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Seven is the new black

By on June 29, 2012 in Technology

So Google have announced the Nexus 7 Android tablet. Available to pre-order now from the Google play store and shipping in a few weeks. It’s priced very aggressively at £159 in UK ($199 US) and will be running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It actually looks pretty good. No carrier stuff stuck on top of the base Android. Consensus seems to be that the main competitor to this is the Amazon Kindle Fire.

I think that this new Nexus 7 will also have an impact on the iPad tablet market. The cheapest iPad in the UK is £329. That’s for the iPad 2 that is still for sale. The 3rd Generation iPad, with its simply stunning screen, starts at £399. That means that the Nexus is well under half the price of the cheapest iPad. It’s true that the iPad, with its higher resolution screen, can be used for different types of tablet apps than are possible on a 7 inch screen. But I think that the low entry price of the Nexus will cause people to stop and think about what to buy. Especially in schools. Getting two Nexus tablets for each iPad will help schools deliver on a 1:1 device programme.

So what should Apple do? I think that they should do a 7 inch tablet device. But I don’t think it should be an iPad 7. They should use the iPod brand to fill this space. It’s clear that over the last few years that the iPhone has cannibalised some of the iPod sales. The iPod touch with the 3.5 retina display still sells well. It’s like an iPhone without the mobile radio, which is useful in a lot of situations. I think that Apple should target the 7-inch touch device market with an iPod touch 7. It would give people the option of using the iOS platform, at a lower price point than the £329 and higher cost for iPad. This would leave the iPad name for the premium tablet space (which Apple owns). An iPod touch 7 could run current iPhone and iPod touch apps doubled up. On a 7 inch retina screen this would be okay. Developers would need design new apps targeted at the 7 inch screen as well.

I wonder if we’ll see an iPod touch 7 at this years September iPod event.

National App Development Month – NaAppDevMo

By on November 13, 2011 in Technology

I’m deep into NaNoWriMo for the 2nd year at present. It’s designed to get you to forget about reasons why you can’t write a novel length piece of fiction (well 50,000 words anyway, a short novel!) and just get you writing with abandon for the month of November. It’s great fun, and it works. Seeing that relentless slope add 1667 words to where you should be every day is a great motivator. No one expects the 50,000, or more, words that you will have in Scrivener on the 1st December will be something that can be published. No, what you will have will be a chunk of a story that you can add to, edit like blazes, and maybe at some point in the future, have something good. NaNoWriMo is a kick-starter.

I was thinking recently that it would be useful to have a month to focus on doing an app from start to finish. I’ve dabbled with development for ages, without knuckling down and getting something done. I’ve decided to do it in December. Take 31 days and use my spare time to do an iPhone app that I want for myself. I floated the idea on Twitter and a few people seemed interested in doing something themselves. Of course I’m doing an iPhone app, but there is no reason that any other sort of app couldn’t be done. A Macintosh app, a Windows Phone 7 app, an Android app, a web app, or an app for whatever platform you like.

I know what my App will be. I want it for when I’m travelling. None of the iPhone travel apps do this one task the way I want it to work. Or if they do, they link to web services where you need to have an account etc. And all the other features of the web service and app, that I just don’t want, get in the way. Keep it simple! So the goal of NaAppDevMo for me is to provide a rigid timeframe and a structure within which I can get this basic app done.

Like in NaNoWriMo you are not going to produce an app that will make you a fortune, or maybe even make it to the App Store. But what it might give you is the confidence that you can take a concept for an App from design, through to running on your device (or in a simulator). This will hopefully show you that it is possible for you to do App development. Even if it’s just as a hobby and for fun. And if your App is useful you can spend time over the next few months maybe refining it and releasing it for others to use.

To do NaNoWriMo successfully most people need to do some planning up front, so that they have scenes and ideas ready to write about at the start of November. The same would be true for NaAppDevMo. Some planning would be useful. Outlining what the App you are going to design and produce should do would be a good start. I’d say keep it simple and do an app that performs one task really well. I’d make it a real task though. One that you would find useful yourself.

There is a Twitter hashtag #NaAppDevMo that you can use to post status updates if you are going to participate, or just follow it to see how others are getting on. There won’t be a website like the one there is for NaNoWriMo. Post blog posts on your own site, updates on Twitter, or on FaceBook about your progress.

Here are some pointers to resources for iOS development that you may find useful if just starting out. These are just a small sample of the resources out on the web for new iOS programmers. Post others you think would be useful on Twitter using the #NaAppDevMo tag. Post any you think would be useful for other platforms as well if you are targeting them.

Beginner iOS Development Tutorials

There are some great looking new iOS 5 development tutorials on the iOS Apprentice site. These are epic length tutorials that take you from start to a finished app. So a great resource if you are just starting out with iOS development. The 1st tutorial in the series is free. It’d be well worth doing the 3 that are available now before doing your own app in December. The tutorials cover the new iOS 5 additions that you will want to use. Like ARC, so you don’t have to do manual memory management, and Storyboards to allow you to design the workflow of your app.

Stanford University have a complete series of lectures on iTunesU for their course CS 193P iPhone Application Development. The current series of lectures is being posted as they are available. They cover iOS 5.

App Design

For iPhone app design the book Tapworthy by Josh Clark is a very good resource. Apple have some great user interface design sessions available on iTunesU. You have to be a member of the Apple Developer Program to access these. I’m not sure if they are available to people with the free membership. If you are doing iOS dev then the paid option is useful if you want to run your apps on physical devices to test. It’s $99 (£69 in UK). You can run your apps in the Xcode simulator if you are not a paid member of the iOS developer program.

Some essential videos to watch:

WWDC 2009 Session 100 – iPhone Interface Design – Basic iPhone design. Might be a bit dated now, but good foundation.

WWDC 2010 Session 103 – iPad and iPhone User Interface Design – The 6 stage app design process outlined in this session is great.

WWDC 2011 Session 110 – Designing User Interfaces for iOS and Mac OS X Apps – The latest update on how to design apps. Based on last few years of actual use and experience of Apps out in the world.

Books

There are lots of good beginner level books out there for iOS development. For NaAppDevMo I’d go with the iOS Apprentice tutorials as a start. You might want a book on Objective-C so here are 2 very new ones. One is a new edition that covers ARC etc. and is due on 15th December.

Programming in Objective-C: Updated for iOS 5 and Automatic Reference Counting

Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide

 

 

Thanks Steve

By on October 6, 2011 in Technology

Lots has been written today about the death of Steve Jobs. Too soon at the young age of 56. Stephen Wolfram’s thoughts are worth a read, as are Stephen Fry’s. I won’t add a long post to what’s been already written. I’ll just add my thanks to Steve, and all those who worked with him, for providing products that have made my life richer and easier since the 1980’s. Steve’s legacy will live on via the great team that he has left in charge at Apple. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen several of these Apple employees, and many, many others, at various Apple and Macworld conferences. They are all brilliant. Steve has left Apple in good hands. The road ahead has been signposted by Steve Jobs’ vision. I look forward to walking it.

 

Data Security on my Macintosh

By on October 2, 2011 in Technology

I have a MacBook Air. By definition it’s a portable computer. As such it travels with me. It is therefore at risk of being lost or stolen when I’m out and about in the big wide world. Actually the Air is so light I can’t tell if it’s in my laptop bag! I’ve often had to check to see if I still have it when walking to a gate in an airport.

So what do I do to protect the data on my MacBook Air? I do a lot. I encrypt the data to protect it if I lose the laptop. That’s to stop anyone getting access to my data if they have my computer. I also do backups so that I can put my data back on to a new computer if required.

