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Archive of all the latest news and blog posts
This seemed to slip underneath the iPad hype radar last week, but one glaring omission from its feature set is the presence of a camera. New speculation suggests that the iPhone OS 3.2 (the same operating system that the iPad uses) will provide software hooks for supporting video calling. This could indicate that Apple is planning to integrate support for video in an updated version of the iPad.
As we recently discussed, rumors suggest that the iPhone 4G handset, due to hit shelves in the early part of 2010, will support phone-to-phone video conferencing functionality. Some of the code indicates that the user will be able to toggle between full screen and a minimized chat window when utilising the video chat feature. What makes this exciting, is the idea that both the iPhone 4G and an updated version of the iPad will support multiple processes, enabling the user to have more than one application running at any one time. This will enable users of the iPad and iPhone 4G to handle multiple applications, whilst using video chat functionality.
There are a number of reasons why Apple may have chosen to hold back certain functionality in version one of the iPad. One theory is that existing 3G cellular networks are not adequately equipped for bandwidth intensive tasks such as video chat. Another theory suggests that Apple simply wanted to hold back certain features of the iPad to keep costs down until version two is available. In any case, both video chat and the ability to run multiple applications should be a feature in forthcoming versions of the iPad and the iPhone 4G.
Waracle Ltd is a highly skilled team of software application developers for mobile and web, based in Scotland, UK. Waracle provide a dedicated development resource to take your idea from concept to the app store. Waracle specialise in the creation of apps for web, iPhone, Google Android and Windows Mobile. If you would like to discuss the development of an application to enhance your business, please contact Waracle today on (01382) 529528.
So after what seems like years, the worst kept secret in technology history is here and it’s called the ‘iPad’. Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the iPad in San Francisco to a fanfare of media hype. Having hinted at the underwhelming performance of the average Netbook, Jobs has long articulated his desire to bridge the gap between the smart phone and its larger web-browsing companion. But what is the significance of the arrival of the iPad for app developers and is it a game changer? Here are some of the stats: At first glance, the Apple iPad is slim, speedy and lightweight. Notice it utlises an Apple chip as opposed to Intel. Memory: 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB models available. Screen: 9.7-inch IPS LCD screen. Resolution: 1024×768 pixels. Dimensions: 9.5 inches x 7.5 inches x 0.5 inches. Weight: 1.5 pounds (1.6 pounds for 3G). Chip: 1 GHz Apple A4 chip. Size: 0.5 inches thin. Battery Life: 10 hours (watch out for results of our experiment from last week on this!).
This guide will provide you with the 5 essential things you should know about the iPad:
1.) iPad: An Overview
Lets start off with the basics. At first site, the iPad seems to do three things well: games, movies and books. These are the areas where although sufficient, the smaller screen on the iPhone may pose certain constraints. What we have in the iPad is an iPhone on steroids. It’s bigger than its communication focused younger brother, but does it have a bigger bite? With a 9.7-inch screen and different memory options ranging up to 64 GB, the iPad offers application developers a plethora of opportunity. In addition to handling every single application in the app store with the help of a dedicated iPad SDK, the iPad also connects via USB to any PC or Mac and can stream movies and video in full HD. This means that developers can port existing apps on the iPhone and iPod Touch to the iPad with relative ease. Weighing in at $10 less than the Amazon Kindle, the Apple iPad will retail initially at a comparable $499.
2.) iPad: Email and Web Browsing
Predictably, the iPad utilises the safari browser and flash will not be enabled on the device. As we have already discussed on the Waracle blog, flash is a plug-in that Steve Jobs simply does not like. Many developers have argued that languages such as Objective C are better equipped to produce good results. Anyway, the iPad browser is essentially the same as an iPhone, but bigger. Both the Email and Map features on the iPad essentially run in the same way as the iPhone, with a few very minor tweaks and improvements. As Steve Jobs was keen to point out, one feature on the iPad that has undergone extensive cosmetic surgery is Photo, now offering a multiple galleries view amongst others.
3.) iPad: User Interface Design
The interface of the Apple iPad is based largely upon that of the iPhone. Based on the iPhone 3.2 OS, your four main applications appear on the springboard (or home screen) and users have the ability to swipe left and right between screens to browse their apps. Comfort in familiarity it seems for the millions of existing iPhone and iPod Touch owners. Lets get one thing clear, all existing iPhone and iPod Touch apps will run in the iPad. However, Apple has produced a dedicated SDK for eager iPad developers. Developers can utilise double pixel mode to view existing apps in full screen or simply run the app at a normal resolution in the centre of the iPad by pressing a button. Certain apps will run reasonably well on the iPad in double pixel view. What developers can now do with the iPad, is optimise and enhance existing applications and games to take advantage of the hardware improvements and modifications. The iPad means bigger, faster, shinier apps essentially.
