NDA Article

Ars Techica has a good article today on the whole iPhone NDA. Much more articulate than my earlier rant on the subject, but the gist is the same.

Read More

Writing

I'm pretty swamped with writing work at the moment. The book project is going pretty well, and I'm fortunate to have a very experienced co-author. I am becoming a much better writer throughout the process thanks to a steady stream of feedback from someone who has written a dozen or so programming books. We've also gotten some other work as a team writing articles about the iPhone. Combine that writing work with the residual work for a few clients that I accepted before the book project came along, and you can probably see that I'm pretty busy, which explains the lack of posts lately.

I've had a few people e-mail me and ask me if they could read the articles I've mentioned or parts of the book we're writing, and I have to respectfully decline. These are all works for hire, which means I don't own them, and it's not my place to say who else can.

Writing for a traditional publisher is interesting. Besides my co-author, we have a dedicated technical reviewer, and we got a really great one. My co-author suggested him, and I was thrilled he was able to do it. We also have an editor who will edit the book after it goes through technical review. We don't have definitive word on who our editor will be, but they are discussing it with someone who comes very highly recommended. 

Before the manuscript ever goes to the technical reviewer, Dave and I have gone back and forth through around a half-dozen drafts, have spent literally hours hashing things out on the phone and over IM. I think this is going to be a really good book. I couldn't be happier about the people I'm getting to work with. 

Now I must get back to writing. Don't expect to see too many postings before the end of the month, although I probably will do at least one good technical posting once the NDA lifts just to get it out of my system. I've got a few topics that I'd like to write about that are too advanced for the books.

Read More