Fernando Valente's weblog

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When I got to know Rainer Brockerhoff, one of my first questions was about networking. One of his advices was to write some open source code. A few days ago I was working on my customer’s app. He needed something similar to Apple’s 360° demo. I did not want to do that on a UIWebView as the performance is not the best. After looking for a view that does that, I found there was no one available. So I decided to write my own. Now I’m releasing it as an open-source project. The first of many.

FVImageSequence is basically a subclass of NSImageView/UIImageView that allows you to create the 360° effect by using a sequence of images. To use this view, you will have to add a image sequence to your project. All images must have the same prefix(i.e. myimage0.png, myimage1.png, myimage2.png). You set the prefix of the images you want to use by setting the prefix property.

You must also set the number of images. Just set the numberOfImages property in order to do that.

Also, don’t forget to set the property extension with the extension of the files(i.e png, jpg, gif).

Optionally you might set the increment property. This property basically tells the view how many images it should increment. If instead of incrementing 1 image, you want to increment 5, just set it to 5.

If you’re using the iOS version, don’t forget to enable the user interaction on Interface Builder.

Download the source code and the sample project from this link.

15″ MacBook Pro

I still can remember when I first heard about Steve Jobs. That was in 2007 when I was reading a Wikipedia article about Apple. Rest in peace, Steven Paul Jobs.

Apple gave up Lion? Check it out before they fix it!

Let’s get back in the time. In the 90s, Apple almost closed its doors. A man called Steve Jobs got back to the company and saved it. The iMac was the greatest idea it could have in the 90s. In the 90s, Brazil was totally broke. An absurd inflation plus many other factors fucked this country up. Brazil also had its savior, and he is called Fernando Henrique Cardoso, or FHC, whatever you prefer. When he was a minister, he fixed the country’s economy by creating a new currency. The Real was a big hit. Prices got stable, people started to be able to buy stuff and the economy was finally fixed. This man became the president one year after he created the Real. Real was Brazil’s iMac.

Before these Steve Jobs and FHC,  there were many people trying to fix the problems in their organizations. People like Gil Amelio and John Sculley tried to save Apple, and they failed miserable. In Brazil, people like Fernando Collor and José Sarney tried to fix the economy, and they failed miserably.

Brazil finally seemed to be going to succeed. When FHC left and Lula assumed the presidency, it couldn’t be worse. Inflation is getting back, Brazil is getting broke again. The national debit is getting higher than high, it’s getting colossal. And we can’t even blame the international crisis at all. While it’s one of the factors which is destroying the economy, it’s not the only one. When Lula was the president, he spent too much money. That moron decided to pay the external debit. He got a lot of loans from Brazilian banks and organizations to pay the external debit. Instead of paying the internal one, something that would generate jobs and progress, that idiot paid the external one. He sent money to other countries instead of investing it here. Not to mention the fact that the interest rate in Brazil is higher than in many other countries.

So let’s talk about how Apple is screwing up again. In the 2000s, Apple was doing fine. Great and cheap products. Developers were treated with love and consideration. It was in the right way.  In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone. In 2008, the App Store was introduced. Apple started to become evil. Developers were treated like crap. Apple started to sue other people just like Microsoft used to do. In 2010, something very evil was introduced. It’s called the iPad. And now Apple wants to discontinue the Mac and sell the iPad as a computer. WTF!? It’s not a computer, it won’t replace a computer. Why, Apple? Why are you screwing up!? The best computer ever invented, the Macintosh, will be discontinued.

Solution for both things: find an alternative to them. I can just move away from Brazil(which I’d probably do anyway). And what about the Mac? I don’t see anything that could replace it. The solution will be to create my own OS. In a few years, I hope you guys will see the “Chiaro OS” available for purchase on the stores.

I’m so sad I’m writing this post. But yes, I’m going back to Rio next week. Everything started when I went to Campus Party back in January. I was going to stay in a hotel, but I’d struggle to pay for that. So a friend of mine asked if I didn’t want to stay in his boyfriend’s home. I saw nothing wrong on that and we quickly became “friends”(you will understand why the fuck the word friends has the quotation marks soon). So when I moved to São Paulo, I’d share the apartment with him and a friend of his. It’s something very common here because people can split the bills, which are pretty expensive. When I arrived at SP, the first thing he told was that 2 more people were going to live with us. 5 people in such a small apartment totally disrespects the physical laws. So I just didn’t know what to do. I looked for an apartment to rent, but I found nothing.

At the same time, things didn’t go quite well at my work. My boss didn’t think I was good at programming because of my age. A friend of mine had recommended me for the job. That same friend helped me a lot in the beginning when I was about to get fired. To me, he is a very special guy because he did so much for me and I will never forget what he did. If someday I ever get rich, I will surely remember of those who helped me. Thanks Heinar, you’re an amazing guy. I will never forget what you did.

A few time later I got my boss to trust me and almost everything was fine. I started also behaving strangely(maybe because of the problems I was having, I was just so nervous and could not think). But I really learned a lot about society after that. I really really did and I’m very thankful for this.

Getting back to the apartment stuff, I wasn’t able to find anything. The first good news I heard was that my dad’s friend had a apartment here and he wouldn’t mind letting me stay there. That sounded like music to my ears(in fact, that sounded like a Michael Jackson song lol). But the bad news came a few time later. My dad’s friend has asked a friend of his to take care of the apartment and he had rented it. But I’d just have to wait 2 months and I’d have a place to stay.

I moved to my great grandaunt’s home temporary. I tried hard to find somewhere to rent, in case anything went wrong. But I wasn’t able to find something that fitted in my salary. After some intensive research, my dad talked to his friend and asked a few details. The problem was that the condo costs were over R$1,800.00. I could rent an apartment with this money, so of course I said “Thank you so much, but I cannot afford it”. He tried to help me and I’m thankful for that

I started to look for something to rent, but I couldn’t find anything. Everything was just so expensive that, well, I just CANNOT afford. My grandmother told me she would come here if needed to help me to look for a place to live. I work 8 hours per day and I just can’t spend so much time looking for a place to live. And, there’s more. I can only look for a place to rent in the weekends, which is very hard. For a some time, I thought I’d be able to find it by myself, but I ended up saying “Yes”. WHY!?!?!?!?!? Why the fuck I did this?

As soon as she came here, my great grandaunt’s children told her I needed to get out of her home ASAP, as her health isn’t very well. I cannot say I disagree with them, because she isn’t really doing well. My mom told my grandmother “Try to find something which will not require a contract”. In Brazil, we have to pay a 30% fee in case we break a renting contract. She took this very seriously… She kept ignoring anything she found that required a fucking contract. And yes, I’d have more time if she stayed where she was.

There are many people here which will rent rooms in their homes. I kept telling her to not look for this kind of stuff because it’s dangerous as hell. Did she listen to me? NO, SHE DIDN’T! She also found some apartments which didn’t require a contract. The only one available was at a neighborhood called Liberdade(“liberty” in Portuguese). It’s one of  the most dangerous neighborhoods in São Paulo. Crackheads invaded it. If they see you have something they find interesting(like a watch or a t-shirt), they will simply shot you and take your stuff. Then they will sell it to buy more crack. They don’t even ask you, they simply kill you. When I told her about this, she kept insisting on that. What the fuck!? I wonder what happened to her brain. Really, I don’t want to put my life under risk. Not really.

So, I ended up finding nothing and I will get back to Rio in next week. Everything seemed so perfect, but a lot of stuff went wrong. I really hope I could change this, but I cannot see anything happening anytime soon. I will just quit my fucking job and getting back to that crappy city. What a crappy life

Just got one, thanks to my uncle!

No, it’s not in another country. I got a job here in Brazil, but I must say I’m happy as hell. I went to the interview yesterday and they said I’d get an e-mail in a few hours. I didn’t get it and I thought “Oh crap, I didn’t get the job”. Today I got an e-mail saying I was hired. I will work as an iOS developer in a magazine publisher. I will be developing magazines for the iPad. I’m just SOOOO HAPPY!  Wish me luck