APIs
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How Microsoft plans to make life easier for Windows developers
Microsoft is aiming to unify its two different software APIs, Win32 and UWP, with Project Reunion.
Major health records company fights federal rules on shareable patient data
A major medical records company, Epic Systems, is urging hospitals to oppose new patient data rules proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS), CNBC reports. The regulations are meant to make it easier to share medical data and for patients to access their data using smartphone apps. But critics say the rules don't do enough to protect patient privacy, and opponents like Epic CEO Judy Faulkner fear app makers will have access to patient data without consent.
Researchers say Twitter's not doing enough to combat abuse
Twitter says that it has seen a marked decline in reports of abuse, with a commensurate surge in its profitability. But not everyone agrees, including researchers at the University of Iowa, which says the platform is sleeping on dealing with abusive accounts.
Sony's Camera Remote API allows WiFi-equipped devices to control its cameras, act as a second screen
This year's IFA has been rather eventful for Sony: the company unveiled a new handset, some interesting cameras and even a recorder that can turn you into the next Justin Bieber. But lost in the shuffle was an announcement that the Japanese outfit's also releasing its Camera Remote API, albeit in beta. Sony says the idea here is to provide developers with the ability to turn WiFi-ready devices, such as smartphones and tablets, into a companion for many of its shooters -- i.e. act as a second display or be able to shoot images / video remotely. The Camera Remote API will be friendly with novel products including the Action Cam HDR-AS30, HDR-MV1 Music Video Recorder and both DSC-QX lens cameras, as well as older models like the NEX-6, NEX-5R and NEX-5T. This is definitely good news for current and future owners of any of the aforementioned, since the new API can certainly add much more value to Sony's cameras via the third-party app creations that are born from it.
Gyft opens up to developers, offers sign-up page for APIs
Gyft, the mobile platform that lets users buy, send and store virtual gift cards, is now giving developers a crack at its APIs. Launched late last year on Android and iOS, the service currently counts its retail partnerships in the hundreds and is looking to extend its reach to other applications, websites and, most importantly, the realm of mobile gaming. Gyft CEO Vinny Lingham, hopes mobile game devs will embrace the platform as a means of facilitating in-app purchases -- a move that would help to eliminate external charges from other billing services. Already, devs are lining up to use Gyft's APIs, with the first integration live on Yappem, a B2B social network, and "about 10 more" planned to go live next month.
DevJuice: Kamcord offers in-game recording API
Kamcord is an iOS solution that enables your users to record and share game play from inside your app. Available for both Cocos2D and Unity3D, developers can compile in the supporting framework (hosted at Github), register a developer key, and start shipping apps. Kamcord expand to Android later this year. The framework automatically records video and audio, so users won't have to engage the feature manually. It offers standard social networking integration for sharing over Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and Email. The API is free for the foreseeable future, according to the developers. They have raised a seed round of $1.5M from top investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Tencent, Marissa Mayer, and others. Matt Zitzmann, co-founder of Kamcord, told TUAW, "We haven't publicly disclosed our business model or monetization plans. To give you a feel though, we plan to use the video content to help drive downloads to mobile games in the future. Many of the distribution channels on mobile today are not driving high quality users to games. We want to help change that." You can find out more by visiting the Kamcord site, watching the video that follows, contacting the company on Twitter, or sending email to hello@kamcord.com.
TVSync API unveiled, helps devs build second-screen and smart TV apps
Second screen apps seem to be all the rage as of late, and Vobile's freshly announced TVSync API platform can help developers ride that wave of popularity. Compatible with iOS and Android devices, PCs and some smart TVs, the API can be leveraged to supplement what's on the silver screen with relevant content ranging from polls to products. Apps developed with the interface can trigger what's displayed on the companion screen at just the right moment by analyzing audio, video, or both. For instance, a recipe featured on a celebrity chef's program could be pushed to your slate as soon as it's first mentioned. Yearning to code an app of your own with the tech? Visit the source to request beta access to TVSync or look below for the full press release.
