I considered both the SwitchEasy Canvas and Marware C.E.O. Hybrid Case and had a tough time deciding which one to get. I ended up getting the Canvas because my wife liked the pink CoverBuddy for here iPad 2 a lot. They also have CoverBuddy for the new iPad but I wanted better protection when I meet my customers and show them the iPad and iPhone apps we build for my business.

Product

I bought the Canvas in charcoal. It shipped the next day and arrived within 3 days. They sent it from their California warehouse to Virginia. The case itself is really, really well made. It has the kind of professional and outgoing look, but does not look too serious and dull. The texture is very nice to touch and feel. I can’t stress it enough. It is really nice to touch. Sometimes, I just put it on the table and look at it and admire it. However, it does have a strong smell because it is new, which has subdued over a week now.

I use it as a stand in landscape mode all the time. I especially like the outside of the front cover touches the table surface so that the inside of the front cover stays clean. When you are at a coffee shop or food court and try to use your iPad, you know why I like it that way.

It comes with two headphone jack protectors and dock connector protectors, a screen protector, a cloth and squeegee. They are standard stuff with most SwitchEasy products, but are nice for me since I am annoyed when I see dust accumulating inside jacks. I also dislike oily screens when other people use my iPad after eating chips and what not.

Customer Service

When I applied the screen protector, I accidentally let the adhesive side (i.e. the side that touches the iPad) touch the cloth. As a result, I had a very dusty screen protector with a lot of black particles. When it happened, I knew it right away I fucked it up pretty badly. However, the iPad now sports a very good display that is kind of hard to scratch, so I figured I will just use the case without the screen protector. After all, that is how my wife uses her iPad 2 and there isn’t a single scratch after more than a year of heavy use. I also figured it wouldn’t hurt to tell SwitchEasy about what happened and if they would send me a replacement screen protector, especially they are just plastic.

I actually have the full text of the support request from SwitchEasy. I will just let it describes my experience.

Raymond Law, Apr 12 05:30 pm (PDT):

I received the new Canvas today and am very happy with the case. However, when I applied the Screen Guard to the iPad, the adhesive side of the Screen Guard touched the cloth that came with the case accidentally, and thus attracted a very large amount of dust particles. I tried very hard to clean it but still could not get them off.

I realize this is my own fault. However, it ruins the whole experience of the case for me. I’ve bought cases for all our iPhones and iPads in my family from SwitchEasy. Would you be so kind to send me another Screen Guard so I can apply it to my iPad more carefully this time?

Thank you very much.

Jordan, Apr 13 01:22 pm (PDT):

Hey Raymond,

Typically we do not send replacement Screen Protectors out, but We will go ahead and make an exception for you! We will have a set of New Pure Protect Screen Protectors for the New iPad/ iPad 2 out to you today. Please just verify your Transaction ID from PayPal and also your current Shipping address. As soon as we receive that information we will go ahead and have the package out in the mail for you!

I would I also recommend watching some YouTube Videos to possibly make it a bit easier on how to apply your Screen Protectors with no Bubbles. I do know it can be extremely tricky!

Thanks again,

Jordan
SwitchEasy US Customer Service

Raymond Law, Apr 13 03:04 pm (PDT):

Hi Jordan,

Thank you a lot. You made this a happy day for me. My PayPal transaction ID is XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and my shipping address is:

Raymond Law
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX

I actually clean the iPad with the cloth after a hot shower to let the dusts settle first. But it was an accident that the adhesive side of the screen protector dropped on the cloth. When it happened, I was like: “Oh no…” And I could never get the dusts off. Do you have some recommended links to some videos of applying them?

Thank you very much.

Jordan, Apr 13 03:16 pm (PDT):

Hey Raymond,

Accidents happen, we understand. The Screen Protectors will be out in the mail for you today. The tracking information has been sent to your email address her so you may log onto www.USPS.com to view all locations of this package.

As for Help Videos, go ahead and YouTube how to apply SwitchEasy Screen Protectors for iPad OR how to install screen protectors for iPad. Some are more helpful to others so I can not tell you an exact video to watch. I would say watching a few would be more helpful then just one because you can pick up different tips that may be helpful.

Have a Great Weekend!!!

