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Foursquare lets other apps use its core location tech
Foursquare has been willing to offer its place data to outside partners, but it has long kept its location awareness tech, Pilgrim, close to the vest. Now, though, it's opening things up: the company has released a developer kit for Pilgrim, letting other apps take advantage of Foursquare's positional wizardry. The tools help apps determine where you are down to the building level (without even opening the app), and let them act accordingly. A fitness app could plan an exercise routine based on where you ate, for instance, while a location-based game could adapt its experience around your neighborhood or the local store.
Valve promises more realistic audio for VR
Most of the effort in improving virtual reality focuses on the visuals. But what about audio -- isn't it jarring to hear sound that clearly doesn't mirror the world you're in? Valve thinks it can fix that. It just released a Steam Audio kit that lets developers provide more immersive sound in games and apps, particularly for VR. On top of producing binaural audio (reflecting how your body affects listening), it has a particularly advanced, physics-based approach to generating sound effects.
Google makes it easier to get Internet of Things devices online
It's relatively easy to build your own Internet of Things hardware, but the software is another story. How do you connect it to cloud services, push updates or just write code? Google might help. It's trotting out a developer preview of Android Things, a toolbox that theoretically makes connecting IoT devices as straightforward as writing an Android app. Think of it as a more mature, more accessible Project Brillo. You're not only using ordinary Android developer tools (Android Studio and the official SDK), but tapping into Google Play Services and Google Cloud Platform. In theory, most of the heavy lifting is done for you -- future versions in the months ahead will even grab regular updates (both from you and Google) and use Google's ad hoc Weave networking.
Microsoft will release Visual Studio for the Mac (update: it's here)
If you needed any further proof that Microsoft is welcoming cross-platform development with open arms, you just got it. In a prematurely revealed blog post, the company has revealed that it's working on Visual Studio for Mac -- yes, one of the mainstays of the Windows world is headed Apple's way. This isn't really intended for Windows development (you'd need Boot Camp or a virtual machine to run your creations), but you can write Android, iOS and Mac apps (thanks to Xamarin) as well as server software through .NET Core. And importantly, Mac and Windows users can share projects. You won't have to convert your work just to make sure that everyone in your team can use it.
Twitter's Flight developer conference was scrapped this year
For the past two years, Twitter has put on a big show called Flight to dazzle mobile app makers with new tools and highlight new shifts in strategy. This year, though, Flight is grounded. Twitter confirmed in a statement to Recode that instead of the usual big fete, the company plans to host smaller, more intimate events around the country -- all the better to improve the Twitter's dicey ties with developers.
Steam is turning into the App Store and that's OK
Steam changed the video game industry in the same way Netflix changed television. Digital distribution was a natural evolution for gaming in the early 2010s, allowing PC players to skip the midnight-release lines at Gamestop and purchase new titles with the click of a button. While Steam wasn't the first hub to offer digitally distributed games -- Valve debuted it in 2003 -- it quickly gained a massive following and by 2011 was undoubtedly the largest platform for finding, buying and playing games on PC, Mac and Linux. Today, Steam hosts more than 10,000 titles and nearly 160 million active users per month, according to Steam Spy and EEDAR. Steam is Netflix on pixelated, interactive steroids.
Microsoft gives everyone a chance to buy a HoloLens
In the past, developers had to apply for a chance to buy Microsoft's augmented reality headset. Now, the tech titan has loosened up its requirements for purchase. You only have to meet three conditions to be able to get up to five HoloLens units: 1.) you have a Microsoft account, 2.) you have an address in the US or Canada, and 3.) you can afford the device's $3,000 price tag. The device is officially on offer for developers, but so long as all three requirements aren't an issue, you can get one (or five) straight from the Microsoft store. We'll bet the consumer edition will be easier on your wallet, though. So if you're not developing apps for the device, you can always wait a bit longer to make sure you can afford rent next month.
Android Wear's latest preview opens gestures to other apps
Are you the sort to treat your wrist as a test bed for Google software? If so, today's a grand day. Google has released its second developer preview of Android Wear 2.0, and it packs more than just some extra spit and polish. It now supports wrist gestures in third-party apps, to start. While you'll need apps to take advantage of this, it raises hope that your favorite fitness or messaging tool won't require a free hand (or your voice) for navigation.
Google will teach you to write Android apps
Learning to make your own Android apps isn't easy, especially if it's your first time programming anything. Do you find a tutorial and hope for the best? Sign up for classes at the local college? Google might have a better way. It's introducing an Android Basics nanodegree (available in a week-long free trial) at Udacity that has Google experts teaching you how to write simple Android apps, even if you don't know a lick of code. The online course guides you far enough through Android Studio that you'll have an "entire portfolio" of programs by the time you're done -- you may not write the next Instagram, but you should be comfortable.
Google wants make it easier to craft apps that go big
The Google Play Store serves over a billion users globally a month, so the potential for an app to go big is nothing to sneeze at. Alas, the chances of that actually happening is a different story, which is why Google has released a bunch of updates to help developers craft apps to make more of an impact.
