Need a project management tool to help manage your projects or work teams? Here’s a new web application that might be of us to you. Manymoon.com an online project management software that allows one to manage their projects via the web across multiple borders. The application boost features like social productivity – share, track and complete work items with your contacts, saves money as no expensive software is needed and its simple to use.
What’s best is that it hooks up well with Google Apps. So if you have a Google account, you automatically get access to this web project management tool. Manymoon allows one to sync their tasks, projects and events within the Google calendar. It also offers time sheets to help track team members time. The app is free with its basic version that comes with unlimited users and projects but each project is allocated only 5 MB of storage space. You can get the premier version that provides up to 1 Gig of space but do we really need it, who knows.
The editors at Technotraits.com has managed to compile a list of 15 tips and plugins useful for Chrome users. I like some of the tips listed like using chrome as a unit converter + calculator, Chrome Pagerank using a plugin (only for developer version), chrome short cuts and many more.
Are you a Firefox fan? If you are, and cant wait for a new version of the popular browser, you might want to check out the following article. Basically Mozilla has updated its product road map and it shows the types of updates to be expected for next year.
In the works, there is a timeline for Firefox 4.0 which is expected to be launch in 2010 Q4. The current UI of the new browser found on Mozilla shows that the team are looking towards a Chrome look. That might change, but for now thats the look.
Are you a linux convert? Have you ditch Windows lately? If you did, well you might like to read the this article from Techradar.com. The article compiles a list of basic linux beginner guides to get you started with using the Linux OS.
Linux has made in roads in recent years to the masses with the popularity of netbooks, this new popularity has helped linux snatched some of Windows market share. However as a new linux users, it would be good to have a list of beginner guide to help you move ahead with your new OS.
Are you a programmer looking for a new challenge? Does the thought of building your very own iPhone app make your heart race and your pulse quicken? If so, then Beginning iPhone Development is just the book for you.
Assuming only a minimal working knowledge of Objective-C, and written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style, Beginning iPhone Development offers a complete soup-to-nuts course in iPhone and iPod Touch programming.
The book starts with the basics, walking you through the process of downloading and installing Apple’s free iPhone SDK, then stepping you though the creation of your first simple iPhone application. You’ll move on from there, mastering all the iPhone interface elements that you’ve come to know and love, such as buttons, switches, pickers, toolbars, sliders, etc.
You’ll master a variety of design patterns, from the simplest single view to complex hierarchical drill-downs. You’ll master the art of table-building and learn how to save your data using the iPhone file system. You’ll also learn how to save and retrieve your data using SQLite, iPhone’s built-in database management system.
You’ll learn how to draw using Quartz 2D and OpenGL ES. You’ll add MultiTouch Gestural Support (pinches and swipes) to your applications, and work with the Camera, Photo Library, and Accelerometer. You’ll master application preferences, learn how to localize your apps into other languages, and so much more.
Apple’s iPhone SDK, this book, and your imagination are all you’ll need to start building your very own best-selling iPhone applications.
You can discover more about this book, download source code, and find support forums at the book’s companion site: www.iphonedevbook.com
Reviews
“People ask me again and again about how to get started in iPhone development, but I never had a very good answer for them until now. Dave and Jeff’s book starts at the beginning in clear English, making sure you understand the fundamentals with many large illustrations. From there, they progress into key concepts such as the MVC pattern and ImageBuilder fundamentals. Additionally, I find myself flipping back to it as a reference guide—the plethora of code samples make it a must-have.”
—Steve Demeter, Creator of “Trism” and owner of Demiforce LLC
“Beginning iPhone Development delivers a clear picture of the entire development process from registering as an iPhone developer through creation of complete applications. There is a wealth of examples illustrating each feature of the iPhone. The authors did an excellent job of demonstrating “best practice” coding methodology throughout the book. You would be hard pressed to find a better guide to creating software for the iPhone.”
—Aaron Basil, iDev2.com
“Dave Mark has always been the king of Mac programming authors, and now he’s proven to be the reigning king for books on iPhone development!
