1. Fontshuffle

It contains hundreds of font families sorted by visual similarity into a visual family tree. Without any previous knowledge about typography, and using only visual criteria, you can navigate directly to 6 font designs of similar style by tapping your iPhone twice. You can do this without knowing the name or style category of the desired font, but can learn these by playing around with the application. FontShuffle 1.0 is free of charge and available in English and German language versions.

2. cliqcliq Colors

If you’re a designer or developer working with CSS, HTML, Flex, Flash, Objective-C or other media-centric technologies, you’ll spend a good amount of time finding the exact colors you want to use and converting between various scales and formats. With cliqcliq Colors, you can create palettes based on colors you like best and quickly convert between RGB, HSB, and CMYK as well as integer and floating point scales. Instead of having to load an entire desktop application or yet another browser tab with a color version website, you can simply pick up your iPhone and get started with Colors!

3. Palettes Pro

Palettes Pro is a powerful productivity tool for creating and maintaining color palettes. Great for creating color schemes. Now you can create a color palette anywhere at anytime. Quickly find matching colors with support for many different color schemes. You may create and store any number of palettes.

4. The Typography Manual

The Typography Manual is a pocket resource for graphic designers and anyone that works with type. It provides all the essentials of a book reference on your iPhone or iPod Touch! The Type Manual features a 60+ page book covering the history of type, type basics, how to properly set text and special characters, typography on the web, graphic design topics, and more. The Visual Type Anatomy Glossary is a 100+ glossary of type terminology that doesn’t just give you a definition, it shows you on the letters themselves.

In simplest of applications ,the program code would make a function call to request a service,from either other Os servers/frameworks ,I/O Devices,timers,DMA etc.This service can be performed either synchronously or asynchronously.In a synchronous method the service returns to the caller function with a status of completion (typically success or failure).While the service completes the caller thread is in a blocked mode waiting for completion.In an asynchronous call ,the request is submitted and the control returns to the caller.The completion of that request occurs sometime later.In the meanwhile the caller may perform other tasks and is not in a blocked state.upon completion the caller receives a signal indicating the completion of the request.Now the caller threads handles the result of the completed request.This signal is known as the event and the code is said to be event driven.

Even-driven multitasking

Events can come from external sources,such as UI inputs ,hardware sources,network sockets and also from completed asynchronous requests.Events are managed by event handlers ,which ,as its name suggests,waits for an event and then handles it.Typically the hardware running Symbian or iOs, or for that matter any other RTOS would have far less resources than a typical PC.Thus the operating system needs to have a efficient event handling model to have minimum turnaround time to events as well as prioritize them in desired order.Also between events the system should be a low power state to save on the power consumption.This avoids constant polling, which leads to significant power drain and should be avoided on a battery operated device.

Runloops in iOS and Active Schedulers in Symbian provide a model for lightweight ,event-driven multitasking within the same thread.

Active objects/Active Scheduler:

Active Scheduler is the indefinite runloop which runs inside a thread .Active objects symbolize the requests which are added to the scheduler and get serviced accordingly.

Active objects encapsulate the traditional wait loop inside a class.They were designed such that the switch between the active objects running within a thread incurs a less overhead than context switching of threads(Moreover space overhead for a thread is minimum 4kb on the kernel side and 8kb user side).This makes active objects the most preferable for event-driven multitasking in Symbian.

Active scheduler is a infinite run loop which runs inside a thread,with methods to start and stop the loop.Once started this loop schedules the active objects within the thread.Typically, a Symbian OS thread has a single Active Scheduler. As mentioned above, that Active Scheduler is responsible for managing all active objects belonging to the thread.It is worth noting that the Active Scheduler schedules active objects in a non-pre-emptive way so that one active object cannot interrupt another while that is running. This is in contrast with thread scheduling (even in Symbian OS), since the execution of one thread can be pre-empted at any given time by another thread.

Representation:

Active Objects encapsulates: A data member representing the status of the request(iStatus). A handle on the asynchronous service provider. Connection to the service provider during construction. The function to issue(or reissue) the asynchronous request (user-defined) The handler function to be invoked by the active scheduler when the request completes( RunL() ).This function can be more appropriately called as the event handler for clarity. The function to cancel an outstanding request( Cancel() ).

The above figure shows the process of submitting a request to an asynchronous service provider ,which generates an event on completion.

Explanation:

1.Request is posted to asynchronous service provider.

2.Having issued the request the issuer must call CAtive::SetActive().This sets the active objects iActive flag.

3.The request provider changes the value of the iStatus as KRequestPending.

