Gearing up for iPhone development

Upgrading to Mac OS X 10.5.7

I just upgraded my almost 2 year old Macbook from 10.5 to 10.5.7 to prepare for iPhone development (yeah, we've got something huge for everyone coming up real soon!). The upgrade process was a breeze and very straightforward--getting the upgrade CD was the hard part. The local Mac Store does not sell upgrade CDs from Tiger to Leopard so I had to purchase one from eBay. It took around 8 days before I received the package. If you're looking at developing iPhone apps for iPhone 2.2.1 then you'll only need Leopard 10.5.6 but since iPhone 3.0 is just around the corner, I went for the 10.5.7 upgrade instead!

the iPhone SDK installation screen

Installing the iPhone 2.2.1 SDK was easy. Downloading the huge 2GB installation file took me forever though! The SDK includes XCode, Apple's official professional tool for software development for the Mac and iPhone. After the upgrade above and the SDK installation, my machine's now geared up for any kind of Mac or Windows development! Oh, did I say I'm also running Windows XP on my Macbook? :)

Filipinos are indeed everywhere!

There goes GMA on Marvel's Secret Invasion.

Someone once said to me--name any place or country and you'll find a Filipino there! I've always believed that (except for Filipinos on the moon though) but I never imagined that Filipinos would also graze the pages of comic books! Maybe because we now have a pool of Filipino talent working for Marvel and DC? I recently had a chance to read the Secret Invasion graphic novel and saw that our very own GMA (President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) being replaced by a Skrull clone and making her usual speech about poverty! She even had the Malacanang seal behind her. As Marvel puts it, I should have won a No-Prize award for this mention! Kewlness! :)

Hooked on Plants vs. Zombies!

Check out Popcap's Plants vs. Zombies!

In the world of games, there are only a selected number of games that set the bar so high that other developers are forced to be more innovative, not just with how they create their craft but how they implement them as well. Since I got my XBox 360 several months ago, I haven't played any PC game anymore...until Popcap's Plants vs. Zombies came out! The Popcap people has this innate talent for creating simple but heavily addictive games that get you hooked for hours and hours of fun and greatly lowers your productivity. PvZ is almost similar to most tower-defense games which started appearing on the iPhone and iPod recently but the vast levels and the amount of items you can unlock and use within the game separates it from the rest. The popular Popcap cartoon humor is still evident throughout the entire level campaign along with tons of mini-games that you can play to your heart's content. And what's even better--I'm not sure how Popcap prices their games but when you buy it from their website, PvZ will set you back for ONLY Php 199.00! They used to sell their games for US$ 19.95--I was so surprised when they charged me in Philippine Peso and for only Php 199.00! Maybe they have localized their prices as well? Neat!

Going wireless

My new XBox 360 wireless adapter.

Due to the recent storms that hit our country (the Philippines) for the past 3 weeks, my wireless router, which is connected to my broadband internet wireless antenna broke down again (for the nth time) and I'm guessing its because of an electric or lightning surge again which is prevalent in our area. I woke up one day, turned on my XBox and found out that I couldn't connect to XBox Live anymore. Scared that the electric surge might break down all the appliances and electronic devices connected to my router, I decided to purchase a wireless adapter for my XBox 360 as well. This allowed me to remove my ethernet cables, reducing clutter and at the same clearing up my desk. Installing the 360's wireless adapter is a jiffy! My console automatically detected it, adjusted the settings accordingly and I was up and running in just a minute. If only these devices can be used on desktop PCs and notebooks, that would be amazingly sweet!

Tweet versus Text

Why not just tweet?

It just occurred to me--if one text message costs Php 1.00 (here in the Philippines), why not just tweet instead of text?  One tweet contains 140 characters which means you can send roughly around 6 tweets in 1 kilobyte.  Globe Telecoms charges Php 0.15 per kilobyte which means you can send almost 36 tweets in a peso!  Subtract to that some miscellaneous and hidden fees and you still get around 25-28 tweets a peso!  Of course, phones that can "tweet" are more expensive but if you send an average of a hundred text messages per day, you can roughly recoup your device investment within 2 or 3 months time.  Add to that the cost of most mobile twitter clients--nil!  Platform isn't an issue as well because twitter clients are available in almost all platforms--Symbian, Windows Mobile, iPhone, Palm OS, Android, etc.  What do you think?

My Blackberry experience...

Nice crisp screen even on direct sunlight!

I got tired of using my Nokia, iPhone and Windows Mobile phone so I decided to dig up my old Blackberry Pearl, activate my Globe Blackberry Service and use it for the time being. I got the Blackberry Pearl early last year in anticipation for our Blackberry developments and ports but sadly, it didn't push through so I had to set it aside until more than a month ago when a few friends recommended how great the Blackberry device was. Curiosity got the best of me so I joined in on the bandwagon and guess what--I'm sold! I never realized how great push email and internet was until I experienced it on my Blackberry device. BB even had support for popular instant messaging apps like Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, AOL Messenger, etc. and it also has a client for my favorite web services to date--Twitter and Facebook! Furthermore, my emails are sent instantly to my device and I can quickly reply wherever I am. I can even monitor my online sales on the go! All the basic mobility stuff I need from a phone were in my Blackberry except for one thing--cheap service costs. To be able to maximize my Blackberry, I had to activate Globe's Blackberry Service which costs Php 450.00 (this is for Philippine users only) per month apart from the amount of data my phone downloads (and uploads). I'm on a Php 2,500.00 "consumable" monthly plan and my bill almost quadrupled because Globe charges on a per kilobyte basis (I was charged even for spam emails!). The time based charging is NOT applicable on the Blackberry because the device is *technically online the entire time which means it'll only cost me more. The bottomline is, unless Globe comes up with an unlimited data plan for a fixed monthly fee, the Blackberry will only be appropriate for corporate users--not for consumers like me. I'm still using the device but I had my Blackberry Service deactivated already and I'm using it as a regular phone now. I had a "good" two months Blackberry experience though. :)

One year and going strong!

Bag of Beans' inviting Strawberry Cheesecake!

Phoebe and I recently celebrated our first year (yes its been a year already!) and we both had a chance to spend time together despite her busy schedule and my "being" edgy lately eversince I found out I had chronic ulcer. We celebrated at Tagaytay--despite again, the bad weather--and took the time to reminisce about the things we've gone through, our differences and personal issues, our careers and how it affects our relationship, the things that we love (and hate) doing, and what we both want to happen in our future. I never had a dull moment with you Phoebs! You are one of the most sensible and interesting people I've ever met!

Bag of Beans' tasty Shepherd's pie!

We had a chance to eat at this great place called Bag of Beans and we were able to taste some of their great-tasting food! So great in fact that I had to take some home and have my family taste it too! First up (1st photo above) is their Strawberry Cheesecake which was so inviting and delightful. We also tasted their popular dish called Shepherd's pie. It's a combination of potatoes and ground beef arranged and baked like a rectangular pie. It was really tasty and sumptuous!

Happiest couple on Earth!

And here we are! I hope I get a chance to spend a lifetime with you baby! Happy first year! :)