WWDC 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
I'm heading down to San Francisco for the Apple Developer (WWDC) conference in just over three weeks. I'm really looking forward to geeking out for a week.
In my dreams, Steve Jobs will reveal an iPhone SDK, uber-thin portable Macs with touch screens, and secret Leopard features that are so great they will double the Mac market share (not to mention free iPhones for all attendees Oprah style)... I guess we'll have to wait and see.
One the sessions that I am most looking forward to is Developing Web Sites for iPhone:
iPhone completely redefines browser-based web access on a mobile phone. Learn iPhone best practices for ensuring optimal web development of your existing website, or hosted web application. Join the iPhone Safari and WebKit browser development teams as they share the latest techniques on mobile browser-based user experience design and development.
I can't wait to design some software for the iPhone and until Apple releases an SDK for the iPhone it looks like the web is going to be the first way to get content on there. Will it support Flash, javascript, forms, Ajax? Can we avoid the zoom-in zoom-out thing if the web page is designed for the size of the iPhone screen? I'm looking forward to finding out...
Of course I've got my schedule packed with Cocoa and Graphics sessions too. Hopefully I can figure out the kosher way to do some of the things I have hacked together for T2 (because there is little documentation of the new Leopard features at this point).
If any of you are going to be there, let's hook up for a meal or a something. I'd love to meet some new folks in the Apple universe. Let me know.
Labels: iPhone, leopard, Mac OS X, San Francisco, WWDC
Leopard delay - What it means for T2
Saturday, April 14, 2007
If you are a Mac fan, you probably heard Apple announce this week that the release of Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X, is being delayed from June until October. Those of you who are Timeline customers may be wondering what this means for the next major release of Timeline ("T2").
The bad news:
T2 is heavily dependent on Leopard technologies at this point, so the release of T2 will also be delayed until October. For me, this means a financial hit. For you, this means you'll have to wait a few more months for features that many of you have requested and to see the cool new stuff that I'm cooking up for you.
The good news:
The more Leopard functionality that I build into T2, the more convinced I am that building it for Leopard was the right thing to do. T2 is going to be a huge leap forward for timeline software and I'm sure both Leopard and T2 will be worth the wait.
A few extra months of development time means that some features that I had slated for point releases will be able to be implemented by the T2 launch.
I've got a handful of important bugs that I've reported to Apple about Leopard that directly impact T2. If delaying the launch of Leopard helps Apple fix these bugs, T2 will directly benefit (so will other apps).
T2 will be a free upgrade to existing customers, so you don't feel like you need to wait until October to purchase Timeline software. If you need to make timelines, go ahead and purchase the existing version which is still great and when T2 and Leopard are ready, you'll be the first to know.
If the iPhone (which is blamed for the Leopard delay) brings more people to the Mac platform, this will be great news for all companies that depend on the Mac, including my own, which would make up for the delay in Leopard.
My biggest fear is that the delay may be a sign that Apple is losing focus on the Mac. But, it is way too early to be able to make any conclusions about whether or not this is happening...
WWDC will be very interesting to watch. If Steve Jobs amazed us with new Leopard features and some insanely great Mac hardware, and if Apple doesn't make a habit of delays like this, then all will be well and I'll just chalk it up to growing pains.
How does the Leopard delay affect you and your business?
Bee Docs' Shirts
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The upcoming Apple WWDC Conference inspired me to create a Bee Docs' Shirt. Last year, the conference was mostly a sea of humanity wearing black shirts and jeans.
However, the Apple employees had brightly colored shirts that they wore every day. Aaron Hillegass wore his hat most days so he was easy to spot in a crowd, Allan Obgaard wore his Textmate shirt most days, and the Delicious Monster crew were easy to spot in their brown shirts they wore each day.
Other than that, there were like 3,000 people wearing black shirts. I remember the guys I listed above because they were different. This time, I want to be easy to identify and remember too, so I designed the orange shirt with my bee logo you see above.
In the old days, I used to make band shirts by creating a custom silk screen and printing the shirts in my parents' basement. These days, you can just design and order a t-shirt from Zazzle and have it in a few days. It is more expensive for large quantities, but it is great when you want something quick and you only want a few.
Labels: bee documents, logo, shirt, WWDC, zazzle
Planning for WWDC 2006, San Francisco
Sunday, July 16, 2006
I'd love to meet any of you who read this blog, particularly those who are using my timeline software, are interested in the Exbiblio project, or are doing Mac based start-ups. Send me an e-mail or an iChat if you going the conference and would like to catch a lunch or something.
I am also excited because San Francisco is one of those magical cities that has a unique soul and energy of its own. In my opinion, "San Francisco" is to "city" what "Empire State Building" is to "skyscraper". It's fun to eat, walk, and take pictures there. For better or worse, it has never lost either it's free spirit and it's gold rush mentality which seems appropriate for an Apple developer conference.
Special thanks to flickr member ivanyen1205 for permission to use his beautiful photos in this post. In another few weeks, I'll get to take my own and will be sure to post the best ones here on the blog and on my flickr account!
Technorati Tags: San Francisco, travel, WWDC
Labels: San Francisco, WWDC