My 5 cents on New Apple TV

I'm probably going crazy around here. I have been watching all kinds of speculation about Apple TV. Lots of people are disappointed because Apple hasn't announced any iOS Apps for it.

However, I see this a little bit different. Apple has announced AirPlay. For me, this is clearly the path that Apple will follow to deliver Apps to Apple TV. AirPlay has been announced as a way for you to stream your video content from your iOS device (iPhone, iPad or iPod touch) to your Apple TV.

From the broadcasting perspective, it makes no difference at all streaming your video/photos or just your own Screen. Adding Apps directly to Apple TV would require storage, what Apple clearly stated to be an issue for consumers. However, broadcasting the iPad screen to Apple TV would allow one to have a fancy remote (iPad) connected directly to your TV for controlling nearly anything. Apps would be available from the iOS devices, as usual, with the option for playing on the TV, via Apple TV, when needed.

This would fix the storage problem and would make the Apple products even better connected. Makes sense?

BTW, check our Apps at www.babs2go.com.br .

-Luciano

My take on iOS 4, WWDC 2010 and the future

It has been a while now since WWDC 2010. I was there live this time; it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I highly recommend that you attend next year if you can. Well, one thing that I have learned over the last couple years working on the Apple world is that everyone is entitled to have opinions, make predictions and start rumours about the future of the platform. As usual, Apple will never have an official statement up to whatever is said gets launched during the "one more thing" speech of Steve Jobs and whatever I'm writing here, I'm not endorsed in anyway by Apple.

Anyway, after attending about five sessions per day, what really caught my attention is the push from Apple to the multi-tasking world. Of course that five in each five Apple blogs have already told you everything that you ever wanted (or not) to know about iOS 4 multitasking, but I think that I have a different approach here. I want to highlight, not the multitasking on the user side ( what everyone is talking about ) but I want to mention the multitasking on the App development side.

Nope, I'm not going all technical here. In general, Apple has introduced Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) for developer on iOS 4. This is a framework that enable developers to build Apps that have internal components running in parallel. Users will probably never even notice this (except that Apps would tend to be more responsive...); however, multithreaded code for developers could make a huge difference. But, we still have a single A4 processor in iPhone 4 and also in iPad; what leads me to my "futurology" session.

If you think that running code in parallel on a single processor makes no sense, well, you are right. In general, Apps will have the capacity of running in parallel but they will still compete for a single processor. The main advantage for iOS 4 on the current devices is that Apps using GCD will no longer hung or freeze on their hands. Developers will be able to put there blocking codes (load an image from the internet, open a dropbox session, etc) into a separated process what will not ever freeze your UI again. However, this will not add any performance improvements.

Going beyond iOS4, things start looking much better. My prediction after WWDC is that at some time soon we will see multi-core A4(x) processors. This would make a lot of sense. Apple traditionally introduces new technologies in phases. Assuming that developers will start using GDC to improvement their user experience now, Apple will have by the end of this year tons of Apps that will be enabled for true multitasking. Apple would be ready to "change everything again". The next generation of multi-core iPads would not even need to wait up to new Apps get developed. Virtually, every single App that uses GCD would be ready for multitasking at day one. Apple will be able to have the fastest tablet in place in no time.

Regarding time-frames, it would be just a matter of wrapping-up the offers. Apple could take the approach of launching an iPad/iPhone 4 "G" in 2011 ( I assume that by then the 4G cellular networks will be more common in US), this would keep the sales going up by itself because people would really feel the difference of the network speed; may make no sense introducing a multi-core A4 at that moment because it would add to the cost of the 4G components and it could also be a waste of a silver bullet.

As such, I'd see a multi-core iPad/iPhone being introduced to the market on WWDC 2012. Cost would have gone down, 4G will be available to most people, Apple will be ready to launch iPhone 4Gs ( s for speed, does this sound familiar? ).
Well, Let's keep following the next steps and see what predictions come true. The only certain here is that whatever path Apple takes, iOS4 is just the top of the iceberg.

- Luciano

Mutation is about to be completed!!

PACMAN Reloaded is on final stages to become Squid Trap !

