App store review scraping no longer working - app-store

Like many others, I've used the general guidelines at http://blogs.oreilly.com/iphone/2008/08/scraping-appstore-reviews.html (as well as the comments) to build a script to scrape app store reviews. The details in the comment by "Steve" on May 8th, 2011 has been working fine for me for a few weeks now, and evidently has been working for many people since this time.
As of a few days ago though, all of a sudden, this no longer works. I know Apple are slowly deprecating old versions of iTunes and therefore also these methods of accessing them. But what is the new way to retrieve this information?
So for the record I'm using:
URL = http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=&pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=2&type=Purple+Software
User agent = iTunes/9.2 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.6)
X-Apple-Store-Front:
This recently worked but now no longer does.
The test of success is that this test request (for the Netflix app in the US) should work from the command line:
curl -A "iTunes/9.2 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.6)" -H "X-Apple-Store-Front: 143441-1" 'http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=284222807&pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=2&type=Purple+Software'
Any ideas?

replacing http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net with https://itunes.apple.com worked for me...

That URL was derived from using something like wireshark to inspect the HTTP requests that a very old version of iTunes made. This inspection needs to be redone for newer versions of iTunes, which may use HTTPS instead.

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Appcelerator Live View Console.Log not working

Odd one this. Ever since upgrading to iOS10 and the latest Appcelerator SDK (5.5.0), I can't get even a simple console.log("hi!") to show anything in the console when I'm testing on an iPhone 6s Plus connected to my Mac via USB, using LiveView.
I've tried changing it to Ti.API.info("hi!") - which I believe is the old way to do it - to no avail. If I change it to alert("hi!"), that works fine. However, it's not as useful as console.log used to be when developing things which MUST be tested on a connected device (the camera, in my case).
I've Googled this, plus done extensive searching on StackOverflow.
It may be that this is so new that no-one has noticed yet.
Can anyone help?
It's a known issue. Apple changed something with the way they log data. The Appcelerator SDK has to be adapted to this changes. I'm pretty sure they'll fix it asap. You'll have to await an update.
Greetings
Edit: Here is the corresponding jira ticket (https://jira.appcelerator.org/browse/TIMOB-23786)

iPhone 5C 8.1.2 iCloud Bypass or Forcible Downgrade

Is there a way to officially bypass the iCloud lock on 8.1.2 (iPhone 5C) devices, outside of Doulci? Something free, and does not require dialing 112? Apparently that's an emergency number.
I need this to continue development on iOS devices.
If not, is there a way or software to forcibly downgrade my iOS version to 7.1.2, or an early hackable iOS 8 firmware without iTunes? I own a Macbook Pro, running Yosemite, if that makes it easier. I have access to a Windows machine too.
This is a legitimate question, and it's not a duplicate from the last one I had made asking for Doulci specifics. Please do not lock this unless the question becomes dead, I don't know how to contact people and ask why the questions are "Deleted". I don't understand why my last question (which was all about Doulci) was locked. I really believe this would be useful for other iOS developers who don't have $500 on hand.
Thanks! :)
If you mean the Activation Lock, then I really count on there being no way around it since IOS 8.
If you load a different os on it (i.e. jail break it) then you may have some joy, for a while, but you will need the password to get IOS 8 back on it.
The best way is to turn off find my iPhone, using the password.
If no password then you can reset the password if you have the security answers required. last resort call apple support.
Only working ways to unlock/bypass iCloud at current moment:
Ask previous owner to remove it from their iCloud account
Get previous owner iCloud account control in not legit ways/phishing
If it Clean mode than find legit Apple Employee who will remove it by GSX account request
If it Lost mode, than there is no other ways than 1 or 2 steps of this list
If device still works but linked to iCloud, use myicloud info trick to restore backup from working device. Full bypass until first firmware restoring
I have develop server that gives access to web browser - iCloud DNS Bypass, it free and works for all iOS versions. So it only bypass working at current moment, but no calls and no mobile Internet.
The only way at the moment is to Erase the SSD nand Completely which the device Has Security measures for keeping you from doing so. Thus the SSD nand would have to be replaced, then restored with IOS version you wish to install.

What happens to existing iOS app when I update?

