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360iDev Denver: iLime building the infrastructure for push, in-app purchase
One sign that the iPhone development world is starting to mature is that companies are beginning to build the infrastructure necessary for devs to enable push notification and in-app purchasing. Usually these functions require a developer to make a significant investment in server hardware and labor to set up and operate the push and/or purchase servers, as well as to write code to integrate those services into their apps.I met with Tim Courtney and Chris Grove of KeyLimeTie yesterday at 360iDev in downtown Denver. Their company's new service, iLime, is a scalable solution consisting of highly reliable server infrastructure and a set of iPhone Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that make it possible for iPhone developers to integrate Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) and in-app purchase easily.iLime is making it very easy for small, independent developers to test the waters of push notification by making their APIs and server prowess available for free for up to the first 25,000 push messages each month. After that point, the service is charged on a per-push basis on a tiered pricing structure that makes higher volume more attractive. For in-app purchasing, iLime simply charges a flat US$0.05 fee for every content purchase made through their service.iLime was first announced at iPhone Dev Camp in August. At 360iDev, iLime announced additional features and detailed documentation of the APIs. Courtney also noted that while there are only a handful of apps in the App Store at this time using iLime's services, several hundred iPhone developers have tested and used the services and they expect a significant number of iLime-enabled apps in the near future.It's great to see KeyLimeTie making the investment in the virtual bricks and mortar that enable push notification and in-app purchasing, so more iPhone devs can take advantage of these iPhone OS features.
Apple approved Gmail app for iPhone. Has hell frozen over?
TechCrunch is reporting today that an iPhone App that utilizes the Apple Push Notification system to let you know you have new Gmail is about to hit the app store. The app, called GPush, is developed by Tiverias Apps, and gives Gmail users an instant notification that new mail has arrived. iPhone users will still have to read their mail, either in a browser or the Apple Mail client, but the notifications will be essentially instant.It's an interesting development, given how badly other Google-related apps have fared of late on the iPhone. The developers of the app say it has been sitting unapproved for a month, and they are wondering about the timing of it suddenly being blessed. Of course this app was not likely to get AT&T all hot and bothered, so it is not a perfect test of a seismic shift in the attitudes around Apple, but any change in the way the App Store works will be interesting to watch.GPush will be US$0.99 for a week, then will be sold for $1.99 after.via: TechCrunch
The mighty mini, take two: DIY video baby monitor
What do you get when you combine a new parent on maternity leave with a love of gadgets and Apple products? Why, you get "baby monitor overkill!" In response to Dave Caolo's recent ode to the Mac mini, I figured it was time to step up. I had two things gathering dust: my old standalone iSight, a gorgeous example of Apple design sadly idle since the advent of built-in iSights, and a lovely new Intel Mac Mini that was recently scored on sale at MicroCenter with plans to set it up for my older two kids once I could get my hands on a small LCD monitor. I figured in the meantime it would serve nicely as a baby monitor, since I couldn't find a matching transmitter/receiver pair among the various baby monitors I had accumulated over the years. My idea was that it would live discreetly, headless and tailless (monitor, keyboard, and mouse-free) in the baby's room, and broadcast both locally on my network and also wide-area so grandparents could tune in remotely. For the initial setup, I needed a monitor, but fortunately my TV has a PC (VGA) port, which I used to configure the mini. I set it to login automatically to the main account and join my Airport network. In System Preferences, I enabled screen sharing and added iChat as a login item. In iChat, I enabled Bonjour and instant messaging, added myself as a buddy, and restricted chats to preapproved users under security preferences. Because I didn't want to connect via screen sharing every time I wanted to initiate a chat, I typed the following into Terminal so that it would auto-accept any incoming video chats: defaults write com.apple.ichat AutoAcceptVCInvitations 1 After that, I set it adrift on the network. From my main computer, I watched the mini pop up on Bonjour after reboot, and we were off and running. While this worked great for my own local use, it had some inherent restrictions: remote users (aka "grandparents who love to watch sleeping grandsons") couldn't join the chat easily. Spouses at work had issues with company restrictions on AIM. Plus, it was iPhone-unfriendly; the holy grail for me was turning the iPhone into a video terminal that followed me around. I went through a few different ideas: private channel on Justin.tv (great for multiple viewers, but awash in advertising, restricted at work, and unavailable on iPhone), Skype (great video, automatic call acceptance and limited iPhone capabilities, but terrible for multiple viewers), and complicated setups involving QuickTime Broadcaster. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel (well, no more than I already was doing), I hit upon SJKM's iCam software, which is an iPhone application & accompanying cross-platform video streaming tool specifically designed for video monitoring, available in the iTunes store for $4.99. Initially dismissed for lack of audio, it has since enabled audio monitoring and non-iPhone web access, making it an almost perfect setup. Why "almost?" Well, for reasons I cannot quite figure out, the video is much choppier than AIM, Bonjour, Justin.tv, or Skype. But it works over 3G and Wi-Fi, and it connects multiple viewers without requiring conference setup. And now, with SJKM's latest update, iCam can run in the background and push notification will alert me to sound or video motion. I have not yet enabled that feature, as it is a $.99 add-on and still pending Apple approval in the store. Ultimately, I ended up using a variety of different applications, but I can report a lot of very satisfied relatives dreamily cooing at the computer screens from Portland, OR, to Philadelphia, PA. All thanks to the mac mini and the standalone iSight. And one very cute baby (if I do say so myself.)Upcoming: that's great, but can you make it work in the dark? Adventures in IR.....
Push Growl notifications to iPhone with Prowl
If you've seen a string of notifications pop up on your screen and then gracefully fade away, you've probably seen Growl; it's the open source & popular system-wide framework that allows applications to let you know when something happens. For instance, a Growl notification might appear to inform you of a newly-arrived email, new mentions on Twitter, a change of song in iTunes, or a download completing in Safari or Transmission. The notification itself is a customizable pop-up that can also include an auditory notification as well. Growl is very flexible; it allows you to choose exactly which events trigger a notice, or pick a particular notification style for a specific event. Growl includes support for hundreds of OS X applications and is one of the first items I install on a new system. Probably the only feature that could make Growl even more awesome is if it were to support forwarding notifications to an iPhone or iPod Touch running 3.0 via the new Push framework. Enter iPhone application Prowl (iTunes link), it is a Growl client for the iPhone that sends your Mac's Growl notifications out to your iPhone. Read on for my experiences and thoughts on the first Growl application for the iPhone.
TUAW interviews OpenFeint's Peter Relan, Net Jacobsson, and Jason Citron
Danielle Cassley and Jason Citron are the folks with their names on Aurora Feint, but as Danielle told us in an interview a while ago, Peter Relan is the real mastermind behind the growing Feint empire. Not only did he put the two together in an idea lab, but he's one of the driving forces behind the OpenFeint enterprise. Under his oversight, the Feint folks have swelled to become one of the major forces behind iPhone gaming (and thus, behind the iPhone's app ecosystem itself).Netanel "Net" Jacobsson is a newer addition -- he's previously worked with Sony Ericsson on their mobile devices and Facebook on their own growing app empire, and now he's arrived at OpenFeint to help them use the lessons he's learned at the biggest online social networks around on their social software. Get the sense of how big this is yet? Relan, Jacobsen, and Citron all have pretty big ideas about where iPhone gaming is going, and as 3.0 comes down the pike and introduces a whole set of new features from Apple, they're in the best seat they can be in to do exactly what they want to do.TUAW sat down with the three last week, and chatted about iPhone 3.0 and why it's such a big deal for developers, how they're going to approach microtransactions (carefully), and what's coming next for OpenFeint now that they've rounded up a whole stable full of developers implementing their backbone. Click "read more" to continue.
AIM and BeejiveIM updated for push support
AOL has updated both its free (download link) and paid versions (download link) of its AIM client for the iPhone. Besides push notification support, the paid version brings with it the ability to message in landscape mode -- although AOL says that the free version will gain this ability in a later release. And if these updates alone aren't enough to fill your Monday iPhone app updating appetites, multi-protocol (which also includes support for AIM) BeejiveIM has also been updated (download link) to support push notifications. Note: AOL Instant Messenger is a product from AOL, which is also the corporate parent of TUAW & Weblogs Inc.
