Appleish

Wisdom

Calculating Trajectories

When plotting the course of a (lets say) ball thrown in a simulated physics environment it is advantageous to be able to draw the course the ball will follow. Doing some "internet research" brought up this little gem of a site:

• http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/traj.html

From which I was able (yes, it's cheating, but hey) to refactor the javascript and produce the code for a Corona implementation here:

• http://developer.anscamobile.com/code/calculating-trajectory

The root of the above site is quite amazing and hopefully can teach everyone (certainly me) about all manner of interesting physics concepts and maths:

• http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html

Some, Er, Projects...

Some Projects...

Hey, I Know That Feeling

Getting Some Perspective

iOS 5 Accessibility Features For Everyone

Playing around under the Settings->General->Accessibility section and found some absolute gems - nice and useful for everyone...

• General
• Accessibility
• Vision
• Zoom
  Allows 3-finger zoom and pan of any screen, including the lock screen. Controls work as expected.
  Good for when photo zoom doesn't quite do it for you or you need to check pixel-specific placement on a web page.
• Speak Selection
  Separate from VoiceOver, this allows any selectable text - web pages and such - to be spoken. The usual popup menu gains a "Speak/Pause" item. Speech speed can also be adjusted.
  Good for when you just can't be bothered to read the page.
• Hearing
• Custom Vibrations
  When editing a contact this adds a 'Vibration' option immediately beneath the 'Ringtone' option. Vibrations come with 5 pre-set patterns and custom patterns can be very easily recorded, named and re-used.
  Good for when you need to know who is calling you without taking the phone out your pocket.
• LED Flash for Alerts
  Simply flashes the camera flash LED when an alert, like an incoming call, occurs.
  Good for truly silent but noticeable alerts.
• Physical & Motor
• Triple-click Home
  Set this to 'Ask' and it will pop up a menu whenever the Home button is triple-pressed - even when locked.
  Good for easy access to some of the above options.
  From there you've got options to turn On/Off the:
• VoiceOver
  Not the same as 'Speak Select' - reads anything tapped with a single tap.
• Zoom
  See above.
• White on Black
  Inverts the whole screen colour.

It's Just Bad, OK?

Doing iOS in CSS3 and HTML5 - iPad Popover Menu

This is really great... Peter Viszt has created an iPad popover menu in CSS, using the design by Morgan Knutson as a basis. It looks really good and he links to a customisability tool:

• CSS Popover: https://forrst.com/posts/CSS3_iPad_style_popover_menu-PJv
• CSS tool: http://jsfiddle.net/XYubE/
• Original designs: http://dribbble.com/shots/289926-Free-download-of-my-iOS-style-popover

Corona Roadmap Poll

Most wanted feature or improvement

• In-App Purchase support for Android
• Improvements to Physics API (friendlier collisions, etc.)
• Improved transitions: pause/resume methods
• Improvements to Sprite API
• MapView support (Android)
• Improved WebPopup behavior
• OAuth support
• Exposed table of active timers
• Integrated advertising
• System capabilities API
• Payment integration Android (Paypal,etc)
• Analytics
• Split Features. Don't wait to have feature parity on both Android/iOS. We can live with wichever is
• Add "2.5d" image transforms
• Improvements to image saving API
• Physics: simplified collision detection for "non-physical" cases
• Improvements to Corona debugger
• Support for compressed textures
• Improved line drawing API
• Support for Android softkeys
• OpenGL shader support
• iTunes library support
• On-device debugging
• Misc. improvements to core API usability
• Page Flip
• Improved Text Fields
• New Corona UI Features
• Curve Fitting
• Object Fill
• Bezier Manupulation
• Procedural Graphics
• Fluid Dynamics
• Reconstruction of Arbitrary Topology using NURBS
• LOD Rendering for terrains
• Bon Jour
• Device IP
• BT Stack
• Timer pause/resume
• Apple Push Notification
• Local Notification
• OpenFeint for Android
• Tinting
• Access to bitmap data
• Contact List (Address book)
• Email attachments
• Better XML parser
• Give Carlos a raise
• Live Wallpaper for Android
• Camera objects overlay (video, camera)
• Better Text Metrics

