Jake Behrens

Domains being domains.

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:59:42 -0600

I have moved JakeBehrens.com to point to this blog now. I was torn, but I feel that in the end this will be for the better.

Withfoam.com will point to JakeBehrens.com and JakeBehrens.com will be this page.

Yay!

New Interview with Me about iPhone Apps!

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:28:43 -0600

New Interview with Me about iPhone Apps!

Devs…we need to talk.

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:23:19 -0600

Ok people, I know we’re a little over-excited to figure out new things sometimes. Sometimes it’s just re-implementing a cool new feature someone else did. But the line needs to be drawn at stealing outright, not to mention encouraging others to do the same.

I read this article today about how to implement Loren Brichter’s Pull-to-Reload feature in Tweetie 2 and was enjoying the article until this WTF quote:

“The final touch is to steal the appropriate wav files from the Tweetie 2 IPA and play them at the correct places in the flow. For sound effects I like to use the SoundEffect wrapper class that can be found in the Apple samples. In case you don’t yet know, you can simply rename a .IPA file to .ZIP and decompress the bundle. Right-Click “Reveal Package Contents” and look for the wav files. Turns out Tweetie 2 only use 3 and all of them belong to the refresh table view, so I grabbed them all.”

Are you kidding me? Just like that, steal the sounds. Why not take the graphics? Hell…why not just steal the app. Is this where we’re going devs?

I just think it’s plain wrong. Make your own sounds modeled off the existing ones if you have to, license your own, but seriously, don’t steal them! We’re all developers trying to make something cool and trying to make a living at it. This is why we do it. We are passionate. How the hell can we lift each other up if all we do is break each other down?

He says in the article that he bought both versions and that he knows Loren makes quality…excuse me, that $2.99 didn’t give you a license to sounds or graphics in the app.

Maybe I’m too upset about it, but I really don’t think Loren would be like, “Cool!” about it. And I know for a fact that other people like Tapbots have gone to great lengths to point out devs that are blatantly ripping off their graphics and sounds from their apps.

In conclusion, if you want to make something cool, make it yourself. Stealing from other apps is just plain weak.

To Nook or to Not

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:06:25 -0600

To Nook or to Not:

I pre-orderd a Barnes & Noble Nook the other day because I’m needing an e-reader and just not that impressed with the Amazon Kindle. This review uncovers my worst fears and greatest hopes for the Nook.

The Software:

From the review, it is said to be a tad slow and clunky at the moment, but that they are about to push some updates that should fix that. Ugh.

The Hardware:

Seems a bit “plastic” and generic. Meh, I’m not too worried about this factor.

My Thoughts:

Overall, they said it is a good device and really has the potential to knock down the Kindle…if the software updates go well.

The thing is that they have the ability to update the software with vast improvements (because it’s using Android). This means that it could go one of two ways, really awesome or the suck. Luckily, the Nook also has a microSD slot so that hackers can have a hay-day with it. I was happy with the review overall, but just hope that the software updates come along.

I guess I’ll be waiting to see what happens with the Nook, but let’s hope they update the software this month and really knock it out of the park.

Giving credit where credit is due.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:17:00 -0600

Two days ago I was contacted by a client of mine saying that Apple had contacted them about their app that was in review. As most of you are thinking, my first thought was, “crap…what’d they reject?” but much to my surprise it wasn’t a rejection. It should have been. I can say all I want about philosophies on the App Store process in general, but they would have been right to reject it as it broke their terms (unknowingly to me at the time).

Apple called my client and said two things were holding it up, one was using an outdated version of Three20 that made private API calls and the other was some marketing speak that they wanted altered for clarification.

They told my client that after the changes were made to the app: re-submit it and email them, so they could put it up for review immediately instead of going back into the queue (wow).

I’m left with a few thoughts from this.

1. They called. They didn’t have to do that. At all. They could have rejected it and we were at fault for using code that makes private API calls.

2. This shows that they’re listening. They are hearing the talk from developers and are starting to take more time to care and feed us. That’s huge as far as I’m concerned.

So you can whine and cry about the process in general, but for the volume of submissions that they have, taking that little bit of time to reach out means a lot.

I’ve heard so much negativity to the App Store process lately that I just want to remind everyone that they’re adapting and listening to us even when we think they’re not. And without them making the incredible device that the iPhone is in the first place, many of us wouldn’t even have the jobs we have and love right now.

Favorite iPhone/Mac Dev Blog?

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:44:00 -0600

At the moment, my favorite Mac/iPhone dev blog is Jeff Lamarche’s blog. He almost always has something repost-worthy and lately he has had something that applies to my current projects in almost every post.

So what’s your favorite iPhone/Mac dev blog at the moment?

Using KVO for Table Updates

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:35:00 -0600

Using KVO for Table Updates:

This post by Jeff Lamarche has changed the way I will do most of my UITableViews going forward. Life changing.

What a great place to finally go to to. The Apple campus is like...

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:44:22 -0600

What a great place to finally go to to.

The Apple campus is like a home away from home, you get there and just feel good about the world. Funny stuff.

If you need Core Animation with ease. Get this!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:44:53 -0600

If you need Core Animation with ease. Get this!

Sweet tip for initWithContentsOfURL:

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:49:34 -0600

Sweet tip for initWithContentsOfURL::

NSOperationQueue *queue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init];

NSInvocationOperation *op = [[NSInvocationOperation alloc] initWithTarget:self selector:@selector(parseXML) object:nil];

[queue addOperation:op];

[op release];

"What you should really do is write “if” statements that check for improper conditions,..."

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:51:00 -0500

“What you should really do is write “if” statements that check for improper conditions, and if you find them, bail.”

- Wil Shipley

My final days at OPUBCO. Thanks to my friend Mike for the sweet...

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:46:43 -0500

My final days at OPUBCO.

Thanks to my friend Mike for the sweet Jurassic Park tie to wear today!

Non-Interface Builder Xcode Project Templates

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:53:00 -0500

Non-Interface Builder Xcode Project Templates

Halloween is coming.

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:36:14 -0500

I figured out what I’m going as for Halloween. The Scribblenauts guy. Woot, I have the hat!

Core Animation Color Blended Layers for iPhone Simulator!

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:09:00 -0500

Core Animation Color Blended Layers for iPhone Simulator!:

Holy crap, this trick is awesome when you turn it into an Automator application.

Core Animation debugging with Color Blended Layers can be a pain because you always have to use a device…until now! Follow the title link…

Yep…she about sums it up for me.

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:28:24 -0500

Yep…she about sums it up for me.

The site I did in 1999 that got me my first full-time...

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:51:00 -0500

The site I did in 1999 that got me my first full-time programming job. Yep, that’s an image of text on the right. Oh yeah, each link in the middle has a sweet javascript rollover. lol.

Xcode 3.2 (I love you!)

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:51:00 -0500

Project > Rename…

MapKit Bug

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:49:00 -0500

Came up again today. Remember…if you’re using an MKMapView and you have:

mapView.delegate = self;

There is a bug in the MapKit framework so you have to put this in your dealloc method before you release mapView:

mapView.delegate = nil;

If you don’t, it can throw an EXC_BAD_ACCESS when mapView has been released and not all map tiles have been downloaded and loaded yet.

360iDev

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:51:59 -0500

360iDev:

If you’re an iPhone developer and you haven’t purchased a ticket yet, get off your slacker butt and do so! Seriously, it’s going to be the best iPhone dev conference this year!