Want to Make Your Own iPhone App?

A couple of months ago the question, "How do people make apps?," popped into my head.  I asked my computer savvy son and his answer was vague about writing programs for them.  So when Craig Hockenberry's iPhone App Development:  The Missing Manual showed up at the Alaska Apple User Group review desk, I grabbed it.  I wasn't planning on making any apps, but I was just wanted to get a sense about how they are made.  So the rest is basically the review I did for the Apple User Group.  The style is a little different from how I usually write.  I'd just say, writing an App sounds possible (for someone like me) but would take a fair amount of work to learn.  I'd need to have a killer app to do it.  One thing I learned is that you can write your own app for your iPhone or iPod Touch. You don't need to buy them if you can figure out how to make one.  [UPDATE 3/29: a reader corrected me here.  You can test the APP on your computer, but the iPhone is not open source so you apparently can't (without more complicated workarounds that void your warranty) make it just for your own iPhone.  But you can make your own Apps for Androids.  Thanks J.]

I was surprised, to find in the first chapter, there was something called Xcode already on my Mac startup disk, but it's one of the extras that aren't included in the basic package of software most people load.  And then once you get Xcode installed you have to get another free software - iPhone SDK - and you have to join the iPhone Developer Program to get that.  But then you have software set up especially to make Apps.

But by chapter 2 it already wasn't going to be that easy.  Hockenberry starts talking about Objective-C language.  Since the last computer language I could do anything with was Fortran - and some basic HTML for my blog - this was getting beyond what I might be able to  do without some serious effort.  For those who already program I suspect this chapter will mean a lot more.  It is just an overview and in the end he refers readers to Apple's free online book The Objective-C 2.0 Programming Language.

Chapter 3 is about Cocoa Touch frameworks - "the building blocks" - the parts of Cocoa Touch frameworks that get pieced together with your new adhesive [Objective-C].  The handy acronym to remember these by is MVC - Models, Viewers, and Controllers.

The Views are "all those buttons, scrolling lists, web browsers, and everything else that appears on your iPhone screen. . .Views know how to present your application's data.  Some views also know how to react to user input.‚" (p. 67)

Models  "are your application's heart and soul because they are responsible for managing the data.  . . A model's only function is to manipulate and process the user's data within the application.  Models often implement internal logic that provides these basic behaviors.‚"(p. 67)

Finally, Controllers "act as an intermediary between the view objects and the model objects."p. 68)  

Chapter 4 goes in a totally new direction, one that I was able to follow completely:  it's about the designing of tools.  It is aimed at the techie who needs to work with a non-techie designer and discusses designing goals, unique designing issues for iPhones (such as the small size and low weight, left and right handed users, display rotation.)  Then it goes through the design process - starting with paper and pencil - and how to get along with your designer, as well as getting feedback from beta testing and other methods.  I had no trouble understanding this chapter and it is well done.

Part II of the book gets into much more programming depth and I only skimmed it.

Part III gets back into language and culture I understand - The Business End.  It takes an App developer step-by-step from Beta testing through advertising. It covers pricing and user feedback and updating your product.

Based on the parts I could understand, I'd recommend this book to someone who was serious about getting into the App business.  It's an intro to the technical part with links to get more information and it's a well written guide to the non-technical parts.  I think that if I wanted to build an App, this book would be my basic guide and I'd be able to figure it out (going to the links it provides, of course.)  And it also avoids the cutesiness of a lot of computer books.

As you can tell, I'm not going to be designing any apps soon, but I achieved my objective of getting a basic understanding of the App building process.

What Do Peace Corps Volunteers Do? Juneau Returned Volunteers

Some Juneau Returned Peace Corps Volunteers gathered Monday night to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of JFK signing the law that created the Peace Corps.  In these two short videos they tell you what country they served in and what they did.








The first video includes people who went to Ukraine, Thailand, Nepal, Rwanda, and Morocco.












The second video has people who were in Nigeria, Afghanistan, El Salvador, India, Cambodia, Guinnea-Bissau, and Paraguay.

Here's an older post with a few Anchorage and Fairbanks Returned Peace Corps Volunteer pictures and what they've been doing after Peace Corps.

Kitty Litter Technology - Who Knew?

This last week in Juneau my hosts have been out of town and I'm house and cat sitting. I like cats including this one. My son's allergic to cats, so I really have been out of touch with the cat world.




So among my chores here - besides picking up the mail and the Full Circle Farm box today - is to feed Nori in the morning and empty the litter box at night.






