Simplificator and akosma software are thrilled to announce the second edition of our successful three day training about mobile web app development using jQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch and PhoneGap in Zürich on March 14th, 15th and 16th!

Today, having a mobile application online is a must. But there are multiple platforms to write for, each with their own language, idioms and pitfalls. Luckily there is a simple solution that allows to write once and deploy on all modern mobile devices: HTML5 and JavaScript.

What others have been saying

• “Die Inhalte wurden lebendig und Step-by-Step präsentiert”
• “Merci, das war ein sehr lehrreicher Kurs”

The Cross-Platform Mobile Track of QCon London 2012 is ready to be announced! This year we’ll have great speakers talking about how to create mobile applications using HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3:

• Maximiliano Firtman, the worldwide expert on mobile web application development, will talk about Mobile, HTML5 and the cross-platform promise.
• Jérome Giraud, creator of the Wink Toolkit will present his creation in the talk Wink and the mobile web innovation.
• Andrea Giammarchi from Nokia will talk about Location aware mobile web apps with HTML5 and JavaScript.
• Tobie Langel from Facebook will give a yet undisclosed talk about an exciting new technology! Stay tuned for updates!
• Finally, Christophe Coenraets from Adobe will talk about Cross-Platform Mobile Apps with HTML, JavaScript and PhoneGap.

All in all, an epic track with industry leaders speaking about a hot subject! This will happen on the Fleming room of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre on Wednesday, March 7th.

We hope you see you in London in March!

This is a guest post + code, wrote together with Joe D’Andrea from LiquidJoe LLC!

Many developers new to the iOS platform have trouble understanding the delegate architecture, in the sense that many other OO toolkits use properties to configure the characteristics of UI elements, instead of having a separate object doing the job.

When using delegates, the sequence of calls for each method is important: most Cocoa developers know that UITableView instances call delegate and data source methods roughly in this order:

• numberOfSections:
• numberOfRows:inSection:
• cellForRowAtIndexPath:
• configureCellAtIndexPath:

…mixing up in the middle some calls to headers and footers and cell sizes as well. Which prompts the following question: what is really going on behind the scenes? Can we know exactly the order in which those delegate methods are called?

To answer that question, here’s a small project in Github that uses all the delegate and datasource methods in the same project, and that uses NSLog to show which calls happen first, and when.

We have been in business for quite a few years, and we have found out several things that work and other that don’t in our activities. We have had our share of successes and failures, as any other business; and we hope to have learnt something along the way.

This post will outline the recipes that we have applied to obtain the best results in the collaboration with our clients.

The deadline of the Swiss App Awards is approaching! Don’t forget to submit your application using the form before January 15th!

The event will be held in Zürich, on January 27th, 2012. You can submit your application (iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, web, any kind and in any language!) or just register as an attendee on the website of the event. You can also follow the official Twitter account of the Swiss App Awards for more information.

We look forward to see your applications!

Just like last year, here goes the Wordle cloud generated with the most important tags in this blog for 2011!

Some subtle differences appear, don’t you think?

We are thrilled to announce new training sessions in Switzerland and South Africa this year:

• Advanced iOS: this training is for experienced iOS developers, looking to increase their knowledge with insider tips and tricks about the following subjects:
  • Building iOS 5.x universal applications, compatible with version 4.x of iOS.
  • Advanced user interface design for the iPhone and the iPad
  • Integrating your application with Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites.
  • Performance enhancements using Core Foundation in your applications.
  • Using Instruments to find performance problems.
  • Major ninja-level optimizations.
  • 2D graphics and animation: Quartz and Core Animation.
  • Video, audio, the iPod library, AirPlay, etc.
• Mobile Web App Development: targeting web developers who want to take their existing knowledge to the next step:
  • Build mobile web applications such as to-do lists, a location-based social networking site and other apps using Sencha Touch, jQuery Mobile.
  • Learn how to integrate data from remote APIs in your mobile web apps, and how to organize your code and your architecture for the best results.
  • Package those applications using PhoneGap and PhoneGap Build and distribute them over the major mobile application marketplaces.
• Web Development with Node.js: this is our new training offering, for web developers who want to learn more about the latest and greatest web framework of the moment:
  • Learn how to create common web applications such as a blog, wiki, and management systems with backend databases, using the standard Node.js toolkit.
  • Learn about other tools like npm, Express, Vows, MongoDB, Persistence.js and more.

All trainings are 3 days long, and they include lunch and snacks during the day. All trainees will receive a ~100 page booklet written by Adrian with the most important aspects of the training, in PDF, ePub and .mobi (Kindle) formats. These trainings will take place throughout 2012 in Geneva and Zürich.

More information about dates and locations soon! We hope to see you soon!

Update: we forgot to mention that the trainings in Geneva will be given in French, while in Zürich they will be in English. We are also going to offer these in South Africa!

2011 was another terrific year for akosma software, a year of growth, surprise, learning, teaching, and travel. We met fantastic new people on the road and we would like to thank all of our friends, our customers, the readers of this blog, our followers on Twitter, Facebook, Github, LinkedIn and countless other networks for their support and feedback throughout the year! May all of you have a healthy and happy 2012.

And now let us share with you some highlights of 2012!

Just like last October I’ll be back in South Africa next February, for a whole series of mobile application trainings organized jointly by immedia and akosma software!

Have you ever wanted to learn how to create a mobile app? Looked at Evernote and thought, “Hey, I can do that!” We have embarked on an exciting training initiative aimed at providing South African businesses and individuals with the skills they need to become global app creators.

Courses will be held in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, and will be provided by Anice Hassim, head strategist of immedia; Kishyr Ramdial, specialist cloud and mobile app developer; and myself.

There are courses targeted at app developers, dev beginners, and executives – to ensure that you learn exactly what you need to from our programme.

Check out the complete program here: http://www.immedia.co.za/courses/ and sign up sending an email to training@immedia.co.za; hurry up!

We are ecstatic to announce the general availability of the EERV cal mobile application, created with Sencha Touch and PhoneGap, and available as an HTML5 web application, and also on the App Store and the Android Market!

This app has been built for the local protestant church, the Eglise évangélique réformée du canton de Vaud (EERV), and features the complete agenda of events proposed throughout the region.

Check it out on the App Store the Android Market or install the web app directly from your browser!