New updates aim to make Android Pay a universal payment system
There's more to today's Android Pay news than just a long-awaited UK launch. Google doesn't want people to just think of Android Pay as a way to pay for things in stores with phones, so today it pulled back the curtain on new and updated APIs to let developers -- and merchants -- use Android Pay in more places and in different ways.
Siri reveals Apple's WWDC event will begin June 13th
When it comes to announcing plans for an event, the folks in Cupertino typically send out invites and info via email. That's not the case this year, though, as Apple is relying on its virtual assistant to inform the masses about its annual WWDC soirée. Thanks to Siri, we know the developer conference is scheduled for June 13th through the 17th in San Francisco, the event where we'll hear details on new versions of OS X, iOS and WatchOS.
Coder brings 'Counter-Strike' to Android
To be successful at Counter-Strike, you need tremendous reflexes and hand-eye coordination. That's why the shooter has always thrived on PC, where players can use tricked out monitors, keyboards and mice. On the flip side, if there's one platform that's ill-suited for the game, it has to be Android. Still, that hasn't stopped one plucky developer from making a port anyway. It's based on Counter-Strike 1.6 -- Global Offensive will have to wait -- and requires not only a copy of the original game, but also some technical trickery. If you're up to the challenge, you can grab the APK here.
Android N Preview adds launcher shortcuts and new emoji
A month has passed since Google released its Android N developer preview, and today the company rolled out an update to the in-progress OS. In addition to split-screen support, quick message replies and a battery-saving tool, the preview version gained a handful of new features with this new release. Among the tools are launcher shortcuts that allow you to navigate to a specific area of an app. For example, a shortcut that would allow you to quickly skip to the next episode of a TV show in a streaming app or navigate home in Maps with a tap.
Apple's latest Safari browser is built for developers
You no longer have to try an OS X beta (or a WebKit nightly build) to see where Apple is going with Safari's under-the-hood features. The tech firm has released a Safari Technology Preview that helps developers work with the latest in web technology. Don't expect to see any major interface shake-ups as a result -- the big improvements in the initial version revolve around newer, faster JavaScript support, and the rest are smaller things like minor HTML updates and a better web inspector. If you craft websites for a living, though, this makes it easy to test your work without living too close to the bleeding edge.
Linux command-line tools are coming to Windows 10
Now here's something you likely didn't expect at Microsoft's Build developer conference: A staple feature of Linux (and Unix) is coming to Windows 10. The company is integrating the Bash command-line shell and support for Ubuntu Linux binaries into Windows 10's Anniversary Update. This is, of course, big news for developers who want to use command-line tools while creating apps, but it's also important for power users who'd otherwise be tempted to install either third-party tools (like Cygwin) or a virtual machine.
Android N for phones is promising, but not for the faint of heart
Last Wednesday, Google threw us all for a loop by pushing out an Android N Developer Preview well ahead of its I/O developer conference. We already dug into what this preview build means for tablets like the Pixel C, but that's only part of the story. The only thing left to do was to throw N onto a sacrificial Nexus 5X and spent a few days getting a feel things on the small screen. Long story short, while most of you should steer clear, the preview offers a tantalizing -- and feature-packed-- peek at Google's refined vision of mobile computing.
Google wants you to livestream Android games
Google is about to introduce some behind-the-scenes frameworks that should make playing and sharing Android games considerably easier. On top of expanding Android game recording to let developers add the feature themselves (due in the "coming months"), it's adding a live streaming feature. If you want to share your Alto's Adventure exploits on YouTube as they happen, it'll be an option. Details aren't available as I write this, but it could do a lot to expand the live game streaming community beyond console and PC players.
Android N Preview arrives with split-screen view and more
What, did you think that you'd have to wait until Google I/O to see what the next version of Android would entail? In a pleasant surprise, Google is releasing Android N Preview to developers (and curious fans) today. The early release is meant to collect feedback sooner than usual, and even includes a new way to download the update. Instead of installing a drive image (you still can if you like), you can participate in an Android Beta Program that installs pre-release versions over the air. As long as you have a relatively recent Nexus device (from the Nexus 6 and 9 onward) or the Pixel C, you too can try the next big thing months before it's finished. So what's new, exactly?
Microsoft officially kills its Android app porting tool
Well, that didn't take long. After lots of silence regarding Project Astoria, Microsoft is killing it in favor of its shiny new Xamarin purchase. In case you'd forgotten (entirely understandable!), Astoria was the initiative that'd make porting Android apps to Windows 10 supposedly pretty easy. But with yesterday's announcement that Redmond had purchased Xamarin, a company whose sole mission is multiplatform apps, perhaps the news isn't entirely surprising considering the delay Astoria hit last November. In fact, the Windows Blog post mentions Xamarin explicitly several times, saying that developers can now use that toolset and a pretty big chunk of their existing C# code for cross-platform applications.