The feeding part is pretty easy - though it means I don't sleep too late because someone is hungry.

But what were these huge flat burger like things in the litter box? And so many? I've taken care of my son's dog and know she doesn't poop that much or nearly that big. What gives?

Consider what a good cat litter should do: It should suppress odors, absorb, be biodegradable, nontoxic, and inexpensive. If you have more than one cat, both should be willing to use it. It shouldn't stick to paws, or between claws; yet it should clump enough to localize waste. And it's nice if it's flushable. But none of these features matters if your cat doesn't want to use it.

Now writer Curt Wohleber traces the design evolution of the stuff. Litter boxes existed before 1947. Owners had simply lined them with sand, sawdust, or torn-up newspapers. Then one of those moments -- like Newton's Apple or Goodyear's spilled chemicals:

Edward Lowe, back from the army was working in his father's supply store when a next door neighbor asked him if he had any sawdust for her litter box. [You can read the rest of this history at  John H. Lienhard's Engines of Our Ingenuity Episode 2103 or you can get the audio here.]

It took me a while to figure out that modern science now gives us kitty litter that soaks up the urine into these patties.

While I've been watching electronic technology, kitty litter technology took off.

The Lights Are Back On

I was sitting here at the computer when the room went dark.  I'm not even sure how long ago it was or how long it lasted.  The Capitol building was still lit, but looking south and east it was dark.  It was probably around 9:30pm and maybe lasted an hour.  My computer at least went to battery and I found the candles and matches. 

What Happens at Energy Council? Here's Rep. Berta Gardner's Take

About 28 Alaskan legislators went to DC for the "Energy Council" Conference in Washington DC last week. I did a short post on this last week, but most information I could find seemed to be the same descriptions being quoted and requoted. I couldn't find an "Energy Council" website. I did find PNWER - Pacific Northwest Economic Region but I couldn't find any clear links between it and the Energy Conference. I mention this because Rep. Gardner mentioned PNWER as the sponsor. Their site presents them as a non-partisan coalition of states and provinces, not as an industry backed organization.

But Gardner did say the conference is a conservative, pro-development organization and that she was disappointed at the 'gratuitous attacks' on the Obama administration. It's not clear to me at all who organized and paid for the conference, but the Alaska legislators who went used state money to go. Gardner said (not on the video) that the House Minority decides how its travel money is spent.

A key point Gardner made was that they did a lot more than energy issues while in DC.  They took advantage of the trip to talk to national level legislators about a myriad of issues important to Alaska.  You can hear her take on the conference in the video tape below.  It's about ten minutes long so I've taken advantage of Viddler's comments function to mark different topics.  There are little white dots on the blue play bar under the video.  If you put the cursor over the dots, you can see the topics I've marked.  (Actually, anyone can add a comment, so if anyone does, there will be more dots.)




I did ask, off camera, about legislators getting a slanted view since they are getting the story from one side. She said that can be a problem if legislators don't know enough about the topic or aren't critical. In one part of the video Gardner talks about shale gas in Pennsylvania and how much progress the industry has made on this. I wonder what she'd say about this if a more balanced presentation were made. (She does say air pollution is becoming a big problem with this technology.)

Others I've talked to question state money (they said tax payer money, but, of course, individuals do not pay state taxes in Alaska) going to send legislators to industry sponsored conferences like this. I see no problem if the same legislators also go to hear what the other side has to say. After all, we elect officials to become educated on the issues. If they aren't smart enough to get it, that's the fault of the voters, isn't it?

"Does you hotel have any vasectomies next week?" Auto-correct Laughs

Laugh break time.  Someone sent me these two links.  I'd never seen this site.  For some reason these hit my funny bone hard.  Here's a screen shot of one of these phone text messages that auto-correct corrupted:

This was from either the ten best of December or  fifteen best of January from a site called "Damn You Auto-correct."

OK, I know they aren't that funny on their own, but imagining the two people in the conversation working through these messages  - I did have to laugh pretty hard.  Thanks L.

This reminds me that I was able to use spell check to save myself from embarrassing typos.  Since I used to write the words 'public administration' a lot, I realized that if I removed 'pubic' from my spell check, then it would get caught if I accidentally left the 'l' out. 

Todd Poage on Tok School Biomass Project

I've said this many times, but once again, if you hang around the State Capitol and talk to folks, you'll meet lots of interesting people doing interesting things. 

Here's Todd Poage, Superintendent of the Alaska Gateway School District talking about the Tok School Biomass Project. 



