Tag: application

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New App Store prices increase by round 30% for some countries

Early this month, Apple started to have new pricing for the applications in the App Store. Apple sent out an email informing the new pricing for some currencies, and the currency I’m using right now for my account is Indonesian Rupiah.

Within the next 24 hours, the following changes will be made to pricing on the App Store.
To account for changes in foreign exchange rates, App Store retail prices will be increased for the following currencies:

  • Australian Dollar
  • Indian Rupee
  • Indonesian Rupiah
  • Turkish Lira
  • South African Rand

Additionally, retail prices for Israeli New Shekels and some price tiers for the New Zealand Dollar will be decreased.
Price adjustments on the App Store are made periodically due to changes in foreign exchange rates. Within 24 hours, you will see the new Pricing Matrix in the Rights and Pricing section of Manage Your Apps on iTunes Connect.
Updates to iOS Paid Applications and Mac OS X Paid Applications contracts will be available on the iTunes Connect website. To view all current and outstanding contracts, see Contracts, Tax, and Banking on iTunes Connect.

This adjustment is because of the exchange rates for some currencies. Right now (when I write this post), based on XE.com, the currency rate is “1 USD = 11284.6 IDR”. To see the historical data of the currency change here’s a figure taken from XE.com (click to enlarge).
Screen Shot 2014-04-06 at 1.00.44 AM
Now, the new price for applications had been published. See these two before-and-after screenshots.
apple_price_1_before
apple_price_1_after2
Now, let’s see the comparison:

  • Old: IDR 9,500. New: IDR 12,000 (Original price: $US 0.99)
  • Old: IDR 19,000. New: IDR 23,000 (Original price: $US 1.99)
  • Old: IDR 39,000. New: IDR 45,000 (Original price: $US 2.99)

The price increases around 30% from the previous.

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Going with MacBook Pro with Retina Display

MacBook with Retina display

This month, I finally decided to buy myself a new MacBook. And, I chose MacBook with Retina display (15-inch model). It was not an easy decision for some reasons. The first reason is that it’s pretty cheap (compared to the other laptops in the market). The second one was about a decision whether I need to fix my old MacBook or buy the new one.

What happened was that my old MacBook Pro (13-inch model) was not working for the hard drive reason. One day, it stopped working. I could not get into the system. I tried to boot in Safe Mode and did some initial checking. The hard drive was not detected. Not good. Last year, I got the similar issue, and got it fixed by eStore (one of the Apple Authorised Service Provider) in Jakarta — I bought my MacBook Pro there too — by replacing connector cable. Everything was working great since then.

About my old MacBook Pro

I bought my first MacBook Pro (and, it was my first Apple product) when I was in Jakarta, replacing my old Toshiba laptop. I worked at Fashionese Daily (It’s Female Daily Network now). It boosted my productivity, helped me working with my jobs. I spend hours in front of the computer everyday, and having had a good device is not an option.

When I had another role at another company, worked with some coders (in Jogja and Jakarta), it still helped me with my jobs. The most important part is that: my MacBook Pro improves my productivity. Period.

But, why MacBook Pro (with Retina display)? Isn’t it expensive?

When Apple introduced MacBook with Retina display last year, I was thinking of having one one day. Anyway, I like the fact that the display is great. Before Apple came up with iPad 3 (with Retina display), I had a plan to buy an iPad 2. I was curious how the display comparison between iPad 2 and the New iPad. After seeing with my own eyes, I would blame myself if I chose the iPad 2.

When I visited Jakarta and while I’m in Jogja, I visited some stores selling Apple products. And, I looked and compared the MacBook Pro products. Yes, they’re different. The display IS different. Not only that, the technical specifications are also better.

Using it for about two weeks, so far it works really great. Probably, the most “annoying” part is some applications/images are not beautifully displayed — since it’s not working great with the Retina resolution. But, I have no complains with the speed, bigger screens, and details

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Secrets

Secrets: A database of hidden settings for Mac OS X.

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Google Play Developer Program Policies

Google Play Developer Program Policies. About application submission to Google Play.

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Darisini v.2: Merapi

I’ve written a blog post about how small team at Darisini built the application. Now, Darisini just released its new version (Codename: Merapi). Find out more about this release at Darisini blog.

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The Verge: MacBook Pro with Retina Display

The Verge on MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

Regardless of your feelings towards Apple generally or the new generation MacBook Pro with Retina display specifically, it’s more or less a certainty that laptops all over are about to make a strong push for high-resolution displays. And that’s good for everyone involved — not only does it drive a hardware industry forward, but hopefully it pushes software developers, too. The more high-resolution screens on the market, the more websites and applications that will be optimized for it.

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BlackBerry Torch 9860 Sample Photos

I have been using this BlackBerry Torch 9860 (also known as Monza) for about 2 months. So far, I’m enjoying it even I don’t use all BlackBerry features. Well, I only use features like BlackBerry Messenger, email, internet browser, social networking applications, and of course… camera!
I will not write the whole technical specifications. You can go to GSM Arena, and read the details. About the camera, it’s equipped with 5 MP. I have to say that the photo quality is not bad at all. When I look at photos taken using BlackBerry, I usually didn’t expect much on the quality. On this Monza, I’m really impressed. It’s really good.
Here are some photos taken using BlackBerry Torch 9860. All photos are directly uploaded to Flickr without any extra editing processes.
Untitled
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Continue reading “BlackBerry Torch 9860 Sample Photos”
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Instaport

Instaport — “A simple way to export all your Instagram photos to other social services or your local hard drive. Instaport is a simple way to export or backup all your Instagram photos by downloading a single zip file. You can then use it in combination with Google+, Facebook or any other (photo) application.”

