Archive for June 2007
iPhone Development: Aptana and Morfik
People are clamoring on the iPhone buzz to get developers using their products for iPhone development.
Two early IDE folk are Morfik and Aptana:
Aptana iPhone Support
We’ve released the first beta of our iPhone Development Plugin for the Aptana IDE. Since ‘Web 2.0’ is the development model of choice for the iPhone, and that is what the Aptana IDE is all about, it made sense that we’d support it in every way we could. For this first beta, here are the features we have (and some that are coming):
- Preview of your iPhone projects in horizontal or vertical mode
- iPhone Project contains starter files to get you going easily on your iPhones apps
- Several example apps that leverage the iPhone form factor
- Easy import of Ajax libraries into iPhone projects
- Integrated content assist for iPhone-specific APIs (coming soon)
- Help and online documentation (coming soon)
Morfik
Morfik has also provided a web development environment for the iPhone including iChess an example application that works on the iPhone.
Scriptor will have iPhone support released by Friday.
No matter what you think about the “SDK” issues (I am sure you can get some Cocoa going in the future) it is amazing to see how fast these vendors have jumped in, and how fast developers have built applications. And, this is still before the phone is released.
(Via Ajaxian.)
Superdrive Firmware Update 2.1 and Pro Application Update 2007-01 released
Apple’s released a two pack of software updates. The Superdrive Firmware Update 2.1 is for MacBooks and MacBook Pros. It improves the readability of certain CD media. It’s up to you to figure out which.
The Pro Application Update 2007-01 includes three important fixes.
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Apple ProRes 422:
Delivers improved encoding performance for Power Mac G5 computers. -
ProAppsEffects:
Delivers filter improvements for Motion 3.0 and Final Cut Pro 6.0 customers. -
PluginManager, FxPlug, ProFX, and FxPlugWrapper:
These shared components deliver updates to Effects Support, 3D Support, and Versioning Support. -
Helium.framework:
Delivers improvements for SmoothCam. This update is required for customers using Motion 3.0 and Final Cut Pro 6.0.
A special huzzah for the first item because it shows continued commitment to the PowerPC platform.
(Via MacUser.)
uTorrent for Mac
Lots of the youngsters out there are clogging up the Internet tubes with their torrents and their Rock and Roll music. Sadly, the choice of BitTorrent clients (BitTorrent, in case you aren’t familiar, is a distributed peer to peer downloading protocol. The more people who download something, the faster it is for everyone… in theory) on OS X has been missing a biggie: uTorrent. uTorrent is the most popular Bit Torrent client on Windows, and it was recently purchased by BitTorrent, Inc which is a mighty fine stamp of approval if you ask me. Sadly, it isn’t available on the Mac. So very, very sad.
Weep no longer, torrent obsessed Mac fiends! uTorrent is coming to OS X and according to TorrentFreak it is pretty slick. It is faster, smaller, and simpler than the other offerings on OS X and it is free. What’s not to like? Ah, right, the fact that it is in closed beta at the moment.
Thanks, RM.
Cerny.js – Method call interception, Schemas, Type checking and more
Robert Cerny has created a JavaScript library in his own image Cerny.js.
The library has an entire slew of things:
- method call interception,
- type checking for arguments and return values on function calls,
- programming by contract,
- logging,
- validation of an object against a schema,
- dictionaries,
- pretty printing JSON in text or HTML,
- dependency management,
- easy configuration and
- good documentation.
One of the more out there ideas is for putting design by contract into your JavaScript world via something like this:
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var NewMath = {};
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(function() {
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// Shorten some names
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var check = CERNY.check;
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var pre = CERNY.pre;
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var method = CERNY.method;
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// The new division
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function divide(a,b) {
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return a / b;
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}
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// For contracts to be enforced, it is necessary
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// that a function is subject to interception. Therefore
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// CERNY.method must be used.
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method(NewMath, “divide”, divide);
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// The precondition for a division
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pre(divide, function(a,b) {
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check(b !== 0, “b may not be 0″);
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});
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})();
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A lot to check out here.
(Via Ajaxian.)
PhotoFolder: JSON Image Gallery API
Ryan Johnson has developed PhotoFolder, a simple library that “scans a given folder for JPEG files with any number of thumbnail sizes per image. If the resized images do not yet exist, it will automatically create the thumbnails for you. The result is that your workflow for adding new images to an application built with PhotoFolder is a simple as putting named JPEG files in a directory.”
The demo will show you all you need to know. Ryan is going to be speaking at The Ajax Experience, so come heckle!
(Via Ajaxian.)
Google Docs and Spreadsheets Updated
Ron Schneider announced a new look for Google Docs and Spreadsheets today.
This is a good example of changing the feel for an app that you use daily, and adding some nice Ajax effects and features, such as the good ‘ole left side folder list. I wonder if anyone will be confused that these folders map to tags, and there is a difference (think ‘delete’).
What’s new
- Looking pretty – The entire document list has been given a complete visual overhaul – new icons, more content, and better organizational controls. We know users spend a lot of time here and we aim to make it feel more like home.
- Getting organized – Almost from the day we launched people have been clamoring for folders. They’re here! Even cooler, our new folders continue to work like the tags they’ve replaced – your old tags are automatically converted to folders and documents can live in more than one folder at a time. Organizing your documents is as easy as dragging and dropping a document to a folder. We’ve also included special controls for seeing only those documents created by you or shared with a particular person.
- Search that thinks ahead – If you’ve ever tried Google Suggest, you know how cool it is when a search engine offer suggestions as you type. Google Docs & Spreadsheets now works the same way – we offer dynamically filtered results from your document list as you type, saving you time and getting you to your documents more quickly.
(Via Ajaxian.)
Carbon fiber 360 controller is fast, furious
This sweet Xbox 360 controller mod comes to us direct from Germany, where a forum reader called MueMue used the shell of an extra wireless controller to shape a sporting new carbon fiber case. He’s also replaced the original removable battery pack with two built-in 1100mAh cells to preserve the lines and coloring of his work, and we think it came out looking pretty hot — we’d definitely take this bad boy over the eh-so-it’s-black 360 Elite controller.
(Via Engadget.)
The Surfin’ Safari blog dedicated to the open source WebKit project (which powers Safari on Mac OS X, Windows and even the iPhone) has announced the availability of 