounds photo effects. This tutorial shows you how after carefully analyzing the image you should decide where the best perspective is for the frame (the part that will set it out of bounds), how to hide the part of image with Layer Mask and how to add the shadows to add the extra dimension to the image.

Create an Out of Bound Photo in Photoshop

This easy to follow tutorial shows you how to create Out of Bounds photo effects in Photoshop using the Polygon Lasso Tool, Warp Effect and how you can tweak the colors using color saturation levels.

3D Border Breakout

A detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to create an Out of Bounds effect. This tutorial also shows you how to give the illusion that the subjects are jumping out of the picture by adding depth through perspective, shadows and some imagination.

Photos Out of Bounds

Here is a fun Photoshop tutorial that shows you how to make a picture jump out of the frame into another photo. You’ll use two images for this tutorial, Pen Tool to extract the part of image, Transform Tool to set up perspective and Layer Styles for more effects.

Using Photoshop To Make an Image Jump Out of Frame

The following tutorial teaches you how to create an Out of Bounds photo using basic Photoshop skills to isolate the target, giving it a realistic look with proper perspective and other effects. It highlights the importance of choosing the right photo to get a true 3D effect.

Create an Out of Bounds Surreal Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

This tutorial is a detailed walkthrough of an artwork, which shows you how to create a surreal out of bounds effect in Photoshop. The tutorial uses variety of stock images and highlights the advantages of adjustment layers and how important they are to create a intense photo manipulation. In this detailed step by step walk through it is interesting to see how the subject, a shark in this case is shown coming out of antique photo frame and how the photo manipulation is given a realistic look using various Photoshop tools and effects.

Midnight Magic Scene Creation in Photoshop

This again is a very interesting tutorial if you want to show a subject coming in or going out of TV screen and a big photo frame. This tutorial demonstrates how you can give a dramatic effect to the scene by using Blending Modes, Layer Styles and Photoshop Filters.

Photo Cutout

This tutorial demonstrates a very simple technique where the subject is extracted from the image using Extract tool and a clever use of Layer Mask to hide the part of image to create a effect that makes the subject look like it’s coming in or out of a photo. In this tutorial you will learn how to use Photoshop’s Extract tool, Layer Masks and Layer Styles to create a cutout from a photo.

Out of Bounds Photoshop Action

And finally, a bonus! This actually is not a tutorial but a Photoshop Action which simplifies the steps needed to create the impressive Out of Bounds photo effect. The Action allows you to define the border size, the perspective of the image, the out-of-bounds areas and you can also add the shadow effects. The action is very flexible and makes use of layer masks, which allows you to fine tune the effect at a later stage. There is also a video that guides you through the process of using this Photoshop Action to create an amazing OOB photo effect. At Panosfx you will also find some more great Photoshop Actions.

Further Resources

As you work through above tutorials to create an OOB effect (or any photo manipulation) it is essential to know some of the basic Photoshop techniques like working with Layers, Layer Masks, Selection and Transform techniques. Below we have listed the links to some of those tutorials.

Using AS3XLS with the Flex Framework: Data Display Options

This tutorial will cover implementation of the AS3XLS ActionScript 3.0 library for the Flex framework. This time, we’ll demonstrate editable properties of the Flex datagrid and the use of various charting components to display associated data imported from Excel .xls files.

View Screencast

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A Beginner’s Guide to Web Video

Web video is hot. From YouTube to Skype video chat and all that falls in between, it’s everywhere. You may be wondering if video can help you do your job — or even find a job. But you may also find it daunting. Don’t you need to have a film degree to do video on the web? Don’t you need to spend thousands of dollars on cameras, lights and microphones to make anything worth sharing? Luckily, the answer to both of those questions is “no.”

All you really need is a good idea and a goal.

Think It Through

The big caveat to this post is that you shouldn’t do video because:

  1. you think it’s cool;
  2. everyone else is doing it; or
  3. for kicks.

While this post outlines some easier entry points to using video to help you do your job or grow your business, it still takes time and effort. You should only embark down the road of video if you think it will ultimately help you achieve your goals. Ask yourself the following questions before getting started:

  • Is video a relevant medium for my communications needs? Do I have something visual to share?
  • Will I be able to create a quality product?
  • Is this what my audience wants — or needs?

