• Where we use the CKFinder in the WYSIWYG HTML editors and when selecting images for things like icons and headers
• How to navigate the folder view inside the CKFinder window to make sure you can find what you are looking for.
• The AppWerks Library with all of the pre stocked images that we are constantly adding to all the time.
• The MyImages folder that lets you upload your own images to be used in your application
• The ability to resize your images to make them fit properly and consistently in your application
• What is the “Basket” and how to use it

Check the video out below to get an understanding of the CKFinder view

In the video below I go over the main concepts and features of the Application Structure Pane:

• Showing parents and children pages like in Windows Explorer
• How you can drag and drop pages to reorder and restructure your application
• How you can multi select pages to perform large scale deletions
• The peculiarity that you cannot delete all the children of a parent without deleting the parent (only from within the application tree)
• The difference between the “Home Page View” and the “Tab View” and how you have two different perspectives to view your application and create paths of children.

Have a look at the video to get an overview

• Have an app idea in mind
  • Don’t just click around randomly hoping that something is going to jump out at you. Take a moment to think about what you want to make.
• Write down your ideas on paper
  • I find it best to have a bullet point list with the pages and the page types that I want to make in my app once I have an idea. Having this written (typed) down somewhere in front of me makes for the initial app creation to be very easy.
• Structure, not style or content
  • Crete your app structure first. Do not worry about the way it looks and the content that is on each of the pages. AppWerks makes changing this very easy. Create the pages you want so the application structure pane looks like what you wrote down on that piece of paper.
• Fill in the content
  • For many page types, this is already done for you since the content is being retrieved from external sites like YouTube or Flickr. The rest will be what you want to have in the HTML containers and the Info containers.
• Set your application default settings
  • Do not waste your time setting the look and feel and structure for every page you created. Do all your theming and styling at the Application level. This will cover 90% of what you need in most cases and all the pages you already created will adopt these settings since they are inheriting.
• Set your home page settings
  • The home page will be inheriting from the application settings by default. but many times this is not needed since the home page is ideally used to highlight the purpose of the app, have a big image, etc. A toolbar is almost never needed on the homepage since you dont need anything telling you that you are on the home page.
• Insert images
  • AppWerks comes preloaded with many images for you to use but also gives you the option to upload your own images from your computer. The image uploader and the CKFinder window gives you the options to edit the dimensions of your image after the fact. Use this to make sure that your image looks good when viewed on small screen devices.
• Test on a device
  • As you build your app, you can see how it looks in the app preview pane. But the true test is when being viewed from your smartphone. Grab a phone and view your app at http://shivamedia.com/m/YOURAPPURLNAME. You can also save the page as an icon on the phones desktop to see how it will look when deployed as a native application. Be sure to click around and try out all the pages you created to ensure that everythin gis disaplying and working correctly.

So that gives you an idea of what is going on in my head as I open up AppWerks and create an application. I am sure we all have our own methods but this is what I do to help me out. The first point is by far the most important!

In the video below I go over the core points to understand about a brick:

• HTML Container and the associated WYSIYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor. This gives you control to place any sort of content, including images, onto any page.
• The info container which allows for quick informative information to be displayed above the html container.
• The promo block which gives the user the ability to put a URL linked image above the info container and below the toolbar.
• Structure and Layout controls which let you decide if you should show or hide the toolbar and header as well as configure how the children pages will be displayed.
• Colors and Styling menu which gives you the ability to tweak the font size and color and margins and spacing and templates and a plethora of other configuration settings to help you tweak the pages appearance.
• Standard page settings like forcing inheritance to all children, sorting children alphabetically, and setting the page to be active or not.

Check out the video below for an overview of how to use a brick.

In the video below I want to go over the main areas that can be found in AppWerks.

• User Dashboard – Where you have access to help and support, documentation, and a list of the apps you have created.
• The main application edit screen
  • Header area that gives you access to basic application settings like name and description
  • The interactive app preview pane which gives you a live view of your application as it would be seen on  a mobile device
  • The application configuration settings that lets you cahnge app defaults for colors, format, layout, and much more.
  • The application structure view which depicts the pages in your application in a tree view for easy navigation and relational understanding. Additionally this handy pane lets you see the Tab View which gives you access to create a tabbar and navigate through your app that way.
  • And finally the application edit area where the bulk of the changes are performed especially when modifying pages.

