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Create your First Iphone Application !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:11:00 +0000

In this tutorial I will give you a brief introduction on how to get started with your first iPhone application. To begin you will need the latest version of the iPhone SDK which you can download it from here. With the SDK.......

you get some tools like Xcode, Interface Builder, iPhone simulator, and many more. The first application is usually called "Hello World" but I have named my first app "Hello Universe" because a revolutionary device calls for a change of name.

Purpose of the "Hello Universe" app
Using the app a user will be able to enter his/her full name and click a button to see a message appear. The message will say "John Doe says Hello Universe!!!". This app will not only introduce you to some of the tools but will also show you how to use controls, respond to events and create new views. Excited, I am :-)

This is how the app will look like

Creating a new project
Launch Xcode and click on File -> New Project -> Select Application (under iPhone OS) -> select Window-Based Application project template and click on choose.

In the next screen you will be asked to save your project and give it a name. Xcode creates some files for us based on the name of the project, so you want to be careful with the name you provide. I have named my project "HelloUniverse".

This is how the list of files look like in Xcode.

All the class files are stored under the "Classes" folder, some special files are listed under "Other Sources", all the view files and resources show up under "Resources", and any library or frameworks we add to our project are listed under the "Frameworks" folder. It is important that we save all the images, files, databases, and views in the "Resources" folder because all the iPhone apps run in its own sand box; which means they can only access files placed under the resources folder.

How the app is launched
Every C/C++/Java/C# programmer knows about the main method found in main.m file which is present under the "Other Sources" folder. You normally will never have to change this method and all we have to know is that this method is responsible in launching the app. The method applicationDidFinishLaunching method is called when the app is launched on the device or the simulator. The method is defined in "HelloUniverseAppDelegate.m" file which is found under the "Classes" folder.

Interface Builder
Using Interface Builder we can design our application by adding controls or creating additional views. The files that the Interface Builder creates gets saved with a .xib extension and are called nib files. Every project gets one nib file by called which is called "MainWindow.xib" which can be found under "Resources". An iPhone application has only one window (MainWindow.xib) unlike a desktop application which is created with multiple windows; however, we can create multiple views which are added to the window. Double click on "MainWindow.xib" to launch the Interface Builder, which will open four windows and one of the window will look like this

The above picture shows the contents of the "MainWindow.xib" nib file. Every nib file has atleast two files; File's Owner and First Responder which cannot be deleted. Every other objects apart from the first two, represents an instance of an object which gets created when the nib file loads. File's Owner simply shows that it owns the object in the nib file. First Responder tells us which object are we currently interacting with; like the textbox, buttons... The third object which is special to the MainWindow.xib file is called "Hello Universe App Delegate" and this file represents "HelloUniverseAppDelegate" class. Last but not the least the view represents the object which we design in our apps.

Creating a new view
If we had created this project using "View-Based Application" project template then there would have been no need of creating another view from scratch, but where is the fun in that. In Interface Builder create a new view by clicking File -> New -> Select Cocoa Touch -> View and click on choose. Let's save the view in the project folder by naming it "HelloUniverse" and once we do that IB (Interface Builder) will prompt us to add the view to the current project; click on "Add" and it will show up in Xcode. In Xcode and move your view to the Resources folder.

Creating a view controller
We have a view now let's create a view controller to manage the view. In Xcode create a new view controller by selecting classes and clicking File -> New File -> Select Cocoa Touch Classes under iPhone OS -> select UIViewController -> click on choose and name your file "HelloUniverseController" without changing the extension. The newly created class inherits from UIViewController which knows how to interact with a view. Now that we have our view and the controller class, there must be some way to connect these two files and we can do it by setting the class property of the File's Owner. Double click "HelloUniverse.xib" file in Xcode to launch Interface Builder and select File's Owner -> select Tools -> Identity Inspector and under "Class Identity" category, change the class to "HelloUniverseController". This is how the Class Identity should look like

Once that is done we need a way to control the view in the nib file from code and this is done by connecting the view instance variable to the view object in the nib. The connection is made using "outlets". Select Tools -> Connections Inspector create a connection from the view variable to the view in the nib file. Move your mouse over the empty circle to see it change to a plus symbol indicating that a connection can be created. Click on circle and drag your mouse to the view in the nib file and release. As you do this you will see a blue line being created from the circle to the mouse. Once a connection is created, the connections inspector for File's Owner will look like this