Apple has approved the latest update yesterday. Ever since, I have already changed all the marketing material and as the servers get updated, the migration is being completed.

I can see totally updated material in the United States, it means that most of the countries where people see the English descriptions should be fine. I still see some issue with the Brazilian translation that shall be fixed over the next few hours.

I do apologize for any inconvenience that this migration may have caused but I hope to compensate that with you when I release new versions of Squid Trap during this year.

More than 400 people have already upgraded their software. Thanks !

-Luciano

PACMAN Reloaded will become "Squid Trap"

Hello Everyone

We have received a notice from Apple telling us that NAMCO has complained about PACMAN Reloaded.

As usual, I have decided to do a little research about the topic by myself and based on my findings, the only option that I could find was completely remove PACMAN Reloaded from the Market.

As such, we have completly changed the look and feel of the App. The good thing about it is that we could use more updated graphics and sounds. In my opinion, it has become an even better software.

Over the next couple days (assuming that Apple approves the new App version and NAMCO has no more requests), our "Squid Trap" should be made available at the App Store.

In case you want to keep the PACMAN look and feel, make sure you do not update your software. If you want to keep receiving the latest and greatest updates, upgrade to the new  "Squid Trap".

Here are a few screenshots of the upcoming version:

 "SQUID Trap 2.0"

Best Regards

-Luciano

PACMAN Reloaded Version 1.2 is available !!

We in Babs2Go really appreciate all the feedback we are getting from the PACMAN community. As of now, we are particular interested on hearing your opinions about the game controls.

PACMAN Reloaded 1.2 adds the capability of controlling pacman via accelerometer.

As we saw a few reviews, it seems that some people are not happy with the current Arrow-based controls. As such, we have added the option to enable Accelerometer at the Configuration Screen. We would appreciate if you could try this other option and let us know if it works better.

Your feedback is very important to drive our activities for the next release!

Thanks

-Babs2Go Team

PACMAN Reloaded Version 1.1 is available !!

Hello Everyone

This morning, PACMAN Reloaded has just toke the lead of sales overall in Brazil, South Africa and Costa Rica. Babs2Go team is extremely happy with these results and we are working hard to include on our software the most of the fix/enhancements that has been suggested by our PACMAN Community. We have been monitoring the reviews on the App Store and we are glad to say that, in record time, Apple has approved our latest version of PACMAN Reloaded. It is the first time ever that I see an App being approved in a matter of a few hours. Submitted this morning (11AM) and just got approved(5PM). It will be pushed to our installed base over the next 24 hours.

PACMAN Reloaded 1.1 brings the following enhancements:

- added Configuration screen with :
    * Difficulty Level Settings
    * Background Play List builder
- display levels on Hall of Fame
- Turned on/off sound switch into Sound Mode Switch with following options:
    * Only Background Music
    * Only Sound Effects
    * Background Music and Sound Effects
    * Mute
- Bug fixes:
    * Improve memory management - prevent crash while adding new scores to Hall of Fame
    * Fixed intermittent instability during level change
    * General usability issues 

Feel free to post any suggestions on this website or just leave your comment on the App Store.

Thanks

-Luciano

PACMAN Reloaded

Hello Everyone

I'd like to announce our latest product on the App Store. Babs2Go is glad to bring to you PACMAN Reloaded. The greatest thing about this game is that it is already born with a few millions of fans :).


PACMAN is a classic arcade game that almost everyone who ever had a computer have already enjoyed. My daughter is about 5 years old and she just learned to play PACMAN herself. As she liked, she asked me to get PACMAN for my iPhone so she could play while we were driving her to school.


I have browsed a few options and didn't like any. As usual, if I do not like what is out there, I build my own. Ever since yesterday (Feb 12th)  the App has been available on the App Store. It seems that people are also liking it; with no marketing at all (even the Apple new release list has started showing it only today) it is already the 49 most sold App of the Entertainment category in Brazil.


I hope that you enjoy it!


If you have suggestions on what game to build next, let us know. My main source of information now is my daughter, but I'd love to bring to live your favorite game.


Here are a few screen from PACMAN Reloaded:

Thanks

-Luciano

Have a great New Year !!

