Category Archives: Apple

Google Maps API

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Google have announced that they will introduce usage limits and start billing excess usage fees for their Google Maps API from 1st January 2012.

The free usage limit has been set at 25,000 map loads per day. If you exceed this limit your choices are:

Excess usage is billed at $4 per 1,000 map loads.

What happens if you do none of these?

Your maps will continue to function. However if your application qualifies for and consistently exceeds the published Maps API usage limits, you do not have a Maps API Premier license, and you do not enroll for online purchasing of excess map loads, a warning may be shown on your map and a Maps API Premier sales manager may contact you to discuss your licensing options.

While this apparently won’t affect 99.65% of users and is aimed squarely at the high-usage ‘abusers’, one does wonder what plans Google have for widening the net of their haul by reducing the limits even further.

Fortunately developers who use the Maps External Library to embed maps in their Android or iOS apps shouldn’t be affected, but again I wonder how long before Google decide to cash-in on this lucrative revenue stream too.

Apple presumably have the same fears. Earlier this year they quietly acquired Swedish mapping technology firm C3 Technologies, so it’s probably safe to assume that they are developing an alternative maps API to challenge Google’s dominance.

While I appreciate that Google is a profit-making commercial enterprise, the manner in which these fees have been introduced is a cause for concern.

It’s akin to a drug dealer giving away free hits and then exploiting the poor addicts once they’re hooked on drugs.

Is this indicative of a new Google business model to get us all using their ‘free’ services and then bleed us dry once we’re all dependent?

Google’s “Don’t be evil” corporate motto might need to be updated soon.

" The first one's free kid ... "

Steve Jobs

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I am feeling quite emotional about the sad passing of Steve Jobs. I have previously been closely involved in the technical development of iPhone and so perhaps feel a more personal connection that extends beyond being an Apple fanboi.

The closest I came to meeting the great man in person was at the ‘Mum is no longer the word‘ Apple press conference at the Regent Street store in London on 18th September 2007. I’m lurking in the crowd somewhere in the auditorium below!

I’ll never forget the buzz of anticipation from the assembled hacks as Steve Jobs took to the stage to announce the exclusive partnership between Apple and O2 (to sell the original iPhone). This was the worst kept secret in the industry, but the excitement of Jobs coming to town to personally reveal the deal was palpable.

I read the news of Jobs’ death this morning while checking the BBC News app on my touch-screen mobile phone. This is the type of information snacking that most smart phone users do habitually and now take totally for granted.

The way we interact with mobile devices and consume mobile data has changed beyond all recognition since the original Apple iPhone launched in 2007.

Jobs’ obsessive attention to detail in all aspects of Apple’s product development has made complicated technology accessible to all. iPhones, iPods and iPads have become ubiquitous, not just because of their technical capabilities but because they are beautifully simple to use.

Jobs has left a lasting legacy of technological achievements, but his early death is also a reminder of the fragility of life.

The man had an almost limitless supply of cash and arguably the most technologically inventive minds in the world at his disposal, but he could not buy his health.

So long Steve – and thanks.

Making /Volumes visible in Finder

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Since working out how to automount Drobo FS shares I’ve been looking for a way of having my /Volumes folder appear in Finder.

The solution is to use the SetFile command line tool:

/usr/bin/SetFile is a tool to set the file attributes on files in an HFS+ directory.

To make the /Volumes folder visible:

sudo SetFile -a v /Volumes

To make the /Volumes folder invisible again:

sudo SetFile -a V /Volumes

You can apply this to any folder that is invisible by default in Finder.

iTunes Connect Availability Date

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What time will an app go live in iTunes when setting an Availability Date in the future?

The answer is quite simple. Assuming your app has been approved and is in the ‘Ready for Sale’ state, it will be published in each App Store territory at midnight local time.

For example, if you have chosen to publish your app in the Australian, UK and US App Stores and set an availability date of 1st June then your app will go live at 0.00 hrs local time on the morning of 1st June in each territory.

The time in London when your app will go live:

  • Australia: 31st May 15.00 hrs
  • United Kingdom: 1st June 00.00 hrs
  • United States: 1st June 08.00 hrs

This means that your app will go live in some territories before it is available in the UK.

Xcode freezing when opening a project?

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A possible solution to Xcode 4 freezing after you open a project:

If your Xcode project source path contains a space then rename it and try opening the project again. This is the most likely cause.

If it still freezes after renaming then do the following:

1. (Force) Close Xcode
2. Delete these cache files:

rm ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode
rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Xcode.plist

3. Restart Xcode & keep your fingers crossed!