Check out the video below for a quick overview.

1. By default, a page’s configuration settings are set to inherit from the first ancestor with manually configured settings or if none are found, the application level settings will be used.
2. If a page has manually configured settings, they will take precedence and always be used before inheriting.
3. The application home page is never considered an ancestor. A page cannot inherit settings from the home page.

Inheritance allows us to make sections and sub sections of an application follow a certain theme. If you wanted to make a four seasons application, this can be easily done using inheritance. Simply create the four season pages with the appropriate colors and configuration settings. Then every child that is created under those pages, will inherit it’s season!

Check out this video for a brief overview.

• A Flickr integration to let us add images into our application.
• A YouTube integration so our users can watch videos on how to make tacos.
• A useful Twitter integration to keep track on the King of Tacos.
• A contact form so our users can contact me to ask all their taco related questions.
• A listing of the best restaurants in town.
• An RSS integration to get the latest news and podcasts from a Taco blog.

Hackers have always gone towards the most popular systems, targeting the most users. With the increase in smartphone use and general rise of mobile technology, mobile security is a major issue to think about.

McAfee recently released their quarterly threat report and at the top…yup, you guessed it: “Mobile Threats Grow Rapidly”.  This report shows a startling increase in Malware attacks, and a dramatic increase in threats between 2009 and 2010, which leaves one to wonder what this year will bring.

You can checkout the full report for yourself Here.

An upsurge in security based apps won’t be surprising and I’m sure will be quite welcomed but in the mean time here are a few simple tips to keeping your smartphone secure, thanks to the good folks at www.cioupdate.com:

The Do’s:

1. Lock your screen with a pin code or password. While this seems simple, anything that provides an extra layer of difficulty for an untrustworthy user is beneficial.

2. Install and enable remote services. All major smartphone operating systems (Blackberry, iOS, Android, Windows Mobile) can be enabled with some or all of these features: remote lock, remote wipe, and even GPS location (for finding where your phone went) are available in many cases. This goes hand in hand with No. 3.

3. Back up your data. Either through a product that offers this functionality, or simply by copying your documents, pictures and info to your computer. This can save you in the event of a lost, stolen, destroyed, or otherwise non-functioning phone.

4. Use encryption where available. Though not offered on every platform, if you can use it, you should. Even in cases where you lock your phone, the data on your device storage can, in some cases, be accessible unless it is encrypted. This includes external memory cards, such as SD cards, installed in the device as well.

5. Use Antivirus. The mobile malware landscape is developing more quickly now than ever before, due to increased reliance on smartphones for everyday tasks such as banking, paying bills, and managing finances. As a direct result, malware writers will likely show an ever increasing interest in gaining access to your money.

The Don’ts

1. Don’t jailbreak, root, or otherwise unlock your phone. While this may add some small increase in functionality, it can also completely disable the security architecture of your device.

2. Don’t connect to untrusted Wi-Fi access points. The coffee shop, the airport or other points of connectivity can be compromised or otherwise provide a way for others to access your secure data. Login data or personal information that you provide over these networks can sometimes be accessible to other people either connected to, or operating these access points. It is also worth mentioning that many services on current devices will “auto-synchronize” in the background without any user action. The information used to synchronize, or the information you send or receive during the syncing process could be available to others in this circumstance.

3. Don’t wait to report a problem. Immediately notify your network administrator or other responsible security person if your phone has been lost or stolen. Treat your phone as though it is your wallet. If you have backed up your data, you will recover.

4. Don’t skip updates. Update your operating system, update your apps. Security flaws are found in both operating systems and applications every day. The longer you wait, the longer you risk being exposed.

5. Don’t assume your mobile device is any safer than your computer. It is a fact that viruses and other malware exist for mobile devices. Phishing attacks often still work on mobile browsers. Employ all the safety tactics you’d use on your regular computer. Check the address of the site you’re trying to access, avoid clicking links in email, or SMS/text messages, and avoid providing personal data whenever possible, even via SMS/text message.

