WebProNews

Tag: developers

  • FCC Launches App Challenge For Internet Openness

    The Federal Communications Commission has announced a challenge for software developers to create apps that help people monitor Internet openness.

    The FCC says its Open Internet Challenge is about the development of apps that provide users with information about  the extent to which their fixed or mobile broadband Internet services are consistent with the open Internet. These software tools could, for example, detect whether a broadband provider is interfering with DNS responses, application packet headers, or content.

    FCC-App-Challenge “This challenge is about using the open Internet to protect the open Internet,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

    “Our goal is to foster user-developed applications that shine light on any practice that might be inconsistent with the free and open Internet.  Empowering consumers with information about their own connections will promote a vibrant, innovative, world-leading broadband ecosystem.”

    The winners of the Open Internet Challenge will be invited to FCC headquarters in Washington, D.C., to present their work to the Commission and be honored with an FCC Chairman’s reception.  Winners will have their apps and research featured on the FCC’s website and social media outlets.  Winners will be reimbursed for authorized travel expenses.

    The submission deadline for the challenge is June 1, 2011, and a public voting period will run from June 15, 2011 through July 15, 2011. Winners will be announced in August 2011.
     

  • Mac App Store Officially Coming January 6

    Mac App Store Officially Coming January 6

    Apple announced that its Mac App Store will officially open on January 6 (a Thursday). With this, Apple hopes to capitalize on the success it’s had with its App store for iPhone and iPad apps for its older Mac brand. 

    Right away, the store will be available in 90 countries, and will feature paid and free apps in a variety of categories like Games, Productivity, Education, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, and Utilities. 

    Apple CEO Steve Jobs touts nearly every product the company launches as revolutionary, and the Mac App Store is not different. "The App Store revolutionized mobile apps," said Jobs. "We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can’t wait to get started on January 6."
    Mac App Store Coming Soon

    Apple’s description of the store is as follows:

    The Mac App Store lets you browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, view staff favorites, search categories and read customer ratings and reviews. Like on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, you can purchase, download and install apps in just one click and start using them immediately. Purchased apps can run on all of your personal Macs and updates are delivered directly through the Mac App Store so it’s easy to keep all of your apps up to date. The Mac App Store is available to Mac OS X Snow Leopard users as a free download through Software Update.

    Developers of Mac apps can set their own prices, and keep 70% of the sales revenue. They’re not charged for free apps and don’t have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees, Apple says. 

    When the company first announced the store in October, Jobs noted that you can still purchase apps with an iTunes account, and that app updates will be delivered through the store.  

    More info about the store here.

  • Google Wave Lives on as Apache Wave

    Earlier this year Google made an unexpected move when it announced it would shut down Google Wave as a standalone product. Since then, despite a lack of mainstream use, it has become clear that Google Wave has a loyal fan base, and Google has made efforts to open source much of the code behind Wave. 

    Wave lives on to an even greater extent now, as Google is giving it to the Apache Software Foundation, which supports open-source software projects. 

    "One of the best outcomes from November’s Wave Protocol Summit was a proposal for Wave to enter the Apache Software Foundation’s incubator program," explains software engineer Alex North with the Google Wave team. "Apache has a fantastic reputation for fostering healthy open source communities that create great software. Last week, that proposal was accepted, and we’re spinning up the project infrastructure so that the community can continue to grow in the Apache way."

    "During the summit, it became quite clear that there is a healthy community of startups, independent developers, and industry partners enthusiastic to continue development of the Wave Federation protocols and Wave in a Box product," adds North. 

    It did indeed become clear after Google’s initial announcement that it would be halting Wave development that there were quite a few saddened by the news. Many as it turned out viewed Wave as a helpful realtime collaboration tool. They should be happy with today’s news that a broader open source community will likely bring good things to Wave’s technology. 

    The creator of Google Wave recently left Google to go to Facebook. Google had previously suggested that it may utilize some of the technology behind the product in other products. 

