iPad: What Developers Need To Know

Apple just finished their iPad event. Here’s what you’ll want to know as a developer:

Jobs says the device is for, “Browsing the web. Doing email. Enjoying and sharing pics. Watching videos. Enjoying music. Playing games. Reading ebooks.”

It’ll run unmodified iPhone apps out of the box in two modes: actual size, which takes up half the screen, and scaled up 2x for full screen. This implies the 9.7″ screen has a resolution of 960-by-640. Update: henning informs us that it’s 1024×768.

The device runs Apple’s own A4 chip at 1GHz. Other than a bare Wikipedia page there’s not much data on the chip. It’s an ARM chip, which is why it can run the unmodified iPhone binaries.

The device has 802.11N WiFi and Blue Tooth 2.1 + EDD. Unlocked 3G GSM is an option. There is no camera. Not clear on compass/location hardware — maps app suggests location capabilities, but can’t find anything. Update: Ken Pespisa points out that Apple’s published the specs since I wrote this: compass and location in the 3G model.

Apple will release the SDK later today. It’s not clear whether this’ll be pre-release and, therefore, covered under NDA or not. If it’s not, we’ll have how-to pieces starting shortly. Update: it’s available, and it’s pre-release. We’ll queue up our pieces for after the NDA drops.

What’s notable about the SDK? From the press event we can say:

There’s still no multi-tasking.

With the larger screen comes many new UI elements and layout options. These options aren’t lifted directly from OS-X, but are a blend of OS-X and iPhone OS: Apps can have panels/panes. Tables can have multiple columns. Tab interfaces have been expanded to include OS-X like top-of-screen tab-window/panel picker style (vs. bottom of window iPhone tab menus). Most notable:

Pop-over/drop-dow style menus are in frequent use; e.g., the bookmark and font-chooser floating menus.

The iPhone HIG and other Apple documentation make it clear that iPhone is considered a one column, one window platform. Does that imply the pop-over style menus won’t come to the iPhone?

Lots of implications here for building your app specifically for one device or the other; if the new goodies on the iPad become expected/familiar then bare iPhone apps will rub iPad users the wrong way; conversely, spending the time to make a true iPad app has to be weighed against the 70MM devices with iPhone display specs.

As an incentive for developers Apple will be pimping iPad optimized apps in the store.

Finally, Apple is selling the iWork apps in the App store at $9.99 each. Good move, setting a higher price expectation.

 

http://www.mobileorchard.com/

Acer Launching App Store for Windows, Android, Windows Mobile and Chrome

Have we reached app store saturation yet? Apparently not. PC manufacturer Acer has just announced plans to launch its own application store designed for all the operating systems is supports, including Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Google's Android platform and Google Chrome. The new store will launch mid-year for the first three platforms listed, with apps for Chrome set to launch later on. Although no exact time frame was given, the Chrome apps are likely to appear by the third or fourth quarter of 2010 to coincide with the debut of Acer's line of Chrome OS netbooks, a group that will account for 10% of Acer's ultra-portable PCs.

The Acer App Store

Acer, currently the world's second-largest computer vendor, mentioned the application store among a series of initiatives designed to boost the company's profitability, according to a report on Bloomberg.com. From what it sounds like, Acer is glomming onto every major tech trend with plans that include everything from an e-reader to a Tablet PC. In fact, Acer chairman J.T. Want even admits this is the case: "We'd like to proactively purse any opportunity," he said.

One of those opportunities is the new Acer application store, an online venture that will offer hundreds of different applications, both free and paid. However, the company wouldn't share pricing details or name developers, noted the Bloomberg story.

Although application stores are typically associated with mobile phones, Acer wouldn't be the first vendor to launch an applications store designed for use on PCs. Earlier this month, chip maker Intel launched the AppUp site, an application store designed specifically for netbook computers. Interestingly enough, AppUp is meant to be a white-label offering that PC manufacturers can customize to their own needs. At the time of its launch at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Intel announced several partnerships with other PC makers to bring the AppUp store to consumers. Included among those launch partners was Acer. Gianpiero Morbello, Acer's worldwide marketing VP said that by accessing the AppUp catalog, their company would be able to distribute "innovative software downloads to Acer Atom processor-based netbook customers and move to easily support additional Acer customers on any device powered by an Intel processor."

So Is This Yet Another App Store?

However, despite the sparse details surrounding the upcoming Acer app store, it does sound like the manufacturer is planning their own venture of sorts. Intel's store only supports Windows netbooks and the Moblin Linux operating system - not mobile devices like Windows Mobile or Google Android and definitely not Google's new netbook OS, Google Chrome.

Intel confirms that the previously announced joint venture is still on, with their company providing behind-the-scenes support for infrastructure, testing, and validation of apps. And while Intel isn't privy to Acer's other plans, it does appear that this would be a separate store from whatever Acer is envisioning for the other platforms outside of Atom-based netbooks.

It's understandable that Acer wants to generate some hype surrounding their products by offering an app store to their customers, but at this point they may be simply confusing the issue. Many of the platforms Acer plans to support already offer their own application stores - even Google's Chrome OS, the Web-based operating system set to launch by year-end. And, of course, one could argue that the Internet itself has been the app store for Windows computers for many years now.

 

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/acer_launching_app_store.php

How to root a T-Mobile myTouch 3G or G1 in 6 minutes and flash Cyanogen rom with Donut crumbs

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8BZYEBsSws

Milestone multitouch browser for Droid 2.0.1(beta)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1X3c5SCM1g

Google Nexus One multitouch with default browser via Cyanogen - Swedroid.se

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8EBZhvobJc

How to Hack Your Android Phone (and Why You Should Bother)

Do you want to take control of your Android phone? By "rooting" your device, a process similar to jailbreaking an iPhone, you can install custom ROMs (images), which add stability and speed improvements to Google's mobile operating system, as well as install new features developed by the hacker community themselves. The procedure involves running commands that enable total access to the device. For non-developer types, hacks like these sound scary, but by following the instructions below, you can take control of your Android phone in only a matter of minutes. The end result is a truly open device which you can modify to your heart's content.

Why Hack Android?

So why would you want to hack your Android phone? For those with older handsets, rooting the device lets you install customized ROMs which can deliver major speed improvements and performance increases. For example, the popular CyanogenMod, created by one of Android's most notable hackers, optimizes performance for both the G1 and MyTouch 3G handsets.

Another good reason to root your phone? Multi-touch. One of the surprising omissions from Google's own Nexus One handset, for example, is the ability to use more than one finger at a time to operate the device. Although available on iPhone from the start, the Nexus One excludes this valuable feature from its mobile operating system. Why? No one knows for sure, but it might have something to do with some patents Apple owns. But that's no matter to the hacker community. Thanks again to cyanogen, Nexus One owners can enable the feature by copying some files over to their device. Other Android owners can perform similar procedures to enable multi-touch Web browsing. But before you can get started with any of these hacks, you first have to root the phone.

How to Root Your Android Phone

However, for novice hackers, "rooting" the phone sounds like it may be easier said than done. Although seemingly intimidating, by following a few simple steps anyone can do this with ease.

Before getting started, remember to back up your phone, including your contacts, SMS messages, files and photos.

1. The first step is to download and install Superboot, a boot image that, when flashed, will root the device the first time you boot up. You can grab a copy of the Superboot zip file from the Modaco forums here.
2. Once downloaded, extract the files it contains to a directory on your computer, just like any other zip file.
3. Now put your Android phone in bootloader mode. (Note, owners of a retail N1 should see instructions here).
   • To do so, turn off the phone, remove the battery, and plug in the USB cable. When the battery icon appears onscreen, pop the battery back in. Now tap the Power button while holding down the Camera key.
   • For those whose Android phones have a trackball, you have an even easier method of doing this: Turn off the phone, press and hold the trackball, then turn the phone back on.
4. Depending on your computer's OS, do one of the following:
   • Windows: Double click "install-superboot-windows.bat"
   • Mac: Open a terminal window to the directory containing the files, and type "chmod +x install-superboot-mac.sh" followed by "./install-superboot-mac.sh"
   • Linux: Open a terminal window to the directory containing the files, and type "chmod +x install-superboot-linux.sh" followed by "./install-superboot-linux.sh"
5. That's it, your device has been rooted!

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_to_hack_your_android_phone.php