Merriam-Webster announces Dictionary API for developers, coming to a word game near you
Merriam-Webster just announced its new Dictionary API, which gives developers access to the full dictionary and thesaurus, along with more specialized content like medical, Spanish, ESL and student-targeted vocabulary lists. The API will let app makers integrate word definitions, etymologies, audio pronunciations and more. While this content will no doubt make it into a slew of educational apps, Merriam-Webster says it will also enhance word games, so maybe Scramble and Words with Friends will finally start accepting those obscure three-letter words you have up your sleeve.
Face.com kills developer APIs and Klik app three weeks after Facebook acquisition
A ripple went through Face.com's developer community three weeks ago when the company was acquired by Facebook. After all, what earthly reason would the social network have for continuing third-party developer support of the product? None, as it turns out -- API support for the firm's mug recognition software will be dropped in early August, and its iPhone app, Klik, is now gone from the App Store. Despite recent assurances to the contrary (pictured above) Face.com pulled the plug in order to devote its resources to Zuckerberg and Co., according to an email it sent to developers. Naturally, the sudden reversal has inflamed that group, with prominent members tweeting language like "boycotting" and "months of work wasted." There's a sliver of hope, however, for forlorn developers -- at least one member of the community says he's been granted an API extension through October. In the meantime, developers will likely be venting -- and won't even be able to track that rollercoaster of emotions anymore.
Dolphin unveils Garage, API access for add-ons and web apps
The Dolphin browser has earned quite a following, by offering a healthy mix of speed and features. Now the company is opening up its offerings to further expansion though an open API service called Garage. The new portal opens up 150 APIs to third party developers who might want to build upon Dolphin's solid browser base, or integrate their web apps. As part of the launch of the Garage, four new add-ons have been added to the Dolphin repository. Dropbox, Evernote, Pocket and Wikipedia all now tie directly in to the browser's UI, exposing all the important features of those services. For more, check out the PR after the break and the Garage portal at the source.
Why Google Drive matters but APIs matter more
Today, Google Drive finally made its debut, offering what has become the industry-standard 5GB of free space. Its purchase model is similar to Apple's, Amazon's, and other leaders in this field. We posted earlier about its introduction. Expect to pay US$48/year for 20GB. This is $4/month versus iCloud's $40/year for 20GB. Drive supports accounts up to 16TB. Google Docs storage does not count against your Drive, and retains is super-economical pricing. You can pick up 20GB of Docs for $5/year, 80 GB for $20/year, etc. As expected, Drive uses a high level of encryption, using SSL (hopefully Google will resist the temptation to index your personal files) with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, massive simultaneous data replication in geographically dispersed centers and 24/7 "support (This is Google, however, so keep your expectations in line with that basic fact.). In other words, it's what we've come to expect from the cloud storage industry. But when it comes to cloud, success lies far less in centralized storage and more in the ubiquity of data access. When I put a document into my Dropbox, I know that I'll be able retrieve, read, edit and update that from nearly any platform I use. From Android to iOS, Mac to Windows, a large range of apps support the Dropbox APIs (I asked Dropbox for API and platform adoption numbers but did not hear back before this post went live). That's important because ubiquity doesn't mean "available on the cloud from select platforms and select applications." Ubiquity means "my data, right now." Google Docs APIs have made great inroads into this arena. Docs are nearly as available as Dropbox. iCloud, while available extensively through Apple's Mac and iOS platform is barely integrated into Windows (Apple did announce further API support intentions in the past), Android, webOS, etc. In my mixed-platform family, that's a big consideration for where I choose to spend my money. That's why Google's Drive API announcement on their less frequented developers site represents a key factor in this story. It's an OAuth-based system, similar to the Google Apps API (read "Docs"), and will grow and evolve as Docs did with the potential for a similar reach across platforms. It's a big, bad, wild west cloud-world out there. Nice to see Google step into the shootout.
HTC unveils new APIs, opens Beats, lockscreen and more to devs
APIs, as essential as they are to our modern computing experience, aren't the sort of thing we usually get too excited about. HTC is walking away from Mobile World Congress having announced four new application interfaces though, that have piqued our interest. First up, and the most spotlight hogging of the bunch, is Beats. Soon enough any music app, game or what-have-you will be able to take advantage of the bass-boosting software equalizer. Perhaps more interesting, if a little less headline grabbing, is the ability to integrate your app with the Sense lockscreen -- a feature we'd love to see come to stock Android. Now lockscreen widgets wont be limited to Google's own music app... so long as you've got an HTC. The manufacturer is also prepping a MediaLink API for streaming content over wireless HDMI. Now the One X is looking even better than before, huh?