Best,

Jordan
SwitchEasy US Customer Service

What a nice gesture! Jordan shows understanding of a customer’s experience and did something about it. I later found out the screen protector is priced at $14.99. Am I going to consider SwitchEasy cases for my iPhone 5, 6, 7, …, and newer iPad, newerer iPad, newererer iPad, …etc? Absolutely. It is really a small price to pay to keep a customer happy and return, and spread good words about the experience. Hence this blog post.

For some reasons, bigger companies like Cox never learns after so many years. Verizon Wireless customer service was really good compared to that of FiOS, at least a few years back. I hope they also improved now. I will found out when I talk to them when I help my parents pick the next Internet provider.

Little Disclosure: SwitchEasy is a Hong Kong-based company and I am originally from Hong Kong too, but the above story was based on a truly happy customer experience without cultural bias. I am proud that a Hong Kong company can be this good. I hope they are equally good when treating customers in all continents.

- (void)dealloc
{
    [super dealloc];
}

Since ARC handles memory management for us, we no longer need to explicitly call release. Since most of the time the dealloc method is used to release memory. The dealloc method can be removed. The chaining to super is automated and enforced by the compiler.

Toll-Free Bridging

Toll-Free Bridging means you can cast an object between Objective-C and Core Foundation freely, as long as you call retain and release/autorelease properly.However, with ARC doing memory management for us, we do not call these methods directly. Therefore, when we cast an object between Objective-C and Core Foundation, we need to tell ARC what to do when the object is no longer needed.

__bridge
__bridge_transfer   CFBridgingRelease
__bridge_retained   CFBridgingRetain    CFRelease

• When changing ownership from Core Foundation to Objective-C, you use CFBridgingRelease().
• When changing ownership from Objective-C to Core Foundation, you use CFBridgingRetain().
• When you want to use one type temporarily as if it were another without ownership change, you use __bridge.

cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleValue1 reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier] autorelease];
 
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleValue1 reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];

In a project, there is the default autorelease pool that gets created in main.m:

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    NSAutoreleasePool * pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
    int retVal = UIApplicationMain(argc, argv, nil, nil);
    [pool release];
    return retVal;
}

Your application is called to work with the call to UIApplicationMain:

int retVal = UIApplicationMain(argc, argv, nil, nil);

The return value of the running of your application is used as the return value of the main function. This makes sense.

What about the lines regarding the pool? It turns out that objects created in the code between the creation and destruction of the NSAutoreleasePool will use that wrapping NSAutoreleasePool to auto-release objects when they are no longer needed. You do this by calling the autorelease method on the object. Since ARC handles memory management for us, we don’t need to autorelease objects anymore. Therefore, taking out the call to autorelease will just do the trick here.

The same thing goes for retain and release. The ARC conversion tool suggests removing:

[label release];

When we specified our property, we changed it from retain to strong to indicate that we intend to use the property as a strong pointer, but we do not increment its reference count. To balance things out, we do not decrement its reference count either. Therefore, the call to release is not needed.

In fact, ARC would not even compile if it sees that you call retain, release, or autorelease. You will never forget to take this out if you are using ARC.

TIP #1:

Almost every project creates its default NSAutoreleasePool in main.m, but you can also create your own NSAutoreleasePool if necessary. I’ve never had to do this, so I can’t say I am an expert. I will just point to the NSAutoreleasePool class reference which describes when and how you should do this. Specifically, it says:

The Application Kit creates an autorelease pool on the main thread at the beginning of every cycle of the event loop, and drains it at the end, thereby releasing any autoreleased objects generated while processing an event. If you use the Application Kit, you therefore typically don’t have to create your own pools. If your application creates a lot of temporary autoreleased objects within the event loop, however, it may be beneficial to create “local” autorelease pools to help to minimize the peak memory footprint.

It’s good to know that the option is there if you application uses a lot of memory and you need to deal with it in a more effective manner. I brought this up because the syntax of using an NSAutoreleasePool has changed from:

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    NSAutoreleasePool* pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
    int retVal = UIApplicationMain(argc, argv, nil, nil);
    [pool release];
    return retVal;
}

to:

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    @autoreleasepool {
        int retVal = UIApplicationMain(argc, argv, nil, NSStringFromClass([AppDelegate class]));
        return retVal;
    }
}

The alloc-init-release has been replaced by @autoreleasepool { … }.

TIP #2:

The above snippet also shows another subtle difference between a project created in Xcode 4.2 and previous versions.