I have, after many months of work, finally got my app updated for iOS4.
The first release was complied for iOS3.2 and has been in the AppStore for a while, I was very impressed to see it continued to work and be downloadable for iOS4 users all this time, even though my version failed to compile for iOS4.
However, now I've got the new version (complied for iOS4.2) waiting for review - I'm unsure what will happen to the existing app! If it is used overwritten, what will people with old versions of iOS see? Am I closing the door to anyone without iOS4.2+?
Many thanks
Ben.
p.s. apologies if this has been covered - I did look and failed to find :-)
When you specify the minimum OS required in the bundle, that filters what users will be notified of the upgrade. So users of your app that have yet to upgrade the underlying OS will not get pushed the update.
You can actually specify the target OS Level to an earlier version. The app will be allowed to install on that and any newer version. Generally, Apple is very good about forward-compatibility.
As Peter said, you probably don't want to compile it to only run on 4.2. If you added features that use newer versions of iOS, you can actually do a check prior to calling the method (I've done this with gesture recognizers) to ensure that the running OS version is capable. If you don't validate the OS, the app will simply crash on users with too-old operating systems, which could cause Apple to reject it.
Also, 4.3 is almost out, so you might as well wait a week :)
If your app only supports 4.2+, then only users with a device with 4.2+ iOS will be able to install and use your app. The version currently on the store will be overwritten. In short, yes you are "closing the door" to anyone with a lower version iOS.

Develop iPhone app without a Mac? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Closed 13 years ago.
Possible Duplicates:
How can I develop for iPhone using a Windows development machine?
I'm looking to build an iPhone app for my wife's phone, but am not interested in buying a Mac as a development platform for a one-off piece of work. The app:
should run standalone on the iPhone (i.e. without network connectivity)
would be perfectly acceptable with a GUI created using one of the iPhone Javascript libraries that are around
will do some database IO to read and update data
has no commercial value and will never be used by anyone else
Here's my thinking:
jailbreak the iPhone
install Ruby + Sinatra on the iPhone
write the app using Sinatra, hitting a database (SQLite?) on the iPhone
To access the app on the iPhone:
start the Sinatra app in the
background (is this possible?)
start a Safari browser session
navigate to the Sinatra app at e.g. http://localhost:12345
etc.
This seems like a strange approach, but I can't think of a simpler way of writing a standalone iPhone app without buying a Mac. Is there a better way of doing this?
The only reliable info I could find is at the always-excellent MetaFilter
http://ask.metafilter.com/110466/Anyway-to-develop-iPhoneiTouch-apps-without-investing-in-a-Mac
The answer is apparently no.
You absolutely need an Intel Mac of some description.
The entire iPhone build process is too deeply ingrained in XCode to build elsewhere; and the only other Objective-C compiler I know is gcc, which doesn't support any Apple's additions to the language (nor their libraries).
And, in direct opposition to what people are saying above, Objective-C is absolutely my favorite native, compiled language. Elegant, small (only a few changes from C), late-binding, dynamic, straightforward. It's what C++ should have been.
Lots of people recommend picking up a secondhand Intel (remember, must be Intel!) Mac Mini as the cheapest "port of entry".
What you have described is a viable solution, however you should consider using the open toolchain for the iphone.
You don't need a mac then, only need to jailbreak the phone to make sure your app will work.
For all those who say it can't be done, this was the only way to make Apps for the iphone before the SDK was out :)
Also if you are after a guide to using the open toolchain then I highly recomend this book
If you're considering creating a GUI using a javascript library anyway, why don't you just write a web app instead of an iPhone-native one? It seems like overkill to jailbreak the device just so that you can install a ruby + sinatra web app on it. Can't you just put the ruby web app on a server and create a Safari shortcut to it on the home screen? If you don't have a server, you could always run the website off a PC in your home...
Jailbreaking the OS and running a ruby app onto it would be technically cool, don't get me wrong - I just think it'd end up being a time sink.
Just my 2c!
Depends on what your time is worth, I guess. That seems like a terribly convoluted way to get what is otherwise a simple app on the phone to avoid the US$400 purchase of a used Mac Mini.
There is the hackintosh route, which may work on your existing hardware, but again one has to put a price on time. It's what got me started before I dropped big coin on a Macbook Pro, an MSI Wind then a home-built. It's of questionable legality (the right thing to do is fork over US$129 for Leopard regardless), but you are already talking about jailbreaking. :-)
Get someone else to do it, or rent the resources that you need.
Another option is to find nearby iPhone developer who has it all setup and either get him to write the app or do it together, he provides development environment you code the solution or code it together.
The only problem is that you wont be able to update maintain it.
I would still consider getting older gen Mac or Mac mini - all the other options sound more complicated.
If you are going to be stubborn about not using a mac, but you want an app that will work offline with the iPhone / iPod Touch and Android devices, then I would use HTML 5 to create an offline app.
You can do a lot now with HTML 5 - Google have an email client that uses HTML 5 for the iPhone now and it can work offline etc. If you do this and get the user to add a bookmark to their home screen for your app - it will be almost as good.
If I was you I'd fork out for a mac - or look to see if you could borrow one - or time-share with someone - you will not create a very good quality app without it.
You can jailbreak the phone and install Python. There are some sample applications in Cydia for it (it's called iPhone/Python. Search for Python in cydia).
Then you will have a "native" app, not a web application and you can use the entire iPhone UI library (the part of it that is accessible via py-objc anyway) and you don't need to run a web server in the background.
You can do your development on the phone itself via SSH or you can use an iPod Touch for it. Packaging is also easy (should you need it), just create your own Cydia repository and host your package(s) in there.
Look at iPhone applications in Python for more information.
Come on, just look on eBay for the cheapest intel mac mini you can find. Even a Mac laptop with a busted screen (that you could hook to an external display) would work. You're talking just a few hundred dollars probably and then you can maintain it as her phone/Touch is upgraded.
there's some special meta tags you can put in a webpage to make your web app savable and full screenable to the iphone hard drive. (so it can work offline) Here's an example : http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/125490362/glyphboard2
There's also frameworks like phonegap that let you access cocoa apis from javascript, but it sounds like you don't need that.
Does your wife enrolled in any kind of data plan? If so, you can simply write a small webapp which runs on some cheap webspace and access it via MobileSafari.
If you need a full grown iPhone application, you better look after one of the first intel-based mac minis on eBay, should be to expensive, in my opinion. And as a plus you avoid the hassle of a jailbreak.

