Our own Matthew White has been teaching design and app development like crazy over the last 6 months or so. His app development class at a local community college as made some major waves, and landed him an article in quarterly publication for Bunker Hill Community College.

Check out the article and photos over at the OurDesign blog – http://www.ourdesign.us/2011/07/05/course-on-designing-mobile-apps-bhcc-magazine-publication/

Last week Apple announced to all their developers, and the world, that they would be adjusting their terms for app development. They have made it more flexible for developers to make apps by allowing some third party development environments and languages, instead of using their proprietary version of Obj-C called CocoaTouch. While their Xcode environment is very sophisticated and powerful, app developers were also forced to learn a programming language that only a small portion of developers were using.

Technical languages aside, what does this mean? In a nutshell, developers writing in cross platform, web-standard languages (HTML5, JavaScript, CSS), can create apps now with only a minimal amount of programming in CocoaTouch.

For us here at Dirk+Weiss, this means we can make apps more efficiently. We can also make prototypes that could be styled with CSS to run in your browser, rather than having a physical device. Now, of course, this does not mean that you negate testing phases for apps, it just gives our clients a more realistic proof of concept and prototype.

iPhone apps just seem perfect for high schools and colleges. Students have the devices, and teachers are looking for new ways to connect their classes with their students.  This update video showcases a few screenshots from two new apps, and discusses their origin and purpose.

The first app is for the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, and the second app (pending approval) is for Bunker Hill Community College’s distance education department. Each has different components, yet both share a connection…students.

As alumni of the Art Institute of Boston (AIB) at Lesley University, we wanted to give something back to the great faculty and staff, and especially the students.

The whole conversation started while talking with Deb Verhoff, Librarian at AIB. She wanted some sort of digital resource for common questions that students come into the library with. Sometimes the questions were library related, and sometimes they were not. She also mentioned that with all the iPod promotions for students, and the $99 iPhone, more students than ever have access to iTunes Store Apps at AIB.

We brainstormed about various methods and ideas, and ultimately, she left it in the hands of Dirk+Weiss to make something happen. Deb sent us a list of content sections that would be appropriate in the app. We then designed an interface that is clearly branded, and tested for usability.

After speaking with Deb, it was clear that AIB was in need of connecting students with mobile devices. Brian and I sat down to decide what was appropriate to build. First, we considered a microsite that would be designed for mobile browsers. This was most certainly doable, but it did not quite have the pizazz of a full iPhone app. So we decided to go ahead and just build an iPhone/iPod Touch app, and when it was approved by apple, announce it officially.

The Art Institute of Boston app has been approved, and lives in the iTunes App Store. Download it now!

App Features:

1. Showcase student artwork via Flickr
2. Shuttle schedules from Boston to Cambridge campuses
3. Foundation and Illustration department blogs
4. News and events listings via the AIB Front Desk Facebook page
5. Library book look-up (FLO Catalog)

Since we have become certified Apple iPhone developers, we have acquired a few devices to test and try on for development purposes. One device was a iPhone, 1st Generation. On this iPhone was OS software 2.2.1, the latest public release. When I went to update it with our pre-release beta version of OS 3.0, the phone was instantly ‘bricked’. After hitting the developer forums, there was apparently no hope to rolling back to OS 2.2.1.

I then proceeded to the local Apple store to see the genius bar. They told me what I was afraid of. Since I am a developer, and installed beta software, and signed a contract, that there was nothing they could do. And on top of that, apparently my phone had ‘water damage’ because my ear phone jack’s water indicator was red.

Anyway, my phone is most certainly out of warranty now. So now what? A $300 paperweight?

NO! There must be a solution. I did indeed come across a solution that involves a surprisingly simple procedure with some free software you can download from a website.

**At this point, I must advise you, if you are reading this and have a bricked iPhone, this method will most certainly void your warranty. Hence my device was already void so I said “What the hell”.**

This software allows you to install a previous package of iPhone OS Software (available on the web. Links to apple download area) on a phone that has been rendered “Disabled”. In the developer circles this is called Jailbreaking. Freeing your device! Well my device was bricked (jailed) and needed to be free! Google “Jailbreaking iPhones” for more information.

With the Jailbreaking software, I rolled back my iPhone to OS 2.0. Then, through iTunes updated it to a fully supported Apple 2.2.1 update. So essentially I had to hack my device to make it legit. Funny world.

My iPhone is now back in action, just like moment before I “bricked” it with the OS 3.0 software. Looks like I am waiting for an update and trying again.