Letter from the Technical Chair

Come Explore the iPhone Future in New York City!

"What's the impact of the iPhone going to be on the delivery of rich content to mobile users? How does Google's new Android differ from the iPhone SDK and iPhone Safari development? When should you use the iPhone SDK versus developing web applications?

The release of the Apple iPhone and the iPod Touch has renewed interest in computing devices controlled with direct hand input (either by touch and/or pen), putting "gesture-based" interfaces squarely onto the menu of what developers want to learn more about.

But gesture-based design is just one of the myriad topics that have suddenly become red-hot. Others include questions about how to build apps using the new ASP.NET MVC framework, how to build "social applications," and how to develop high-quality, iPhone-style web-based GUIs for applications.

Come join us at the first-ever iPhone Developer Summit on March 19-20, 2008, in New York City - either as a delegate, a sponsor, an exhibitor, or a speaker. I look forward to meeting you there!"

Sessions Include...

Web Apps for the iPhone: Duplicating the iPhone Look and Feel in Safari

In this session, you'll see first-hand how to use stylesheets and an easy arrangement of divs and spans that will let you make your web application just like many of the native iPhone applications that come with the phone.

You'll see how to do the "Edge to Edge" and "Rounded Rectangle" layouts that are the hallmark of native iPhone applications. You'll also see how to use the iPhone's Safari Debug Console to get hints on how to improve your web application as well as point out errors in your HTML and JavaScript. Lastly you'll see how to go from nothing to hosting iPhone/iPod Touch test pages on your Mac laptop in 5 minutes.

Speaker Bio: Kevin Hoffman, editor-in-chief of SYS-CON's iPhone Developer's Journal is Technical Chair of iPhone Developer Summit. He has been programming since he was 10 and has written everything from DOS shareware to n-tier, enterprise Web applications in VB, C++, Delphi, and C. Hoffman is coauthor of Professional .NET Framework (Wrox Press) and co-author with Robert Foster of Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Development Unleashed. He authors The .NET Addict's Blog at .NET Developer's Journal.

Developing AJAX Applications for iPhone and iPod Touch

The iPhone is transforming the Web as we know it and compelling every Web designer to consider handheld portable devices. This session covers various aspects of iPhone and iPod Touch development. It will include tips and tricks as well as best practices to follow. Williams also covers how to use an integrated development environment (IDE) for building iPhone and iPod Touch applications and how to use the iUI library to easily build iPhone applications - the free, open-source, cross-platform, JavaScript-focused Aptana IDE.

Speaker Bio: Chris Williams joined Aptana in the first half of 2007. Prior to joining, he was the lead developer of the Ruby Development Tools (RDT) project that brought Ruby support to the Eclipse IDE. He has also served as a mentor to students; one contributing to the project through the Google Summer of Code, and three others as part of their Master's thesis. At Aptana, Williams continues his role of lead RDT developer in addition to heading development of Aptana RadRails. Prior to joining Aptana, he has worked in R&D for both Paychex Inc. and the Xerox Corporation.

How "Open" is "Open?"

Open source, open platforms, open development environments... "Open" can mean a lot of things, and the differences between one "open" and another can be significant. David ?Lefty? Schelsinger will examine the various aspects and uses of the term "open" as it relates to the current evolving mobile software space.

Where does open source code make sense? Is simply being open source sufficient? Does openness necessarily mean fragmentation, and if so, what's the best way to forestall that? There are many platforms based on open source code to greater or lesser degrees, many "open development platforms" and a number of initiatives--LiMo, LiPS, GNOME Mobile, the Open Handset Alliance, and others--dedicated to putting open source software on mobile devices. What are the differences between them? Are they competitive or cooperative?

This discussion will describe the landscape, identify the players and contrast the approaches being taken. The ACCESS Linux Platform will be featured in this context as an alternative to the iPhone platform, as well as the approach to enabling third-party developers, and addressing the needs of the marketplace and the requirements of operators and device manufacturers.

