Natterings

The easiest way to upgrade a Mobile Provision in Xcode.

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:33:39 -0400

The easiest way to upgrade a Mobile Provision in Xcode.

OAuthConsumer on GitHub

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:14:51 -0400

I extracted mostly-Jon-Crosby’s Obj-C 2 OAuth implementation into its own GitHub project and rolled in my various fixes.

Patches welcome.

H264: cannot locate bundle "com.apple.QuickTimeH264.component" => bailing out!

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 17:24:52 -0400

Here’s another hair-puller for future Google searches. My brand-new MacBook Pro inherited a problem from my old MacBook Pro: videos shot on my iPhone would lock up QuickTime Pro. No quicklook previews. No iPhoto. Trying to watch would play audio and then show the Rainbow Spinning Wheel of Doom.

A quick look at the Console logs showed messages like this:

7/4/10 4:05:33 PM [0x0-0x2e92e9].com.apple.quicktimeplayer[6860] H264: cannot locate bundle “com.apple.QuickTimeH264.component” => bailing out!

If you google this particular expression, you won’t find anything. Boo!

I wasted some time trying to fix a broken folder (not a bundle!) named QuickTimeH264.component in ~/Library/Quicktime. Then I had an epiphany and simply deleted the offending folder.

Portrait video from iPhone now plays correctly. I’m assuming the broken QuickTimeH264.component was leftover from QuickTime Pro or some other component before Snow Leopard was released.

Photo

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:52:13 -0400

“A valid signing identity matching this profile could not be found on your keychain”

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 12:38:17 -0400

Once a year your iPhone Development Certificate expires and you have to to the Certificate Hamster Dance. It’s easy to request and install a new certificate (“developer_identity.cer”), but you must edit your existing provisioning profiles on the program portal to refer to the new certificate, then update and download each provisioning profile as well.

In hindsight, it makes sense. Your old provisioning profile (e.g. “nuthatch.mobileprovision”) refers to a developer certificate you just replaced. So that signing identity can no longer be found. The new profile includes the new certificate, and all is good again. For now.

It’s a shame the error messages are so useless. I understand this is all fixed in Xcode 4.0 but googling the phrase “A valid signing identity matching this profile could not be found on your keychain” returns a lot of noise. The final hint (duh!) came from http://bit.ly/valid-signing-identity

Working your heart by Mark Allen

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:11:34 -0400

Working your heart by Mark Allen:

“Over time, however, you will get the maximum benefit possible from doing just aerobic training. At that point, after several months of seeing your pace get faster at your maximum aerobic heart rate,…

InAppSettingsKit

Sat, 15 May 2010 16:37:08 -0400

InAppSettingsKit:

InAppSettingsKit is an open source solution to to easily add in-app settings to your iPhone apps. It uses a hybrid approach by maintaining the Settings.app pane. So the user has the CHOICE where to…

Add git branch to bash prompt

Sat, 15 May 2010 15:00:00 -0400

I’ve had this on my work laptop for over a year, but never got around to adding it to my home machine.

Edit your .profile to add these:

function parse_git_branch{ ref=$(git symbolic-ref HEAD 2> /dev/null) || return echo "("${ref#refs/heads/}")" } # path prompt export PS1="\w \$(parse_git_branch)\$ "

Now your prompt will look like this if you’re inside a git repository:

~/projects/iPhone/UIKit-Artwork-Extractor (master)$

Branches are cheap in git, and this will help you remember which one you’re on.

A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong Opinion on US Mobile Market Share

Wed, 12 May 2010 10:02:46 -0400

Mike Rundle asked on Twitter “If iPhone comes to Verizon at a good price, who would still buy an Android phone besides open source geeks?”

My first answer is the current iPhone will never come to Verizon at any price. Verizon uses CDMA, which limits a device to at most 100 million subscribers in the United States. That sounds like a lot. But GSM devices, like the current iPhone models, can be sold worldwide. A quick check finds 700 GSM networks, with roughly 2.5 billion subscribers. Maybe it’s worth Apple’s time to pursue those 100 million Verizon customers with a new device. If not just for profits, it will start to close the window of opportunity for Android vendors. Perhaps Korea and Japan has compatible CDMA customers.

Apple pursues profits over market share. The iPhone requires a premium data plan, so most of the world’s 2.5 billion GSM subscribers can’t afford to use one. Nokia, Samsung, and Google Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) like Motorola and HTC will continue shipping phones in volume. You could even strip down Android to make a cheap, nearly disposable phone for everyone, something Apple will not do. So overall, Apple’s world-wide market share will remain a minority as they skim the cream of the profits. I think of this as the “BMW model,” and I think it suits Apple fine. I personally doubt they would invest in a separate CDMA device just for market share.

Let’s return to the United States. Will Apple take over? It does seem many AT&T customers are going for Apple’s iPhone. The Wall Street Journal reported in the 4th quarter of 2009 AT&T activated 3.1 million new iPhones. They only added 2.7 million new subscribers. Those are suggestive numbers. Apple has sold roughly 50 million iPhones in the US, and those customers have proven quite willing to pay for apps from Apple’s App Store.

But in the United States, customers don’t buy cell phones. Carriers do. Sorry, Mike. While Verizon may want some of the fat profits afforded by a premium device, nobody wants to be beholden to a single vendor. Carriers are excited about Android and will continue to court OEM devices running Android. That excitement will not diminish as Apple gains power and influence, especially if it turns to fear.

