Dec 18 — 15
If you haven't already, try out the new synthesized voice in Leopard called Alex. The easiest way to do so is to use the 'say' command line tool with a string you'd like him to speak.
Dec 16 — 13
Lucas Newman has posted a collection of three Core Animation sample projects. These examples stand out not only because they actually do interesting things, but the code is well-written and well commented.
Dec 16 — 7
You can now download the slides from the Building a Modern Mac OS X App talk I gave at CocoaHeads on Thursday. Joar and I put together our talks within about 48 hours, so keep in mind this isn't as polished or complete as we'd like.
Dec 15 — 14
A brand new design went up today. I did the initial prototype in about four hours, and spent the next ten days iterating through about thirty versions. I usually just put up whatever I like, but the changes were different enough that I showed it to one person ahead of time, just to check
Dec 12 — 0
Thursday (tomorrow) night at CocoaHeads Silicon Valley, Joar Wingfors and I will be teaming up to talk about real-world techniques for Mac OS X development in Leopard. Joar will focus on tuning memory usage using the Instruments developer tool, and I'll be talking on a broader scale about using Xcode, Interface Builder and new API to build a modern Mac OS X app
Dec 06 — 4
I was asked to return to Late Night Cocoa for Episode 24, to discuss what's new in Cocoa for Leopard. This is a big topic and there's no way to talk about everything, but I think there are some topics in there that haven't seen much coverage elsewhere
Dec 03 — 20
There have been improvements since the first version of ArtGallery. Most notably, there's an example of using a Core Image transition in CoreAnimation, as well as some sound effects
Nov 29 — 19
ArtGallery is a simple Cocoa application which uses CoreAnimation layers for layout and display of images. The design is a single custom view which is backed by a single root layer. Additional layers are added to the root layer for navigation, images, text, and so on (Update: 1.0a)
Nov 27 — 0
NSCoder Night happens tonight from 7pm to 9pm at Orchard Valley Coffee in Campbell. There are other locations listed at the official site, so look there for a local chapter or how to start one
Nov 20 — 2
Just a reminder about NSCoder Night tonight from 7pm to 9pm at Orchard Valley Coffee in Campbell. There are other locations listed at the official site, so take a look and see if there's one near you. If there's not, maybe you should start one up
Nov 18 — 37
In the first Delicious Library 2 preview, there were a few glimpses of basic UI and features, but there's a lot more just under the surface. One hidden feature in particular from the newer builds is unlike anything in the first version of Library
Nov 12 — 3
Deric Horn gave a fantastic presentation on the new additions for Cocoa in Leopard last Thursday night. This was met by our largest attendance yet. Steve Weller of BagelTurf recorded the audio and Josh Anon got some great shots
Nov 08 — 1
Deric Horn, Application Frameworks Evangelist for Apple, will introduce us to the new additions in Cocoa for Leopard, tonight at CocoaHeads Silicon Valley. The meeting is at 7:30pm in Apple Town Hall, Building 4. Everyone is welcome, and there's no fee or reservation necessary
Nov 07 — 19
Mike Lee of Delicious Monster has a post on things he'd like to see changed in Cocoa. I agree with some of what he says, but I think some parts of the frameworks he's critical of make more sense in context
Nov 06 — 13
The 2D Graphics Release Notes for Leopard have a rather important warning label for applications using garbage collection
Nov 06 — 2
NSCoder Night will be returning to Orchard Valley Coffee tonight in Campbell from 7pm to 9pm. We had about 12-15 people show up last week, and were working on code right up until closing
Nov 05 — 15
If you were reading Objective-C 2.0 Tutorial: Part II yesterday, you might have noticed the first signs of syntax coloring starting to break through the surface. It looked a bit weird for a few hours, but I think the final result was worth it. It turns out this wasn't so easy to do
Nov 03 — 30
In the first tutorial, we looked at the basic syntax and features in Objective-C 2.0. In this installment, we'll take a look at some of the options for customizing, and some of the more advanced syntax
Nov 01 — 0
Deric Horn, Application Frameworks Evangelist for Apple, will give us at a look at what's new in Cocoa for Leopard during the next CocoaHeads Silicon Valley on Thurs, Nov 8. The meeting is at 7:30pm in Town Hall, Apple Building 4. This is the first post-Leopard meeting, so we can freely discuss details
Oct 30 — 41
It looks like there are a lot of people writing about the UI changes in Leopard. Everyone has their own opinion, which is fine. However, I think there is one major misperception about successful UI design: some of the most significant elements are not easily measurable
Oct 30 — 0
Just a reminder that Tuesday (tomorrow night) is the very first NSCoder Night. We'll be at Orchard Valley Coffee from 7pm to 9pm every week. This is a great chance to get help with Leopard API, Xcode 3, and Interface Builder 3. There's no presentation, just informal collaboration
Oct 29 — 1
Most Leopard developer documentation is not currently available on the main ADC site. However, you can get to much of within the Leopard Dev Center. Previously, this was only available to paid members, but most or all of the content is now available with a free online account. Go here and click "Join Now"
Oct 28 — 38
In the interest of getting started quickly, here's a quick tour of new features in Objective-C 2.0 which will probably affect about 80% of the work you do. We'll look at properties, dot syntax, fast enumeration, and garbage collection
Oct 27 — 16
I have thing with license plates. I saw this one while heading toward the Apple Store at Valley Fair tonight to check out the Leopard scene. Not exactly sure where this one is in the list, but it's definitely in the top ten, and maybe even the top five
Oct 26 — 22
Mainstream media (understandably) likes high-visibility features which fit into quick, quotable sound bites. Four-minute TV segments and short newspaper columns are trying to catch someone on their way to work, so the features they choose may not represent the day-to-day experience. Leopard's headline features are Time Machine, Spaces, Cover Flow, QuickLook and iChat. This list alone sells Leopard short, though. I think Leopard is all about wish fulfillment
Follow your bliss.