iPhone vs. Samsung Galaxy S2
Yesterday I got a Samsung Galaxy S2 for testing some of the apps we develop. I had heard about the Apple vs. Samsung case before, but never realised just how much was ripped off in terms of interface and design. Continue
So whats going on with Apple’s iPad 3 ?
What we should expect from iPad 3 Continue
Lazy loading vs. Eager loading
Applications generally load their resources two different ways. One is known as “eager loading”, where everything the application would ever need is loaded all at once. Then there is “lazy loading”, only loading resources when required. Continue
Integrate with Google Navigation
A couple of days ago I explained how to integrate with Google Maps, but what if you want to minimise user clicks and direct them straight to navigation, well you’re in luck. With a few tweaks to the previous code we can direct users straight to Google Navigation using their current location as a start point. String uri = "google.navigation:ll=%f,%f"; Intent navIntent = new Intent( Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(String.format(ur, latitude, longitude); startActivity(navIntent); There is a small issue with using this code, if Google Navigation isn’t installed or an equivalent app isn’t found to handle the intent your app will force close. A … Continue
Integrating with Google Maps
Sometimes it makes perfect sense for an app to have map based functionality, and on Android the usual way to proceed is to use the Google Maps api library and embed a MapView directly into your app. This is fine If the mapping functionality the app requires is relatively simple, but what if you require more complex functionality like directions and route plotting? While these requirements are possible with the library there is quite a bit plumbing that needs to be undertaken. So what else can you do? Well what better way to handle mapping functionality than to offload the … Continue
Why I Chose Android Development?
This post was supposed to be about moving from a hobbyist Android developer to a professional Android developer and the challenges faced, but as I started writing I realised that there was nothing revolutionary about the topic. Sure it’s a little more pressure and a little less freedom, but it’s still just as fun and beats developing outdated desktop apps. So with that idea all but buried I had to come up with a topic fast. so for my first post under the B2Cloud banner I will go out on a limb and address a bit of a controversial topic. … Continue
Monitoring Any Window in OS X
In a project I’ve been working on recently I need to interact with other process’ windows on the Mac. The application lets you drag windows around that will ‘bolt-on’ to another application’s window and follow it around the screen Continue
AppStore Piracy Prevention
As a developer it’s extremely frustrating when you’ve worked on an app for months upon months and after release on the app store as a paid app, you find it cracked and free for anybody that doesn’t want to pay. I made this mistake on the first application I released on the app store, a week or so after release I found version 1.0 scattered all over the web.
It would have been best to implement piracy checks from the beginning, but this had to be part of the 1.1+ update. Since 1.0 I have released versions 1.1 and 1.2, and have only seen version 1.1 ‘cracked’ and uploaded to websites, but I have tested this out myself, and my piracy checks do exactly what they are supposed to do, crash the app rendering it useless. Continue
Here’s our first Vlog !
So here at b2cloud, we decided to start a video blog to basically interact with our dear readers through video as well as text. You’ll get to know us all a little better, and keep posted because we have heaps of cool videos coming up!
Internet Scams 101
There are many nasty things to watch out for when using the internet, but unfortunately some people are still unaware of many basic ways to stay safe while online. Last week somebody I know had their email account hacked due to a phishing email that was circulating. I have compiled a list of things to look out. Continue