Hi Folks

It has been a while since I do not write on the blog. It has been a very busy couple months :)

However, I'd like to wish a Great New Year to all of you !!

About my last post, iToon 2.0 was submitted, approved and it is available on the App Store. However, I can't wait to submit the next release. If you thought that version 2.0 was a major update, you will be surprised by the 2.1 version.

Before telling about 2.1, let me share a few issues with you: Apple has changed their "New Release" list policy on the App Store and, unfortunately, "Updates" are no longer considered "New Releases". As such, I have no efficient way to let everybody know about new iToon versions.

On the previous policy, iToon used to show up on the very first page of the "New Releases" list for each update. However, on the new policy, it not longer happens. I trust that you will be happy with the new releases and let your friends know. I really need this "advertisement" help from you in order to keep the updates going. 

In a glance, here are some of the iToon 2.1 features:

- Frames : You will be able to add frames to you picture, take a look on some of them at the end of this post.
- Background Painter : You will be able to overlap pictures and interchange the backgrounds.
- Artistic Highlight : You will be able to build dramatic effects with Colored Themes on the top of Black and White background.
- In-App Purchases : This will allow you to buy features and content packs directly from iToon Store.

These are major enhancements that will bring iToon to a new level. 2010 is promising great things.

Best luck to us all !

-Luciano
Babs2Go Founder

 

 

iToon 2.0 has been resubmitted to Apple

Hi Folks

iToon 2.0 is on it way for approval again. we have changed the requested items by Apple and hopefully they will find no other issue. We expect to have iToon generally available by next week. I will keep you posted.

-Babs2Go Team

iToon 2.0 got delayed .....

Hi folks

I'm sorry to say that things did not go as planned. Apple just sent me a message saying that iToon 2.0 has been rejected. The reason is because there are icons on my UI that resembles Polaroid features. According to Apple : "it  appears to include features that resemble Polariod photographs".

They told me that and sent me a set of screenshots:

Because most of the features are already there since the very first iToon versions, I assume that they are talking about my Icons. Well, I will change the icons and resubmmit. However, the entire process will add a couple weeks to the expected time for making the product available.

Remember that iToon 2.0 will be a free upgrade to all previous iToon owners.

-Babs2Go Team

iToon 2.0 is coming...

iToon 2.0 has been sent to Apple for over a week now. We in Babs2Go are expecting the approval from the App Store for the next few days. If everything goes as planned and Apple requires no modification iToon 2.0 should be available at some time between later this week and earlier next week.

We will keep you posted. Until then, feel free to take a look at the new iToon 2.0 User Guide available here and check the upcoming features.

-Luciano

iToon is growing up !!

Hi Folks

I'm glad to share with you that iToon 2.0 has been sent to Apple for approval. I have added major updates on this release and I really hope that you will enjoy it. Here are the major enhancements of the upcoming release:

- iToon Camera - Grid : The camera got enhanced with a Grid in order to make the picture composition easier. If you are not familiar with "The Rule of Third", take a look at this link and you will see how useful the grid is.
- iToon Camera - Digital Zoom : Because I would not like you to spend a lot of money with additional iPhone Apps, I have decided to add the digital zoom feature to iToon as well. You will be able to zoom in your pictures up to 5 times in real time.
- iToon Sessions - On the new version you will be able to save your unfinished sessions and get back to them on a later time. No need to rush anymore in order to get the work done at once. You can take the picture, do some editing, close it and get back to it when you have time.
- iToon User Interface - iToon 2.0 has a completely new user interface. I have minimized the number of items on the work area in order to get more space to what really matter, you pictures.
- This version User Interface is available only in US English.

Because of these changes (specially on the camera), iToon 2.0 will be available only for IPhone OS 3.1 or later.

Here are some early screen-shots. Hopefully, the App will be available on the App Store in a couple weeks.

-Luciano

10th Assignment: Write a review about the Windowed Fourier Transform. What are the most common windows? How is the Brillouin plane of this transform?