Even if iPhone was available across all carriers, would everyone buy one? I don’t know about you, but my kids are not getting iPhones. Apple’s iPod Touch fills this niche brilliantly, and prepares young consumers for future iPhone purchases. But parents buying mobile phones for their children today are going to go for something sturdy and cheap.

Android will take the majority of market share because it is cheaply licensed across many manufacturers. Unlike Microsoft with Windows, Google moves quickly and quality improves markedly with every release. Google also seems to be releasing more frequent updates on a shorter cycle than Apple. Throw Blackberry and Palm OS back in, maybe even Windows Mobile, and there’s still plenty of other devices for carriers to chose from. I’d argue this is good for everyone concerned.

But the real question Mike is asking (besides the obvious, “what idiot would not buy an iPhone”) is “what platform should mobile developers should target?” Unfortunately for Android, the Google App market is a train wreck. I heard one developer say his Palm webOS sales outstripped his Android sales. That’s anecdotal, but would be pretty scary for Android considering Palm’s market share with the Pre.

Longer term, Verizon and AT&T are supposedly converging on a new cellular technology, LTE. While they have different radio bands assigned, that would make it easier to ship one device that operates on the two largest networks in the United States. Then things will get interesting. I predict that is when when iPhone will come to Verizon.

How To Convert a SIM to a MicroSIM with a Meat Cleaver!

Thu, 06 May 2010 15:06:35 -0400

How To Convert a SIM to a MicroSIM with a Meat Cleaver!:

iPhone works fine without a 3G sim.. *cough*

Taking screenshots with Android

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:28:52 -0400

Taking screenshots with Android:

There are lots of tutorials around the ‘net to take screenshots using DDMS. Unfortunately using DDMS makes it difficult to take automated screenshots for testing purposes.

Fortunately Android uses…

I’m with quanganhdo on this one.

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 23:29:57 -0400

I’m with quanganhdo on this one.

0xced: Booting from a dmg

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:37:14 -0400

0xced: Booting from a dmg:

./makebootfolder /Path/to/OperatingSystem.dmg
sudo ./blessbootfolder /Path/to/OperatingSystem.bootfolder

But beware: you better not have a space in the path to the dmg or in the dmg itself.

Minimal mindset in de Yummygum office

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:20:32 -0500

Minimal mindset in de Yummygum office:

Nice touches.

iPhone Simulator Screen Captures

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:05:25 -0500

Grab? No. Sceen capture? Ugh, no. control-command-C. Did I say this already? I always forget. I usually use Preview “New from clipboard” and save the result as a PNG. Pasting screencaps from the clipboard gives you TIFFs or something nasty otherwise.

Props to stroughtonsmith for bringing this gem to our attention awhile back.

2009 iPhone Tech Talks on iTunes

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:07:14 -0500

That didn’t take too long. The videos from the 2009 iPhone Tech Talks are now available on iTunes if you are an ADC member.

Does that link work for you?

Joke haiku considered harmful

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:20:32 -0500

Alas, this is all that remains of a not-so-old diatribe against joke haiku.

From sneakums at zork.net  Sat Jun 16 08:29:25 2001
From: sneakums at zork.net (Sean Neakums)
Date: Fri Jul  8 18:51:14 2005
Subject: [CrackMonkey] Joke haiku considered harmful
Message-ID: <6ud784xx2i.fsf@zork.zork.net>

http://phenry.org/junkdrawer/haiku/

> For starters, the vast majority of joke haiku writers aren't writing
> haiku at all, they're writing senryu, whether they know it or not.
> One of the most important aspects of classical haiku is the kigo, or
> season word, which indicates the season in which the poem is
> set. Kigo can express the season directly or through implication.
> For example, many Japanese haiku refer to cherry blossoms, which are
> a sign of spring. Kigo in English-language American haiku might
> include the start of Daylight Saving Time (for spring), school
> letting out (summer), football season (fall), and Christmas
> (winter).  The concept of kigo is vitally important to haiku poets,
> many of whom compile lists of appropriate words.  Senryu, by
> comparison, generally follow the conventions of haiku but don't
> require kigo.

Take note.

Seth Godin: The Truth About Shipping

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:15:18 -0500

Seth Godin: The Truth About Shipping:

Keep your team small. Smaller than that. No team at all if you can help it.
Ship often. Ship lousy stuff, but ship. Ship constantly.
Skip meetings. Often. Skip them with impunity. Ship.

git + eclipse = AnyEdit

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:10:21 -0500

The battle of whitespace continues, this time on the Android front.

“AnyEdit allows you automatically remove trailing whitespaces and/or perform tabs<->spaces conversion on a “save” action in all text- based Eclipse editors. It can automatically create a new line at the end of the file if the last line was not terminated by a new line.”

I had to install manually, couldn’t get Eclipse software update to work behind our firewall. Damn, I hate Eclipse almost as much as I loathe being stuck behind a corporate firewall.

Fontcase

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:17:07 -0500

Fontcase:

Nearly $60 USD, but beautiful: “Fontcase is a font management application that provides an elegant and powerful workflow to help you organise the fonts you have installed on your system. Designed to…