I asked for a link to a website, but instead got a newsprint size paper with bits and pieces of information and photos.  Things like:

• The Eagle Trail Fire incinerated more forest fuel in five hours than the biomass boiler at Tok School will use in 30 years
• Tok Forestry recommends the removal of 200 acres of hazardous [I think this means it's a fire danger] fuel each year.
• The costs of heating Tok School with an oil furnace averages $12,600 per month at current oil prices.  
• The costs of heating Tok School thru biomass, at $40 per ton, averages $3200 per month.

Others have covered this.  The Alaska Journal of Commerce wrote Dec. 10:

...In the past 25 years, nearly 2 million acres in the area have burned, costing more than $60 million in fire suppression and causing six evacuations, according to the state. Last year, the Eagle Trail fire scorched 18,000 acres.

"The fire history in Tok has basically demonstrated that Tok is going to burn unless we take action," said Jeff Hermanns, Tok area forester and a spearhead of the boiler project.

A recent wildfire protection plan recommended that 3,000 acres of black and white spruce forest in Tok be removed to make the community safer, including an area around the school, Hermanns said. Foresters usually try to sell or repurpose good wood, but the trees were junk wood, he said.

"Most of them aren't any bigger than three inches. Most people won't cut that tree for firewood. It's too small. You can't sell board out of it," Hermanns said.

Foresters thinned 100 acres of trees around the school and stacked them into decks. Then they set them on fire, a pricey and smoky last resort.

"All of those BTUs, all of that energy, just went up in smoke," Hermanns said. "By the school using this material, it's saving me a minimum of $1,000 an acre."...

Green Turbine, a Dutch blog that appears linked to a company that makes small turbines reposted some of the Journal article.

Putting this into a larger context is a 2009 United States Department of Agriculture report on Wood Energy in Alaska:  A Case Study Evaluation of Selected Facilities.  Here's the abstract:

Nicholls, David. 2009. Wood energy in Alaska—case study evaluations of selected facilities. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-793. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 33 p. 

Biomass resources in Alaska are extensive and diverse, comprising millions of acres of standing small-diameter trees, diseased or dead trees, and trees having low- grade timber. Limited amounts of logging and mill residues, urban wood residues, and waste products are also available. Recent wildfires in interior Alaska have left substantial volumes of burned timber, potentially usable for biomass energy. Moti- vated, in part, by rising fuel prices, organizations across the state—including busi- nesses, schools, and government agencies—have all expressed an interest in wood energy applications. Numerous sites have pursued feasibility studies or engineering design analysis, and others have moved forward with project construction. Recent advances in biomass utilization in Alaska have been enabled by numerous factors, and involve various fuel sources, scales of operation, and end products. Already, thermal wood energy systems are using sawmill residues to heat lumber dry kilns, and a public school heating system is in operation. Management policies on national forests and state forests in Alaska could determine the type and amounts of available biomass from managed forests, from wildland-urban interface regions, and from salvage timber operations. Biomass products in Alaska having potential for development are as diverse as wood pellets, cordwood (firewood), compost, wood-plastic composite products, and liquid fuels. In addition, new technologies are allowing for more efficient use of biomass resources for heating and electrical generation at scales appropriate for community power. This case study review con- siders successes and lessons learned from current wood energy systems in Alaska, and also considers opportunities for future bioenergy development.
Keywords: Alaska, biomass, bioenergy, wood energy, renewable, cordwood, sawmill residues.

Douglas Island, Treadwell Mine Trail

More from Sunday afternoon:

Dennis, a blog reader, had invited me to check the beach trail over on Douglas Island, across Gastineau channel from Juneau.  Dennis is a long time Juneau activist (curmudgeon according to some) whose grandfather came here to help set up the mines. I find him a great source of everything Juneau. He's a living guide book.
And he drives this taxi. For anyone who needs a taxi when they come to Juneau, he'll give you as much history of Juneau as you can handle with your ride.  And lots of tips on things to see.  (He objected to my taking a picture on Sunday before he gets the van washed Monday morning.  I thought it looked pretty good considering how slushy the roads are now.) 



Across the bridge, the trail to the historic Treadwell Mine starts from the south end of town at the end of the road.  A Juneau Empire article says:

At its height, the Treadwell Mine was the largest and most advanced gold mine in existence, employing approximately 2,000 men and women and producing $70 million worth of gold.

Today there are some old ruins and twisted metal visible.

Here's Dennis leading down to the water.

