₦airaland Forum

1.
In this article we will look at how you can create your own video sharing website, just like youtube. The whole process is mush easier than it may seem at first. Unlike the likes of Youtube, you do not need to have hundreds of software developers and loads of money.

How To Create Your Own Video Sharing Website ~> http://phpmotion.com/Create-your-own-Video-Sharing-Website

2.
This is the heart of Kaltura.org - the Open Source Video projects.
Below you will find projects related to the Kaltura Platform, video application development, hosting, streaming, media management, video processing, etc.
The projects are either created by Kaltura and released to the community, or by other members of the amazing people that make this community.

Open Source Video Developer Community ~> http://www.kaltura.org/project

3.
This article shows how you can build your own video community using lighttpd with its mod_flv_streaming module (for streaming .flv videos, the format used by most major video communities such as YouTube) and its mod_secdownload module (for preventing hotlinking of the videos). I will use FlowPlayer as the video player, a free Flash video player with support for lighttpd's mod_flv_streaming module. I will also show how you can encode videos (.mp4 .mov .mpg .3gp .mpeg .wmv .avi) to the FLV format supported by Adobe Flash.

Build Your Own Video Community ~> http://www.howtoforge.com/video_streaming_lighttpd_flowplayer
Part 2 ~> http://www.howtoforge.com/video_streaming_lighttpd_flowplayer_p2
Part 3 ~> http://www.howtoforge.com/video_streaming_lighttpd_flowplayer_p3

Source Code ~> http://cdn1.raywenderlich.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/InstagramFinal2.zip

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to make a simple photo sharing app, like an extremely simple version of Instagram. In particular, you’ll learn:
Using a blank startup project that has all the UI already set up, this tutorial will cover how to:
How to connect to a JSON-based web API in Objective-C
How to create a simple JSON API in PHP
How to implement user authorization for the API
How to take photos, apply effects and send them over to the JSON service.

Part 1 ~> http://www.raywenderlich.com/13511/how-to-create-an-app-like-instagram-with-a-web-service-backend-part-12
Part 2 ~> http://www.raywenderlich.com/13541/how-to-create-an-app-like-instagram-with-a-web-service-backend-part-22

Source Code Part 1 ~> http://cdn1.raywenderlich.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/iReporter_web_complete.zip
Source Code Part 2 ~> http://cdn2.raywenderlich.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/iReporterStartupProject.zip

Yeah Im with this. How much is the challenge holding?

The programming world never stops developing. Whether it be from the early stages of Binary to the era of C++ and the eventual emergence of Python and PHP, a scientific historian can look back and marvel at the majestic evolution of coding throughout the past decades. With so many new languages and libraries being developed around the world, it can be easy, even as a programmer, to lose track of all that is going on. Often, a curious developer is faced with an alphabet soup of terms, libraries, and languages—which can be both marveling and perplexing. Below are seven massive and curious new innovative developments that everyone, especially programmers, should know about.

1. Dart: In 2011, Google launched Dart, a programming language for the Web. Outside its pacific aqua logo, Dart possesses an audacious goal: to replace JavaDart_logo_wordmarkscript as the main language on open web platforms. At least 99% of all major websites utilize some measure of Javascript, many often deferring to the advantageous Javascript library, jQuery, for a variety of applications. Hence, such undertaking is daring; but, given Google’s resume of achievement, it is far form unimaginable. Like most new programming languages, Dart faces a challenge of convincing current programmers that learning a new syntax is worth the perks. A major question is applicability to most common web browsers. Because only the exclusive Chromium browser has a built-in virtual machine capable of processing Dart, Dart code must be compiled into Javascript to provide applicability on all popular web browsers to ensure compatibility.

Why is it important? Dart may become, if Google gets their wish, the go-to language for both new avid web developers and veteran programmers. But will Javascript join the list of mostly retired languages? Only the future can tell. Check out Dart’s page here.

2. Swift: Launched recently, Swift stirred up quite a buzz at the WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference). Apple, a commonly understood competitor of Google and Android, describes their new language as “interactive and fun, the syntax is concise yet expressive, and apps run lightning-fast.”

Swift’s architecture appears to live up to that bold statement. Not only is Swift dedicated to working on iOS and OS X, allowing developers to more efficiently create apps, but it is also equipped with interactive playgrounds, allowing programmers to create code seamlessly and view results instantly. As one of the most popular OS systems for mobile phones, iOS has a legacy of being the birthplace of the modern phone “app.” The app field remains a hot market, which only indicates that Swift is a critical development in the programming sphere.