Adding controls to the view
From the screen shot above we require two text boxes, one label, and a button (Round Rect Button). From the library drag and drop the controls to the view and align it as seen in the figure 1.0. After you have added the controls let's change some of its properties, starting with the text boxes. Select the first text box and open Attributes Inspector by selecting Tools -> Attributes Inspector. Under Placeholder enter "First name", under "Text Input Traits" change Capitalize property to "Words" and change the Return key property to "Done". Apply the same settings for the other text box but change the Placeholder to say "Last name". Select the label and delete its text property, since we do not want the label to say anything until the button is clicked. Double-click the button to edit the title of the button and type in "Click Me". Save and quit Interface Builder as we have successfully designed our view.

Connecting instance variables to the objects in the view
We still need some way to interact with the controls on the view, in code and this is where outlets help us out. IBOutlet is a special keyword if used with an instance variable, will make the variable appear in Interface Builder. Since IBOutlet makes the variable appear in Interface Builder, using IBAction as a return type for a method will have the opposite effect. Using IBAction we can handle an event triggered by any control placed on the view. Let's see how this works; open HelloUniverseController.h file in Xcode and type in the following code

//HelloUniverseController.h

@interface HelloUniverseController : UIViewController {



IBOutlet UITextField *txtFirstName;

IBOutlet UITextField *txtLastName;

IBOutlet UILabel *lblMessage;

}



- (IBAction) btnClickMe_Clicked:(id)sender;



@end



//HelloUniverseController.m

- (void)dealloc {

[txtFirstName release];

[txtLastName release];

[lblMessage release];

[super dealloc];

}

All the variables above are marked with IBOutlet and Interface Builder will make these available to itself so proper connections can be made. We also have a method whose return type is IBAction (void); Interface Builder will also make this method available to itself so we can choose which event will call this method. The method also takes a parameter called "sender" which is the object which triggered the event. The variables are released in the dealloc method as shown above. Let's connect these instance variables to the controls on the view (HelloUniverse) as described earlier. Open Interface Builder by double-clicking HelloUniverse.xib file and select File's Owner, open Connections Inspector to see all the variables present under Outlets and to create connections.

Let's hook up the button click event to the "btnClickMe_Clicked" method. Select the button and under the Events list it seems that we do not have a button click event; however, we do have a "Touch Up Inside" event which is raised when the button is touched and released symbolizing a click. With the button selected click the circle next to "Touch Up Inside" and drag your mouse over to File's Owner and release to have the method name show; simply click on the method name to create a connection.

Handling events
Let's write some code in btnClickMe_Clicked event to read the first and last name and display a message in the label. This is how the code looks like

//HelloUniverseController.m

- (IBAction) btnClickMe_Clicked:(id)sender {



NSString *FirstName = txtFirstName.text;

NSString *LastName = txtLastName.text;

NSString *Message = nil;



if([FirstName length] == 0 && [LastName length] == 0)

Message = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"Anonymous says Hello Universe!!!"];

else if ([FirstName length] > 0 && [LastName length] ==0)

Message = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"%@ says Hello Universe", FirstName];

else if ([FirstName length] == 0 && [LastName length] == 0)

Message = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"%@ says Hello Universe", LastName];

else

Message = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"%@ %@ says Hello Universe", FirstName, LastName];



lblMessage.text = Message;



//Release the object

[Message release];

}

The method does few simple things, it finds out the first and last names and figures out what message to display in the label. We also create a temporary variable called "Message" to hold the message which will be displayed in the label. The variable is allocated and initialized by alloc and initWithFormat messages respectively. The variable is released in the end because when working with the iPhone we are responsible of cleaning up the memory. The easiest way to remember when to release objects is; if you create it then you own the object and hence you are responsible of releasing it.

