Tag: DEVELOPERS

A couple of days ago, we found out that a number of iTunes user accounts had been compromised and used to buy and promote bogus apps. We just didn't know what that number was. Now, Apple has confirmed that 400 accounts were affected. The iTunes servers themselves weren't compromised, says Apple. The question of how much money was lost in this scam is still open, as is the question of how many ...

If you've read my review of WriteMonkey, you know how much I love this simple-looking, yet very powerful, full-screen editor. In fact, I use WriteMonkey for all of my Download Squad posts. I find it much easier to focus when I have just my text in front of me, in monospaced font, with no distracting chrome. I guess you can imagine the disappointment I felt when WriteMonkey stopped working for me ...

In a bid to drum up support for its upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform, Microsoft is reportedly offering 'substantial' amounts of cash to iPhone developers if they agree to port their apps to its new smartphone platform. This follows in the footsteps of a rumor that Microsoft may change its mobile development tools to allow easier porting from iPhone/iPad Objective C to Windows Phone 7's C# and ...

As a relative newcomer to the world of web development, it sometimes seems to me as though there is a gulf in the field: The "pros" versus the "wannabe developers". As if there's a tight-knit clique of developers, all well-versed in arcane stuff like advanced user scripts, HTML5, or Ruby on Rails -- and then there's the "rest of the world", composed of mere mortals just trying to hack something ...

Bug trackers are a fact of life. The problem is that, more often than not, they can be really cumbersome. Take JIRA, for example. It's considered top-of-the-line, but my god, it's complex. Oh, and they don't really offer a free option anymore. Mantis tries to offer a simpler solution. Granted, it's no beauty queen and seems devoid of any AJAX magic, but it does feel streamlined and lean (oh, ...

In a weird and unexplained turn-up for the books, Facebook has curtailed API access for a bunch of iPhone apps. Information is pretty thin at the moment so it's impossible to say with certainty whether Facebook is acting alone, or as the scurrilous hatchet man of an over-zealous Apple -- but one thing's for certain, there seems to be little rhyme or reason for the app bans. Speculation by ...

Holy schnikies, there's a lot to talk about this week! Twitter is making big moves, including releasing official Twitter mobile clients, announcing an advertising model, hosting a developer conference, and even leaking previews of a redesign. Let's cut the jibber-jabber and get to the good stuff. Twitter Tuesday is go! First things first: the ads. The new Twitter advertising system is ...

When it comes to making web pages, I can whip up a rounded div or add a splash of gradient for a nice fade effect successfully with little trouble, but like many, when trying to deduce out why some stupid DIV is misbehaving, I can waste an entire day spinning my wheels. Checking out the various blogs and forums are of course a great resource, but probably my most useful and productive help ...

Stories about Apple's stranglehold of control over the iPhone App Store have been raging since its inception. However, without signing up to the developer program, it's not easy to find out just what rights developers do and don't have. This is due to the terms of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement; all iPhone developers have to agree to these terms in order to be eligible to submit ...

I've been using Fluid for a couple of years now to create site-specific browsers on my Mac for certain very useful web applications like Gmail, and Jay points out 10 web apps you should be running on your mac with Fluid. Though the current version of Fluid still works well, it hasn't updated in awhile and that got me curious as to what the developer behind Fuild, Todd Ditchendorf, was currently up ...

Just when you think the Facebook privacy debate has reached its peak, the popular social network drops another privacy-related bomb. This time, Facebook has said it will allow apps to demand users' email addresses. Currently, apps communicate with you via the red-flag "updates" tab in the bottom-right corner of the site. On the plus side, Facebook is taking that annoyance away. On the "oh my ...

Keeping notes, todo lists, or just anything you are writing synchronized between computers can be a hassle. Some solutions, like using DropBox, require you to install software on computers that you regularly use. If your needs aren't that heavy, but you'd like a free way to keep your text available wherever you are, check out SimpleText.ws. SimpleText.ws is an open-source, very light text editing ...

Facebook's making some big changes around its application platform, particularly concerning how much access apps have to a user's activity stream and notifications. If you're a Facebook user who hates app spam, that's good news for you. It's terrible news for developers, though, because getting their links in front of you is how they spread virally and pick up more users. This doesn't mean that ...

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer is not known for a lack of enthusiasm or hyperbole. It's surprising, then, to see him downplaying the expected effect of Windows 7's release on new system sales. Reuters quoted Ballmer on Wednesday at a news conference in Munich as saying "There will be a surge of PCs but it will probably not be huge." Certainly this is not a doom and gloom statement, but considering ...

One of the more frustrating things I found when moving from Windows to a Mac in a business environment was receiving email messages that contained other messages as attachments. This is a fairly common thing for Outlook users to do, and it doesn't usually cause problems because Outlook can happily open those messages. It's not very good email etiquette and you should avoided doing it if possible ...