4.) iPad: E-Books, Newspapers and Magazines
This is potentially the biggest ace up the sleeve of the Apple iPad and represents a game changer for the entire global publishing industry. Amazon executives will be perspiring at the arrival of the Apple iPad as it encroaches on a growing yet until now quiet market. Where the Kindle DX has Amazon, the Apple iPad has ‘iBooks’. The literary younger sister of iTunes has entered the building. Announced during the Jobs keynote speech, iBooks has already signed up five of the worlds largest book publishers to start deploying paid content online. As the issue of introducing paid online content zones in the newspaper industry rumbles on, the New York Times look set to focus on the iPad. This could be the platform all publishers have been waiting for.
5.) iPad: Movies, Video and TV
Offering full HD capabilities, the iPad screen looks sharp and bright. Again, millions of iPhone and iPod Touch owners will feel at home with a similar an identical view and controller screen on offer. On a rather underwhelming note, the iPad does not provide full screen viewing mode, something that Apple will surely have to address.
Waracle Ltd is an approved Apple developer based in Scotland, UK and provides software applications for iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices such as Google Android. Waracle’s team of skilled project managers and developers can guide your iPad or iPhone concept from the drawing board to the app store. If you are interested in developing a software application for the iPad or iPhone to enhance your business, please contact us directly on (01382) 529528.
Before owning an iPhone, I was always somewhat concerned by the apparent lack of long term battery life that the phone, in normal use, provides. As much as I understand this isn’t the fault of the phone – as just calling this device a phone is inaccurate, as it isn’t really a phone. it’s a portable device music playing web surfing app running social networking sort of thing – it’s an iPhone.
So, what about battery life then? What if I reduce the iPhone to merely just a phone, how long will the battery survive?
To find out, starting this morning and for the whole weekend, I’m going to try and use my iPhone as just a phone, nothing more. No Apps, no push notifications, no email, no Facebook(!) ,just calls and SMS.
I’ve taken drastic measures to scrutinise every available option in the devices settings and configuration. I will embrace every possibility to preserve battery life, except when using it as a phone. I will make and receive calls as often as usual and send and receive SMS as much as I always do – I’ll use it just as a phone and nothing else for one weekend.
On Monday I will post my results, and hopefully with some top tips which should be handy for when you need to be away from power for more than a day, at music festivals for example.
UPDATE:
The conclusion to this article is now available here.
Causing something of a stir when it appeared on Slashdot yesterday evening, the news that a talented JavaScript developer at http://paulirish.com/ had built an rendering engine that can play simple Flash movies is bound to get some people thinking.
Anyone with an iPhone will know that the built in browser, Safari, has no flash support. This is by design and is as such for a number of reasons. Some beneficial to the user others beneficial to Apple.
Steve Job’s has always said that the lack of Flash support on the iPhone was purely because the device wasn’t fast enough to render the high number of Flash adverts seen on the web. This was definitely true on the first-gen iPhone and to some extent probably even still true today. However many people, myself included, believe a stronger motivation is to prevent people developing high quality games and applications for the iPhone using Flash, and therefore bypassing the App Store altogether.
The immensely popular ‘Bloons’ by Ninja Kiwi which was ported to iPhone by Digital Goldfish is a perfect example of this. The original flash version of the game could have been easily adapted to utilize the touch screen control system, had Flash been available on the device.
In all honesty this probably isn’t a bad thing. Forcing apps to run natively on the iPhone probably has benefits for all involved – including the end user.
This new JavaScript engine however, DOES run on Safari, including Safari on the iPhone. Steve Job’s will have a hard time blocking this.
The engine works by using the SVG system, an internal JavaScript feature which is basically used for rendering vectors natively in JavaScript. I wouldn’t even like to think how quickly this will become a jQuery plugin for even more widespread use. The implementation is basic at this point, supporting only Flash version 1.0 but I’ve prepared a small demo you can view on your iPhone here:
www.waracle.net/iphoneFlashDemo.html
You can view the developer's examples here:
http://paulirish.com/work/gordon/demos/
And although there are no usage instructions, you can get the full source code here:
http://github.com/tobeytailor/gordon
The Waracle team is proud to announce the release of our latest iPhone application, now available on the iTunes store. The software was built in collaboration with the team at Waste Aware Scotland for their Love Food Hate Waste campaign. The ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ application is now officially available to download - perfect for food lovers who hate waste.