Registering Mobilink with Mobile Device Center on Vista has errors

I have a bat file that I am using to try and register Mobilink with the Mobile Device Center on Vista. (I am using version 11 of Mobilink)
Script:
mlasinst -k ./ -v ./
I have copied mlasinst as well as mlasdev.dll and mlasdesk.dll to the same folder and am running the above command to get the sychronization process to run.(I have tested the above script on Windows XP and it works). When I try to copy the same files to a Windows Vista machine, I run the script and restart the computer. I then follow the directions from Sybase's website namely I
"From the Windows Mobile Device Center window, click Mobile Device Settings and then click Change Content Settings.
Select MobiLink Clients and click Save to activate the provider.
To see a list of registered applications, click Change Content Settings, click MobiLink Clients, and then click Sync Settings. "
Everything works on Vista except for when I click on "Sync Settings" when I click on it I get an error saying that there are no settings to administer.
My question is how do you get Mobilink to work with Vista and its Mobile Device Center? I have read all of the documentation I can find but to no avail.
Juen 23rd Comment
For those following at home, as a result of this post, our QA Department was able to reproduce this problem with the Windows Mobile Device Center on Vista when using a Windows Mobile 6 device, and we're looking into it. Everything seems to work fine with a Windows Mobile 5 device, which we used for our initial testing.
June 19th Comment
I really wanted to leave a comment, since this isn't really an answer, but my repuation wasn't high enough to do so. Oh well, I'll post a poor answer and watch my reputation go down. It's the price I'm willing to pay. :)
Our QA group tests mlasinst with Windows Mobile Device Center, but you're obviously doing something different, or more likely your machine setup is slightly different. To get to the bottom of this, we'd likely need to look into what registry settings are changed as a result of mlasinst running, but before I spend too much time figuring out what's going on here (including figuring out what the proper questions to ask are), I should point out that I would recommend synchronizing using TCPIP or HTTP instead of using ActiveSync, if only to simplify the instalation process and to cut out an additional layer or communication between the ML Client and Server. I also see from a post that you made at news://forums.sybase.com/sybase.public.sqlanywhere.mobilink that you've been playing with synchronization using the .NET version of the dbmlsync API and synchronizing using TCPIP. I did respond to your posting on the newsgroup to explain what I believe is happening in your application.
Are you still interested in figuring out the issues with ActiveSync and WMDC, or are you happy with the solution you've implemented using the dbmlsync API and using TCPIP?