Development

Do you want your iPhone apps sharpened up for iPhone 4's Retina Display?

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Jun 9, 2010 a 12:50 pm

Do you want your iPhone apps sharpened up for iPhone 4's Retina Display? iPhone 4 has a whopping 960x480 screen which is literally 4 times (twice vertical, twice horizontal) the pixel size, but the same physical size, as previous generation iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS. That's a density of over 300dpi -- print magazine quality. Existing apps will just seamlessly use 4 pixels on the iPhone 4 compared to 1 pixel on previous gen iPhones, so they'll look identical.

Twitterrific gets simpler, better for iPad - TiPb at WWDC

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Jun 9, 2010 a 11:13 am

Twitterrific is the grandaddy of iOS Twitter clients -- it existed on the iPhone before there was an SDK and was in the App Store on launch day, and again for iPad launch. Twitterrific has evolved from a reader-centric experience to a feature-full client and back to a highly focused app.

Craig Hockenberry, a principle at Iconfactory, the driving force behind Twitterrific, spoke to me at WWDC 2010 about getting Twitterrific ready for the iPad and how that process re-informed what will be going into (and perhaps coming out of) Twitterrific 3.0 for iPhone.

And no, Tweetie becoming the free Twitter for iPhone isn't slowing them down. (You can read more on that from Craig and Iconfactory collaborators David Lanham and Ged Maheux)

Hockenberry has also taken a turn as author, with his iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual now available from O'Reilly. It takes you through the process, from SDK signup to Xcode and Objective-C, to deploying an app. It's a treasure-trove of experience and insight for developers -- aspiring and veteran alike.

Videos after the break. (Huge apologies to everyone, especially Craig, for the annoying wind noise -- I greatly underestimated it during filming)

[Twitterrific homepage]

iAds dev kit is now available

By Jeremy, Tuesday, Jun 8, 2010 a 2:31 pm

This is just a heads up to developers who are looking to get their hands dirty with iAds as you can now do so by joining the iAd Network and downloading the development kit Apple has just released.

The iAd Network provides an intuitive environment for you to easily incorporate iAd rich media ads into your applications. You can also monitor performance and track revenue. iPhone Developer Program members can join the iAd Network today.

RunRev responds to Apple's new cross-compiler policy

By Allyson Kazmucha, Tuesday, May 18, 2010 a 2:17 pm

Apple's new policy on cross-compilers has the development community in a frenzy, and for good reason. RunRev is reaching out to Apple and developers and voicing their opinion on the matter.

For those not familiar with RunRev, revMobile is a cross-platform solution that will allow developers to port their applications to several different mobile platforms with ease. Even though revMobile is still in its pre-alpha stages, it shows a lot of promise for developers who wish to develop for multiple platforms. It allows them to build their applications and not have to re-write code for each and every platform separately. This would provide an invaluable tool for devs. Now with Apple bringing the ban hammer down on cross-compilers, Adobe isn't the only one speaking up anymore.

iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad goes Gold Master

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Mar 29, 2010 a 9:33 pm

Apple has released the final Gold Master (GM) seed of iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad, get it now via developer.apple.com:

iPhone SDK 3.2 GM Seed is now available. Starting today, all iPad apps submitted must be built using this release.

All members of the iPhone Developer Program can submit their iPad apps to iTunes Connect for review and approval. If you did not submit your app during the initial review period, but upload it by March 31, it will be reviewed but may not make the grand opening of the iPad App Store.

Make sure you read the iPhone SDK GM Seed Release Notes before installing and developing with this release.

Furthermore, 9to5Mac notes that an additional email has gone out to developers telling them they need those final apps in for approval by March 31, 5pm PDT. Any time after that and there's no guarantees your app will be in there for launch.

(And hey, if you want to help TiPb out with coverage of your iPad app,

iPhone Tech Talk World Tour Videos Now Online

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Mar 22, 2010 a 9:24 pm

Apple's iPhone Developer News brings word that videos from last year's iPhone Tech Talk World Tour are now available online for iPhone Developer Program Members.

Watch these videos to learn advanced techniques to enhance the capability, functionality, and usability of your iPhone apps. Apple’s Technology Evangelists take you deep into coding and design techniques so that you can take your apps to the next level.

We've posted and linked to some notes from the Tech Tour before and it sounds like excellent information was shared so if you're a de

Confusing: Developers Who Complain Apple's iPhone is Closed AND Think HTML5 is the Future

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Mar 15, 2010 a 12:07 pm

TechCrunch links to noted developer Tim Bray who's taking a position as "Developer Advocate" at Google for Android but who announces it while taking a swipe at Apple's iPhone:

iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 4 is Out

By Dieter Bohn, Tuesday, Mar 9, 2010 a 2:53 pm

iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch developers: get yourself over to Apple's developer center, as iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 4 is ready for you to download, a mere two weeks after Beta three was unleashed for your coding pleasure. As MacRumors and Engadget note, it's too early to say what magical new capabilities are to be found here - but don't let that stop you.

Apple Cracking Down on Mass Produced, Low Functionality Apps?

By Rene Ritchie, Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 a 7:59 pm

TechCrunch is reporting that companies who mass produce (or provide tools and templates for the mass production of) "cookie cutter" apps are hearing that they need to add differentiation and functionality or risk Apple not allowing them into the iTunes App Store. Jason Kincaid says: