News
First Thoughts on Developing for Apple TV
Erica breaks down what we really need to know as we begin thinking about developing for the Apple TV. Think multi-user.
Want an Apple TV Early?
Apple is giving developers a chance to get their hands on an Apple TV before it becomes publicly available. All you need is a dev account to sign up for a chance to buy early.
Tips
Tame Finder to be More Productive
Are you frustrated when you open a Finder window and it's size and positioning seem completely random? Spend any time in iOS development and you will find yourself fighting with the Finder constantly. Did you know it's really simple to make Finder open with the same size and position each time? There are also a couple other tips here I didn't know.
How to set the size of Finder windows, and other tips by Christopher Phin
Design
Watchkit: What Works and What Doesn't
Airbnb gives their take on what is and isn't good for Watchkit apps. 3rd party apps don't seem to be getting the traction we were hoping, but as the platform grows and capabilities improve, well designed apps will rise to the top.
How It Ticks: Building the Airbnb Apple Watch App by Isaac Lim
Marketing
Automate Your App Email Marketing Campaign
I love automation. I do not love sending out emails to press. Contacting the press is often part of the launch process and here are some good tips on how to make this process as painless as possible.
How to Send a Ton of Personal-Looking Emails Automatically by Nathaniel Eliason
Tutorials
Tricking Your Users Into Thinking an Operation is Immediate
If a user doesn't see a spinner, but is shown what they want to see, they will believe the operation is immediate. In most cases, that's what you want. In this post, Paul gives us a well thought out solution to achieve this. The mobile users span of attention is ridiculously short and a few seconds of a spinner will lose users.
Podcasts
5 App Business Podcasts You Should Be Listening To
If you make apps, but don't listen to any app business podcasts, you are missing out. Get your marketing on with these five great podcasts.
5 App Business Podcasts – Learn How to Market an App and More by Hugh Kimura
Code
Treat Swift as a Brand New Language
I love what Natasha says about learning Swift in her comments on the Thinking in Swift post. She suggests treating Swift as a brand new language, learning to take advantage of Swift instead of how it works like Objective-C. The easiest thing to do is to write your Swift code just like you wrote your Objective-C code, but is that best for your growth as a developer?
Preventing Weak Self in Swift
"Swift 1.2 announced a syntax called “@noescape”, this attribute indicates that a closure will only live as long as the call so there is no possibility of retain cycles." No need to worry about self being retained in a closure. Cool.
How to prevent using weak self inside swift closure by Sam Wang
Tweet of the Week
Skip the Rebuilding When Unit Testing
Xcode unit testing pro-tip: ⌃⌘U runs all tests without rebuilding. If you change a test but not any code in app target, this is your friend. via @bjmillerltd