October 24, 2011

iPad 1 multi-gestures on iOS5

Since I upgraded my iPad 1st generation to iOS5 I started to look around for the previous Settings menu item – “Multitasking gestures”. For previous OS versions it used to be there, enabled after having put my iPad in development mode, but now it was gone, vanished forever.
I’ve tried to put the iPad in development mode again (by using it to test iOS apps from within XCode) but to no avail. It looked like a bleak future, one where I’d be angry with Apple for downgrading old devices by removing previous features, just so that they could make iPad 2 a bit more appealing.
Luckily a random chat today with an online friend gave me the answer; apparently it has been known to many others since appearing on Lifehacker and Gizmodo : there is a tool in town that does just this – instead of jailbreaking the iPad, it simply activates the Multitasking gestures once more. You can download it from here. And, if you get tired trying to put your iPad in DFU mode following redsn0w’s bad tips, you can try the method in this youtube video, which worked perfectly for me.

Result? Multitasking gestures work again for me, and I’m a happier iPad user.
The end.

October 14, 2011

Codesign issue – object file format invalid or unsuitable

Stack Overflow should receive the Nobel peace prize for removing 90% of developer’s wasted days, frustration and nerves So much frustration.
Thank you, Joel and Jeff for creating StackOverflow.
Like today, when it helped me with a bizzarre issue where codesigning my OSX app was failing on XCode 4.1..
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4842717/iphone-codesign-object-file-format-invalid-or-unsuitable

PS. Or this one

The problem with ebook apps

Phew, what a past couple of weeks! First of all, iPhone4S and Siri goodness. Then, Steve’s passing away (may he rest in peace). Then, my accidentally deleting the database for this blog(no, I didn’t have backups; no, there don’t seem to be any automatic Dreamhost backups in place; no, I don’t really care about it enough to ask them; I find the Internet too crowded with non-removable stuff anyways and I think a change will do me good).

But the thing that really kept me busy these past two weeks was working on my TouchBooksReader ebook app framework and its website. Before you leave this page to go there, let me tell you a few things: TouchBooksReader was the focus of most my development efforts since 2009 til now and it represents a reusable iOS static library together with UI resources(Xibs, images) that I(and anyone willing to pay the license) can use to put together nice looking powerful ebook apps like Self Help Classics, Business Inspiration Classics and more. Basically, I extracted and isolated all the ebook-reading-specific code and put it into a reusable library. And after the last two weeks, TouchBooksReader even has a site, of which I am pretty proud, considering my limited (web)design skills(best looking site I’ve ever built – and maybe I’ll add a post soon about how I made it with Twitter bootstrap and nanoc).
* Read the rest of this entry » *

October 7, 2011

Stuff sometimes happens

Where are all the posts of this blog? Where have they disappeared?
Flushed. Gone forever. Poof.

The day before yesterday, I was making some cleanup of my Dreamhost old domains, databases and users and removed some of them that I no longer recognized. It turns out alexbrie.com was actually using one of those databases (instead of its own database). Damn.

Shit happens. Great people die, we lose or break stuff. If life were logical or linear, it would be boring. But that’s why we need to be agile, adapt, recreate and reinvent; we need to survive and move on, and continue the legacy.

This being said, farewell Steve. You were a visionary, great businessman and a brilliant inventor. We will miss you.

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