Sample iOS 6 Passbook Web Service in Rails | Hacker News Reader

Sample iOS 6 Passbook Web Service in Rails

github.com

Apple really needs to stop putting this type of stuff under NDA. I've had something like this since 3 weeks after WWDC but I was sitting on it waiting for the NDA to lift. So many people are ignoring the NDA that at this point it seems that maybe Apple is effectively not enforcing it.

Seriously. When anyone can get access to NDA-protected stuff just by coughing up $100, all the NDA really does is make it difficult for developers to share helpful knowledge.

This is true to a cosmic scale. The combined hours of duplicated effort by developers unable to share even the most basic of experiences and tips with various new components in the ios ecosystem is not only wasteful and short sighted, it's down right absurd. It makes me wonder if there is a way other than posting on the apple forums to share blog posts or code to persons confirmed to be apple iOS developers ( which by extension would be under nda ).

What's the point of sharing experiences/tips/code if you don't have a developer license?

It's not sharing it with "outsiders" that's the issue. The problem is that the NDA limits you to being able to discuss these things with other developers on Apple's forums, and that is the only venue. And honestly Apple's forum isn't terribly helpful - the search sucks and the forum is full of noise.

Suppose a change in a new iOS version broke your app, and you wrestled with it for a weekend trying to fix it. How many other developers' weekends could you have saved, if only you were permitted to blog about the issue?

You can't write up examples of stuff using the new APIs, and post it on Github, or share at a local developer group meeting. So inexperienced developers can't learn from others.

It's not like the NDA is protecting things that would be truly damaging if disclosed, considering all it takes for them to pull aside the velvet rope is $100, and they've let both Google and Samsung in. The real secret stuff clearly goes to the blessed developers who get advance notice of things like the taller screen or GPU capabilities.

$100 isn't necessary--anyone can watch WWDC videos with a free Apple developer account

Edit: not sure why this would be downvoted. Here's a macrumors source on the videos being free. It's also on the WWDC FAQ. http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/19/apple-posts-wwdc-2012-se...

Probably because it's not really relevant? The point was about the $100 for the developer licence and the NDA that puts you under. Having a free option is neither here nor there because it doesn't give you access to the betas and it doesn't put you under NDA.

But it is relevant. If you can learn about all the confidential technologies like UICollectionView from free WWDC videos, then why is an NDA really necessary?

You can freely share information with other devs in Apple's dev forum.

That's the point, though. Lots of people would prefer to discuss it somewhere like StackOverflow, but can't legally.

I probably wouldn't gamble on Apple forgoing litigation over something like that, but you're right - so many API-related leaks already occur that it is effectively useless, except to block legitimate things like books, tutorials, and sharing code like this.

It is a little silly they keep insisting on an NDA.

Well, they may not litigate but couldn't they revoke your developer credentials (and put you out of business)?

mattt is a legitimate github superstar, huh? I always see great projects from him (at an alarmingly high rate...)

On topic: this looks really nice, I'll definitely be using it to learn some more Rails

To add to this, I highly recommend Mattt's blog NSHipster--it's superb

Agreed, he should turn it into a newsletter.

So wait, is the only security on the pass information based on the device id being not commonly known?!

Wouldn't a simple MITM attack ruin all the fun? Or is this meant to be used over https with device-specific certificates?

Passes are signed.

Mattt is seriously a boss, and this is pretty sweet. Thanks for the example!

*edit: typo.

OS-level Passbook is a neat idea. Would be 10x more useful with NFC. Optical Scanning in 2013? Really? Think human-less.

I disagree -- I think that NFC just adds another step that makes the technology less approachable and doesn't provide a big benefit.

The problem solved here is that I don't need to carry a half dozen cards or slips of paper to do stuff. In my wallet right now I have a BJ's Card, two supermarket cards, CVS card, a Hilton Honors card, a Westin card, library card, health insurance ID card, dental ID card and a couple of other store cards. If I don't carry the cards, I need to giv my phone number to a clerk to look up my account, which is a pain.

So I'm carrying around all of these cards. Passbook gets rid of all of them -- that's compelling.

NFC is another layer of geekery that's cool, but I'm not going to use it, just like how I never use my RFID credit card. Why? Wireless point of sale readers cost a fortune, and they aren't available at 95% of retail outlets, and when they are, they only work for credit cards. (Honestly, in my area, I only see them at drug stores and Exxon/Mobil stations)

As I said, you can have both.

Also, you're not going to use it because no PoS has one ? Kind of a chicken-and-egg problem. Which can be solved by providing both optical and NFC.

QR code is unfortunately still more common than NFC. Everyone was hoping that Apple would make NFC common.

Passbook works a) with existing scanners deployed to b) millions of POS systems around the world. Neither A nor B is true for NFC.

You can have both.

Nice work! I appreciate the documentation as well!

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