MacMacDev

If you happen to look through the schedule of events for Apple Store Glasgow, you might just find one called “Software Development with Cocoa” on Thursday 18 September, from 18:00-19:00, which appears to have my name on it!

The description is, shall we say, not quite exactly what I submitted: apparently someone in Cupertino thought that ‘Cocoa Cheerleader’ didn’t sound nearly professional enough and upgraded me to ‘Cocoa expert’; nor am I sure how I got to be an ‘insider’ but if this means I get ‘access-all-areas’ in Infinite Loop I’m happy.

So, what will I be talking about? Essentially an overview of development opportunities on the Mac, a look at what’s involved in Cocoa, a look at the developer tools, some quick demos, and anything else that will convince people to think about getting into software development with Cocoa. I’m not planning anything too in-depth during the presentation, but there should be an opportunity to talk code during the Q&A and with developers afterwards.

If you’re interested in turning up that would be awesome: it would be really good to demonstrate to Apple that there are a lot of people interested in developing on the Mac.

I’d really like to have a mini-panel of developers to take part in the Q&A part, so if you’re interested in helping me out please let me know - I promise you won’t have to cheer, or shake pom-pons.

The third virtual MacMacDev -applicationDidShip: award goes to How Fast (Website, Appstore) by Ian Davies of leapingfrogs software.

Ever wondered how fast the train, bus, or plane you’re on is traveling? How Fast uses the location functionality of the iPhone (runs best on iPhone 3G with GPS) to determine your speed, which is displayed on a cool Core Animation-powered speedometer.

How Fast is available for free download. Congratulations to Ian for shipping this fun application and for being the third recipient of the -applicationDidShip: award!

It is finally here: the App Store doors are open, and applications are being downloaded onto shiny new 3G iPhones. Applications which just happen to include three apps written by fellow MacMacDev’ers.

PCalc (Website, AppStore) by James Thomson of TLA Systems is ideal for scientists, engineers, students, programmers, or indeed anybody looking for a feature-rich calculator for the iPhone or iPod Touch. It includes an extensive set of unit conversions, RPN mode, engineering and scientific notation, support for hex, octal and binary, and a paper tape. PCalc is available for £5.99.

Exposure (Website, AppStore) and Exposure Premium (Website, AppStore) by Fraser Speirs of Connected Flow bring the wonder of Flickr to your iPhone and iPod touch. They provide access to your photos, photosets, tags and contacts in one place, and use the location features of iPhone to find photos on Flickr that were taken near you. Exposure is advertising-supported and is available for free downloads; Exposure Premium is advert-free and is available for £5.99.

Congratulations to Fraser and James for not only shipping apps on the first day of the App Store, but also being the first recipients of the (virtual) MacMacDev -applicationDidShip: award!

Apparently the recent addition of our mailing list made Mail very happy, but iCal started to exhibit signs of jealousy. So, in a desperate attempt to bring harmony back to the dock: introducing the MacMacDev calendar!

Subscribe to webcal://www.macmacdev.com/macmacdev.ics and get the latest meeting details delivered direct to iCal.

If your email Inbox is feeling unloved, perhaps even jealous of all the RSS feeds winging their way to your news reader, perhaps this will cheer it it: introducing the MacMacDev mailing list!

Keep the chat going in-between meetings, say all the things you want to say but don’t want to post as a comment on the blog, or just say “Hi!” to Mac developers at the other side of the country. Plus it’ll also have details of upcoming meetings so there’s no excuse for forgetting to turn up!

To subscribe, send an email to list-subscribe at macmacdev dot com, and await your confirmation email. To post to the list, just send your email to list at macmacdev dot com. Any problems, let me know: david at macmacdev dot com.

Finally, in the spirit of “What happens at MacMacDev stays at MacMacDev” there currently isn’t a viewable archive of mail, so subscribe now or miss out!

The Pet Shop Boys advocated that we should ‘Go West’, but Apple said ‘Think Different’, hence ‘Go East’.

Not content with getting started, and joining forces with NSScotland, we’re thinking of going east as well: Edinburgh to be precise. So, who would be interested in attending a MacMacDev in Edinburgh? Should we have them on the same day as the Glasgow meetings (so we can iChat from coast to coast?) or different days (so anyone who wanted to could go to both?)

Give me your feedback - either in the comments, or email david at macmacdev dot com.

It appears that Scottish-based Mac Developer groups are like buses: you wait for ages, and then two come along at once.

We’re pleased to announce that MacMacDev are now joining forces with NSScotland, in a combined effort to create a truly awesome Mac Developer community in Scotland.

Many thanks to Gavin for his help in making this happen.

Welcome to MacMacDev: the group for Mac Developers in Scotland.

In Scotland? Use Macs? Write code? Come and join MacMacDev. Doesn’t matter if you’re writing for the desktop, the iPhone, or for the web, as long as you’re doing development work on the Mac you’re more than welcome.

We meet on the last Thursday of every month for an evening of geeky conversation and code; nothing too formal, no membership fees, no presentations, just socializing, discussing, coding, debugging, and the occasional bout of whining and rumor-mongering.

We look forward to seeing you at the next MacMacDev!