Int size on Apple Watch (watchOS)

 Even though Apple Watch chipset is 64-bits, Int is still 32-bit. To get 64 bit behavior you have to explicitly use Int64

https://jeffverkoeyen.com/blog/2024/10/02/arm64_32-PSA/?utm_campaign=iOS%20Dev%20Weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_source=iOS%20Dev%20Weekly%20Issue%20681

 

DB Reading

BASE: An Acid Alternative: In partitioned databases, trading some consistency for availability can lead to dramatic improvements in scalability.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1394127.1394128

TAO: FB Graph  - https://engineering.fb.com/2013/06/25/core-data/tao-the-power-of-the-graph/

https://dx.tips/oops-database

Neural Networks Resources

Demystifying Neural Networks
http://scs.ryerson.ca/~aharley/neural-networks/

Gradients
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/multivariable-calculus/multivariable-derivatives/gradient-and-directional-derivatives/v/gradient

Graphical Understanding of Partial Derivatives
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/multivariable-calculus/multivariable-derivatives/partial-derivatives/v/partial-derivatives-and-graphs

Google Java Coding Guide

https://google.github.io/styleguide/javaguide.html

Night Mode on OS X

System Preferences -> Accessibility ->

Enable
- Invert Colors
- Grayscale

NLP Tools

Five Open Source NLP Tools:
https://opensource.com/business/15/7/five-open-source-nlp-tools

Conducting User Interviews - Resources

https://community.uservoice.com/blog/customer-interview-questions/

http://labs.openviewpartners.com/conducting-customer-interviews/?mc_cid=f43bec58c9&mc_eid=6ce1eb31c3#.WEsEa3eZM0o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etSL8hvgU5A&mc_cid=f43bec58c9&mc_eid=6ce1eb31c3

Apple Airport Extreme + Comcast (XFinity) Setup

After struggling a bit, this is now setup correctly.  Advanced Comcast support helped with fine tuning the setup. However, I spent a lot of fruitless hours with two first line Comcast support personnel who were following some scripts and did not have a full understanding. The third one I spoke to was smart enough to transfer me over to the advanced support. The advanced support person (Ameira) was very knowledgeable and provided excellent help.

I have  
1. Apple Airport Extreme (flat round rectangle shape - don't know which gen).

2. Xfinity Modem with WiFi - vertical one.

3. Vonage modem for landline

4. Network printer

Xfinity Modem Setup
1. Set Xfinity Model in Bridge Mode (not DHCP). This also disables its WiFi thus avoiding a duplicate WiFi network in case you don't want to use the WiFi network that comes with Xfinity modem.

You can either have the Comcast rep turn on Bridge mode remotely or connect locally to the router on the address 10.0.0.1 (default username / password is admin / password)

2. Connect Apple Extreme using Ethernet cable to the Xfinity modem in network jack #1. Not sure if #1 is critical but thats what Comcast support recommended.

Now, VERY IMPORTANT, don't use any of the other network ports on the Xfinity modem. Remember, its in Bridge mode and its not acting as a router anymore.

I had to figure this out myself because I had connected my Macbook using a wire directly to the modem to get access to the internet for troubleshooting not realizing that this was causing the Airport Extreme to not establish an Internet connection using the Bridged modem.

Airport Extreme Setup
1. Using Airport Utility on your Mac, connect to the Airport Extreme.

2. On the 'Internet' tab, set to DHCP. No need to fill in any of the other fields.

3. IMPORTANT -> On the 'Network' tab set to "DHCP and NAT". I had to change the NAT address range to use the 192.168. prefix instead of 10.0. Not sure of the reason for this.

4. Create your WiFi network.

After enabling both 2.4 and 5 GHZ and measuring download speeds, I found that when both are enabled 5 GHZ works faster. However, 2.4 GHZ only (i.e. disable 5 GHZ) works fastest - faster than 5 GHZ. So my setup is 2.4 GHZ enabled, 5 GHZ disabled.

5. Connect Vonage, Printer by ethernet cables to Airport Extreme.

Finally
Power cycle the Xfinity Modem, then power cycle the Airport Extreme.