On this assignment, I will write a little bit about the Windowed Fourier Transform. As powerful as the Fourier transform may be, it has a major issue. Because it is originally designed to quantify the energy of all frequencies on a signal, it always takes under consideration the entire signal. It means that the results do not allow us to take any conclusion on when the frequencies have reached the peak or any other time-related information.All one can find by using Fourier Transform to analyze a signal is what frequencies are present on the signal and how much of each frequency was found. Windowed Fourier Transform adds a new constraint to the Fourier Transform in order to try reaching a certain level of  time-related information for each frequency.

The core idea of the Windowed Fourier Transform is the addition of a window function to the traditional Fourier Transform. This Time Window function will segment the signal and will turn into 0 (zero) all values that do not belong to the specified time-window. From the notation perspective, this is what one will have:

As T is the time windows that one wants to study:

                         +T/2                     + ∞
X(w) =               ∫    x(t)e-jwt dt = ∫    w(t) x(t) e-jwt dt
                          -T/2                     - ∞

with

w(t) = 1 when  |t|<=T/2
and
w(t) = 0 when  |t| > T/2

There are ups and downs about this method. By using time windows instead of the entire signal, the local maximum not necessarily represents the signal maximum. However, assuming that for the specific study, knowing only the local frequencies would be enough, this could be an interesting and effective way to locate the studied frequencies inside a time period.

How you choose your time-window is also important. Different time-windows will have different impacts on your results. Many different window functions have been proposed over time, each with its own advantages and disadvantages relative to the others. Here is a list with the most common time window functions:

Window              Best with                Frequency                  Amplitude
                           Signal Types           Resolution                  Accuracy

Barlett                Random                  Good                           Fair
Blackman           Random/Mixed      Poor                           Good
Flat top               Sinusoids               Poor                            Best
Hanning             Random                  Good                          Fair
Hamming           Random                  Good                          Fair
Kaiser-Bessel     Random                  Fair                            Good
None(boxcar)    Transient&              Best                           Poor
                          Synchronous  
Tukey                Random                   Good                         Poor
Welch                Random                   Good                         Fair

OBS: I could not find any information about the Brilloin Information Plan. Any tips would be appreciated.

1st Assignment : Review text : "Wavelets: seeing the forest and the trees", by Dana Mackienzie, 2003

I wish all assignments were this nice. Particularly for a non-mathematician guy like me, this text provides a very useful description on why wavelet theory is important and why I'm exchanging my free time to learn about it. You may want take a look on the full paper here.

The author goes by several interesting examples in order to show a concise history of the wavelet theory and applications. The main highlight of her paper is the comparison of the wavelet analysis with the Human perception of its surroundings. Revisiting the author's example, the Human perception allows us to go from a wide-scale overview perspective up to a very fine-grained detailed perspective. When we are overlooking a forest from a jet flying over 2000 feet above the ground, we can barely see any trees, we just see a very long green "carpet". As we get closer, we realize that such "carpet" is made of tress and if we go even closer we will see branches, leaves, etc. This means that the Human perception allows us to visit whatever granularity we need. However, cameras and/or computers do not have such capability. Digital images only represent one perspective at a time. Getting closer to a digital picture will not give you more than a blurred view of the picture.

According to the author, wavelet is one attempt of representing such different levels of granularities on mathematical models. This is the kind of theory that has been so useful that people all around the world have been using variations of it for a very long time way before it got formalized and known as wavelets.

It is very likely that you have been using wavelets for quite a long time without even knowing it. The jpeg2000 (very popular picture format on many digital camera brands) uses wavelets as one of the steps to compress the image files. On the specific case of jpeg2000, wavelets have the capability of splitting what we consider to be the objects on the scene (face, car, etc) of the background information (usually blur or fuzzy image). By doing that, it generates two stream of numbers (pixel values and variation) that can be compressed in up to 200:1 scale.

As a relatively new concept, the wavelet theories are growing in number and complexity in a very fast pace. Several different areas are still evaluating the best way to take advantage of the wavelet features. The most important is that in the case of wavelets, the theory and the practical applications seems to be evolving together. Not only evolving the mathematical foundations but also the several applications that certainly will bring major breakthroughs to several areas of science.