On the lookout for Push Notification apps
We can't wait for iPhone 3.0 to arrive (c'mon, isn't it Wednesday somewhere already?), so in the meantime we're making a list and checking it twice. AppAdvice has posted a short list of apps known or expected to include Push Notification capabilities, including IM+, AP News, Tap Tap Revenge 2.5 and AIM. ESPN's ScoreCenter (promoed at the top of the store earlier today) was also announced as a push-capable app during the original iPhone 3.0 event.We've got a few others that seem to be promising PN capability at or near the 3.0 launch, courtesy of reader Joachim's research help: Beejive IM and ngmoco's Touch Pets Dogs. A quick search of Apptism for 'push notifications' reveals a few more candidates, including David Fletcher's ChatMaster. Searching the iTunes Store itself shows a couple more interesting (and not necessarily shipping) apps: speed trap checker Trapster, killer Jabber/XMPP client OneTeam, personal finance tool BillMinder and IT manager's virtual machine toolkit VManage all list PN on the roadmap but no sign of new versions yet.Once the 3.0 version is released and developers can loose their tongues, we fully expect to hear about scores of updates to take advantage of PN and other new features. If your app is among the revised horde, shoot us a line at our app review address.Thanks to Will for the suggestion.
Rumor: Apple working towards putting background processes on the iPhone
Apple's push notifications sure are neat, but they aren't the brass ring for developers on the iPhone. That, so far, would be background processes. And while Apple has said that background processes would just be too much of a drain on the iPhone's battery, that doesn't mean they don't want them, too. Ars Technica reports that Apple is still trying to figure out a way for certain apps to do it. There's two options laid out here: one is user-based, in which the user actually approves certain apps to run in the background, with the consequence (if you do choose to enable that) of lower battery lifetime. The second has Apple approving apps for background action, allowing certain developers to run based on limits of "resource usage such as RAM or network bandwidth."Obviously, there are pros and cons to each plan -- giving the power to the user means they will be able to choose when the battery is drained (on a particularly busy day, for instance, or when the iPhone is plugged in), but it also means that users will have the ability to crash their own phones (allowing too many background processes could cause issues). And of course, while leaving the choice in Apple's hands will make sure background processing is only used in the "right circumstances," we all know how great Apple is at app approval. Ars concludes on the same point that I would: if background processes are really going to make a difference, they'll likely rely on a future iteration of the iPhone, as the one we've got now is just not built to run apps all the time, no matter who chooses them. Even if Apple is working out a way to run certain apps in the background, they are almost certainly spending more time beefing up the iPhone hardware as well.
Developers get first look at Apple Push Notification service on iPhone OS 3.0 beta
Well, what do you know: it really does exist. Apple's at last showing off push notifications outside the clutches of Cupertino, with registered iPhone developers getting a special version of the Associated Press app to test out on their super fine iPhones running the latest and greatest iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5. Devs are instructed to let Apple know if they don't receive notifications from the app within 48 hours, and it sounds like this is an ideal setting to test out the server and make sure everything is humming along nicely before us proles start choking up the network with our inane Twitter noodlings.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
iPhone 3.0 feature roundup
If you've been listening to all the clamoring on Twitter, or perhaps have seen the updated Apple page, then you know there was an iPhone event today to discuss a new version of the iPhone OS, version 3.0. While you will have to wait until the summer to get the new version (unless you join the developer program), Apple showed off over 100 new features that we're all excited about. iPhone developers are also getting some love from Apple with over 1,000 new APIs. Some of the biggest updates include: Push notifications will be standard in iPhone 3.0. Apple claims that there was a scaling issue when they first announced this feature last year, with thousands of developers clamoring to use it, so it had to be delayed. Developers will be able to build message, sound, and badge alerts into their applications. iPhone will support cut, copy and paste -- copy text and pictures, then paste them in any application on the device. If you change your mind about the newly pasted data, just shake to display a menu asking if you wish to undo the paste. In-App purchasing -- developers will have the ability to charge a fee from within the application for more levels in a game, magazine subscriptions, eBooks, etc. This solves the problem of the 20 ebook readers that only allow you to read one book each. MMS -- you'll be able to use MMS on your iPhone 3G (yes, 1st gen iPhones will not get the fortune of using MMS due to the use of a different cell radio). The new Messages application will be taking the place of the SMS app and will allow you to send voice memos and pictures to your friends. Peer-to-Peer connectivity -- allows iPhone apps the ability to find other iPhone users over WiFi or Bluetooth. This can be using for anything from gaming to sharing data. Third-party Accessories -- app developers can now access third-party accessories attached to the iPhone. This could allow for developers to interface with their own accessories to create a truly unique experience on the device. One of the demonstrated uses was a prototype blood glucose meter for the iPhone, from a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, which is already getting attention from our readers; it's not for sale yet! Apple will now be allowing applications the ability to get GPS coordinates from Core Location and turn that into software that provides Turn-by-Turn directions for iPhone users. However, due to the terms of use with Google maps, developers will be required to license their own maps for this use (meaning that Turn-by-Turn GPS applications will almost certainly be paid apps). This isn't a problem for vendors like TomTom or Telenav, who already have licenses for their map data. A landscape keyboard option is now available in all iPhone applications, including the infamous Mail.app. Voice memos will allow iPhone users the ability to capture audio and then email it, or send it through the Messages application as a multimedia message. System-wide Spotlight searching is built right into the home screen. To the left of the first home screen, there is a magnifying glass, so by flicking to the left of the first home screen will show this search app. You can search for anything, including mail, music, and notes. There is no word yet on how this will interface with third-party applications. Stereo Bluetooth audio devices are now supported through the use of A2DP technology. iPhone owners should note that A2DP technology and the use of MMS will not be available on 1st generation iPhones. This is probably due to the iPhone Bluetooth spec used, and Apple has confirmed (during the Q&A session after the keynote) that MMS is not available because of the cell radio used. iPhone OS 3.0 will be available for regular users "this summer." iPhone developers will be able to get the beta of OS 3.0 sometime today -- Apple is still busy updating their iPhone Dev Center, but we'll let you know when it is available.
In search of Push
Wherefore art thou, Push? Macworld has gone in search of the much-awaited iPhone feature that would let applications get their own notifications even while not necessarily active (so apps like Twitterific could have a little red number on them showing the number of unread tweets, and so on). But the Push system was "pulled" (still makes me laugh) from the 2.1 firmware during the beta phase, and as you probably know by now, it's still not on your iPhone. Unfortunately, there's no official news on the subject (Apple hasn't canceled the service completely, as far as we know, but would they really tell anybody if they did), but Macworld has a few ideas: it could be that Apple has abandoned the system, thinking that it didn't really help as much as they thought it would, or Apple is still working on it, or Apple is working on something even better. Which one of those you decide is true probably depends on what you think about Apple in general, so we'll let you make your own guesses on that. But we will say this: we're near the end of the known roadmap for the iPhone, and people are already talking about a new version of the hardware. If we don't see an update on Push in the next refresh, it's probably likely that the only thing the notification system will be pushing is daises.
Push pulled from latest iPhone firmware beta
AppleInsider says that Apple has yanked the Push notification framework from the latest version of the iPhone 2.1 firmware beta. Push got a lot of play during WWDC -- it's a service that will send information to the apps on your iPhone as needed (tweets, for example, will just come rather than having to refresh Twitterific all the time), but apparently Apple doesn't think it's ready for the stage yet. They've wiped it from the beta, claiming it needs "further development," and haven't given any indication of when it might return.Here's hoping it gets back in there before the expected release sometime in September, but then again, it's not like Apple should be taking any new chances with features right now. From Mobile Meh to iPhone activation problems, Apple's got to make sure that any more widescale releases go as swimmingly as they possibly can.[Via Engadget]
Apple trims push notification out of newest iPhone firmware beta
According to Appleinsider, the newest beta of iPhone firmware (2.1, beta 4) has been seeded to developers, but takes one crucial element off the table -- push notification. If you'll recall, the new feature will allow third-party developers to take advantage of Apple's servers for real-time push of data to applications. Apparently, the feature has been cut from the most recent beta for "further development" with no indication of when it will be reinstated. Of course, this is a beta seed of the firmware -- the actual release is slated for September -- and it makes sense that Apple would be tweaking major additions like this before going live, especially considering its recent launch debacles.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Push notification services now in hands of select few iPhone devs
You have to be one of the cool kids to get it, but Apple has apparently pushed out another beta of iPhone firmware 2.1 (along with the SDK) to a few devs that for the first time contains a "rough" implementation of Cupertino's arguably overengineered solution for dancing around the contentious background app issue. The Push Notification Service routes real-time notifications through an Apple server, which in turn tosses those notifications onto iPhones around the globe -- a service Apple intends to make available to a general audience in September. There's apparently no actual hardware running on Apple's end yet, though, so the chosen few included in the early seed will just have to close their eyes and make believe as they enjoy the fruits of a new ROM a few days before their equally qualified, equally worthy counterparts.[Via Gearfuse]
