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Developing Perspective

#25 - Secrets are Fun.

 

00:00:00   Hello and welcome to Developing Perspective. Developing Perspective is a sometimes daily

00:00:03   podcast discussing the news of note on iOS, Apple, and the like. I'm your host, David Smith. I'm an

00:00:09   independent iOS developer based in Herndon, Virginia. This is show number 25, and today

00:00:13   is Tuesday, September 27th. The format of Developing Perspective is that I'll cover a handful of links,

00:00:18   articles, things I found interesting since the last show, then move over a more general discussion

00:00:22   towards the end. The show will never be longer than 15 minutes. Let's get started.

00:00:27   An interesting link first is talking about Git.

00:00:30   And it's entitled, "Git is simpler than you think."

00:00:33   And this is kind of an interesting article

00:00:35   that I just stumbled upon at some point.

00:00:37   And it was talking about essentially pulling back

00:00:39   the covers on Git and understanding how it works

00:00:42   and what it does at a more fundamental level

00:00:45   and walks through its object model and the commit model

00:00:49   and some of those types of things.

00:00:50   And if that sounds a little intimidating and low level,

00:00:53   it actually isn't.

00:00:54   it's actually very helpful to kind of see,

00:00:57   at its core, Git is actually a very simple thing

00:00:59   that's just a way of organizing files

00:01:02   and differences and changes and so on.

00:01:05   It was kind of helpful for me to kind of,

00:01:07   it explains why you get these crazy things

00:01:08   like detached head and weird things,

00:01:12   states that you can end up in Git

00:01:14   that are now much less likely to make those mistakes

00:01:17   because I'm working with a lot,

00:01:20   sort of a lower understanding of how Git works.

00:01:23   All right, next I have a kind of an interesting article

00:01:26   that I just came across, which is entitled Learn Objective-C.

00:01:30   And it's really this fascinating art tutorial

00:01:33   written by Scott Stevenson.

00:01:35   And if you're fairly new to iOS, Objective-C, Mac development,

00:01:39   those types of things, or even if you're just

00:01:42   wanting to get a good refresher, it's a really good--

00:01:45   it's probably maybe five or six pages if you printed it out.

00:01:49   But it's just a walkthrough of the language of Objective-C.

00:01:52   It's not really focused on Cocoa, though it uses examples from Cocoa for its examples.

00:01:59   But it's a very-- this is how the language works.

00:02:02   This is why these idioms-- you'll see these idioms throughout the application.

00:02:06   This is where they're coming from and how they work.

00:02:09   And it's just a good kind of reference.

00:02:11   I definitely recommend, if you've never quite understood why properties are the way they

00:02:16   are, how you call methods, the difference between dot notation and not, categories,

00:02:20   those kinds of things.

00:02:21   There's just some really cool things in here that I definitely recommend checking out if

00:02:25   you're at all a novice or just kind of thinking and playing with that.

00:02:29   And lastly, I just have a quick little link to kind of a fun knowledge-based article by

00:02:34   Apple Support, which is "How to Clean Your Apple Products."

00:02:39   And it kind of walks through almost every product that Apple makes and it says how to

00:02:42   clean it, things to use.

00:02:45   You know, so for example, you know, it just says kind of this fun little writing style

00:02:49   where it's known.

00:02:50   For example, for the iPad and iPad 2, handle your iPad with care to maintain its appearance.

00:02:56   If you are concerned about scratching or abrasion, you may use one of the many cases sold separately

00:03:01   to clean an iPad, unplug all cables, and turn off the iPad.

00:03:06   Use a soft, slightly damp, lint-free cloth.

00:03:09   Avoid getting moisture into openings, and do not use window cleaners, home cleaners,

00:03:12   aerosol sprays, solvents, alcohol, ammonia, abrasives, or anything else to clean your

00:03:16   iPad.

00:03:17   iPad has an oleophobic coating on the screen.

00:03:19   Simply wipe the screen with a soft lint-free cloth

00:03:22   to remove the oil left by your hand.

00:03:24   The ability of this coating to repel oil

00:03:27   will diminish over time with normal use.

00:03:29   Rubbing the screen with an abrasive

00:03:31   will further diminish this effect

00:03:33   and may scratch your screen.

00:03:35   And that's just kind of a fun little thing

00:03:37   to kind of run into and look at.

00:03:40   And it goes through all the different products,

00:03:41   for MacBook Pros, for displays, keyboards, mice.

00:03:45   So if you have a scratch or something on your Mac or Apple

00:03:50   product that you don't want, this

00:03:52   is definitely a good article to read.

00:03:55   And lastly, I'm moving into both the link

00:03:58   and our general discussion today.

00:04:01   So yesterday, TechCrunch, MG Siegler

00:04:05   broke the story of unveiling the Kindle Fire, which

00:04:11   is the Amazon product, the much anticipated tablet that's

00:04:16   coming out that's Android-based, all these kinds of things.

00:04:20   And it's a fairly--

00:04:21   I linked to the article in the show notes,

00:04:23   but it's a very detailed description

00:04:27   of what the product is, how it was pricing,

00:04:30   market placement, all kinds of interesting things.

00:04:33   But the thing that's kind of funny to me

00:04:35   that I look through it, and it's all fairly

00:04:36   what we were expecting from the earlier leaks

00:04:40   and rumors and things.

00:04:41   It's a relatively inexpensive Android-based tablet,

00:04:45   seven inches, primarily designed as a vending machine

00:04:49   to get Amazon content onto your tablet and consume it,

00:04:53   whether that be MP3s, whether that be videos, books, et

00:04:57   cetera.

00:04:58   So nothing too earth-breaking.