The Love Food Hate Waste iPhone application is the ultimate interactive tool to assist you in reducing your food waste. The handy portion size planner, recipe blender, meal planner, shopping list and hints and tips section ensure there is always a feature to help you reduce food waste. You can also save money every step of the way - from planning and preparation to storage and portioning.
Here are some interesting statistics on food wastage:
- In excess of £1 billion of food is wasted by consumers in Scotland every year. That's an average of £430 per household.
- Scottish households throw out 566,000 tonnes of food each year.
- Two thirds of all food waste could have been consumed.
- Half of the good food thrown out is completely untouched, with one in seven items still in their packets.
- At least £18 million worth of food thrown away is still in date.
If we stopped wasting all this food, we could effectively prevent the equivalent of 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year in Scotland. This is the same as taking 1 in 4 cars off the road.
Waracle develop applications for a range of mobile devices and platforms including the Apple iPhone, Google Android and Windows Mobile. If you are interested in developing a mobile application, please contact Waracle directly on (01382) 529528.
We recently discussed the release of the new £2.39 Guardian application and the implications of newspapers attempting to ‘paywall’ access to new content. Today, it seems The New York Times are poised to release a press statement on the matter. Reports suggest The NYT will formally announce a ‘metered paywalling system’ for its website. This would enable users to browse a limited number of pages within the site before being prompted to enter credit card details. The motivation for Rupert Murdoch to take such measures seems clear: online advertising revenues are yielding less than sales from traditional print media.
Consumer opinion seems to be divided. Internet users have been primed over the past decade or so to expect free content. In addition, The New York Times must compete with a whole array of free blogs and news outlets offering virtually identical content. The trade off it seems, may be to sacrifice website traffic for a slight uplift in revenue. By paywalling specific content areas of the site, The New York Times are jeopardising their page ranking in Google. The reason for this being that if users refuse to pay for content, they cant link back to the site and thus improve its overall performance in popular search engines such as Google and Bing.
Some commentators suggest that revenues are an important component of quality control and ensuring the ongoing success of any publication. What do you think?
Waracle specialise in the development of outstanding software applications for mobile and web. Based in Dundee, Scotland, in the UK, Waracle create mobile software applications for iPhone, Google Android and Microsoft Windows Mobile. If you are interested in developing a web presence, social media strategy or mobile application to enhance your business, please contact (01382) 529528 for more information.
The much loved Ruby-on-Rails web application development platform has approached a beta of version 3. The most streamlined and powerful version to date. We can expect to see this some time around late January. To add to the good news, the final version is expected to shuffle out during the first quarter of 2010.
Ruby-on-Rails is loved by developers worldwide, given its ability to let developers simply bash out applications rather than requiring they focusing on actual software architecture. This makes great use of developer time, but poor use of the hardware resources required to run such an application.
To address this, a merger with an MVC system known as Merb is underway providing access to a library of plugins providing features, rather than one enourmous library at its core. This marridge also provides a clearer API for handling request routes while opening new mechanisms such as subdomain routing.
We expect that as Ruby-on-Rail grows, it will bring more neat web applications into the world, which is always a good thing.
Waracle specialize in web design, web application development and bespoke content management systems utilising a variety of technologies. Working with clients in Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London, we provide experienced input into search engine optomisation for blogs, corporate sites and online shopping carts. Please contact us on 01382 529528 for more info.
The latest iPhone product could be hitting shelves by April 2010 if the latest reports are anything to go by. The new hardware will feature a range of upgrades including a dual-core processor, a video chat facility, better graphics, an OLED display and most surprisingly, a removable battery.
Reports are referring to the latest handset as being the 4G iPhone or iPhone 4G. The 4G in ‘iPhone 4G’ refers to ‘fourth generation’ as opposed to 4G wireless broadband technologies. Similar to the latest Google phone, the nexus one, and the new 4G Apple iPhone will utilise a state of the art OLED display screen. The live video chat functionality will also come as a welcome addition to the iPhone. The handset will have two camera modules to handle live video chat, one module positioned as normal on the back of the phone and a new camera module on the front.
