WWDC 2012 Pilgrimage to Apple HQ

Just a reminder: Once again this year, there will be a bus pilgrimage to Cupertino on Sunday, June 10, which is the day before WWDC starts. While the morning bus has sold out, there is still some room on the afternoon buses. If you have any thoughts of visiting the Apple campus, this is the best way to go if you don't have a car.  Hell, it's probably the best way to go even if you do have a car. Bay Area traffic is no fun, and we use big comfortable touring buses.The Company Store will be open and you don't need a WWDC ticket to shop, so this is a great chance to stock up on Apple swag, including a whole lot of stuff that they won't be selling up at Moscone during the week. It's also a chance to get your picture taken in front of the Apple HQ sign. You'll get to hang out with several...

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2012 WWDC T-Shirts

Well, pre-ordering of the WWDC MartianCraft T-Shirts for 2012 is now closed. We're going to leave the order form up until WWDC ends and do one final print run at that point. After that, the 2012 shirt is going out of production. We'll be back next year (or maybe even sooner) with a new design, but this particular one will be retired for good.As I mentioned before, we will be bringing some shirts with us just like in past years, but we're not promising them to people an advance. There's too many people who'd like them.  It's too hard to keep track of who was promised what size and we end up carrying dozens of shirts all over the place looking for people. When we have shirts available for givesies, either Rob or I will tweet where we are or how you can get o...

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Appsterdam WWDC HQ

I normally leave reporting of WWDC events to other blogs, but I thought this was interesting enough that it warranted its own post, especially given the number of people who didn't get tickets this year but still plan to be in San Francisco showcializing.The folks from Appsterdam have arranged free space, electricity, internet, and coffee at the StockMob HQ at 541 8th street all week long. Any developers in town from June 11th to 15th are welcome to work during the days for free.You can find out more details at the Appsterdam WWDC HQ pa...

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The Gospel of Treadmill

Since the treadmill desk experiment I've been engaged in isn't directly related to iPhone Development, I've been trying not to fill up this blog with posts about it, but it has now been several months and I thought one last post on the subject was in order.I'm still extremely happy with using a treadmill desk and will never willingly go back to full-time sitting. I still sit a few hours a day: I treadmill for about eight hours, six days a week, averaging just under three miles per hour. However, my work days are almost always longer than eight hours, so after that, I switch to sitting. Although my rate of weight loss has slowed (partially attributable to spending a month away from my desk: two weeks in Europe for conferences and two weeks on vacation), my weight is still going in a fairly...

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WWDC First Timer's Guide, 2012 Edition

I'm a little slow in getting this up this year, but given how popular it's been the past few years, I thought it was worth updating and re-posting my WWDC First Timer's Guide (2011, 2010, 2009).Remember that WWDC is different every year, so don't take anything written here as gospel. Things changes every year, and I expect the first WWDC of the post-Jobs era will change things up a little, just as they've done every year. Hopefully these hints and suggestions will help some of you.Arrive on Sunday or Earlier. Registration is usually open most of the day on Sunday. You really, really want to get your badge and related swag (usually a bag and shirt or jacket, etc) on Sunday if you plan to get in line for the keynote. The line for the keynote will start forming many hours...

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MartianCraft WWDC Shirts

As in past years, the MartianCraft team will  be printing special T-shirts to wear and also some to give away at WWDC. This is what this year's shirt will look like:Unfortunately, every year, the number of people wanting shirts way has increased substantially. Last year it became obvious that the demand has now far exceeded the number we could ever hope to bring with us. As a result, we're making the shirts available for a limited time at http://martiancraft.myshopify.com.Shirts are hand printed by our friends at Wire & Twine. The shirt itself is an American Apparel BB401 Poly-Cotton blend, which fit a size slimmer. The color of the shirt is called "Heathered Black."We're calling the print color "Martian Red."US orders that arrive...

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Humane Rigging

I recently started watching the Blender Foundation Humane Rigging DVD by Nathan Vegdahl, and I'm about halfway through it. The DVD¹ is great, but it doesn't really have anything to do with iOS or graphics programming.Sometimes, however, you find amazing things in unlikely places, and this is one of those times.If you're interested in learning or getting better at rigging 3d models for animation, especially using Blender, you absolutely should pick up this video. It's one of the best pieces of Blender-related pedagogy that I've seen. In fact, it's one of the best training videos of any kind that I've ever watched. It does a tremendous job of breaking down complex concepts and focuses on teaching the why as much as, if not more than, the how. You walk away not just knowing...

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