All posts by john

John has been developing and designing software since 1982. As a software architect for a Fortune 500 company for 23 years, he deployed systems across the technology spectrum. John is a creative, bright and forward thinking professional. He is prolific in the development and implementation of new technologies and he continually demonstrates the communication skills and design sensibility required to work through the creative process. He is a leader in collaborative situations and his ability to think critically and express himself is evidenced in his work.
Business, iOS Development

Apple’s Patent Wars

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“In 2007, Samsung, HTC, Google and all others in the industry didn’t have a smartphone with the likes of Apple’s iPhone features. They didn’t have the solutions that Apple eloquently brought to market to make a smartphone truly smart. Apple carefully and meticulously crafted a full end-to-end smartphone solution. So when the copycats and their followers whine in public and on blogs that Apple should learn to compete instead of initiate litigation – I bowl over with laughter.”

— Jack Purcher from Patently Apple

Development

PFUbiquityTransactionLog loadPlistAtLocation:withError

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I’m having a minor issue with a universal app (iPhone and iPad) using Core Data and iCloud. However, the issue ONLY arises on the iPad side AND, ultimately the data does synchronize, so it’s not really problem, except for the delay.

The console error starts with PFUbiquityTransactionLog loadPlistAtLocation:withError…

If both devices are running the app side by side, I get the following:

On the iPad side, I get the warning of the failed downloads after about 3 minutes (sometimes it will loop here 2 or 3 times), then after a minute, the selector for the observed: NSPersistentStoreDidImportUbiquitousContentChangesNotification gets invoked and the method is able to merge the change.

On the iPhone, I NEVER get the warning. After about a minute or two, the selector for the observed: NSPersistentStoreDidImportUbiquitousContentChangesNotification gets invoked and the method is able to merge the change.

Also, there is no issue when launching the app and synchronizing with iCloud. Any outstanding changes are downloaded and merged without incident.

XCode 4.3.2, Base SDK Latest (iOS 5.1), Deployment Target 5.1, iPhone iOS 5.1.1, iPad iOS 5.1.1

I’ve seen various discussions on this on Stackoverflow and the Apple dev forums, but there doesn’t seem to be a clear explanation. I welcome any comments or enlightenment on this issue.

Development

Automatic Reference Counting

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I’m finding it hard to adapt ARC. I feel my understanding of memory management with objective-C is sharper by continuing to retain and release.

I liken it to my days of riding a motorcycle. Around that time ABS for motorcycles was just becoming available. But there’s an art to applying brakes correctly on a motorcycle. Many, including myself, were reluctant abandoning that skill for brute force braking.

BuyHomes

BuyHomes Update!

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My BuyHomes and BuyHomesHD apps have updates available in the App Store today. These updates require iOS 5, Apple’s latest update to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touches with support for iCloud – a FREE service!

BuyHomes will now keep your Homes List in sync across all your iOS devices. Add a property to BuyHomes on your iPhone and moments later it will also be presented on BuyHomes on your iPad – and vice a versa.

BuyHomes is Available on the App Store

BuyHomesHD is Available on the App Store

Download the latest version of iTunes to update iOS 5 on your iPhone and iPad. Apple has made these updates available today.