Encryption

I use 3 levels of encryption on my MacBook Air. I am running OS X Lion. This has a feature built in called FileVault 2. This provides full disk encryption and boot protection. The encryption is XTS-AES 128bit. I use a strong password (long password with both letters and numbers) and when I turn on my MacBook Air it asks for this password. Until it is entered the Mac does not load the operating system. Data on the hard disk is encrypted and can’t be accessed without this password. So if someone steals the Mac (or finds it!) they can’t get the data unless they guess the strong password. If you have a portable Macintosh and are running OS X Lion you should turn on FileVault 2.

I also use a disk image with AES-256bit encryption to store work related files. This uses a separate strong password from the one I use for FileVault 2. I also don’t store the password for this disk image in the Macintosh Keychain. This stops the disk image being used until the password is entered. So if someone does get past the boot password, then my important work stuff is protected. Apple have a support article on creating a disk image. Make sure to create a sparse disk image that only uses the space it needs. So a 40GB sparse disk image will grow in size from zero up to 40GB as you store files in it.

I have to use a Microsoft Windows 7 virtual machine for work related stuff. I use Parallels Desktop for Mac 7 to host this on my MacBook Air. This has a feature to encrypt the virtual machine file. I have this turned on and use a different strong password to protect it. This password is required to boot the Windows operating system in the virtual machine. Another popular virtualisation solution for running Windows on a Macintosh is VMware Fusion. Version 4 of this has the ability to encrypt virtual machines. If you are running VMware Fusion and want the extra level of protection for your Windows files then upgrade to version 4.

Backups

Backups are essential. You have to back up your data. Fortunately this is easy on a Macintosh. The last few versions of Mac OS X (renamed to just OS X Lion with the current version) include a feature called Time Machine. This is the simplest way to backup your Mac. Buy an external USB drive. If you don’t know how to format a drive for Mac then buy one that is already formatted for Macintosh. Or ask me how to format the disk on Twitter or via email using the link in the sidebar. When you have the disk, plug it in and answer Yes when asked if you want to use it for TIme Machine! That’s it. Plug the disk in when at your desk and backups will be done on the hour.

I also use a 50GB DropBox to keep a copy of my personal files up in the cloud. This means they are available from anywhere and are safely offsite in case something happens to my Time Machine backup. If you have any really important files you could put them in an encrypted sparse disk image that you store in your DropBox. You can get a free DropBox account that gives you 2GB of offsite cloud storage.

Protecting Passwords

Another way to protect your data is to use strong passwords, and different passwords for each service that you use. I’d strongly recommend checking out 1Password to store your strong passwords. Even better let 1Password generate random strong passwords for the services you use.

 

My favourite iPad apps

By on September 25, 2011 in Technology

Lots of people are buying iPads. Many of them ask me what my favourite iPad apps are. This Soapbox post is my response. I’ll point people to here when they ask me about good apps. It’s also worthwhile following the #goodiPadApps hashtag on Twitter.

I’ll add more explanation as to why I like these apps over time. But I’ll start with a list and links to the App Store.

Productivity Apps

Apple Pages – Word processing and page layout application. Reads and writes Pages for Macintosh files and also Microsoft Word files.

Apple Keynote – Word processing and page layout application. Reads and writes Pages for Macintosh files and also Microsoft PowerPoint files.

Apple Numbers – Word processing and page layout application. Reads and writes Pages for Macintosh files and also Microsoft Excel files.

MindJet – Mind mapping application. Just out. Seems very good.

OmniGraffle – Diagramming app. For doing network and organisational chart type diagrams.

Apple iMovie – For editing video.

OmniOutliner – For taking notes in an outliner form.

OmniFocus – The best Getting Things Done® app. Syncs with Macintosh and iPhone versions. I like OmniFocus a lot!

OmniGraphSketcher – If you need an app to visualise data and produce graphs, including logarithmic ones, then this is great.

Reading Apps

Apple iBooks – eBook reader. Used for books from the Apple iBooks store. Also reads standard ePub and PDF files. I use this for most of my book and PDF reading. I do most of my reading on iPad now. Only buy paper when I can’t get a book as an eBook.

