In software, the word soon doesn't always mean what you think it means. I've been working on a lot of things, and some will soon bear fruit. I'll then take the seeds of those fruits and plant them in some other apps. I want to strengthen the root system of the current crop of products; if their roots cross, I'll look down, anthropomorphize, and see it as holding hands.

As an independent developer, I'm a serial processor.  I'm CPU-bound. If I work on one thing, I'm not working on others.

Interrupts generated by peripherals may be processed slowly, or indefinitely delayed.

I don't mind this, though I sometimes feel guilty about not being able to do all the things I want to do right now.

This morning I was working on a feature that positions some buttons above the keyboard.  It didn't take long to get that working, but I spent twice that time afterward making sure all kinds of additional situations were handled.  Need to track state to make it toggle-able. What happens if the keyboard goes down; what happens during memory warnings, what about device rotation?  What if text is selected when a certain one of these keys is pressed? Pretty soon you have a lot of peripheral code around a pretty simple feature.  It feels good to set-and-forget after you're confident all the cases are handled.

Each feature is that way.  I'm going to go finish another one tonight, and handle more tomorrow.

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Last night I was flipping through the John Adams biography by David McCullough.  He frequently mentions Adams diaries.  I don't know if the list is exhaustive, but you can see his entries (along with photos of the actual written page) at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

What's interesting is how mundane some of the entries are.  Information that is perhaps unimportant is preserved where it would otherwise be unknowable. They're fun to read in part because of this.

A typical entry from his college days:

At Colledge, a Clear, warm morning, and so Continued.

During his time in France with Ben Franklin he often wrote:

Dined at home.

In a sense, these are the tweets and check-ins of another generation.

There is, of course, a lot more to find in his writings, but it's worth noting that keeping a journal doesn't mean having to write pages every day.  Start, and perhaps finish, with a sentence.

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via Reddit.

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Last night I was working through some issues related to updating older apps for the new iPad's Retina display.  Now that there are essentially four screen sizes between the various iOS devices (not to mention the Mac), it's a lot more work to make sure images and icons look good.  It'd be nice if it were possible to simply create one large vector graphic of each image and simply export it at all the necessary sizes, but this doesn't work well, especially at smaller icons sizes.  The reasons are outlined in this great post about the dream of vector icons.

Some decisions I made in the past related to various icon packs (available in fixed sizes) and my own app icon designs make getting Retina-ready quite a feat.  I'm trying to codify some practices to make this easier in case an iPad mini debuts a year from now.

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An up-close shot of a simple stretchable button. On the device
(Retina or regular) it looks good.  Interesting how simple shapes and colors give the illusion of depth and lighting at the appropriate scale.

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I saw this cute time-lapse video this morning on the Today Show.  A similar video was extremely popular a year or two ago and was part of the reason I decided to make the BabyBelly app.  I think it's cool when people take the time to make something like this as it lets you appreciate the changes you can't see day-to-day.

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"Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers
palliate the writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his
writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and
often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a
good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.

For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries
again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try
for something that has never been done or that others have tried and
failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.

How simple the writing of literature would be if it were only
necessary to write in another way what has been well written. It is
because we have had such great writers in the past that a writer is
driven far out past where he can go, out to where no one can help
him."

From Hemingway's Nobel banquet speech

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I've noticed that the crash reports Apple collects aren't plentiful
enough. At first I thought this was because I was writing rock-solid
apps. Eventually I realized that only a small number of iOS users
have opted-in to crash reporting via iTunes; additionally they have to
sync with iTunes for the crash reports to be uploaded. I'm using a
crash reporting library now and have already seen some strange (and
exceedingly rare, thankfully) crashes. So far, it appears just under
1% of Meetings users are experiencing crashes. I'm researching fixes
but am having a lot of trouble reproducing the issue.

I'm also working on some new things related to my favorite writing and
journaling apps. I haven't sent many newsletters but do plan on
announcing things that way. You can sign up at slidetorock.com

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Meetings for iPad climbed steadily after debuting earlier this week.  I'll have more to say about all this later but this is certainly one of many things I'm thankful for this year.

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There are two ways to move the entries: one is by using iTunes File Sharing, and the other is by using Dropbox.

One way: Using iTunes File Sharing

When you connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer you can open the iTunes application on your computer and browse the contents of the Chronicle folder.  If you've created any .backup files, you can see them (and save them to your computer).

Here's how you would move some entries from your iPhone to your iPad using iTunes File Sharing:

• Create a .backup file on your iPhone by tapping the settings gear and tapping "Backup and Import"
• Connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes
• Browse Chronicle's folder on your iPhone using these steps (click to see steps)
• Save the .backup file to your PC or Mac
• Next, connect your iPad to your computer (you can disconnect your iPhone)
• Browse your iPad and view the Chronicle folder
• Drag-and-drop or add the .backup you saved in the step above to your iPad
• Next, open Chronicle on your iPad and tap the settings gear
• Tap "Backup and Import" and select the .backup you copied
• Tap the Import button

Put simply, you're copying the .backup file from your iPhone to your iPad and then importing it.

