developer
Latest
Amazon's latest toolkit helps you quickly create VR apps
Amazon probably isn't the first company you think of when it comes to augmented or virtual reality (with a few exceptions), but it's determined to change your mind. The internet giant has unveiled a developer service, Sumerian, that promises to simplify creating AR and VR apps -- and general 3D apps, for that matter. You can drag-and-drop objects to quickly create 3D scenes, produce animated AI-driven characters (powered by AWS cloud services, naturally) and script interactions between the user and other objects.
Twitter's 'premium' tools let more apps use your data
Twitter hasn't exactly been known for a developer-friendly attitude, but it's tackling that issue today. The social site has unveiled a "premium" programming framework that bridges the gap between its free-but-limited standard tools and the costly tools limited to big businesses. The initial beta version lets apps and websites not only request more tweets and make more complex requests, but lets them dig through the last 30 days' worth of Twitter data. Eventually, there will be an option to comb through Twitter's data history.
Google built a spatial audio kit for games and VR
Immersive audio is particularly important in an era where games are mainstream and virtual reality is quickly catching on, but there isn't a common framework for it. What works on your PC may be useless on your phone. Google wants to fix that: it's launching Resonance Audio, an open source developer toolkit that brings spatial audio to games, VR, AR and 360-degree video across many devices and platforms: Android, iOS, macOS, Linux and Windows are all covered. The technology borrows from Google's VR Audio kit to spatialize "hundreds" of 3D sound sources in real time, even on low-powered hardware like your smartphone. And depending on where it's running, it can even produce clever effects with a relatively low performance hit.
Steam's curator update tackles shady review key requests
Steam's curator program will be getting a makeover this fall as Valve takes steps to make the system more effective for both gamers and developers. Under the banner "Curator Connect," players will now see their favorite curators' recommendations show up in other parts of the Steam Store, as well as their home page. Curators will also be able to embed videos in their reviews, create lists from reviews they've already written, have more control over their home page and get their hands on more data showing the impact their reviews have on their followers' buying habits.
Android 8.1 preview unlocks your Pixel 2 camera's AI potential
Remember how Google said the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL both have a custom imaging chip that's just laying idle? Well, you can finally use it... in a manner of speaking. Google has released its first Developer Preview for Android 8.1, and the highlight is arguably Pixel Visual Core support for third-party apps. Companies will have to write support into their apps before you notice the difference, but this should bring the Pixel 2 line's HDR+ photography to any app, not just Google's own camera software. You might not have to jump between apps just to get the best possible picture quality when you're sharing photos through your favorite social service.
Google wants to help developers make better websites
Developers already have access to a number of tools that let them see how real-world users experience their websites, but until now they weren't able to see how their website user experience compared to others. Enter the Chrome User Experience Report, a public dataset of key user experience metrics gleaned from Chrome users who have opted in to usage statistic reporting.
Samsung's phone-as-desktop concept now runs Linux
Samsung's DeX is a clever way to turn your phone into a desktop computer. However, there's one overriding problem: you probably don't have a good reason to use it instead of a PC. And Samsung is trying to fix that. It's unveiling Linux on Galaxy, an app-based offering that (surprise) lets you run Linux distributions on your phone. Ostensibly, it's aimed at developers who want to bring their work environment with them wherever they go. You could dock at a remote office knowing that your setup will be the same as usual.
Twitch streamers will soon customize their page with new tools
Twitch released a desktop app earlier this month offering more functionality than its browser version, but they saved even bigger news for PAX West. Today at the games show, the streaming channel platform announced that creators will soon be able to load up a whole slew of new third-party tools and extensions to interact with followers in many more ways. Best of all, developers will be able to make their own plug-ins.
You can finally stuff your head into a Windows VR headset
After a few months of waiting, you can snap up a Windows Mixed Reality headset for yourself... if you meet the right conditions, that is. Microsoft is now selling both the Acer and HP Developer Edition headsets at respective prices of $299 and $329, but only to developers -- you can't pick one up just because you think an Oculus Rift is too expensive, unfortunately. The HP model is also out of stock as of this writing, so you can't be too picky.
Android apps can find nearby devices even when they're offline
If you've ever wished that your smartphone's apps would automatically do your bidding the moment you neared a device, you're in luck. After previewing it at I/O in May, Google has made the second generation of its Nearby Connections toolkit available to Android developers. The updated framework uses Bluetooth and WiFi to find nearby devices, connect to them and perform tasks without requiring an internet connection. Your hotel room could auto-adjust the temperature the moment you walk in, Google suggests, while your phone could merge contacts whenever you're close to your spouse.
