Mobile Apps
JavaScript Is Eating the World
JavaScript Is Eating the World (via slashdot) With due apologies to Marc Andreessen, I believe that a very specific type of software is eating the world, namely, JavaScript. There are several trends and technologies that are coalescing at the same time to make Jeff Atwood’s famous “law”—any application that can be written in JavaScript… continue…
How Android Helps Avoid Awkward Social Questions
Iceland’s population is part of a rather close family tree, which can make for some awkward social situations. While most people are likely to know whether they’re first cousins, there are always surprises, i.e., attending a family event and running into someone they’d hooked up with at some point in once-blissful ignorance. But now there’s a solution: An app. Specifically, the Islendiga-App. Cat explains.
Pure Android Collection: An App Promotional Powerhouse
Introduced in October 2012, the Pure Android Collection on Google Play is an exclusive group of apps deemed worthy by Google’s Android Development & Design Teams. This group of apps is so exclusive only two have been accepted since the program’s inception last year. (Watch this episode of The App Clinic, where the collection is introduced to learn more about the criteria for selection.) “These apps represent examples that follow the Android design guidelines and coding best practices to create… continue…
Iceland: This App Will Keep You From Dating Your Cousin
“She’s my sister. She’s my daughter. My sister. My daughter. She’s my sister AND my daughter.” Those classic lines from Chinatown, uttered by Faye Dunaway’s character Evelyn Mulwray, have been oft parodied since the film’s 1974 release, but who’d think that one day there would actually be an app to prevent such awkward familial relationships from occurring? There is in Iceland, where “bump the app before you bump in bed” may become the catch phrase for a generation who really… continue…
Should You Build Your Product on a Proprietary Platform?
A potential client of mine had a great idea: They were going to build the next great product (let’s call it WidgetFoo), and it was going to be social for enterprise. So, we sat down to have a high level architecture discussion. How were we going to build this thing? Before I go further, let me say for the record: No, the product’s not a widget, but since they’re in the middle of building it right now, I can’t actually… continue…
Twitter Adds Mobile-App Developer Tools
Twitter Adds Mobile-App Developer Tools (via slashdot) Twitter: It’s not just for 140-character Tweets anymore. Actually, that’s a bit of a stretch: displaying 140-character Tweets is all Twitter really does, when you come down to it. But a new set of tools will give developers the ability to deep-link mobile apps to Twitter Cards, the feature that… continue…
Apple Acquires WiFiSLAM for Indoor Maps: Report
Apple Acquires WiFiSLAM for Indoor Maps: Report (via slashdot) While the furor over Apple’s Maps app seems to have calmed over the past few months, the company is still working on improvements to the much-criticized platform. According to a new report in The Wall Street Journal, which quotes the ever-popular unnamed sources “familiar with the matter,” Apple… continue…
Microsoft’s App Incentive Won’t Excite Many Developers
Is Microsoft’s incentive program for app developers a sign of desperation? The software giant’s offering developers $100 for each app published in the Windows and Windows Phone stores. The cash is limited to $1,000 per store. It’s part of a campaign to take a bigger share of the market that’s overwhelmingly dominated by Apple and Google. By some estimates, there could be as many as 800,000 apps out there, but not many of them are built for Windows. There are… continue…
Google’s Schmidt Says Android, Chrome OS Will Remain Separate
Google’s Schmidt Says Android, Chrome OS Will Remain Separate (via slashdot) Google’s Chrome OS and Android will remain separate platforms, according to executive chairman Eric Schmidt. Reuters also paraphrased Schmidt as saying that, despite the separation, there could still be some feature overlap between the two products. Earlier this month, longtime Android division head… continue…
Keep Track of Your Network With Fing
Fing is a mobile app that helps you keep an eye on your networks. I run a couple of headless Linux machines on my network, and Fing makes it easy to make sure they’re running correctly. I also have a bunch of WiFi devices that come and go (kids’ phones, tablets, guest devices, etc.). Fing covers those, too. The app’s main discovery screen lists each node and its hardware address in ascending order. It also shows the type of network… continue…
Alice Hill
C.S. Magor
Cat Miller
David Brumbaugh
David Chie
Dawn Kawamoto
Don Willmott
Elisabeth Greenbaum Kasson
Gayle Laakmann McDowell
Lekan Oguntoyinbo
Leslie Stevens-Huffman
M Noivad
Mark Feffer
nick kolakowski
Stephen Lahanas
Susan Hall
Vincent Chow