Speaker Bio: David 'Lefty' Schlesinger is Director of Open Source Technologies at ACCESS Co., Ltd., working principally on open source strategy and community relations, and representing ACCESS in a number of industry and community initiatives. Lefty is responsible for open source licensing compliance practices within ACCESS, and is the author of ACCESS' internal "open source best practices" curriculum. He also specializes in intellectual property issues, including licensing and patent strategy as well as acting as the administrator for ACCESS' main open source release, the "Hiker Project" (www.hikerproject.org), a suite of application service components for the development of seamlessly interoperating mobile applications.

Lefty is well-known in the open source community and is a frequent presenter and panelist at open source-related conferences, and has spoken this year at the Finnish Centre for Open Source Software's Verso Business Series, FOSTEL (the Free and Open Source Telephony Conference), the Ottawa Linux Symposium, the GNOME Users' and Developers' European Conference and a variety of other prestigious open source venues. He was the keynote speaker at this year's Northwest Technical Conference for Undergraduates at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia..

Introduction to the iPhone SDK*

* Exact details may change prior to session due to SDK availability and content

This session will provide ADC member developers with the information they need to get started building native iPhone applications. This session covers the basics from how to set up your development environment to building a basic application (not just a simple hello world, but a real, functioning, practical application), to covering debugging and deployment.

Speaker Bio: Kevin Hoffman, editor-in-chief of SYS-CON's iPhone Developer's Journal is Technical Chair of iPhone Developer Summit. He has been programming since he was 10 and has written everything from DOS shareware to n-tier, enterprise Web applications in VB, C++, Delphi, and C. Hoffman is coauthor of Professional .NET Framework (Wrox Press) and co-author with Robert Foster of Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Development Unleashed. He authors The .NET Addict's Blog at .NET Developer's Journal.

Social Computing: the iPhone as an Ideal Platform

Without a doubt, Social Computing is the preeminent phenomenon rising on the second wave of the web, and the iPhone will become one of the dominant clients for Social Computing in the mobile space.

Come to this talk and find out how ICEfaces delivers the goods today for development of web-based social computing applications. The open source ICEfaces project pioneered web-based real time collaboration, an essential capability for truly interactive Social Computing, and its server-centric architecture is well-suited to resource-constrained devices such as the iPhone. During this session you will see several live demos of collaborative applications running on the iPhone. You will gain an understanding of ICEfaces' server-centric architecture and understand how it is a natural way to deliver high-powered, but light-weight AJAX capabilities to your mobile applications. You will also learn how to leverage AJAX Push to make your applications truly collaborative, and prepare yourself to deliver on the promises of social computing.

Speaker Bio: Steve Maryka is CTO at ICEsoft Technologies Inc., and leads the ICEfaces open source project. He has been involved in Java-based AJAX techniques since 2003 - a time before the term ?AJAX? was even coined. Prior to joining ICEsoft, Maryka was co-founder of AudeSi Technologies where he served as VP of Technology and led Java product development for Internet appliances. After AudeSi was acquired by Wind River Systems in 2000, he served as a Principle Technologist there until joining ICEsoft.

Developing Open Source Mobile Messaging and Sync Apps for iPhone vs. Android

The iPhone and Google Android platform are undisputedly transforming the mobile industry by bringing smartphone capabilities to the masses. They are also making for enticing new mobile platforms for developing and deploying new types of mobile apps and services for mass market users. Yet, developing for them is not that easy.

This session will focus on our experience of developing open source-based mobile messaging and sync applications for both of these platforms. It will compare and contrast the platforms in terms of the development methods and tools required, and their strengths and weaknesses from a developer's perspective. The presentation will ashare lessons learned as well as tips and techniques for developing for both platforms.

Speaker Bio: Stefano Fornari is co-founder, CTO and principal contributor of Funambol, the leading mobile open source project in the world, whose software has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times by 10,000 developers in 200 countries and is used by leading mobile operators and service providers. His most recent work includes developing for both the iPhone and Google's Android SDK. He holds a master's degree in computer science.