Screen

I absolutely love the sharpness of the text. It’s not pixelated or jaggy and to me mimics the look of printed text. Under sunlight the screen is easy to read (doesn’t wash out like LCD screens) and interestingly the more light the better the screen looks.

The screen refresh is weird, not wrong, just weird. It flicks and redraws itself. I guess there’s time to turn a physical page anyway with traditional books/magazines.

The contrast of background to text colour is fine until you’re in low light situations and you find yourself drawn to light sources, as above the more light the better the reading.

The time for a page turn (aka screen refresh) makes web surfing nigh on impossible (a moot point here in Australia as browsing outside of the US is limited to wikipedia only).

Killer features

The inbuilt dictionary (displays at bottom of page when you select a word).
The long battery life (48 hours and 2 notches down).
Conversion from doc/pdf to Kindle (send from your email address to the kindle (fee) or back to your email client (free)) is nearly a killer feature (I wish for native PDF).
Searching within a book.
Downloading a book within 60 seconds.

Weight, size and feel

The size and weight are killer features also.

There’s a “chin” to the bottom of the product, where the keyboard buttons are. I originally though this was undesirable but lying in bed resting the “chin” of the Kindle on my chest and it dawns on me. The “chin” exists by design and props itself up making reading easier than a paper novel.

The keyboard isn’t the greatest, but you use it minimally making it not a show stopper.

Audible, MP3, mobi files and text-to-speech

Getting Audible/MP3 onto the Kindle is a breeze, you use the USB cable (supplied) and it’s mounted as a volume then just copy the audio files into the existing folder structure.

3.5mm headphone jack on top. Volume on side. Easy.

Text to speech is so-so as a plus it can be turned up loud, the inbuilt speakers (2) are very strong.

Weakest links

Some of the UI elements are strange to say the least, example: To play text-to-speech press Shift and SYM. There’s no “speech” button or menu item. huh? This goes for trying to find the Web Browser, and in all honesty the Kindle Store should be linked from the Home screen (not from a menu).

By far the weakest link with the Kindle in Australia is gulp the Kindle Store itself.

I was unable to find anything from these authors: Clive Cussler, Bryce Courtney, Dan Brown, Raymond E Fiest.

Furthering the damage, there’s limited selection of books (2) from Neal Stephenson (I wanted to get Cryptonomicon) and Faye Kellerman sees only 3 books.

There’s simply not enough books (though you’re fine if you want to read the Twilight series /sigh) and I feel that Amazon really needs to work hard on the publishers and get more books into the Amazon Kindle Store.

No backlight. Not a curse, but it would have taken it to 11.

Summary

Now I have one (only 48 hours old), would I recommend one? Easily yes, and after thinking heavily price would be the only deciding factor.

I am using the VMWare built in “Share Folder” option, and I’m sharing only the “win” folder in my ~\src\ folder.

Issue: When trying to open source using Visual Studio 2008 I’m presented with the dreaded “The project location is not trusted” error.

Solution: Open a Command-Line box (Start > Run > cmd > OK)

cd \Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
caspol -m -ag 1.2 -url \\.host\* FullTrust

If you’re not using VMWare or have a share elsewhere substitute “\\.host\*” for your shared folder.

References: The project location is not trusted dialog box and The project location is not trusted dialog box when trying to use a Network Location

private const string DbFile = "firstProgram.db";
 
return Fluently.Configure()
    .Database(MsSqlCeConfiguration.Standard.ShowSql().ConnectionString(c =>
        c.Is("data source=" + dbFile))
        )
    .Mappings(m =>
        m.FluentMappings.AddFromAssemblyOf<Program>()
        )
    .ExposeConfiguration(BuildSchema)
    .BuildSessionFactory();

Whereas the Sqlite connection was:

private const string DbFile = "firstProgram.db";
 
 return Fluently.Configure()
    .Database(SQLiteConfiguration.Standard
        .UsingFile(dbFile)
        )
    .Mappings(m =>
        m.FluentMappings.AddFromAssemblyOf<Program>()
        )
    .ExposeConfiguration(BuildSchema)
    .BuildSessionFactory();

When Googling I wasn’t able to find any samples so I hope to fill that void.

notepad c:\path_to_code\.hgignore

This will create the file so now simply add the following lines to the file:

# use glob syntax.
syntax: glob
 
# Misc Mac/Windows stuff
 
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db
Desktop.ini
 
# builds
 
*.exe
*.ex_
 
# vb6
 
*.SCC
*.vbw
*.pdb
*.log
*.Log
 
# c-sharp
#ProjectName/bin
#ProjectName/obj
*.user
*.suo
_ReSharper.*
*.sln.cache

Note: You need to change #ProjectName to your project foldername.