If you click on Build and Go, the view will not be visible because we have not yet added it to the window. Let's see how we can do that

Adding view to the window
Now we cannot drag the view and add it to the window, so we need another way to add the view as a sub view to the window. We already know that "HelloUniverseController" is the view controller of the view "HelloUniverse" and "HelloUniverseAppDelegate" is the application delegate where the window is made visible in applicationDidFinishLaunching method. It is in that method we will add the view as a sub view to the window. Before we do that, the application delegate (HelloUniverseAppDelegate) needs to know about our view controller. Add the following lines to HelloUniverseAppDelegate.h file to change the file like this

//HelloUniverseAppDelegate.h

@class HelloUniverseController;



@interface HelloUniverseAppDelegate : NSObject  {

UIWindow *window;

HelloUniverseController *hvController;

}



@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIWindow *window;

@property (nonatomic, retain) HelloUniverseController *hvController;



@end

From the above code we first add a forward class declaration of "HelloUniverseController" because we do not want any circular dependency when we import the header file of "HelloUniverseController" in HelloUniverseAppDelegate.m. A variable and a property of type HelloUniverseController is also declared. The property as you can see is declared with a couple of attributes called "retain" and "nonatomic". The retain attribute will increase the reference count of the instance variable by one and nonatomic is used because our program is not multi-threaded.

A lot of first time users miss to synthesize the property we declared, so let's do that now at the top of the HelloUniverseAppDelegate.m file and the code looks like this



//HelloUniverseAppDelegate.m

@implementation HelloUniverseAppDelegate



@synthesize window, hvController;

...

The view is added as a subview to the window in applicationDidFinishLaunching method and this is how the code looks like

//HelloUniverseAppDelegate.m

- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(UIApplication *)application {



HelloUniverseController *hvc = [[HelloUniverseController alloc]

initWithNibName:@"HelloUniverse" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];



self.hvController = hvc;



[hvc release];



[window addSubview:[self.hvController view]];





// Override point for customization after application launch

[window makeKeyAndVisible];

}

The second line shows that we imported the header file of "HelloUniverseController" and we also synthesized the property hvController. In the "olden" days in order to create a property we had to create getter and setter methods which would be something like getHVController and setHVController. The synthesize keyword automatically generates these methods for us. In applicationDidFinishLaunching method we allocate and initialize a temporary variable, assign it to our property, release it, and the view associated with the view controller is added as a sub view to the window. The key thing to remember here is that the view message is passed to the "hvController" which returns the view and is added as sub view to the window. A valid view is returned because we created a connection from the view instance variable to the view in the nib file. The property is finally released in the dealloc method as shown below

//HelloUniverseAppDelegate.m

- (void)dealloc {

[hvController release];

[window release];

[super dealloc];

}

We have always allocated and initialized variables in one single line as seen below, this is usually the accepted way but the same code can be written in a different way as seen below

HelloUniverseController *hvc = [HelloUniverseController alloc];

hvc = [hvc initWithNibName:@"HelloUniverse" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];

Build and go to test your application.

Hiding the keyboard
Wait a minute clicking the "Done" button doesn't do anything. Ideally we would like to hide the keyboard when the "Done" button is clicked no matter which text box we are currently editing. To hide the keyboard we need to do two things; set the delegate of the keyboard to File's Owner and implement a method called textFieldShouldReturn in HelloUniverseController.m file. To set the delegate, open Interface Builder by double clicking HelloUniverse.xib, select the first text box and click on Tools -> Connections Inspector. Click and drag your mouse by selecting the empty circle next to delegate under "Outlets" and release your mouse over to File's Owner. Assign the delegate for the next text box in the same manner.

The method textFieldShouldReturn gets called when the "Done" button is clicked and this is how the code looks like

//HelloUniverseController.m

- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)theTextField {



[theTextField resignFirstResponder];

return YES;

}

The method gets a parameter called sender, which is the object that triggered the event. We will use the same object to which we send the resignResponder message, which will hide the keyboard on the textbox. The boolean "Yes" is returned to tell the sender that the first responder is resigned.

Conclusion
I hope you had fun with this tutorial and feel a little confident in writing your next great iPhone app. Please leave me your comments and let me know what you thought.

Head First iPhone Development: A Learner's Guide to Creating Objective-C Applications for the iPhone

Download the source code used in this article

New Game Rockstar! Red Dead Redemption Launch Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:15:00 +0000

Red Dead Redemption is leaked on the Xbox and its region free. From the creators of the wildly successful GTA series, Rockstar, comes the highly anticipated “sandbox” westerner.........

The game offers open ended environments of the wild west, the players will be able to loot, ride, hunt, form posies (if you dont know what that means, it means group), on line you can join up to 15 other friends to hunt down bandits or just play death match.

Red Dead Redemption: Special Edition

As far as reviews are concerned the game comes highly recommended by IGN (9.7/10) and Gameplanet (10/10).

The story is set in America, 1911. The Wild West is dying.

