app development
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Tweetbot 6 arrives for iPhone and iPad with a subscription model
It also clarified that Tweetbot 5 owners can use Tweetbot 6 for a year without paying the subscription.
Apple's first reality TV series is 'Planet of the Apps'
As rumoured earlier this year, It looks like Apple's getting in on the TV-content game. Online applications are now being accepted for Apple's first ever original series Planet of the Apps. As the punny title suggests, the show will give app developers (yes, including you), a chance feature in the reality show. Applications must be received before August 26 if you want a chance of being selected, though.
Microsoft will let anyone be an Xbox One app developer
We know that Windows 10's universal apps are coming to Xbox One, but there hasn't been much said about when or how this will happen, until now. The Verge reports that Microsoft will open up Xbox One app development in a big way over the coming months. A new app development program will apparently be detailed at Microsoft's Build conference this April, after which the company will release an SDK preview and allow anyone to turn their retail Xbox Ones into developer kits to start making apps. The move will make it easy for devs already making universal Windows apps to port them over to Xbox One, as they'll be able to beta test the apps on any retail console at minimal cost.
Google's latest tool makes building Android apps even easier
In early 2013, Google announced Android Studio, a WYSIWYG environment that'd help you create Android applications with a lot less hassle. Now, the company is finally ready to put Version 1.0 into the hands of would-be creators across the world. The package comes with plenty of helpful templates for the first-time developer, including example media recorders, notification systems and even an instant messaging platform. Given that Android is now found almost anywhere (phones, tablets, smartwatches, TV, Google Glass and cars), the software enables you to tailor the experience across every device. Fans of GitHub are also catered to, since Android Studio will let you import samples of code from the online repository straight into your project. So, now that the tools to build your own app are this readily available, what sort of app are you planning to build?
Facebook adding 'Like' to Open Graph, will connect the internet in approval
Facebook is bringing its "like" functionality to Open Graph that'll enable developers to add the action to their applications. Press the heart-shaped button and it'll trigger an alert on the site, voicing your approval for your friend's most awesome Instagram snap, amongst other things. As with the desktop version, likes will be collated in your news feed, but only once you've authorized the third-party app to access it.
Microsoft Office becomes first non-Metro application within Windows Store
You knew it was going to happen, but Microsoft Office 2010 has officially taken roost in the Windows Store, which is part of Microsoft's next-gen OS known as Windows 8. What makes its arrival noteworthy, however, is the fact that the productivity suite marks the first of the traditional desktop applications available in the digital storefront. Integration leaves much to be desired, however, as you can't actually make the purchase within the Windows Store. Instead, users are kicked over to Microsoft's website, where they're prompted to choose between different editions of Office, which range in price between $119 and $499. In other words, the latest "inclusion" is little more than a shortcut rather than a cohesive shopping experience. Still, if you like the idea of a full-fledged desktop productivity suite and LibreOffice simply won't cut the mustard, it's yet one more opportunity to plunk down some cash.
Microsoft details Windows Store changes, adds desktop apps, better navigation
Microsoft is opening up about the changes its made to the Windows Store as the premiere date for the new OS draws near. It'll be available in 26 markets (so far) and Redmond's listened to concerns consumers had about getting around. In response, it's added a navigation bar that also links users directly to the apps they already own. Desktop apps will appear from June 1st (today), although when clicking a link, you'll be redirected to the developers own website to make the purchase. The company has tweaked the terms and conditions to insist that app-builders make the primary experience take place "within the app," rather than merely linking elsewhere. Additionally, everything submitted must fully support keyboard / mouse and touch controls, so people can switch controls if necessary. The company's also mandating that apps must rely upon mechanisms provided by Windows 8, such as process management and using swipe-implemented menus.
How to distribute Kickstarter apps: Ask Apple
Republique is an upcoming iOS title that's made a lot of noise by getting funded on Kickstarter recently, to the tune of half a million dollars, but I've had one nagging question about it: How exactly are they going to distribute the app to all of their backers? The most obvious solution would be to put a password gate inside of an app, but Apple doesn't allow that. If you have to lock content in your app, then you're clearly selling it outside of the App Store, which means you're dodging Apple's 30% cut. So what's their plan? Republique hasn't yet said, only that it's still being decided. Fortunately, however, here's the answer. The folks behind Zombies, Run! say that all they had to do to distribute an app for Kickstarter backers was ... ask. Apple agreed to let them have two versions of the app on the store -- one just for sale, and another that was free with a password gate in it. There were two limits, however: There had to be at least some content in the password-closed app, so people who just randomly came across it weren't confused. And Apple made the app developers take down any preorders once the app went live, so that Apple didn't lose any sales of its own. Good to hear that distribution this way is possible -- there are a few other Kickstarter projects that will need to make use of a plan like this when they are released. The key, according to Six to Start, is to get in touch with Apple early, and keep that communication flowing.
Will creativity tools be the "next wave" of iOS apps?
Blogger Erica Ogg over at GigaOM's The Apple Blog brought up an interesting point in a post today, wondering aloud if creativity tools will be the next big wave of iOS apps. There have always been creativity tools, like painting and drawing apps, in the App Store, but Ogg based her comment on two beautiful and well-designed apps that appeared last week and have caught a lot of attention from buyers. Those two apps are Snapguide and Paper. Snapguide (free) provides a simple way for anyone to create and share step-by-step how-to guides, while Paper by FiftyThree (free, with in-app tool purchases) is one of the best iPad sketching and painting apps I've ever seen and used. Both of the apps have immediately resonated with iOS users, who find the creative aspects of these apps as appealing as the traditional consumption-oriented apps that have been so popular on the iOS platform. Ogg notes that "the debuts of Snapguide and Paper are showing that not only are developers making apps that make the iPhone and iPad more of a creative tool, but that users are responding." Many more developers may find themselves moving away from the heavily populated world of game app development to try the clear blue skies of creativity apps.
Apps have created 466,000 U.S. jobs in four years
Apps for mobile devices are a surprisingly robust source of jobs in the United States, according to research from TechNet. Since 2008, apps have created 466,000 American jobs. TechNet estimates that about 155,000 of those tech-related jobs are related to app development and tech support, while the remaining 311,000 jobs also require tech skills but include things like app marketing and art design. Of those jobs, the highest percentage (23.8 percent) of the total are located in California. Other app hot spots include New York (6.9 percent), Washington (6.4 percent), Texas (5.4 percent) and New Jersey (4.2 percent). Central Florida doesn't want to be left out, as the Orlando Sentinel reports; local universities and training institutes are high on app development learning programs for would-be developers. These numbers include not only jobs created for iOS apps, but also those triggered by the development of apps for Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Facebook. [via The Loop]
Lenovo teams up with National Academy Foundation, teaches high schoolers about app development
Lenovo's not just staying busy pumping out Android handsets and tablets, but now the Chinese manufacturer is teaming up with the National Academy Foundation to launch a mobile app development program for high school scholars in the States. The project is part of the NAF and Lenovo's "innovative curriculum," which hopes to induce knowledge in areas like science, technology, engineering and math. Once the dev program gets rolling, it'll be available at five schools within the NAF network, but the eventual plan is to bring the app-creating party to all of the foundation's 100 academies. As part of the venture, the ThinkPad creator also donated some of its own slates and all-in-ones to "aid the students and teachers implement the curriculum." Take a quick peek at the PR below to find out if you (or someone you love) are part of the lucky few.
