After spending a few hours experimenting with all the possibilities such as message length, message badges and custom message sounds(cool) I started to fit this into my existing projects…but, I couldn’t.  After I failed to find a use for custom push notifications in my existing projects I started to think of new projects that I could create that might use it…but again, I couldn’t.  So, for as cool and potentially useful push notifications can be I couldn’t really think of anything useful to do with them not to mention when I did even think of a small project I kept reminding myself that I would have to continually support the server that pushes out notifications which can be costly if the app does not sell well.

If anyone has any ideas or cool uses for the new iPhone push notifications I would be interested in hearing them.

• Search your iPhone
• Cut, copy, and paste
• Send photos, contacts, audio files, and location via MMS*
• Read and compose email and text messages in landscape

For more detailed information and to watch the video head on over to Apple’s website.

Dear Ryan Detzel,
It has been almost a year since you enrolled in the iPhone Developer Program and helped to make the App Store a phenomenal success.
In appreciation of your participation in the program during the beta period, the length of your original program term and your iTunes Connect contract(s) will be extended to
July 11, 2009—one year from the opening of the App Store. We will contact you soon with more details and instructions about this extension.
Beginning in May, a full 60 days prior to your new Program expiration date, you will be able to renew your iPhone Developer Program which also automatically renews your existing iTunes contracts.
Best regards,

iPhone Developer Program

The part in bold above is the part that is new to me and it took me by surprise at first but I guess it kind of makes sense. When you create a certificate for an app is has an expiration date which I think is a year in the future. For almost a year now I had no idea what that did or what they used it for so I ignored it but now it makes sense. Your apps will expire every year unless you renew your iPhone App Developer Membership and thus they will be removed from the app store.

This does make sense though since you need a membership to change and upload apps, Apple doesn’t want apps sitting around that are not going to get fixed or updated. Why will this help? Well, there was a flood of “wanna be” programmers that hit the app store when they read about all the money that was to be made but as they soon learned it was not as easy as creating another tip calculator of fart program. Once these “developers” get their renewal contracts I’m pretty sure they will not be forking over the membership fee if their app didn’t sell enough to cover the cost(currently $99 for individuals, $299 for corporations) of the membership.  So, in about 9-10 months we should see a large drop off of bad apps from the iTunes iPhone App Store and I cant’ wait because it’s very painful to try and find decent apps when they are surrounded with so much clutter.

iOwn was already featured which was a pretty big honor but this has to take the cake. There are currently over 23,000 iPhone apps on the iTunes app store and my iOwn app was chosen to be the app of the week, that’s huge.  I’m not sure how long it will stay on the Hot News Headline section so hurry over and check it out while you can!

Using SnapScan Scanner with Dropbox to archive and digitize documents. from Ryan Detzel on Vimeo.

Apple says you can’t replace the battery in the Unibody 17″ Macbook Pro but this video shows you it’s pretty easy. In around 10 minutes you can easily and safely remove the battery from your unibody macbook pro.

WARNING: This might VOID your warranty, proceed at your own risk.

The second thing I did after turning on my new 17″ unibody Macbook pro was flip is over and start taking it apart. Basically, I got it in the mail, unpacked it and turned it on to make sure everything worked. I then flipped it over and proceed to open it up to check out the insides. While I was waiting for my new macbook pro to come in the mail I had ordered a new Seagate 7200 500GB(ST3500630AS) hard drive so I was eager to put it in. That, plus I didn’t want to start installing everything on my new computer just to swap the hard drive later and either have to migrate or re-install so I figured now was the best time.

The video below shows the installation process, it was pretty easy and straight forward from start to finish. The hardest part is probably taking off the back cover which contains eight tiny screws. Enjoy the video and feel free to ask any questions.

Edit: The drive is kick-ass by the way!

Every Mac user has used the built in Spotlight feature and most have probably tried third party alternatives such as LaunchBar(Paid) and Quicksilver(Free).  These third party apps allow you to quickly perform a number of given tasks such as opening applications, documents, websites, songs from your iTunes collection and even do basic math. Spotlight does a great job at launching applications and documents but it lacks in the “other” department and it’s not always the fastest since it’s a giant index of your entire computer. These third party apps were introduced because they not only do these “other” tasks but they also do the core tasks such as launching applications quicker.  They are also customizable unlike Spotlight. Recently Google has decided to throw their hat into the ring by releasing their version called Google Quick Search Box.

Google Quick Search Box is a free open source project which looks and works great and all though it’s only been out for a few months it already seems on-par with the other free alternatives and pretty close to the paid ones. First, it’s free. That’s an obvious one. Second, since it’s open source anyone can change and few the source and even contribute back to the app to make it even better.  Third, it’s coming from Google so you know there is a lot of support behind it and unlike some of the other apps that are out there,  Google Quick Search Box shouldn’t stop getting updates anytime soon.

I’ve been using QuickSilver since I’ve had a Mac and it’s been a love hate relationship. It’s a great app and it helps me out with my work but sometimes it doesn’t work well and it guesses what app I wanted to launch incorrectly and I end up starting something I didn’t want to.   With that said QuickSilver is still better than SpotLight.  Google Quick Search Box(they couldn’t think of a shorter name?) does everything QuickSilver seems to do but to me it just seems cleaner, faster and since it’s open source and a Google product I can see some great plugins being added. I’ve already replaced QuickSilver with Google Quick Search Box and I’ve been happy with it so far. I’ve used it to launch websites, do math instead of launching the calculator, check the weather and of course launch applications.

I look forward to doing a full review on the Google Quick Search Box once it’s had a little more time to mature. If I get some spare cycles I might even write my own plugin for it.

Go download your free copy of Google Quick Search Box and give it a try for yourself.

Apple 17″ Unibody Macbook Pro pictures: