RIP Original iPad; iOS Device Fragmentation

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Developer life sure was simpler when I began developing apps for Apple's iOS platform nearly half a decade ago.  My first commercial iOS app was developed while the original iPad still loomed on the horizon. The iPhone 4 had just been announced with its "stunning retina" display that boasted twice the resolution of its predecessor, thanks to a much greater pixel density. From a developer's perspective, creating universal applications 4-5 years ago merely required basic knowledge of Apple's three mobile device variances:

  • iPhone/iPod Touch 3rd Generation and below (320x480; 163 PPI)
  • iPhone/iPod Touch 4th Generation (640x960; 326 PPI 'Retina Display')
  • iPad 1 (1024x768; 132 PPI)

At the time, all available iPhones and iPod Touches shared the same aspect ratio and screen size, so supporting retina displays was basically a matter of producing 2x-sized assets (i.e., a 44px icon on standard devices would be rendered at 88x88 on the retina 2x devices).  Apple enforced the convention of appending '@2x' to the filenames of each retina-made asset to automatically load them in place of the standard assets on supported devices. The iPad used standard resolution assets but had a larger resolution; depending on the app some adjustments would need to be made to take advantage of the added screen real-estate.  Aside from these few considerations, it was blindingly simple to develop for the few available iOS devices. Read Full Article

Trackbacks and Pingbacks and Blog Spam, Oh My!

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A.K.A. Let's see how difficult it is to write a script that programmatically solves one of the most popular WordPress Captcha plugins. [tl;dr: It's not very hard at all.]

So, I stepped away from this blog for a brief period of time and, upon return, noticed an aggregation of spam comments throughout many of my posts. Blog spam is an ongoing epidemic but one that I didn't put much consideration into when creating this blog. In fact, I did nothing more than install the #1 ranked plugin when searching "WordPress Captcha" on Google.   This plugin, developed by BestWebSoft, calls on users to complete rudimentary math problems before registering or submitting comments.  At first glance, I applauded its simplicity when compared to the much more infuriating image deciphering ploys common with captcha services. Read Full Article

Apple Muncher Project Postmortem: Developing for Panasonic VIERA Connect SmartTV (Part 1)

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This is the first of a four-part story documenting my somewhat excruciating and wholly uncharted experience developing an indie game for Panasonic's obscure VIERA Connect television app market.

...and So It Began

In 2011, I purchased my first SmartTV—a Panasonic TC-P42ST30 Plasma 1080p HDTV. This was the period of time when smart televisions were just starting to take off, with most manufacturers offering integrated WiFi support and a handful of apps from top media companies including Netflix and Amazon. Each brand was doing all that it could to stand out in the crowd of high-definition televisions. Some HDTVs, for instance, came bundled with remote controllers that included slide-out keyboards for easy online interaction. Panasonic observed the app phenomena that was taking the mobile world by storm and evidently wanted a piece of that pie. Read Full Article

Goodbye Radioshack, My Old Friend

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Today I stepped foot into my regional RadioShack as it approached the final few hours of existence, being one of 1,784 stores to close as a result of the bankruptcy. Growing up, RadioShack was the only tech outlet in my hometown. Many fond memories were made as I'd bike to the store repeatedly to play on their showcase computers or explore any number of other technical toys and gadgets in the 1990s. I recall spending hours playing one of the preloaded games their machines to claim the high score, the name of which escapes me now [it was similar to Snake but you simply kept growing and didn't need to collect any items].

One of my earliest computers was a (Radioshack) Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer 2, which contributed significantly to my initial programming developments.  I had the Logo Programming Language cartridge and with it was able to create many goofy designs by programming the on-screen turtle to move in specific patterns. The included BASIC manuals proved to be an endless source of inspiration and knowledge in my youngest days of application development.  My first MIDI-capable electronic keyboard also came from RadioShack and remains in active use today.  In fact, I accumulated quite a number of RadioShack merchandise over the course of two decades including scanners and radios, RC cars, joysticks and peripherals, handheld games and many miscellaneous items. Read Full Article

Review: Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter

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A potpourri of HD wireless broadcasting technologies have emerged over the past several years. This should come as no surprise given the increase in mobile device usage and heightened portability initiatives by all the big players.  Recent Apple products all support AirPlay for wireless broadcasting, which is delightful unless you need to branch off into non-Apple territory.  Intel has long promoted its own Wireless Display (WiDi) tech, and put a huge emphasis on all things wireless during its IDF 2014 keynote—expanding the mix to include WiGig (wireless peripherals connectivity) and Rezence (wireless charging technology).

Then there is Miracast, a protocol and certification program by the Wi-Fi Alliance for transmitting HD signal between devices, wirelessly.  Miracast has become quite prominent, with over 3,400 devices now Miracast-certified.  Modern Android, Blackberry and Windows phones support the Wi-Fi Direct protocol and thus can embrace Miracast for wireless streaming.  Properly equipped laptops and PCs, especially those running Windows 8.1+, can also take advantage of the Miracast protocol to mirror and broadcast the display to other devices, no cables needed. Intel's WiDi technology has, in essence, been merged into Microsoft's Miracast implementation of Windows 8.1.  Therefore, any Windows 8.1 device that supports WiDi 3.5+ will also support Miracast for desktop. Read Full Article