nikf.org

"Next February, when Steven P. Jobs — knock on wood — does his big reveal at Macworld, the geegaw..."

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:07:13 +0100

“Next February, when Steven P. Jobs — knock on wood — does his big reveal at Macworld, the geegaw people will most want to see probably won’t be on display.”

- The Media Equation - Only the Nosy Are Fixated on Steve Jobs’s Health - NYTimes.com

Someone ought to tell the New York Times about this, though I guess I should at least be grateful that the New York Times correctly capitalised the word Macworld (ahem, TechCrunch).

From President Obama’s first 167 days in The Big Picture....

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:48:49 +0100

From President Obama’s first 167 days in The Big Picture. The absence note reads:

To Kennedy’s Teacher,
Please excuse Kennedy’s absence… She’s with me.
Barack Obama

Brilliant.

"AT&T was given a great fortune with the iPhone exclusive, but they’ve completely failed to do..."

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:26:01 +0100

“AT&T was given a great fortune with the iPhone exclusive, but they’ve completely failed to do anything to hold onto it. As soon as there’s a better option, they’ll lose a big portion of iPhone users who feel absolutely no loyalty to them because they’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve any.”

- Marco.org: AT&T’s massive iPhone blunder

"Do they not realise that fans need the money back to go help pay for them to get to LA to say good..."

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:28:38 +0100

“Do they not realise that fans need the money back to go help pay for them to get to LA to say good bye to Michael?”

- Tickets offered to Jackson fans (via iamdanw)

Maxvoltar - A conversation with my iPhone

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:27:34 +0100

Maxvoltar - A conversation with my iPhone: Tim Van Damme chronicles his adventures with Voice Control on the iPhone 3GS with some slightly ~~alarming~~ amusing results.

"Dear Java lovers: Please continue to think the Xcode, Objective-C and Cocoa development environment..."

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:11:52 +0100

“Dear Java lovers: Please continue to think the Xcode, Objective-C and Cocoa development environment for the iPhone is subpar. I am very happy to continue making money coding apps for the iPhone without the competition.”

- A comment on Green’s Opinion: Android versus iPhone Development: A Comparison. The comments make for an interesting read.

"Pro Tip: read nasty blog comments in the voice of the Lemur King from Madagascar."

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:58:55 +0100

“Pro Tip: read nasty blog comments in the voice of the Lemur King from Madagascar.”

- Victor Agreda Jr, via Twitter

FAQ: What's the best book for beginning Cocoa?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:45:31 +0100

Since my return from the Big Nerd Ranch just over a week ago, I’ve received a number of emails asking “What books are you reading and what would you recommend to those interested in Cocoa?”. Depending on your background, there’s a number of excellent books available. Here’s a low down of some of the books I’ve been enjoying and learning from recently…

Learn C on the Mac ~ Lacking any real background in programming, the first place to start is to learn C. There’s some well-respected books on the language, but they’re also incredibly dry and hard reads. This title from Apress is both approachable and full of the foundations you’ll need.

Learn Objective-C on the Mac ~ The sequel to “Learn C on the Mac”, this is another great title from Apress. Its worth remembering that before you get to the Cocoa framework, you might want to ensure you’re comfortable with Objective-C. This continuation from the C book is well-written, as you might expect, and one of the books used as course text for the first portion of the Cocoa Bootcamp.

Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (Third Edition) ~ Widely known as “The Bible” you’ll want a copy of this for your bookshelf. After a bit of preparation with the previous two titles, this book will be the one to tackle: exercises, challenges and more to get you on your way.

Learn Cocoa on the Mac ~ I don’t actually own this one (yet - it’s not on sale until September) however after reading the first two in the series, I’ll be picking up a copy of this alongside the obvious Beginning iPhone Development title too.

There’s tonnes of titles out there for Cocoa: so if you’ve got your own favourite, post it as one of Tumblr’s spiffy Answers.

Virtually Waterless Washing Machine Cuts Water Use by 90%

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:58:00 +0100

Virtually Waterless Washing Machine Cuts Water Use by 90%: An interesting prototype, this is definitely something I’d love to see make it out of the labs.

"Turns out that “that’s a real first-world problem” is not the way to comiserate..."

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:34:09 +0100

“Turns out that “that’s a real first-world problem” is not the way to comiserate with a lady whose dinner-party avocados have not ripened.”

- Fraser Speirs, via Twitter

"We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce..."

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:33:15 +0100

“We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products.”

- Jonny Ive speaking at the Royal College of Art, via Macworld UK

Aston Martin to deliver £20,000 Cygnet

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:18:45 +0100

Aston Martin to deliver £20,000 Cygnet: It’s an Aston Martin based on the Toyota iQ chassis, with the traditional Aston looks. Quite nice, but I’d settle for a DB9 instead.

Scott Hampson’s Twitter Bird In Real Life via thedailywhat

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:02:27 +0100

Scott Hampson’s Twitter Bird In Real Life via thedailywhat

"It’s not the cost of real estate in CA that will bankrupt me. It’s the amount of Twitter..."

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:10:33 +0100

“It’s not the cost of real estate in CA that will bankrupt me. It’s the amount of Twitter clients for the iPhone that keep appearing”

- Doug Bowman, via Twitter

Birdfeed - A very nice Twitter client for your iPhone

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:27:20 +0100

Birdfeed - A very nice Twitter client for your iPhone: A slick new Twitter client for iPhone, from Buzz Andersen and Neven Mrgan.

Far too accurate a picture of live news for the past few days,...

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:42:37 +0100

Far too accurate a picture of live news for the past few days, via Simon Doggett.

The Nike Experiment: How the Shoe Giant Unleashed the Power of Personal Metrics

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:07:28 +0100

The Nike Experiment: How the Shoe Giant Unleashed the Power of Personal Metrics : A fascinating look at the Nike+ system’s inception: the Nike+ option in the iPhone 3GS is one of the most tempting options in the device, in my opinion.

Google thought Michael Jackson traffic was attack

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:58:09 +0100

Google thought Michael Jackson traffic was attack:

No wonder Twitter struggled under the weight of Michael Jackson news. Google thought the queries were malicious, and Yahoo set a record too:

[Yahoo’s] lead story on Jackson’s death was the most highly-visited story in its history.

"That we had to wait two years for the iPhone’s text selection and pasteboard is a good example of..."

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:56:41 +0100

“That we had to wait two years for the iPhone’s text selection and pasteboard is a good example of one aspect of the Apple way: better nothing at all than something less than great.”

- Daring Fireball: Copy and Paste (via chartier)

The Art of Pixar: 100 Collectible Postcards

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:24:43 +0100

The Art of Pixar: 100 Collectible Postcards: I’ve been browsing Amazon for suitable Pixar wares after Mischa McLachlan posted a link to this awesome (though out-of-print) book and these postcards came up. It’s a shame these were printed in 2006 - and lack some of the more recent films - as the artwork to UP looks astounding.