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10 patents Facebook is suing Yahoo with

ZDNet has a list of 10 patents that Facebook is using to attack Yahoo. This is a simple list:

  1. Generating a feed of stories personalized for members of a social network (U.S. Patent No. 7,827,208)
  2. Tagging digital media (U.S. Patent No. 7,945,653)
  3. Headline posting algorithm (U.S. Patent No. 6,288,717)
  4. Method for enabling a user to fetch a specific information item from a set of information items, and a system for carrying out such a method (U.S. Patent No. 6,216,133)
  5. Customizing database information for presentation with media selections (U.S. Patent No. 6,411,949)
  6. System and method for dynamic profiling of users in one-to-one applications (U.S. Patent No. 6,236,978)
  7. System and method for dynamic profiling of users in one-to-one applications and for validating user rules (U.S. Patent No. 7,603,331)
  8. Architectures, systems, apparatus, methods, and computer-readable medium for providing recommendations to users and applications using multidimensional data (U.S. Patent No. 8,103,611)
  9. System for controlled distribution of user profiles over a network (U.S. Patent No. 8,005,896)
  10. System for controlled distribution of user profiles over a network (U.S. Patent No. 8,150,913)

Go to ZDNet for complete details of each patent. Other reading: Facebook countersues Yahoo over 10 patents.

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Randomized Twitter's Homepage Design

I don’t visit Twitter’s website regularly. I use Twitter from third party applications most of the time. Not sure when Twitter has another new look — the homepage has been changed few times — but when I open Twitter’s homepage, I got some different schemes.
Anyway, you probably remember about its major design few months ago. Now, Twitter randomize its homepage by having different color schemes. Not sure how many combinations it has, I found three. All of them give a short description: “Find out what’s happening, right now, with the people and organizations you care about.”


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How To: Install Opera Mobile on Nokia N9

Nokia N9 already has a built-in internet browser. It’s not the best, but it works. I like having some browsers for my Nokia N9, and currently I have Firefox Mobile and Opera Mobile installed. Both browsers (Firefox Mobile and Opera Mobile) are not available from Ovi Store. If you’re using Symbian for your Nokia, you can download Opera Mini. Firefox is not yet supported.
I’m not considering the installation process as something difficult. Yes, it’s not like the regular installation procedures. It’s my first-time experience too. So far, everything works without any issue at the moment. For Opera Mobile installation, I just follow the installation tutorial from Nokia N9 Fans Club. It’s an unofficial site, not maintained by Nokia.

Now, let me share a bit about how I installed Opera Mobile. Anyway, my N9 is running MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan with software version PR1.1 (20.2011.40-2_PR_005). And, if you’re not familiar with command line, you can continue reading.

Continue reading “How To: Install Opera Mobile on Nokia N9”
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6th Grader iPhone Application Developer

I like watching TED Talk videos, including lots videos from TEDx. Recently, I stumbled across a video by Thomas Suarez from TEDxManhattanBeach event.

From the video description:

Thomas Suarez is a 6th grade student at a middle school in the South Bay. Tom been fascinated by computers and technology since before kindergarten. Recently, he’s been focused on the development of applications for the iPhone, and has established his own company, CarrotCorp. His most successful ap is one he terms “an anti-Justin-Bieber game” called “Bustin Jieber”. “It’s is a variation on the Whac-a-Mole theme,” he explains.

Not only he does a great work,  I think he’s very good at his presentation too :)

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Solved: Nokia N9 can't connect to Twitter

After I had my Nokia N9 early this month, I setup my Twitter account first — after some basic phone settings, of course. Everything worked. The application is probably not the best, but it works.
Is it problem-free app? I thought so, until I got a problem: I can’t connect to Twitter using this app. I was not sure when the problem occurred for the first time. I did played with my phone (installing apps, downloading musics, adjusting settings, and including working from the command line). When an update was available, I also upgraded.
Added later: I was not sure what caused this problem. When I signed-in for the first time, everything worked without any issues. I deleted my Twitter account from the app, and tried to add it again. I forgot when I did this for sure, before or after installing the firmware update. It  was optional, but I decided to upgrade.
2011-11-13 01-49-48At first, I was not sure about the problem. Is it my phone, or the internet connection I was using. I switched to some different connections, but it didn’t solve my problem. When I tapped the “Sign In” button, it said: “Can’t connect to Twitter”.
So, I searched for a solution. And, I got one. It’s probably something too technical, but the instruction is easy to understand. According to the forum thread, here are some steps to fix the problem — I’m using Software Version: PR1.1 (20.2011.40-2_PR_005):

  • Activate “Developer mode” by going to: Settings > Security > Developer mode. It’s OFF by default. Turn it ON.
  • After having it activated, you will find a “Terminal” app button under application menu.
  • Open it and you need to execute these commands (one command per line):
    • gconftool --recursive-unset /system/http_proxy
    • gconftool --recursive-unset /system/proxy
    • gconftool --recursive-unset /system/osso

You may close your Terminal.
Those commands will wipe your active connection settings (bluetooth and internet data). But, it’s not a problem as I can add/manage connection settings easily. Problem fixed. Great.

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Nokia N9: Swipe demo

Yesterday, I created a simple video about my Nokia N9. In this video you can see how the swipe works (switching between home screens — there are: Events, Applications, and Open Applications). You can also watch the User Interface. Do you think it’s easy to use? I think it is.