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**Note: This is an ongoing article.**

With the release of the Apple iPad web developers have jet again take a look at Adobe Flash and mobile web browser Safari, the debate of whether Adobe Flash is too processor intensive for small devices has revived and some tech-driven people are making more noise than usual. Back in 2007 when the iPhone was released, Apple even had class actions suits about the phrase “the internet in your hands” because of the widely use of Adobe Flash on such device.

The story is repeating all over again, this time with the focus being the new Apple device, it looks like Apple has no plans to include Adobe Flash on their portable devices and whether they end up doing it or not, a good web developer should look at other alternatives to properly place code on websites.

I’m not an expert on the field but I have work enough as a web developer to know that you can set browser specific content on a web site to load separate code depending on the web browser used to visit your site. We see this everyday when you visit a site on your iPhone and it looks different from when you visit the same site from your computer. With this in mind I ask myself, how hard is it to code browser specific content to load beautiful websites on the iPad, iPod touch, and the iPhone.

The idea is to load non-flash objects on your site when they are visited from and “i” device and regular Adobe Flash when not. With WordPress, more than often, developers use browser specific hooks to display different design elements or “CSS” files depending on whether you are smart and use a regular web browser or you are locked into using IE6. The simple code looks a bit like this:

With this example in mind we can tell exactly that what I’m proposing is not far from reality or a crazy idea. Instead of arguing about whether Apple is going to allow Adobe Flash on the iPhone, iPod, or even the iPad, we can create an environment of good developer skills and fix the web to our advantage.

In the next installment I will be explaining the idea in more detail, give a few examples of the implementation, and discuss any comments that we have from you, our readership. Expect to have the 2 part of this article in the next couple of weeks. I’m creating a forum to discuss any ideas you may have or you can simply leave your comments here on this post.

After digesting the iPad news from a day, I finally came to organize my ideas and post this small article about the device. At first I was a bit disappointed because of the similarities with the iPhone-iPod touch, my main concern is that a device like this would be better if it was marketed as a computer replacement or companion as opposed to marketed as a media device.

I really think that is an awesome media device, the ability of managing your media and your communication from a device like this one blows my mind. The addition of iWork for the iPad is just a killer move on Apple’s part, and because is open to developers to create incredible applications, this makes of the iPad the best media-communicator device in the world. Read the rest of this entry →

Apple had their so long awaited WWDC Keynote on June 8, 2009 where they released new notebooks, a phone, and some software updates. There is so much to be excited but the one thing that makes me go crazy is the new line of notebooks, essentially, Apple transform their lower line of notebooks into professional tools at affordable prices.

I have to talk about this because there is no better time to own an Apple notebook, these new notebooks outperform anything I have seen in the market today and will give you years of joy, but there is more if you buy one of these notebooks today (June 23, 2009) you are eligible to get Snow Leopard, the next update to Mac OS X, for only $9.95 USD via their uptodate program. Everything looks like good news at Cupertino, CA as WWDC ends and leaves everyone with a great taste in their mouth of how the future is shaping to be a great one for Mac users. Read the rest of this entry →

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows you to update people on what you are doing as well as see what others are doing instantly, all in 140 characters or less. The main use of twitter has been described as the office water cooler, which is where you stop to take a break and talk to others.

Much like Facebook, twitter is causing sensation, everyone in social media understand the importance of using twitter regularly. If you own a brand or you simply want to stay updated about what’s happening around you, then being on twitter is the way to go.

Ever since I got on twitter I’ve tested a number of applications on the Mac that allows you to update twitter and read your feed instantly without the need to visit their website. Some of these applications are Twitterrfic, TweetDeck, Twhirl, etc., I’m not telling you what I didn’t like about those applications, but I will tell you what I like about Tweetie.

Tweetie lets you be up to date on what’s happening on your twitter feed, much like other applications, it lets you post, reply, and re-post any tweet from your friends. This is very convenient because you don’t have to stop what you are doing and launch a web browser to check what your friends are up to, the application is sitting right there on you desktop.

