http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/ en http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/ http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Win-The-Book-Of-Ruby-Free 2012-02-09 12:02:40 It's the book I wrote but I'm not giving it away (I'm far too mean ). However, here's someone who is... http://www.impressivewebs.com/book-giveaway-ruby/. Enter now, for a chance to win! Huw Collingbourne 2012-02-09T18:02:40Z text/html en Huw Collingbourne http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Objective-C-Book-Reviews 2012-01-18 08:24:12 The principal application programming language both of the Mac and Apple's various iOS devices is Objective-C. It is not the easiest of languages to learn. A beginner may find its mix of C and Smalltalk-like syntax baffling. Even an experienced programmer is likely to have problems, not only learning the language but also getting to grips with the Xcode development environment. Here I look at four books that might help you get over a few of the barriers… These are the (...) Huw Collingbourne 2012-01-18T14:24:12Z text/html en Huw Collingbourne http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Camtasia-2-For-Mac 2012-01-07 07:15:39 $99 / £76.50 (inc VAT) Upgrade from version 1: $49 / £38.50 http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia-mac-features.html Screen recording software is invaluable if you want to make software demos or tutorials. On a Mac, you can use the free QuickTime player to make simple screen recordings. However, its recording capabilities are limited (full screen or rectangular area but no fixed-size presets or selected windows) and there is no editor. So it's fine for very simple recordings but (...) Huw Collingbourne 2012-01-07T13:15:39Z text/html en Huw Collingbourne http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Adobe-Flash-alive-or-dead 2012-01-04 09:59:57 Adobe Flash is dead. I've read that so often recently on blogs and in forums that I was almost starting to believe it might be true... Mark Twaine is said to have remarked "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" after reading his obituary in a newspaper. The reports of the death of Adobe Flash have, I think, also been greatly exaggerated. This is my take on the (...) Huw Collingbourne 2012-01-04T15:59:57Z text/html en Huw Collingbourne http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/The-Comic-Sans-Liberation-Front 2011-12-31 08:21:35 My New Year's Resolution this year is to be less forgiving of stupidity. Detractors of the Comic Sans font come high on my list of offenders. I first became aware of the mouth-foaming passion that the Comic Sans font arouses after I published a free eBook on Ruby programming. I decided that, since Ruby was a frothy, friendly kind of language I would use a frothy, friendly kind of font for the code listings. A boring font like Courier is ok for a workaday language such as Java or C#. (...) Huw Collingbourne 2011-12-31T14:21:35Z text/html en Huw Collingbourne http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Taming-the-Mac-Mouse 2011-12-27 13:03:51 One of the thing that's been driving me up the wall when using my Mac is the damn' mouse's habit of sending my documents whizzing off screen when I'm least expecting it. I'm using the iMac's ‘Magic Mouse' which is a cute looking thing that has no buttons at all yet pretends it has two buttons plus a built in touch-pad. Sounds a great idea. But in practice, it just tries to do too damn' much. The horizontal scrolling thing is especially (...) Huw Collingbourne 2011-12-27T19:03:51Z text/html en Huw Collingbourne http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Blow-Up-3 2011-12-05 07:26:57 Blow Up 3 $199 Alien Skin Software http://www.alienskin.com/blowup/ Requirements: Photoshop CS4 or later; or Lightroom 2 or later; Intel Core 2 processor or compatible; Mac OS X 10.6 or later, Windows Vista or later Blow Up 3 is a Photoshop (and Lightroom) plugin for enlarging images while retaining clarity. It has to be said that this is a specialised requirement: either you need it badly or you don't need it at all. If you need to magnify images to be printed on posters, for (...) Huw Collingbourne 2011-12-05T13:26:57Z text/html en Huw Collingbourne http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Mastering-XCode-4-Develop-and 2011-11-28 08:47:11 Mastering XCode 4: Develop and Design $49.99 / £33.99 Joshua Nozzi Peachpit Press http://xcodebook.com http://www.computermanuals.co.uk/scripts/browse.asp?ref=243244 ISBN-10: 0321767527 ISBN-13: 978-0321767523 If you are used, as I am, to programming in Visual Studio on Windows, trying to write programs in Apple's Mac IDE, XCode, is an uphill struggle. Not only am I still unfamiliar with the conventions of the Mac interface itself, but I am also new to the main XCode (...) Huw Collingbourne 2011-11-28T14:47:11Z text/html en Huw Collingbourne http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Customize-Visual-Studio-s-Colours 2011-11-24 06:07:17 Visual Studio is one of those rare pieces of software for which I have considerable affection. This is just as well since it's one of the two pieces of software that I use every day. The other is Microsoft Word. ‘Affection' is not a word that springs to mind in relation to MS Word. ‘Irritation' is more to the point. I particularly dislike the bloody awkward, space-hogging ribbon-bar which very effectively hides away all the functions that used to be instantly (...) Huw Collingbourne 2011-11-24T12:07:17Z text/html en Huw Collingbourne http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Tiffen-Dfx-v3-Photo 2011-11-22 07:43:29 Tiffen Dfx v3 Filter Suite Photo Plugin $199.95 Tiffen Software http://www.tiffensoftware.com/ Tiffen Dfx Filter Suite is a collection of image-enhancing filters that simulate a number of ‘traditional' photography effects achieved using glass lenses and filters (Tiffen is a manufacturer of glass photographic filters), as well as various types of film stocks and photographic processing effects. There are 125 filters with thousands of individually configured variations or (...) Huw Collingbourne 2011-11-22T13:43:29Z text/html en Huw Collingbourne