Cjed Audio News 2008-09 cat111


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09-29-08 / 10:16 PM : Tutorial about KVO (cjed)

We can read at developpez.com a tutorial about the KVO (Key Value Observing) design pattern, that is integrated natively in Cocoa (and also in SproutCore). There isn't any close and as powerful or as transparent mechanism in Java, due to inherent limitations of the JVM compared with the Objective-C runtime.

09-25-08 / 11:56 PM : Cappuccino is online : doc and tutorials (cjed)

Cappuccino has been in fact available since September, 4 ! The new site is very well done, and the documentation made during this summer huge and great : tutorials, new demos, discussions and news, classes reference.

The framework can be downloaded here. Developing is made in the browser code editor, and debugging is available through FIrefox Firebug plugin for example.

The development staff may be working about integrating Cappuccino with Interface Builder, but we can still find a recent project, nib2cib, that allows to convert an IB Nib archive into a Cib archive (that can be loaded by Cappuccino). During the conversion process, the class names prefix have to modifed (from NS to CP), the Nic archive format is different from the Nib one (because it has to be optimized for web download), and the coordinate system is flipped (Y origin at top) compared with classic Cocoa AppKit. The supported classes to create interfaces under IB are those for now : NSButton, NSControl, NSFont, NSObject (and NSCustomObject), NSResponder, NSSlider, NSSplitView, NSView (and NSCustomView) and NSWindow.

On the famous Theocacao site, the author and most readers agree that Cappuccino has been conceived with desktop applications programming in mind (that includes enterprise/B2B applications), in fact it is not intended to develop B2C sites (SproutCore is far more appropriate for these cases : for example Cappuccino doesn't directly manage hyperlinks, we have to use classic Cocoa AttributedString to call an url from a text control). Moreover it has to be confirmed if Cappuccino handles KVC/KVO like proutCore, but the developers may be working in it.

Access to server-side services seem to have to be managed through JSON (we can call javascript code from Objective-J code, the same as for C or C++ from Objective-C).

Finally the Cappuccino developers can't do anything about accessibility features for now, they have to wait for the future versions of browsers (provide entry points to system features).

Cappuccino consists of 15000 lines of javascript code for the implementation of AppKit classes, and 5000 lines of code for the FoundationKit port (there is also some CoreAnimation implementation). The whole frameworks are said to weight only 100Kb if compressed (have to be downloaded before application execution, the same as for GWT).
It is possible to extend (subclass) the Cappuccino Objective-J classes, as we can read in this example at lethain.com (extends CPTextField class to handle hyperlinks/url calls).

Beside the very useful comments on the Theocacao article (that have been resumed in the previous paragraphs), we can read some reactions at Ajaxian.

09-25-08 / 11:09 PM : Cocoa MVC/.NET, CoreAnimation tutorials (cjed)

The famous CIMGF (Cocoa Is My Girlfriend), still very interesting and funny, demonstrates in a concrete example what is true MVC programming thanks to Cocoa, compared with oldish OOP with .NET framework (and many other). The author also responds to programmers from Windows world, that don't seem to understand the advanced concepts behind Cocoa.
Finally he presents two great new tutorials about CoreAnimation : associate CoreAnimation with a Quartz Composer layer, and rendering QuickTime movies in a CoreAnimation OpenGL layer.

09-25-08 / 10:47 PM : Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X third edition (cjed)

The third edition of Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X by Aaron Hillegass has been in fact available since May. We can find it at 35 euros (49$ in US) on Amazon (free shipping)... or at 51 euros at Eyrolles (also in shop).
This new edition covers Tiger and Leopard, and adds these themes : Xcode 3, Objective-C 2, garbage collector, Core Data and CoreAnimation.