Apple announces iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour 2011
iOS developers around the world received a note from Apple today announcing iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour 2011. This event, to be held in nine cities around the globe starting in November, is designed to give iOS developers access to Apple's experts in various aspects of iOS 5. The iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour 2011 will be held in New York, Seattle, Austin, Berlin, London, Rome, Beijing, Seoul, and Sao Paolo. Starting at 9 AM, the one-day event begins with a kickoff keynote, a session on iPhone and iPad UI design, and the first half of a session on adopting iCloud storage. After lunch, the iCloud fun continues in one room while other sessions start in two other rooms. The three conference tracks are roughly divided into general iOS app development, video and gaming, and books and Newsstand. After it's all done for the day, Apple is thoughtfully providing a wine and cheese get-together. A full schedule can be viewed at the link above. The iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour 2011 is free to registered iOS developers. You can only register in one city and the participation is limited to the size of the venue, so register as soon as possible to insure that you'll be attending.
Bizness Apps makes simple mobile apps for your small business
I'm here at TechCrunch Disrupt checking out the startups and have stumbled upon a few interesting companies. Bizness Apps has been around for a short while (they didn't launch here, as some companies have) that aims to provide a simple, web-based app building system for small businesses. It's not exactly a template system; Bizness Apps provides a series of functional components which you can plug in to an app and deploy using HTML5, or put on the App Store or Android Market. I was pretty skeptical about Bizness Apps, as it harkened to the days of website templates, when anyone could charge a law firm thousands of dollars to do about 30 minutes of data entry and blorp out a website. Bizness Apps, on the other hand, works much better if you have design skills and can put together something attractive. Better yet, if you happen to be heavy on design and light on code, Bizness Apps offers a white label solution so you can essentially resell their product to clients. Or, if your restaurant was dumb enough to pay someone to build you an all-Flash site that can't be accessed by the majority of smartphones out there, Bizness Apps can fix that quickly (but doesn't "port" your Flash site). There are, in fact, templates at work here, but they are only a starting point. Bizness Apps knows its market and has created templates for small businesses who typically need a simple feature set: restaurants, bars/clubs, law firms, realtors, gyms and radio stations (plus a longer list inside the web tool). Of course, you can take those and morph them. The features you will add will vary, but the list of what's available is impressive and useful, and includes things like push notifications, GPS coupons, counters, galleries and CRM tools. Plus, they are adding e-commerce solutions from Volusion, Magento and Shopify. If you're looking to add purchases to your app, these are pretty good solutions. That said, this feature list is far from comprehensive. How much does all this cost? To get started, it's $39 a month for an iPhone app. If you want to make that app for Android, iPad or in HTML5, you're looking at an additional $10 per month for each deployment target. So, if you're a restaurant wanting to deploy to iPhone, iPad, Android and HTML5 you're looking at $69 per month. Not bad, but the value should be weighed against how much it would cost to build a HTML5 site to begin with and deploying it using a basic web host. Yes, there's something to be said about having a native app, but is it worth the additional cost to your business to have this app? The advantage of Bizness Apps is the ease-of-use and targeted features. Still, I spoke to a developer who initially lost business to them only to have some clients come back when they discovered they wanted more custom features. Luckily you can try Bizness Apps for free and see if it's right for your business.
Microsoft releases Android developer poaching package for Windows Phone 7
Microsoft's App Guy has quite a job on his baby-soft hands: to boost Windows Phone 7's numerically-challenged Marketplace by encouraging developers to port apps across from other platforms. The little fellow helped iPhone devs out a couple of months ago with an API mapping tool to make it easier to translate iPhone APIs to WP7 code. Now he's extended the mapping tool to work with Android APIs too, and backed it up with a 90-page white paper and a promise to get more involved in developer forums. Will the App Guy's efforts unleash a flood of new apps for Windows Phone? We don't know, but we dig his shorts.
EVE Online introduces customisable APIs for apps
Player-made apps have always been a big part of EVE Online, with players stepping in to provide tools the game itself doesn't offer. Apps like the EVEMon skill planner originally required players to provide their usernames and passwords in order to get access to a character's skill sheet. Several years ago, CCP introduced the EVE API system to remove that requirement. Players can now instead give applications one of two API keys -- a limited key that gives access only to basic information like skills, or a full key that gives access to everything from market transactions to asset lists. Until now, no middle ground has existed that would allow app developers to access only specific things, and players are always wary as to whom they give their full API key. In a new devblog, CCP Stillman explains the brand-new customisable API key feature that has just gone live for testing. Players may now select exactly what information will be shared, and a customised key will be generated that gives access to only those features. This means an app that reads your EVEmail, shows your recent kills, or logs market transactions doesn't need to be given access to any other information that you'd rather keep private. The key generation process does a good job of explaining exactly what information each section will give access to, and the key can even be given an expiry date to create temporary access keys. These new developments are sure to be useful for app developers, and we can look forward to the release of some useful new EVE mobile and web apps.
First look: SketchyPad mockup tool for web and app designers
Part of my work involves making mockups of websites for clients, and up until this point the easiest way to do that was just to hand draw some sketches, scan them, send them to the client for rework, etc... Now there's a new iPad app from developer Nick Golovin that promises to make the creation of website and app mockups a lot easier. SketchyPad (US$4.99) is an iPad app using a simple sketchpad metaphor and a lot of stencils to make mockups. It includes many of the design elements that are used in web design and app development. The app includes snap-to bluelines for aligning elements, the stencils can be locked in place with a lock icon, and there are tools for layering buttons and other elements on the page. When you're done with a sketch, it can be exported to your camera roll, emailed, or exported to Balsamiq Mockups for Desktop. %Gallery-93085%
New York Times: The race is on for iPad apps
Today's New York Times is reporting on the newest gold rush -- the race to be among the first developers to have apps that are specifically tailored to run on the iPad and tested on a pre-release iPad. Most readers of TUAW know that developers can use the iPad simulator that is part of the iPhone development suite, but a handful of developers are actually testing their apps on real iPads. According to the post, those iPads are chained to desks in windowless rooms. Among the lucky few companies to actually be able to test their iPad apps are Major League Baseball, The Wall Street Journal, and (of course) The New York Times. While the iPad's form factor is perfectly tailored for reading ebooks, Amazon and Barnes & Noble have both had to develop their iPad apps without the benefit of trying them out on a working device. The article notes that with the iPhone, some of the earliest developers with products to market have become the most successful. That's the reason that so many developers are working on customizing their iPhone apps for the iPad. However, the developers also understand that making a misstep with a new app that hasn't been properly tested can kill any chance of success. Panelfly, for one, isn't taking chances with their comic book reader for iPad. The Times quotes PanelFly CEO Wade Slitkin as stating that "As much as we'd love to be there on Day 1, a misstep could kill the train before it even gets out of the station." On iPad launch day, it will be fascinating to see who is in the race for the long run, and who jumped the gun with poorly-designed apps.
Kindle dev kit now rolling out in limited beta
Back on the 21st of January when Amazon announced that it would release its Kindle Development Kit, A/K/A KDK, we heard it would begin rolling out in limited beta this month, with a wait list of people getting access to the kit as space was available. Well, that moment has arrived, and you can now sign up to receive said KDK. Our tipster wasn't able to get the software in hand yet, but we'll keep on the lookout for it. Hit the read link to sign up, and to check out Amazon's FAQ, as well. [Thanks, Mark]
iPhone dev to make an app in one week -- live on the web
It sounds like the premise for a new reality show -- a developer writes an iPhone app in one week while the world watches. That's exactly what Sahil Lavingia is planning to do starting on Sunday, February 7th. Lavingia is the developer behind Color Stream and the Twizzle Twitter client [iTunes Links], and he'll be posting updates to keep us all apprised of his progress at his One Week App blog. On the blog, Lavingia will be posting screenshots of his coding, timelapse movies (sorry, no streaming video of Lavingia at work), and other notes about his work as he moves forward. Lavingia is a realist -- he knows that he could create an amazing new app, or he could fail to finish his work in the allotted time. We don't know what he's planning on coding, either. Perhaps it will be a game, maybe a design tool, or something else altogether. If you are fascinated with what happens behind the scenes in the app development process, be sure to follow Lavingia's one week app experiment.