Google sets execution dates for Wave, Knol, Friend Connect and more
In what Google is calling its "off-season spring cleaning series," the mega company is finally setting some end dates for many of its lukewarm services, most notably the once-hyped Wave, Knol and Friend Connect. Sitting on Death Row for some time now, Mountain View has slowly phased out the less-than-successful products, most recently announcing that it would kill seven APIs including Translate and Video Search. The sweep is part of Google's VP of Product Management Bradley Horowitz' overall plan to "[do] less of throwing things against the wall," focusing instead on "doing fewer things well." Besides the aforementioned services to receive the axe, Google will also be putting an end to Bookmarks List, Gears, Search Timeline and its Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative. The company says the overhaul is part of the effort "to build a simpler, more intuitive, truly beautiful Google user experience" -- in other words, "it's not me... it's you." Check the source for more details.
AT&T Foundry innovation center opens its doors in Palo Alto to help devs do what they do
We've heard of keeping up with the Joneses, but this is getting ridiculous. First it was Verizon, then Vodafone, and now Ma Bell -- with an assist from Ericsson -- has built an innovation center in Silicon Valley. This new center completes the triumvirate of AT&T Foundry facilities (the other two are in Texas and Israel), and is a part of the company's strategy to accelerate the process of developing and delivering new products to its customers. Right now, there are over 100 projects in development in Palo Alto, and AT&T is looking to add more. Those who are chosen gain access to AT&T's networks and expertise to ensure that new projects play nice with all of the company's gear, and it's already produced a few things that were on display at the center's grand opening. Want a sneak peek at what's in AT&T's innovation pipeline? Read on past the break to get it. %Gallery-133819%
BlackBerry 7 gets an SDK, NFC, AR, other acronyms
BlackBerry 7 OS is coming soon but, to take advantage of all those fancy features like NFC and the digital compass (ok, some of them aren't that fancy), devs are going to need some new APIs -- enter the BlackBerry 7 Java SDK. Creators of BlackBerry apps can go download the beta of the new software development kit at the source link and start whipping up augmented reality browsers and 3D games, thanks to support for OpenGL ES 2.0. There's nothing mind-blowing about RIM's latest update, but we're glad to see the corporate stalwart start to catch up to other smartphone OSes, and it's only a matter of time before Layar and Quake hit the BlackBerry Bold 9900.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me upload my stuff to Amazon Cloud
Dear Auntie TUAW, Amazon gave me a free 10 GB in their cloud to upload my music. It won't all fit since I have about 15 GB of music, so I was wondering if there was a way to upload just certain playlists without have to go to each folder and upload all the songs separately. Perhaps an automator action? Thanks and kissies, Patrick
Dear Aunt TUAW: My "private" APIs... aren't
Sometimes Auntie TUAW gets emails from anxious iPhone developers. In this case, the correspondent is running into issues with Apple's new automated checks for private API use in iPhone apps. Dear Auntie TUAW, I got an email from Apple's App Review team saying the code in my iPhone app uses private APIs. They pointed to -setOrder, which is a method I created in code, and -setThumbnail, which was created automatically from a Core Data property. But those are all from my own code, and thumbnail is actually a property for my CoreData class. Any idea why? I don't even have a setter for thumbnail, it is just a dynamic property for the CoreData class. I don't want to rename my properties because I'm not sure that CoreData will automigrate my renamed items and my users are going to start crying if everything breaks. Love & snuggles, Lauren Read on for Auntie's reply.
Is the future of Mac...the iPhone?
