KDBDallas

My latest application, Newsprint, is now available in the iPhone App Store!

Newsprint is a professional grade feed (RSS/Atom) reader for the iPhone and iPod touch, with support for Google Reader.

You can find more info on Newsprint at: http://www.NewsprintApp.com
You can find Newsprint in the App Store by using this link: http://www.NewsprintApp.com/download

On January 24th, 1984, Steve Jobs pulled a 128K Mac out of its case in front of a crowd of reporters, turned it on, and let the computer introduce itself to the world. The rest, as they say, is history.

On January 25th, 1982, I was born.

It’s kind of sad that I am only 2 years older then the Mac.

The book that I was the Technical Editor for, Cocoa Touch for iPhone OS 3, is now shipping from Amazon.com and should also be in (hopefully) most Barnes and Nobles.
View it at Amazon.com by clicking here.

This book is great for new iPhone developers as well as experienced ones.
You will need some Objective-C knowledge, but if you have some OOP (Object Oriented Programming) experience you should be ok with picking up an Objective-C book as well for as you work through the book.

If you are in a B&N stroll into the Geek, err, I mean Computer Programming section and look for the book.
Feel free to buy a copy to support my good friend and author of the book, Jiva DeVoe.
If you can’t get yourself to that level of geek, at least pick it up and look at the ‘Credits’ page, right before the Table of Contents and then you can go around to all the geeks in that area and say, “I KNOW THIS GUY!”

This makes 2 iPhone development books that I have been involved in, each one with more of a role than the last, however I can safely say it will be my last as after being involved with the book writing processes and having the author be a close friend of mine, I don’t really have a desire to write one myself (unless it’s an offer I just can’t refuse).

After pending review for more than 8 months, we are happy to announce that KidFlix was officially approved for sale today!

KidFlix is for parents with small children. KidFlix stops kids from accidentally activating the on-screen controls while listening to audio or watching videos on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Therefore eliminating accidental exits, fast-forwards, etc and therefore eliminating the need for you to constantly fix the problem.

KidFlix is not meant to be a substitute for proper child care, but instead to be a helping hand in keeping your child entertained.

As a parent of a young child I know how valuable of a tool this program can be when you are at say a restaurant and your child starts getting bored.

You can purchase KidFlix for $1.99, directly from the App Store by following the URL:
itms://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kidflix/id307595676?mt=8

Apple® announced today that Mac OS X 10.6 (aka Snow Leopard) will be released on Friday August 28, 2009!

I have been using developer preview versions of Snow Leopard and I can say with all honesty that Snow Leopard is a wonderful update to the already amazing 10.5 (Leopard).

The speed and performance updates in 10.6 make this a release that all eligible users should upgrade too, and at only $29 USD for the single computer upgrade and $49 USD for the Family upgrade, you should not need to even give it a second thought.

The main thing to know with 10.6 is that it will only work on Intel machines, so unfortunately you are out of luck if you are still using a Power PC computer.

The second main thing to know about 10.6 is that iDeskCal runs great on Snow Leopard!
I have been running it full time on Snow Leopard without any problems.
If however you do run into any issues with running iDeskCal on Snow Leopard, come Friday, Snow Leopard has special additions behind-the-scenes that make it even easier for us to track down reported bugs.
Unfortunately this is all I can say right now as my NDA with Apple is still in effect.

I have included links to pre-order Snow Leopard today!
Currently (Monday 24th) if you order from Apple, your upgrade DVD will be delivered the day Snow Leopard is released (Friday). I am not sure how long that will be the case, so I recommend you pre-order now!

Apple Online Store 10.6 Upgrade (Single computer & Family versions)
Amazon.com 10.6 Upgrade (Single computer version)
Amazon.com 10.6 Upgrade (Family version)

I have been back from WWDC for a little over a week now, but haven’t had a chance to say anything about it or post any pictures. (I will post an explanation shortly)

WWDC (Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference, in case you don’t know) was amazing!
This was the first time that I have been able to justify going (it’s not cheap) but man was it great.

I had the chance to meet so many amazing people that I talk to all the time on Twitter, but now I got the chance to meet them in real life.

Besides all the great developers and parties, it was a chance to learn about new and upcoming enhancements to the Mac operating system and the iPhone, as well as learn the best way to do certain things in code, coming from the people that write the language!

Apple also offers what the call labs during WWDC.
Labs allow you to take your code and sit down with an Apple Engineer that works on whatever particular topic you want, and they are there to serve. They will look over code and tell if you how you could have done it better, or they will help you debug an issue you are having, or anything else.

There is so much information flying at you all day that it can be overwhelming at times.

And when the sessions and labs end each day, WWDC does not end….
I have never seen more back to back, double/triple booked parties in my life.
Parties that go until all hours of the morning.

So with sessions and labs all day and parties all night, by midweek you are the walking dead but it doesn’t stop the fun. (and I didn’t even go out every night!)

Around the end of the week Apple throws a big party and this year had the band ‘Cake’ come and perform.

Overall it was a GREAT time and I can’t wait until next year, yet it is always nice to come back home to family as well.

We are talking about Nancy coming along next year and being able to tour San Francisco while I am in the sessions.

My WWDC 09 Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/kdbdallas/sets/72157620059169940/

I will be honest and upfront and say I don’t know if KillExchangeLocks will be revamped for 3.0.

I have pretty much totally moved away from the entire Jailbrake scene.
In fact out of all 6 devices I own only 1 is Jailbroken and I only keep that one on hand because I have 2 paid apps that I released back during firmware 1.x and before the AppStore.

I am very sorry if this news comes as a disappointment.

Since 2.0 and the AppStore came out Jailbraking has lost its appeal to me as I use AT&T so that’s not a concern for me and since the only reason I ever got into the Jailbrake scene in the first place was to be able to write my own apps and run other peoples apps on a great device that had so much more potential.

Now with the AppStore it seems like Jailbraking is done for one or more of the following: Carrier Unlock, Apps that Apple won’t approve, and Warez.
I don’t care about carrier unlocks, and I don’t approve of Warez (even if you say you use them as demo’s and buy the ones you like, because 99.9% are not doing that), and that just leaves apps that Apple won’t approve. This would be the only thing to keep me around but Apple lets most things in (it might take a couple rejections first though) that I am interested in.

Also, Apple has been getting really good at closing all the holes that made this app possible (as technically they are security holes).
So much so that the last version “oddly” wouldn’t work for everyone, including me.
I spent a ton of time searching for new ways back then and never found anything that I was happy with, and then I finally gave up and just stopped syncing my work email.

(It was a plus for my day job to have me accessible by email all the time and I decided it wasn’t worth the time and work I was putting into not having my personal device locked down)

Of course I understand that this isn’t the same for everyone.
All I can really say is I feel your pain (as if that helps anything), and that in a comment on the post way back about version 3.0 of KillExchangeLocks, Eirik mentioned that a new app has just shown up in Cydia called: “Exchange Unlock”.

With that in mind, let me get the “legalize” (if you will) out of the way.
“Exchange Unlock” is not my work, nor do I have anything to do with it in any way.
I have NO idea if it works, and I can not be held responsible if it blows up your device, literally or figuratively.

I do wish you the best of luck, and encourage you to check out my other work at: HashBang Industries (http://www.HashBangInd.com)

iDeskCal is currently a Featured 3rd Party Download on http://www.apple.com/downloads/, as well as in the Productivity section: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/productivity_tools/

Even cooler is the fact that iDeskCal is the #8 Top Download on all of apple.com/downloads!

It is ranked up there with iTunes, Safari, and above Google Earth and Firefox on Apple’s site.

iDeskCal has been downloaded (as of this posting) 10,617 times since Tuesday May 19th (less than a week).

Now lets hope that all of those downloads purchase after the free trial!

(Click the images for a larger size where you can actually see it)

[prMac.com] Mesa, Arizona – HashBang Industries today is delighted to announce iDeskCal 2.0, a complete rebrand of their popular iCal-to-Desktop embedding solution, Desktop Remind. At its basic, iDeskCal embeds the users iCal calendar directly on their Finder Desktop, right above their wallpaper but below desktop items, making it a perfect choice for designers, freelancers or anyone who needs to keep up with their busy agenda.

Users can quickly and effortlessly know exactly what is on their calendar for the current day, and beyond. Among iDeskCal’s most prolific features is its ability to quickly add calendar events using keyboard shortcuts, as well as the ability to add and manage to-do lists quickly and easily. iDeskCal is user configurable, allowing users to place it precisely where they want on the desktop, as well as configure the font and font color to match taste and/or wallpaper. iDeskCal also plays well with multi-monitor setups too.

Feature Highlights:
* Embeds directly into the Desktop
* Configure Font and Font Color
* Add/Manage To-Do Lists quickly
* Keyboard Shortcuts
* Supports Multiple Monitors

“Desktop Remind was acquired from Code Genocide, and I’m very excited about the new version. It has a new name and icon to go along with a major overhaul of application” said Dallas Brown, founder of HashBang Industries. “We’re looking forward to a long and exciting roadmap ahead.”

Language support:
English, Spanish, and Portuguese

Minimum Requirements:
* Mac OS X Version 10.5 Leopard or later
* Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel
* 2.6 MB Hard Drive space

Pricing and Availability:
iDeskCal 2.0 is priced at $12.99 (USD) via their online store, and available as a fully functional 14 day free trial. HashBang Industries is offering free upgrades for customers that purchased Desktop Remind in the last 2 months and is offering upgrade pricing for all other existing customers of Desktop Remind. Existing customers can easily retrieve their upgrade coupon code by entering their email address used to purchase Desktop Remind.

Located in sunny Mesa, Arizona, HashBang Industries is a privately held company founded in 2009 by Dallas Brown. With a focus on the Mac platform, HashBang’s aim is to develop unique Mac and iPhone products, complemented by first-class customer support. Copyright 2009 HashBang Industries. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, and iCal are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

I have been offered a gig of being the Technical Editor for an upcoming iPhone programming book.

The book is called “Cocoa Touch for iPhone 3.0″ and is being written by my friend Jiva DeVoe and published by Wiley and Sons Publishing.

You can visit the current pre-emptive webpage for the book at: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470481072.html

I was previously a Technical Reviewer for the programming book: iPhone SDK Application Development, 1st Edition

It will be interesting the see the differences between being a technical reviewer and a technical editor.