Wow! eBook – Blog

Book Description

The Mac OS X Lion Pocket Guide is an indispensable quick reference guide that is packed with bite-sized chunks of practical information for people who want to jump in and start working and playing with OS X Lion. The attractive price and accessible content make this the perfect learning companion and reference guide. Written by Mac expert Jeff Carlson, this essential guide features snappy writing, eye-catching graphics, and an elegant design that walks readers through the most common OS X Lion tasks. The Mac OS X Lion Pocket Guide covers all of the key new features of  OS X Lion including Multi-Touch Gestures, Launchpad, Mission Control, the App Store, Mail, and much more.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Meet Lion
Chapter 2. Set Up Lion
Chapter 3. Apps, the Dock, and Mission Control
Chapter 4. Master Your Files
Chapter 5. Manage Important Information
Chapter 6. Stay in Touch
Chapter 7. Enjoy Media
Chapter 8. Disks and Networking
Chapter 9. Back Up Your Data
Chapter 10. Keep Your Mac Secure Download Now »

Book Description

Adopting a back-to-the-basics approach, this bestselling little Mac classic has been revised and overhauled to introduce users to OS X Lion. In the gentle, friendly, funny style that generations of computer users have come to know and love, author Robin Williams shows readers how to dive in and start working with the Mac and OS X Lion. This full-color little book walks readers through all of the key new features including Multi-Touch Gestures, Launchpad, Mission Control, the App Store, Mail, and much more. Using straightforward, jargon-free explanations delivered in logical, easy-to-follow sections, Robin is a new user’s personal guide, coaching and encouraging readers as they learn their way around the magic of the Mac and OS X Lion.

Table of Contents

1. A Map of Your Mac
2. The Mouse or Trackpad
3. The Dock
4. Finder Windows
5. Menus & Shortcuts
6. Use an Application
7. Save & Print
8. Close, Quit & Trash
9. Get Connected Download Now »

Book Description

Beginning iOS Game Center and Game Kit shows you how to use Game Center and Game Kit to create fun and polished games that use advanced features such as social networking and voice over IP (VoIP). Game Kit and Game Center can help you reach new customers through social interaction, so this book shows you how you can quickly add a level of polish to your app that used to take weeks of hard work and late nights.

Implementing a leaderboard and achievement system has never been so simple! Gone are the days of writing your own server. You’ll also see how to easily add advanced networking concepts like VoIP support in hours, not days.

Learn how to quickly implement many advanced social networking concepts into your apps. You’ll be guided through the process of creating a custom Game Center Manager class that can be rapidly deployed into any of your new or existing projects. Furthermore, learn how to avoid pitfalls commonly encountered by new Game Center developers.

What you’ll learn

• What Game Center and Game Kit are and how you can improve your app by using them
• How to configure your app with iTunes Connect to work with Game Center
• How to set up leaderboard and achievement systems for use within your app
• How to add a custom graphical user interface to Game Center to match the look and feel of your product
• What multiplayer and networking does to your app through Game Kit Download Now »

Book Description

Today’s .NET developers are intrigued by what the iPhone and iPad apps landscape has to offer. Admit it: you’re one of them. Apple’s App Store has hundreds of thousands of apps, and yours can be among them. iPhone and iPad app development using the iOS software development kit is one of the most appealing environments available for mobile technology.

Migrating to iPhone and iPad for .NET Developers helps .NET programmers get started creating iPhone and iPad apps using the iOS software development kit. Start with a crash course on development using iOS. Then, find out whether you want to use Xcode instead of Visual Studio, and prepare yourself for the migration from C# to Objective-C! You’ll learn how your existing .NET skills can map most efficiently to the iOS development environment.

Next, you’ll really get coding with Objective-C and the iOS software development kit. You’ll build your skills and enhance your apps with visually appealing, dynamic user interfaces and pushing/pulling data from a database though events and more. Discover the wonders of the Cocoa library, and learn new ways to do things you already know like the back of your hand in the .NET environment.

Nearing the finish line, you’ll build your first complete iPhone or iPad app, and extend your iPhone app features—for example, by using third-party libraries. Once you have created that first iPhone or iPad app, we’ll walk you through making it available on the App Store. Migrating to iPhone and iPad for .NET Developers even offers tips on how to market your apps to new customers.

When you finish reading Migrating to iPhone and iPad for .NET Developers Download Now »

Book Description

With the millions of apps in the crowded Apple iTunes App Store, it can be difficult to get your apps noticed. How can you make your app stand out from the crowd and get it the reviews it deserves?

iOS Wow Factor shows you how to get noticed! It explains how to go beyond the basics and where to “break the rules” to give your users a “wow” experience! You’ll learn to use standard controls, as well as to create non-standard controls and high-impact custom interactions to realize truly compelling app designs.

Get grounded in Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) so that you can appreciate all its wisdom. From that excellent foundation, move beyond the HIG and learn how to ensure that all your apps have that “wow” factor. Learn all about user experience (UX) design techniques, with and beyond Apple’s HIG, and how to move your apps out of mundane design and into innovative user experiences. Examine the characteristics and constraints of the iOS platform and how to leverage its strengths to maximum effect in your apps.

iOS Wow Factor explains what makes a successful mobile app design, and how to apply those principles of success to your own apps. Once you get the iOS Wow Factor into your apps, you can watch your app adoption rate increase and gain the traction it needs to succeed and earn a profit in the Apple iTunes App Store.

Find out everything you’ll need to “wow” your future customers!

Download Now »

Book Description

Create compelling 2D games with Learn cocos2d Game Development with iOS 5. This book shows you how to use the powerful cocos2d game engine to develop games for iPhone and iPad with tilemaps, virtual joypads, Game Center, and more.

It teaches you:

• The process and best practices of mobile game development, including sprite batching, texture atlases, parallax scrolling, touch and accelerometer input.
• How to enhance your games using the Box2D and Chipmunk physics engines and other cocos2d-related tools and libraries.
• How to add UIKit views to cocos2d and how to add cocos2d to UIKit apps.
• The ins and outs of the Kobold2D development environment for cocos2d and its preconfigured libraries, including cocos3d and Lua.

Best of all, Learn cocos2d Game Development with iOS 5 will have you making games right from the very start. It guides you step-by-step through the creation of sample games. These fun examples are modeled after popular App Store games and teach you key concepts of the cocos2d game engine and relevant tools like TexturePacker (texture atlas), PhysicsEditor (physics collision shapes), Particle Designer (particle effects), Glyph Designer (bitmap fonts), and others.

This book offers a rock-solid introduction to creating games made entirely with cocos2d and little or no iOS 5 SDK and OpenGL code. It also details alternative implementations, identifies the best free and commercial tools for cocos2d game development Download Now »