I was chatting with my TUAW colleagues this morning about Mac versus iPhone programming. And as per usual with these conversations, we veered in the direction of unfettered speculation. It's an occupational hazard. As someone who regularly develops on both platforms, I declared that the iPhone represents the future of Mac programming. The iPhone, I posited stated, offers a great new platform without the need to be fully backwards compatible like the Mac. Our own Victor Agreda challenged me to back up that position. After a bit of time and thought, I decided to do so in this post. My key point is this: Apple's engineers have learned a lot of important design lessons during the history of OS X. When the iPhone debuted, it gave those engineers the chance to rebuild an OS and an API from the ground up. Those engineers could craft a platform and its libraries that built on the Mac's successes without dragging along its less fortunate design decisions. Yes, there were some lemon frameworks that initially made the grade, but over time, Apple has reduced their number. Even now, Apple continues its iPhone design process, adding new frameworks and APIs at a prodigious rate. The iPhone OS remains a work in progress, developing in ways and directions that the initial release two years ago could not have anticipated. And Apple does this, knowing fully that the closed platform allows them a great deal of design freedom that would not have been possible on the open Macintosh. In contrast, consider in how many ways the Mac's successful history drags the platform down. A commitment to existing APIs and historical design practices show up in nearly every Mac development project. The simple elegance of the iPhone's built-from-the-start-as-Objective-C 2.0-based API is largely missing from Cocoa libraries. Whether you're working with buttons, menus or simple text views, the iPhone development approach simply works better: beautiful 2.0-style properties, consistent API design, better-thought-out object inheritance trees, and so forth. With the iPhone, you see a great new platform evolving without the need to be fully backwards compatible Snow Leopard, with its minimal API changes has bought the Macintosh a few years of stability. But I think it's time for Apple to rethink the platform as a whole, re-imagining its API through the lens of current iPhone OS development. While Snow Leopard offers Apple the room to stay still for now, I can see Apple moving forward in a separate engineering effort to Cocoa Touch Mac, a hypothetical cross-platform OS that supports general development on iPhone and future Mac devices like my imaginary snow-princess-rainbow-pony-iTablet. The ghost of NeXT-past, as TUAW-colleague Joachim Bean puts it, still haunts us. It's time to exorcise the unhelpful bits of that pervasive spirit and usher in the new age of the iPhone and its API design examples. Mac OS X is, and has been, a superb development platform. What I'm suggesting is that iPhone OS might just be a better one.
The real Leopard show-stopper? Developer goodies that weren't on stage
Reports are surfacing on the web that, while everything Apple showed on stage at WWDC 2006 was exciting and purty 'n all, the more exciting attractions are what wasn't shown on stage. AeroExperience, a Vista developer resource site (of all places), claims to have an exclusive list of many of the underlying changes, newly introduced APIs and other developer goodies that might simply not have been prime fodder for the news and PR spotlight session of the keynote.It's a pretty lengthy list, so here are some of the highlights for you cliffnote readers out there: Leopard will feature resolution-independent user interface and there are several functions to get the current scaling factor and apply it to pixel measurements (we've mentioned how cool this is before, and so has Mr. Gruber). Address Book adds support for sharing accounts, allowing an application to restrict content according to user (.Mac already does this, so I'm wondering if they mean some kind of framework or protocol is in place to open this up to something like WebDAV or simple FTP). Automator includes a new user interface and allows things such as action recording, workflow variables and embedding workflows in other applications. Time Machine has an API that allows developers to exclude unimportant files from a backup set which improves backup performance and reduces space needed for a backup (I was curious about how Time Machine would handle 'useless junk' types of files myself). Carbon, the set of APIs built upon Classic MacOS and used by most 3rd party high-profile Mac OS X applications, now allows Cocoa views to be embedded into the application. This could provide applications like Photoshop and Microsoft Office access to advanced functions previously only available to Cocoa applications. Text engine improvements include a systemwide grammar checking facility, smart quote support, automatic link detection and support for copying and pasting multiple selections. Mail stationery is open to developers, allowing any web designer to create fantastic-looking Mail templates, with defined areas for custom user content (bring on the stationary plugin packs!). A new framework is included for publishing and subscribing to RSS and Atom feeds, including complete RSS parsing and generation. Local feeds can be shared over Bonjour zero-configuration sharing and discovery (I suspected something like this; sounds like Safari and Mail.app might share the same RSS database, as can other apps, so users don't have to waste time exporting/importing between RSS apps). Check out the full list at AeroExperience for more of the potentially rocking Leopard features that Steve and company didn't show on stage.
