Agile iOS Dev

Design, Design, Design

2010-12-27T05:24:00.001-05:00

Well we've completed our review of Virgins new Project.app e-zine reader for the iPad. Overall not a bad app but lacking in some design considerations that would make it stand out in the crowd. As magazine and newspaper publishers deepen their investments in the digital medium (ahem it's about time) app design appears to have it's priorities a bit askew. Yes, beautiful text and animated page turns are important, so is the overall UI. Elegance is important, however along with that so is simplicity. What the Project.app and it's somewhat competitors have overlooked is this need to hide from the consumer the technical working of what's going on behind the scenes. Sure some of us old-timers love to see download status bars and bytes per second in transfer rates but the market as a whole has little interest in this as a design feature.

As a design component this is akin to adding an abrasive seam where your consumer will use the product the most (and reminding them your making them wait)? Not smart in our opinion and something that should be considered in the app design process. Project.app isn't the only app of it's kind to do this so it's hard to call it out just on that component. The industry as a whole will have to grapple with the concept if mass consumer adoption rate is important to them.

That's it for now, we'll be back with more in the coming months in the reader app space. We have high hopes for the reported "The Daily" app that sounds like the next big reader to be coming to the market

- ZuCom

Where you add Mobility and Content you often generate success

2010-11-13T22:04:00.001-05:00

The saying "life goes by within the blink of an eye" is a reference to how time passes in our lives. Mobile devices today enable communications and delivery of content in places that have never before been available. Having this "feasibility of venue" opens up new experiences and challenges for business and consumers. While consumers struggle with how to manage time, businesses struggle with how to deliver content to the varying platforms that are available. Whether its iPhone, iPad, Droid, or anyone of the other numerous platforms out there the impact of not having usable content in this medium is palpable, and it is constantly shifting. APP vs. WEB While many businesses have been started solely as a result of the mobile revolution, there are many (even Fortune 500's) who have waited to get into the game. In 2006 when Apple and AT&T introduced the iPhone the game changed, but even that event was clouded with options. Having been at that WWDC, it was clear that the future would include some mixture of local App and Mobile Web solutions, but which one would win was far from certain. Four years later App based solutions have clearly taken the lead, but the battle is far from over and many are realizing it may not end anytime soon. With the Android, Windows Mobile (grin), and now Palm(double grin) splintering the app market, and mobile networks improving at a steady pace is their trouble ahead for investments in app solutions? CONTENT If your looking for an answer to that last rhetorical (albeit positional) question it lies in content. In the mobile space there are some amazing applications that solve business problems, provide a competitive edge, and still more that simply deliver a new more desirable mobile experience. On the other hand there are some stinkers out there the world would be better off without. The difference between most of the stinkers and the must haves lies in the content that is delivered. Think about this, if you had the option to download Thunderbird or Eudora for the iPad, iPhone, or Droid would your really (quiet Gruber). The answer is most likely, you would not, and that's because it's e-mail and as a piece of content, it's value in these new mobile venues really hasn't changed much over the years. Conversely, if you have an app that can capture audio, send its wave form to the web, returning a song title and artist, now you have a solution that delivers content in a new way to a new venue. As the app market starts to get competitive, "what" you deliver will be as important as how you deliver it. ADVICE As a business, not addressing the mobile world at this point is a mistake and even a poor attempt is better than nothing at all. Think of mobile like the drive-thru window for your business, without it those in a hurry probably won't stop. Mobility has moved what was once on our desks to something that is in our pockets and usually at the end of our arm and given this paradigm shift, the market must react. For the mobile consumer it's s little easier. As this evolution continues the richness of content and experiences will continue. Your choices of which device, carrier or app to go with will undoubtedly continue to get harder. Expect to be challenged by those overarching levers of content and experience that companies can provide. Apple somewhat redefined this model and it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon. The true challenge in a mobile world for the consumer will be how best to use these capabilities to slow down life, enjoy it a bit more and use that increased productivity and rich media experiences to make more free time. Robert Zullo ZuCom Twitter @ZuCom_Com

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Where you find Mobility and Content you find success

2010-11-13T21:59:00.001-05:00

The saying "life goes by within the blink of an eye" is a reference to how time passes in our lives. Mobile devices today enable communications and delivery of content in places that have never before been available. Having this "feasibility of venue" opens up new experiences and challenges for business and consumers. While consumers struggle with how to manage time, businesses struggle with how to deliver content to the varying platforms that are available. Whether its iPhone, iPad, Droid, or anyone of the other numerous platforms out there the impact of not having usable content in this medium is palpable, and it is constantly shifting.