09-25-08 / 12:13 AM : Java update for Leopard and Tiger (cjed)

Apple released Java updates for Leopard (Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 2 delivers improved reliability and compatibility for Java SE 6, J2SE 5.0 and J2SE 1.4.2 on Mac OS X 10.5.4 and later) and Tiger (Java for Mac OS X 10.4, Release 7, updates J2SE 5.0 to version 1.5.0_16 and Java 1.4 to version 1.4.2_18.).

09-24-08 / 11:42 PM : HTC G1 Android : very deceiving (cjed)

Critizisms arise from everywhere about the new Android mobile prototype from HTC, the G1 : uninspired design, a navigating interface that reminds the Nintendo DS one or Windows 3.1, an horrible user interface that lacks consistency (widgets shapes and colors, fonts, etc.), lack of attention to details, no video player (only a Youtube application), no storage space for music (only available through SD card), no multitouch management (only single touch), mini-USB format for the headphones output ! Navigating in web pages (zooming, scrolling) is a pain compared with using an iPhone, due to the lack of multitouch support on the G1)... so there is still the keyboard... very unuseful and unusable (the right part of the phone makes typing very difficult), and it doubles the thickness of the device (yet not that thin).

Finally it appears more like a Google services promoting platform than a really usefull micro computer for users.

Gizmodo : Android and T-Mobile G1's Five Most Obnoxious Flaws

Following the Chrome (beta) release, Google fails again delivering (presenting) an elegant creation.

09-22-08 / 11:54 PM : MacAlly mCase-2P case for iPhone 3G review (cjed)

We could find this weekend (in an mac office instead of the Apple Expo) the MacAlly mCase-2P for iPhone 3G at a special price (19,90 euros). It is finally bundled with a thin protection film, that is surrounded by two supporting plastic parts that have to be removed for application : remove the part stated before application, align the inner thin film side with the upper border of the iPhone glass, then apply it with pressing with the iPhone cleaning (on the side titled after application) from top to down, in order to avoid remaining air bubbles. There are however some remaining bubbles in above the upper mic, and around the Home button. A new try can be made by removing the thin film in these corners but it isn't perfect.

The inner case in synthetic leather is hard in fact, far more than expected. The two parts are stuck together with visible glue, so it isn't smooth and could lead to think it can damage the iPhone borders. The lower parts aren't stuck, in order to insert the iPhone, but we have to put it hard the first times (ok later), what isn't very confident. Moreover the iPhone has to be turned off because it triggers the controls (volume, etc.). Hopefully the hard inner case doesn't seem to damage the iPhone (contrary to the the Griffin Elan Form as reported here, there, on that forum and at the US Apple Store).

The opening for headphones isn't that wide, so the AKG 240 plug cannot be inserted fully (ok with the Apple bundled headphones and most of non pro ones). Furthermore the opening for Home button is a bit too small, as the case covers some of its lower part. However the iPhone feels great in hand with that case. Finally the screen bright doesn't seem to suffer from the invisible shield, and it is easily cleaned.

09-22-08 / 10:53 PM : iPhone X-Plane 9 review (cjed)

X-Plane 9 graphics on iPhone didn't look that great at first, especially when flying close (reminds in someway Playstation 1 coarse texturing - some large squares), but it is ok for farther landscapes (use mipmapping). Finally from some height it looks convincing (far more better than a Playstation 1 game, but less good than mac games like FA/18 Korea, Fly or X-Plane). The sky looks great from below, but it isn't volumetric (only one or two pixels wide, and few details from above, so the transition is somewhat abrupt), and there isn't really clouds (were really outstanding in Fly 1 & II games).

Camera views are stunning, they remind those found in mac X-Plane or Fly versions. We can even change the camera angle through touch, and zoom in/out using two fingers ! The control through accelerometer is perfect, the best experience on the iPhone, and there isn't any slowdown in framerate. Sometimes when changing the day of time while on fly the controls stop responding, and the game has to be exited and relaunched (switch the time at start then). The interface and settings are well designed, all are intuitive.

