31–35 of 35 posts
This is the issue with Apple's 'multi-tasking' model. Want to write an alarm clock replacement? Can't do it, you need a hook that doesn't really exist. This guy needs this hook. Someone else will need another hook. Does apple play os whack-a-mole (creating a lot of fragmentation)? Or are you just out of luck for a whole load of apps?
This is the issue with Apple's 'multi-tasking' model. Want to write an alarm clock replacement? Can't do it, you need a hook that doesn't really exist. This guy needs this hook. Someone else will need another hook. Does apple play os whack-a-mole (creating a lot of fragmentation)? Or are you just out of luck for a whole load of apps?
While I don't necessarily disagree with your point, an alarm clock may not be a good example. It looks like you could use scheduled local notifications for that.
Or am I wrong?
Pandora and Skype can network in the background; I don't understand why Instapaper can't. Maybe it could play some John Cage while downloading to qualify as an "audio" app. :-)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
While I don't necessarily disagree with your point, an alarm clock may not be a good example. It looks like you could use scheduled local notifications for that.
Don't those work more or less like the network notifications? They don't bring the app to the foreground, they simply give the user the option of launching the application from an alert dialog.... Or am I wrong?
Part Apple's making-software-simple philosophy is that APIs are written for specific cases - you write apps for a single resolution in iOS, you call system services instead of multitasking etc. The advantage is that making things simpler allows them to concentrate and spend more time making them better, while the disadvantage is that it leaves lot of developers unable to meet their users' needs. The alternative appro…
I like Marco's proposed solution, because polling is an easily abstracted or generalized operation. Pooling app polling would save a tremendous amount of setup and teardown time. I also like his idea of iOS only allowing polling when signal is above a threshold. Data requests while in marginal coverage chew battery at an extraordinary rate. Changing my Fetch frequency on 3 mail accounts from 15 mins to 60 mins more t…