-Luciano

Getting back to Classes

Hi Folks

I have spent a lot of time writing mostly about my IPhone Apps. It is time to go back to school and start writing about a few assignments again. I have enrolled to two very interesting courses this period. I will be working on "Theory of Intelligent Control" and "Introduction to Wavelet theory".

Stay tuned because I already have quite a few assignments that I will make available on the blog over the next couple weeks.

-Luciano

iToon 1.1 Upgrade

Hello Folks

Due to the great i-Toon success, I have speed-up the implementation of i-Toon 1.1. This is going to be a free upgrade for everyone who already bought i-Toon 1.0.

Here are the main enhancements for i-Toon 1.1:

- single tap at ballon rotates it (no longer attached to the center of the picture)
- double tap on picture resizes it
- Added Resize Slider for handling small balloons
- resize picture and ballon with pinch gesture
- automatically resizes text to fit ballon
- prevents missing balloons by keeping them inside picture boundaries
- save space in your device (iToon App binary has reduced its size in ~30%)
- prevents saving duplicated cartoons by checking if there were any modifications before saving it.

Here are the new User Guides:

i-Toon 1.1 User`s Guide
i-Toon 1.1 Manual do Usuário

This release was submitted to Apple on August 11th. Hopefully it will be available on App Store in a couple weeks.

Thanks

-Luciano

i-Toon, available this weekend (08/08/2009)

Hello Everyone

i-Toon está totalmente traduzido para Inglês e Português. Acesse o Manual do Usuário aqui.
i-Toon is completly localized for English and Portuguese. Check User Manual here.

I'm glad to share that our new App will be available starting this weekend on the App Store.

As we continue experiencing all different App categories, this time we bring to you i-Toon. It is a mix of Entertainment and Photography App. We will position it inside Photography but I get to say that I may change its category to Entertainment based on the users feedback.

On this tool, I got engaged into reshape the code for the very first App I designed. Back then I was going to build a cartoon generator that would automatically build a cartoon based on a picture. I found several constraints to build such application, specially because of storage and memory space.

This time, I have restructured the idea a little bit and made it more interactive. For this first release, here are the main features:

- Acquire Image from your camera or from our picture library;
- Apply "Border" filter;
- Paint image with Cartoon Colors
- Paint picture as Vivid Colors
- Add Ballon titles
- Save i-Toon pictures to your Photo Library
- Send i-Toon pictures via e-mail

Next release(free upgrade), with new features expected for early September. Feel free to send me a message with your i-Toon wish-list. I might very well decide to implement the suggested features if they fit into my planned schedulle.

-Luciano

i-Dig is Ready for Sale !!

Hello Everyone

I'm glad to share with you that Apple has finally approved "I-Dig-The Recycle Challenge" and it is available on the App Store.

As our technology matures, we are adding quite a few features to our games. This time the game is available in English and Portuguese. We have also added support to three of the main OS 3.0 features : IPod Sound as background music, Multiplayer mode and Voice Chat.

Right now, I'm brainstorming in order to get ready to start working on the next release. Here is my current wish-list:

- Add earthquakes (mess up the user tunnels)

- Add at least one big “Boss” in order to complete each phase
- Shake the iPhone to change background music
- improve visual effects
- minimize App footprint
- fix any possible bugs that Users report

My windows for defining new feature should be closed by the end of this month. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

I hope you enjoy the game!

-Luciano

iDig will be sent to Apple Store today !!

Hello everyone

I'm glad to share with you that i-Dig is about to be sent to apple for entering on the App Store.

Here is its description and a few screenshots. If you are interested on writing a review or becoming a beta tester of our future Apps, let me know.

By this weekend, I intend posting a quick demonstration video of the game on You-Tube. Stay tunned, more news to come.

-Luciano

I-Dig : The Recycling Challenge is an ecological adventure. On this first release, I-Dig uses the full potential of IPhone OS 3 and mixes a fun game with an ecological story.

