Santiapps.com: Digital Graphic Design for newbies (noobs)
Wanted to share this tutorial for graphic design noobs that are interested in creating their own artwork for iOS games. You may indeed have some graphic design skills and some much better programming skills but turning your paper art into digital usable art is a whole new ballgame.
Visit this tutorial in spanish, since this is a spanish blog:
Storyboarding is for everyone in Xcode 4
I just ran across storyboards in iOS5 and I had to link back to this article with the best storyboard tutorials:
Facebook: Worldwide Genetic Experiment
What does the biggest social network share with the most global science field?
Does the most complex web software have anything to do with one of the most complex fields in human nature?
Is Facebook the world’s largest human genetic experiment?
What do you get when you mount a huge amount of human relational information onto the largest, most accessible data depot in the world? Ill tell you what you get…the biggest artificial intelligence in the world (since we are not sure about the universe’s size or the possibility of coexisting multiverse’s).
Lets think about what Facebook contains. On a personal level, it contains:
- Your name, face and personal likes and dislikes.
- Your family’s names, faces and personal preferences as well.
- Your friends’ names, appearance and their preferences.
If you consider that each one of those persons is capable, not only of posting information but also verifying each other’s information and even reproducing in order to create more and more “persons”…You have the biggest genetic tree in the world. This genetic tree doesn’t only have names, but each name has preferences and dislikes, images and moments, work and private information.
Think how much that information is worth to pharmaceutical companies? Facebook may be worth more for the information it contains in its data centers than for its advertising revenue! If Facebook’s highly desirable IPO was poised to skyrocket before, get ready to factor this into it.
Nuevo Foro para Programadores iOS
Quiero compartir un nuevo foro para programadores iOS:
http://santiapps.com/phpbb3/
Les invito a participar como moderadores o programadores. Dentro de poco comenzare a subir tutoriales. Por mientras posteare un tutorial en Learnable para ir avanzando. Les agradecere su participacion en el foro.
Importing Box2D & Chipmunk into XCode
1. Importing folders. When importing folders into Xcode, which Ive had experience with Coreplot, Facebook, twitter apis, json libraries and more recently Box2D and Chipmunk folders, there is a difference between copying and not copying if needed. I thought I understood the difference but Im not sure now. When adding a folder to your project, you add it via the finder first and then via Xcode.
Lets take Chipmunk for example:
a. You copy your Chipmunk folder from the drive and paste it INTO your project drive folder (in Finder). i understand this only makes those files readily available to your project, but you must still tell your project “where those files really are, and that they are there for its use”.
b. So you then drag the same folder you just added to your project’s folder on your drive INTO your Xcode GROUP (inside Xcode, not Finder)
c. Sometimes you check that you INDEED WANT the items to be copied (as with Box2D & Chipmunk folders) and sometimes your DO NOT CHECK IT as with GLES-render files.
These are just 2 ways of doing the same thing, right? If you didn’t physically copy the folder in Finder, you want to CHECK the COPY ITEMS option and if you already did, you DONT want or particularly need to copy them in again, right?
However it makes a difference when you are dragging the folder, as in Coreplot, because if you drag the folder from Finder to Xcode Group folders or Finder Folders, you are actually taking the original folder, removing it from its current location and placing it in its new location.
I believe this made a big difference to me right now and I messed up my project so bad i had to rebuild the whole thing. This importing folders thing and the “copy-paste from the pdf” scheme I’ve got going which sometimes copies characters you can’t see but will give you the worst headaches hunting them down! 
2. Missing cocos2d library from my project. At some point in the project I must have done something differently because unlike the SpaceViking Project I have, the downloaded source code has an extra target. It has a SpaceViking target and a cocos2dlibraries target which I don’t have, yet my project runs fine. Why is that? Plus what does it mean to have 2 targets? Which brings me to my next question…
3. Project vs Target settings. You can set most if not all of the same build settings for the project and for the target. They are indeed different because I believe that if you set one instead of the other, sometimes you get errors and build fails.
Box2D – Cocos2d – ObjC Complex Code Design
I got lost with a few kinks added in C10 and the vector stuff and c++ stuff in Ch11.
So Id like to review what is happening by the time we get to the cart that you can move via the accelerometer.
1. Before we only needed to add a cocos2d scene and then a layer to make a screenful of action.
With Box2D we must still create a Scene and Layer but we add the C++ format of Class.h & Class.mm
instead of just .m. We also added a query callback C++ Class that serves the specific purpose of
cycling through all bodies in the [b]box2d world? or something[/b], and tests if there is an intersection,
much like in our original cocos2d intersection tests.
2. We created a base Box2DSprite class in order to give our Box2D bodies a basic blueprint.
It states they all have a body which is settable as a property, inherit from the GameCharacter class
(which inherits from GameObject giving it a changeState & updateStateWithDelta) and they could have a mouseJoint.
3. In PuzzleLayer we just had a PuzzleLayer Class that created all Box2D objects internally with
the bunch of methods createMeteor etc. In Scene4 however, we created a specific Box2D body class, Cart, which has moved
a lot of its own creation-code to its class file, Cart.mm. The cart class has its init method plus a createsBodyAtLocation, a
create the wheels with sprites & a setsMotorSpeed method!
The fact that we outsourced some code differently from the PuzzleLayer is throwing me off. Specifically this part:
body->SetUserData(sprite);
sprite.body = body;
I understand that before, we passed in a specific sprite to the createBodyAtLocation method when creating
i.e., the Meteor. So we could say, that sprite I just passed in, set my new body's userData to it and at the same time,
set my newly created body to that sprite's body {since any sprite derives from the Box2DSprite class we created}.
We then added it to the sceneSpriteBatchNode in the same method.
Calling the Meteor node got the png from the sharedSpriteFrameCache setting the Meteor's DisplayFrame
to that png. Then I ran across:
body->SetUserData(self);
1) Self instead of sprite because now Cart.mm is its own class, its own object.
2) We are getting a pointer to the box2d body for later use in the sensor detecting method.
To understand self one must go to the init call, which in this case is initWithWorld.
Ok, so here we setDisplayFrame to cart, since this is the cart class.
We then say createBodyAtLocation which does the body and fixture setup.
So i kinda see where body->SetUserData(sprite); = body->SetUserData(self);
I believe the problem is that from Chapter 10 on, the detailed explanations of everything ceased, notably.
Also it seems many lines of code are included in one listing, for later use down the line in that chapter.
For example; the listOfGameObjects? Later in Chapter 11 we run into something similar in the ccTouchBegan & Moved methods.
And the kVikingSpriteTagValue is also added in the earlier code without an explanation.
It is used to reference the cart in the final Chapter 12 scene. They are added with some code that is not particularly used because the cart is not moved by touch, it is moved by the accelerometer.
Power Hungry Devices
Its funny how capitalism leads to consumerism and that it turn, in a free democratic society, is fueled by our “NEED” for more and more services. What this translates to is the fact that we want more and more “things” which we request from our technology. So everyday we come up with things we want our phone to do for us. First, the beeper simply sent us text messages for us to get to a landline and call. Then it allowed us to answer text messages. Soon after came the cellular phone and we didn’t have to go to a landline, we could simply call on the mobile phone. But then we realized we had too many friends and so we asked for speed dial. Then we realized it would be good to keep certain info of those contacts on the device so we got Address Books for quick and easy access. As computers matured, we got more computer like functionality such as calculators, cameras and other such features on our mobiles. Once the internet came of age, we demanded internet service on the phones which as the internet itself evolved, that internet-like functionality of mobile phones has gotten more complex. Yet we are still disappointed by the fact that our battery now lasts half as much as it did back then, when mobile phones were nothing more than a couple of “stringless” cans!
I just came across this article; http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/27/apple-iphone-4s-battery-life-suck-less/ where users are complaining about battery life on the latest iPhone 4S. The funny thing is that the very technology which has made us impatient and insatiable with response-time to our user requests, the internet and its related technologies such as computers, is the one responsible for our disappointment in how that technology behaves.
Yet the answer does not lie in that industry, for the infamous portable energy problem has affected so many other industries that have been unable to find a better solution for it. Moreover, the portable energy problem is what shaped humanity as we know it today. Think about it, since the nomads roamed the earth, their whole purpose in life was to follow a moving source of energy, food! They decided to settle down and start building a more stable homestead but they soon learned that home had to be near some sort of energy depot, which is why most main cities are built near rivers or ports. So we settled for quite some time and were happy having done so. Nowadays we find ourselves roaming again but this time we want to take our energy sources with us instead of following them around.
It has been quite some time since so many other industries have tried to solve this problem:
1) Airplanes need weightless and endless fuel to travel longer without the weight of the fuel itself to bog them down.
2) Space travel is limited because such a powerful fuel source contained in a small enough space is non-existent or non-portable.
3) Solar power can sure be harnessed but not stored in any one container enough to power houses reasonably.
4) Our own bodies still need to eat 2 to 3 times a day if not more.
5) And now our phones which prove to become evermore complex, need the lightest and longest lasting energy source.
Can the mobile communications industry be the drop that will spill the idea jar on how to solve this problem?
iOS5 Important Features from 200+ available
I’ve reviewed the latest features on the latest iOS5 on many sites and found over 200 out of which only some are really useful to me. Id like to share the ones I found most important:
1) Swiping a notification will open the relevant app
2) The fact that those notifications are non-obtrusive to YouTube videos
3) Reminder, Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Photo and Doc Integration to iCould because Gmail makes a mess
4) Twitter Integration
5) Open Camera from lock screen although picture taking with the Vol+ button is only for the 4S I think
6) Cropping, Rotating, Organizing and Red-eye removal on pics directly
7) OTA syncing & Delta updating (updates wirelessly only new OS files)
8) Email flagging
9) Split Keyboard for iPad sounds very handy
10) Keyboard shortcuts (make iOS convert your OMG into Oh My God or whatever you need) – very handy
11) LED Flash for alerts now
12) Custom tones, rings and vibrations! per contact
13) Open Safari links in background. This is awesome!
14) Delete individual recent calls
15) Organize music
16) Custom Touch Gestures!
17) Select & Mark multiple emails as read at once
18) Custom Dictionary for learning new words
19) Notification Alerts in mail app if you forgot to add title
20) iMessage of course
21) Faster Safari loading
22) Mail inbox gesture navigation for multiple email accounts
23) Friends and Family sonar 
24) Speak to Siri & other speak text options
My Cover Letter for a Job Application at Apple: You will be missed Steve
I believe the best Cover Letter I can write is based on my love for Apple. I can’t tell you I have ever sat in line for days waiting for a product launch because I don’t have the luxury of living in the US and our “quasi-Apple” stores in Honduras suck to say the least. However, I can say 3 things with great pride:
First, that I have been an Apple fan since the Apple IIe, simply because that’s around the time I was born and have recollection. We used to spend summers in San Francisco at my uncle’s house. He worked for United Airlines and had a simple house but not without his Apple computer. My fondest memories of summers in San Fran were programming those cheesy loops used to make hearts and faces on the screen by printing out characters in a certain order; and the other, playing Where in the World is Carmen San Diego! God I loved that game.
Second, that i have been shunned for being an Apple user and I enjoyed it. Although I used my first Apple at my uncle’s house in the 80′s, I didn’t buy my own first Apple MacBook Pro until 2000, just before entering my MBA program. As a business school, it was all about pragmatism, and compatibility issues and out dated versions of software were all but damning because everyone made fun of me. A professor joked about me having paid a Coke’s worth for “that ugly thing” as he put it and still gotten change in return. He joked about how its resale value was zero and how Apple would die just like betamax, since it was one of the case studies we worked on. I remember how in reviewing that case study we were told how when 2 competing technologies tried to dominate the market, the winner was the one that was able to surround itself with accessories which made it indispensable. And 10 years later Steve Jobs went ahead and did just that! Id like to meet that professor again and show him my shiny new 2011 MBA, a market breakthrough product, not a follower.
And third, that I love Apple products, am a fan-boy, love converting people, believe our products are a work of Art and would buy my milk from Apple if you had a Milk Division. I can appreciate the customer attention to detail Apple has. Its not really customer service because a service almost implies something that is paid for and in return, because of the commitment acquired by the employee, he provides that service. I live in a country where even franchise-trained personnel doesn’t provide good customer service. This is my life 360 days of the year. Then all of a sudden I go to Miami and rush to an Apple Store, not always for a product, just for the experience. I love walking into a place and have someone walk up to me and genuinely ask me if there is anything they can help me with. Even if I didn’t have anything in mind before I walked in, I think of something, anything, just for the “feeling of satisfaction” I get when they solve a problem for me or recommend something that ends up making my life easier or what not. That truly is priceless.
I love converting people because when I pick up my old iPhone 4 and show it to someone, I take off the banged up protective case in order to show the brand-new product still intact. I remember I used to buy Ford trucks and people would ask me why I preferred them over Chevy. My answer always came back: “Because of the quality of sound the door makes when you close it”. It just tells you its a quality truck. The same thing happens when you hold an iPhone or iPad or Mac or accessory…it just feels good. I can feel the quality and appreciate the workmanship that went into creating that “device”. Yet its not just a device, and I can tell because when I sell an old model to get a new one, the buyer gets his iPhone with the original plastic cover sticker still on the front and back, or white sheet of paper that comes with a macbook pro. I do it because I want that new Apple user to become a fan boy by having the same experience I did when I got it new!
You know what, even if I never get a job at Apple, I would just like Steve Jobs to get this cover letter. It would be enough satisfaction for me to know that he received this letter as a compliment and a big Thank You for how you have affected the life of this one customer and how grandly I think of Apple and its people.
Social Media
