Patrik Hedmalm interview

When did you start developing apps for the iPhone?

I started programming on the Commodore 64 and Amiga 500 back in the day. Since 1995 I have been working as a developer in numerous fields of business. I only started developing for the iPhone a couple of months ago and it’s been great most of the time. I used to work as a game developer before and also created some games for the GameBoy Advance for fun.

What / how many apps have you made so far?

iSprout, which is my first app release, is a truly original, organic action puzzle game in which you guide bumblebees through a physically simulated plant with colorful flowers. Your mission is to grow the plant as large as possible by ensuring that the bees pollinate the right flowers. You don’t control the bees directly but rather bend, stretch and twist the branches of the plant to influence the bees. I already have three more apps lined up for review. iCoinPredict, iCardPredict and MindCard are three very strong, no-gimmick magic tricks that you can perform for anyone, anywhere. You always get a great response because they appear totally impossible! Nothing like it in the app store.

What type of apps/games/software inspires you? Where do you get your ideas?

I get inspired by new ideas and well thought out designs. For example, Sway and Zen Bound are both well designed apps with a very creative touch! I hope to see more and more of this as people get more creative on the platform.

What has been the best thing about designing for the iPhone?

Ease of use, productivity and good frameworks. Also it’s so easy to try things out on the actual device. You can bring stuff with you wherever you go to get people’s opinions and input.

What has been the biggest challenge about designing for the iPhone?

I guess just getting all the quirks of the platform and work with them rather than against them.

Do you have any other apps in the works?

I’m currently working on a new action 3D game. It’s fast, clean, very visual and loads of fun. Can’t tell you much more about it at this point.

What do you like to do when you’re not coding for the iPhone?

Hanging out with friends in sunny Stockholm, playing the guitar, making electronic music, drinking enormous amounts of coffee and in the winter I love snowboarding.

Tags: iphone, videos, iphone reviews, tips

iPhone game developers
Apple must be proud of all of the iPhone game developers that were finalists and winners at this year’s Independent Games Festival (IGF), because they have devoted an entire iTunes App Store page to them.

There are 10 games in total, varying in price from $.99 to $4.99. The games include Frenzic, Fieldrunners, Zen Bound, Galcon, Edge, Smiles, Eliss, Dizzy Bee, Ruben & Lullaby, and Radio Flare.

The iPhone game developers took home nearly every mobile award at the event, only allowing Reflection, a game developed for the Nintendo DS, to take home the award for “The Next Great Mobile Game.”

So what are you waiting for?  Go purchase some award winning games from the App Store.

Tags: tutorials, tips, iphoneos3, games

It may seem like something pulled straight out of a sci-fi film, but according to a recent patent filing, Apple is working on advanced security techniques for unlocking your iPhone.

The type of unlocking I speak of is related to the iPhone’s slide to unlock feature, not unlocking from a carrier like AT&T.  Apple is testing different methods of unlocking your iPhone to better secure information contained on the device.  Instead of the usual slide to unlock, or even passcodes, Apple is testing other means such as fingerprint scanning.

The difference between Apple’s implementation, as opposed to other device’s offerings, is that Apple intends to make it as unobtrusive to the user as possible.  One of the methods described for unlocking the iPhone is placing a fingerprint scanner behind the screen.  As illustrated in the photo, a scanner could be placed underneath the slider to serve dual purposes.

Apple lists other examples such as a forward-facing camera used for retinal scanning, facial recognition, or even ear shape recognition.

Other more simple methods are listed as well, including tilt recognition, placing fingers on the screen in a certain pattern, gesture recognition, and tap sequences.  Voice recognition is also listed in the patent.

This is simply just another patent filing by Apple.  It’s rare for Apple’s patents to actually make it all the way to production, so don’t expect to see these features anytime soon.

As an interesting side note, this patent was originally filed in September of last year while only being published this week which may explain why a few icons in the illustrations aren’t available on your iPhone.

It has also been mentioned that the applications shown in some of the illustrations are available to jailbroken iPhone users, causing a bit of confusion among Apple loyalists.  As to why Apple would include illustrations of a jailbroken iPhone in a patent filing, one can only guess.  Maybe Apple has a pretty good sense of humor.

Tags: tutorials, games, videos, iphone apps

Tags: games, videos, iphone, iphone news

Tags: iphone reviews, pictures, games, iphone news

Tags: os3, iphone reviews, iphone apps, tips

iphone os3

Apple Iphone OS3
The iPhone OS 3.0 release from Apple inc. has more then one hundred great new features available! In this article, I’ll show you the best upgrades. The iPhone OS 3.0 includes an updated Software Development Kit (SDK) with over 1,000 new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Those API’s are available for the Iphone and Ipod Touch software. There are 30 million Iphone and Ipod users on 77 countries worldwide so this new OS3 firmware is a huge update for a lot of people. Apple’s senior vice president said: “It will keep us years ahead of the competition” that means the Iphone is a high-tech phone which beats the HTC and Nokia N-series big time! What are some nice new features? Here they are! If you want all the new functions, news, apps and more, keep checking this website!

Iphone features continued

Tags: tutorials, games, os3, iphone

Tags: games, pictures, tips, iphone apps

Mobile Safari
Browsing the web on an iPhone is a great experience.  Mobile Safari is able to handle nearly anything you throw at it, except Flash of course, but with the impending iPhone OS 3.0 update things may get a little speedier.

It was first reported by Wayne Pan on his personal website that Mobile Safari had received a much needed Javascript speed boost in iPhone OS 3.0.  Now Ars Technica has even more proof that the update should improve the overall speed of Mobile Safari over the iPhone OS 2.2.1 version on average by 3x.

“While the overall average gives the iPhone 3.0 beta a 300 percent speed advantage, some of the individual tests show 6x, 8x, or even 11x improvements—the bitwise “AND” function even runs 16x faster than in the current version of Mobile Safari.”

The speed boost is being attributed to the utilization of the Nitro rendering engine currently being employed in Safari 4 beta.

A speed boost to Javascript rendering would benefit web application users the most, but not solely.  The use of the Nitro rendering engine would increase the speed of general web surfing as well.  If the rumored new iPhone hardware contains even more processing power as expected, we may see an astounding increase in overall mobile web surfing speed.

Finally, Apple Released the new software version for the IPhone OS 3.0. After a press conference Apple introduced the new features they have develloped for the OS3.0. And that is also the start of this unofficial blog. I’ll start blogging about the Iphone is regular, but specially the new improved OS 3.0 software. You can find all the new features about the OS3 right here so enjoy reading and leave a comment You can also join the RSS to get all the newest updates!

Thanks,
Mark