Developing Perspective

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.