When federal agents threaten his family, former outlaw John Marston is forced to pick up his guns again and hunt down the gang of criminals he once called friends. Experience an epic fight for survival across the sprawling expanses of the American West and Mexico, as John struggles to bury his blood-stained past, one man at a time.

The wise-heads would definitely know where to get their hands on this one. For the rest of us, it’s mostly the torrents.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Chrome Web Apps Store

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 06:07:00 +0000

Chrome Web Store was announced at the Google I/O conference today, which happens to be the biggest developer conference of the year. The event was fully booked 10 weeks in advance!. .......

The web store is supposed to make browser based applications and games easier to find so that they can be experienced by a larger audience of internet users, web developers and gamers.

Breach of Trust Street Chrome, HD Web

The store will feature games like Plants vs Zombies and LEGO Star Wars which can be installed on to your browser. A demo featuring the above mentioned games was shown at the conference.

The store will sell games via a secure payment system, it will also host free downloadable content. This was announced during the first day of the two-day conference. Lets see whats “in-store” for us tomorrow.

The store is supposed to be launched later this year although an exact date was not reveled. The Chrome Web Store page can be found here.

For more information regarding the store and other announcements that were made during the first day of the conference visit the store page or this detailed article on StreetInsider.

Improvement in Android phone performance !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 05:55:00 +0000

Look who has decided to compete with Apple. Here is a hint, it is a Microsft Ally or should I say a former one who performed chip manufacturing duties for the ZuneHD and the not so old Kin phones. Yup, you have guessed it right its Nvidia........

Archos 5 32 GB Internet Tablet with Android

The chip makers have decided to part ways with the Redmondians and are now looking towards Android to embrace its upcoming Tegra 2 chip. This interesting bit of news was revealed by the Nvidia chief Jen-Hsun Huang. He sees Tegra2 as the thing that could help the mobile makers Vision of improving Android phone performance. He said:

Although it made sense for the first-generation Androids to use available phone processors, the follow-on generations of Android are really going to go after performance. So we’re going to come to market with second-generation Tegra with the third generation Android.

Here is something that will definitely have you interested. Huang considers Tegra 2 as a serious competitor for Apple A4 processor. In his words:

The bar is pretty high for all the mobile players and they need a processor that can keep up with the A4. If not be much better than what the A4 can do because they have to take on the leader in the space

From the initial look of things it seems to be a wise move one which might prove to be a competition for the Cupertinos. Looking at iPad’s current success, there is no denying that Nvidia needS to be at the best of their game.

The Future Of WebOS

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Sun, 02 May 2010 17:04:00 +0000

Almost a month ago we argued on how we think that Palm's future is dead. There have been a couple of talks over companies approaching to acquire palm and HP seems to have finally closed the deal.........

In a press release on HP's website, the company declared to have acquired Palm at $1.2 billion along with Palm's flagship WebOS mobile operating system.

The combination of HP’s global scale and financial strength with Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm’s unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.

Here is the official word from Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer, Palm:

We’re thrilled by HP’s vote of confidence in Palm’s technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP’s longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS

The press-release has also confirmed Palm’s current chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company.

Interestingly! it is evident from this acquisition that HP wants to add a flavor of WebOS in their future tablet devices; kudos to the exceptional multitasking experience which will pose a challenge for the Apple iPad. This puts more fuel to our theory that Palm may revive with a 'ipad Killer' WebOS Tablet

How Hacker Manages To Port Android To IPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:10:00 +0000

This is not a dream folks. A hacker has actually managed to port Android 1.6 OS on the original iphone. Now! it can do everything from making calls to browsing the web etc.........

OtterBox Impact Case for iPhone 3G, 3GS (Black)

The hacker who goes by the name of planetbeing has demonstrated the hack in a video using OpeniBoot which is a tool developed to dual-boot the iPhone with the Android OS.

The hacker created Apple-hardware specific drivers for the Android OS to function properly. And to come around the obstacle of lack of physical buttons in iPhone, the hacker re-purposed the volume up and down controls to serve as the call and home buttons for the Android.

Apple iPod touch 8 GB (3rd Generation) NEWEST MODEL

5-Pack Premium Reusable LCD Mirror Screen Protector with Lint Cleaning Cloth for Apple iPhone 3G 8GB 16GB / 3G S 16GB 32GB

Here is what the hacker has to say about it:

It should be pretty simple to port forward to the iPhone 3G. The 3GS will take more work. Hopefully with all this groundwork laid out, we can make Android a real alternative or supplement for iPhone users. Maybe we can finally get Flash.

