For an introduction to MapKit, see Ray Wenderlich‘s tutorial post, Introduction to MapKit on iOS. It’s been a while since I did a mapkit tutorial and I thought it was about time I got back to it. This is going to be a simple one, it’s about adding polygon overlays to a map. Say for instance you want to outline an area or a building. In my case I’m going to mark parking buildings on a map. This way visitors to the...

I recently received an email from someone at Blue Orange Games, the makers of Gobblet. If you didn’t know, StackEm is inspired by Gobblet. My cousin and I used to play Gobblet all the time. We carried the board game around with us where-ever we went. Typical games were much shorter than chess and didn’t involve quite as much intensity but it did involve some thought and strategy that made for quick and fun games. I...

I’ve worked with a few designers throughout my stuttered career as a developer. Now as I enter my indie mobile development career phase, I find that I rely on designers even more heavily to make my ideas and structures and algorithms become works of art and function. I’ve compiled 5 tips to help designers when working with developers to give you some insight into what I look for when I’m working with a designer. On the...

Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer’s Guide to Launching a Startup by Rob Walling My rating: 4 of 5 stars As a developer, I’m not necessarily looking to start a business that makes millions of dollars. I’m just looking to start/run a business that lets me work my own hours and live a comfortable life. This book provides some solid advice on starting and running a business by yourself or with a single partner. I think...

In December, we had a very successful iPhone training event in Baltimore. Unfortunately, the event sold out in 3 days and we were unable to accommodate any additional attendees. We had 21 people on a waiting list. So there was no doubt that we were going to do it again. Today, I am pleased to announce that our second 2-day iPhone Programming 101 workshop will be held Saturday, March 12 and Sunday, March 13 from 9am-5pm. This is a...

On Tuesday night, I presented to the Baltimore Mobile Developers group a talk discussing tips for beta testing your iphone apps. I’ve included the presentation in this post but I thought I would highlight some of the key points as well in a post. Beta testing iPhone apps View more presentations from shawngrimes. Getting a UDID First a tip about getting an end user’s UDID so that you can add it to your provisioning profile. ...

Tapworthy by Josh Clark My rating: 4 of 5 stars One of the best books about iPhone development that doesn’t have a single bit of code in it (which is a good thing). This book is completely focused on making good design and interface choices when building your iPhone apps. As a developer with very little design skill, I can’t recommend this book enough. It takes a practical approach to design that makes it easy to understand...