The AppDelegate inherits from NSObject in older Xcode, but it now inherits from UIResponder in Xcode 4.2.

@interface AppDelegate : NSObject <UIApplicationDelegate>
 
@interface AppDelegate : UIResponder <UIApplicationDelegate>

When you create a new project in Xcode 4.2, the AppDelegate inherits from UIResponder instead of NSObject. This is necessary if you check the box that says Use Storyboard, which is another new Xcode feature that makes your application flow clearer to help you developing your application. Inheriting from UIResponder makes the AppDelegate eligible to respond to events.

Converting to Storyboards Release Notes says:

The application delegate is responsible for loading the storyboard and managing the window. You need to specify the name of the application delegate class in UIApplicationMain, and ensure that the application delegate has a property called window.

If you use Storyboard, make sure your AppDelegate does that, and pass the class name of AppDelegate to UIApplicationMain. If you are using individual Xibs, you can still inherit from NSObject and pass nil.

In Part 3, I will explain what you need to do when you use Objective-C and Core Foundation interchangeably.

This sounds great, but there are always caveats as we all know it. The fact that the iOS SDK consists of both Objective-C and C libraries (e.g. Address Book, Core Foundation, Core Image, Core Graphics, …etc.) means we really need to have a good understanding of how manual memory management works to use ARC effectively.

When you use Edit > Refactor > Convert to Objective-C ARC, Xcode shows the changes it is about to make in a diff view. Instead of just clicking the Save button and let Xcode to update the sources. Let’s try to understand the changes it is trying to make, so that we won’t be surprised when the app fails to build or crash when run.

@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UILabel *label;
 
@property (nonatomic, strong) IBOutlet UILabel *label;

What is the difference between retain and strong?

A retain property says to the compiler that the property should increment the reference count by 1 when it is set to an object. When you no longer needs the object, you need to call release on it before setting it to a new object. This is manual memory management.

A strong property means the property is a strong pointer to an object. If pointer A is a strong pointer and both pointers A and B point to the same object, when pointer B points is set to point to something else. Pointer A is still valid because it keeps a reference to the object it points to. However, if pointer A is a weak pointer, when pointer B is set to point to something else, pointer A becomes nil because it is too weak to keep the object alive.

What does this mean with ARC? A retain property should only be used when you are not using ARC, since you are expected to call release when you no longer needs the object the property points to. However, ARC handles calling release for us when it compiles, that means we are not supposed to call retain and in fact we cannot because the compiler would complain. Therefore, we tell ARC that the property is a strong property so when ARC detects it is no longer needed, it can release it for us.

If we were to declare the property as a weak property, since weak pointers do not keep the object alive, when it is set to point to an object and if it is the only pointer that points to that object, it will not hold the object, and we would get a crash.

As you can see, while ARC can help us handle most memory management and free us to develop the application. It does not mean we don’t need to understand memory management. In future episodes of this ARC series, I will point out more caveats of using ARC and what we need to understand deeper in order to use it correctly and effectively.

TIP #1:

You can create a strong pointer using:

NSString *version = @"iPhone 4S";
__strong NSString *strongVersion = version;

or just:

NSString *version = @"iPhone 4S";
NSString *strongVersion = version;

since variables are strong by default. When you call [version release], strongVersion is still valid.

You create a weak pointer using:

NSString *version = @"iPhone 4S";
__weak NSString *weakVersion = version;

When you call [version release], weakVersion becomes nil.

TIP #2:

You need to create delegate property as a weak property, like so:

@interface MyViewController : UIViewController
@property (nonatomic, weak) id <MyDelegate> delegate;
@end

This is important. If we were to declare the delegate as a strong property, when an object of MyViewController is created, it has a strong pointer to the MyDelegate delegate, and the MyDelegate delegate also has a strong pointer to the MyViewController object. When MyViewController is released, it needs to release MyDelegate. When MyDelegate is released, it needs to release MyViewController. It is a never-ending cycle! Therefore, we need to make MyDelegate a weak pointer to MyViewController so that they can be properly released.

In Part 2, I will explain retain, release, and autorelease and why they aren’t needed anymore when you use ARC.

Seriously, TSA is just wasting the government’s (hence our tax) money and does not provide much in return. They are known to harrass regular traverlers. I was once a victim while traveling on work. I wrote an essay about it but am not sure if I should post it…

FUCK TSA!

