etc: Mac users have two convenient ways to donate to Haitian relief efforts. Apple is taking donations for the Red Cross via iTunes, and indie developers are donating all proceeds for sales on January 20.
Mac users have two convenient ways to donate to Haitian relief efforts. Apple is taking donations for the Red Cross via iTunes, and indie developers are donating all proceeds for sales on January 20.
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iTunes Store, Indie Relief
Brief: Apple allegedly preparing devs for mystery demo in January
Apple is telling “select” developers to prepare their apps for a demo in January—one that won’t be limited to a fixed 320×480 iPhone screen—according to sources speaking to Business Insider. (Update: the rumor mill has now placed its bets on January 26.) This is offered up as the latest evidence that Apple is planning to introduce its long-rumored tablet very soon, although it’s not expected to go on sale in January.
Apple apparently hasn’t told developers much, except that apps for the demo next month should be available in full resolution. This, of course, indicates that they will run on a device with a larger screen than that of the iPhone and iPod touch, and the latest rumors about the as-yet-unannounced tablet indicate that Apple may be going for a 10″ or 11″ screen.
Other recent rumors have indicated that the tablet will be more about media than computing—unsurprising, since computing on a device that is limited to tablet form can be kind of a pain at times—and that it may be available to consumers in the spring of 2010. However, if Apple is telling iPhone app developers to prepare for this demo, it would support the previous rumor that the device will be running a modified version of iPhone OS.
At this point, it seems all but guaranteed that something is up at One Infinite Loop (the rumors, whether correct or not, always come to a head just before an announcement). The only questions that remain are: what will it actually look like, how will it work, and how much will it cost?
etc: VideoLAN Client, an open source media player, may have to…
VideoLAN Client, an open source media player, may have to put its Mac version on hold because of a lack of active developers. If you can help keep this great software updated, please do!
Schiller’s spin on App Store issues ignores real complaints
Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, has made another attempt to address numerous complaints about the precarious iPhone App Store approval process that have circulated in the media recently. Schiller’s point of view is that the approval process is valuable to developers and consumers, and that Apple is trying to “learn and improve” upon the process. That’s more or less what Schiller said in when he addressed these issues over four months ago, though we have no evidence that any significant improvements have actually been implemented.
In an interview with BusinessWeek, Schiller attempted to explain away the problems by noting that most rejections, about 90 percent of them, are for technical issues. This includes bugs, use of unaproved APIs, or unexpected behavior, Schiller said. He further said that developers are “generally glad” to have this safety net that the review process provides. However, not all bugs get caught, so how much a benefit this is for most developers seems a matter for debate.
Respected developers begin fleeing from App Store platform (Updated)
Apple’s control over the App Store—which seems arbitrary at times—still frustrates developers. That much isn’t a surprise, but some developers have become frustrated to the point that they have decided to simply halt iPhone development altogether. Facebook’s Joe Hewitt, Second Gear’s Justin Williams, and long-time Mac software developer Rogue Amoeba have all recently decided that enough is enough, and the loss of these developers and others could spell a troubling future for the App Store. True, it has over 100,000 applications, but how many of them are created with the kind of care and passion we take for granted in the Mac software world?
Hewitt, a respected Web developer who previously worked on Firefox and its highly regarded developer plug-in Firebug, recently handed off responsibility for Facebook’s successful iPhone app to another engineer at the company. Hewitt cited his frustration with Apple’s approval process for the move:
Respected Developers Begin Fleeing From App Store Platform (Updated)
Apple’s control over the App Store—which seems arbitrary at times—still frustrates developers. That much isn’t a surprise, but some developers have become frustrated to the point that they have decided to simply halt iPhone development altogether. Facebook’s Joe Hewitt, Second Gear’s Justin Williams, and long-time Mac software developer Rogue Amoeba have all recently decided that enough is enough, and the loss of these developers and others could spell a troubling future for the App Store. True, it has over 100,000 applications, but how many of them are created with the kind of care and passion we take for granted in the Mac software world?
Hewitt, a respected Web developer who previously worked on Firefox and its highly regarded developer plug-in Firebug, recently handed off responsibility for Facebook’s successful iPhone app to another engineer at the company. Hewitt cited his frustration with Apple’s approval process for the move:
Respected developers begin fleeing from App Store platform
Apple’s control over the App Store—which seems arbitrary at times—still frustrates developers. That much isn’t a surprise, but some developers have become frustrated to the point that they have decided to simply halt iPhone development altogether. Facebook’s Joe Hewitt, Second Gear’s Justin Williams, and long-time Mac shareware developer Rogue Amoeba have all recently decided that enough is enough, and the loss of these developers and others could spell a troubling future for the App Store. True, it has over 100,000 applications, but how many of them are created with the kind of care and passion we take for granted in the Mac software world?
Hewitt, a respected Web developer who previously worked on Firefox and its highly regarded developer plug-in Firebug, recently handed off responsibility for Facebook’s successful iPhone app to another engineer at the company. Hewitt cited his frustration with Apple’s approval process for the move:
Week in Apple: Magic Mouse, ra1n & sn0w, iPhone chicanery
We gave you the lowdown on how well Apple’s new Magic Mouse works, told you about a Dutch teen that used port scanning to find vulnerable jailbroken iPhones, showed how less-than-honest iPhone developers claim to have developed others’ apps, and how Apple may or may not be dropping support for Atom processors. If you missed any of that, here’s a look at top Apple-related stories this week.
2009 iPhone Tech Talk dates and cities announced
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference remains one of the main attractions of the year for developers. And now that the iPhone has come into the picture, it’s that much more popular with the influx of new devs—indie and corporate—trying to succeed with their iPhone and iPod touch apps. If you fall into that category but haven’t yet had the opportunity to hit up WWDC, Apple may be coming to you with its own series of iPhone Tech Talks to take place through the end of 2009.
The dates for the 2009 world tour are posted on Apple’s Developer Connection, starting in San Jose, CA on October 29. The tour then hits up Seattle, New York, Toronto, Paris, London, Hamburg, and Beijing before concluding in Tokyo on December 15. On the agenda are discussions ranging from more general tips to mastering certain technologies, such as Open GL ES. And, if you’re already part of Apple’s developer program, the talks are free.
The Tech Talks aren’t new—Apple had a world tour in 2008 as well—but they are apparently popular among those who aren’t able to travel halfway across the world every year. The tour includes fewer cities this year than in 2008 (we’re going to go ahead and blame the economy and Canada), so that much will probably be a disappointment. However, if you’re even within reasonable driving distance, it could be worth a look—or at least worth checking out the free wine and cheese reception.
Mozilla coders are misguided over App Store criticisms
Two prominent web developers involved with Mozilla have taken new positions at Palm, heading up developer relations for is webOS platform. While both Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith extol the open web as the future of app delivery, both have made potshots at Apple and its closed App Store. This is despite the fact that Apple hasn’t in any way limited web-based apps from being delivered over the iPhone, and still actively encourages developers to consider the web as an alternate app deployment method.
Apple has been at the forefront of promoting open web standards, building its Safari browser around the open source WebKit rendering engine and embracing open standards such as CSS3 and HTML5. Apple has also had a hand in creating new standards, such as the <canvas> element, which has been adopted by every major browser except for Internet Explorer. The company also built its MobileMe service using the open source SproutCore JavaScript framework.