Created on Oct 19, 2011

View Results

T-SQL Tree Into XML

My previous post contained a link to a Microsoft article detailing how to get well structured XML directly from T-SQL. This post is about getting a tree of data from T-SQL into XML. FOR XML EXPLICIT cannot be used (without major headaches) but a simple recursive function and a SELECT can be used. Here's where I poached my solution from:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2409228/generate-structured-xml-document-from-hierarchical-table-data-t-sql/2425180#2425180

In short, my code is something like this (generic code for a wider audience):

CREATE function [dbo].[SelectCategoryChild](@categoryid as int)
returns xml
begin
    return (
        select
            categoryid as "@id",
            parentcategoryid as "@parentcategoryid",
            title as "@title",
            dbo.SelectCategoryChild(categoryid)
        from category
        where parentcategoryid = @categoryid
        for xml path('category'), type
    )
end
GO
SELECT
    categoryid AS "@categoryid",
    '' AS "@parentcategoryid",
    title as "@title",
    dbo.SelectCategoryChild(categoryid)
FROM category
WHERE parentcategoryid is null and siteid = 1
FOR XML PATH ('category'), root('categories')

The code above works for a single table created from the statement (references and indices omitted for clarity):

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Category](
[CategoryID] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
[ParentCategoryID] [int] NULL,
[Title] [varchar](150)
)

CategoryID is the primary key,

ParentCategoryID references the CategoryID and provides theone-to-many tree structure, a NULL value indicates the node is a root node (top-level) in the tree,

Title is simply some data (in this case the name) of the node.

T-SQL FOR XML EXPLICIT

An excellent example of producing well formatted and structured XML direct from SQL where a non-tree structure is in use. I have used this to get a complex series of document information out in a specific format.

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189068.aspx

More Often Than You Think

IT Vs. Productivity

Sometimes It's Just One Of Those Days

Because We Don't Know Them

Keeping Them Busy

My HST Programme

Actually, this was donated by a colleague who has used it previously.

2 sets, 8 reps of each

• Wks 1 - 4

Chest Dumbell press - Flat

Back Lat pulldown

Shoulders Upright Row

Triceps Kick back

Biceps Dumbell curl

Legs Squat

Abs Your choice

• Wks 5-8

Chest Dumbell press - Incline

Back Reverse fly

Shoulders Dumbell military press

Triceps EZ Bar (supine)

Biceps Hammer curl

Legs Lunge

Abs Your choice

• Wks 9-12

Chest Dumbell press - Decline

Back Seated Row

Shoulders Single arm side lift

Triceps Close press up

Biceps Reverse curl

Legs Dead lift

Abs Your choice

Pumping Iron Links

Fat loss:

• http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/iynws/are_you_a_beginner_who_wants_to_lose_weight_wants/
• http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-fundamentals-of-fat-loss-diets-part-1.html
• http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-fundamentals-of-fat-loss-diets-part-2.html
• http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/iynws/are_you_a_beginner_who_wants_to_lose_weight_wants/c27s3yx

Food:

• Is there a limit to how much protein the body can use in a single meal? | Wannabebig
• The Real Truth about Protein and Weight Loss
• The Leangains Guide | Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health
• How To Look Awesome Every Day | Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health
• Pre-Workout Protein Boosts Metabolism | Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health
• Fasted Training Boosts Muscle Growth? | Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health

Articles:

• http://brandoncharls.com/2009/06/05/the-5-most-overrated-exercises/
• http://www.livestrong.com/article/435124-5-most-overrated-exercises/

Training Patterns:

• http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/antiab_training

Hypertrophic Training (HST):

• www.t-nation.com/portal_includes/articles/2005/05-132-training.html
• http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_notes.html
• Setting up a Hypertrophy-Specific Training? Cycle: Part I
• Setting up a Hypertrophy-Specific Training? Cycle: Part II
• Setting up a Hypertrophy-Specific Training? Cycle: Part III
• Setting up a Hypertrophy-Specific Training? Cycle: Part IV
• Setting up a Hypertrophy-Specific Training? Cycle: Part V

Biochemical:

• Insulin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Anabolism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Hypertrophy-specific Training - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Creatine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Adenosine triphosphate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Central Nervous System (CNS) Fatigue

Sites:

• http://www.bodybuilding.com/
• http://startingstrength.com/
• http://www.t-nation.com/
• http://www.crossfit.com/

It's Not By Magic

Bad Idea

Tiltopolis

So the latest Corona-built iPhone/iPad game is here: Tiltopolis.

