Developers

Andreessen Horowitz Bets Big on GitHub
July 10, 2012

Andreessen Horowitz is investing $100 million in GitHub, the San Francisco startup that provides online resources for software programmers. It's the largest investment the venture capital firm has ever made. Github's acceptance of the cash is notable. Unlike many startups, the company has been profitable since its 2008 beginnings, and it's turned down investment offers in the past.

Oracle's Java Case Takes Another Battering With API Ruling
June 04, 2012

With a ruling from United States District Judge William Alsup that application programming interfaces cannot be copyrighted, it appears Oracle's lost yet another battle against Google over Java. However, the war is not over. Oracle has indicated it will appeal, and the judge has indicated that Oracle should turn to patent laws in order to protect the Java APIs.

Enyo's End Is Not Nigh
May 29, 2012

Most of HP's webOS team, including Matt McNulty, head of the project, is moving to Google according to a report by The Verge citing several unnamed sources. The departing team is said to be almost wholly responsible for Enyo's code. Enyo replaced Mojo as webOS's software development kit in 2011.

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.

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.

Amazon Adds a Hint of Eucalyptus to AWS
March 27, 2012

Amazon Web Services has teamed up with private cloud infrastructure provider Eucalyptus in a move that could enable the deployment of hybrid clouds. Hybrid clouds are a combination of internal private clouds and external public clouds.

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.

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.

Loophole Could Give Android Devs a Private Picture Show
March 02, 2012

Similar to Apple's iOS, Android is apparently vulnerable to apps secretly copying photos. Android developer Ralph Gootee created a test app that masquerades as a simple timer but steals the most recent image on the user's smartphone and posts it on a public photo-sharing site. Critics said the development further emphasizes the danger of Google's hands-off approach to the Android Market.

VMware Hatches Spring Hadoop Cross-Breed for Big Data
March 02, 2012

Virtualization giant VMware has unveiled Spring Hadoop, which integrates its Spring Framework with the Apache Hadoop platform. Spring provides a comprehensive, lightweight framework that will make it easier for devs to build solutions around the Hadoop platform, according to the company. Spring Hadoop is available under the open source Apache 2.0 license and can be downloaded free.

Linux Fans Gorge on Raspberry Pi
February 29, 2012

Frantic buyers cleaned out the shelves of two UK retailers offering a small $35 Linux computer from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The credit-card-sized device, which is named after the foundation, plugs into a TV and a keyboard. It can be used to work on spreadsheets, play games, and do word processing, and can also play high-definition video.

Mozilla Stocks the Shelves for an App Store Grand Opening
February 23, 2012

The Mozilla Foundation will begin accepting developer submissions for its own app market at the Mobile World Congress, which will be held in Barcelona next week. The Mozilla Marketplace will let devs distribute and monetize their apps. It will also be the sole repository for cross-platform apps and Firefox extensions.

Why the World Is Desperately Seeking Linux Talent
February 23, 2012

Well, it's been another wild week here in the Linux blogosphere, with the news announcements coming so fast there's scarcely been time for a cape-wearing champion of FOSS to catch her breath. There's been particular excitement around Ubuntu for Android, of course, but that's a topic for another day.

Kindle Fire Makes Amazon Appstore Cozy for Devs
February 22, 2012

Some developers are making more money by showcasing their wares in Amazon's Appstore instead of Google's Android Market, according to research from Distimo. The mobile analytics firm looked at the 110 apps available in both online stores that generated at least $200 per day in revenue during the last week of January.

The New Face of Ubuntu
February 21, 2012

Canonical expects to start rolling out the first phase of Ubuntu's new heads-up display in the April release of Ubuntu 12.04. But HUD will supplement Unity, Ubuntu's default desktop interface, rather than fully replace it. The move to radically change the desktop's default interface is being made out of necessity, according to Canonical's founder and former CEO Mark Shuttleworth.