This is just a quick note to fmTuner users — WordPress 2.7 is out, and fmTuner needed a few minor appearance tweaks, which are now present in version 1.0.4. So, if you have the time now, upgrade your blog to WordPress 2.7 and fmTuner to 1.0.4, and you’ll be all set!
(Comments are closed on this entry — any bugs or other issues should be reported on the original fmTuner page. Thanks!)
After hearing the cries of thousands of upset iPhone app developers, Apple has lifted the non-disclosure agreement covering (released) iPhone software. Developers can now freely talk about the inner workings of their applications, write books, publish blog entries, etc. Communicating developers means solutions to common problems get solved and shared, resulting in better software, making the iPhone and iPod Touch platform better as a whole.
For some time I’ve been worried that the NDA was going to remain in place indefinitely, silencing those who Apple needs the most, but it appears Apple has finally taken a positive action to help their App Store environment grow further. If you thought there was some cool stuff on the App Store now, just give it time…
While working on some iPhone and iPod Touch apps, I found that the iPhone OS automatically masks and overlays your application icon for quick and easy development. You supply a square 57×57 pixel image, and it rounds off the corners and overlays the Mac-like gloss to create a consistent look.
When developing an icon for a Touch-based application, it’s handy to be able to see what your rendered creation will look like without going through the hassle of exporting your icon, compiling your code, and running your software every time a change is made. To that end, I present a small Photoshop file which very closely mimics the iPhone-applied mask and gloss, which you can place over top of your in progress icon layers to approximate the final result. Also, if you dislike the gloss, or have something special in mind, you can set a certain flag in the application’s Info.plist to disable the gloss… I hope my Photoshop file will help others create great looking Touch app icons!
Update: By request, I’ve added a 512×512 version of the template as well, so you can get a good feel for what your icon will look like when displayed in iTunes. Both files are now combined in a zip archive, downloadable here.
For those eagerly anticipating Widerbug: Widescreen Firebug for Firefox 3, the wait is over. Firebug 1.2.1 was just recently released, and I’ve merged the Widerbug modifications into the latest version and tested them under Windows XP and Mac OS X on Firefox 3.0.1.
Head on over to the Widerbug page to grab the latest version and get coding, widescreen style!
With all the recent iPhone and iPod Touch news, I was curious what the pricing distribution looked like for apps on the App Store, so I concocted a super-basic App Store pricing chart. While it only covers the 100 most popular App Store prices, it should give developers an idea of where the “sweet spots” for pricing lie.