Apple's Swift in Action. Image Courtesy of Swift's Launch page online.
Apple’s Swift in Action. Image Courtesy of Swift’s Launch page online.
What is the technical infrastructure? Swift is based on an Xcode environment that has been lauded by many developers (but, for Android lovers, not all) as significantly easier to use than Android’s counterpart, Eclipse. While Apple in popular media has been previously mocked for easy mobile “jailbreaks” to access free content, Swift is established in Objective-C and C infrastructure, which has a reputation of being more secure from general piracy. This brings up another comparative advantage: Objective-C has such a strong learning curve, and with Swift’s more concise infrastructure, novice iOS developers may be motivated to diversify their projects.

What’s so cool about it? Swift is built for programming safety. Memory is managed automatically, the syntax is easily readable, and arrays and integers are screened immediately to prevent potential overflow. View Swift’s beautiful and dynamic page here.

3. Julia: Launched in 2012, Julia is a high-level dynamic computational programming language that has a main goal of getting and fixing the problem fast. While Matlab and Wolfram Alpha’s alternate Mathematica 9 dominate the computational world throughout, a new successor may be viable. Julia has many peculiar aspects, such as multiple dispatch, when a computer function could be called based entirely on the run time of other parts of the object in question. Multiple dispatch could make solving algorithms easier, yet what makes Julia really interesting is its build. You can access, in basic terms, the bare bones of the language without leaving the interface of the language: it is like speaking English while immediately understanding the Latinjulia, Greek, and Anglo-Saxon roots of the words you use.

What makes it important? Julia might not be for everyone, given that it is primarily a mathematical language. Since many users of Matlab have relatively simple and less aggressive problems, the diverse literature on the topic may make the old dog the better choice. But for experimental programmers that want to have dynamic and complex tools at their side while undertaking high level calculations, Julia may prove a better investment to Matlab. One awesome thing is that it includes infinity as a data type and can undergo complex number mathematics straightforwardly without deferring to intricate arrangements.

hACK logo

4. Hack: It is no surprise that Mark Zuckerberg’s titanic website-based corporation, Facebook, made this list. Facebook launched the dynamic language Hack in early 2014, which runs on the HipHop Virtual Machine, a feature that converts PHP code into high-level bytecode to make performance better. But what really makes Hack stellar? For obvious reasons, Facebook every minute processes countless interactions with users, making Hack even more critical. In many ways, Facebook has already produced a litmus test to attest to Hack’s power: Facebook has migrated a majority of its PHP code to Hack, which proves its web applicability is phenomenal, especially since Facebook has increased its functionality without compromising its speed. So where does Hack come into play? Hack allows developers to weave web constructs dynamically, a feature known as dynamic typing.

Hack and PHP have alike code identifiers which can be weaved into an HTML environment.
Hack and PHP have alike code identifiers which can be weaved into an HTML environment.
Why is this awesome? Hack allows Facebook and other websites to be developed faster and more error free. HHVM includes a type checker that warns you of any errors, even prior to running the application, by monitoring variable declarations. For companies that have hundreds of programmers sending in code snippets daily, monitoring for bugs proves tedious. Hack solves that issue by giving programmers the aforementioned power to efficiently remove common bugs. And while many of the languages on this list are yet to go into major use publicly, Hack already is flexing its muscles live on the Web. While his personal involvement in developing Hack is unclear, Mark Zuckerberg and his company deserves a round of applause for such an groundbreaking accomplishment.

5. Ceylon: While sharing the old name of the island Sri Lanka, whose language is predominantly Sinhalese and Tamil, Ceylon is also the name of a programming language that was founded in 2011 by a multi-national software company known as Red Hat. The shared name is no coincidence: Ceylon seems to be a Java replacement, and as Java is an island known for Coffee, Ceylon, or Sri Lanka, is similarly known for Coffee. But wordplay aside, what really does Ceylon offer? Based on Java (the language, not island), Ceylon features a valiant promise about what it is made for: “Ceylon is a language for writing large programs in teams.”

So what was Ceylon created for? Not only did the project aim at creating better-structured data systems and stronger higher-order functions, but it tackled an issue of meta-programming: when the code enters an “inception-complex,” where code modifies code. The language is boasted by users as “readable” and “predictable,” issuing a promise of clarity upon use. The target is Java’s alleged outdated syntax, and Gavin King, the founder, argues that Ceylon is more readable than Java, comparing its robust architecture to something more modern such as C#. But King also announced something bigger: not only is Ceylon an entirely new language, but it will also feature an entire class library, much like Java has in SDK.ceylonlolol

Why should we care? Ceylon makes programming in groups not only more efficient, but also less stressful. Seen often as a competitor to the aforementioned Java, Ceylon boasts a strong poker hand of having both server-side-development and front-end-development and stronger flexibility. While such competition may sounds like a muscle contest between two bodybuilders, it can be safely concluded that more options on the table is always better.

logo6. Elm: A programming language created for graphical user-interfaces on web browsers, Elm is a pretty big topic. Founded by Evan Czaplicki in 2011, Elm compiles with the basic Javascript and HTML and is detailed as a functional reactive programming language, a language that uses elements of time-varying values known as Signals to easily create web interfaces for users. Elm’s tug-of- war is convincing programmers that learning a new syntax is worth it; one of Elm’s fortes is allowing programmers to accomplish simple tasks without having to deal with detailed HTML and CSS structures. With an Elm-to-Javascript compiler available, Elm makes web design easier and faster.

What’s so great about it? To draw a polygon, programmers no longer need to define complex areas established with Javascript and HTML. This allows user involvement as well: it only takes a few lines of code in Elm to allow the user to draw a circle. This buffed up programming language proves to show major promise as it could revolutionize the speed at which web apps are developed. That being said, Elm isn’t nearly done. Czaplicki plans on making more libraries and stronger features.

7. Fancy: An object-oriented language created by Christopher Bertels in 2010, Fancy is a relatively new language based on Ruby, Smalltalk (what a great name), and Erlang. Fancy, as described by Bertels, is a mix of features of the major languages established above. Bertels concerned himself with the semantics of a language by giving Fancy more inherent features, as opposed to other languages that depend primarily on a major library. Fancy is rather new, and in many ways, still in development, but for veteran programmers in the previous languages, Fancy may prove to be helpful in creating a more modern framework. fancy

Why is this awesome? First thing’s first, this is the realest solution to modern integration with Ruby. But pop culture jokes aside (look up Iggy Alazea’s “Fancy” Lyrics if you didn’t catch it), Fancy can coexist with Ruby and interaction between the two is not difficult or complicated. So, if you have ever dabbled in Ruby, take a look at Fancy because it may just be your cup of tea.

With multiple minor languages unmentioned, it could be safe to conclude that the programming world is as busy as ever. That isn’t to say that there shouldn’t be more. Gilad Bracha, a software engineer from Google, noted recently that the more web languages, the better, since designers can pick and choose which language best feeds their interests. After reviewing and researching all of the above, I can safely say that the world of computer software, an always optimistic field, shows true promise.

http://ugtimes.com/2014/06/science-and-technology/the-7-new-and-coolest-programming-innovations/

If so, why? Why do I keep getting an email about where I've logged in? Is this a virus?

How to use this table

The table characterizes the proficiency level (columns) of programmers of a particular programming language in the context of different programming activities (rows).

This table is inspired by the CEFR table of the same name, for assessing proficiency in natural languages. Like the CEFR, this table divides learners into three broad level divisions: "Basic user" (A), "Independent user" (B) and "Proficient user" (C). The broad divisions are each further divided in two levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) that correspond to testable milestones in language acquisition.

This table can be used in different ways, for example:

row by row, to assess one's own level per activity (different skill levels for different activities are possible);
column by column from left to right, to determine one's own minimum level for a programming language (the rightmost level where all requirements in the column and all columns to the left are matched);
column by column from right to left, to determine one's most developed skill (the rightmost level where any requirement in the column is matched);
language per language, to assess one's own relative proficiency in different programming languages.
Possible applications

to track one's own progress while learning how to program;

for example: this year, I transitioned from A2 to B2 in C++. For Java, I am B1 for understanding but still A2 for writing.

to advertise the educational goals of a programming course;

for example: this Java introductory course will bring you to level A1 or A2 for all activities.

to advertise one's own skillset to peers or prospective employers;

for example: I am C1 in Python, B2 in O'Caml and A2 in Haskell.

to set basic level requirements for courses or professional activities:

for example: This course requires A2 proficiency with a language in the C family.

to select a programming course that best matches one's skill level;

for example: My current level is A2 but this course requires B1, so I will need some extra work before starting.

to coordinate the teaching objectives of successive programming courses in a curriculum;

for example: Our introductory course brings students to A2 in Java, but our follow-up program requires B1 or B2, so we need to propose a supplementary course for that level.

Design methodology

The table was designed following the CEFR methodology:

First, recognize the different modalities (production, reception, interaction, mediation). Then group and abstract activities in each modality by clusters that share similar motivations and actors. The resulting set becomes the rows in the matrix.

The requirements for "A" levels are then phrased to identify users that can perform language acts under supervision or under dedicated/personalized guidance from peers.

The requirements for "B" levels are then phrased to identify users that can perform language acts without supervision or guidance from peers, or with minimal effort from peers.

The requirements for "C" levels are then phrased to identify users who are fully independent and who can demonstrate skills corresponding to a high expertise level according to the majority of other users of the language.

http://science.raphael.poss.name/programming-levels.html

I think its because Facebook connects people with the world, while NairaLand connects people with only Nigerians.