Now feel free to init/add/commit:

hg init
hg add
hg commit -m "Initial Commit with ignores"

Firstly add a few variables and method declares into your ViewController.h header file:

Boolean keyboardIsShowing;
CGRect keyboardBounds;
- (void)resizeViewControllerToFitScreen;

Now we need to register for the UIKeyboardWillShowNotification and the UIKeyboardWillHideNotification:

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(keyboardWillShow:) name:UIKeyboardWillShowNotification object:nil];
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(keyboardWillHide:) name:UIKeyboardWillHideNotification object:nil];

And these notifications need somewhere to go:

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark Keyboard Handling
 
- (void)keyboardWillShow:(NSNotification *)notification {
	NSDictionary *userInfo = [notification userInfo];
	NSValue *keyboardBoundsValue = [userInfo objectForKey:UIKeyboardBoundsUserInfoKey];
	[keyboardBoundsValue getValue:&keyboardBounds];
	keyboardIsShowing = YES;
	[self resizeViewControllerToFitScreen];
}
 
- (void)keyboardWillHide:(NSNotification *)note {
	keyboardIsShowing = NO;
	keyboardBounds = CGRectMake(0, 0, 0, 0);
	[self resizeViewControllerToFitScreen];
}

And now add the magic method to resize the view:

- (void)resizeViewControllerToFitScreen {
	// Needs adjustment for portrait orientation!
	CGRect applicationFrame = [[UIScreen mainScreen] applicationFrame];
	CGRect frame = self.view.frame;
	frame.size.height = applicationFrame.size.height;
 
	if (keyboardIsShowing)
		frame.size.height -= keyboardBounds.size.height;
 
	[UIView beginAnimations:nil context:NULL];
	[UIView setAnimationBeginsFromCurrentState:YES];
	[UIView setAnimationDuration:0.3f];
	self.view.frame = frame;
	[UIView commitAnimations];
}

And super importantly de-register the ViewController from those notifications.

- (void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated {
	[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self name:UIKeyboardWillShowNotification object:nil];
	[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self name:UIKeyboardWillHideNotification object:nil];
}

See how this all comes together?

1. We register for Notifications when the Keyboard shows/hides,
2. We react when the keyboard is shown/hidden,
3. The resizeViewControllerToFitScreen method handles our resize, including animating the underlying view so it looks pretty.

There’s a few caveats:

1. I’ve not tested on Landscape mode, I’m pretty sure this will fail.
2. UIKeyboardWillShowNotification can get fired every time you enter a textbox (as I’ve only one textbox it’s not a problem for me). So you might need to look at using …TextDidBeginEditing/…TextDidEndEditing or maintaining state differently so that the view isn’t jumping all over the place.

Geektool to the rescue!

Here’s the little scripts that I use to get the weather (just change the region code ASXX0016 to your region from weather.yahoo.com. Your region code will be found in the yahoo URL):

curl --silent "http://xml.weather.yahoo.com/forecastrss?p=ASXX0016&u=c" | grep -E '(Current Conditions:|C<BR)' | sed -e 's/Current Conditions://' -e 's/<br \/>//' -e 's/<b>//' -e 's/<\/b>//' -e 's/<BR \/>//' -e 's/<description>//' -e 's/<\/description>//'

curl --silent "http://xml.weather.yahoo.com/forecastrss?p=ASXX0016&u=c" | grep -E '(High:)' | sed -e 's/<BR \/>//' -e 's/<b>//' -e 's/<\/b>//' -e 's/<BR \/>//' -e 's/<br \/>//'

And the script for Memory usage, HDD space and Uptime:

top -l 1 | awk '/PhysMem/ {print $10}' 
df -hl | grep 'disk0s2' | awk '{print $4}'
echo "Uptime: "`uptime | awk '{print "" $3 " " $4 " " $5 }' | sed -e 's/.$//g';`

You might also be interested to check out other uses of Geektool on Flickr

To Apple: Let us put Widgets on the Desktop too please (without having to use a hack).

FlipsideViewController *viewController = [[FlipsideViewController alloc]
 initWithNibName:@"FlipsideView" bundle:nil];

But would rather my UIViewControllers know how to load themselves. This reduces the possibilities of typos, allows for only 1 place in code where your nib is referenced by name, and just looks better.