Another way: Using Dropbox

If you have Chronicle on your iPhone and iPad configured to use your Dropbox account you can easily move .backup files from one device to the other.  It's important to configure each app to use the same sub-folder of your Dropbox account (so both copies of the app "see" the same folder).  For example, you might have a Dropbox folder named 'chronicle' that both copies of the app are configured to use and store backups in.

• Create a .backup on your iPhone by tapping settings > "backup and import" > "backup"
• Grab your iPad and tap settings > "backup and import" > "import"
• The .backup file you created in the first step (from the iPhone) should appear in the listing on your iPad
• Tap to select the appropriate .backup file and then tap "Import"

This is much easier to do because the app can handle moving the .backup to and from each device via Dropbox.  When your copy of Chronicle is configured to use Dropbox, every .backup file you create is automatically uploaded to Dropbox.  Likewise, when you browse for .backup files to import on your device, you see ones that are present physically on your device as well as any that are in your Dropbox folder.  The app is able to download the files from Dropbox without you having to do anything.

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For better or worse, this is how I explain the product roadmap.

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Sunday morning.  Using my little microscope to get some details right.

Captured with Picflick

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Touchcards and Cardboard can import Google Docs spreadsheets as flashcards.  One benefit to using Google Docs is that you can keep your decks safe in the cloud.  You can also share them with others and manage changes more easily.

To make sure your spreadsheets are imported properly, use the following formats.  You can paste the URL to an image instead of text if you want to have the app import a photo.

The first row is a header row and isn't imported.  The columns correspond to question and answer. Note if you're having trouble importing a set, try leaving the first row blank rather than having text like "front" and "back" or similar.

You can provide multi-line answers if you need to.

You can add worksheets to your spreadsheet document.  Each worksheet is a set of flashcards.

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Save time and organize your thoughts better with this simple tip.

I admit I didn't know you could do this for a long time.  Some users have told me this makes writing in Chapters a dream.  Hopefully this helps you too.

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If you use Chapters for iPad at work for notes/meetings/CRM/projects I'd like to show you something I'm working on.  You'll have access to an early version for beta testing and will get a promo code for a free copy when it's finished.  Contact me and tell me a little bit about how you're currently using the app.

Thanks!

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Today I'd like to share some information on a topic that is dear to me: building static libraries with your Xcode projects.

I launched into testing something today and ran into issues I hadn't encountered under Xcode 3.  In the course of searching for the one right way to add static libraries to my project I found many forum and blog posts, all a little different from one another (and most from earlier this year).

Here are the steps for setting up my test project.

Set up your Workspace

First I created a static library project using Xcode's static library template (File...New...New Project...)

Next I created a workspace using Xcode (File...New...New Workspace). This is the preferred way of grouping related projects, and in this case I want to group my static library project with the project that relies on it.

Note that existing projects can be converted into workspaces (File...Save As Workspace...).

I created a new project called SimpleSearchDemo within the workspace. I then control-clicked under that project in the navigator to add my existing SimpleSearch static library .xcodeproj file.

A note: I repeatedly tried adding my static library project to this workspace but it kept appearing without the disclosure arrow.  After an hour or two I had a headache and restarted Xcode and tried again. It worked as expected. I still think about those hours sometimes. Collateral damage.

Edit your static library build settings

Next I selected the static library project to edit its build settings. I set it up to skip install and made sure the Copy Headers build phase included the headers. In particular, I added the public-facing header to the Public section.

Configure the project that uses the library

Once the static library was set up, it was time to configure the client project.

Link the static library with the project target; it should appear under 'Workspace' libraries.

Adjust the build settings so that the User Header Search Paths include the directory where the static library's headers are copied. I used the BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR after reading this post. Both projects belong to the same Workspace, and thus share a common build directory.  Enable recursive searching of the user header search paths, and enable Always Search User Paths.

Finally, ensure the static library is built for archiving.

One other thing. I had issues with code completion working. I dragged the "public" header from the static library into the client project, and unchecked the 'Add to targets' checkbox.  Autocompletion started working (the header is right there, after all), but this seems unnecessary - let me know how you got around it.  Any other improvements are welcome.

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Michelle and I quit our jobs (for the second time) more than two years ago. We moved from Atlanta to a smaller town and she started medical school. She wanted me to do something different and not rush into a job search.  I started working on things I found interesting and thought others might like.  I had invested in a MacBook and an iPod touch six months prior and was enjoying learning the iPhone SDK.  I even had a few customers on the then-new App Store.  I didn't know if I could make it last but it felt right to do what I loved.

These years have been very enjoyable for me.  I was surprised at just how sad I felt after reading the news.

The following is a nice tribute from the developers at Panic:

Screenshot from Panic.com

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