For those with an iPhone 2G, they can head over to planetbeing's blog and follow his progress; even read instructions on how to load the Android OS on their iPhone.

Launch Day of Samsung Galaxy

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Remember the powerful and sexy looking Samsung Galaxy S announced by Samsung folk at CTIA back in March? Well there is good news for folks waiting anxiously for its arrival..........

The Android 2.1 based phone acquired the Global Certification Forum (GCF) approval which means only one thing, it is set to arrive soon.
The GCF approval signals that the phone is ready to grab a flight and land at the intended and planned destinations. GCF folks were kind enough to reveal the existence of hardware level support for telephony services.

The phone is set to land in different regions of the world which includes Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America. Let us hope that its launch plans are revealed as soon as possible.

New Twitter App For Blackberry

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:21:00 +0000

Poor Blackberry users had to rely on third-party Twitter client such as UberTwitter to share their status updates with the rest of the world; but not anymore!........

The official Twitter app for the Blackberry is now available and it makes Blackberry users feel at home with the native color-scheme, features and interface of the app. Here is the official announcement from the Twitter blog:

Today we are excited to announce that RIM has launched the official Twitter for BlackBerry app and can be downloaded for free at blackberry.com/twitter

The official Twitter app for Blackberry does everything from real-time Blackberry push of Twitter direct-messages, to notifications about mentions and tweet updates. Also seen in the app is a camera and photo gallery integration, browser integration for Tweeting links and a search option to look for users, content, and trending topics.

The app has been made by RIM in collaboration with Twitter. Head over to blackberry.com/twitter to download the app to your device.

Why Google Removing Games From South Korean Android Market

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:14:00 +0000

Google is busy in removing games from the Android Market in South Korea. Here is the why part: South Korean law demands that all the games have to be reviewed by the South Korea Gaming Board before they can be made available for the intended audience.........

Since the prospects of the South Korean review board reviewing all the games were not so bright, the Californians had no other option but to detach the games from the Android Market or otherwise face the music of no Android Market at all. South Korean users are the unlucky ones to be affected by this move. However it is not all bad news for the Android lovers, they can always download games from third-party sources.

However the South Korean definitely need to have a second look at their policy in the light of the growing demand and love for Google's open source mobile platform.

Apple IPad Sold Out Completely Already !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:25:00 +0000

The pre-orders for the iPad began only two weeks ago and it seems like Apple has already run out of it's first-week stock of the iPads.........

Means that only users who have pre-ordered their iPads already will receive it by April 3rd and ones who plan to order it from today onwards will receive their ipad shipment no sooner than 12th April asApple prepares for it's second-week stock. As for more, the option to "Pick-up at Local Apple Store" is no longer available during purchase.

The news indicates how enthusiastically the users are welcoming the launch of the iPad. Estimates also indicate that Apple has managed to sell almost around half a million iPads already. Those waiting for the WiFi + 3G of the iPad would have to wait till late April.

Apps Migration Tool for Microsoft Exchange Launched by Google

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:23:00 +0000

Google seems to be speeding in the war for products related to software, OS, apps and much more. Just recently announced, the Internet search giant has rolled in a great service for small businessusers...........

Users can now switch from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps quietly which seems to be a big challenge for Microsoft Office to stay in the market for long. Google launched its latest server-side tool called the Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange, which helps you migrates easily as the app name defines.

According to Google, the migration takes minutes to take place which is just four steps long. The app also has the ability to import data in phases which makes it easier to bring in data if data is long enough. Information which you select and deem to be imported can also be done as you are provided the option to make a choice. The tool works with Microsoft Exchange 2003 or 2007 and is offered free to those who have already subscribed to Google Apps Premier and Education Edition.

Just a few weeks after the acquisition of DocVerse, a company which allows Microsoft Office users to edit their documents on the web, Google has confirmed services and users will be able to edit documents online. Small business will surely look for Google products rather Microsoft as the company leaves no area for Microsoft to re-capture the market in near future. Almost two million companies worldwide are now using Google Apps which guarantees that Google Apps is ready forsmall businesses.

The Google Apps Marketplace is managed by the partners who are building unmatched cloud-based application. More than 50 companies have already signed up and are ready to contribute their services for Google. The company says that it wants to rely on the partner for building business application, an area where it lacks expertise. Only 20% share would come to Google while the remaining would belong to the partners which is quiet an incentive.

With the latest tool from Google, customers are surely going to make a switch from Microsoft.

Microsoft employees use iPhone?

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:30:00 +0000

It looks like Apple iPhone is becoming a popular device among Microsoft employees, created by Microsoft’s long term rival, Apple Inc. A very interesting story has been published on the wall Street journal which reports that almost 10% of Microsoft employees are using iPhone, rather than their own Windows Mobile based handsets.........

Wall Street Journal cites two people who said that almost 10,000 Microsoft employees were accessing the company’s email system using an iPhone last year. This makes up almost 10% of company’s work force.

Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, is not one of those who like Apple very much. Last year, at company’s private meeting, he caught one of his employees taking pictures using iPhone. He grabbed the phone from him, placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it.

On the other hand, if we take a look at Apple employees, they are loyal to their company. People who work in Apple say that they don’t recall any Apple employee using mobile phone other than iPhone. This might be a turning point in the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. Even people working in Microsoft don’t use their own windows mobile based phones.

What impression will this incident have on the consumers who thought about buying windows mobile based smartphones? That's the question of the day.

Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview build

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:23:00 +0000

Only a while ago, Microsoft unveiled a platform preview build of IE9 to developers at MIX10, which shall have native support for new web-technologies such as HTML5 and GPU-based hardware acceleration.........

The most notable improvements in IE9 is the Microsoft's new javascript engine, they call it 'Chakra', as well as support for several standards such as HTML5, DOM, and CSS3. In the demo for IE9, it was also shown how the hardware-accelerated graphics capability of the browser allow it to render the same HTML, script, and CSS markup much faster as compared to other browser. Also, IE9 happens to be the first browser to provide hardware-accelerated SVG support.

The platform preview build can be downloaded at the IE9 Test Drive website. Please note that the platform preview is not a full web browser and should not be used for a daily user. Rather it should only be used by developers for preliminary testing purposes. A beta for IE9 will be available soon.

New iPad for $99

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:08:00 +0000

Apple stared pre-oders of their much hyped device, iPad, two days back. And according to rumors, they were able to sell around 90k iPads in first 6 hours.........

But many people missed the interesting fact about the iPad i.e.the iPad battery replacement service. If the battery of your iPad suddenly dies, Apple will replace the iPad just for $99 plus the shipping cost rather than its depleted battery.

Apple said,

If your iPad requires service due to the battery’s diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee.

Looks like Apple has too much faith in their new tablet. This kind of service was offered for iPhone and iPod touch as well but at that time, they were replacing batteries. And now they are going to replace the whole device rather than changing the dead battery.

Apple said that it will take atleast one week time for them to replace the device. Users can arrange the service via Apple Retail Stores, Apple authorized Service Providers or by contacting Apple Technical Support.

Note: Before sending it to the Battery Replacement Service, you should backup you data by syncyour iPad with iTunes.

New version of Digg !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:55:00 +0000

For all social media activists out there, get ready as Digg is about to reveal a new version of the website that is better, cleaner and blazing fast........

At the “Bigg Digg Shindigg” event at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference (SXSWi), Digg CEO Jay Adelson revealed that the popular social bookmarking site is getting a major overhaul, teasing the audience about new features such as personalized feeds and the return of the Digg leaderboard.

Not much was revealed about the new version of the website except that the new version was "five years in the making". The shout feature may make a return, along with a cleaner interface and better personalization options.

Head over to Digg.com/New to get a sneak-preview of the new UI along with a subscription option to be notified when the new version is available.

New phone software: sources

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:27:00 +0000

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is set to announce new mobile phone software on Monday, according to sources close to the company, as it looks to wrestle back market share from Apple Inc's iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.........

The world's largest software company, which makes operating systems for phones made by HTC Corp, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Motorola Inc and others, is hoping to regain momentum in the fast-growing sector after a lackluster update to its mobile software in October.

The overhaul of Microsoft's phone technology comes as it hemorrhages market share in the burgeoning smartphone market, which many see as the key to the future of communication and media.

Microsoft took just an 8.8 percent of the global smartphone operating system market last year, according to technology analysis firm Canalys, down from 13.9 percent the year before.

It trails Symbian, the system used on Nokia phones, which has 47.2 percent of the market, RIM's BlackBerry with 20.8 percent and Apple's iPhone with 15.1 percent.

