The Objective Blog

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Fusion Radar: May 16, 2012

May 16th, 2012 - by brittany - Salt Lake City, Utah

In their own words, “This site is a resource and showcase of some of the newest, and most expressive features being added to the web today.”

Kicksend MailCheck

Kicksend is a jQuery plugin that suggests corrected domains when a user misspells their email address. In the world of email marketing and email capture forms, one of the most common reasons for bounces and undeliverable messages is address errors.

The Toolbox

The Toolbox is “a collection of the best time-saving apps, tools, and widgets from around the web.” The directory is curated by one man, but visitors and fellow time-savers may submit a site to be included in the collection. With tools to compress images, generate sprites, produce subtle pattern backgrounds, and more, the site is a good resource for designers and developers alike.

Users can also keep up to date with new tools and tricks by following The Toolbox on Twitter.

Open Web Analytics

Open Web Analytics is open-source software used to track and analyze web traffic for sites and applications. It can be hooked up to sites using simple Javascript, PHP, or REST based APIs and is compatible with frameworks like WordPress and MediaWiki.

The software has a remarkable likeness to Google Analytic’s interface, which makes switching from Google all the easier. Open Web Analytics allows users to track visitor behaviors, visitor demographics, page by page ranking/behavior, and overall traffic stats.

So if you are looking for a powerful analytics tool but aren’t up for supporting Google in their hegemony, Open Web Analytics may be for you.

RubyMotion

RubyMotion is a toolchain to create apps in iOS. Ruby has become known in the development world as a concise and flexible language that has an immense amount of power. It hasn’t been used in the mobile world because it is also known for being too slow for smaller devices. However, RubyMotion takes what is great about Objective-C (speed) and combines it with the flexibility and power of Ruby.

RubyMotion is controlled from the command line, can be used with almost any text editor, has gems that can be used to extend an apps performance, and has great debugging and testing capabilities. So, if you have stayed away from iOS development because you are so in love with Ruby, your time has come to jump into the world of iOS apps.

Fusion Radar: May 9, 2012

May 11th, 2012 - by brittany - Salt Lake City, Utah

Adobe CS6 Release

Creatives rejoice! The latest version of the Adobe Creative Suite has officially been released to the world. While Adobe CS6 will likely have some great incremental upgrades for each of its products, the biggest news to note is that this release marks the first time some of the products will be available for download through Adobe Creative Cloud. Instead of buying a one time installation, as is typical with software, Adobe Creative Cloud will allow users to have a 1 year subscription plan for ~ $50 a month. This method of purchase will allow users to access all products available through the Creative Cloud as well as any upgrades to products during their year subscription.

Unicorn

We’ve recently been experimenting with Unicorn, an HTTP server similar to Mongrel or Thin. It’s fast, light, and configurable. If you’re a Rails developer and haven’t yet tried out Unicorn, we think it’s worth a look.

Apache Solr

Apache Solr is a Java based search platform that uses a REST-like API, “making it easy to use from virtually any programming language.” Solr uses the Lucene Java search library, which makes it so robust that it powers some of the largest and best web services. Solr has an extensive set of features that set it apart from competition including: Full-Text Search Capabilities, Extensible Plugin Architecture, Standards Based Open Interfaces, Geospatial Search, and others.

Apple Confirms iPhoto Using OpenStreetMap Data

OpenStreetMap just got another big endorsement. Apple confirmed last week that it has been using OpenStreetMap’s data since March for its iPhoto app. Previously, iPhoto had been using data from Google Maps to geotag photos taken with iPhones or iPads. After OpenStreetMap’s team discovered the update, they released a blog post and screenshot proving the change. Apple then confirmed the switch.

LG Announces the Latest Round of Google TV

LG has officially confirmed the May 21st release of a new TV powered by Google TV. Speculation on a collaboration between LG and Google has been swirling since November 2011. LG debuted this news at CES in January but a date was never set. It seems that we only have to wait a little over a month to determine whether or not the device will live up to the manufacturer’s, and public’s, expectations.

LG is not the first manufacturer to release a TV powered by Google TV, but the previous attempts by other companies have revealed themselves as flops. However, LG could be the secret ingredient missing from previous attempts.