“Beginning iPhone Development is the definitive guide for iPhone development, and anyone aspiring to develop for the iPhone should get this invaluable reference.”
—Brian Greenstone, President & CEO, Pangea Software, Inc.
“Jeff and Dave have done an exceptional job exploring the iPhone SDK. This book is far and away the single best resource for iPhone SDK development. Developers will latch on to this book and find it useful as they create the next great iPhone application. If you’re a developer with an interest in this amazing new platform, this is a must buy.”
—Chris Stewart, Founder, iPhoneDevSDK.com
“If you’re planning on coding for the iPhone, start here. Dave and Jeff know their stuff and also know how to explain it. I was amazed how much stuff they cover, from Hello World through analyzing user gestures. Not only do they cover the fun stuff like playing with the camera, they cover real-world development issues like localization. I learned a huge amount from them”
—Mark Dalrymple, Co-founder, CocoaHeads, and Principal Author, Advanced Mac OS X Programming
“Starting with an overview of the technology, how to approach the device, the authors lead us straight into the heart of iPhone development. As you progress, you’ll learn more about various layout engines and view managers, as well as the more meaty topics like accelerometer and GPS APIs. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in getting started quickly and efficiently with iPhone development!”
—Chris Pelsor, Manager, Tarantell:Hybrid
“All in all I was very surprised and pleased with the book. I’ve had the fortune of reading many technical books, and few do a great job of walking someone through the basics without making them feel like a dolt. It felt like every time I was stuck or unsure there was a tip, hint or paragraph which explained what was going on.”
—Cory Foy, at Slashdot.org
Summary of Contents
Welcome to the Jungle
Appeasing the Tiki Gods
Handling Basic Interaction
More User Interface Fun
Autorotation and Autosizing
Multiview Applications
Tab Bars and Pickers
Introduction to Table Views
Navigation Controllers and Table Views
Application Settings and User Defaults
Basic Data Persistence
Drawing with Quartz and OpenGL
Taps, Touches, and Gestures
Where Am I? Finding Your Way with Core Location
Whee!
iPhone Camera and Photo Library
Application Localization
Where to Next?
About the Apress Beginning Series
The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry–level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional.” You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to know—but without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there—it is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Excellent introduction, gets you up to speed quickly.
I picked up this book after learning certain areas of the iPhone SDK from reading the documentation and working on an iPhone project for some time. All of the stuff that I didn’t know was covered in this book in enough detail to fire up XCode and start coding right off the bat. Authors do a great job on covering most of the basics and explaining how things work behind the scenes (whenever such explanations are necessary). If you are just starting out or need to quickly get up to speed on certain APIs, this book would be a great investment.
4 Stars Great book for getting started
This is a great book for getting started with iPhone development. (NOTE: If you don’t already know Objective-C programming you should first read through a different book.) The authors do a really good job of walking you through the steps of a task and slowly expecting you to be able to do it yourself. This really keeps your brain working and makes you really learn it.
5 Stars Best book to learn iPhone development
I have all the books on iPhone development plus every bit of video, documentation and sample code, and out of all that I can tell you that if you want to follow a “path of least resistance” in learning how to code, get this book and just do it from cover to cover. Be sure to type it all in with your fingers so that it gets integrated into your real-world experience and sense memory.
The authors have clearly taken great pains to make sure you are introduced to what you need to know in an orderly fashion so there are no missing parts which will cause you confusion and wasted time later on. Don’t skip around or end the book early or you’ll miss the introduction of some essential knowledge.
Once you get this book, be sure to visit their super helpful website and mark up the book with the few corrections before you get started.
There is this book, and then there are all the others. Take it from someone who has studied the “art of the explanation” for a couple of decades. This book is first-class.
4 Stars The good and the bad
I am at chapter 5, and I am loving this book. First off, I am not a programmer. I have bought may programing books trying to learn, but I am an artist, so this stuff does not come naturally. I say this so you understand that I did not even know what Objective C was when I bought this book.
First, you do not need to know Objective C to use this book. You will need it after you are done though, if you want to move on to doing anything else. This book walks you through building some useless apps to teach you how to do some amazing things. The Xcode & Interface Builder programs are amazing, and I already feel like an expert with them at chapter 5.
Reading the book, I feel like the author is looking over my shoulder, which is great. This is the first book outside the Head First series I have really felt did a good job teaching. While I have learned a lot, I think the biggest thing I have learned has been that I need to learn Objective C. For those in the same situation, I recommend Programming in Objective C 2.0 by Kochan, as it assumes you do not know how to program.
The bad:
The code is not right. Xcode makes it easy to see, and I was able to figure out my own mistakes, but you MUST get the code from the author’s web site. Without it this book would have been useless to me. In chapter 4 everything you do needs a chunk of code (via the book):
@property (nonatomic, retain)…
but it should be:
@property (retain, nonatomic)…
Again, the corrected code is available on the author’s site.
All in all, I think this book is more to teach coders how to use Xcode to make iPhone apps, but you learn enough to get you started with Objective C. If you are not sure if you really want to learn programing, this is a great book to get started. You get a taste for the programing while learning the Xcode and Interface Builder programs.
I give it a 4 out of 5 for 2 reasons, the editing should be better and I do wish the apps were more useful, I am not sure if I would be happier if the book took you through all of these steps to build on or 2 apps that were actually useful, or if this useful things put together uselessly is the way to go. Either way, if you want to learn to create apps for the iPhone, this is the book to buy. I also got the For Dummy’s book, and was very disappointed.
5 Stars Awesome book but wait for 3.0 edition
Great book, but next edition covers SDK 3.0 and includes corrections. The eBook is already out, the paperback is coming early July 2009.
Google recently launched their new web browser Chrome. The product launch used a comic book of what is Chrome and why did they decide to develop Chrome. I have been using Chrome for the past few weeks. So far besides the quick installation, I managed to crash Chrome several times (Attaching a file on Gmail), a bad tab and a slightly faster web surfing experience.
If you are like me and would be willing to get a new version of Chrome, you have a choice now. Google Chrome has an update version 1.1. This version is mainly for developers and first movers.
Here’s where you can get Chrome version 1.1 go to Google’s Chrome Dev Channel site and select the switcher which lets people choose whether they want the latest cutting-edge Chrome builds or the less frequent but more stable beta versions.
Always wanted to get great applications for your Mac but felt the pinch to fork out your hard earned money for other people’s work? Well MacHeist has come together and bundled up some of their popular software for all those Mac users. 12 fabulous applications packaged at a amazing deal of USD$49, Cha-Ching is a good application for managing finances and those looking to pimp up their music playback experience can play around with Coversutra. So what are you waiting for 12 great apps at 1 great price. [MacHeist Bundle]
As a PRS 500 Ebook owner, I was pretty disappointed when I found out that the stock ebook software didn’t support Mac. However, now as Mac and Sony EBook PRS owners, we are able to load our ebook collection on our readers. All thanks to a few good people who decided that Mac users should be able to load ebooks on their Sony PRS readers.
Here is the software that can be used on the Mac – LibPRS500 which is a reverse-engineered library to use the SONY e-book reader. It is free, open source and cross-platform in design and works on Linux, OSX and Windows. libprs500 is meant to be a complete e-library solution and thus includes, library management, format conversion, news feeds to ebook conversion as well as device sync features. A full description of Features as well as some Screenshots. libprs500 is written purely in python.
Word from Engadget is that Netscape, the once leader in the browser wars have finally stop providing support. I doubt there are many individuals still using the Netscape browsers.
Anyhow if you are still using Netscape, why not change to Firefox or Opera?
Ok, now that there’s a warning on pirates selling high quality fake Microsoft CDs. These fake Microsoft CDs are sold close to the original prices and they come with holograms, manuals, etc. So be careful when you buy an OEM product, as you might never know. For me, the best way to protect yourself would be to use linux, its Free or the next best thing get your OS from a reputable store or supplier.
