If you’ve just upgraded to Lion, you may have noticed that a few of your applications no longer work. Following suit, a few pieces of hardware may have also become redundant…

Not to worry – enter emulation!

1. Install Virtualbox
2. Install smaller OS. I used windows 2000; Using mac os tiger/leopard/snowleapard/*nix may be overkill if u only want to use of your scanner. If this is the case you may as well just use the OS directly! I installed from my old disk by following the setup to create a new os using mostly default values. Once complete selecting the new os prompts you to enter the installation disk where you install as you would usually.  There are tons of tutorials out there and I’m feeling too lazy .
3. Install guest additions from the menus.
4. Install Dropbox (You’ll have to sign up if you haven’t already)
5. From the menu goto devices> usb devices> your scanner. If your using windows 2k it will auto install (if not, have a copy of the older easier to obtain drivers handy)
6. In windows 2k goto Start>Programs> Accessories> imaging (Do all your scanning and ‘Save as’ to any folder)
7. Move the files to dropbox and pick them up from Lion (yup – if you haven’t installed dropbox in lion already…)

Voila!

Whilst working within XCode’s data modelling tool the window decided to blank out and go grey. For some reason it wouldn’t show any objects. (Grrr – Annoying!!!)

A few others seem to have had the same problem:

http://www.iphonedevsdk.com/forum/iphone-sdk-development/77096-cant-visualize-correctly-core-data-model-xcode-4-a.html

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6433549/xcode4-core-data-model-editor-display-problem

I’m not sure what causes it (probably my attempt to re-jig that entity split seconds before the window went nuts!) but the grids and objects re-appear when you delete certain entities from the model (not useful but happens!!).

After an hour of searching and tinkering with the buggy window and finding no solution i decided to persevere, and complete the model using text-based half of the modeller instead – 10minutes and few entity/relationship additions laters, guess what decides to show up??

Yup – all my lovlies!!- aka my entities!

Update:

This solution lastest a while before i encountered new problems!!

XCode decided it would be nice to keep around the old errors and to show them even after i rectified the problems.

I’m pretty sure that the two problems are connected and are due to the multiple ways that you can now enter details into the modeller for the attributes/relationships and the live errors feature.

It seems that xcode is somehow is able to briefly lose track of what changes have been made (maybe if you start entering in one and complete in another – i’m just speculating!), and goes bonkers if you introduce too many errors.

I was able to overcome the problem with the older errors showing by copying the model file from the project, then deleting it.

The errors still showed as if the file was present within the project. I went to the manager (Cmd+shift+2) selected the project, then deleted the derived data via that top button! Then cleaned the project Cmd+Shift+K. Then closed and re-opened xcode. Worked for me twice now.. might help someone… one day!!

Despite all the bugs, somehow I still love using XCode4!!

If you are doing something like the following:

NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@”MenuStructure” ofType:@”plist”];

self.menuItems = [NSArray arrayWithContentsOfFile:path];

and run into problems resulting in an empty array which upon examination using breakpoints shows ‘Invalid Array’. U should check the following:

1. That the path is correct. if u use NSLog to print the path to the console or use the contextual info from the path then you will be told were your app is located. This would work best using they simulator because you will actually be able to navigate to the files. If you are running this on the device, you will be able to download the app directory however it removes the bundle directory (The folder with the executable and plists that you want to inspect!).

Doing this is especially useful if you suspect that locali(s/z)ation may the source of your woes. When doing this I realised that the localisation files/folders that I thought I’d removed via the minus option in xcode were still present. I found also that by cleaning the project (product>clean or Shift+CMD+K) that these unwanted files and folders were removed to reflect the correct layout.

2. The most likely cause is that the plist is not arranged in the format that you accessing it in. I.E it is laid out as a dictionary and you are using code like the above to move contents into an array (this may happen in reverse also). To check, right click the plist in the navigation pane and select open as>Source Code to view the XML.

If it reads:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC “-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN” “http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd“>
<plist version=”1.0″>
<dict>
<key>sectionChildren</key>
<array></array> or <dict></dict>
…
</dict>
</plist>

Then the plists root object is a dictionary and is the reason for the error. Just change this to an array by removing the keys and changing the outermost <dict> and </dict> to <array> and </array>. I’m not sure and haven’t tested if this error would also occur if the root object was a string, number, or date etc.

…

</dict>

change the

Many sources state that you cannot change the height of a UIPageControl from within xcode, however the PageControl code sample from Apple demonstrates otherwise.

In this sample the UIPageControl features an editable height component, and you may also notice that whilst looking through the identity inspector, that there are also accessibility options.

This is because they have used a View (UIView) object from the library and changed the class type to a UIPageControl (naughty! – I swear I read somewhere in the documentation not to do this!) but the icon was the giveaway – I’ve since tried and it works…

Once changed you’ll notice that you have access to the y-axis control within the size inspector – … yay!

Hope this helps some(one, where, day, how)!

Daron

Just found a lil remix I made using Nano studio on the iPhone a few months ago (nearly 6) haha.  Tell me what you think – does it make you want to break stuff or make lurve?! Unless you’re a bit strange like me, it will probably be the latter!

You’ll have to wear headphones to hear it properly – the bass doesn’t carry well over laptop/monitor speakers. I’m pretty impressed with the features and production quality that I can carry around in my pocket these days.

I remember forking nearly £40 around mumblemumble-13-years-mumblebumble ago for Music Creator on the playstation!!

golden-bruise-Juice03

Around a year ago a good friend of mine (Andrew Campbell of Monkey’s Inc.),  recommended a couple short YouTube clips to me by LeSean Thomas (animator/illustrator/director/etc).

I found those vids pretty inspiring and have since subscribed to his channel on YouTube. He’s now in Seoul working on his own graphic novel. Somehow he still manages to find time to create nice short clips to motivate budding artists and fans.

His dedication and effort stand out as massive driving forces toward his success. What takes this beyond the informative value of a tutorial or biography is that you get to hear first hand how LeSean discovered new inspiration and the strategies that strategy that LeSean devised and still uses to measure and progress his level of expertise.

Enjoy:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Just found this – I wasn’t expecting that ending. Check it out – 24Hour Comic by Kajusx:

24 Hour Comic Book by *kajusx on deviantART

It’s amazing what you forget over a couple years. I found this design mock for a website intended for a couple of friends who were starting up their own physio clinic.

I wanted to make sure that the contact details and location would be visible on every page without being intrusive. I had the idea of laying it out like a stylish brochure with a pullout sleeve on the side for the contact info. I still quite like this design. Tell me what you think…

This brings back memories!!...

Prepared for quite a hours on public transport, I decided to give Autodesk Sketchbook a spin. I’ve had it a while now and purchased it shortly after seeing a friend demo it.

The app looks much like the desktop version with familiar intuitive and minimal user interface. Battery consumption is great was and didn’t crash once during 2 maybe 3 hours of use. However, despite being fairly robust it I would warn anyone using, or intending to use it in the near future to watch out for…

PHONE-CALLS!!

yup! Irony at it’s best – Whilst not using your phone as a phone, that unexpected call comes along and ruins everything!! Grrr!!

I’ve lost a few sketches this way, including one ill always remember as “my-best-ever-iPhone-Autodesk-Sketchbook-App-thumb-sketch!!”*** – thanks mum!!

Take-aways:

Tip 1: Save often…
Tip 2: Tell mum you’re safe before you start a doodle session!
Tip 3: Get SketchBook Mobile – Autodesk Inc.
Tip 4: Save often!

Think I’ll be thumb-doodling a lot more from now on!

*** I sometimes think in SEO long-tail keywords… Dammit!!

I came across some interesting news this week whilst previewing some of the new features that will be available to owners of Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad later this year as part of the OS4 upgrade. See preview information here:

iPhone OS4 overview: http://www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/

iPhone OS4 Keynote speech: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/specialevent0410/

I own an iPhone and can’t wait to get my hands on the upgrade. However what stood out the most of all the new features is iAd. This is Apples planned in-app advertising platform similar to Googles Adsense. At the moment AdMob (owned by Google) is the main distributor of mobile adverts and can be seen on most of the free iPhone apps/games and specially formatted mobile websites.

Considering Googles dominance in internet advertising both on normal and on mobile devices, Apples entrance signifies great confidence in their own offerings, and I don’t blame them! Their iAd platform will tie in directly with their already impressive iPhone development kit and will offer developers higher levels advert control. Additionally developers will receive a generous 60% commission instead of Googles mysteriously calculated and ever changing one. The appeal of using iAd already marks a grim future for Google Ads within iPhone/ iPad and iPod apps.

Given Googles recent mobile phone endeavors à la Android (the open source mobile OS) and this years launch of the touch screen ‘Google Phone’, Apples move is obviously a retort; the beginning of a Apple vs Google War!

With thier newborn, the iPad, Apple are already making promises of a new mobile gaming and internet lifestyle (one which they intend to lead). Dependant on the success of the iPad in the coming months I don’t see Google letting them do this quietly! Things couldn’t be better for iPhone developers right now. New toys on the horizon and the potential for Ad price wars!

Lets see what happens. With both giants attempting to outdo the other at their own …’games’ things are about to get exiting!

Related Info:
If you are interested in iPhone development, you may be interested in iFund. This initiative was launched a few years ago with great success. They have financial support to start ups such as Shazam, Cooliris and Zynga mobile. Now with an increased fund of $200M they are looking to invest in another wave of innovative ventures for iPhone and now for the iPad. The below launch vids are worth taking a look at:

And just incase you feel you’re missing out on the poem:

For more info on iFund see: http://www.kpcb.com/initiatives/ifund/index.html