Microsoft also faces competition from Google Inc's new Android system, which already has a 4.7 percent share of the market.

Expansion of Natal technology to TV

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:50:00 +0000

Earlier this year Microsoft unveiled the Project Natal at the E3, a gesture-recognition technology built for gamers of the Xbox 360 to give them a controller-free gaming and entertainment experience..........

It wasn't long until Bill Gates expressed his views on this technology being incorporated into Windows PCs which would let users operate and work in the same gesture-based environment as seen in the movie 'Minority Report' for the very first time.

But that's perhaps not even a little of what Microsoft has in mind for Natal. According to Marc Whitten, the General Manager of Xbox Live, the Project Natal is expected to “be the largest leap of TV experience since the remote control".

I don't believe we are currently in the golden age of the television or the golden age of the game console or the golden age of the Internet; frankly, five years from now I don't know that you'll be able to tell the difference between those worlds.

Microsoft aims to make it easier for the users to find and share video content through their Xbox. The plan is to build a technology that is smart enough to recognize a user using appearance or voice and hence allow them to switch channels with the flick of a finger. No price of release date for ProjectNatal has been announced yet, but it will be available somewhere in the late 2010.

How Javascript Hack brings Flash on the iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:22:00 +0000

Flash on the iPhone isn't happening anytime soon. But Tobias Schneider, a programmer from Munich, Germany has developed a JavaScript workaround that is able to run Flash natively on the iphone, but it still has it's limitations...........

The script, named Gordon, doesn't enable full flash support for the iPhone rather hacks the Flash webpage into serving files through JavaScript which can easily be run on mobile Safari. However, for it to work, the website owners must incorporate the code on each and every webpage where they want the Flash files to be able to play on iPhone.

Apart from the limitations mentioned above, this puts a negative impact on the iPhone CPU, increasing the usage and decreasing the battery life considerably. Though since it's a server-end hack, this does not require the iPhone to be Jailbroken. Head over to this page on iPhone for a live demo.

The script is open-source and available here. Interestingly! it's the year when two million Flash developers will make their way to the iPhone platform thanks to the Adobe CS5 which includes a native 'Packager for iPhone' to let developers deploy their Flash apps on the iPhone.

PwnageTool for iPhone 3GS on Firmware 3.1 Released

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Its Christmas everywhere for iPhone 3GS users today as the dev team has just released the new version of PwnageTool which will now allow them to update to Firmware 3.1 while preserving the old baseband, which means that users will be able to Jailbreak and even Unlock their iPhone 3GS on Firmware 3.1.

Though of course there are some limitations which might not make many iPhone 3GS users happy out there. Follow on to know more.

The new PwnageTool 3.1.3 only has support for the iPhone 3GS and even the iPod 2G, but the catch is that only users with a previously Jailbroken iPhone 3GS would be able to update their phones to Firmware 3.1 and the tool does not have support for ones with Firmware 3.1 out of the box. Likewise for the iPod 2G.

PwnageTool will only work for Mac users but we shall soon post an alternate solution for all Windows users out there. Follow the links below to download the new PwnageTool and make sure to read the release statement by the iPhone dev team.

Download PwnageTool 3.1.3 (At thePirateBay | Alternate)

An Exclusive Tutorial for users with iPhone 3GS is now available.

What about Nokia cell phones?

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:46:00 +0000

Nokia Cell Phones

Nokia Corporation is currently the world-leading manufacturer of Nokia mobile phones and it manufactures the cell phone for each and every main market and procedure including CDMA, GSM, and WCDMA. Head offices of Nokia are in Finland, Espoo, an adjacent city of Helsinki, but it has R&D, manufacturing, and sales demonstration sites in numerous countries all over the world.......

Nokia had been creating mobile radio communications technology while the 1960s and later began developing Nokia cell phones for the Nordic Mobile Telephones (NMT) network standard, who came out online in the 1980s. In 1982 Nokia got underway its first car phone, the Mobira Senator and in 1987 Nokia established the world’s first hand held NMT mobile phone, the Mobira Cityman. Nokia consist of four business divisions like; Nokia Enterprise Solutions, Nokia Cellular Phones, Nokia Networks and Nokia Multimedia, plus a variety of horizontal units like; Market and Customer Operations, and Technology Platforms.

Nokia Mobile Phones

Nokia Mobile Phone board supplies people with cell phone voice and data products across a widespread series of mobile devices. The division strategy to mark primarily high-volume category sales of Nokia cell phones and devices, with regulars being the most important customer section. The Nokia cell phones devices are chiefly based on 3G/WCDMA, GSM/EDGE, and CDMA cellular technologies.
Nokia Multimedia

The Multimedia board’s function is to suggest devices and applications that carry multimedia talents to their clients. These Nokia devices permit people to make access and munch through multimedia, as well as supply to their knowledge with others. The devices are incorporated through a wide variety of connectivity such as GSM, WLAN, 3G / WCDMA, and Bluetooth.
In all Nokia phones multimedia segment is well designed and on the other hand, all and every Nokia cell phone has good sound superiority for Nokia ring tones. Moreover Nokia also presents free Nokia software’s with Nokia accessories. There are two types of Nokia ring tones; first one monophonic and second one is polyphonic ring tone. All most all Nokia cell phones have free Nokia tones by default; in furthermore user can save more ring tones by data transfer cable or other connectivity options. Furthermore, Nokia also offers to enjoy full Nokia games in all Nokia cell phones as well as the Nokia themes class is much and more better as compare to others cellular devices themes.
Nokia Enterprise Solutions

The Nokia Enterprise Solutions offers businesses, corporation and institution a widespread sort of goods and clarifications, like; mobile devices, enterprise-grade, underlying security infrastructure, software and services. Nokia also workings amongst a series of companies to provide network security, get mobilized corporate e-mail and widen communal telephone systems to use Nokia mobile phones.
Nokia Networks

Nokia Networks board presents mobile network infrastructure, communications and networks service platform, as well as particular services for workers and service suppliers. Nokia Network’s focal point in, GSM, 3G / WCDMA and EDGE networks; interior networks with mounting IP and multi-access capabilities and services.

How to get Get Windows 7 for Free ?

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:32:00 +0000

If you are excited about the launch of Windows 7 as much as Microsoft is, you are in for a treat. Microsoft has launched a new HouseParty initiative that gives you the chance to win a free licensed copy of Windows 7, all you have to do is call up some friends and celebrate the launch of Microsoft's new operating system.

This is probably the first of its kind type of initiative by Microsoft that demands user interaction and makes them more enthusiastic and excited about whats to come.

All you have to do is Apply Online to host a Launch Party, choose a day from October 22nd to October 29th and if you are selected, you'll not only receive a special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate but your very own Windows 7 Party Pack.

This initiative is only applicable to users living in the following countries. Australia, Italy, Canada, Japan, Mexico, France, Spain, Germany, USA, Hong Kong, UK, India

Unlock iPhone 2G on Firmware 3.1 with Pwnage Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Waqas Ali) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:41:00 +0000

Finally! I managed to steal my sister's iPhone 2G and experiment on with unlocking it using the PwnageTool on Firmware 3.1.

The unlock method of iPhone 2G is as much same as that of iPhone 3G but more safe, in case you make a flaw you can easily recover and unlock your iPhone again which is not so easy in case of iPhone 3G and specially the new iPhone 3GS. Follow the steps with open eyes, and trust me you won't even need to ask for help in the comments.

Please backup with iTunes before trying this. This process only works on Mac for now, no Bootloader files were needed during the unlock process.

1.Grab and download the Pwnage Tool 3.1 for Mac OS X.
2.Make sure to update to the latest iTunes 9 before attempting this unlock.
3.Download the 3.1 Firmware for iPhone 3G and save it on your desktop.
4.Run the Pwnage Tool 3.1 and select iPhone and click next.
5.Select the Firmware 3.1 with build iPhone1,1_3.1_7C144 and click next.
6.Select 'Yes', click next and then select 'No', now the 'Building IPSW' has started.
7.Once completed, select 'Yes' to the prompt and click next.
8.Open iTunes and click Restore (while holding Option key) and select the newly created Custom 3.1 IPSW on desktop.
Voila! its unlocked and will work with any carrier. As you would notice that the process is very similar to the unlock of iPhone 3G on Firmware 3.1 but with only one difference, you don't have to use Ultrasnow anywhere.
Here is a direct link to download the iPhone 3.1 Firmware for iPhone 2G, alternatively it can be downloaded from ThePirateBay as well.
Note: This method will only and only work for the iPhone 2G and uses the Simple mode in PwnageTool as a reference. No bootloader files are required during the process, at least for us.