It's a twist on the old classic, Blocks. The twist is that the falling blocks land on a balance bar, seesaw, tilting beam - whatever you call it, it's a challenge as you've not just gotta stop the blocks from reaching the top, but reaching the bottom!

The game features Physics Mode (the seesaw reacts to being hit by the blocks) and Arcade Mode (the angle of the seesaw reflects number of blocks on either side) as well as 4 awesome tracks by new Brit band Run Toto Run!

Check it out:

Apps at AppStoreHQ

That Time Of Year

Worth Jailbreaking?

A recent post on El Reg (www.theregister.co.uk) points out that due to the hoops regular (ie: non-techy or can't-be-bothered-techy) mobile users (read: mobile phone and tablet users) have to jump through to get free apps or banned apps (those denied from stores like Apple's iOS App Store) most users are content with paying the low fee of US$0.99 or GB99p for an app on their phone or tablet.

Their article focuses on Open Source software, that of the wind of "Free". However, as a mobile developer myself, spending months working on an app and giving it away for free (especially the prospect that it would be installed via jailbreaking without charge) is rather underwelming.

Quote from El Reg:

"if an app is close enough to free and immediately available, with the added benefit of potentially being higher quality than open-source alternatives (because of the paid investment in developing and polishing the app), will there be any reason to bother downloading an open-source app?

Freedom matters a great deal to some, but arguably not to the consumers flocking to Apple's devices. And perhaps not even to the bulk of developers writing for those consumers."

• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/04/open_source_in_mobile/

Interesting View

[Via: Engadget]

Watch out for the end of 2009 and 2010; The rest is fairly quiet.

You're Not Going To Win

Useful AnscaMobile Corona Links

Btw, you should pay attention to and watch these...

• http://www.youtube.com/user/anscamobile#p/u/8/qgzYk-jvLRU
• http://blog.anscamobile.com/
• http://blog.anscamobile.com/2011/02/app-of-the-week-effect/
• http://blog.anscamobile.com/2011/02/corona-sdk-tutorial-make-a-game-in-40-minutes/
• http://developer.anscamobile.com/code/
• http://developer.anscamobile.com/samples

Death Spiral

Corona SDK Goes Windows

Corona SDK, the multi-platform development kit for iOS and Android had a major update this week. There is now a Windows SDK allowing the same lua language apps which can be compiled into iOS and Android Java apps on the Mac to be developed for Android on Windows.

To accompany this Ansca have included a slew of new features, all announced on their blog:

• Windows SDK:
  http://blog.anscamobile.com/2011/01/corona-sdk-is-now-on-windows/
• Masking, In-App Purchase and Asynchronous HTTP:
  http://blog.anscamobile.com/2011/01/but-wait-theres-more/

This is a really big step and one I believe will lead to some very interesting developments. Personally, I'm hoping for a lot of developer interest, to help bolster the Corona community and Ansca Mobile themselves, as well as WP7 builds.

I Hate Windows Server 2008

I really do.

But besides that, here's an article written to do justice (if not, comedy) to the annoying 'features' of the server OS. His other articles are about the useful, productive and more positive aspects, so please feel free to find out lots about the system.

Consider this article, however, the warning/watch out/snafu guide:

• http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/tip/Whats-there-to-hate-about-Windows-Server-2008

Slightly More Invasive

Why Don't We?

Say It, Say It!

Dilbert: Pon Farr

Corona Collision Filters

Ansca Mobile (www.anscamobile.com) have created a truly brilliant multi-mobile-platform SDK (iOS, Android) called Corona, which includes a Box2D (www.box2d.org) physics engine. There are many implementations in many languages for Box2D and one of the things which Ansca have got right is collision filters, one of the trickier things to implement in an physics API.

Brent Sorrentino of IgnisDesign has produced and posted a helper chart for working out which collision filters various objects should be assigned when building physics-based games using Corona:

• http://developer.anscamobile.com/forum/2010/10/25/collision-filters-helper-chart