Google Play wants to help users find apps with curated lists
With so many new apps constantly hitting the market, it can be really difficult for users to find what they want and for developers to get their product noticed. To help solve that problem, Google Play has added a new feature to its Editors' Choice section — editorial pages that compile selections of apps, hand-picked by Google Play editors. These pages will highlight apps that offer the best experiences on Android, which will be grouped by themes like fitness, video calling and puzzle games. And the selections will come with descriptions as to why the editors liked them.
Google adds security features to help block unverified apps
After dealing with security concerns like the Google Docs phishing debacle, Google has been adding quite a few new security features for its services and apps, including better protection for Gmail accounts and whitelist procedures for G Suite users. Now, the company is adding a new warning screen for any apps from developers that haven't gone through Google's app verification system, yet.
Amazon may give developers your private Alexa transcripts
With new rivals on the market, Amazon has to do something to help its Alexa devices compete. Until now, Amazon has not given third-party developers access to what you say to the voice assistant. Google Home, though, does. According to sources reported by The Information, Amazon is currently looking at opening up this private transcript data to its developers, which could help them build better voice apps for Alexa. It would also raise serious privacy concerns for users. It's a delicate balancing act between user privacy and developer access, of course, but with rivals like Google and Apple getting into the smart speaker game, Amazon needs to keep its early lead.
The (re)making of 'Crash Bandicoot'
Facedown in the sand, a figure wakes up on a desert island. The tide has been dragging him up the shore. He looks over his shoulder, before disappearing into the jungle.
Watch Apple's WWDC keynote live at 1PM ET
The day has come. It's time for Apple's annual developer conference to kick off and you can watch it live from wherever you'll be at 1PM ET/10AM PT. The company is keeping with its tradition of broadcasting the WWDC opening keynote for all the world to watch via the internet and Apple TV. When the time comes, tune in here (or on your set-top box) to catch all of the news as it's announced from San Jose. Yes, if you're watching on the web, you'll have to do so with either Safari or Microsoft's Edge browser. You'll also want to keep our liveblog open in a separate window to catch commentary from the crew on the ground. And while you wait for the festivities to begin, check out what we expect to be announced later today with our WWDC 2017 preview. Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!
Apple stops showing 32-bit iOS apps in your search results
Apple has been nudging iOS app developers toward 64-bit code for years: it started by requiring 64-bit support, then told users that 32-bit apps might run poorly, and lately has been warning that 32-bit apps wouldn't work in "future versions of iOS." Now, however, it's pulling the plug. TouchArcade and others have noticed that 32-bit iOS software no longer turns up in App Store search results. You can still use direct links, but that's about as far as you can go. And you can probably guess why Apple is making this move right now.
Amazon offers its voice-recognition smarts to other companies
Amazon's Alexa has become the flag-bearer for AI assistants. Not only does she possess an exhaustive list of useful skills, but she's also started finding new homes in everything from phones to cars, watches, little robots and even refrigerators. There's a reason Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot speakers are particularly suited for ordering Alexa around at home, though. They both feature a fancy far-field, seven-microphone setup and audio processing smarts that help Alexa understand your muffled commands shouted from the downstairs bathroom. Today, Amazon's announced it's releasing this mixture of hardware and software in a new development kit, so other companies can build Alexa prisons that recognize you want to add mixed spices to your shopping list, and not listen to a Spice Girls mix (liar).
Project Scorpio's generous specs let game makers go wild
Microsoft's Project Scorpio console promises to be seriously powerful compared to the Xbox One, but what good is all that power if your games don't take advantage of it? You might not have to worry too much. The company has dished out details on its Scorpio developer kit, and it's evident that creators will have a relatively easy time making use of the 4K-capable system. To begin with, it's considerably more powerful than the Scorpio console itself, with specs that are closer to a nice gaming PC: it has twice as much RAM (24GB), a slightly faster graphics processor and a 1TB solid-state drive to go alongside the built-in hard drive. Unlike many dev kits, which often force studios to be conservative with their designs until they know the hardware can handle it, Scorpio encourages creators to build the most elaborate game they can and scale back only if they get a little too ambitious.
NVIDIA brings benchmarking to VR
If you've ever wanted to make sure that your PC's virtual reality setup is running as well as it possibly can, you now have the software you need. NVIDIA has released its promised FCAT VR tool, which can check for dropped or synthesized frames, warp misses and other signs that a VR title isn't running smoothly. It'll even show you how a VR program runs at different detail levels, so you'll know if you need to tone down the graphics setting to get optimal performance.
Mozilla is bringing modern video games to your browser
Modern 3D video games require a ton of processing power to look good and respond to player input quickly. That's why most of the web-based games you see today are at best stripped down versions of their PC or console counterparts. The team behind the Firefox web browser would like to see that change, however. Mozilla released a version of the browser that includes WebAssembly - a new technology that enables high-resource apps like games, computer-aided design, video and image editing and scientific visualization to run in a browser almost as fast as they do on your local computer. It will also speed up existing web apps that use JavaScript.