4.The active scheduler checks the iActive and the iStatus to know that a particular active object has a request pending.

5.Once the request is completed the service provider calls the User::RequestComplete(),passing the completion result in the iStatus.

6.The active scheduler now calls the handler function (Runl()) for the active object and clears the iActive flag for the same.

7.The handler function handles the event.

Runloops(CFRunloop) in iOS

A run loop is essentially an event-processing loop running on a single thread. The RunLoop is what keeps your app running until it should quit.You register potential input sources on it, pointing it to the code that it should execute whenever input is available on those sources .

Then when input comes into a particular source, the run loop will execute the appropriate code, then go back to waiting for input to come in again to any of it’s registered sources. If input comes into a registered source whilst the run-loop is executing another piece of code, it’ll finish executing the code before it handles the new input.The scheduling is non pre-emptive and analogues to the way the active scheduler schedules the requests.

In all its simplicity it can be described as a glorified form of :

while(true){ HandleEvent1(); HandleEvent2(); }

The job is to process events which arrive from elsewhere.User needs to write code to handle these and the OS takes care of all the other things like scheduling,receiving and sending them.The level of abstraction at which the user interacts with the OS is higher than in Symbian ,resulting in fewer things to be done by the user and the OS taking care of the rest.There is exactly one runloop per thread and the user cannot create or destroy the same.

Example showing ,how to hook up a socket with the current runloop

CFRunLoopRef currentRunLoop = CFRunLoopGetCurrent(); //This gets the current run loop

CFRunLoopSourceRef runLoopSource = CFSocketCreateRunLoopSource(kCFAllocatorDefault, listeningSocket, 0);

//Event source is created with the listening socket.

CFRunLoopAddSource(currentRunLoop, runLoopSource, kCFRunLoopCommonModes);

//This event source if finally now added to the run loop

Now whenever there is a connection request on the socket the run loops calls the serverAcceptCallback() which is the callback function for the listeningSocket. Following is a comparison between Symbian and iOS.

Symbian

• Active Scehduler
• CActiveScheduler::Add(instance of the active object)
• HandleEvent – RunL()
• CActiveScheduler Start()

iOS

• CFRunloop
• CFRunLoopAddSource(Source for the event)
• Callback function for the above event source.
• CFRunloopRun()

Limitations of event-driven multitasking in a single thread:

We have seen that in both cases the handling of events is non pre-emptive in the way they are scheduled by the active scheduler or the runloop.So if the event handler code is something which would take lot of time to complete ,in such a scenario the main thread would become un-responsive and the loop would wait for the particular event handling to get over.In such scenarios multithreading is a better option.

1.       HARDWARE & DESIGN:

·         The new ipad2 runs on a recently announced iOS 4.3 and comes with same 9.7 inch display and 10 hours of battery.

·         With new Dual-Core 1GHz A5 processor chip the performance may have a thumbs up.

·         The new iPad 2 is made of just two pieces of aluminum similar to that of the MacBook Air.

·         The new iPad is 33% slimmer and light weighted if compared with the original iPad.

·         The new iPad2 comes with a front facing VGA camera as well as rear camera with HD(720p) video recording up to 30 frames per second with audio, there is also 5x Digital Zoom.

·         With this addition and FaceTime in place, the Video Calling will be a new experience for the Apple Lovers.

2.       PERFORMANCE:

·         With the new Dual-Core Processor, the performance of the new iPad has increased drastically, it’s 9 times faster compared to the older iPad.

·         With the additional Gyroscope built in, the gaming in the device will be a great experience and a challenge for the Game Developers out there.

·         Web Browsing, eBook Reading and watching movies on the new iPad is new experience.

·         The LED-backlit display makes everything look crisp, vivid and bright, which makes things look more beautiful.

·         The major disappointment was lack of Flash Support.

3.       ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

·         See Pics, videos on a bigger display!

·         The new iPad comes with AirPlay where the user can connect his device to the HDTV via Apple TV. Awesome isn’t it??

4.       ACCESSORIES:

.         Smart Cover for iPad works both as a screen cover and iPad Stand.

.         The most interesting part of the iPad Smart Covers is the magnetic system. The cover rests over the screen and magnets along the right side snap down onto the top of the iPad covering the screen and putting it into sleep mode. Moreover, it can be folded and can be used a stand.

5.       WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

·         CAMERA:

The new iPad camera stills are below average. The upgrade on the Camera will be a major change I would like to see.

