Developers

IBM Suits Up Watson to Tackle Thorny Customer Service Problems
May 21, 2013

IBM on Tuesday announced that it will offer Watson -- its artificial intelligence software package that won the Jeopardy game show -- as a customer service solution called Watson Engagement Advisor, a cognitive computing assistant that rapidly learns, adapts and understands a company's data.

Google Takes Maps to Next Level
May 16, 2013

Google Maps, already the de facto standard for online and mobile maps, is breaking new ground with added capabilities announced on Wednesday at the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco. Maps will get 3D views, speech recognition, enhanced voice search capabilities and will leverage artificial intelligence. Google Maps for mobile is also being enhanced.

New Google APIs Target Play and Games
May 15, 2013

Google on Wednesday announced new APIs for Google Play services and gaming, new features for the Google Play Developer Console, and a new Android Integrated Developer Environment at the Google I/O 2013 Conference in San Francisco. Google Cloud Messaging, which pushes data from servers to Android apps, has been made part of Google Play services.

Amazon Mints Coins and Makes Deposits in All Kindle Fires
May 13, 2013

Amazon Kindle owners have a new way to pay for games, apps and in-app purchases -- Amazon Coins. Amazon released its virtual currency Monday, and to kick off the new feature the company deposited 500 free Coins into the accounts of every Kindle Fire owner. Since each Coin equals a penny, the gift amounts to $5 for each user.

Twilio Lets Devs Build Contact Centers in the Cloud
May 09, 2013

Twilio last week rolled out capabilities that extend its communications API platform into the cloud contact center market. The new functionality is aimed at companies that want to migrate part or all of their traditional contact center operations to the cloud, or those that want to enhance existing traditional operations with a cloud-based component.

No Starry Eyes Yet for Google Glass
May 06, 2013

There's plenty to lust after in Google Glass -- if you're a tech aficionado, that is. A beta version of Google's widely hyped, Web-connected eyewear has been out for a few weeks, and rave reviews have been the rule rather than the exception. Developers are building Google Glass apps to tempt and titillate, including one that lets a Google Glass wearer take a photo with the blink of an eye.

Microsoft's IllumiRoom Blends Gaming, Real-World Environments
April 29, 2013

While Microsoft isn't taking the wraps off its upcoming next-generation video game console until next month, it did cast a little more illumination on its IllumiRoom projection system on Monday. The system has been described as a proof-of-concept technology that augments the area surrounding a television to enhance the gaming experience.

Real-World Marauders Infest Online Games
April 12, 2013

A scenario involving cybercriminals using techniques developed by state-sponsored cyberespionage groups sounds like a plot point in a video game, but the Winnti crew aren't the villains in some new release. These Chinese hackers are very real, and online games are their target. The group has been conducting a long-running cybercrime campaign targeting online gaming companies worldwide, Kaspersky Lab reported this week.

In A Blink, Google Ditches WebKit Browser Engine
April 05, 2013

Google announced this week that it is going to replace the open source WebKit browser rendering engine with a fork of WebKit's WebCore component known as Blink. The move means that Google and Apple will no longer share development of WebKit. WebCore is a layout, rendering and document object model library.

Twitter Hands Devs Some New Playing Cards
April 03, 2013

Twitter announced updates to its Cards feature for developers Tuesday. The enhancements enable greater integration of media and apps, and target mobile users of the social network, but the overall goal is to allow developers to stuff more content in and around a typical tweet while maintaining the 140-character tweet limit for texts.

Feds Crown Winners of Robocall Whacking Contest
April 03, 2013

Nothing steams consumers like robocalls, which is why the Federal Trade Commission launched a contest last year calling for ideas to tackle the nuisance. The winners of that challenge were announced Tuesday. Each of two winners will receive $25,000 to bring their robocall solutions to market.

Grabbing the Mobile App Brass Ring
March 30, 2013

By the end of 2012, 60 percent of U.S. broadband households owned at least one app-enabled consumer electronic device. With connected device ownership at mainstream levels, there is a solid foundation for app development and rapid growth in app economies. Of the primary devices used to access apps, smartphones have the highest penetration rates.

Perl: Jewel in the Rough or Scourge of IT?
March 28, 2013

It seems scarcely a day can go by without someone declaring some technology or another "dead." Take the netbook, for example. People have been saying for years it's dead; today, however, we have the Chromebook phenomenon. The command line is another popular target, of course, but few can compete with the Linux desktop itself, the death of which has been trumpeted so many times now that Linux Girl has lost count.

Linux Devs Take Win 8 Secure Boot Complaint to EC
March 27, 2013

Microsoft is once again being challenged in Europe over alleged anti-competitive practices. A group representing Linux developers in Spain has filed a complaint with the European Commission charging that Microsoft's desktop operating system, Windows 8, supports technology that makes it difficult for users to place other operating systems on their computers.

Nvidia Delivers Workstation Graphics Experience to the Network
March 20, 2013

Nvidia on Wednesday debuted its GRID Visual Computing Appliance, a device that lets businesses deliver ultra-fast GPU performance to any Windows, Linux or Mac client on their network. The GRID VCA is a GPU-based system that allows complex applications, sending graphics output to the network and enabling it to be displayed on a client machine.

Philips Wants Devs' Bright Ideas for Its Web-Connected Light Bulbs
March 11, 2013

Dutch electronics giant Philips, which launched its Hue Web-connected LED home lighting system in October, released a development kit Monday in the hopes of integrating official applications -- and more possible home uses -- for its technology. Developers can use the API as they choose, and can keep all their earnings from commercializing products.

Open Source's Deep Dive Into the Enterprise
March 06, 2013

Server provisioning and configuration management and automation are the latest examples of where the tech industry is being driven, largely by open source software. The leading open source server and IT infrastructure automation frameworks, Opscode Chef and Puppet Labs' Puppet, sit on the leading edge of significant trends under way in enterprise IT.

Hackathon's Goal: A Smartphone Game That Scores Points for Cancer Research
March 02, 2013

A UK-based charity is sponsoring a weekend hackathon, but those invited won't be using their coding talents to advance any business causes. The 40 programmers, gamers, graphic designers and other specialists will spend the time designing a smartphone game that can let average users help with cancer research.

Google Adds Cross-Platform Notifications Brick to Chromium Build
February 01, 2013

Google appears to have taken a step toward integrating Android's Google Now notification feature into Chrome. French programmer Francis Beaufort revealed Thursday that he spotted a new notification center in the latest Windows Chromium build that includes rich templated notifications.

Facebook's Relationship With Developers: It's Even More Complicated
January 31, 2013

Facebook dropped a bombshell on its developer community last week with the rollout of a clarified platform policy -- one that de-friends certain apps. The new policy spells out which types of apps can use its data. Namely, developers must show "reciprocity"; their apps must let users post content to Facebook if they want to use the vast social network's friend-finding features.