The trail winds down to the waterfront where there are signs of old docks.  The sun was gone on the Douglas side, but still on the tops of the mountains south of Juneau.

And then back along the beach past the old salt water pump.

There's a big log chime on the beach.

To keep up the history tour, we had dinner at the Island Pub. Dennis related how this place opened in the 1920's during Prohibition as a speakeasy.

Mike, the owner, brought in liquor from Canada via the Taku River.  Later it became a popular steak and shrimp restaurant.

Now, under new ownership it's a bar with it's own pizza ovens.

Both the walk along the Juneau waterfront earlier and this trip to Douglas were a nice break.  It was good to spend more time out of doors.  Legislators should be back from the Energy Council Conference in DC and the legislature will be back in session.

I've got a DELTA steering committee meeting this week and Thursday night I'm scheduled to fly home.  This is too long to be apart.

Beautiful Juneau is Back

After a week of cold and wind and snowy streets, it's warmed up into the low 30's, the wind is negligible and the sun was warm.  The sidewalks and streets do still offer an array of icy obstacles for pedestrians. 

But Conservatives and Liberals, bankers and bank robbers, students and teachers, rich and poor, everyone - except maybe vampires - could agree it was a beautiful day.  So, here's the conventional picture of that beauty. 




But other views that caught my eye as I walked along the waterfront while the cruise ships and tourists are still home planning their trips. 

Hungary Modifies Media Restrictions Enough for Ropi to Start Blogging Again

Ropi left a comment on an old post today to announce he was blogging again.  I went to his old site, but it was still inactive.  So I checked the link to his name and found his new blog:

Half a Loaf is Better than None

Here's the opening of the first post today:

In December, some people were disappointed, because I stopped blogging and even more was relieved that I stopped online littering. However I am back. This afternoon during my Maths break I checked our media law for curiousity and last week it was modified in a way that blogs and videoblogs are not under the control of the authorities. So I am here.

Ropi started blogging as a high school student in Budapest, going to a school where English was the medium in many classes.  He's now a first year University student studying economics.   He has a bent for Roman History.  And his blog gives people outside of Hungary an interesting view of the day-to-day life of one student in Budapest.  Just the fact he's blogging in English tells us something about the world.  How many US born high school students whose parents' native languages are both English, could blog about a wide range of topics in a foreign language?

Ropi didn't cite the exact clarifications in the law.  I was able to find an undated letter from the Minister of Public Administration and Justice, Dr. Tibor Navracsics, in response to a January 21, 2011 letter from Neelie Kroes, the Vice President of the European Commission, which cites a 2007 Constitutional Court decision.

Here's a section of that letter that says that non-economic activities and specifically videoblogs are exempt from the law:

In line with paragraph (21) of the preamble of the AVMS Directive, the scope of the MC or MA does not apply to private communications. (“For the purposes of this Directive, the definition of an audiovisual media service should cover only audiovisual media services, whether television broadcasting or on-demand, which are mass media, that is, which are intended for reception by, and which could have a clear impact on, a significant proportion of the general public. Its scope (…) should not cover activities which are primarily non-economic and which are not in competition with television broadcasting, such as private websites and services consisting of the provision or distribution of audiovisual content generated by private users for the purposes of sharing and exchange within communities of interest.”) Accordingly, the obligation of balanced coverage in case of “audiovisual blogs” that cannot be qualified as services of economic nature is not a requirement.  [Bolded emphasis added]

Another section of the letter raises an interesting issue that could be tempting to some in the US.  Sounds a little like the fairness doctrine the FCC used to have. 

In the Decision mentioned above, the Constitutional Court emphasized the importance of balanced coverage in Hungarian law as follows: “Preventing the development of information monopolies is a constitutional objective. By the dynamic development of broadcasting technologies, the primary threat posed by the information monopolies is the emergence of »opinion monopolies«, and therefore the Constitutional Court acknowledges the requirement of ensuring the pluralism of opinions as a legitimate objective. This is the objective for which the editing freedom of the broadcaster is restricted by the requirement of balanced information. As generally accepted, the opinion forming force of radio and television broadcasts and the convincing influence of motion pictures, voices and live coverages is the multiple of the thinking-inductive force of other services in the information society. Therefore, it is justified in the case of the electronic media to provide for special regulations on multi-sided information, in order to allow the members of the political community to develop their views after getting familiarised with the relevant opinions about the issues of public interest.”

Welcome back to the blogosphere Ropi.  We missed you.  I'll update the link in my "Blogs of Friends and/or Acquaintances" section in the right hand column.