For example in FlipsideViewController.m I would add:

- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil 
bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil {
  if ((self = [super initWithNibName:@"FlipsideView" bundle:nibBundleOrNil]))  {
    // Initialization code		
  }
  return self;
}

Now you can simply initialise the ViewController using

FlipsideViewController *viewController = [[FlipsideViewController alloc] 
init];

I am a c# .net software engineer by day, though once the sun sets low below the horizon and the Apple startup sequence chimes I am transformed into a Cocoa & Cocoa Touch engineer.

I have a diploma in IT and a degree in IT major Software Engineering.

Bits and pieces i’ve worked on

Websites: Mozketo (this site) or WGA.

Web applications: Servizio (Windows Mobile)

Desktop application: Membership

Home computer setup

Macbook Pro with external 22″ Benq LCD, bluetooth wireless Apple keyboard, MS Notebook Mouse 5000, and my well loved iPhone 3G.

Favoured Apple Software

CSSEdit
TextMate
Transmit
Aperture
Voodoo Pad
Littlesnapper – Quicksnapper profile

Server related

Using a Joyent shared hosting server and Wordpress with a custom Mozketo template.

Bluetooth Mighty Mouse

Link. While I want to love the Mighty Mouse I constantly find myself fighting with it.

Pros

Works well with OS X as it connects fast and gives a battery level in System Preferences or a pop-up Bezel when the battery runs low. AA batteries.

Cons

A little heavy for my liking. Sometimes misreads right-clicks for normal clicks (makes World of Warcraft an exercise in frustration). That scroll nipple is impossible to keep working after 3-6 months, it simply gunks up and stops working reliably.

Rating: 4/10

Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000

Link. I’m quite a fan of this little mouse.

Pros

Light, fast, easy to pair between OS X and Bootcamp (just remember to turn off/on while the ‘puter reboots. Tactile scroll-wheel is still working 12 months later. AAA batteries that last ages.

Cons

The movement (perhaps the resolution) of the mouse appears jerky sometimes and any fine moments (eg when using Acorn) renders the mouse impossble. No battery indication in OS X.

Rating: 7/10

Logitech V470 Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks

Link. Untried.

Perhaps you have recommendation?

After a little digging around I was able to find an amazing Hot Chocolate blog post which showed a fantastic trick when laying out the Cells without having to reference the prior Cell. This approach takes advantage of knowing the Cell Row/Column position plus using the Scale: attribute of the CAConstraint on the @”superlayer” and it works like a charm.

[CAConstraint constraintWithAttribute: kCAConstraintWidth
relativeTo: @"superlayer"
attribute: kCAConstraintWidth
scale: 1.0 / columns
offset: 0]];

Want to change the number of Cells in the Grid? Modify these variables in this method:

- (void)layoutCellsInGridLayer:(CALayer *)layer {
	int columns = 6;
	int rows = 6;...

Also to give the project a little bit of “wow” here’s some random Y rotation on a Cell Layer:

- (void)setupFlipAnimationOnLayer:(CALayer *)layer {
	float duration = (float)frandom(0.5, 5.0);
 
	CABasicAnimation* animation = [CABasicAnimation animationWithKeyPath:@"transform.rotation.y"];
	animation.fromValue = [NSNumber numberWithDouble:-1.0f * M_PI];
	animation.toValue = [NSNumber numberWithDouble:1.0f * M_PI];
	animation.duration = duration;
	animation.repeatCount = 1e100f;
	animation.beginTime = CACurrentMediaTime() + frandom(0.1, 30);
	animation.timingFunction = [CAMediaTimingFunction functionWithName:kCAMediaTimingFunctionEaseInEaseOut];
 
	[layer addAnimation:animation forKey:@"rotationY"];
}

To get the nice 3D perspective look the project needs the following code:

- (void)setupPerspectiveWithX:(float)x andY:(float)y {
	CATransform3D transform = CATransform3DMakeRotation(x, 0, 1, 0);
	transform = CATransform3DRotate(transform, y, 1, 0, 0);
	float zDistance = -450;
	transform.m34 = 1.0 / -zDistance;
	gridLayer.sublayerTransform = transform;
}

And one last final note: take a look in createCellInParentLayer: and you will see layer.contents. If you can provide your own image the layer will automatically Fill (layer.contentsGravity = kCAGravityResizeAspectFill;) and Mask (layer.masksToBounds = YES;) to make it fit.

You can grab the code here or download the binary here (requires Leopard).