    The chain of events has been quite interesting considering Google’s heightened emphasis on social and the very social nature of Wave.

  • Google Woos Devs With Events Page, Advocate Bios

    Both in terms of holding a person’s interest and making sure he (or she) does things right, allowing an individual to spend hours alone, staring at a computer screen, is not always the best way to handle a situation.  So to better engage with developers, Google’s introducing Advocate Bios and Developer Events pages.

    A post on the Google Code Blog explained with regards to that first item, "The Advocates Bios page provides names, pictures and short descriptions of Developer Relations team members.  You can filter them by what they work on and/or where they’re based out of."

    As for the Developer Events page, the post stated, "The Developer Events page is a mashup of the Calendar and Maps APIs, running on an App Engine backend.  Want to know about upcoming Android events in Prague?  Or whether Patrick Chanezon is speaking at the GDD in Munich on Nov 9th?  (He is!)  You can do all of that and more with the Developer Events page."

    One other important note: both pages are available through the Google Code homepage, so developers who don’t read the Google Code Blog (or WebProNews) won’t be left out.

    Anyway, the availability of these pages should help create more of a community feel among developers who work with Google’s products and services.

  • Google Announces 10,000-Unit Google TV Giveaway

    Google Announces 10,000-Unit Google TV Giveaway

    Developers with an interest in Google TV might want to start clearing space in their dens for a set-top unit.  Google’s announced that it intends to give away a whopping 10,000 Logitech Revue devices in order to spur interest in the Google TV ecosystem.

    We should note that Google’s not just trying to get apps built; this promotion is designed more to encourage the optimization (or creation) of websites for Google TV users.

    Otherwise, if you’re interested in getting your hands on a unit, here are a couple important details: a post on the Google Code Blog stated, "[W]e’ll be reaching out to thousands of web developers in the Google Code community to offer them a free device."

    Plus, "[I]f you are a professional web developer who wants to help make the Google TV experience even better . . . please submit an entry to our Google TV Web Developer Promotion . . . .  We’re planning to select 2,500 winners from those entries to receive a free Google TV device."

    This is an interesting and generous move on Google’s part.  Considering that Logitech Revue units sell for $300, the retail value of the promotion is $3 million (not counting sales tax and whatever it costs Google to get the devices to developers).

    The timing of the giveaway just leaves a little to be desired, since it might have been smarter to have a bunch of happy developers and optimized sites in place before Google TV was offered to the public.

  • Influential VC Firm Creates $250M Social Fund

    Entrepreneurs who are interested in creating social apps and services may be in luck.  This afternoon at Facebook’s Palo Alto headquarters, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced the creation of the $250 million sFund Initiative designed to assist some individuals.

    Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Zynga’s Mark Pincus, and Comcast’s Brian Roberts were all on hand to lend support (along with John Doerr and Bing Gordon of KPCB), which may be an interesting sign of the sFund Initiative’s importance.

    As for some details about the sFund itself, an official statement explained that it "will provide financing, counsel, and relationship capital for a new generation of entrepreneurs to deliver on the promise of the social web."

    Otherwise, the sFund will invest outside the United States, and it’s not necessary to be in any way "connected" in order to submit a business plan.  Applicants just need to piece together a market overview, technology overview, product description, business model overview, and description of their team.

    Then all of the info can simply be emailed to sFund@kpcb.com.

    KPCB partner Doerr predicted, "We’re at the beginning of a new era for social Internet innovators who are re-imagining and re-inventing a Web of people and places, looking beyond documents and websites.  There’s never been a better time than now to start a new social venture."

  • Wouldn’t it Be Useful to Have Dictionary Functionality From Any App?

    Dictionary.com has launched a new API Developer Center, which has some pretty interesting implicatons for mobile apps, given that words are pretty universal. Developers can integrate Dictionary.com content and features into their products and services. 

    Dictionary.com President Shravan Goli tells WebProNews, "Apps that integrate Dictionary.com features, functionality and content using the API will enable their users to effortlessly discover word meanings. By enabling users to access definitions, synonyms, example sentences, and features like audio pronunciation without having to navigate away from what they’re doing, people will be truly experience what we call ‘word discovery in context.’"

    Shravan Goli, President of Dictionary.com Talks Developer Center"This means that they’ll be able to access the information they need in the exact moment and place when it is most relevant, which in turn not only aids tremendously in knowledge retention, but also enriches the experience of using the App – whether it be a game, reading device, digital learning platform, or literally any other application that utilizes words," adds Goli. 

    "Dictionary.com’s API Developer Center will also feature a visual gallery showcasing innovative apps created using the API, giving developers the chance to benefit from its enormous base of 50 million worldwide unique users per month," Goli tells us. "Dictionary.com will also regularly feature the best apps on its homepage, offering talented developers an opportunity for a tremendous boost in distribution."

    "In our current ‘connected’ environment, companies must adapt to consumers’ mobile and wireless expectations and enhance their offerings, providing access to complimentary content in the moment," a representative for Dictionary.com tells us. "Constantly mobile students in particular require everything from textbooks to interactive games in a flash." 

    "As the leading online and mobile dictionary, Dictionary.com is the place you go when you need a definition," she adds. "Many developers and brands are capitalizing on that trusted content by adding Dictionary.com features into their own products and services."

    With the developer center, Dictionary.com, owned by IAC (which also owns Ask, Citysearch, UrbanSpoon, Vimeo, the Daily Beast, Match.com and numerous other businesses), aims to set the standard for this kind of access to information. 

    The center gives developers tools that could greatly contribute to improving the speed of knowledge consumption. Dictionary.com’s audio pronunciation feature could be quite useful in a variety of apps and scenarios. 

    While tools in the API Developer Center are free for non-commercial usage, services are also offered for commercial use via revenue-share and fee-based agreements. The company says this provides a solid business model for developers to monetize. 

  • What Adobe Scene7 Update Means for Marketers and Developers

    Adobe’s mobile plans are not just about Flash. The company announced an upgrade to its Scene7 offering, which has implications for both marketers and mobile developers. 

    Scene7 is a rich media service that lets retailers create an online catalog with video and 3D modeling (among other things). The new version includes support for mobile sites and apps, and provides expanded offerings for delivering content across mobile devices including iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android. 

    Adobe Scene7 optimizes for mobile

     According to Adobe, the update will allow marketers and mobile developers to: 

    • Leverage one single platform to create, store, and deliver assets from, instead of developing a unique experience tailored for each device, which will reduce the cost and complexity of delivering rich media to desktop and mobile devices.  

    • Be able to upload and custom encode videos into Flash and non-Flash formats for optimal serving to mobile, desktop and interactive displays.

    • Create content once in Scene7 and leverage the assets to deliver different and unique banner experiences using a single template.

    • Marketers can now deliver variable image and Flash-based banners quickly, with and without video, reducing the time and costs for creating, modifying and publishing targeted content

    • Developers can easily build and deploy rich and engaging front-end applications for greeting cards, stationery and photo products using Scene7 variable data templates (with Web-to-Print Solution Accelerator)

    The announcement also includes integration with Adobe Creative Suite 5, Adobe Site Catalyst and Adobe Test&Target for automating website analytics and optimization.

  • Apigee Launches Private Preview of Premium API Analytics Tool

    In late June, Apigee launched a Facebook API Console, which enabled Facebook developers to learn, debug, interact with and develop on Facebook’s Open Graph API in a more simplified way. Now, the company (formerly Sonoa Systems) has launched a new  line of developer tools.

    The line, features tools for API analytics, management, and debugging. Apigee has three lines in all: enterprise, free, and premium editions. Premium is the new one. "The features will be served ‘a la cart’ as self-service add-ons to the free platform with costs from $50/month up," a representative for the company tells WebProNews. " It is designed to serve the growing market of API providers, ranging from API-focused startups to the thousands of applications, websites, and services now providing APIs."

