HUD Desktop Stopwatch 0.2.0 (for Mac OS)

Our little utility is getting even better and easier to use. 

Changes in this release:

• Add Start/Stop and Reset buttons on HUD screen
• HUD screen includes progress indicator
• Improve to visual UI elements
• Added About screen to indicate that this is a free software
• Bugs fixed

Available here: HUD Desktop Stopwatch for Mac

Desktop Stopwatch - a.k.a Pomodoro Timer

"Imagine there is a bank which credits your account each morning with $86,400, carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day.",

"What would you do?"

"Draw out every cent, of course! 

Well, everyone has such a bank. It's name is time. 
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. 
Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. 
It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.
Each day it opens a new account for you. 
Each night it burns the records of the day. 
If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. 
There is no going back. There is no drawing against the tomorrow. 
You must live in the present on today's deposits. 
Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success! 
The clock is running. Make the most of today."

Package Management: CocoaPods & Xcode

In my previous post, Package Management: Carthage & Xcode, I looked at how to setup and use Carthage with the Xcode. In this post, I will be doing the same thing, but, with using CocoaPods instead.

Swift Programming: Escaping Closure - The One That Got Away

Sometimes, when looking at Swift source codes I would see something like this:

public func observe(_ action: @escaping Signal<Value, Error>.Observer.Action) 
-> Disposable? 
{...}

Gasp! WTF is that?! Swift 5 code is already very hard - as is. Now this! This '@escaping'! Escaping what? Escaping who?! Escaping where?! Escaping when? 🥴 This was when I plopped my head back, looked at the ceiling and started thinking about that little cafe business I've always wanted to open down the leafy suburban street ...

Recomposing myself. It's time to look at this closely.

Package Management: Carthage & Xcode

Carthage (and Cocoapods) are package management software. You are getting involved with them when you stop re-inventing the wheels and start to reuse software components. Software Reusability is a powerful concept in software development, but that's for another post. Today we will be looking at using Carthage to manage software dependency and see how it is working with our Xcode.

Package Management: Carthage Vs CocoaPods - Setting Up

CocoaPods and Carthage are two of the most prominent package-management and dependency management software. They are very popular in Swift and Objective-C communities. I have been using Carthage heavily with my last client for the past 2 years and sort of "touch-and-go" with the Cocoapods. It's time to dissect and look at them closely.

Barton Watchband for Samsung Galaxy Watch

I jumped on the Galaxy Watch bandwagon since late last year and left the Apple Watch behind collecting dust in the drawer. Never regret since then. One of the main reasons was the customisable of the software, in particular, the watch faces. And now, also the accessories - like the watch bands. Thanks to Samsung's decision to utilise many standards of the conventional watches, i.e the standard 20mm or 22mm straps connections and the lug sizes. Which means many accessories for the Galaxy Watch also fit my other conventional watches, like my legendary Seiko Skx007. 

Hello (AR) World

Reality, Augmented

You sit on a train with your cool-shade filtering out bright light, earphones on, rain-pouring-down white-noise helps drawing out this buzzing noise so at least you can concentrate on what you are reading - the news that your government announced GDP growth of 0.3%. Your friend said that you are his best mate and asked to borrow some money; your girlfriend said that she really like the green necktie you wear today. Your boss said that you were her best employee and asked if you could do OT this Saturday. You hate lies. But, all these are alright - you are telling yourself that they were augmented. What's real? What's not? Never mind that, let's alter our perceptions a little bit more, you picked up a book on Augmented Reality and search internet on AR.