Many of us can't even watch videos on YouTube because of data consumption and slow internet. If there was a startup that worked on compressing data for faster download/upload, as well as, making these web apps not use much data, I think that startup will grow. Just my opinion. How does everyone else feel?

Is there a PayPal of Nigeria/Africa? What about Craigslist?

kllinxman: Pls hw do I learn hw 2 code, doz it cme inform of a software ? Confuse pls...

What do u want to code?

A common question in amateur science forums goes like this: how long until we can fully automate computer programming, in the sense of telling the computer what we want it to do in a few English sentences? That’s a wonderful fantasy, but it goes beyond “technically infeasible” and into “doesn’t even make sense”. In this article we will argue why such perfectly automated computer programming is not just impossible, but doesn’t even make sense to imagine in our wildest dreams. You might expect me to say something about recursion theory or Turing completeness, but it’s actually much simpler than that, and any junior high age kid can understand it once properly explained. It’s just a matter of intuitively comparing the sizes of certain sets.

Consider your favorite video game. I’ll use “Final Fantasy 7″ but you can mentally replace that with whatever suits you. In the fantasy world where programming has been automated, we should be able to coerce a computer into generating FF7 just by giving it a few simple English sentences. Just describe FF7 to the computer, as you would to a friend, and the computer whips it up. But we will see this idea is absurd not just in a technical feasibility sense but in a basic logical sense. Let’s talk about minor FF7 variations: games just like FF7 but with some minor variation. For example, in the 1st screen after the intro movie, suppose you change the color of one single pixel. That produces an FF7 variation. In a pedantic sense, that one-pixel change creates a whole new game, albeit very close to the original. Or, take FF7 and change one line of the dialog (maybe correct one of the translation errors). Again, a whole new game, at least in some sense.

Now try and think about all the possible different minor variations of FF7. How many are there? Instead of changing one pixel, we could change two pixels, which really blows up the number of possible variations. If we’re allowed to change as many as a hundred pixels, suddenly the number of variations becomes cosmically huge, even though changing a hundred pixels barely alters the game.

As a mathematician and a combinatorialist, I’m tempted now to go off on a tangent and talk more specifically about just *exactly* how many game variations we could get by altering N pixels, etc. But I’ll fight that temptation, because those kinds of details aren’t really necessary, as we’ll see very soon. I’ll jump straight to the climax of the argument: the number of minor variations of FF7 is vastly, unimaginably huger than the number of short English descriptions we could possibly tell to a computer. To use some made up numbers: if there are 1000 minor variations of FF7, and only 100 short English descriptions, then there must necessarily be at least 900 variations that cannot be “programmed” by telling our omnicomputer a short English description. The exact numbers, 1000 and 100, aren’t important here, just that the former is a lot bigger than the latter. There are a lot more variations on my favorite game, than there are variations on a half-hour English-language description of the same, and that means that most of the variations are unprogrammable via casual description.

To clinch the argument, it’s necessary for me to convince the reader that FF7 has far more minor variations than there are short English descriptions of video games. After all, if there are far more game-variations than English descriptions, then those English descriptions can’t possibly hit any more than a tiny sliver of the possible variations of the game. Now, you might expect me to whip out some exact calculations involving counting arguments, but as I said before, it’s not necessary. There’s a way to short-circuit all the computations.

Short circuit: Suppose you have some short English description of an FF7-variation. Let’s call that description, X. So maybe X is the English description: “Computer, please create a game just like FF7 except that the light in Room #4 is one shade dimmer.” Now let me describe a silly, seemingly unrelated, other variation of FF7 to you, I’ll call this silly variation X’. The game X’ is exactly like FF7 with only one difference: in the first building, there’s a new NPC who, if you talk to him, he says the following dialog: “Computer, please create a game just like FF7 except that the light in Room #4 is one shade dimmer.” That is, this new NPC, who lives in the game X’, recites your description X as his dialog.

While obviously rather silly, my variation X’ is overall a pretty minor variation of the game. We can repeat this construction no matter what description X you come up with. If you choose X to be the description, “Computer, make a version of FF7 where RedXIII is a cat,” then I’ll counter it with a variation X’ of the game where the first building has an NPC who says, “Computer, make a version of FF7 where RedXIII is a cat”. Thus, no matter what English description you come up with, I’m able to “counter” it with a very special type of variation, one where the only change is a new NPC in the first building. Now, among all possible minor variations of FF7, those variations of the form “Add a new NPC to the first building”, make up a very tiny part. And yet, that very tiny part of all variations, is able to cover all the English descriptions you can think up. I’ve covered all the English descriptions while barely scratching the surface of the space of all possible game variations.

