BKeeney Briefs

The March/April 2010 edition of REALbasic Developer Magazine hit my inbox this morning.  Besides the normal BKeeney Briefs column Marc Zeedar and I have a spirited debate on whether or not REAL Software should devote existing resources to making REAL Studio work with iPhone apps.

Note the italics on ‘existing’.  While I think it would be a nifty idea, overall, I question the wisdom of diverting resources from an already small development team to a product that might be doable.  Is this a Mac OS X only product or is it cross-platform?  I seriously doubt that it will be cross-platform but perhaps I’m wrong.  The point is that there are a ton of issues to figure out and then the question then becomes, “What are we going to give up in the desktop versions while this is being developed?”

Other thoughts:  Apple makes a boatload of money from developers buying Mac hardware and this product has the potential to take that revenue away.  One could certainly argue that it has the potential to sell more iPhones/iPads/iPod touches because more applications will be available.  But Apple has 140,000-ish apps right now.  Would 10,000 more, or 100,000 more really mean anything to Apple?

It also has the potential of being a potential support issue for Apple.  Assume for a second they allow RS to make iPhone apps.  The RB framework has a bug (because that’s never happened), or Apple changes the SDK one day and doesn’t give RS advance notice (Apple is secretive, no?), and now tens of thousands of RB iPhone apps no longer work.  Will the developer, RS or Apple get the blame?  Apple.  Just like how Microsoft gets the blame for crappy drivers and crappy 3rd party apps made by bad developers, Apple would get the blame.  Apple guards the keys to their kingdom very closely because they want it to be associated with a classy, premium product that “just works”.

Anyway, you can read the debate between Marc and myself in the magazine.  My guess is you can figure out my viewpoint.    Marc argues, the opposite.

My regular column talks about making your projects more Agile-ish without going full-bore in using the Agile process.  It’s not as hard as you think and your clients might really like it.

Your thoughts?

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time you know that I really like my Sony eReader.  Well, I used to really like my Sony eReader.  Now that the iPad has been announced I look at my eReader with fond memories and can’t wait for the iPad.  My Sony eReader is now dead to me.

The eReader is fine for what it does but it’s a one-trick-pony.  I’ve grumbled on more than one occasion that I don’t like seeing book graphics in 16 shades of gray and the slow refresh rate is annoying (but livable).  Not being able to zoom graphics is annoying too.  The ability to play MP3’s on my eReader is totally worthless (to me at least) since I always have my iPhone with me.  I’ve never used it so why pay for it?

I have an accessory that allows my eReader to be read at night that works fairly well.  But, it uses regular batteries that wear out in a couple of weeks and it makes using the eReader during the day a pain because it makes the text less readable.  The iPad won’t have those problems.

Let’s talk briefly about software.  The Library application that comes with the Sony eReader stinks.  It’s not a native Mac app, it’s not a native Windows app.  It sucks on both platforms.  In fact, I hate it so much that unless I buy a book through their store I use an application called Calibre.  I hate it too, I just hate it much less because it manages my books much better.  iTunes does a great job of managing my music, movies, and podcasts so I can’t imagine that it would suddenly suck at managing my books.

I thought that selling the iPad to my wife was going to be hard but it turned out to the be exact opposite.  She wants one in the kitchen.  Why?  A little background is needed first.

My lovely wife is also a very talented cook.  She’s adventurous and is always trying a new recipe or even making one up from several she’s found on the internet.  She prints the recipe out and then takes it into the kitchen.  Imagine being able to do that from the iPad which she just puts on the counter.  If there’s not an iPhone app for a chef (I bet there are several already) there will be a couple of specific ones for the iPad (soon)!  And with a nice glass screen, there’s not too much worry about getting the device dirty.

The iPad has one huge advantage for me – the app store.  Our family already has 3 iPhones.  Don’t make me count up how many apps we’ve downloaded (both free and commercial) but I’d bet that it’s probably close to a hundred.  When we get our iPad we’ll already have the software for it.  No researching and purchasing new pieces of software that may or may not do what we want – we already have them!

