Things have been a bit quiet around here - the blog - because things have been anything but quiet in real life.
Last night, we launched another site. I didn't have a lot to do with it except in the last week (performance tuning and live server setup and deployment mostly), and there is a huge backstory around this one which would need in-person explanations. But it's live and working.
Well done to all those who worked on it.
On the side, I've been doing an Android app for a friend in New Zealand. It's done aside from some last-minute testing, and it was certainly fun to do.
I can't say I love Android compared to iOS, as the whole UX rubs me the wrong way, but there are some things I wish iOS had - the Android layout engine being one of them. It was a fun and very worthwhile experience. Needless to say, it's been done in Mono for Android.
Thanks to the ever brilliant iOS Weekly, here's UIActivity Providers for various services including SoundCloud, Instapaper and Instagram.
I suspect this is the first step in opening up cross-process communications in iOS - there is the concept of a Remote View Controller, which also looks interesting (think about how the MFMailComposeViewController works, and how that could be used between 3rd party apps)
If you do iOS development, and don't subscribe to iOS Dev Weekly, you need to. Now.
Xamarin has been on fire, launching their conference, Evolve, which I'm planning on going to, and also the World Wide Consulting Partner Program. This allows companies who are either just getting started, or who need short or medium length consulting to get expert, international help from mobile experts who know the Xamarin tools backwards.
Needless to say, I'm planning on getting on the list - I was (almost) a Xamarin employee when it was announced, so I missed the first intake.
There is also the Xamarin Developer Showdown if you want to try your hand at writing apps using their cross-platform library, and win some nice loot!