The above two paragraphs prove the following claim: The number of minor variations of FF7 is far, far, far huger than the number of simple English descriptions. This claim has the following consequence: If we automate computer programming, so we can tell a computer a simple English description and have it make the corresponding program, then we must necessarily “miss” the ability to program tons and tons of possible variations of games. If there are 999,999,999 different variations of a game, and only 999,999 simple English descriptions, then necessarily we’ll have to resort to old-fashioned techniques of programming in order to get the computer to run 999,000,000 of those variations.

That’s why programming isn’t just hard to automate—isn’t just impossible to automate—but why in fact, it doesn’t even make logical sense to imagine automating computer programming. If a science fiction author describes a futuristic world where people have invented new numbers so flexible that 100 of these new numbers suffice to count up to 1000 objects, then he’s broken your suspension of disbelief: you craaazy, Mr. Asimov! But that’s ultimately what “automated programming” boils down to, by the above argument: a fantasy where 100 English descriptions suffice to program 1000 programs (I’ve underestimated the exact numbers here!)

Pre-emptive responses to critics
“But what if the computer can read your mind, in order to fill in the gaps!” If the computer is capable of mind reading, that changes things, and maybe then it is possible to “automate programming”. But the result we get isn’t really programming at all. A computer program (in this case the simple English phrases I say to my computer) isn’t really a computer program if its results depend on who invokes it (if a different person says the same simple phrases to her computer, she’ll get a different program, because the computer reads different things out of her mind). Anyway, we still haven’t automated programming, we’ve just abstracted it from “something you do with your fingers” to “something you do with your mind”.
“Your argument isn’t logically rigorous!” Absolutely correct. Notions like “English sentence” are notoriously informal, otherwise we could destroy the universe by talking about “the smallest number that can’t be described in ten words”. The point of this article isn’t to be mathematically formal, but to present the argument to laymen.
That concludes the article, thank you for reading. Now let me say a few words to my laptop. Dear laptop, please listen for HTTP connections on port 80, and respond with an article about why programming is hard to automate, based on comparing sizes of sets intuitively, using a self-referential short-circuit, and aimed at a casual audience. And, go!

Link ~> http://www.xamuel.com/programming-hard-to-automate/

matrixme: I just love that! it's the guerrilla spirit that makes Samsung a dominant tech company today, getting a big slice of the action from Apple that creates the innovation. Of course we all know Samsung clones Apple products basically. Another similar example is Dreamworks/Disney-Pixar. So I Guess saying don't reinvent the wheel is a lame excuse for not wanting to make a difference at all costs.

Yeah I feel the same way. Like why is that Asians are know for producing and cloning and Africans are only known for consuming. Can't we have hardware manufacturers as well? Can't we make our own cars? Our own cellphones? What about all those e-waste products at the dump. Can't we put 2 and 2 together to make 4?

dhtml: ^^^^this remains to be seen, i wish you luck if you succeed with them clones.

We can be the first to do this. A tech giant or empire must come out of here. Or we will always remain inferior to our colleagues abroad?

dhtml: ^^^^naija people always want to take the easiest way out.

What is the easiest way out then so that we can make money off of it in order to compete with tech giants abroad? There has to be a solution. Nigeria (or better yet Africa) can't always remain at the bottom. We've been at the bottom too long.

is article was originally published on the Realmac Software blog. Realmac Software is the OS X development studio behind Clear, Ember and Rapidweaver.

We’ve been fortunate enough to have our apps featured a few times on both the iOS and Mac App Stores, and we often get friends and developers asking us what our secret is. Unfortunately, there’s no secret or shortcuts to getting featured… but then you probably knew that already, right?

It’s worth understanding that Apple doesn’t feature apps to help us developers, it features apps because they benefit Apple and its customers – as long as you remember that, you’ll do just fine.

appstore oct@2x 520x314 The secret to getting featured on the App Store? You have to think like Apple

That said, there’s a number of things that people often overlook that we feel can improve your odds. So here’s my shortlist of things that you can do to increase the chances of getting your next app featured.

1. Build a great app

I know this is obvious and much easier said than done, but it really is the most important thing to keep in mind. If you’re building an app to try and make a quick buck you’re not going to get featured. If you’re passionate about building great apps and shipping something you’re proud of, the chances of being featured are much greater. Sooner or later Apple will take notice of you – consistency is the key here!

If you look at it from Apple’s perspective, Apple only want to highlight apps that show off how great the Mac and iOS platforms really are. They certainly don’t feature apps as a favour to developers — again, they do it because it benefits Apple.

2. Target the “Latest And Greatest”

Going to WWDC (or just watching the videos) is a great way to find out what new APIs are in the next OS release and what Apple’s focus over the next year is going to be. This will give you invaluable insight into what you should be supporting in your app.

One example of an API that you should be looking to adopt is iCloud. This is a major strategy for Apple and I believe iCloud is going to be key to the company’s long-term success. If there’s a place for iCloud in your app and you’re not using it, now is the time to adopt it!