I think the iPad will be awesome for Boomers.  How many of you have Boomer friends or relatives that call you for tech support on the Windows or Macintosh computers?  Show of hands?  Thought so.  The iPad is so for them.  Do any of your friends and relatives call you on how to use their iPhone or iPod Touch?  Didn’t think so.  The iPhone is so simple that hardly anyone has issues figuring it out.

Anyone who says the iPad won’t be a huge for business is nuts.  I have clients, right now, that could sell an iPad application if we converted their app to work on it.  Imagine an HVAC service technician, rather than lugging around a ton of paperwork and a big, clunky laptop, showing up at your house, logging all of his work, including when he arrived, what tests he performed, results, and then showing you the iPad display showing all of this and then billing your credit card directly (though an add-on card reader) and then emailing your the results?

Another example:  My doctor is all electronic and the interface to his current tablet stinks – they all hate using it!  They spend minutes clicking and doing crazy things in the interface.  I can imagine them using an iPad with the keyboard attachment and being more efficient with their time when they use an interface designed around a touch screen rather than an interface meant for a desktop app that’s been forced onto a tablet.

The list goes on but the possibilities are limitless.  You think Apple demonstrating the iWork apps on the iPad was a fluke?  Nope.  Apple thinks this thing is going to sell like hotcakes to business and I happen to think they’re right.

What do you think?

See my original post here.  It’s not quite what I was looking for but, assuming the rumor is true, it’s on my Christmas list.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/09/10/nike_plans_ipod_nano_compatible_heart_rate_monitor.html

I’ve had a sudden uptick in time spent at the gym and I have a heart rate monitor. I’d love to be able to track my workouts to see if I’m doing okay or need to up the intensity a little.  Apple and Nike have the Nike+ where millions of people are storing and tracking their running statistics.

In the July issue of Wired there’s an article on how Nike unleashed the power of personal metrics.   This is what I want for my heart rate monitor.  I want to track and be reminded of what I can push myself to do and I want it in an easy-to-use, no-brainer iPhone application.

I’ve even looked into it a bit.  There’s the SMHeart Link heart rate monitor but it uses a ‘wireless bridge’ (does that mean it’s wifi?) and the reviews on the Apple App store have not been stellar (but is that in part due to the free app requiring a $125 adapter?).  Is there a BlueTooth heart rate monitor that I can use with the iPhone (even if I have to develop it myself!)?

I found this page that has a lot of iPhone apps that aid in your workout.  But after reading through the reviews none of them use a heart rate monitor (I might have missed one so please be gentle!).

Is it really that hard or is the technology not available yet?

It seems that Cut/Copy/Paste in desktop applications has been around forever.  I remember it being there on the MacPlus I used at the IIT computer lab back in 1986 – it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and it wowed those of us daring to use it.

One thing that comes with Cut/Copy/Paste is an undo system.  You cut or paste a large section of text into a place where you didn’t want it:  Are you going to type it all in again if you made a mistake?  No!  You’re going to select undo from the Edit menu so you don’t have to do all that work.

And that, my friends, I think is where having cut/copy/paste on the iPhone becomes extremely difficult.  I don’t think implementing cut/copy/paste is all that difficult with gestures.  Adding a standardized undo system to the iPhone, however, IS a big deal.  What gestures do you use to invoke it?  Then you have to have the obligatory redo command and how do you do that with gestures?

As I’ve journeyed into Cocoa and CocoaTouch (and I’ve barely scratched the surface) there are a number of things a desktop app gets for free with Cocoa.  One of those is an undo system using the NSUndoManager.  With document-based Cocoa apps, an undo manager is created for you for each document and you can implement NSUndoManager on your own if you need.

Until CocoaTouch gets its own UndoManager I don’t think you’ll see Cut/Copy/Paste on the iPhone.  Version 3 anyone?

Did I miss anything?  Feel free to sound off below.  (Keep in mind that I’m a newbie when it comes to Cocoa and CocoaTouch so be gentle – ‘kay?)