    Apigee Premium

    Apigee Enterprise is designed to help enterprises use APIs to fuel their mobile, multichannel, application and cloud strategies. It is essentially a rebranded version of what was previously Sonoa Systems’ core product, ServiceNet. According to the company, this has been used by IBM, MTV Networks, Comcast, and many others. 

    Apigee Free is obviously a free platform designed to help developers learn, test and debug APIs, get analytics on API performance and usage, and apply basic rate-limits to protect their services.

    Apigee Premium launches today in private preview, and provides advanced features on top of the Apigee Free platform, including unlimited API traffic, advanced rate limiting and analytics and developer key provisioning.

     

  • Google Continues Efforts to Predict What Users Want

    Google is hellbent on predictions, it would seem. At Google I/O earlier this year, Google announced the Prediction API. More recently, it launched Google Instant, with the goal of giving you your results before you even finish typing the query. Today, Google is talking about some research its doing in trying to predict when searchers are frustrated with their results. 

     Google has also made some new additions to the Prediction API, which is designed to give developers access to Google’s algorithms to analyze historic data and predict likely future outcomes within their apps. 

     New additions include multi-category prediction, continuous output, mixed inputs, and combining continuous output with mixed inputs. 

    Have Google Tell Your Fortune"Imagine you’re writing a news aggregator that suggests articles based on the kinds of stories the user has read before," says Travis Green of Google’s Prediction API Team. "Previously, using the Prediction API, each article could only be tagged with one label – the most pertinent one. For example, an article about a new truck might be labeled as ‘truck,’ but not ‘roomy’ or ‘quiet.’ Now articles can be tagged with all of those labels, with the labels ranked by pertinence, enabling your app to make better recommendations."
     
    "You’d like to create a wine recommendation app," he continues.  "Matching a wine to personal preferences is a tricky task, dependent on many factors, including origin, grape, age, growing environment, and flavor presence. Previously, your app could only label wine as ‘good,’ ‘decent,’ ‘bad,’ or some other set of pre-defined values. Using the new continuous output option, your app can provide a fine-grained ranking of wines based on how well they fit the user’s preferences."

     That’s just a couple of examples of what can be done with the Prediction API now that it has these new features. Green provides a couple more here. 

     Google’s continued efforts of prediction are something to keep an eye on, as the company seems to be putting a great deal of emphasis on on them lately. It’s all about getting users information they want more quickly, which can’t be too bad, unless Google’s predictions are inaccurate. Maybe one day they’ll release an Android app that just reads our minds and delivers accordingly.

  • Intel Launches AppUp – An App Store for Netbooks

    Intel just announced a new software app store for netbook apps. At the Intel Devleoper Forum in San Francisco, Renée James, senior vice president and general manager, Intel Software and Services Group, announced the general availability of the Intel AppUp Center. 

    This is an app store that will come pre-installed on netbooks, and will be available for download online. Intel partnered with  Best Buy, UK-based Dixons and India-based Croma on AppUp.
     

    AppUp From Intel

     

    To accompany AppUp, Intel also introduced the AppUp Developer Program, aimed at driving app creation. From the announcement:

     

    James acknowledged seamless experiences are only part of the equation. Open operating systems – such as Intel and Nokia’s* MeeGo*, hosted by the Linux Foundation – allow developers to create, invent and innovate. Pointing to contributions from industry leaders, James discussed MeeGo ecosystem momentum, highlighting a variety of MeeGo-based devices and how third-party software developments and the upcoming MeeGo Web runtime, to be released in October, will make it easier to write applications for these devices. Internet TV pioneer Amino* also joined James onstage to demonstrate how the company is taking advantage of the flexibility and openness of MeeGo to deliver an innovative MeeGo-based smart TV solution.

     

    Intel also launched Tunnel Creek (pdf), a new Intel Atom E600 SoC processor series developed specifically for embedded apps.