We expect more maps and landscape textures to load (and perhaps higher res ones) from future updates, along with other airports and some "missions" to follow. The additional maps and textures could be downloaded from Wifi into main memory to reduce the size used on the iPhone (only 6Mb however for now, so there is space left). There is still to see if Laminar Research will sell aditionnal scenery (should then be priced one or two $ max to remain acceptable) besides required updates. For now this looks more a demo, but still amazing.

09-20-08 / 12:04 AM : The iPhone Developer Program Story (cjed)

At hackszine.com we can discover a feedback on the iPhone Developer Program submission process. There are many steps involved, and testing on a real iPhone isn't possible before acceptance by Apple, so the development has to start using the iPhone simulator. However, from comments it seems that the procedure for developing to other platforms (games consoles or other mobiles devices) - validating and agreement by the console maker (Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, etc.) and distribution - is far more painfull and long.
Without counting that the gains sharing is very interesting for creators delivering on the AppStore (70% of gains for the whole process, and Apple takes care of all aspects).

09-19-08 / 11:48 PM : SquirrelFish Extreme : 4x faster than Safari 3.1 (cjed)

A new bench at WebKit.org presents performances of SquirrelFish Extreme, that is said to be at least two times faster than the previously announced SquirrelFish javascript engine some months ago (brougth a high performance bytecode interpreter), the later still being two times faster than Safari 3.1 javascript engine (WebKit 3.1). These enhancements come from 4 new technics : bytecode optimizations, polymorphic inline caching, a lightweight “context threaded” JIT compiler, and a new regular expression engine that uses our JIT infrastructure.
Considering the javascript engine speed will be a bit lower when integrated into the browser, Safari 4 should be at least 3 times faster than actual Safari 3.1 for javascript (still 3 times faster than Safari 3.0's WebKit 3.0 engine for this task).

09-17-08 / 12:00 AM : MacOSX 10.5.5 update / maintenance scripts (cjed)

Among enhancements brought by the MacOSX 10.5.5 update released yesterday, we can read : Includes extensive graphics enhancements.
It is also recommended to launch manually the maintenance scripts, as they are scheduled at a time when the mac is probably off (3:15 am for daily and weekly scripts, and 5:30 am for monthly script). Instead using a frontend tool like Onyx, we can simply put these commands into the terminal (they are just wrapped by Onyx) : sudo periodic daily|weekly|monthly. We can also find out in that article the command that displays the last execution date of these maintenance scripts.

09-14-08 / 04:37 PM : Korg M50 preview (cjed)

We could discover (and try) during the Salon de la musique (Paris) the new Korg workstation, the M50 (derived from the M3), that is just at the time it was officially announced by Korg. It is indeed a true revolution in price/quality ratio (the huge buzz generated on internet can confirm that fact) : at only 1400$ (61 keys models) it brings an incredible keyboard (semi-weighted synth keys for 61 or 73 keys models) that allows easily to trigger all the velocities (also the lowest), a very good design and elegant materials (panel texture, buttons, joystick), a large and really convincing touch screen (very readable, elegant and not too flashy nor colorful), an arpeggiator and even a sequencer !

We learn that it is bundled with a sound editor for Mac (universal binary) and Windows (USB connection), and that the M50 can even read patchs from the M3 through converting (it uses the same EDS sound engine). Finally the M50 can be used as an external instrument plugin from most sequencers !

The main limitation is about polyphony : it is restricted (less powerful processor) to 40 notes with programs using two oscillators (and even less if stereo samples are used) or 80 notes with one oscillator per patch (respectively 60 and 120 notes of polyphony on the M3). It offers however 16 parts (multitimbral), as with the M3. In fact Korg removed all M3 features but the essential from the M50 : no sampling, no extension slots (EXB-RADIAS extension for the M3, that brings Multi Modeling Technology, and also three EX-USB-PCM samples libraries, that add 256Mb of samples in the sampler memory extension), only one audio output (many and optical on the M3 - that also adds a Firewire connector) - however the M50 sound can be retrieved digitally by using it as an external instrument plugin. The EDS audio engine is said to be the same as with the M3 : 256Mb rom samples (1,077 Multisamples and 1,609 Drum Samples) and 170 effects types (same routing settings as with the M3).

