1. Ability to run apps on the Apple TV and use your iOS device as a controller, including multiple devices at the same time
2. Open up Siri to 3rd party apps, although how they work out which app gets to answer the question could be interesting
3. NFC, this could open up some interesting projects
4. Allow companies to create internal documentation using iBooks and give them a secure way of distributing those documents to staff
5. Increase the number of testing devices that can be used
6. Improved battery life on the iPhone
7. 4G iPhone, but at the moment I’m not fussed either way, being based in the UK
8. A nicer gift, like a limited edition iPad (I can dream)

I’ll add to the list as I think of things, but its a start, wonder if any of them will come true.

UPDATES:

• Move away from Google Maps, with the ability to use maps offline

Let me know what you hope to see announced?

See what I do

The actual schedule, without talkers, wasn’t released until later and it looked like the conference was in fact only 1.5 days, talks Friday evening, Saturday and a BBQ on Sunday. I’d already booked my flights and hotel, arriving on the Thursday and coming back on the Monday, as I’d expected 3 full days of iOS talks. A couple of talks were later scheduled for the Friday afternoon, so I signed up for Josh Clark (@globalmoxie), TapWorthy talk.

So when the day arrived to head to Dublin I was heading off feeling pretty disappointed, but saw it as an opportunity to meet Mike again so all would not be lost.

I’m pleased to say that once the Friday talks started my disappointment vanished, Josh’s session was fantastic, really got you thinking about how to go about designing apps. Then the evening bash at the Sugar Club, was just inspired, the talk by Horace Dediu (@asymco) was informative and Aral Balkan (@aral) brought amazing humour to the evening, I’ll never forget the toilet videos.

We all agreed by the end of the first day that the conference was worth attending and we still had a day to go!

The main talks could not of been better, all of the speakers were enthusiastic about their subjects and gave everyone a lot to think about. A couple really stood out for me, Chris Harris (@_ChrisHarris) gave a demo of the app he created for the BBC, Wonders of the Universe. During a break he also showed me how he had created all of the graphical content using the iPad itself, using the power of the device to the max. The other talk was by Jim Dalrymple (@jdalrymple), writer of the blog The Loop, it was interesting to hear the app marketing nightmare from the other side of the fence.

There was also plenty of time to talk to fellow attendees, and as a freelancer this was as important as the talks themselves. You realise that you are part of a community, that there are others out there trying to do the same as you, with the same doubts and uncertainty, and that really does help. The BBQ on the Sunday just kept that feeling of community going, what a great idea.

I’m now ashamed of my initial disappointment, as the old saying goes “don’t judge a book by its cover”. The conference was one of the best I’ve ever attended both speakers and fellow attendees. The organisers, Paul Campbell (@paulca) and Dermot Daly (@dermdaly), did an amazing job and deserve a big THANK YOU.

I can’t wait for next years conference, I just hope they don’t sell out as quickly as WWDC

If you have any ideas on helping the community grow you can also post comments on the forum

This is a copy of a blog entry I originally wrote for ios-blog

There are a number of apps in the App Store that launch with a set of closed doors, these are then opened to present the actual UI underneath it.

I had to create this effect for an app I wrote for a client http://itunes.com/apps/jkmuaythai

I’d assumed when I started that this would be a relatively simple task, just take the initial default image, cut it in half and a simple bit of animation would move them out of the way. What I hadn’t counted on is getting the orientation of the device from launch is not straightforward. The trick is to remember that the first view that is loaded will always assume it’s in Portrait mode, the view is then informed via the willRotate method that in fact the orientation is different and you can then handle this appropriately. The second trick is knowing that the willRotate takes a little bit of time to fire, so it’s now a simple case of delaying the call to the method that handles the animation.