The Tools

There are millions of cameras out there, 98% of which are probably more “camera” than you need if you’re just starting out. The Flip line of cameras produce good video and are highly portable. In the same vein (but slightly more powerful) is the Kodak Zi8, which retails for approximately $150, or its cousin the PlaySport. Invest in a memory card, a table tripod and a small electret condenser microphone (good video is about 75% good audio) and for about $200, you’ve got a powerful starter video kit.

Online Video Editing

If you don’t have the budget to purchase video editing software (or if you aren’t completely confident in your skill set), there are a few good online video editors that are both easy and free. YouTube recently launched YouTube Editor, a simple and intuitive web-based tool that allows you to edit together clips you have already uploaded to YouTube. JayCut and Kaltura are slightly more robust online video editors with additional options, such as Kaltura’s video-PowerPoint syncing.

That said, if you have a Mac, iMovie is already at your disposal and is an easy and powerful editing tool. You can also purchase Adobe Premiere Elements or Final Cut Express at relatively affordable prices.

Simple Does It

Not every video has to be a complex production. Sometimes, simple says it best. Just sitting in front of the camera and sharing a story can be powerful — or better yet, sitting someone else in front of the camera and have them share their story. Have two people interview each other or discuss a topic. Interview your boss — or your intern. Describe why you want a job in your chosen industry, maybe sharing a personal anecdote or two. Do a quick demo of how a product works, or give a tour of your office, neighborhood or production facility.

Stay short — two minutes is a good guideline — and sketch out a preliminary script or storyboard before you flip the on switch. Even if you don’t have editing capability, a raw video can be powerful as well…if the content is good.

Video Hosting

So, your video is all done. Now, where do you put it? YouTube is the most popular video hosting service, though the majority of users cannot upload videos longer than 15 minutes. Vimeo is another popular service that is known for the high quality of its video display, and it offers an affordable Pro account option. Blip.tv is more geared around episodic content, while the TubeMogul service can distribute video content across multiple platforms. You have a multitude of choices, so decide which one suits your video (and your business) best and get it uploaded.

Text Is Still Important

Let’s say you’ve created the perfect little video. You upload it to YouTube… and nothing happens. No hits, no buzz, no nothing. The first thing to check is the text you published with the video. What’s the title? Description? Tags? Category? People watch video on YouTube, sure, but they find video through searching. Make sure the text around your video is appropriate to help people find it. Add relevant links to the description field. Also, if you have a blog, Twitter account, e-mail newsletter or other channel, share the link to widen your audience.

Search Stories

Do you want to create a quick, slick high-impact video for absolutely no cost? YouTube offers one option with its Search Stories feature. You may remember the Google commercial that ran during the Super Bowl detailing, through Google search terms, a Parisian love affair — that was a Search Story. You can pick your search terms and types and select from a varied library of quality background music clips.

Skype Video Conferencing

Skype is a software and service that allows you to make voice calls over the internet, but another key feature of Skype is video conferencing. Tools like Vodburner or IMCapture let you capture Skype video conversations to video that you can edit and publish later. This can be helpful if you want to preserve video of a long distance teleconference or record and publish a discussion between two individuals who are in separate locations.

Screencasting

If you have a software product or a website you are trying to market or teach, screencasting is a method of capturing on-screen activity to a video file, so you can create video walk-throughs of website or software features. TechSmith’s Camtasia or Jing software can do this well, as can the open source CamStudio and the higher-end Adobe Captivate. Most screencasting tools allow you to perform basic edits on the captured video. It is also possible to capture video from videoconferencing services such as WebEx and GoToMeeting.

Webcasting

If you have a webcam — preferably one not built into the laptop — you can publish live, streaming video of an event. Services such as Livestream, UStream and Justin.TV provide platforms at a range of price points. Some services couple moderated chat alongside the live video so you can offer your audience an interactive experience.

For a simple laptop setup, you probably don’t want to webcast anything too ambitious, like a large seminar. But if it’s your boss announcing a new product launch or company name change, that’s simple enough to do. Be sure to acquire a condenser mic to plug into the mic jack of your computer, since good audio is critical.

Don’t Worry About Viral

If you go in planning to create a viral video, in all likelihood you will not end up with a viral video. The producer does not define viral; the audience does. The best (and only) thing you as a video producer can do is create great content that speaks to your audience. The rest is out of your hands. But if your content is good, you’ve set yourself up for a possible success.

Want to Learn More?

Videoblogging pioneer Steve Garfield’s book “Get Seen” is a good entry-level overview of how businesses can use video.

Can video help you do your job, find a job or build your business? Let us know if it can – and how it can – in the comments.