So I know if you’re reading this, you’re probably pissed with me for not posting…
Author: Alex Whittemore
I'm an Electrical Engineer who writes software for a living and likes to play with iOS, Django, and high voltage. I know around 10 languages, 3 fluent, and (not the same) 3 spoken.
So maybe this is the dumbest, easiest thing in the world and I’m the only one who didn’t know, but when I upgraded to the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK, I couldn’t for the life of me get the simulator to launch in ACTUAL OS 3.0 mode. You can change the version on the fly with the Hardware>Version menu, but every time I reran my app from Xcode, it’d revert back to 2.2.1. This finally became a problem when I needed to test an app with features unique to 3.0. Luckily, the fix isn’t all that hard.
No, I don’t actually plan to write a Gmail/Google Voice productivity tip every day. However, today I just happen to have one. Parts of this actually came from a good friend, @jamesconnors (his site). He told me his system for inbox management: he has his inbox, a “follow up” folder, an I believe another folder for stuff he just wants to keep around. Anything in his inbox that he can’t quickly respond to in a minute or two when he sees it, he puts in his follow up folder. Every so often, maybe once every day or two, he goes through his follow up folder and takes care of everything he can.
The iPhone OS SDK from Apple is wonderful, and being able to develop and debug on-device even without paying the entry tax is even more wonderful. To really take Jailbreak development to the next level, though – to develop Apps that don’t play nicely in Apple’s SDK playground – you are going to need the open tool chain. Here’s how to rock Xcode OTC style.
WARNING WARNING WARNING! Switching power supplies have many BACs (beefy-ass capacitors) that can hold lots of juice long after you’ve unplugged the unit. Do not crack one open like I did without knowing what you’re doing, it could seriously injure you or at least be really uncomfortable when you shock the crud out of yourself. I’m not responsible if you do just that, don’t say I didn’t warn you. I have a cable I made with a brush at the end that grounds everything it touches, I use it to brush the back of all power electronics before I work on them. You should too.
This is a pretty common one, but I like to add flair. I needed a bench power supply. Sadly, bench power supplies are very expensive, and I’m a poor college student. What I do have are computers. Lots of computers. In fact, I just brought to the recyclers about 100lbs of computer waste from machines that are too slow for even my standards. Luckily, one thing computers have going for them is very refined, VERY powerful power supplies.
A while back I wanted to monitor how much current my iPhone could draw under different conditions. I had seen a cable before where somebody brought it into a project box with a couple of screws on top exposing the two unshorted positive leads and the straight-through ground (such that you could measure both current through the cable or voltage across it), but I felt I could make things both smaller and more fully-featured.