APP vs. WEB
While many businesses have been started solely as a result of the mobile revolution, there are many (even Fortune 500's) who have waited to get into the game. In 2006 when Apple and AT&T introduced the iPhone the game changed, but even that event was clouded with options. Having been at that WWDC, it was clear that the future would include some mixture of local App and Mobile Web solutions, but which one would win was far from certain. Four years later App based solutions have clearly taken the lead, but the battle is far from over and many are realizing it may not end anytime soon. With the Android, Windows Mobile (grin), and now Palm(double grin) splintering the app market, and mobile networks improving at a steady pace is their trouble ahead for investments in app solutions?

CONTENT
If your looking for an answer to that last rhetorical (albeit positional) question it lies in content. In the mobile space there are some amazing applications that solve business problems, provide a competitive edge, and still more that simply deliver a new more desirable mobile experience. On the other hand there are some stinkers out there the world would be better off without. The difference between most of the stinkers and the must haves lies in the content that is delivered. Think about this, if you had the option to download Thunderbird or Eudora for the iPad, iPhone, or Droid would your really (quiet Gruber). The answer is most likely, you would not, and that's because it's e-mail and as a piece of content, it's value in these new mobile venues really hasn't changed much over the years. Conversely, if you have an app that can capture audio, send its wave form to the web, returning a song title and artist, now you have a solution that delivers content in a new way to a new venue. As the app market starts to get competitive, "what" you deliver will be as important as how you deliver it.

ADVICE
As a business, not addressing the mobile world at this point is a mistake and even a poor attempt is better than nothing at all. Think of mobile like the drive-thru window for your business, without it those in a hurry probably won't stop. Mobility has moved what was once on our desks to something that is in our pockets and usually at the end of our arm and given this paradigm shift, the market must react. For the mobile consumer it's s little easier. As this evolution continues the richness of content and experiences will continue. Your choices of which device, carrier or app to go with will undoubtedly continue to get harder. Expect to be challenged by those overarching levers of content and experience that companies can provide. Apple somewhat redefined this model and it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon. The true challenge in a mobile world for the consumer will be how best to use these capabilities to slow down life, enjoy it a bit more and use that increased productivity and rich media experiences to make more free time.

Robert Zullo
ZuCom
Twitter @ZuCom_Com

Two Great Quotes on Communication

2010-02-09T13:17:00.001-05:00

"Be sophisticated. Keep it simple." - Steve Jobs

"Insecure managers create complexity. Exude confidence and security; speak simply" - Jack Welch

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Space-Time and Digital Media

2010-01-18T16:32:00.000-05:00

Einstein developed a model for space-time and it's truly fascinating to anyone with even a casual interest. Over the past few years the media industry has been making attempts to develop it's own space-time model for content. In this space alternatives like DVR's and OnDemand have been the staple, while other "Time Shifting" alternatives have been slow to gain market share. Many will argue, factors from the Digital Media conversion such as use rights, or bandwidth considerations have been the cause, while still others will look at cable companies and wireless providers as the cause. Regardless of where you stand, there exists a strong value in media delivered without regard to the time or schedule of a media consortium.

Take the current issues at NBC with Leno and Conan. There is a demographic that wants to watch there "Tonite Show" at a 11:35pm. Today NBC decides who you will see at that time and they sell advertising for that hour knowing what demographic will be watching. This is a model that was developed in the 50's and let's face it, a model that is seriously outdated. Much media content lives under similar antiquated models.

As our media market continues to grow, finding new models that deliver value to consumers, is an area where differentiation will lead to a market edge. Being someone who has been in the Technology Industry for the past 25 years, it seems logical that whatever solutions arise they will be technical in nature. Let us not forget though, where Apple Inc. changed the face of Music with the iPod, this wouldn't have been possible without concessions from content providers, so it won't be without cooperation.

However 2010 ends up, the current state will change, as no market can ignore new models with such potential and so many clamoring for their rebirth. Watch for them! Where today we live by a time based model there will come a day when this will be little more than an outdated method.

Cloud Impact on App Development (InfoWeek)

2010-01-05T12:18:00.001-05:00

Cloud Ready For App Development In 2010

Posted on Tuesday Jan 5th at 1:45pm *(http://tinyurl.com/yey4ojr)*

The cloud is an emerging platform that can ease the strain on application development, analysts at Forrester Research conclude in a report published Monday, "The Top Five Changes For Application Development In 2010."

Analysts Mike Gualtieri, John Rymer and Jeffrey Hammond conclude that Amazon Web Services' (AWS) cloud, EC2, and other public clouds, such as Salesforce.com's Force.com, AT&T Synaptic Compute cloud, Rackspace Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, are offering mature operational environments that can be used to speed the development and launch of cloud applications.

"Various public cloud offerings are maturing rapidly, opening up more opportunities for developers to quickly build and delivery applications. You should start now." the authors concluded.

Salesforce.com is a leader in establishing its platform as a development environment and encouraging the creation of application to run alongside its standard customer relationship management applications. It offers a proprietary language, Apex, for the creation of business logic and the Visual Force graphical user interface building tool that invokes Adobe Flex components. Microsoft will soon offer Visual Studio 2010 and .Net 4.0 to give Windows developers the option of building applications to run in Azure.

Force.com's senior director of platform product marketing, Ariel Kelman, said it takes one-fifth the time to develop an application using the database-centric Force.com platform and development tools versus standard enterprise development techniques. He says that conclusion is supported by a Salesforce.com-sponsored study by Nucleus Research.

In addition to Microsoft and Force.com, the analysts cited LongJump, Caspio, Boomi, and WorkXpress as supplying online tools for cloud application development.

"Cloud platforms offer big improvements in the cost and speed of deploying applications... Embrace cloud computing as an emerging platform," they wrote. The mature cloud platforms allow development teams to skip buying servers and storage and setting up networks to connect them. Rather, development can proceed more directly, based on use of the target cloud's APIs, which speeds the launch of the application in the cloud, they said.

By developing applications for the cloud, developers avoid the doggedly perplexing issue of being able to scale out the application at will. Applications can scale up just as fast as server instance subscriptions can be added, based on the cloud's subscription process. If the application runs on open source code, then no new license charges need to be incurred as the application is scaled out across more servers, the analysts observed.

Public clouds now offer choices for application deployment. The infrastructure as a service option, such as Amazon's EC2, offers developers maximum control over the application. Platform as a service providers, such as Force.com and Microsoft Azure, offer a more integrated development environment leading to faster deployment; and software as a service vendors, such as Oracle's E-Business suite, open source SugarCRM, or Salesforce.com's CRM application, offer ready-to-use, finished applications.

Furthermore, the analysts concluded, public cloud servers are good for running Web site applications, collaboration and social networking applications, email, information services and analysis applications dealing with large data sets. They are still less desirable for running core business production systems and transaction applications.

"The cloud is here to stay," the analysts concluded. "Start learning what cloud computing holds for your development organization. .. Formulate a strategy to put this new generation of platforms to work."

Five key elements of such a strategy are:

1. Make enterprise development more nimble and adaptable -- in other words, more like a startup. "Every line of code they write has to be linked to their ability to obtain revenue." So enterprise development teams should know at a deep level what it is the company is trying to do and how it relates to its customers.

2. Startups don't build up elaborate architectures. They use "just enough business-focused process and technical tools to get them to a solution as quickly as possible," they said. Likewise, startups need to respond quickly to changing conditions and competition. "You can't just set a course and stubbornly stick to it," they warn. In other words, find your inner startup, they advise, and put it to work.

3. Don't stick with the same development platform out of misguided loyalty. The Java and .Net languages and related technologies remain the favorites of developers, but the analysts said there has been "a significant uptick" in the use of lighter weight technologies, such as the Apache Tomcat Server, Adobe Flex, the Dojo Foundation's Ajax components, open source Drupal content management, Google Web Toolkit, and the open source Joomla portal management system.

In addition, other open source code is frequently used, including the Red Hat JBoss application server and middleware, the Ruby on Rails scripting language framework,the SpringSource Framework for producing Java applications (SpringSource is now part of VMware), and the Zend Framework for PHP development from Zend Technologies. A large retail chain recently deployed open source Geronimo, an Apache Java application server to 4,000 stores, saving itself charges for 4,000 software licenses.

4. The analysts urged developers to expand their definition of performance in 2010. Performance is affected by the overall platform quality, ease of use, ease of adoption, ease of making changes and availability of a broad community of support. Open source code alternatives are often not as rich in features as their commercial counterparts, "but they often measure up just as well in other dimensions of an expanded performance matrix," they wrote.

Furthermore, the report's authors urged developers to become "passionate" about the user experience they were delivering in their software. Best practices for user experience design need to be injected into the development process, they said.

5. Finally, the analysts urged the cultivation of developers with the right talents. Many offer fine technical skills but don't have much understanding of the business. When accelerating development in the cloud, knowledge of the business may prove as crucial as technical skill.

Cloud computing is part of the "new normal" of enterprise computing, which takes the lean and mean operation during recessionary times and continues it into the return to a healthier economy. Cloud development will help enterprises do more with less, and getting cloud skills right might make the difference between success and failure. "If your competition can build an app faster than you, then your business will be destined to be no more than a fast follower," they concluded.

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2009-2010

2009-12-25T20:25:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays all, ...........now don't shoot your eye out!

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2009- 2010

2009-12-25T07:48:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays all, ...........now don't shoot your eye out!

Quote of the Week

2009-12-03T18:25:00.000-05:00

"find the best in everything. Let it justify the bad and underscore the good."

-ZuCom

Situational Leadership

2009-11-19T03:46:00.001-05:00

Situational Leadership

I was reminded today of the importance of situational leadership. As a management consultant I often meet with trusted partners and clients who are experiencing some sort of organizational shift. Whether or not it's an entity that has good development programs there is always a need to maintain situational leadership styles.

Many organizations invest in programs on this subject and almost any MBA program includes some form or review on the practice. It's not a particularly difficult concept to understand and it's based on the work from Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt (1958, 1973) who put forth the notion that a leadership style should be born from the circumstance and therefore leaders should have a range of styles in their arsenal.

In the technology industry many leaders rise to management on the backs of technical skills, and some ascend very quickly (Gates, Wozniak, Jobs are great examples). A good leadership development program can teach situational leadership and experience can mature these skills such that anyone can become a "4 Tool Leader"™.

This is all great stuff to review and somewhat fundamental so what is new here? What I was reminded of today was the maintenance that accompanies this skill set and the responsibility we are empowered with to use it appropriately. To effectively utilize this practice you must employ a healthy introspective review of situations, styles and results. I will go as far as to say that getting feedback from other leaders familiar with the organization is also another diligence that should accompany your review. Some leaders feel threatened at the thought of considering any post analysis of their leadership. Many will realize value in it and nearly all who engage in the practice will grow from the experience.

How do you maintain and grow your situational leadership?

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iPhone CVS, do you use it?

2009-10-28T14:36:00.004-04:00

For a long time I've advised clients that code management and version control tools are a prerequisites to any SDLC or SCM methodology implementation. With the popularity of iPhone apps continuing to grow in both the consumer and commercial market I am wondering what flavor are you using?

-ZuCom

Boot Snow Leopard into 64Bit Mode

2009-10-12T11:35:00.001-04:00

The default mode for the new Snow Leopard install is 32bit mode.

Want to change that and upgrade to 64bit.

Simply change one line in the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist file and your Macintosh will boot into 64bit mode. With most recent Mac's you'll see a significant performance improvement , of course the more memory you have the better and results may vary. You can always switch back using this method

FROM THIS

________________

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple$

<dict>

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

</dict>

</plist>

________________

TO THIS

________________

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<dict>

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>arch=x86_64</string>

</dict>

</plist>

________________

Any text editor should work or you can simply use PICO by typing the following in terminal along with your root password.

sudo pico /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

-ZuCom

http://www.zucom.com

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GPGMAIL for Snow Leopard-Fix (Beta)

2009-10-12T10:48:00.003-04:00

GPGMail

The wildly popular open source GPGMail v1.2.0 plugin for OSX Mail.app does not work in Snow Leopard. This is something that was found in the later beta's and remain's a major problem in the Power User community. At issue is the use of an undocumented API in the mail bundle that is no-longer supported in the new v4 of Mail. A developer has posted an interim fix for the community which can be downloaded here. Simply unzip this file and copy it to the /Library/Mail/Bundles folder and re-start Mail and your back in business.

Mobile field of dreams

2009-10-09T09:01:00.002-04:00

"If you build it for mobile (iPhone, Android) they will come"

-Robert Zullo @ MobileCon'09

Flash CS5 on the Rocks Please..

2009-10-05T17:17:00.002-04:00

Chances are this one will be on ice soon as Apple doesn't appear to have been involved with usurping it's own market monopoly on iPhone development SDK's

http://www.maclife.com/article/iphone/flash_cs5_will_let_you_create_native_iphone_apps

Sort of makes you wonder what could be possible outside the AppStore

iPhone Exchange Support

2009-09-21T17:10:00.003-04:00

Microsoft today confirmed that Exchange 2007 is now recognizing the iPhone as an actual iPhone device. Encryption support can depend on this in Group Policies and should be checked if recent upgrades are causing iPhones not to get mail. Encryption may now be enforced.

Link to Article

-ZuCom
www.zucom.com

When Green became Chic!

2009-09-04T12:42:00.003-04:00

When Green became Chic!

I received a call from a colleague today who manages a large data center in North Carolina. About a year ago we toured this facility and while impressive and modern it was far from what someone would call "GREEN". Over the past year they have undergone a major change in thinking and have undertaken a program to make all of their IT operations and functions GREEN aware. From easy items like solar panels to more difficult items like monitoring cooling and air flow the change has been palpable, not just in technology approach but also the the bottom line.

Of course there is the savings against utilities and general facilities costs but there is also government subsidies that can make the whole pill a little easier to swallow. In most states their are programs that can help take advantage of tax breaks or incentives for for embarking on a GREEN effort. In this case the correlation from the incentives to the return was immediate and for most enterprise data centers this has to be at least a fundamental consideration at this point even with energy costs leveling off.

Whilst this was a great example of industry (and government) making a change for the good, advising clients to GREEN outside the data center space is often a more challenging situation. Government subsidies are targeted at energy and not hardware per-say. Client based GREEN efforts have come of age, and they've done so without similar government subsidies. As most know client computing has been dramatically effected by the move to the Virtualization and Mobile platforms. While clients often see an immediate impact on budgets by a reduced cost for hardware the GREEN impact of not having to run additional hardware is often lost in the fray. Making hardware refresh decisions today often is an opportunity to explore the impact of GREEN on IT as well as the efficiencies of new technology.

No matter what size organization, there are options to let GREEN find it's way into your organizational thinking for IT. Virtualization, Alternative Energy, Mobilization, and even Cooperative Cloud Computing are just a few examples and efficiencies in this space are growing every day.

Robert Zullo
Vice President, Technology Consulting
ZuCom
www.zucom.com
rzullo@zucom.com
518-496-2592

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TKIP Based WPA Cracked

2009-08-28T03:34:00.001-04:00

http://tinyurl.com/navjvp

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Zig Ziglar

2009-08-25T08:17:00.001-04:00

ack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.
	- Zig Ziglar

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PandoraBoy Code

2009-08-24T05:46:00.001-04:00

http://code.google.com/p/pandoraboy/

Nicely done Pandora App...

-ZuCom

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Outsource your Social Media Marketing Campaign

2009-08-10T14:07:00.004-04:00

ZuCom is proud to offer outsourced Social Media Marketing Services.

We'll Tweet for you!! List and update your Facebook, YouTube, Blogger, LinkedIN or ???. Why spend hours trying to improve and manage your online Social Market when we can do it for you.

Contact ZuCom today at http://www.zucom.com. Accepting new commercial and consumer clients.

ZuCom

Macintosh & Apple Consultant

2009-08-09T18:23:00.001-04:00

http://tinyurl.com/lgjg6f

MACINTOSH & APPLE CONSULTING

With over 25 years managing and consulting Macintosh and Apple products ZuCom is a leader in Macintosh Support and Consulting. From small consumer services to large enterprise clients ZuCom has served clients all over the globe. With offices in upstate New York ZuCom has a strong footprint in the northeast and looks to serve the global community. From Snow Leopard to ProDOS we cover it all and if you're in need we are just a phone call away.

Contact our sales department today.

Software Development
Deployment Services
Management Consulting
Network Management
Solution Design
Hardware Support
iPhone in the Enterprise
... your issue...

...for pricing, questions, orders, or whatever contact us at:
e-mail: info@zucom.com

ZuCom Services
P.O. Box 11344
Albany, NY 12211-0344

PH: (518) 496-2592

Test2

2009-08-08T20:25:00.001-04:00

Blogging test from the iPhone.

Sent from my iPhone

2009-08-08T20:24:00.001-04:00

Test

WWDC 2009 Getting Ready to Start!

2009-06-08T12:37:00.002-04:00

With this year's sell out, we are seeing a jump in corporate attendees. This meets the expectations from several clients that the growth in this area is under rated. Adoption of Agile iPhone methodologies are still in their infancy but are integrating now with corporate support.

-ZuCom

2009-05-13T06:03:00.004-04:00

Another Great Article from the Author of the Apress hit "Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK"

http://iphonedevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/05/opengl-es-from-ground-up-table-of.html

iTunes Beta!! FIRST

2009-05-10T09:46:00.002-04:00

Install iTunes BEFORE you try upgrading the iPhone OS.. Simple way to solve many problems and enables the process to complete cleanly.

Many have suggested just using iTunes to do the upgrade rather than Organizer.

Iphone OS 3.0 - Candidates

2009-05-07T20:26:00.002-04:00

ZuCom is now accepting beta candidates for the 3.0 release.

If you would like your APP professionally verified before submitting to the APP Store

Great Article on OpenGL ES

2009-05-02T18:54:00.003-04:00

Great article on OpenGL ES http://tinyurl.com/dzvclo

Very powerful stuff for a phone.

-ZuCom

Battery Life - 3.0 OS

2009-04-12T09:03:00.002-04:00

Battery Life in the new iPhone OS (EDGE) seems a bit weak. Could the optimization of a new chip be coming? Perhaps these routines aren't completely backwards optimized yet?

-ZuCom

iPhone OS 3.0 - support

2009-03-22T20:31:00.004-04:00

First sign that you need to upgrade your hardware is when the company starts to treat you special.. Like the Edge vs 3G version of the iPhone OS.

Turns out the MMS and Stereo BlueTooth features aren't supported in the EDGE version.

Time to upgrade!!!

-RZullo

30 Million iPhones & iPod Touch

2009-03-18T21:38:00.001-04:00

Wow..  imgine having 30mm potential consumers, with 24/7 access to your product, anywhere they go..  Hard to beat..

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/0903lajkszg/event/index.html<br>

-Z

iPhone3.0 OS - on it's way

2009-03-15T05:02:00.001-04:00

Great article on the upcoming release of the iPhone 3.0 OS.  

While design patterns have emerged from within the iPhone Apple Developer community, it would be a bit bold to say that anything depends on these patterns for very long in this world.  Any attempt to afix judgement of a new release of the iPhone OS to these patterns may be a bit pre-mature.

Or perhaps it's a matter of perspective? (See: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/daknpn">http://tinyurl.com/daknpn</a> re: NeXTstep)

Which ever angle you take, the addition of copy / paste into the mix will bring a new "inter-application" level of thinking into the design patterning of the iPhone software architecture. Perhaps it'll be something faceless that will be backwards compatible with all existing apps, (denoting it's really more of an OS layer addition) but the ramifications if it not being at that level is one that would surely add a new dimention to future design patterns

-RZ

Debugging Xcode

2009-03-14T08:11:00.001-04:00

There is a great screencast  over on the iPhone development blog <a href="http://tinyurl.com/abmf7h">http://tinyurl.com/abmf7h</a> that will really help just about anyone debug in Xcode.

-ZuCom

Marc Speaks to Charlie

2009-02-22T22:05:00.001-05:00

Marc Speaks to Charlie

Video Here

Hands down the best iPhone SDK Primer

2008-11-21T08:19:00.001-05:00

The fundamental prerequisite for anyone looking to develop iPhone applications. Whether you are new to Cocoa or just the iPhone SDK this book will quickly get you up and running. From concept to working code the author's approach is both easy to read and quick to understand. The code samples get you up and running applications in very little time and the step by step approach makes the learning process effortless.

Hands down this is the best fundamental primer on iPhone Development on the market today.

500 Apps Launch on the iTunes App Store

2008-07-14T09:24:00.005-04:00

One's got to wonder when Apple will rename the iTunes to the iEverything store. With it now serving application content along side it's media content, the name would seem to almost not fit anymore.

A brief review of the 500 apps show a wide variety. Everything from the very detailed Netter's Anatomy Flash Cards to the silly iPint are available. With a number of the apps also fitting in the corporate space it's clear that there is a very large and well developed community behind this new application platform / venue.

Clearly standing out among the crowd is the gaming community. While this was rumored to be the belle of the ball it's proven to be even better than once thought. Games like CroMag Rally and MotoRacer take full advantage of the OpenGL ES engine in the iPhone and give remarkable results to the end user. If you haven't seen a demo I strongly suggest it if you in the gaming market at all. The threat Apple brings to other mobile handheld gaming is palpable once you see this..

-ZuCom

Strong webapp showing from corporate interest in the iPhone

2008-06-24T05:52:00.004-04:00

The WWDC Keynote showcased corporate iPhone App Development partners from several Fortune 500 companies, with blockbuster demo's in the Finance and Life Science industry. Since then several of these same companies have released web apps targeted and optimized for the iPhone / iPod Touch. An initial review of these web apps by ZuCom has shown that even these apps will be something to contend with.

The iPhone OS 2.0 promises to support new CSS animation and 3D standards that are truly amazing for any web application and could potentially give cloud computing a chance. Within the enterprise the need to develop fat client applications appears to be fading... FAST.

With the added benefit of lower client costs web apps have long been the preferred method by enterprise IT managers to deliver services and products to clients. Browser limitations have stifled the development of better web apps to date but Safari and Safari Mobile are aiming to change that. There's even some talk in the WebKit community of "bundling" to enable those on other platforms to access leverage these new standards not yet supported in other browsers.

Which ever way you choose to go, WebApp or iPhone OS App, ZuCom offers guidance support and services for corporate and small business clients.

The Apple Enterprise Mobile Platform - WWDC

2008-06-10T08:13:00.002-04:00

The Apple Enterprise Mobile Platform

With the WWDC Keynote, Steve Jobs has delivered the vision for enterprise mobile development on the iPhone. With the announcement that the iPhone 2.0 OS has support for Exchange and custom third party applications it's no wonder that enterprise I.T. giants like Bank of America, Genentech, and the US Army were keen to be early adopters. Strong demonstrations from Life Science partners MIMvista (http://www.mimvista.com/) will no doubt add another arena to the already crowded market for this mobile platform.

While the details have yet to be defined. Apple also announced three different models for application distribution. As expected the App Store will be the default distribution for commercial applications. Along with that announcement was an Enterprise distribution channel and something they are calling an "Ad Hoc" channel that promises to allow for the emailing of applications back and forth.

ZuCom is dedicated to consulting I.T. management on the implementation of this platform and will be engaging Apple on the details of the new Enterprise and Ad Hoc distribution channels. These two channels would appear to be the best avenues by which, large corporate I.T. environments will integrate this mobile platform into their existing infrastructure.

iPhone, Quality, Content and Design.

2008-04-29T03:04:00.005-04:00

As stated in the iPhoneSDK Keynote, Apple will hold final say as to what third party applications end up on the iPhone, through iTunes. While not specifically published or stated, this position seems to give the inference that there will be certain Quality, Content, and Design standards. Given this, there must also be a well designed process to inspect applications for adherence to this standard.

This is an area where casual developers and professional developers often take different paths. Most professional development efforts value a well developed SDLC, where good requirements and quality assurance practices are seen as tools to developing stable well functioning software. To the casual developer the value of these processes are often too expensive, from a time perspective, and frequently take a lower priority.

Many have commented about the approach that Apple is taking here and even referred to it as a "closed" system. Rich Miner, (Group manager of Wireless Platforms at Google) recently gave a talk (link to video) about the challenges to mobile software development, and the impact open source initiatives have had in this space. In this presentation Rich mentions that even the Google "open source" mobile initiative (Android) will have some detailed quality and design requirements.

As the mobile development community continues to change, only time will tell what traditional software development practices will be a best fit. Agile, practices appear to be leading the efforts for today and may still offer the best blend of flexibility and process for a platform that seems destined for great things.

-Robert Zullo

iPhone Crash Files tid bit.

2008-04-23T14:16:00.004-04:00

Today we received a report from a client that may be of interest to many who develop for the iPhone platform. Crash logs can be critical in debugging and testing the behavior of software and systems. The file location you see below contains a number of files that are critical to identifying crashes in the iPhone system and software. Further analysis is underway and we welcome others to add their comments to this blog.

/Users/your user name/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/your iphone name/

and

/Users/your user name/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/your iphone name/Baseband

FYI

Enterprise Applications Support and 3G = International Reach

2008-04-05T21:16:00.007-04:00

With the announcement from Walt Mossberg that the next iPhone will be 3G the potential impact of this unique crossover entity might just be moving towards a Corporate International audience.

Arguments can be made that iPhone is already a corporate entity in the international market but as most non-US readers know, the limitation of not having 3G is a real concern on the international scene.

Let's face it 768k is only called "broadband" in the US. Most international markets reserve the term broadband for much higher data transfer rates. While Walt refers to content and marketing angles as his main points, the rub with enterprise I.T. managers becomes what to do if this 3G option is now part of the iPhone platform. While dismissing the iPhone is a hard thing to do even today, 3G support would really make this naysayers look more like pundits.

Walt references a 60 day timeline so time will tell, but should Apple decide to take that angle with the iPhone, it's clearly added another threat to the existing Mobile market.

Mobile Technology, the next enabler

2008-03-30T20:31:00.007-04:00

Technology can be an enabler and there is no better example of that today than the space currently known as the "mobile" market. Advances in mobile chip technology and availability of services have exploded recently and created a market that is simply ripe for change. While mobile technology and services have flourished, adoption has dramatically lagged behind similar services offered on more traditional platforms. A key part of this limitation in the US market has been the fact that development for mobile platforms and wireless services has been controlled by a very few companies with a level of proprietary knowledge and risk associated with entrance into the platform.

To date there has been a lack of cohesion between mobile platforms acting as a traditional personal computer and mobile wireless devices designed to connect users to a wireless service. Enterprise solutions to mobile needs have followed the same path, and thus have resulted in what we have today. Development for these distinct areas has thus been somewhat disconnected and not collective. On one side you have traditional development for mobile platforms sprouting as an off shoot of old fashioned client / server development and on the other you have the retooling of web developers into a new mobile web category.

The managing of of these efforts in separate spaces, as most do, presents an interesting challenge for the enterprise. Where business needs are in concert with mobile platforms talent is not often aligned with the effort. The result is a product that is poorly received overall or not adopted as a service that enables the platform but rather the opposite. With the introduction of crossover devices like the iPhone, integrating these groups in an enterprise will become more of a natural migration than it is today.

As we saw in the late 90's individual software achievements have the ability to change the world, but blending those talents into a business strategy is what gives the those ideas a place to grow (Steve Jobs Quote). As mobile platforms begin to integrate, enterprise based approaches to managing technology and aligning it with new mobile business strategies will evolve, the choice we have is to choose that which is right for our needs.

-Robert Zullo

2008-03-30T20:31:00.001-04:00

Enterprise Approach to iPhone Development

2008-03-28T08:45:00.000-04:00

Apple has updated it's latest release of the iPhone SDK. With the fury at which the last release was downloaded this one is sure to be a hit. While the details of the upgrade are still sketchy and it would appear that Apple is dedicated to the market it has found for mobile development platforms.

As mentioned in the a recent article over on the iPhone Development Blog the reach that this product will give Apple into the enterprise could be big. I would argue that with regular updates and what is seemingly a caring / nurturing attitude from Apple this could be a revolution in the making for the industry yet again.

Many corporate I.T. departments will find development in this area hard to categorize and even tougher to fit in to a standard CMMI, Agile, RUP methodology. Over the next few months ZuCom will evaluate the impact this has had in the industry and look to develop strategies that partners and clients can use to help better cope with this next wave of innovation.

-ZuCom