iPhone printable Paper prototype template (56 kb, PDF)

Print as many as you want, but please give me credit if you link/repost, and keep my logo on there. I’ll improve it with other cutouts when I get the chance. There’s no status bar or other items, in case you want to draw a fullscreen game or something. Make sure you print it at 100% size, to get the actual size of the iPhone screen.

Let me know what you come up with.

There are machines that you can buy passes from, and I’ve found machines that would take my credit card, which is nice. If it lets you, spend $5; that’s probably all you’ll need. Last I checked, it’s about $2 each way on the train.

You’ll want to get off at the Clark/Lake stop. Head north on Clark (towards Wacker drive and the river). Head east along the river (and enjoy the view), and head north on Michigan. You can find your way to the hotel from there: hotel location.

Don’t take a cab; the traffic will be bad, so it’s not worth it, and they’re expensive as heck (and the cab drivers here are generally jerks).

Leave comments if I missed anything, or if I got the fares wrong; or any other tips you have.

Update: I’m aware that you can transfer via a few other routes, but the above noted method is intended to avoid transfers, because they’re a pain when you’re carrying luggage and I wanted to make it as simple as possible for visitors. I find, from experience, I’m better off hoofing it if I have a roller suitcase instead of using CTA (and you can check out the architecture and character of Chicago along the river). If you disagree: try this way.

> Links:

CTA’s site

An airport guide from the CTA

I’m assuming you’re running Leopard in the following instructions. This will work with a default install - no developer tools required, but there are some advanced tricks that use them (entirely optional).

1. Create the blank image:

Open the “Applications” folder, and launch “Disk Utility” from the “Utilities” folder. Click “New Image” in the toolbar (or “New Blank Image” from the File > New menu.

You can save the image file wherever you wish. The “Volume Name” will be the name of the resulting “disk”, and “Volume Size” is the maximum amount of data you’ll be able to hold (you can always compress it down later). To size it below 10 MB, you must change the “Volume Format” to not be “Journaled” (“Mac OS Extended”). If you’re just playing around, or just shipping a small program, 5 MB should be fine. No encryption, “Single partition - Apple Partition Map”, and “read/write disk image” will be the ideal settings. Then, click “Create”.

The file will save, and automatically mount the “disk” to your desktop.

2. Add the contents:

You’ll need to drag your contents to the new disk, and arrange them accordingly. If you want to have custom icons, background images, etc., those must be copied to the disk as well. if you have a background image, it’s a good idea to put that into a folder called “background”, and I’ll show you how to hide that…

3. Change layout/background:

Double-click the disk on the desktop to open it, if it isn’t already open. Switch the window to Icon View. Click the capsule to hide the toolbar.

Click the “View” menu, and Show View Options. Check the box for “Always open in icon view”. You can now tweak icon sizes, layout, and labeling to fit your taste. You’ll also be able to choose the background image from the “background” folder you made on the disk image, if you have one.

3b. Hide background folder:

Okay, you’ll need the Apple Developer Tools (XCode, etc.) installed for this:

Open Terminal (in the “Utilities” folder), and type the following:

/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a V /Volumes/your_custom_disk/background

Obviously, change “your_custom_disk” and “background” to whatever you need to hide the desired folder.

The above command is actually the easier way, in Leopard, to hide folders safely. You could also add a dot to the beginning of the folder name, but Finder doesn’t allow this, and it’s deprecated behavior (though still supported for now).

3c. Make an alias to the Applications folder: (optional)

This is easy. Simply create an alias to the Applications folder on your Mac, and drop it in the disk image, next to your application’s icon.

3d. Your own icon (optional):

If the icon is applied to another file or folder, just “Get Info” on that item, click the icon in the upper-left corner of the window, and press Command-C to copy the icon. Click the icon in the “Get Info” window of your target disk, and paste the icon with Command-V.

4. Get it down to size:

The computer can make your DMG even more efficient by compressing it.

Eject the disk image, but keep the DMG file handy.

Launch “Disk Utility” again (like above), and choose “Convert”. Find your DMG file, and click “Convert”. It will ask you to save the file somewhere. Make sure “Image Format” is “Compressed”, and “Encryption” is “none”. Save the DMG. It should be at least somewhat smaller than what the original was. Oftentimes, it’s dramatically smaller.

Tada! You’re all done!

• Original Source
• Automated DMGs
• Apple Guide on Internet-enabled Auto DMGs
• Automated builds

In the conversation, he indicates in the direction of other “church-focused” applications, though not in the same market - MediaShout, for one. “Look! They charge $400! You could still charge $300 and be competitive!” (I’m paraphrasing, but you get the idea)

I had thought about that, and looked at some other software out there - Final Cut Pro, Adobe applications, even MS Office - which all fall into a similar “vertical” class (though for different markets/purposes). I pondered over this, asking myself how much I think the support costs will be, and what it will take to recoup costs of working on this, as opposed to freelance work.

But, really, for the feature set I’m planning, I don’t think I could do it. First of all, I don’t have the same number of features as some of those other applications, and MediaShout isn’t even worth the $400 they charge. How could I justify that cost? I’m still mulling over it, but this is clearly something that I feel strongly about, and will continue to debate - even if not that much, where can I price it?

It’s evident that even companies like Panic struggle with this; I still have a lot of development to do, so things could change before I really have to decide.

They’ve lobbied (though they can’t call it lobbying, since they aren’t allowed to actually do so) to keep the potential “Do Not Mail” lists at bay, because they simply want to keep the status quo - they also do their best to fight any notion that direct mail marketing needs to use targeting to reduce the amount of materials sent out. The USPS uses every possible legal method to maintain their bottom line, the status quo.

While FedEx and UPS have long offered very accurate tracking for international and domestic packages, the USPS has done the bare minimum - or not even that much. A tracking/label number merely tells you that the shipper has a label, and that it may or may not have been shipped. The only other info you’ll get is that it was delivered, but it’s so slow that you’ll see that info appear long after you’ve received and opened the package. That’s pretty much useless. This is a case where the private companies do much, much better than the clueless, inept subsidized USPS.

The United States Postal Service is a waste of taxpayer money - and I’m being forced to pay for it against my will, and it’s useless to most people for day-to-day communications. Think about it: what we used to do for casual letters has moved to email (faster and cheaper), official or signature-required materials can use fax (faster and safer), print magazines are losing out to the Internet because of timliness (even being killed by their own magazine’s online edition), and for packages, FedEx and UPS can be cheaper, faster, and offer better execution of the same services.

There are arguments for protecting its legal monopoly over mail delivery, but these are all weak - and if we can inact the earlier mentioned “Do Not Mail” list (which I would be a huge fan of), then that will kill much of the mail generated in the US regardless. The service’s primary argument in favor of junk mail was that it creates jobs. But the USPS is one of the biggest employers in the US, and they require a large amount of cash from the government to help them fit their budget each year. Wouldn’t it be better to simply cut the junk mail, which cuts the required workforce, and as a result cuts the amount of money required to run the service? Makes sense to me.

If FedEx or UPS could efficiently deliver mail with cheaper rates than the USPS, then they could offer these services to companies like Netflix (which would make my Netflix costs cheaper). Sounds good to me. Actually, if Netflix’s new live-streaming box takes off (and they offer the entire library on it), then shipping the DVDs by mail wouldn’t be necessary.

But the younger generations like mine aren’t using the USPS, so the service is being forced to raise rates, and there’s just no outstanding use for them. It’s time, at the very least, to offer a little room for competition, and to clean up and lean up the service - it really doesn’t need to cost as much as it does. It just reeks of pork and government waste.

Update: Various members of the USPS seem to find my blog post fairly quickly, and like to rebut with childish responses, so I’m forced to delete them (you’d think they’d at least try to mask/spoof their IP first).

Apple’s COO, Tim Cook, also surprised stockholders by saying that the iPhone 3G was selling well, and so Apple would be ramping up production to meet demand.

Responding to today’s news, one anonymous stockholder stated, “I never saw it coming! Make more product to sell more product? Whoever heard of such a thing?!”