iPhone Application Programming

Tonight, I’m taking an “iPhone Application Programming” course at Stanford University. Yes really! And you can join me too! The course is taught by actual Apple employees and is available on iTunes U — which I love! You can download all the course videos and PDFs for free and learn at your own pace.

To find this course, search for ‘iPhone” on iTunes and it’s the first link under iTunes U, or just go to the direct iTunes link.

My AudioBoo

This is my vlog entry about the Stanford course.

Related Links

• iPhone Application Programming on iTunes U
• Stanford CS193 Course Page

Popularity: 2% [?]

Coder Girl

Being a coder girl myself, I greatly appreciate this ode to female programmers. Totally awesome. Thanks Dale Chase! You’re quite talented and amazing. These lyrics are tight!

My favorite part of the song is:

A cross-platform version I can work with

She’s not wrapped in flash

all she wants is her java and a shell to bash

While, she’s a sight to C, plus

Her smile glimmers just like a Ruby does

Check out the rest of the lyrics to this amazingly written song.

Related Links

• Dale Chase Website
• Dale’s Twitterstream
• Coder Girl Song Lyrics

Popularity: 4% [?]

Blackberry App: TweetCaster

I wish I had a Blackberry to try out TweetCaster! I know Blackberry users didn’t have many choices for Twitter apps, so this one looks very promising. The funny thing is, @RichDocekal brought it to my attention because Blackberry Cool.com took a screenshot with my tweet in it. :) It was a nice surprise, thanks Rich and BBCool!

So if you’re using a Blackberry, try it out and let me know how it is!

Here’s more information about the app from Blackberry Cool.com:

A new Twitter client has hit the BlackBerry world, this one by Handmark. TweetCaster, is a free* Twitter app that is available exclusively for BlackBerry.

The user interface looks fairly clean, and it comes with all the basic Twitter functionality. Some of the features you’ll find with this client include:

• Ability to toggle between multiple accounts
• URL shortening
• Picture sharing
• One-step @reply and retweet capabilities
• GPS locator to find Twitter friends near you
• Real-time trending topics list

TweetCaster is currently the only Twitter application for BlackBerry smartphones offering the ability to toggle between multiple accounts.

Download TweetCaster by Handmark for your BlackBerry from tinyurl.com/TweetCaster. (*They’re asking for a Tweet in exchange)

-Blackberry Cool.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

iPhone Games Page

I have to say, it’s a totally new gaming experience on the iPhone. With my iPod Touch (1st generation), I had to wear headphones to hear the sounds. But having the sound just play freely on the iPhone is pretty awesome. It makes making video reviews much more interesting as well!

The iPod Touch and iPhone have replaced my Nintendo DS Lite for some time now. You can’t blame me since iPhone games costs so much less than DS Lite ones! And after much finger flexing and icon dragging and dropping, my gaming page is organized on my iPhone. This is only the first page out of a few, but it’s the one I use the most! The only bad part about moving over to the iPhone is having to start over on all my games. At least this time, there’s sound. :) I hope there’s a way to save games in between devices in the future.

So, what are your favorite iPhone/iPod Touch games?

• Rolando / iTunes $5.99 / Lite Available
• Rolando 2 / iTunes / $9.99 / Lite Available
• Sally’s Spa / iTunes / $0.99 / Lite Available
• Sally’s Salon / iTunes / $0.99
• Dizzy Bee / iTunes / $2.99 / Lite Available
• Dizzy Bee 2 / iTunes / $2.99 / Lite Available
• Cooking Mama / iTunes / $6.99 / Lite Available
• Bed Bugs / iTunes / $1.99
• Chop Sushi / iTunes / $2.99 / Lite Available
• Topple 2 / iTunes / $0.99 / Topple 1 is Free
• SEGA Columns Deluxe / iTunes / $1.99
• Super Monkey Ball Lite / iTunes / Full Version $5.99 / (Lite version not available anymore)
• Mega Man II Lite / iTunes / Full Version $4.99
• Must.Eat.Birds / iTunes / $0.99
• I Love Katamari / iTunes / $7.99 / Lite Available
• Critter Crunch Lite / iTunes / Full Version $1.99

Tip: Always try out the LITE versions (if available) before buying games. You want to know that you’ll enjoy it before making a big purchase. Enjoy!

Popularity: 14% [?]

iPhone Photography Apps

Now that I have an iPhone, I can actually use Photography iPhone apps! I’ve downloaded a few, but I thought I’d ask the experts. ;)

So I sent out a tweet asking for Photography iPhone suggestions and got some wonderful responses! Here they are in case you’re looking for Photography iPhone Apps too:

emilychang @daynah pano (love), camerabag, mobile fotos (to upload to flickr if u don’t want to use email), pixelpipe (cross-upload to services)

christyxcore @daynah photogene/photoforge for editing. Colorsplash, camerabag, photo fx..

NctrnlBst RT @daynah: Looking for good photography iPhone apps. Any suggestions? :) ~ Eye-Fro! Hours of fun for the entire family!

Fee501st @daynah I like CameraBag http://bit.ly/v5Y4M

colinrcampbell @daynah pano

johngarcia @daynah camera bag is pretty good!

jackiefreeman photogene is my fave!!

heyitskenn @daynah Flickit for uploading to flickr… Camerabag, nightcamera, and Pano.

Thanks so much for the tweets! I greatly appreciate them. :)

Popularity: 2% [?]

My New iPhone 3Gs!

It’s a boy.. and a girl! @dragonal and I finally made the plunge to get iPhones tonight. We waited for a very long time. I’ve been using my iPod Touch for the past few years to test out apps, but having an iPhone is much more convenient. Now I don’t have to worry about finding wifi hotspots for certain apps. The important upgrade was actually having a camera, and the auto-focus on the new one is quite nice.

We arrived at the Apple Store (made an appointment online first of course), and they gave us a ticket and said someone will be with us soon. The moment the guy stepped away, another Apple Genius came by and took our tickets. Very fast service! After filling out the online form to get the first phone activated, the Apple Genius got a glimpse of @dragonal’s HTC Magic (G2) phone and was so excited about it. LOL He kept wanting to take it to show his friends. I guess they see nothing but iPhones all day huh? ;) Well, there’s a geek moment for you!

Then the second phone was activated. The Apple Genius mentioned something about 6 hours before everything is moved over — not surprised because the last time I changed services, it took 24 hours. Surprisingly, the moment after I was given back the phone, it was all activated and both voice + data worked. Wow. So activation probably took 1 or 2 minutes! We were in and out of the Apple Store in no time.

Afterward, we sat down on a nearby bench, downloading apps. Our phones felt naked. ;) I’m a very happy camper. Now I just need to buy accessories, like a car-charger. My iPod Touch car-charger apparently is not made for the iPhone.

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Popularity: 1% [?]

PHP: mysql_insert_id()

Sometimes it is necessary to get the ID value of the last record you inserted into a MySQL database.

For example, let’s say you have a shopping cart function that added records into the database. But you need to print out a receipt that includes the item tracking number. And this tracking number would be the record’s ID value, which is also the PRIMARY KEY of the table.

An easy way to do this in PHP is by using the function mysql_insert_id().
NOTE: This will only work for AUTO_INCREMENT fields.

Pretend STEP 1 is a form with a list of items. If you change the QUANTITY of the item, and submit, you will be at STEP 2, which is the sample code below.
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Popularity: 2% [?]

iPhone App Review: Bed Bugs

Name: Bed Bugs (iTunes Link)
Written By: Igloo Games
Category: Games
Price: $1.99
Size: 14.0 MB
Requirements: iPhone / iPod Touch
Version: 1.1 (iPhone OS 3.0 Tested)
Rate: 4.5 Stars

“Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

That’s what people say when you’re heading off to dreamland. Sleep should be relaxing and peaceful time, but that’s not the case for the poor sleepwalker in “Bed Bugs.” From the makers of “Dizzy Bee,” comes a lovable game about a little guy who sleep walks through the night and gets in all sorts of danger. You, as the player, must let him dream away while you squish and protect him of the bed bugs!
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Popularity: 2% [?]

if $IE

I was working on a web project and I usually start with Firefox to test things. Then Safari, Chrome, and then IE. By the time I got to IE, I noticed that my hard work was just not viewable. Argh. So I tweeted out:

function browserCh()
{
     $a = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
     $IE = ((eregi("MSIE",$a) || eregi("Microsoft",$a)))==1; 

     if($IE)
        return 'Bad Browser!';
}

I got a laugh at some of the responses.. :)

@honging : daynah, i prefer: <style type="text/css">* html body { display: none; }</style> ;)

@j_holtslander: @daynah that was kinda hot. LOL.

@robflynn43: @daynah Haha, browserCh() made me happy. You win a high five, redeemable any time you see me. =)

@ialexs@daynah :D (re: bad browser)

Popularity: 2% [?]

Shelfari

Shelfari has been one of my favorite websites in the past few months. I’m so thankful that my friend Mike invited me. It’s another book social network, but what makes this one different is the amazing user interface. I absolutely love seeing the book covers on an actual shelf. Adding books, reviews, and discussions are quite easy as well. Join the community so we can recommend books to each other. ;)

Here are some IT-related books that I read/want to read:

I enjoy reading books with topics in sci-fi, fantasy, technology, social media, library 2.0, and scrapbooking. Come join me on Shelfari. I’m also on GoodReads and LibraryThing if you prefer those book social networks.

Popularity: 3% [?]

gdgt Launched!

There’s one thing that you need to know about me if you don’t already — I LOVE GADGETS. I’m a total gadget geek and I’m sure a lot of you are as well. I had two friends call me “Mary Poppins” recently because I was pulling all sorts of random gadgets out of my purse. I’ll take it as a compliment since she’s quite a lovely lady. :)

So what can make me more happier than having a new shiny toy to play with? Joining a social network built around a community of shiny gadgets of course! I joined gdgt today and absolutely love the concept and community. The website is run by Ryan Block and Peter Rojas — two amazing gadget gurus, along with with the rest of the gdgt team!

So how does it work? My friend Veronica will tell you how!

Read more

Popularity: 4% [?]

Quick Tip: View Source in Firefox 3.5

I recently updated my browser to FireFox 3.5 and discovered a very useful feature. While looking at the source code of my webpage, I noticed that all anchor links were clickable. Clicking on them will let you view the source code of that link. Clicking on image links will display the image. This comes in very handy since I look at the source code of my projects often to make sure scripts are outputting the correct HTML codes.

To view the source code of a page, go to “View -> Page Source.”

Hope you enjoyed this tip of the day. :)

Popularity: 4% [?]