00:05:00   I definitely think for me, it's the most interesting Android

00:05:03   tablet I've ever seen, which is saying something.

00:05:07   And I look forward to when it comes out.

00:05:09   There's a reasonable chance that I may end up purchasing one.

00:05:13   But now, moving into the more general discussion part

00:05:15   of today's show, it seems so strange to me

00:05:18   that they would leak this two days

00:05:20   before the actual launch of the product.

00:05:23   So I imagine on Wednesday, there's a big announcement.

00:05:26   And Bezos is going to get up and do his little thing

00:05:30   on the stage, pulling it out of a hat, so to say,

00:05:35   and be like, oh, look at this new thing

00:05:37   that we've come up with, isn't it awesome?

00:05:40   And that seems like that is massively reduced

00:05:45   by doing something like this.

00:05:46   I imagine a leak like this is either very poor

00:05:49   corporate secret management, which is possible,

00:05:53   or just kind of a strange philosophy for PR,

00:05:57   where they're kind of priming the pump.

00:05:58   And it seems like this article came--

00:06:01   things that make me wonder about that is it

00:06:03   seemed like it came out right after the markets closed

00:06:05   yesterday, which makes me think that it was intentionally

00:06:09   leaked.

00:06:11   It was just like some random guy leaking it.

00:06:13   Those types of things don't seem to play as much of a role.

00:06:16   But if it's an official leak, I could understand them wanting

00:06:18   to leak it after the market, so the markets have time

00:06:20   to react and respond, and so on and so on.

00:06:23   But it seems just--

00:06:26   one of the things I really admire about Apple

00:06:28   is they don't talk at all about new products

00:06:31   until the first time you will officially, or typically even

00:06:34   unofficially hear about a product is when it's announced,

00:06:38   officially from the company, and typically at an event,

00:06:41   or at least in a press release, something like that.

00:06:43   And I feel like that's a much better approach.

00:06:45   And I think the interesting thing is, as a developer,

00:06:49   this makes me think, what's the best kind of approach

00:06:52   that a small independent developer should take,

00:06:54   in terms of developing in public

00:06:56   versus developing in private?

00:06:58   I feel like there's a lot to be said for that.

00:07:04   I'm sure there's some good marketing things behind here,

00:07:06   having teasers and trying to get some press going

00:07:10   and all these types of things.

00:07:11   But ultimately, I feel like there's something

00:07:14   just sort of powerful and impactful

00:07:16   about having something just appear

00:07:19   in its finished date, when it's really polished,

00:07:21   and when it's very impressive.

00:07:22   It reminds me, I think it was a Stanley Kubrick quote,

00:07:26   but I'm not sure about that.

00:07:27   I know it was linked on the Daring Fireball,

00:07:29   but it was kind of an interesting thing

00:07:32   talking about, you know, his, I think it was Kubrick was saying his desire was to have

00:07:38   a string, you know, an uninterrupted string of successes, interrupted with nothing, essentially.

00:07:45   And that's a, that's a paraphrase, but it was essentially what he wanted to create was

00:07:49   that he kind of disappears when he's working on something. And there's no story, there's

00:07:54   no story, there's no story. And then there's something amazing. And then he disappears.

00:07:58   And then, you know, it's not this kind of ongoing drama and back and forth that sort

00:08:04   of detracts from that.

00:08:05   All you have at the end of the day is a series of these amazing products and amazing successes

00:08:10   that are kind of just pulled together that way.

00:08:12   And I think that's a very, you know, that's a very powerful way to think about what you're

00:08:16   doing.

00:08:17   And it seems like a very reasonable way to approach development or to approach product

00:08:21   releases is that if you kind of have that kind of a thing, whenever you do release something,

00:08:27   really get into it.

00:08:30   It creates these kind of funny things where it's like, so for Apple, for all their things

00:08:34   of not ever releasing products ahead of time, there's no scoops or releases or leaks and

00:08:40   things, it's very, very tight-lipped.

00:08:44   That creates this culture, though, where all these people are clamoring to try and get

00:08:48   any little nugget and widget.

00:08:50   It's like, oh, there's this parts supplier in Vietnam who says they have this camera

00:08:54   that may or may not be going into this thing, and that's news. And they're creating all this buzz,

00:09:00   sort of almost organically by being secret. And when you just, you know, when a company does stuff

00:09:04   like this, where they're, they're intentionally leaking out all this stuff, I think it removes

00:09:08   that kind of a culture. There's no anticipation. People aren't clamoring for that. And so I think

00:09:14   that's, you know, that that's Amazon's loss. But like I said, I'm looking forward to seeing the

00:09:18   Kindle Fire, I think it'll be an interesting product. I'm also actually very interested in

00:09:23   to see what they do with the actual Kindle itself,

00:09:26   the e-ink one, because I imagine there'll be a new one

00:09:28   of those as well for the holidays.

00:09:30   So, you know, just definitely something to stay tuned

00:09:32   and look at.

00:09:34   Though obviously, mostly I'm looking forward to next Tuesday

00:09:37   which is the current rumor day that they're gonna announce

00:09:39   iPhone 5, release some iOS 5 changes,

00:09:44   and it sounds like there's some cool stuff going on there,

00:09:47   but I try not to get too wrapped up in the rumors

00:09:49   because it's either ruining a surprise

00:09:52   or wasting my time, neither of which is good.

00:09:56   So anyway, that's today's show.

00:09:57   Hope you liked it.

00:09:58   As always, if you have any questions, comments, thoughts,

00:10:00   complaints, hit me up on Twitter.

00:10:01   I am @_davidsmith.

00:10:04   And otherwise, tell a friend if you like the show.

00:10:06   Appreciate that, and happy coding.

00:10:09   Bye.