Month: February 2016

The CN Turbo Train

Posted on by manitobaninja

TurboTrain

Still shot from 1970 Turbo Train promotional video.

This post has nothing to do with coding or iOS development or design or marketing. It is simply I want to share because I find it to be fantastic and awesome. And it shows one of the most wonderful aspects of the internet, the ability for some amazing old videos and photos to be shared for all to see instead of being locked away in a storage room somewhere. Although these videos have been online for almost 7 years I never get tired of watching them.

For those who don’t know about the CN Turbo Train (which is likely many Canadians and everyone who isn’t from Canada), this was a project started in the late 60’s to develop a high speed train for the corridor between Toronto and Montreal. It was a joint venture of Canadian National Railways and United Aircraft and was meant to be a radical rethink of the typical diesel powered passenger train (electric trains in Europe and Japan had already started to go down this path). While these trains did operate in the United States as well they were primarily used in Canada, up until 1982 after they had become part of VIA Rail’s operations and subsequently retired. Read More

Swift socks!

Posted on by manitobaninja

Do you love Swift? Do you love socks? On March 1st you will be able to order a pair of these fashionable, yet still subtly nerdy orange and white socks by clicking here to go to the Knitout.com campaign. The campaign will end on March 14, 2016 and you won’t be charged until the goal has been reached.
swiftsocks

Whether for yourself or the coder in your life you won’t want to miss out on these!

A patronage and crowd funding hybrid revenue model for indie developers.

Posted on by manitobaninja

One of the biggest challenges indie developers face is how to break away from the race to the bottom when its comes to the pricing of apps. Free and freemium apps seem to have won out and changed consumers expectations of what they should or should not have to pay for. And when new alternatives are suggested, or attempted, I am always fascinated to see what they might offer to developers. Two of these in particular, patronage, and crowd funding seemed like they could have offered some help. But both seem to have offered little to indie mobile developer, and have several key flaws holding them back.

By examining and understanding the flaws of these two models it then becomes possible to see how a hybrid between the two could potentially create a new revenue model for app developers. It is this hybrid model that I want to lay out and send into the ether of the internet. Hopefully it will further discussions already under way and spark some peoples imaginations on what new, alternative, revenue models may exist for indie developers. Read More

More Than Just Code (MTJC): A lo-fi Apple development podcast worth listening to

Posted on by manitobaninja

With every passing week it seems that someone is starting up yet another tech podcast. And why not? You can do it cheaply, and you are probably talking with your friends about this stuff already, so why not record it and see what happens. But how can all these podcasts be that different from each other? Well the answer is most are not. The mainstream podcasts that focus on Apple and its hardware, software, and culture, are much like a new suburban development where the houses are technically different from each other, but the overall landscape possesses a harsh sameness to it. And out of this environment has grown a clique of Apple-centric podcasters that get stronger everyday where these “cool kids” continue to come up with new hosting combinations of themselves that can be spun-off into yet one more podcast. Are they entertaining? Maybe, that all depends on what you would consider to be entertaining. Do they offer some value or insight to a new or up and coming indie developer? Nope, not at all.

Enter the More Than Just Code Podcast (MTJC). On the surface it has a lot of things going against it, but while some might perceive these quirks as flaws they are in fact the reason why it works so well.  Read More

Swift books for your reading enjoyment

Posted on by manitobaninja

Despite all the great videos and tutorials you have easy access too thanks to the magic of the internet,  books are still hard to beat when it comes to learning. In the early days Swift books were tough to find, mostly because it took time for people to learn the language well enough too then write a book on it! Now this is changing quickly and each week it seems like there is a new book, be it beginner or advanced, being released on Swift.

The ones I have picked below are either based on my experience using them, overwhelming regard for it by the Swift community, the authors reputation and previous experience, or a combination of all three. So without further ado here they are.

Swift Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide by Matthew Mathias and John Gallagher

Big Nerd Ranch is a bit of a juggernaut when it comes to books on helping you learn iOS, Swift, Cocoa for OSX and probably much more that I haven’t even seen yet. While I did not read this book, it consistently gets great reviews and feedback from those who have, and is a constant top recommendation by people of all experience levels. So if you liked any other Big Nerd Ranch books, or just want to pick something that is a safe bet and a good price then you probably won’t go wrong with this book. Read More

Resources for learning Swift

Posted on by manitobaninja

One of the challenges someone wanting to learn Swift faces right out of the gate is knowing where to start in terms of learning resources. Because Swift is still a young, new, and evolving language it has not yet built up the knowledge base you would find with other languages and because it continues to evolve it is key that the information you are getting is up to date as well!

This is the launch page for the collection of Swift learning resources I have put together. It will not remain static. New resources will be added as they are released, and ones that are no longer relevant will be removed. I am not listing every resource I have ever come across either. The only things I am listing are material that I have used, or taken a really good look at, and found to be genuinely helpful. If you have something that you think is worth adding to any of the lists then let me know. You can leave a comment below or send me a message on Twitter @ManitobaNinja or @Third_beach Read More

The curious case of Podcasting: Why it hasn’t ever taken off, and why there is nothing wrong with that.

Posted on by manitobaninja

I love podcasts. If you combine movies, television shows, and podcasts into one group then podcasts account for at least 75% of my total media viewing/listening time, and when Formula 1 is on winter break it is even higher. For myself it is the expressive nature of the medium that really attracts me to it. The long form format gives a chance for conversations to happen naturally between hosts and guests. For shows, such as Spontaneanation and Pistol Shrimps Radio, two that I cannot recommend enough, the relatively low cost of simply recording audio and hosting a podcast means that gonzo improv can have a place to live (and hopefully thrive). Read More