Thursday, November 25, 2010

Designs for Poker App

Each screens basic functionality 


More Design Basic's these will evolve when working in Adobe Fireworks

Boundary Work I - Technology in practice between art and science


This Art Exhibition was displayed in Wandesford Quay Gallery between Friday 12th November to the 27th of November and was coordinated by Paul Green. The exhibition was separated into three areas. 
  1. Scientists who produce images as a by-product of their research activity.
  2. Artists who use tools or methods associated with the practice of science .
  3. Designers who examine how technologies are redefined through their use in everyday situations.
The exhibition is the first in a series of exhibitions to display artwork that is a mediator between art and science. Boundary Work I is to fill the gap between art and science with the use of technology as a common medium. What I liked about the exhibition was the fact you have images of artists which were done specifically as an artwork and probably done so carefully and precisely next to images from scientists that were only a by-product of their research and would usually be disposed after their basic use but instead their treated as pieces of art. There is a few picture of some of the work below for more information visit their website here





ACER's New Double Touchscreen Laptop

Acer are really thinking ahead with this new laptop with the obvious graduation of a dual screen multi-touch Acer Iconia laptop. It has matching touchscreen's for top and bottom making keyboards and touch pad redundant. It supports 10-finger multi-touch and you can use either screen as your virtual keyboard. The Acer ring seems to have replaced the touchpad as it is a segmented wheel interface that gives multi-finger access to media and various Acer apps.
The Iconia incorporates an Intel Core i5 processor that is supported by 4GB of memory and 640GB of storage. It uses Windows 7 Home Premium as its operating system. The only issue I have with the Acer Iconia is the asking price of £1,500 which is fairly costly for an laptop hat is only appealing because of its dual 1,366 x 768 touch screens.


VIA: CNET

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Nostromo's New PC Gaming Keypad

Razor are ready to evolve PC-gaming with this new extravagant control pad.  Razor has collaborated with Belkin once again to try change PC-gaming once again. They previously collaborated to create the hugely successful n52e Speedpad and the Nostromo is an updated version of the n52e Speedpad so it can stay updated with today's gaming technology. The Nostromo boasts unlimited macro lengths (thanks to the new chipset and driver combination), ability to now store up to 20 profiles (compared to only 10 in the Speedpad) and impressively the capability of switching between 8 key maps along with customizable 8-way directional thumb pad and scroll wheel. This a must get if your a hardcore gamer and can be bought for an affordable 69.99euro.

HP's Multitasking Printer

This is the new HP Envy 100 with the usual expected functionality Print Scan Copy but with a twist Web! You connect to the wi-fi and you are able to have the ability to use ePrint. This is allowing a user access to wireless printing via email. This device comes with apps. Apps with a printer sure its not one of those new high tech tablets? Well HP claims "With the Envy, you'll have your apps, and like them!". These apps can be accessed on the elegant LCD touchscreen that will present numerous preloaded apps. As with most apps you have useful ones and time waster ones such as the Tic-Tac-Toe game. It useful ones are very helpful tho in contrast, there is an Google map app so you can quickly print out a map instead of going finding it on your desktop and going through all the hassle involved in the process. Also there is another nice little perk with this it comes in a tote bag in comparison to that disastrous wasteful packaging associated with printers.  
                                                                            Okay now to see does it do the simple things a Print Scan Copy device is expected to do. The device only has a capacity of 80 sheets a time  and  a mere two-ink-cartridge bay which in turn produces average to say the least photo quality which is disappointing. It only prints 4.5 pages per minute. Copying and scanning and very easy accomplished and complexity is kept to a minimum. The Envy 100 will cost you $250 making it expensive when compared to similar devices. The ePrint option and the possibility of getting some quiet useful apps the Envy 100 would be worth splashing out for if you can utilize these features.
   
VIA: Wired

Sunday, November 21, 2010

My iPhone App Progress

Monday 15th
Read up on Human Interface Guidelines
Still was comparing view based vs control based screens


Tuesday 16th
Understanding the Moveme examples
- touchesMoved
- touchesBegan
- touchesEnded
- touchesCancelled


I downloaded the sample code of the apple website so I could see what it does in the simulator


Wednesday 17th
Decided to go with a root controller as with the classes its a more structured setup as each view has their own class. If i selected view based it wouldn't have been as organised. I had to make examples of each option to fully understand them.


Thursday 18th 2:00 - 9:30
 I began the payout structure. A user would enter the pot amount then select how many players they wish to payout the screen would divide the pot amount adequately.


It took me around 3-4 hours to get used to the objective C syntax properly this involved referencing to objective C books and doing tutorials online. Even just learning the protocols of working with the iphone interface builder and objective C was challenging for example I had to convert values from the interface builder into int or strings from NSNumber or NSString and then convert them back this was learnt the hard way as I investigated the code error by error finally learning the issue. This wouldn't be an issue for a normal developer as they would have been taught iphone development I'm only learning from youtube tutorials and online blogs. of I overcame numerous obstacles and learnt from my mistakes by the end of that night. 


Friday 19th 12:00-6:00
I completed the payout structure (another 2 hours). I also created a money border in fireworks the backgrounds for each screen will be challenging for me and might need assistance to give it a professional look. I then began the blinds screen I created 2 arrays to hold the blind values and used a slider for the user to change them. I must now start on using a blinds timer and I want have an alert when each blind over.


I'am on schedule as my first prototype has 1 screen fully functional and have begun the second prototype already. As I become more familiar with objective C and the interface builder the faster and more efficient i become in iphone development.