Developers

Android: What, Me Fragmented?
May 17, 2012

There are nearly 4,000 different types of devices running Android, OpenSignalMaps has found. More than 1,300 of them have custom ROMs that tweak the android.build model. Android brands are almost as diverse as the models, OpenSignalMaps discovered. Further, the application programming interface level, meaning the Android version, has also become more fragmented over time.

Windows 8 Browser Brouhaha Draws Regulator Attention
May 15, 2012

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee plans to examine allegations that Microsoft is giving its own Internet Explorer Web browser preferential treatment over competing Web browsers in a version of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. "This is a preliminary inquiry," said Lynn Becker, communications director for Sen. Herb Kohl. Kohl is a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mozilla and Google ARMwrestle Microsoft
May 12, 2012

Mozilla and Google are challenging Microsoft's decision to shut out all browsers other than Internet Explorer from Windows 8 devices that use ARM processors. This restricts user choice, reduces competition, chills innovation, and might have antitrust implications, among other bad things, Mozilla general counsel Harvey Anderson asserted.

Facebook Moves Its App Flea Market Indoors
May 10, 2012

Looking to get a tighter grip on mobile and hoping to corral the multitude of apps available for its platform, Facebook on Wednesday launched App Center, a hub for Facebook apps of both desktop and mobile varieties. "The App Center is built to drive growth for great apps, whether they're built on iOS, Android or [the] mobile Web," said Facebook spokesperson Malorie Lucich.

RIM's Loyal Following May Have Doomed It
May 04, 2012

Research In Motion's investors did not seem pleased with the company's latest endeavor, BlackBerry 10, which CEO Thorsten Heins unveiled at its BlackBerry World 2012 conference in Orlando, Fla., earlier this week. As the new operating system made its debut, the device maker's stock dropped on the Toronto Stock Exchange approximately 15 percent -- a decline the company could ill afford, as its share value has been steadily falling for the last year.

RIM Plays Devs for Dollars
May 03, 2012

Research In Motion has big plans for its next-generation platform, BlackBerry 10, expected for release later this year. However, in order to compete with market leaders iOS and Android, the company will need strong support from the mobile application development community. To do that, the company has reportedly offered a bounty.

RIM Goes for BB10 Hail Mary Pass
May 02, 2012

Research In Motion unveiled its vision for its much-anticipated -- and delayed -- BlackBerry 10 platform Tuesday at the BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, Fla., together with prototypes of hardware devices and app dev toolkits. The platform has sparked interest among developers, the company said, citing positive comments from executives at various partners.

BlackBerry 10 Could Be RIM's Savior
May 01, 2012

Research In Motion officially unveiled new BlackBerry software Tuesday at the company's annual conference for developers, corporate customers and the media. President and CEO Thorsten Heins took the stage at BlackBerryWorld 2012 in Orlando, Fla., to officially introduce the new operating system to developers.

AT&T's Watson APIs Let Apps Recognize Speech
April 20, 2012

AT&T could shake up the voice-recognition market when it launches several application programming interfaces for its Watson speech recognition program in June. Developers will be able to use these APIs to create new apps and services with voice recognition and transcription capabilities.

Federal Court Rules Pilfered Source Code Isn't Stolen Loot
April 13, 2012

Computer source code isn't a physical object under federal stolen property laws, according to a federal court of appeals that overturned the conviction of a former Goldman Sachs programmer. Sergey Aleynikov, the programmer, was wrongly convicted under the National Stolen Property Act and the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, according to a decision from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday.

Tweaks to Chrome OS Stir Up Existential Questions
April 11, 2012

A new version of Google's personal computer operating system, Chrome OS, was released for developers Tuesday. It adds design elements of more conventional offerings like Windows and OS X. The new Aura interface includes a home screen with a task bar, or shelf, from which you can launch applications.

RIM Fishes PlayBook Out of Google's 'Chaotic Cesspool'
April 09, 2012

Research In Motion is planning to restrict consumers and app developers from sideloading Android apps onto its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, according to Alec Saunders, company vice president of developer relations. "We're removing sideloading for consumers. Pretty sure we've got a solution for devs," reads a message posted on Saunders' Twitter feed.

Yahoo Serves Mojito to Liven Up the Mobile Web Party
April 03, 2012

Yahoo has offered its Mojito application framework to the open source community under the BSD license. Mojito is an MVC JavaScript Web application framework built on release 3 of Yahoo's open source JavaScript Yahoo User Interface Library. MVC is a software architecture that isolates the domain logic from the user interface.

Google Gets Going With Go
March 30, 2012

Google has rolled out version 1 of its experimental open source Go computer programing language, 14 months after it first announced the language back in 2009. Go "is an attempt to combine the ease of programming of an interpreted, dynamically typed language with the efficiency and safety of a statically typed, compiled language," said Go team lead Rob Pike.

'BrowserQuest' Shows HTML5 Could Slay Flash
March 28, 2012

The Mozilla Foundation on Wednesday released BrowserQuest, a massively multiplayer online game written in HTML5, JavaScript and other open source languages. "BrowserQuest is a showcase of how open Web technologies like HTML5, JavaScript, CSS and WebSockets can be used to create a multiplayer game that scales up to thousands of users," said Mozilla's Christian Heilmann.

RIM Aims to Reel In Devs With BB10 Preview
March 26, 2012

Research In Motion will soon give software developers prototype devices that run an early version of the BlackBerry 10 platform. RIM is hosting a BlackBerry 10 event in Orlando in May to coincide with its annual BlackBerry World user conference. There, a limited number of developers will have the chance to tinker with the product.

Is Fragmentation Breaking the Android Dev's Will?
March 22, 2012

Developers are losing interest in creating apps for Android because of the continued fragmentation of the operating system, according to a survey conducted jointly by Appcelerator and IDC between January and February. Its results show that interest in Android phone app development fell by nearly five percentage points over the past quarter to about 79 percent.

Linux Throws a Bit of Android Into 3.3 Kernel
March 20, 2012

Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux, announced version 3.3 of the kernel Sunday. Among the most noteworthy changes found in 3.3 is the merging of kernel code from the Android project. Linux 3.3 also includes support for a new architecture, the Texas Instruments VelociTI Very Long Instruction Word architecture used in its C6x family of multicore devices.

Hey Apple, Thanks for Cracking the Whip on App Cheaters
March 15, 2012

Over the last couple of months, I've been struggling with the Apple App Store, both via iTunes and my iPhone and iPad. While I find the overall quality of apps to be vastly superior to what I generally find via Amazon on my Kindle Fire, I've noticed a disconcerting number of crappy apps.

What Does One Serve With Raspberry Pi?
March 09, 2012

The ultra-cheap Linux computer on a circuit board has its roots in the classroom. But the bare-bones computer, dubbed "Raspberry Pi," has potential to teach industrial embedded programmers some new tricks. Raspberry Pi, a $35 credit-card-sized computer sold without keyboard or monitor, runs several Linux distros and can hook up to a mouse, keyboard, HDTV and Ethernet.