Month: July 2008

The Missing Cocoa Touch Templates in the iPhone SDK

Now that you have your new iPhone and you want to start writing applications, you’ll probably find one of the dozen or so ‘how to’ videos from Apple a great place to start. Unfortunately, while they updated the SDK and the Xcode application, they forgot to upgrade the tutorials.

So I, like a bunch of others folks, have been busy scrambling to follow ‘line 1′ of the instructional video and start the cocoa touch templates only to discover they don’t exist.

Never fear though–you can simply use the ‘View Based Application’ templates as a substitute.

Now to get on to the rest of the 19:45 minutes of the 20 minute video tutorial.

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Georgian-Russian War, version 2008

The President of George has called “Russia a Menace to Peace” in the recent war of words between the two countries. Last week Russia admitted that four aircraft flew over South Ossetia, the breakaway region that is the source of much controversy between the two governments. This comes during on top of the Russian ‘change of heart’ on Zimbabwe sanctions that saw them exercise their security council veto power.

This is one of those troublesome conflicts that could easily become a hot war in a matter of moments. The Russian military, still a hollow shell of their strength during the Cold War, is more than capable of inflicting great damage on Georgia’s military. Though small, Georgia has been making substantial purchases of armor in recent years.

From the FAS:

The weaponry purchased reportedly includes armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery, helicopters, and T-72 tanks. The latter three items called into question earlier statements that Georgia has no aggressive intentions and plans to strengthen its armed forces exclusively for defensive purposes, to repel any external invasion. These weapons are well suited for an offensive against the Ossetians. From mid-June to mid-July 2005, some 800 Georgian troops conducted large-scale tank exercises using some 170 battle tanks. One year earlier, Georgia had only 76 T-55 and T-72 tanks.

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Heath Ledger estate to go to probate

The Daily Telegraph in Australia reports that the estate of actor Heath Ledger will soon enter a probate court, with his young daughter standing to be the main beneficiary. The estate, valued around $20 million, will have to be divided up in court as the parents and his sisters are technically the main beneficiaries.

While Ledger left everything to his parents and three sisters, it is understood they have legal advice that under WA law, the toddler is entitled to the lion’s share.

However her mother, actor Michelle Williams, will have to officially lodge a claim with the court supported by an affidavit which could end up in the public domain, legal experts said.

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DC's new gun rules announced for handgun owners

The Post is reporting on the new gun control regulations in the District of Columbia following the Supreme Court decision invalidating the District’s handgun ban. There will be a limit to 1 gun per person for the first 90 days while they sort through the process.

Gun owners will have to

pass vision test

pass written tests,

provide a photo with their application to register a gun, and

submit their weapon for ballistics testing.

Guns will also still require trigger locks.

DC’s gun ban was basically ineffective. Drug crimes and easy access to weapons in Virginia and Maryland (literally only a mile away) resulted in 1000s of guns in DC and a horrible murder rate back in the 90s. While it has mellowed somewhat, the District still have a very high violent crime rate. Many police actually tell victims in DC ‘you should buy a gun’ eventhough it was illegal.

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"Blame the Knife" anti-crime initiative launched

In the US they blame the gun for all the crimes, so after an outbreak of stabbings in the UK the PM has announced a new policy to get tough on those who carry knives. Perhaps that not fair. They are going after some of the families behind these crimes.

He said stop and search powers would be increased, with more visible policing and 110,000 “problem” families with “disruptive young people” would be dealt with. These are children who have either been excluded from school, been in trouble with the law or identified as likely to be in trouble later on, Mr Brown said. Parents will be put on intensive courses to help them supervise their children. There will be more “community pay back sentences”, where young offenders have to “pay back for doing wrong”, with communities choosing penalties such as cleaning streets on a Friday or Saturday night or clearing up graffiti.
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iPhone sales top 1 million in 3 days

The 3G iPhone has sold 1 million units in 3 days, despite the hassles and pain of the registration process. There have also been 10 million downloads from the application store.

The previous phone sold 6 million units and Apple wants 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.

I wonder how many 2G iphones were replaced by 3G models. I’m sure that accounts for some of the 1 million, but we’ll see the overall numbers in a few months. The lines were still pretty long at the local Apple stores.

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Did Senator Schumer cause the failure of IndyMac back?

The bank watchdog is blasting Sentaor Schumer for the IndyMac bank failure, more or less.

The immediate cause of the closing was a deposit run that began and continued after the public release of a June 26 letter to the OTS and the FDIC from Senator Charles Schumer of New York. The letter expressed concerns about IndyMac’s viability. In the following 11 business days, depositors withdrew more than $1.3 billion from their accounts.

“This institution failed today due to a liquidity crisis,” OTS Director John Reich said. “Although this institution was already in distress, I am troubled by any interference in the regulatory process.”

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Lady Thatcher to be given a state funeral

No, she’s not dead yet (I thought the same thing). It’s just that the planning stages for her funeral are underway and according to officials it will be a formal state funeral, not seen since the funeral of Winston Churchill. Thatcher, now 82, is said to be in good health but people are getting ready. From the article (so you don’t have to go to Wikipedia):

In the 19th century, four state funerals were granted to “commoners” – Lord Nelson after his death at Trafalgar, the Duke of Wellington, a prime minister as well as victor over Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo, Lord Palmerston and William Gladstone, both popular inhabitants of No 10.

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Volcano forces evacuation of Alaskan island.

A remote island in Alaska had to be evacuated by sea after a the volcano Okmok Caldera erupted, sending a plume of ash and smoke nearly 30,000 feet into the air as this Coast Guard photo shows. More info from the Alaska Volcano Observatory .

A fishing vessel had to rescue 10 people from a remote farm after a Coast Guard rescue helicopter had to put down in Dutch Harbor due to ash and smoke in the air.

The Anchorage Newspaper is also covering this story.

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