It's all about iOS 7

It is all about iOS 7. SO here is a list of resources you will surely enjoy:

• Apple Design Goes Flat with iOS 7 - the title of the blog post is a little misleading as the author gives an overview on the deference, clarity, and depth themes of iOS 7. 
• iOS 7 by Tutorials - book with a lot of tutorials on iOS 7 APIs (UIKit Dynamics, Motion Effects, Text Kit, Unite testing / CI in Xcode 5, and many more). The list of authors is impressive as well (Ray Wenderlich, Jeremy Olson, and many more). Haven't yet ordered the book, but it is on the top of my list.  
• The Essential iOS 7 Developer's Guide - similar to the above resource, it provides 11 guides to iOS 7. Each tutorial is small and to the point, easy to read and go through, while also providing a little bit of code as well.
• iOS 7 review - great, comprehensive, and more importantly a balanced review of iOS 7 written by Rene Ritchie of iMore. 

TDD Resources for iOS

Below are a couple of resources I've found useful when doing TDD in iOS. 

Books:

• Test-Driven iOS Development -  the only TDD book specific to iOS. It goes over implementing a fully functional iOS app using TDD, from the data layer all the way to the UI.
• Working Effectively with Legacy Code - although not specifically geared towards iOS, this book is the authority on how to work with untested code (legacy code), how to safely make changes to it, all by applying TDD. 

Frameworks/Tools:

• OCUnit (SenTestingKit) / XCTest - testing unit frameworks built directly into Xcode. 
• OCMock - objective-c implementation of mock objects. Provides features such as class mocks, stubs, protocol mocks, expect/verify, and many more. 
• OCHamcrest, OCMockito, Kiwi, GHUnit, Cedar - other unit testing tools that you might find useful.  
• CoverStory / lcov - code coverage of your unit tests. 

Articles/Tutorials:

• Screencasts from NSScreencast - TDD related screencasts. 
• Intro to TDD for iOS part 1 and part 2 - taking a Tic-Tac-Toe game through the TDD process.
• OCMock and UIAutomation tutorials - writings about mocking objects and the UI Automation tool. 
• iOS Unit Testing - dedicated website for iOS Unit Testing. 
• Unit Testing iOS Applications - online course on unit testing iOS applications, covering OCUnit, GHUnit, OCMock, and how to test view controllers, notifications, singleton, and gesture recognizers. 
• Testing View Controllers - technical article from objc.io around testing table views, table view controllers, data sources, and nib files.  
• Testing Concurrent Applications - technical article from objc.io around testing asynchronous code. 

Other Resources:

• Testing async code: AGAsynchTestHelper, SenTestingKitAsynch. 

A couple of short link - August 18, 2013

1. 75 Essential Tools for iOS Developers - the list is categorized based on Inspiration, Design, Source Control, Dissecting Apps, Editors, Documentation, Dependency Management, Diagnostics & Debugging, Images, Core Data, Back-end Services, Analytics, Deployment, Testing, Demos / Marketing, App Sales Reporting. 
2. Apple allowing up to 200 test devices per iOS Developer account - keep in mind that some developers have not yet seen this change on their accounts (myself included).
3. The idea behind Uber (which connects drivers with riders) has spread to other services such as
• laundry (through Prim), 
• to-dos such as grocery shopping, furniture assembly, etc (through TaskRabbit),
• house cleaning (through Exec), 
• dog walking (through Swifto),
• flower delivery (through Bloom That).
4. Google's "20% time" is rumored to be dead - this is a shame really, as having one day a week to spend on something that is outside of your job description can bring a lot of satisfaction and value.
5. Objective-C Coding Style by NYTimes - an extensive guide that outlines the coding conventions adopted by the Developers at NYTimes. There are a few of other coding conventions that they link to at the end of the page.   

Short list of iOS 7 resources I've found useful

Few iOS 7 resources I've stumbled upon, mostly through Twitter. I will not include the obvious Apple ones, as you should have already read all of them by now, twice!

• ios7.io - A selection of iOS7 specific links covering icons, designs, apps, and much more. 
• iMore.com - A collections of iOS 7 news from no other than Rene Ritchie. 
• iOS 7 Apps Redesign - Various redesign of apps to match iOS 7 guidelines, with a screenshot of a before and after. 

iOS technical newsletters that everyone should use

1. objc.io - once a month in-depth technical topics related to Objective-C, by Chris Eidhof, Daniel Eggert, and Florian Kugler. A must read for everyone that is interested in best practices and advanced techniques. 
2. NSHipster - another high quality resource on topics for Objective-C, by Mattt Thompson. 
3. NSScreencast - weekly screencast on iOS development, by Ben Scheirman. This is a paid subscription-based service. 
4. iosdevweekly - weekly emails of iOS development links, by Dave Verwer. 
5. Ray's Monthly Newsletter - monthly tutorials for iOS developers and gamers, by Ray Wenderlich. 
6. Evolution or Extinction - weekly newsletter on iOS and other technology topics, by my good friend and co-worker Justin Kent. 

Subscribe, read/watch, and enjoy!

A couple of short links - July 7, 2013

1. Stroke of insight: Jill Bolte Taylor - fascinating TED talk about a neuroanatomist that one morning had a stroke, during which she analyzed and remembered every single moment. 
2. 13 Things You Must Know When Starting Out In iOS/Mac Development - advices from well known people that are involved with iOS. 
3. Clear - a list-keeping app that is fully focused on content and uses gestures instead of buttons. Inovation at its best!
4. Dribbble - have a design you would like to get feedback on? Look no further. 
5. TSA API - you can find out wait times for TSA security checkpoints. 

Application Ecosystem for the BlackBerry PlayBook

According to their press release, RIM has officially announced the ecosystem for applications that will run on the PlayBook tablet. Below is a quote from the release:

• BlackBerry PlayBook to support BlackBerry Java and Android apps
• Native C/C++ development support added, in addition to HTML5, Flash and AIR support
• Support from leading game engines: Ideaworks Labs (AirPlay) and Unity Technologies (Unity 3)
• BlackBerry PlayBook becomes a new market opportunity for all the developers who have already created over 25,000 BlackBerry Java apps and more than 200,000 Android apps 

The most important part for me, and something that I've been hoping for a long time, is the added support for Android. What RIM was lacking was an application ecosystem. This will not be the case anymore. And it is not only about Android in the end. Moving away from Java ME is the first step (still need it for existing applications). When you can write applications using HTML, Flash, C/C++, Java ME, and Android, you can't go wrong. There is no other ecosystem out there that provides such a diversity.