Remember it’s in Apple’s interest to highlight apps that show off the latest OS and hardware releases as that drives adoption of those technologies and devices – it all comes back to doing what benefits Apple.

3. Make it universal

Providing it makes sense (and it doesn’t always) your app should be available on Mac, iPhone and iPad. By doing this you have a much better chance of being featured – here’s why.

Imagine this scenario; Apple are looking at putting together a feature on productivity apps, they have literally hundreds to pick from. Are they going to pick the one that’s available on Android and iPhone – or are they going to pick one that’s a universal iOS app, uses iCloud and is available on the Mac too?

If I were Apple I know which one I’d pick.

4. Invest in good UI & UX

Competition in the App Store is absolutely insane, you’re now competing with huge companies that have endless resources and world class teams at their disposal. Chances are you’re going to need to step up your game!

It’s increasingly rare for one-man development shops to get featured on the iOS App Store these days, but if there’s one thing that I’d advise it would be to reach out and hire the most talented UI/UX designer you can afford.

If you don’t have the funds to hire someone full-time, then Dribbble or Folyo are great places to find new and upcoming designers who might be happy to team up with you to work on the next big thing.

5. Get media coverage

This is pretty tough to do but is absolutely essential for a successful launch. I know it sounds obvious, but it’s crazy how many app developers leave it to the last minute or plan to do it after they ship.

Ideally you should be trying to build some hype to get bloggers and tech sites talking about your app before it launches. I’d suggest putting up a teaser page that includes a promo video or at the very least some screenshots and information about what your app does and when you plan to release it — teaser pages that have little or no information about the app are pretty much useless.

You will also need to make sure you have an email sign-up form and all the usual social buttons on the page to help you build up a following of people interested in the app. A timely announcement when you launch will help propel you up the App Store charts, giving you some much needed visibility and increasing the chances that the right people at Apple will take notice.

You should’t start teasing your app too early – a couple of weeks is generally about right. Any longer than that and you run the risk of people getting frustrated or worse still, a competitor stealing your idea and launching before you.

One more thing…

Keep in mind that Apple get almost 1,000 app submissions a day, and the small team in charge of reviewing them may just simply miss your little gem of an app due to the huge amount of drivel that gets submitted everyday.

To make sure Apple know about you and your app you should try getting in touch with someone at Apple. I know they sometimes seem like a walled garden, but if you genuinely have a good app, Apple will want to know about it.

How do you get in contact with Apple? I’d recommend going to WWDC, chatting with Apple developers after the sessions and in the Labs, submitting Radar Bug Reports and generally networking with your peers as much as possible. Apple will also reach out to developers who pop up on their radar, making your marketing efforts even more important!

There are over 1,000,000 apps in the App Store, so the chances of getting featured are pretty slim. The good news, however, is you can still have a successful app even without ever getting featured. It’s not a make or break deal, it’s just the icing on the cake.

Good luck!

Link ~> http://thenextweb.com/dd/2013/10/29/get-featured-app-store/

What about Facebook? Dropbox? YouTube? Can we compete with those? Can we make clones in Africa. People are always saying that these apps dont dedicate to the African Market. We have smart developers on this forum. Y cant we come up with something that will target the African market?

GideonG: None! Don't re-invent the wheel.

But thats what competition is all about. Before Google, there was Altavista. B4 Facebook, MySpace.

Many beginning Python users are wondering with which version of Python they should start. My answer to this question is usually something along the lines "just go with the version your favorite tutorial was written in, and check out the differences later on."
But what if you are starting a new project and have the choice to pick? In my opinion, there is no "right" or "wrong" as long as both Python 2.7.x and Python 3.x support the libraries that you are planning to use. However, it is worthwhile to have a look at the major differences between those two most popular versions of Python to avoid common pitfalls when writing the code for either one of them, or if you are planning to port your project.



Continue at ~> http://sebastianraschka.com/Articles/2014_python_2_3_key_diff.html

1. Google?
2. Microsoft?
3. Apple?

How do u feel?

1. Python
2. JavaScript
3. Ruby
4. C
5. Scheme
6. C#
7. Java
8. Scala
9. Assembly
10. D

Link ~> http://www.slant.co/topics/25/~what-is-the-best-programming-language-to-learn-first

Using inexpensive materials configured and tuned to capture microwave signals, researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering have designed a power-harvesting device with efficiency similar to that of modern solar panels.

The device wirelessly converts the microwave signal to direct current voltage capable of recharging a cell phone battery or other small electronic device, according to a report appearing in the journal Applied Physics Letters in December 2013. (It is now available online.)

It operates on a similar principle to solar panels, which convert light energy into electrical current. But this versatile energy harvester could be tuned to harvest the signal from other energy sources, including satellite signals, sound signals or Wi-Fi signals, the researchers say.