When it comes to wireless carrier loyalty, I was sprung like no other. Having been a loyal customer of Verizon for 8+ years, when we first launched Shiva Media, I had a phone that was faaaar from smart, it was quite dumb actually. So why did I subject myself to carrying around a device that I was frankly embarrassed of? Simple, I was on Verizon, the best network ever! I could use my phone anywhere I went, a ton of my friends were on Verizon and I for sure wasn’t going to be a traitor and switch…and besides, Verizon was going to begin carrying the iPhone any day.

Well, ultimately my patience couldn’t wait for that day and I eventually became smart and so did my phone. It was iPhone from there on out (and yes, that means I moseyed on over to AT&T). So now that the long awaited day for many has finally arrived…what’s going to happen? Will I switch back to Verizon or hang out here with AT&T for a little while? This is how I see it:

The Good:

Coverage – There is no doubt that Verizon has the strongest, largest and pretty bad ass wireless network. The biggest advantage users of iPhone 4 on Verizon will have is coverage. No worries about dropped calls, not getting service in a place that should totally have service or being the guy that your Android toting friends are laughing at when you can’t even send a text while on a road trip.

Wireless Hot Spot – The iPhone 4 on Verizon allows you to use your phone as a wireless hot spot for up to 5 devices. One big lure about many Androids on Verizon was this, being able to cruise around and use your computer and even share your wireless capabilities with those around you and now this can be done on the iPhone without any hacks required.

Latest Version of iOS – The Verizon CMDA iPhone 4 will come with iOS v 4.2.5 while those on AT&T are rocking v 4.2.1.

The Bad:

Will Not Run on 4G Network – Verizon has been working hard to bring their 4G LTE network online and there are quite a few places where this is available….buuuuuuut the CDMA version of iPhone 4 that Verizon will be offering will not be able to run on this network.

Can’t Use Voice and Web Simultaneously – So after all the effort, it didn’t happen. For those currently on AT&T, trying to make this switch will really suck. Its the case on all Verizon phones and its just the way CDMA works, you just cannot use voice service and data at the same time.

Cannot Be Used Worldwide – CDMA is fine and well in many cases but doesn’t exist everywhere. For example, here in Southern California, there is only one other carrier that uses CDMA and they are pretty small…this same scenario plays out internationally. Plannin’ on using your iPhone on your next European vacation? Well, not gonna happen if you get a CDMA iPhone 4. The CDMA version is limited to about 40 countries, here is a list of where it can be used:  Countries Using CDMA

Less Security – With more and more people using smartphones, security is quickly becoming a very important topic and CDMA is less secure than GSM.

The Ugly:

Analysts are predicting that throughout the course of 2011, somewhere between 13 and 16 million people will be using CDMA iPhone through Verizon, this number includes the predicted 2 million or so that may switch from AT&T to Verizon. These numbers are great for Verizon shareholders but could prove disastrous for their main selling point, THE COVERAGE. Many are predicting that the same drag that played on AT&T’s network due to so many iPhone subscribers, will also soon plague Verizon. Unless Verizon has been secretively building up their network even more, this may prove to be the case.

Also, buying an iPhone 4 that wont run on a 4G network is just foolish. With WWDC just a few months away and the very likely possibility of an iPhone 5 being released, I feel like I should really give a heads up to the folks purchasing the CDMA iPhone 4 in the next few months.

The Decision:

Verizon now carrying the iPhone is all and all a fantastic thing. It provides options for people to choose their carrier and for those who are currently on AT&T, it lightens up the load on the network which could translate as slightly better service.

So now, what will I do? Well, I’ve got a pretty sweet deal with AT&T now and they are offering iPhone 4′s at very competitive rates. I think I’m going to stay where I am for now and perhaps re-think my options post WWDC.

Wait, there is one more question…WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN FOR ANDROID??? That is a question that can be answered at another time…or perhaps fielded by one of my colleagues here at Shiva Media.

The purpose of MobileBites is to provide updates about Shiva Media’ ass-kicking software, mobile news and commentary, and the occasional laugh.  In following posts you will learn about our team, what it is we do, our software plans, and how we all came together.  This blog will be regularly updated by myself, my co-founders Sunny and Luke, and the occasional contributor.

Cheers!
Julien