The Daily, a newspaper published exclusively for the iPad, has been a hot topic since it's launch last week. The experience, however, is less than spectacular. The app may eventually live up to the hype, but there are too many performance problems for me to even open it anymore.

The Daily Carousel Performance

The Daily Carousel Reimplemented

@property(nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet
CustomUIActionSheetViewController *customUIActionSheetViewController;

- (void)showCustomView {   
    [self.navigationController.view
        addSubview:self.customUIActionSheetViewController.view];

    [self.customUIActionSheetViewController viewWillAppear:NO];
}

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = [[[UIBarButtonItem alloc] 
        initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAction 
        target:self 
        action:@selector(showCustomView)] autorelease];
}

@property(nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIView *actionSheetView;

- (IBAction) slideOut;

- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    [self slideIn];	
}

- (void)slideIn {
    //set initial location at bottom of view
    CGRect frame = self.actionSheetView.frame;
    frame.origin = CGPointMake(0.0, self.view.bounds.size.height);
    self.actionSheetView.frame = frame;
    [self.view addSubview:self.actionSheetView];
	
    //animate to new location, determined by height of the view in the NIB
    [UIView beginAnimations:@"presentWithSuperview" context:nil];
    frame.origin = CGPointMake(0.0, 
        self.view.bounds.size.height - self.actionSheetView.bounds.size.height);
	
    self.actionSheetView.frame = frame;
    [UIView commitAnimations];
}

- (void) slideOut {
    [UIView beginAnimations:@"removeFromSuperviewWithAnimation" context:nil];
	
    // Set delegate and selector to remove from superview when animation completes
    [UIView setAnimationDelegate:self];
    [UIView setAnimationDidStopSelector:@selector(animationDidStop:finished:context:)];
	
    // Move this view to bottom of superview
    CGRect frame = self.actionSheetView.frame;
    frame.origin = CGPointMake(0.0, self.view.bounds.size.height);
    self.actionSheetView.frame = frame;
	
    [UIView commitAnimations]; 
}

- (void)animationDidStop:(NSString *)animationID finished:(NSNumber *)finished context:(void *)context {
    if ([animationID isEqualToString:@"removeFromSuperviewWithAnimation"]) {
        [self.view removeFromSuperview];
    }
}

I just bought Keynote Remote for my iPhone. It is very simple, has the option to display presenter notes, and is absurdly simple to link to Keynote and start controlling presentations. What was a little more involved was that I wanted to use it regardless of whether there is a wireless network around or not. Since Keynote Remote requires a wi-fi connection here's what I'm doing to get around this little annoyance. Basically all you need to do is set up an ad-hoc wireless network with your Mac, and have your iPhone connect to that network. Voila! So, when there's no wireless network available, I just use my handy-dandy Verizon Wireless USB760 Modem to connect to the Internet, and I can still control presentations with Keynote Remote.

So, after having actually written a blog entry covering each day of the iPhone bootcamp at Big Nerd Ranch, I thought a more broad summary would be in order. (That, and I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight this evening.) Anyway, the iPhone bootcamp was my second BNR class (I took the Cocoa bootcamp last April and wrote a summary blog about it here.)

As with the Cocoa bootcamp, I had a great time and learned a ton about iPhone development. I met a lot of really cool and interesting people with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. This seems to be a trend at BNR, that the people who attend are people who have a variety of knowledge and experience, and bring totally different perspectives to the class. The students who attend are also highly motivated people in general, which, when combined with excellent instruction and great lab coding exercises all week, makes for a great learning environment.

Another interesting thing that happens at BNR is that in this environment, you somehow don't burn out and can basically write code all day every day and many people keep at it into the night hours. I think this is due to the way the BNR classes combine short, targeted lecture with lots and lots and lots of hands-on coding. In addition, taking an afternoon hike through untouched nature really helps to refresh you and keep energy levels up. (Maybe if more companies, and the USA for that matter, encouraged this kind of thing people would actually be more productive rather than less.) And because of the diversity of the students, every meal combines good food with interesting conversation.

So, thanks to our instructors Joe and Brian for a great week of learning and to all the students for making it a great experience. Can't wait to take the OpenGL bootcamp sometime in the future.