  • Nokia Unveils New Family of Smartphones

    Nokia has announced a new family of smartphones powered by the new Symbian platform. The devices are integrated with enhanced Ovi services and apps. They are the Nokia E7, the Nokia C7 and the Nokia C6. 

    The latest version of Symbian comes with over 250 new features such as HDMI support, multiple personalized home screens, multipoint touch, multitasking and "turbo charged" graphics.

    "We are thrilled that Nokia, the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer, continues to recognize the power of the Symbian platform and has chosen it to run on four of the company’s hottest new smartphones," says 

    Daniel Rubio, Leadership Team member for Technology and Delivery Management at Symbian. "It is very rewarding to see the Symbian^3 platform brought to life so faithfully on these devices, providing compelling experiences at a range of price points that will make them accessible and appealing to users around the world."

    The three devices mentioned join the previously announced Nokia N8 in the Nokia smartphone family. 

    "Today our fight back to smartphone leadership shifts into high gear," said Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President, Markets, Nokia. "Despite new competition, Symbian remains the most widely used smartphone platform in the world. Our new family of smartphones introduced today feature the all-new Symbian OS, rewritten to be faster, easier to use, more efficient and more developer friendly." 

    In fact, Nokia announced some improvements in developer tools, such as significant enhancements to the Nokia Qt software development kit (which the company says results in 70% reduction in the number of lines of code required when developing for the phones), improvements in the Ovi Store user experience, and a lower barrier of entry and increased monetization opportunities for developers (like free Java and Symbian signing, in-app purchase, improved revenue share, and advanced analytics). 

    Savander also commented on the anticipation for the Nokia N8, saying, "Based on the level of consumer interest and the highest online pre-orders in Nokia history, we expect big things from the Nokia N8."

  • Google Makes it Easier to Monetize iPad Apps

    Google has launched a new feature for its Mobile for AdSense apps, which lets developers in the U.S. and Canada, who are participating in the beta program, to monetize their iPad apps.

    "The new iOS SDK supports ad serving in iPad apps using three of the most common online ad formats, instantly making it easier for developers to grow their businesses and for advertisers to expand their presence to the iPad," says Dan Waylonis, Software Engineer for Google’s AdSense for Mobile Applications. "Advertisers whose campaigns run on the Google Display Network and include text or image ads in the above sizes can now show ads within iPad applications – provided their campaigns are targeting mobile devices or specifically the iPad."

    AdSense for Mobile Applications on the iPad

    Those who are participating in Google’s AdSense for Mobile Apps beta will automatically have access to the new feature in their latest iOS SDK build. Those who are not participating can apply by signing up to become an AdSense partner or logging into their existing account, and selecting AdSense for Mobile Applications in the setup tab.

    Release notes for the latest AdSense for Mobile Applications SDK release can be found here.

     

  • Nokia to Acquire Mobile Analytics Firm Motally

    Nokia announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Motally, a mobile analytics firm. The company provides in-app tracking and reporting, enabling developers and publishers to optimize the development of their apps.

    "The acquisition underpins Nokia’s drive to deliver in-application and mobile web browsing analytics to Ovi’s growing, global eco-system of developers and publishers, enabling partners to better connect with their customers and optimize and monetize their offering", said Marco Argenti, VP, Media at Nokia.

    Nokia says it plans to adapt Motally’s service offering for Qt, Symbian, Meego and Java developers, and plans to continue serving Motally’s existing customer base.

    Motally is made up of just 8 people. It was founded in 2008 in San Francisco, and has patent-pending technology related to mobile analytics and data collection accuracy.

    The deal, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, is expected to close during the third quarter, pending customary closing conditions.

    Motally acquired by Nokia

    In other Nokia news, the company also announced it is closing the Nokia Messaging for Social Networks Beta trial.

  • Facebook Moves Toward OAuth 2.0, IFrames, Drops App Tabs from Profiles

    Facebook posted an update for the Facebook Platform Roadmap today. Interestingly, Facebook Places isn’t mentioned once, though it will certainly be a significant part of the picture. 