Java Persistence API (JPA) Resources

Very nice article explaining Java Persistence API, Relationships, Use in Desktop App - http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/persistenceapi-135534.html

Explanation of Many-To-Many
http://blog.jbaysolutions.com/2012/12/17/jpa-2-relationships-many-to-many/

Machine Learning Resources for iOS

Nice Link -

http://alexsosn.github.io/ml/2015/11/05/iOS-ML.html

Eclipse Neon - Building for Multiple Platforms

Nice article - https://www.maccasoft.com/2016/07/02/building-the-rich-client-target-platform-with-eclipse-4-6/

Eclipse Neon (4.6) - RCP Launch Error

Creating even a vanilla RCP using out of the box templates, results in the error

Missing Constraint: Require-Capability: osgi.extender; filter="(&(osgi.extender=osgi.component)(version>=1.2)(!(version>=2.0)))"

This can be fixed by the Comment 14 (Dirk Fauth) in this bug -
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=481449

 In the Runtime Configuration, required plugins, I had to manually add the plugin to resolve the error -

org.eclipse.equinox.ds_1.4xyzzzz

Google API Client Library with OAuth for Java

Google Java APIs download - https://developers.google.com/api-client-library/java/google-api-java-client/download

Get this instead of just OAuth libraries. API Client library includes OAuth libraries.

"selector not recognized" - Including Static Libraries

If your Xcode project includes static libraries which further access category methods, you could run into the issue of "selector not recognized" for a custom category method.

The key is to add the -ObjC flag to "Other Linker Flags".

For more details, Apple has a nice Technical Note on this -

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/qa/qa1490/_index.html

Email Clustering in Eπvelope

I’ve created an app that uses clustering techniques to group emails. This is not broad groupings like Social, Updates,… that Gmail does but at a more granular level (basically message threading).

Instead of just threading emails by a Conversation or by an exact Subject match that most emails clients (incl Gmail) do, the app looks for ‘similar’ / ‘related’ emails and groups (threads) them together. 

It uses various attributes on emails such as keywords, sender, time,… and finds clusters. A message may be part of two different clusters or could change cluster membership depending on a better match found. 

This has the effect of compacting the Inbox for viewing. Also, clusters can be acted upon as a single entity letting you move, delete, archive entire clusters. 

All of this clustering logic happens on the device, there is no server component. 

Clustering page: bit.ly/envelope-clustering

App Page: http://PiEnvelope.com

App Store: http://bitly.com/envelope-itunes

Updating iDevice from a downloaded build

To pick a downloaded build and update the iDevice instead of restoring it, click on "Update" in iTunes  with "Alt /Option" pressed. This will pop up a file selection dialog that lets you pick the build.

NSMetadataQuery, NSSortDescriptor & iCloud

It looks like one cannot use NSSortDescriptor on NSMetadataQuery when querying for files from iCloud on iOS. Wanted to sort on the modified date and tried using the sort descriptor but the descriptor does not seem to affect the results. Cannot find any documentation on whether it is supposed to work or not. Finally, I had to manually sort the resultant array using [NSArray sortXyz..], which works fine.

Measure Wi-Fi Strength from OS X

To get raw Wi-Fi strength numbers including noise measurements, OS X provides an in built tool with Lion.

1. Go To - /System/Library/CoreServices/ [From Finder Go->Go To Folder-]
2. Run Wi-Fi diagnostics

If you have a laptop, walk around the house and see the values change or move the router (adjust its location) for optimum strength in your frequently used locations.

Hard Resetting Samsung Galaxy Player

If you have forgotten your passcode lock and want to simply reset the device here are instructions

1. Power Down the device
2. Hold Power and Volume UP buttons at the same time
3. Once you see the Samsung logo, let go of the Power button but continue holding the Volume UP button
4. Soon device goes into a screen that gives you the option to restore factory settings
5. On the factory reset screen, I had to select the reset option twice because the first time around it asked for my password, which ofcourse was wrong. Selecting Reset again wiped the device.
6. Reboot device after wipe is complete

Android version was Gingerbread

XCode and Folder Resources

The latest version of Xcode 4.3 has a serious bug that frustrated me quite a bit recently. If your project has Folder resources in it and these have sub folders with same names in the folder hierarchy, app compiles / builds fine but fails to submit with a completely unrelated error.

Finally had to download an old version 4.2, compile and submit using that.