Reg Hardware seem to think that the addition of a removable battery to the iPhone 4G is ‘highly unlikely’. Based upon the fact that no previous iPhone, iPod or MacBook model has contained such a feature. However, rumblings of new European legislation suggest that new handsets must come equipped with a removable battery. Early indications suggest the 4G iPhone will come equipped with a battery that is twice as powerful as the current 3G and 3GS iPhone handsets.
Despite all the speculation, the phrase and misuse of the term 4G iPhone will undoubtedly cause even more confusion amongst potential suitors.
Waracle is a dedicated team consisting of highly specialised iPhone developers based in Dundee, Scotland. Waracle has undertaken iPhone development projects in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. If you wish to develop an iPhone application to enhance your business, please contact Waracle directly on (01382) 529528.
The Apple tablet/slate/pad rumor mill has gone into overdrive in the early part of 2010. Early indications would suggest that Apple is gearing up for a massive product launch, similar to the introduction of the iPhone before the end of January. Today sees the birth of two interesting rumors to fuel existing speculation.
Publishers TG Daily have printed a quote from a ‘anonymous designer’, suggesting that it is virtually impossible to order a 10.1 inch screen from any Chinese manufacturer. One plausible explanation to this unusual shortage in supply is that Apple has already purchased them all. The idea being that Chinese manufacturers are currently flat out trying to fulfill demand for the new Apple tablet.
Lets just set a couple of things straight. Firstly, there have been no official product launch details. We still don’t even know if this technology will ever hit the High Street shelves. Lets just assume that this is a given and that the Apple ‘tablet’ will definitely be launched in due course. Secondly, there have been multiple rumors about the screen size (10 inch and 13 inch). But why would Apple release a 13-inch device that could negatively affect sales of the 13 inch MacBook Pro? My guess is that we will see a 10-inch touchscreen tablet device in the region of £900.
Finally, there is still speculation over the name of the latest Apple device. We have heard ‘iTablet’, ‘iSlate’ and ‘iPad’ all being banded around as potential monikers.
Anyway, in either instance, the fact remains that it is impossible right now to order a 10.1 inch LED or OLED screen from any manufacturer in the far east. If Apple intends to shift 6 million units in year one, then one thing is for sure; they will require all of the screens they can possibly get. Whether the screen in the final product will be LED or OLED (or both) nobody can be sure of at this stage.
Interestingly, Apple purchased a technology start-up called ‘Fingerworks’ over 5 years ago. Fingerworks had developed some touchscreen technology that was clearly of interest to Apple. Recently, the old Fingerworks website was removed from the web altogether. These are all missing pieces of a very large Apple size jigsaw. Speculation would suggest we would hear a formal announcement later this month.
Waracle Ltd is a dedicated studio for iPhone developers based in Scotland. Waracle develop iPhone applications for clients across the UK including Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. Waracle will develop applications and software for the anticipated Apple Tablet. If you would like to enhance your business, by enabling Waracle to develop an application for the iPhone, iSlate, iTablet or iPad, please contact us directly on (01382) 529528.
This weekend saw the pre-release candidate for Mozilla Forefox 3.6 hit the virtual shelves allowing web developers and surfers alike to sample the new features of what’s come.
So what’s new?
Sadly, the much-anticipated multi-core enhancements that Firefox has been distinctly lacking (even IE8 managed to pip them to this post) will have to wait yet again till version 3.7 - as they are not present in this release.
Improved JavaScript performance is highly emphasized, and a test of the v8 benchmark confirmed a highly impressive 26% increase of performance. More than I originally expected. Still, both scores were dwarfed by Chrome running the same benchmark which scored many times higher. All 3 tests were performed on an i5 quad core iMac, running Snow Leopard with 4 GB of RAM.
The plugin architecture is also more secure, new HTML 5 technologies such as full-screen native video and the HTML 5 file API are also present, although to exactly what level they are implemented is still uncertain.
Apparently some 75% of existing plugins are already compatible with 3.6, so there is little reason to stop most people having a play around to see whats new. I certainly didn’t have any problems with the web developer toolkit, firebug or every iPhone developers trusty steed – SQLite manager.
Also, the auto update feature will bring the beta in line with the final release as changes are made.
Waracle developers create applications for iPhone, Google Android and Blackberry. Waracle also specialise in web design, web development and search engine optimisation services in Scotland and throughout the UK. Waracle has worked with a wide range of clients and produced web design and web development work in Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London to name but a few. if you are interested web design or web development services, please call (01382) 529528