On the single player mode, the game objective is helping out a little worm to collect as much recycle material as possible. By bringing the cargo to the Recycling Center, the user gets Worm$ that can be used to buy upgrades. If a worm were as tall as a human, each game map would allow it to dig into about 650 feet under the ground. The random map generator is capable of generating up to 1000 different maps to make each new campaign unique. As the user goes deeper he/she will find garbage and obstacles. Natural obstacles such as gas pockets will slow the worm down while drag its life away. Snakes are moving around and they may fall on you if you dig under them. Be specially careful about spiders, they can follow you around and keep dragging your life away; they will not stop until you terminate them. Use your bombs to terminate spiders and snakes. Do not forget that your ethanol tank may go out of fuel as you dig in, remember to go back and refill it from time to time.

The multiplayer mode is the greatest part! The same rules of the single player game apply to the multi-player mode. However, on the multiplayer mode you have to deal with a much smarter adversary that will control a second Worm. After the multi-player campaign starts, the users also have the option to start the Voice Chat tool and tease each other while playing. The game will keep track of both user's scores and it will assume that the highest score is the winner. However, blowing up your opponent will make you feel better in case you got a lower score :-) .

Well, help the worm, learn more about the environment and have fun !

-BABs 2Go Team

Another crazy idea...

Some times I get myself thinking about things that are totally unrelated. I do not know why, but I guess that my brain likes it. During one of my divagations trying to find a theme for my theses, I was thinking about the concept of a time capsule.

A time capsule is used when one generation wants to pass information to another generation. It is not more than a chest with a bunch of letters, drawings, written messages, prety much anything that people would like to share with their kids, grand-kids, and so on.

The time capsule is fine, however, as usual, I think it is too simplistic. As a good scientist, I could not see something simple, working perfectly and let it be. On that case, I was trying to find other uses to a time capsule. That was what leaded me to a few strange but accurate thoughts.

OK, the initial idea is sending a time capsule to your relatives in the future. Moving on, I though, "Why couldn't I sent a time-capsule to myself?". All right, that concept alone could be interesting but not new; it would be just like "I will buy an Apple Stock today and leave it on the closet until I retire". Simple and not fun at all.

When I was about to give-up, I though "Well, what about reincarnation? Would it be totally unthinkable to leave something for me when I get back to life?".

Well, if you are still reading this post is because you are not too upset with me by merging science and religion. Fine, I will keep this way because I'm talking only science here.

Even that reincarnation is most of the times linked to a second life, or something mystical. I have been thinking that it is in fact a mathematical possibility. I mean, all your memories would start fresh but as long as there are human beings around, you have the chance to be born again, even at the same time! From the scientific perspective, at least as far as the current state of the science goes, your body is defined by a set of DNA molecules. Those sets of molecules have been around and mixing and matching together ever since the first Human being was born. Several mutations have created pretty much every single individual that we see today.

Even on the worst case scenario, assuming that the DNA molecules are arranging themselves in total random ways, it only means that there is a very small probability that they will ever get together again in the exact same formation that you are composed today. However, if we take another well accepted truth of these days, we know that the universe is infinite on time. Considering that the Human species will last for at least another X billion of years, that small probability that you have to be reborn becomes a possibility. Yes, you may have a really terrible luck and never be born again but you could be also be a lottery winner and be born twice at the same time (identical twins).

Of course that people can argue that those are two different individuals and that is perfectly acceptable. However, they share the very same project design. I'm not really trying to sell anything here, I sure respects other people's opinions. My point is that, just for fun, wouldn't it be nice if you could share information with yourself whenever you/him is reborn?

Imagine the impacts of this if you embrace this possibility. Ecologists could say "Save the planet for yourself" and really mean it! Anything that we do here will not only affect our children but now it could also impact your very own next life. Those Apple stocks would be even more valuable if you think you could cash them in 100.000 years from now.

Well, getting back to the time-capsule idea: Imagine if we could digitalize you life. Just create a log that would be saved on the network (I assume that Internet will survive until them) and it would be encrypted with a DNA-based key. In X thousand years from now, the other young version of "you" would get to a website, use his DNA to unlock the information and learn about an entire life that he/she had several hundreds of years before.

Well, I'm not sure if this would be a nice PhD project (the most of the technology to build this is already available), however, I'd buy a ticket to see a movie about it.

-Luciano