The key to the power harvester lies in its application of metamaterials, engineered structures that can capture various forms of wave energy and tune them for useful applications.

Undergraduate engineering student Allen Hawkes, working with graduate student Alexander Katko and lead investigator Steven Cummer, professor of electrical and computer engineering, designed an electrical circuit capable of harvesting microwaves.

Duke engineering students Alexander Katko (left) and Allen Hawkes show a waveguide containing a single power-harvesting metamaterial cell, which provides enough energy to power the attached green LED.
Duke engineering students Alexander Katko (left) and Allen Hawkes show a waveguide containing a single power-harvesting metamaterial cell, which provides enough energy to power the attached green LED.
They used a series of five fiberglass and copper energy conductors wired together on a circuit board to convert microwaves into 7.3V of electricity. By comparison, Universal Serial Bus (USB) chargers for small electronic devices provide about 5V.

"We were aiming for the highest energy efficiency we could achieve," said Hawkes. “We had been getting energy efficiency around 6 to 10 percent, but with this design we were able to dramatically improve energy conversion to 37 percent, which is comparable to what is achieved in solar cells.”

“It’s possible to use this design for a lot of different frequencies and types of energy, including vibration and sound energy harvesting,” Katko said. “Until now, a lot of work with metamaterials has been theoretical. We are showing that with a little work, these materials can be useful for consumer applications.”

For instance, a metamaterial coating could be applied to the ceiling of a room to redirect and recover a Wi-Fi signal that would otherwise be lost, Katko said. Another application could be to improve the energy efficiency of appliances by wirelessly recovering power that is now lost during use.

“The properties of metamaterials allow for design flexibility not possible with ordinary devices like antennas,” said Katko. “When traditional antennas are close to each other in space they talk to each other and interfere with each other’s operation. The design process used to create our metamaterial array takes these effects into account, allowing the cells to work together.”

This five-cell metamaterial array developed by Duke engineers converts stray microwave energy, as from a WiFi hub, into more than 7 volts of electricity with an efficiency of 36.8 percent—comparable to a solar cell.
This five-cell metamaterial array developed by Duke engineers converts stray microwave energy, as from a WiFi hub, into more than 7 volts of electricity with an efficiency of 36.8 percent—comparable to a solar cell.
With additional modifications, the researchers said the power-harvesting metamaterial could potentially be built into a cell phone, allowing the phone to recharge wirelessly while not in use. This feature could, in principle, allow people living in locations without ready access to a conventional power outlet to harvest energy from a nearby cell phone tower instead.

“Our work demonstrates a simple and inexpensive approach to electromagnetic power harvesting,” said Cummer. “The beauty of the design is that the basic building blocks are self-contained and additive. One can simply assemble more blocks to increase the scavenged power.”

For example, a series of power-harvesting blocks could be assembled to capture the signal from a known set of satellites passing overhead, the researchers explained. The small amount of energy generated from these signals might power a sensor network in a remote location such as a mountaintop or desert, allowing data collection for a long-term study that takes infrequent measurements.

The research was supported by a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative from the Army Research Office (Contract No. W911NF-09-1-0539).

http://www.pratt.duke.edu/news/wireless-device-converts-lost-energy-electric-power

APK Downloader ~> http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/

What is .apk file?
APK file is nothing but Android Package File(APK). APK is the file format used to distribute and install application software and middleware on Google's Android operating system.



Apk Files are Zip file formatted packages based on the JAR file format, with .apk extension. Apk files contains all program resources and code i.e it contains .dex files, resources, assets, certificates, and manifest file.



How to get source (java files) from .apk file?
As we now know that apk file is just a zip file containing all program resource file, we can now get java code from apk files with ease. Following are steps to get java code from apk files.
Step 1:Renaming .apk file

Rename the .apk file with the extension .zip (for example let the file be "demofile.apk" then after renaming it becomes "demofile.apk.zip"

Step 2:Getting java files from apk

Now extract the renamed zip file in specific folder, for example let that folder be "demofolder".
Now Download dex2jar from the link for windows and extract that zip file in folder "demofolder".
Now open command prompt and go to the folder created in previous step and type the command "dex2jar classes.dex" and press enter.This will generate "classes.dex.dex2jar" file in the same folder.
Now Download java decompiler from the link and extract it and start(double click) jd-gui.exe
From jd-gui window browse the generated "classes.dex.dex2jar" file in demofolder, this will give all the class files by src name.
Now from the File menu select "save all sources" this will generate a zip file named "classes_dex2jar.src.zip" consisting of all packages and java files.
Extract that zip file (classes_dex2jar.src.zip) and you will get all java files of the application.
Above steps will generate java files but to get xml files perform following steps.