While playing, the M50 sounded very full, crisp in the high end and powerful in the low end (so the converters seem great for that price), it was comparable with the M3 (the later however seemed to provide more subtile variations for some sounds, like church organ patchs). The dynamic is great, revealed by the stunning synth keyboard precision (really nice feeling). The included piano sound is very similar to the one in the older Fantom X, the evolving pads are great (somewhat inspired from Roland ones), the acoustic and electric bass are outstanding, the drums are very good (but a bit restricted in sampling frequency), and the new analog strings are great. Finally the arpeggio programs are stunning. Audio demos are available at Korg site.

The 88 keys model (RH3: Real Weighted Hammer Action 3 keyboard with 4-zone graded action response) is announced at a price around 2000$, that is 1000$ less than the average 88 notes workstations (it has to be confirmed, as it could be the 73 keys model price).

So the M50 is in some way the new pragmatic and affordable workstation (as was the Roland D20 in late 80s), without any true limitation. s

09-14-08 / 03:45 PM : PwnageTool for iPhone firmware 2.1 (cjed)

The iPhone Dev Team published a new version of their famous PwnageTool and QuickPwn tools, that now allow to jailbreak iPhones updated to firmware 2.1.
We can read a detailed tutorial here.

09-14-08 / 01:50 PM : About the iPhoneOS 2.1 update (cjed)

The iPhone 2.1 firmware, available since Friday, brings many enhancements : better management of signal power for 3G connection, faster user interface in some applications, better battery duration, and dramatic improvements in synchronisation time with iTunes (ten times faster at least, one or two minutes for a dozen of applications, that is USB transfer time plus a little added time).
The bug about virtual volume slider touch control seems to happen less frequently.
The update brings some fixes in core systems components security : mDNSResponder, TCP protocol management and WebKit.

The bug about the second password leading to the favorite page has been fixed, but now it is possible to call every number when the phone is locked with that password. Some say it is a feature, that can also be found on other phones, but it would better have been a choice put in general settings.

09-11-08 / 10:58 PM : 2500 news / 80 free songs (cjed)

This news is the 2500th since the site opened January, 2005 ! The database weights 1Mb in gzip format (3Mb if uncompressed). Many new songs are being worked (90 try songs made with Ethno World 4 that have to be developed, and finalized or near complete songs made using MOR and String Essentials 2), however they probably won't be released online for free (there are yet the 80 released songs at musique-libre these 3 years, that is about 12% of the whole songs I have composed for 20 years). A private access through the QuickTime streaming server could be provided.

Online songs, copyrighted at SNAC, will remain available under creative commons nc&nd 2.5 licence, however I eventually will end using these for commercial purpose (at CD quality, 16 bits linear), once finalized.

Finally I noticed in recent movies or TV shows soundtracks some similarities with my composing (themes, playing, sensibility), something perhaps to put on the widening of composers origins (more and more engineers, and cheaper home music production systems based on computers).

09-10-08 / 10:41 PM : Apple : September, 9 keynote video (cjed)

The Apple's September, 9 keynote video featuring Steve Jobs is now available here (also in HD format). We can watch a demo of Need For Speed Undercover for iPhone, an EA game expected this November.

09-09-08 / 11:04 PM : New iPods / iTunes 8 (cjed)

As expected Apple updated its iPod Touch, iPod nano (new original and good looking colors) and iPod Classic (120Gb). We can also download iTunes 8 (includes the famous new visualizer) and the 2.1 iPod Touch firmware (the iPhone 2.1 firmware is expected this Friday), and finally QuickTime 7.5.5.

09-07-08 / 12:29 AM : iTunes 8 / Magnetosphere visualizer (cjed)

Rumors about iTunes 8 state that it should include a new visualizer, based on Magnetosphere.

09-07-08 / 12:26 AM : iPhone Dev toolchain on Linux & Windows (cjed)

At Google Code we can find a long tutorial about how to install iPhone dev tools on Linux or Windows (what is called the iPhone Dev toolchain).

09-04-08 / 10:52 PM : Cjed on Wordpress (cjed)

The new Cjed Audio blog (hosted at wordpress.com) opened. It offers a selection of featured articles and news from this main website (in english only). It consists in a test of Wordpress.org CMS system, and for now the feeling is very positive (great and powerful administration interface, plugins - limited in the free hosting interface -, high productivity). We can even find an iPhone application that allows blog management and direct upload of photos taken with the device (see there) ! Finally referencing seems very good.
First added articles were copy-pasted from the main website (takes care of attributed String, for example urls/links), because the limited free hosted wordpress doesn't allow RSS import (only LiveJournal, so it would require a transform through an XSL sheet). The XML export function is however available.
The Wordpress php CMS can indeed be installed on a site hosted at Free.fr, with some restriction in urlrewriting, that won't be perfect (on the main website the lack of mod_rewrite was worked around by using the page not found error redirection). Finally, these first days showed a quick indexing of the new blog, so perhaps keeping this new one at wordpress.com is better for now.

09-04-08 / 09:45 PM : Google Chrome : deceiving (cjed)

Despite the buzz and success (the first day at least) around Chrome, a new browser from Google based upon Apple's WebKit (as for Safari), we have to admit it is really deceiving : Chrome brings a brand new optimized Javascript engine, but Apple will unveil the same in the upcoming Safari 4 (it won't be a beta... and Apple still has years of experience of web browser development now), Chrome features set is very limited (no exlcusive one, all are available in other browsers, and Chrome bookmarks management is very poor), the user interface is minimalist and not elegant nor innovating as expected with Google (their weakest point compared with Apple). Finally the per tab process management (and process viewer tool) and better use of memory can't be presented as revolutionnary features : a good browser (well multithreaded and with good memory management) is possible, and in that area Safari always did better than Firefox.
About Chrome integration with Google Gears, the competitors have to respond, but Apple has best chances to provide great accessibility features (access to system components that are normally hidden from browsers, for security concerns) through QuickTimeX (see also the 280 slides demo, that doesn't require disk access to save documents).

Today we learn that the initial Chrome end user licence (EULA) had to be fixed because it allowed Google to use all content published through their browser ! Moreover Chrome is plagged with huge security holes, due to the fact that it uses a deprecated version of Apple's Webkit.

09-03-08 / 11:29 PM : Orange : 3G speed enhanced but not for all (cjed)

While Orange announced that iPhone special subscriptions (including Origami special edition) will be now provide full 3G+ speed (meaning Origami Star and First subscriptions won't benefit from this enhancement), the subject isn't closed (see this online petition). However Orange might progressively open 3G+ speed for other subscriptions after September, 15 (they have to, in order to fullfill their contract - the 3G+ speed is listed for Origami Star). Then they are probably completing their infrastructure scaling tests, and probably want to gain time and limit speed peaks for now.

If the speed isn't enhanced for Origami Star and First by the month end, users will have to continue pressure. But as SFR is also jumping into iPhone subscription market, there probably won't be any need to.

09-02-08 / 10:42 PM : 8 millions iPhone sold since early 2008 (cjed)

Apple sold 8 millions iPhones since early 2008 (2,4 millions of first generation iPhone and 5,6 millions of iPhone 3G - in a bit more than a month for the later).
A news from engadget reveals that a Special Event is planned this September, 9, where new ipods will be announced, also iTunes 8 with a new subscription system to the music catalog.