Author Archives: Randall

How to change the color of UIBarButtonItem on iOS 5

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Randall

My most popular blog post is how to change the color of a UIBarButtonItem. It’s something that lots of people want to do, but it involved some pretty weird hacks to get it working. Now that iOS 5 is out, … Continue reading →

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How to send text messages using the Twilio API on Mac OS X and iPhone

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Randall

You may never have heard of Twilio, but odds are good that you use a product powered by their software. Twilio lets you send text messages and make phone calls using their API. They take care of all the details … Continue reading →

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Introducing: HappyCampfire, a Campfire framework for OS X and iOS

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Randall

One of my favorite tools that I use at work is Campfire. If you haven’t heard of Campfire, it’s a group chat web app built by 37 signals. It’s very easy to use and has some fun features. One day … Continue reading →

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Don’t make me pick a unique username ever again.

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Randall

You all know the feeling. You’re trying to sign up for the new big thing and the username you want is taken. After 2 or 3 tries you eventually give up or end up adding a number to the end … Continue reading →

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How to make your app window look like the Mac App Store, Twitter, and Chrome

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Randall

A while back, Apple moved the window buttons on iTunes onto the left edge of the window. A lot of people hated it and they changed it back. With the Mac App Store, they moved the buttons again. This time … Continue reading →

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Thoughtback has a new feature that will help you integrate it into your apps

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Randall

One of the biggest requests we get for Thoughtback is an API. We’re working one but it’s not quite ready yet. In the meantime we have a way you can integrate Thoughtback into your own apps. The way to do … Continue reading →

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The perfect cable company

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Randall

Here’s what I want from a cable company. Everything on demand. I don’t want to bother with being home at a certain time to watch a TV show. If I want to watch the show, it should be available for … Continue reading →

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Write bad code… to become a better developer

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Randall

I’ve always thought I could measure my improvement as a developer by how bad my “bad code” is. You know what I mean by “bad code”. It’s the stuff you write on your little side projects or proof of concepts. … Continue reading →

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Adding a button or view to the NSWindow title bar

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Randall

I’ve seen some apps that put buttons inside of an NSWindow title bar. If you try to do this yourself, you’ll notice that Interface Builder won’t let you put anything there. So how do you put something there? The way … Continue reading →

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How to open any file you drag onto your app’s dock icon

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Randall

One of the most important aspects of the OS X interface paradigm is drag and drop. One of the best places to support drag and drop is on your dock icon, because it is always available no matter where you’re … Continue reading →

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