Step 3:Getting xml files from apk

Download apktool and apktool install from the link and extract both files and place it in the same folder (for example "demoxmlfolder".
Place the .apk file in same folder (i.e demoxmlfolder)
Now open command prompt and goto the directory where apktool is stored (here "demoxmlfolder" and type the command "apktool if framework-res.apk"
Above command should result in "Framework installed ..."
Now in command prompt type the command "apktool d filename.apk" (where filename is name of apk file)
This will generate a folder of name filename in current directory (here demoxmlfolder) where all xml files would be stored in res\layout folder.

http://comptech-blogger..com/2012/09/how-to-get-source-code-from-apk-file.html

Lagos—The Rockefeller Foundation has announced a grant of $500,000 to Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) for the expansion of PIN's Ajegunle.org Project.
Since 2007, the project has worked from Ajegunle, an underserved community in Lagos State, to connect Nigerian youth with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) enabled opportunities. It employs a 'train-the-trainer' capacity building model that uses a positive peer pressure concept to transform Ajegunle as a model for intervention in other underserved communities across Nigeria.
The Rockefeller Foundation grant will enable PIN to design and launch an awareness campaign to inform high potential but disadvantaged Nigerian youth about online work and provide training to help these youth access online jobs.
Online work provides a low-barrier-to-entry opportunity for young jobseekers to earn an income, while building their skills and digital work experience. Through this support, PIN will also expand their successful training program beyond Ajegunle to cover other locations across Nigeria, beginning with the South-East and North-East regions.
"Unemployment is a major challenge in Nigeria. Each year, tens of thousands of students graduate from tertiary institutions but only 10% of them are gainfully employed two years after graduation. Disadvantaged communities account for a majority of these unemployed youth. The digital jobs campaign presents an opportunity for Nigerian youth to generate income and build their digital skills, while preparing themselves for future work in the digital economy," said PIN Executive Director Gbenga Sesan.
The online work sector is estimated to grow to become a $5 billion global industry by 2018. The Nigerian government has identified the potential to create online employment at scale for the country's youth and launched an initiative in May 2013 that resulted in an additional 10,000 Nigerians registering on online work platforms.
The partnership between Paradigm Initiative Nigeria and the Rockefeller Foundation will build on this momentum by developing an awareness raising campaign and tools that will help connect thousands of Nigerian youth to online work.
"Nigeria has the second highest number of online workers in sub-Saharan Africa, and the major international online work platforms see potential for significant growth in the country. A lack of awareness about online work has been identified as one of the most significant barriers to the growing of this opportunity. We anticipate a significant change in this with PIN's undertaking to increase awareness and build skills for youth to connect to online work, and consequently earn an income to improve their lives," said Mamadou Biteye, Managing Director, the Rockefeller Foundation Africa Regional Office.
This grant comes under the Foundation's Digital Jobs Africa initiative which seeks to impact the lives of 1 million people in six countries in Africa by catalyzing sustainable Information and Communications Technology-enabled employment opportunities for African youth who would not otherwise have an opportunity for sustainable employment. Launched in 2013, Digital Jobs Africa is being carried out in six countries: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa.
About Paradigm Initiative Nigeria
Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) is a social enterprise that connects underserved Nigerian youth with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) opportunities; with specific concern about the ill effects of unemployment and cybercrime, among other vices that limit the potential contribution of young Nigerians to the nation's economy. Having worked with government, civil society, private institutions and international organizations including the United Nations agencies, PIN has worked in ICT education, telecenter support, ICT applications in rural areas, etc. PIN's projects include Ajegunle.org; Internet Safety, Security and Privacy Initiative for Nigeria (ISSPIN) and Techie.Entrepreneurial.Nigerian.Talented (TENT). PIN opened an ICT Policy Office in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja, in April 2013, to focus on Internet Freedom and other ICT Policy-related issues. Over the next year, PIN's Ajegunle.org program will be extended to locations in North East and South East Nigeria.
About The Rockefeller Foundation
For more than 100 years, The Rockefeller Foundation's mission has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. Today, The Rockefeller Foundation pursues this mission through dual goals: advancing inclusive economies that expand opportunities for more broadly shared prosperity, and building resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. To achieve these goals, The Rockefeller Foundation works at the intersection of four focus areas—advance health, revalue ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform cities—to address the root causes of emerging challenges and create systemic change. Together with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyze and scale transformative innovations, create unlikely partnerships that span sectors, and take risks others cannot—or will not. For more information, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org
For more information please contact:
Tope Ogundipe, +234 1 741 5625/+ 234 (0) 803 538 4144, tope.ogundipe@pinigeria.org Achieng' Otieno, Communications Officer, the Rockefeller Foundation Africa Regional Office aotieno@rockfound.org, +254 704848792

http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/newsroom/rockefeller-foundation-invests-500-000?sf3276588=1