Category Archives: Gadgets

iPhone Development Resources

I promised a list of the websites I mentioned in my talk at the HTC on Wednesday. Instead of putting my own list together, I defer to the master: Ari Braginsky. This google doc is where I found most of the sites that I follow daily:

iPhone Resources

It’s a huge list, so I’ll give you a few must haves.

  • Mobile Orchard is a great iPhone Development Blog. There’s lots of great info there, and a pretty good podcast as well.
  • Games from Within – Noel Llopis writes about his experiences as an indie iPhone game developer.
  • Jeff LaMarche’s iPhone Development Blog – Jeff wrote the Apress book Beginning iPhone Development, and his blog is one of the best places to get started with OpenGL ES on the iPhone, especially if you don’t have any OpenGL experience.
  • 148Apps.biz – All about the business of developing iPhone apps. It’s also the home of the app store metrics.
  • TouchArcade is a great iPhone game review site, and a lot of developers are active in the forum there.
  • iPhone Developers on Twitter is a community maintained Google spreadsheet where you can find the Twitter handles of thousands of iPhone developers.

These three iPhone analytics companies also blog metrics periodically:

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

As promised, Here are the slides for my talk at the Houston Technology Center’s Web Based Startup School on 6/17/09. The slides aren’t really useful on their own since I only used them as a visual aid in the talk, but they might trigger some memories for those in attendance.


Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? – What it Takes to Become an iPhone Developer

Abstract:

Since the opening of the iPhone app store, many developers have turned themselves into true success stories. While these stories are more exception than rule, their telling has inspired countless others to give iPhone development a shot. The app store is a revolution in software distribution, and it gives independent developers the power to make their own success. If you are considering becoming an iPhone developer, or if you are just curious what it’s all about, this session is for you. You will learn how to get the SDK, how to join the iPhone developer program and some common iPhone business models. We will also look at the technical side of iPhone development and get a look at the tools of the SDK. Since this session falls on the day of the release of iPhone OS 3.0, we will also get a good look at the new features in the OS and SDK that enable even more rapid development and new business models.

[Download PDF]

Houston AT&T Store Chosen By Apple Designers

When looking for an attractive looking AT&T store to to showcase on its “[Where to buy iPhone](http://www.apple.com/iphone/buy/ “Apple – iPhone – Where to Buy”)” page, Apple’s designers matched the Houston AT&T store on 59 between Edloe and Weslayan with the 5th Avenue Apple Store. As far as cell carrier stores go, it’s nice, but I’ll still be at the Galleria Apple Store on July 11th.

Houston AT&T Store Next to 5th Ave Apple Store

*(Hat tip to the very awesome [Swamplot](http://swamplot.com/59-feeder-att-a-starring-role-in-the-iphone-ecosystem/2008-06-26/ “59 Feeder AT&T: A Starring Role in the iPhone Ecosystem » Swamplot: Houston’s Real Estate Landscape”))*

Apple’s Influence on the Smartphone Market is Painfully Obvious

Blackberry 9000 First Look
I met a Nokia developer the other day at a local event. We chatted about mobile phones for a good while, and he showed me a couple of the Nokia smartphones he was working with. While none of them are as blatant a knockoff as [this one](http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/29/nokias-iphone-no-seriously/ “Nokia’s iPhone — no, seriously – Engadget”), we both marveled at the strikingly familiar design: shiny and black, surrounded by a chrome ring. RIM’s newest, ([the Blackberry 9000](http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/28/blackberry-9000-in-the-wild/ “BlackBerry 9000 in the wild – Engadget Mobile”)) is no exception. Look familiar?

It’s no secret that Apple has snagged a huge portion of the smartphone market in the last 9 months. In fact, Apple and the iPhone [catapulted to #2 in the U.S. market](http://www.switched.com/2008/02/07/iphone-second-in-u-s-smartphone-market-share/ “iPhone Second In U.S. Smartphone Market Share – Switched”) in its first 6 months on the scene. As a new entrant to the market with a *single device* competing against established players hawking multiple devices, that is quite an accomplishment.

With that kind of success, Apple’s competitors have been scrambling to crack the recipe to Apple’s secret sauce. So far, they have all failed miserably. While they have all failed in slightly different ways, it is clear that no one in the smartphone market “gets it” like Apple does. **It’s the software stupid!** Yes, the iPhone is a gorgeous piece of hardware, but, like every other Apple computer, the true power lies in the software. Steve Jobs understands this, and he has said, multiple times, that Apple is a software company. The company makes its own hardware to complement its software and to allow its developers the control they need to produce amazing software.

Many people have asked me over the past 9 months whether they should get an iPhone or some other smartphone. As much as I love my iPhone, I’ve hesitated to recommend it to everyone. That changed at the beginning of March. Thanks to [Apple’s announcement](http://www.macworld.com/article/132400/2008/03/iphonesdk.html “Macworld | Apple unveils iPhone SDK”) of the iPhone SDK and accompanying [iPhone 2.0](http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/06/iphone-20-enterprise-ready-developer-ready/ “iPhone 2.0: Enterprise Ready. Developer Ready.”) software update due out in June, I am now bullish on the iPhone, and I won’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone for business or personal use.

Apple has made the iPhone business ready by adding support for Exchange ActiveSync, Cicso IPSec VPN, and making some much needed improvements to the email client. Also, as it has done with Mac OS X on the desktop, Apple has made building applications for the iPhone simple and accessible to any software developer. The icing on the cake? For $99/year and a 30% cut of sales, Apple will list your application in the ubiquitous iPhone app store, and the company will handle all distribution and billing. The developer is just cut a check at the end of the month. This allows bright developers to do what they do best: build cool applications.

The game is changing again, and I have little doubt that Apple will continue to be a force in the mobile market. The rest of this year is going to be very exciting for those of us who love mobile devices, and I’m ecstatic that I will be able to contribute to it.

Fsckers

I am not a happy camper at the moment. After 3 days of incessantly reloading the order page for my brand new Wii bundle (for which my credit card has already been charged), this is the email I got this evening:

>Hello Nathan,
>
>Thank you for shopping at Buy.com.
>
>At Buy.com we strive to provide the widest assortment of high-quality products at the lowest
>prices on earth. However, sometimes circumstances beyond our control affect our selection.
>
>We were recently informed that the item listed below from order #XXXXXXXX
>is no longer available from that supplier. Please accept our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.

What!? It was in stock when I ordered it 3 days ago. It took 2 days of order “Processing” to get to “Sent to Warehouse” status. After that, it didn’t take the warehouse long to dash my hopes of having a Wii any time in the near future. I was soooo ready to play Zelda next week. Buy.com is going to have a hard time earning my business ever again.

Smart Surveillance == ED 209?

> researchers at the University of Texas in Austin are hoping its smart surveillance system can lend a hand in detecting that pent-up rage. The “computer vision system” can reportedly analyze human movements as they occur, and distinguish between “friendly behaviors such as shaking hands, and aggressive actions like punching, pushing,”

> [Smart surveillance systems may soon detect violent behavior](http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/26/smart-surveillance-systems-may-soon-detect-violent-behavior/)

Although this looks really cool, I can’t help but worry that it will turn out like ED 209 in RoboCop some day.

You know, like this: