Rumour has it that Apple are going to be pushing out some fixes to iOS 6.1.1 following reports that some users have been experiencing bugs.
Key issues the touted 6.1.2 update will fix include the iPhone 4s apparently experiencing increased battery drain; a security flaw which allows someone to bypass the passcode and access voicemails; and iOS devices not synching with Exchange Server.
German blog ifun reckons the patch will go live from 20 Feb so keep checking for updates if you’re having issues with 6.1.1 on your Apple device.
Rumour has it that Apple are going to be pushing out some fixes to iOS 6.1.1 following reports that some users have been experiencing bugs.
Key issues the touted 6.1.2 update will fix include the iPhone 4s apparently experiencing increased battery drain; a security flaw which allows someone to bypass the passcode and access voicemails; and iOS devices not synching with Exchange Server.
German blog ifun reckons the patch will go live from 20 Feb so keep checking for updates if you’re having issues with 6.1.1 on your Apple device.
Do Robots play with electronic LEGO? Mindstorm EV3
Lego have unveiled their third generation programmable robotics platform at CES this week.
My kids are fortunately approaching the point where I can justifiably buy “Technical Lego” and pretend to myself it’s mainly for them, so I’m VERY excited about this new platform.
Snake Robot with IR sensor and 'intelligent brick'
It’s been nearly 25 years since I last built up my Car Chassis (8860), Bulldozer (856) and others; but the memories are still strong. So far in my parental life we’ve ploughed through Duplo, Police, Star Wars and Harry Potter Lego kits but these have …
Lego have unveiled their third generation programmable robotics platform at CES this week.
My kids are fortunately approaching the point where I can justifiably buy “Technical Lego” and pretend to myself it’s mainly for them, so I’m VERY excited about this new platform.
It’s been nearly 25 years since I last built up my Car Chassis (8860), Bulldozer (856) and others; but the memories are still strong. So far in my parental life we’ve ploughed through Duplo, Police, Star Wars and Harry Potter Lego kits but these have not slaked my thirst for some plastic limited-slip differential action…
The new platform is properly space-age. Previous incarnations of the Lego robotic platform allowed PCs to control the constructions using a simple programming interface, EV3 takes this one step beyond in providing programmable ‘intelligent bricks’ that are built into the construction – this can be programmed directly without using an external device, it can store programs created on a PC or similar device or allow direct remote control.
The ‘intelligent bricks’ are built around an ARM9 processor running Linux with 16MB of flash memory and 64MB of RAM, SD expansion slot, Infra Red sensor and USB, Ethernet and Wireless connectivity.
As before multiple ‘bricks’ can be combined to offer a more sophisticated level of control and behaviour; EXT allows four ‘bricks’ to be daisy-chained; one more than the previous platform.
Another exciting area is that Mindstorm EV3 has support for both iOS and Android devices via Bluetooth connectivity.
There are suggestions that the product will ship from Q3 2013 for a basic price of $399. Early Christmas present for the Framework office perhaps?
Scribbled by Ian
Line of Business (LOB) Mobile Apps
Businesses and organisations are ramping up development of internal and external customer-facing mobile and tablet apps which are highly specific to their industry, rather than relying on off-the-shelf packages and old-school web-apps. We can help with mobile app design, development and deployment strategy.
If you hadn’t already noticed, smartphones and tablets have become ubiquitous in daily life – you’re just as likely to see someone pull out an iPad on the tube ride into work as a copy of The Times. And you can bet the chap with the tablet is less likely to annoy his fellow commuters than the one struggling with a large, noisy broadsheet.
So with all this portable gadgetry taking on such a starring role in people’s private lives, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that we are pretty comfortable with the idea of integrating smart devices in the workplace.
Businesses and organisations are ramping up development of internal and external customer-facing mobile and tablet apps which are highly specific to their industry, rather than relying on off-the-shelf packages and old-school web-apps.
We’ve helped many software development and project management teams in a wide variety of sectors pick up the skills needed to understand and capture user requirements, create and test code, and develop and maintain a strategy for deploying Line of Business mobile apps for platforms such as Android and iOS (iPhone, iPad).
Through our custom mobile software development training sessions and consultancy activities, we’ve been involved with projects focussing on the development and deployment of Line of Business apps in areas such as:
- Sales & customer survey app for large event organiser (iPad)
- Knowledge Base front-end for major software house (iOS / iPhone / iPad)
- User Interface for roving customer reps for large CRM developer (Android)
- Business Intelligence dashboard for public sector organisation (iOS)
- GUI design and workflow for major Antivirus developer (Android)
Not everyone needs a mobile app for their business – there’s no point investing time and energy just for the sake of it. But if you are considering how your workforce and/or customers might benefit from native mobile apps with which to interact with you and your products or services, then we can help get the ball rolling, and keep it moving in the right direction.
Here are some courses you might want to check out –
- Convince to Convert: how better digital content will grow your business (Seminar / Overview)
- Mobile App Development Strategy (Seminar / Overview)
- iPhone / iPad / iOS 5 & iOS 6 App Development Training Course
- Android App Development Training Course
- Windows Phone App Development Training Course
- Java ME & Blackberry App Development Training Course
…our team of experienced mobile experts are also happy to help with consultancy services in all aspects of mobile app development and deployment, so please do get in touch if your project needs a kick-start or on-going guidance.
Scribbled by Tom
Mobile App Development Strategy Overview
Our Mobile App Development Strategy Overview is for anybody who is considering commissioning or building in-house an app for their business, and needs a solid understanding of what’s involved.
The course will provide an unbiased overview of the pros and cons of different methods of building apps, the platforms and languages available, central concepts (while busting any jargon), the key stages of development, and the criteria for what makes an app a success.
The course includes case studies of different types mobile apps – for tablet or smartphone – which have been successful.
Fighting Fantasy goes mobile on iOS…Unreal!
Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, the godfathers of roleplaying games, have given the go ahead to Epic to publish four iOS titles based on their classic Fighting Fantasy books.
If I mention Fighting Fantasy, do your eyes glaze over in a haze of nostalgia?
Do you also have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch?
If you answered yes to both of these questions, turn to page 37.
Audacity v 2.0 released for WIndows, Linux and Mac OS X
If you’re recording and tweaking media clips for your Android or iPhone apps, Audacity 2.0.0 an indespensible tool. It goes from basic recording, trimming and fading ins and outs, to adding compression / normalization, eqs and filters, and a fair range of effects as well as pop and hiss removal, out of the box.
Free stuff is good. And good free stuff is even better. That’s why Audacity is absolutely great. It’s a lightweight, free (as in “freedom”), cross-platform audio recording and editing program which can handle Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
If you’re recording and tweaking media clips for your Android or iPhone apps, it’s an indespensible tool. It goes from basic recording, trimming and fading ins and outs, to adding compression / normalization, eqs and filters, and a fair range of effects as well as pop and hiss removal, out of the box.
Depending on your audio recording hardware it can also function as a fully-fledged multitrack recorder.
Changes you’ll find in version 2.0.0 include:
- Significantly effects improved
- Multiple clips per track.
- Tracks and selections can be fully manipulated using the keyboard.
- New Device Toolbar to manage inputs and outputs.
- Timer Record feature (that’ll give you time to leg it from the computerback to the Microphone).
- New Mixer Board view with per-track VU meters.
- Automatic Crash Recovery .
- Fast WAV/AIFF file import.
- FLAC now fully supported.
- Added support for optional FFmpeg library for import/export of AC3/M4A/WMA and import of audio from video files.
Scribbled by Tom
Beginners iPhone & iPad Programming Basics Training Course
Our Beginners iPhone & iPad Programming Basics Training Course is designed to take people with only a little programming experience through the fundamental steps needed to develop and publish an app that runs on iOS.
iOS 5.1 rides in on the iPad 3, iOS 6 yet to be seen
There were one or two rumours floating around that iOS 6 might be announced alongside yesterday’s unveiling of the iPad3. Alas ’twas not the case, but iOS 5 has nonetheless been given a bit of a polish and a decimal place.
There were one or two rumours floating around that iOS 6 might be announced alongside yesterday’s unveiling of the iPad3. Alas ’twas not the case, but iOS 5 has nonetheless been given a bit of a polish and a decimal place.
As a Japanophile and budding speaker of the language, I’m happy to note that Japanese is now supported by Siri (Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface) . One can’t help but smile a little childishly when one considers that “R” and “L” are essentially the same consonant in Japanese though. It’s silly, really.
Other new features of iOS 5.1 include being able to now unlock straight to the camera, improved Face Recognition algorithm, and an improved UI for the camera app itself.
There have been some tweaks to improve battery life, and the update also includes some iPad-specific love in the form of tablet-optimised audio and video.
iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch owners can grab iOS 5.1 right now via iTunes.
Scribbled by Tom
Unity 3D – SDK free to download till April 8
Unity3D is giving away the basic version of its games development SDK for free for a limited time, including the Android and iPhone plugins.
You’ll need to sign up to get hold of it, and it’s only for non-commercial / small-scale use, but it’s a great way to get under the bonnet and try out the features.
Unity3D is giving away the basic version of its games development SDK for free for a limited time, including the Android and iPhone plugins.
You’ll need to sign up to get hold of it, and it’s only for non-commercial / small-scale use, but it’s a great way to get under the bonnet and try out the features.
Scribbled by Tom
Appy Appy Joy Joy! Celebrating the best mobile apps…
This April saw the launch of the Appys award ceremony, sponsored by The Carphone Warehouse. The panel of expert judges also included well-known petrolhead and hamster, Richard Hammond.
This April saw the launch of the Appys award ceremony, sponsored by The Carphone Warehouse. The panel of expert judges also included well-known petrolhead and hamster, Richard Hammond.
This year’s winning entries included the likes of Spotify, Adobe Photoshop Express, Google Maps and Trip Advisor.
These are all excellent apps I’m sure you’d agree, but it might be nice to see some more indie developers getting the accolades too…You’ve got to be in it to win it, I say, so get your coding gloves on and create some killer apps in time for next year’s ceremony!
Being the geek that I am, come 2012 I’ll probably be bombarding the Appys with votes for Tasker.
What app would you vote for?
Scribbled by Tom
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