I returned an Airport Extreme 2 months ago because it kept dropping my Macbook after waking from sleep w/o power plugged in. It was a very frustrating experience, so I went back to the DI-524, although it also drops my Macbook whenever I turned on my Wii. But I only have to turn Airport off and on and it works again. The Airport Extreme worked for 30 seconds, then I turned it off/on, worked for another 30 seconds, turned off/on,… The firmware is a piece of junk.

Now if Time Capsule does not have the same problem with Airport Extreme, I will probably get one to replace my crappy NAT and get a 500GB HD for Time Machine.

Airport Extreme $180
500GB HD ~$100

So Time Capsule is priced much more reasonable than the Macbook Air, but only if it actually works and doesn’t drop connections.

At first, the coolness factor had me regretting not waiting to delay my Macbook purchase, but after learning that $1799 only has the 4200rpm 80GB HD and you have to shell out $3098 for a 64GB SSD. I am relieved

However, seeing it come out of an envelope was extremely cool. I do dislike the black keys a bit tho. I thought making the whole thing aluminum would be more cool. Biege => black => white => aluminum => black. Huh?

Basically there are 3 ways to achieve that:

1. Locomotive

Locomotive method is simple and self contained. It works very well for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. However, the author acknowledges that Locomotive may not be Leopard ready.

2. Rails comes with Leopard

That’s right. Apple has included Rails by default, as noted by DHH. This sounds great. However, that means you will also have to manually install Imagick, RMagick, and all those other stuff that you need for development. Also, it may be harder to upgrade Ruby or Rails when new versions come out. You probably need to install from source to upgrade or what not…

3. MacPorts

You might already have your Rails environment set up using MacPorts. If that’s the case, why not just use that? Even if you are like me with a fresh installed Leopard, MacPorts still has its advantages. For example, you can use MacPorts to upgrade ruby in the future.

I used MacPorts to set up my Rails environment based on these other great articles:

• Teabass
• Robby on Rails
• Michael Biven
• Tobias Ebnöther

1. Install the latest Xcode version for Leopard. Download from the Apple website.

2. Install the latest MacPorts version for Leopard. Download from the MacPorts website.

Run this to update MacPorts:

sudo port selfupdate

3. Install Ruby, RubyGems, and Rails.

sudo port install ruby
sudo port install rb-rubygems
sudo gem update --system
sudo gem install rails -y

4. Install MySQL (directly from Andrew Nesbitt, shown here for completeness).

sudo port install mysql5 +server
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.mysql5.plist
sudo -u mysql mysql_install_db5
cd /opt/local ; sudo /opt/local/lib/mysql5/bin/mysqld_safe &
sudo ln -s /opt/local/var/run/mysql5/mysqld.sock /tmp/mysql.sock

5. Install mongrel and mongrel_cluster.

sudo gem install mongrel
sudo gem install mongrel_cluster

6. Install memcached.

sudo port install memcached
sudo gem install memcache-client

Create a file called /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.danga.memcached.plist, and insert the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.danga.memcached</string>
        <key>OnDemand</key>
        <false/>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
                <string>/opt/local/bin/memcached</string>
                <string>-d</string>
                <string>-m</string>
                <string>64</string>
                <string>-u</string>
                <string>www</string>
                <string>-p</string>
                <string>11211</string>
        </array>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

In order to launch memcached on boot, enter this in the terminal:

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.danga.memcached.plist

7. Install ImageMagick and RMagick

sudo port install ImageMagick
sudo gem install rmagick

NEW! There are now instructions on how to install ImageMagick and RMagick.

8. Optional – I found out if you have the loaded_plugins gem installed, you may see the following error when running script/console:

/opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.2/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:477:in `const_missing':NameError: uninitialized constant Gem::Version::NUM_RE

The reason is MacPorts create two directories to store the RubyGems stuff in /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby and /opt/local/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby. Ruby’s $LOAD_PATH looks in site_ruby first but the version.rb in site_ruby does not define Gem::Version::NUM_RE whereas the version.rb in vendor_ruby does. I’ve outlined the issue here. So I simply swap them:

sudo mv /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby /opt/local/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby_tmp
sudo mv /opt/local/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby
sudo mv /opt/local/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby_tmp /opt/local/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby

This fixes the error and everything runs well for me, but I would like to hear the experts out there about why there are separate vendor_ruby and site_ruby.

That’s it. Hope you find this helpful and please report any problems.