·         FLASH SUPPORT:

Some Flash Support should be needed in addition to the awesome web browsing experience.

iPad 2 is really a worthy successor to iPad and has raised the benchmark for tablet computing. With all these new features and increased GPU Performance, we hope that the App store would be booming with some really exciting apps for iPad 2! :)

While all this was going on, of course there was some big news on June 7, when Steve Jobs introduced yet another Apple engineering marvel: iPhone 4.  Bundled with new features like front-facing camera, superior rear camera, dual mikes for increased noise cancellation, eye-popping Retina Display, multitasking, 720p HD video recording and even a new kind of gyroscope technology, iPhone 4 is a huge evolutionary step in smartphone design.  As the tag line says: “This changes everything.  Again.”  And, marketing hyperbole aside, as far as day-to-day use is concerned for sure this will change the way we use iPhone.

Before this year’s launch, several leaked – or mislaid – iPhone 4 models made the rounds of the major tech blogs, complete with gory dissections and the standard tsunami of specu-babble.  But there was one stealth feature all the teardowns and pundits failed to even guess at: the gyroscope.  And on our side, as veteran iPhone developers, when Steve Jobs announced this during WWDC we were all pretty excited.  And while it still hasn’t gotten much attention in the press, this feature is a game changer in iPhone’s rivalry with Android and Symbian devices.

Apple’s been pioneering smartphone innovations since iPhone’s introduction in 2007 with many widely imitated micro-technologies, in particular the accelerometer.  The accelerometer is a type of sensor that detects changes in a device’s orientation, vibration, rotation or fall by detecting linear acceleration along one of the three X, Y and Z axes – that is: up/down, right/left, and front/back.

3-axis accelerometers enable features we by now take for granted in smartphones (and lately, too, in non-Apple branded consumer digital cameras, music players, and gaming peripherals).  For example, landscape/portrait orientation shifting, tilt for directional control in games and applications, and shake features for refreshing a webpage or shuffling a playlist.  The 1st generation of accelerometer – pre iPhone 4 – could measure only linear motion; it couldn’t sense direction on a compass or twisting motions or rotation, nor had any notion of gravity.

Then last year Apple added a magnetometer to the iPhone 3Gs, enabling it to sense magnetized direction relative to the Earth’s poles. And now, with the introduction of the gyro in iPhone 4, Apple once more ups the ante in spatial detection / orientation with a new sensor for detecting 3-axis angular acceleration around the X,Y and Z axes, enabling far more precise virtualization of pitch, yaw and roll on iPhone.

While detection of change in velocity has been possible for some time thanks to conventional accelerometer calculations in terms of linear acceleration, the gyroscope has been designed to detect angular acceleration, which will detect change in both velocity and direction at the same time.  iPhone 4’s gyroscope enables the sensing of even slight degrees of rotation while simultaneously rejecting linear movements and hand jitters – both still ably handled by accelerometer’s linear movement detection technology.

Combining the 3 axes of the gyroscope along with the 3 axes of the accelerometer now enables iPhone to recognize distance, speed and direction as it moves real-time through space. And thanks to the CoreMotion APIs in iOS, developers with the vision to make use of gyroscope data can access it freely, as some have already done.

Of course iPhone 4 already includes gyroscope support, but it’s a safe bet the gyro will be baked into future versions of iPod touch, and naturally, iPad.  iPhone devs who can make use of this amazing new technology will find opportunities aplenty on the new platforms, especially games producers and developers.

—-

update:  Death Star or iPhone gyroscope?   iFixit has the goods.

• IP*Works! – A comprehensive suite of Internet components for professional developers (FTP, IMAP, POP, LDAP, SNMP, SOAP, etc.).
• IP*Works! SSL – Secure implementations of every major SSL-enabled Internet protocol
• IP*Works! S/MIME – Components for S/MIME e-mail and file signing and encryption.
• IP*Works! S/Shell – Add Instant Secure Shell (SSH) Security to your applications.
• IP*Works! Secure SNMP – Components for building Secure SNMP Agents and Managers
• IP*Works! Zip – An easy, fast, and effective suite of compression components.
• QuickBooks Integrator – Components for QuickBooks and Merchant Services integration.
• E-Payment Integrator – Credit card and ACH processing through Internet Gateways.
• E-Banking Integrator – Components for Open Financial eXchange (OFX) client integration.
• Shipping Integrator – Shipping and Tracking components via FedEx, USPS, & UPS.
• Amazon Integrator – Components for Amazon Web Services including S3, SQS, and ECS

[source CocoawithLove]

[source Wooji-Juice]

[source MacHappens]

[source Apps Amuck]

PhoneGap is developed and designed by Brock Whitten, Rob Ellis, freelance designer Colin Toomey and Eric Oesterle.

[source PhoneGap]