Appletell

As you know, the new iPhone SDK beta 4 has recently come out, but there is something interesting about this one.  Originally, developers believed that the iPhone would not allow background processes, such as receiving instant messages from one application while in a different one.  A reason for this could possibly be the drain it could cause on the battery, or simply Apple just wanting to keep the device stable.  However, the new SDK beta now supports the UIApplication delegate class which, according to TUAW:

“There are definitely some very interesting methods added to UIApplication’s delegate, including methods for badging the Springboard icon, and methods related to gaining and resigning “active” status - seems like background apps may be permitted somehow.”

So is this concrete proof of background processes, or is this whole idea just blown out of proportion to begin with?  I’ll let you be the judge, but I, for one, sure hope that Apple will allow apps to run in the background.

In a very interesting article, BusinessWeek goes over Apple’s Design Strategy and while, Apple TV notwithstanding, they seem to nail it every time.

The article is broken up into the following headers:

Pixel Perfect Mockups
Though is tacks on a lot of time to the beginning, detailed mockups prevent any misunderstanding in the process.

10 to 3 to 1
Apple designers start with 10 entirely different mockups of any given product. This is then narrowed down to 3, then to the final product.

Paired Design Meetings
Design meetings always come in pairs: one to discuss ideas of anything they want to happen with the product, no matter how unrealistic. The second meeting is to weed out the unrealistic ideas and add in more sensible ones if need be.

Pony Meeting
Narrowing down unrealistic ideas that senior management might want in a product into possible ideas is the last part of the process.

Read the article, highly recommended, here.