Amazon Kindle – eBook reading app for iPad that allows you to read Kindle books on iPad. I use this when I can’t get an ebook I want from iBook Store. Kindle store has a much better selection of books than iBook Store. Kindle app isn’t as nice as iBooks, but it’s fine.

Reeder – This is a great RSS news feed reading app. Sync with Google Reader. There are also Macintosh and iPhone versions that stay in sync across devices. Any app that uses Google Reader will stay in sync with Reeder.

 

Science Apps

Redshift – Astronomy – Another great astronomy app. I use this as well as Pocket Universe. I like the way Redshift allows you to virtually fly from Earth to distant stars 🙂

Solar System for iPad – An interactive eBook app that gives lots of information about the Solar System.

Exoplanet – Great app that alerts you when new extra-solar planets are discovered. Also has visual charts showing how far the new planets orbit from their stars. Plus other great data visualisations.

The Elements – An interactive Periodic Table of the Elements. From Theodore Gray of Wolfram Research. They also did Solar System for iPad above. The Elements is visually stunning. I love it 🙂

 

Utilities

iPassword – Great secure locker for passwords. Get the Pro version if you have an iPhone as well. It runs on both devices. I had the separate iPhone version already.

Soulver – Natural language calculator. Understands commands like “$70 in £” and “38% of 237”. A brilliant app.

PCalc – The best traditional calculator app. Use the Twilight theme. Its ace.

 

More to follow…

 

 

 

 

 

2011 Science book per month challenge

By on March 26, 2011 in Science, Technology

Inspired by Ian Sales idea, I’ve decided to read a popular science book each month in 2011. The list of the 12 books (which is changing as the year goes on!):

  1. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution – Finished
  2. Why Evolution is True
  3. Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes – Currently Reading
  4. Four Laws That Drive The Universe – Finished
  5. Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life
  6. Why Beauty is Truth
  7. The Rough Guide To The Future
  8. Future Files: A Brief History Of The Next 50 Years
  9. An Optimist’s Tour of the Future – Finished
  10. The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True
  11. How It Ends: From You to the Universe
  12. The Fabric of the Cosmos – Partially Read

I’ve added a 13th book. Coincidently this book comprises 12 essays so I could read 1 per month alongside the other 12 books. The 13th (or zeroth as I’ll call it) is:

 

Like the new Amazon Kindle

By on September 1, 2010 in Technology

Had a play with Ian Moran’s new Amazon Kindle this morning. Very nice indeed. It has the same screen as my Sony PRS-505 eInk reader. The new Kindle is much better to look at than the previous model. If I was buying an eInk device in the UK I’d get the new Kindle. The Sony PRS-300 has a better form factor I think, but the Kindle Store and the easy access to content trumps it in the UK. In North America the Sony Store might make me choose the Sony over the Kindle.


Amazon Associates link above.


iPad as a blogging tool

By on July 17, 2010 in Technology

Testing the WordPress app on my iPad. When I get my new Vodafone MiFi I’ll be using the iPad when out and about a lot more than my MacBook Pro. I also want to do a lot more blogging on a diverse range of subjects. Mainly from airports I expect 🙂

Well if you can see this post then the WordPress app works!

Assuring failure from the start…

By on June 18, 2009 in Technology

Gordon Brown seems to make pronouncements too soon. Witness the Iraq war enquiry. Private on Monday. Maybe not today. Then we have him saying he wants Britain to be the Digital Capital of the world. This is just opening the project up to accusations of failure. Why not just talk about the goal being to improve the broadband access across the country. It doesn’t mean we have to be the Digital Capital of the World. We just need better infrastructure to allow our digital industries and consumers to function. If other countries have as good, or better, digital access then more power to them. It doesn’t mean the UK project will be a failure. Unless you declare up front that the goal is to be the Digital Capital of the World!

WWDC ’09 Schedule

By on May 28, 2009 in Technology

The WWDC session times are up on the Attendee site. Here is my plan for the week. Click picture thumbnail for larger view. There are a few sessions still to be announced after the keynote. These will be sessions related to new stuff 🙂