A large number of twitter applications for the iPhone were released the minute the iPhone SDK was available, but one of them became an instant hit. Tweetie for the iPhone was a hit despite being one of the applications for the iPhone that had no free version, everyone who tried it loved it, I never got my hands on it but people like Cali Lewis from GeekBrief.tv has talked about the applications numerous times on their show.

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Taking the title from an album from my favorite band, The Cranberries, everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we. Let us talk about iTunes, they have just started selling songs with the variable pricing scheme they announced some time ago. As if they never said anything, the blogosphere has gone rouge about it, and yes, I’m trying to be funny about it.

As if everyone forgot that over year ago they started selling higher bitrates music for $1.29 only to realize what a bad idea that was and retracted from it a couple months after that. We need to wake up from the fact that the idea is not actually from Apple but from the music industry. I think that the variable pricing will not change the spending habits of most of iTunes users, while some may walk away from the Apple ecosystem, other will have them just as an option. Read the rest of this entry →

If you don’t know what emoji is then here it goes, back when Apple was trying to get in the Japanese cell phone market they noticed that a big feature all cell phones had was emoji. Emoji is the Japanese term for the pictures characters or emoticons used by Japanese wireless carriers (Wikipedia).

I felt so envious when I saw them for the first time, why in the world we can’t have the same emoticons here in the US market. It doesn’t seem to be incompatible with the cell carriers, the only problem I think is preventing this from happening is the fact that not all US phones are emoji capable. Read the rest of this entry →

Today (March 3, 2009), Apple released updates to all its desktops machines, some updates to the notebooks, and updates to time machine and airport extreme. In the much-anticipated updates there are still some that where disappointed but as far as I’m concerned, I’m super excited.

The product that excites me the most is the new Mac mini, it’s still has the same form factor but the inside is another story. The new Mac mini gets rid of the old combo drive, in fact there’s no new Mac with a combo drive anymore. Read the rest of this entry →

Precisely the why of Apple abandoning Macworld Expo, after all they could have just announced the product when it was actually ready for shipment not a minute before. In a note sent to customers, and distributed all around the web, Apple announced that the new 17-inch MacBook Pro will be delayed at least until Feb 19, 2009.

In the meantime, if you go to store.apple.com, you can see that shipments of the new MacBook Pro will start in about 3 to 4 weeks. Several websites are reporting on the same subject, while none of them are talking about how inconvenient this is for Apple as a business. Delivering products on time is as important as to keeping a good name in the industry you are trying to take over. Read the rest of this entry →

iDVD is a simple application that allows you to make your own DVD’s from your movies and photos, this application was originally released on January 2001. While the application is very easy to use it provides for very professional DVD menus, buttons, among other options.

Several websites (I got it from social|median) reported that the packaging of the new iLife ‘09 does not list iDVD in the box leading to the speculation that iDVD will not be updated any more and will eventually leave the iLife suite. This took me by surprise but immediately made me think that it makes sense that Apple cease to invest time on this application.

Apple is well known for abandoning technologies that seems to be outdated or soon to be replaced by new technology, for example, Apple was the first to abandon “the diskette” on computer making the CD/DVD the only option on their computers. More recently Apple decided to eliminate the FireWire 400 port from their MacBook line, marking the slow dead of the interface. Read the rest of this entry →

This last Macworld Expo comes with the sad news that Apple will not be participating on any upcoming Macworld Expo events. To add to the bad news, Steve Jobs is not hosting the last Macworld Expo Apple’s Keynote, so the day came and passed and the aftermath reaction I’ve noticed was more like, Steve who?

Nobody forgot about the fact that Steve was not on stage, he was dearly missed. What got me by surprised is the great acceptance that people gave to Phil Schiller. Back when Apple made their announcement about Steve not appearing on the last Macworld Expo Keynote, they also announced that Phil would be the one to host this last Keynote.

While not everyone was bashing Phil’s ability to talk on stage, there were groups of people planning to boycott the keynote by not reacting to any of the announcements. In essence they planned to stay put not matter what were announced, no applause, no whistling, nothing.

I have to say that Phil was great, he was not Steve but in reality nobody wanted anyone to imitate Steve. People had a great time with Phil delivering the keynote as Phil Schiller, the last time Phil took stage to participate on a Steve-note he was great, and this time there was no exception.
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