Some recent email demanding that I fix this and that. I know the feeling after getting some apps I had trouble with. Usually it may take only 10 minutes to fix a bug, but then I have to upload it to Apple for approval. Unfortunately, that’s the main bottleneck. Last year the reviews were taking up to 3 to 4 weeks (!). However, by this spring some folks were reporting reviews of less than a day, now that’s more like it. But it has since crept up...

Good news, for all of you patient and kind Distant Suns types, 3.1.1 went up live to the Appstore last night fixing the compass bug that caused it to flip 180 degrees when in landscape mode. A  number of smaller things were tossed into the mix. Some have reported the compass staying stuck on North. I see that at times but it goes away when I change my position by a few feet.. So I am convinced that it is an iPhone/iPad issue and not a Distant...

So now you know a little about the toolset and the language Objective-C. Trouble is, that is just the beginning. It is as if you have a hammer, a saw, the book “House Building for Dummies,” and maybe even an idea of what you want the final house to look like, while facing an empty lot. And as Robert Redford’s character said at the end of the film, The Candidate upon winning a hotly contested election: “Now what?” Designing a major piece of...

All of my apps make use of Apple’s “Push Notification” service, a means of sending out short announcements to users of specific applications without needing those applications to actually be running. When an app is installed that has APN available, the system will warn you and specifically ask if you want to receive notifications from that app. That is under Apple’s domain, so there is no way for a wiley app author to  ”sneak” APN in under the...

I get this question a lot. And yes, it is legitimate to ask. The reason why I don’t upgrade Distant Suns 2 users to version 3 is simple: There is no way to do that on the Appstore between two different apps. “Ok, hotshot, why have two versions of the same thing? Couldn’t you have just made Distant Suns 2 the universal app and not have another version for sale?” Yes, and no. Yes, as that is what I would like to have done…No…is that Distant Suns...

Wow! Okay, okay, more detail. We all know now about what the iPhone 4 holds, as a gazillion and a half reviews have already appeared. But I thought I could add a few extra details. The Screen: OMG! Yes, it’s that good. Screen resolution has been the last real limitations in mobile platforms now since cpu, memory and battery issues are quickly fading away.  When I first saw the Droid in action, I knew that the next iPhone would have to...