The viewWillAppear method loads the images assuming that the view is in portrait and sets up a timer to call the openDoors method

-(void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    //All apps start in portrait mode, with the home button at the bottom,
    //If the device is being held with the home button in any other location then a
    //willRotate is fired!
    isPortrait = YES;
    doorsClosed = YES;

    //We assume we are in portrait mode until told otherwise
    self.leftDoor.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"DoorLeftiPadPortrait.png"];
    self.rightDoor.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"DoorRightiPadPortrait.png"];
    self.backgroundSplash.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"SlideBackgroundiPadPortrait.png"];

    //Add a delay to the open doors sequence, this allows the OS to determine
    //the correct orientaion and fire the all important willRotate

    [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval: 3.5
                                     target: self
                                   selector: @selector(openDoors)
                                   userInfo: nil
                                    repeats: NO];
}

The willRotate method then ensures that the correct image is loaded

- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation {
    return YES;
}

-(void)willRotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)toInterfaceOrientation duration:(NSTimeInterval)duration {
    isPortrait = UIDeviceOrientationIsPortrait(toInterfaceOrientation);
    if (!isPortrait) {
        //If the doors haven't already been opened then change them to the landscape ones
        if (doorsClosed) {
            self.leftDoor.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"DoorLeftiPadLandscape.png"];
            self.rightDoor.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"DoorRightiPadLandscape.png"];
        }
        self.backgroundSplash.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"SlideBackgroundiPadLandscape.png"];
    } else {
        self.backgroundSplash.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"SlideBackgroundiPadPortrait.png"];
    }
}

The openDoors method then just works out how far to move the images and kicks of the animation, I’ve included the old UIView beginAnimation and the Blocks way

-(void)openDoors {
    //Determine how far the doors need to move for them to disappear from view
    float adjust = (CGRectGetWidth(self.view.frame) > CGRectGetHeight(self.view.frame)) ? CGRectGetWidth(self.view.frame) : CGRectGetHeight(self.view.frame);
    //Retrieve the original frame and then adjust the X position accordingly
    CGRect leftFrame = self.leftDoor.frame;
    CGRect rightFrame = self.rightDoor.frame;;

    leftFrame.origin.x = -adjust;
    rightFrame.origin.x += adjust;

//Old School Animation

//Set up the animation, change the frames and commit it
//	[UIView beginAnimations:@"swipe" context:nil];
//	[UIView setAnimationDuration:1.2];
//	[UIView setAnimationDelay:0.0];
//	[UIView setAnimationDelegate:self];
//
//      self.leftDoor.frame = leftFrame;
//	self.rightDoor.frame = rightFrame;
//
//	[UIView commitAnimations];

//Blocks
    [UIView animateWithDuration:1.2
                     animations:^{
                        self.leftDoor.frame = leftFrame;
                        self.rightDoor.frame = rightFrame;
                     }
    ];

    doorsClosed = NO;
}

Note this effect only works if the app is launching for the first time, i.e. not from the background.

I’ve put together a sample project that puts this all into practice

https://github.com/Flexicoder/OpenDoorsDemo

Hope you find this useful, or if you have a better way of creating the same effect please let me know

See what I do

• What are the target platforms, iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Mobile?
• If iPhone do you want a universal version, i.e. the same app runs on iPhone and iPad (thanks @ithain)
• Whats the target audience?
• Do you have an idea of how you want the app to flow?
• Are there existing apps out there that do something similar, if there are what are they and what will make this one different?
• Are there existing apps that you like the style of or the way they work?
• Will you apply for your own developers licences so that the app is submitted under your name?
• Will the app be free, sold for a one off fee, have in-app purchases or have subscriptions?
• Who will supply the artwork?
• Does the app need to be location aware?
• Ideas of timescale for release? (thanks @MrAntix)
• Are there any hosting requirements? (thanks @MrAntix)
• Third party services integration requirements? (thanks @MrAntix)
• Any social media integration?

And if the app contains dynamic data the following are also important questions…

• How will the app access the data?
• Have the web services that supply the information been designed/written?
• Would you require a content management system to update information contained in the app?
• If its a Corporate app, what back end data do you need to access and synchronise (thanks @ithain)

Obviously the answers to these questions are likely to lead to more specific questions, but it helps with the thought process involved with what might be required

I would be really interested to know if there are any other questions you ask that I’ve not included?

See what I do

Turns out that as it creates the underlying png for some reason it saves it in a flipped format, therefore you need to load the png into your favourite graphics package and flip it vertically before using it in your project

See what I do

http://webtreats.mysitemyway.com/

At the moment you have to specify the names using the CFBundleIconFiles

This is also a useful link to the Apple site that explains what icons are need for what device

See what I do