    "We announced a number of new products and updates to Facebook Platform at f8 in April, including the Graph API, social plugins, and support for OAuth 2.0," says Facebook’s Namita Gupta. "Over the next few months we will be making upgrades and removing infrequently used parts of Platform to support these new technologies at every level of the stack, while trying to minimize the amount of changes required for existing applications."

    Open Graph "We have a vision for Facebook Platform that is powerful, standards-based, and easy to use across Facebook.com, the Web, and mobile devices," she says. "As part of this, we are unifying the Platform technologies used to build on Facebook.com — OAuth 2.0, the Graph API, and the JavaScript SDK — with the technologies used to integrate Facebook into external websites."

    Specifically, Facebook is upgrading the authentication mechanism it uses for callback URLs, so it uses OAuth 2.0. In addition, they’re moving towards IFrames rather than FBML for canvas apps and Page tabs.

    Facebook says it will begin supporting IFrames for Page tabs in the next few months, but developers should start using them immediately.

    Facebook will also be removing app tabs from user profiles in the next couple months, citing low usage rates. They will continue to be supported on Facebook Pages.

  • Google Launches Chrome Web Store Developer Preview

    In May at Google I/O, Google revealed the Chrome Web Store, a gallery for web apps. Earlier this week, the company demonstrated it again, focusing on HTML5 games.

    Today, Google has announced that it has made available a developer preview of the store. Developers can now upload apps and experiment with packaging, and installing them, and integrating payments into them.

    "When the Chrome Web Store launches, it will replace the current gallery, featuring a completely new design for users to discover great apps, extensions and themes all in one place,"  Google software engineer Michael Noth tells developers. "Until then, only you can see the apps you upload – they will not be visible to other visitors of the gallery during this developer preview. In the meantime, you can continue to use the gallery for publishing Chrome extensions and making them available to Chrome users."

    Apps in the Chrome web store will be web apps that aren’t Chrome-specific. They will be available to anyone using "a modern browser" that supports the technologies used to build the apps.

    The store will feature installable apps, so users can create shortcuts for accessing them and the apps can request advanced HTML5 permissions.

  • Yahoo: BOSS in, SearchMonkey Out

    Yahoo and Microsoft announced the beginning of the transition of organic search results today, but since the original announcement of the deal, it has been unclear what would happen to the Yahoo Search BOSS and SearchMonkey tools. That is because Yahoo had yet to make up its mind.

    Yahoo’s mind has now been made up. BOSS will carry on, and SearchMonkey won’t.

    "In the not too distant future, BOSS will provide web and image search results from Microsoft along with other search-related services and content from Yahoo!, such as news," says Neal Sample, VP of Social, Open, & Publishing Platforms at Yahoo. "In the next 30 days, we will announce the specific details about how BOSS will evolve. We are exploring a potential fee-based structure as well as ad-revenue models that will enable BOSS developers to monetize their offerings. When we roll out these changes, BOSS will no longer be a free service to developers."

    Yahoo Search BOSS

    SearchMonkey will shut down on October 1. That oges for the tool, the gallery, and the app preferences. "Yahoo! Search is continuing to shift from a model where developers build lightweight apps to install on Yahoo! to one where publishers enhance their own site markup to produce similar results," says Sample. "Yahoo! Search results pages will continue to show enhanced result templates from websites’ page markup and structured data feeds along with Microsoft’s organic listings."

    SearchMonkey closing

    Sample also provides updates on various other Yahoo Developer tools here. He discusses the future of YQL, Site Explorer, Maps, Geo, and Local APIs, and MyBlogLog.

  • Google Adds Features to the Google Buzz API

    Google has released a "garden hose" for Google Buzz. This is a random sampling of public Google Buzz posts for developers who don’t have the required resources to support the traffic that comes with the firehose.

    The garden hose has a query rate under the free quote limit of Google App Engine, Google says. "As such, many more developers will be able to easily get their hands dirty on this great source of real-time data," says Google’s Eric Steinlauf.

    XHTML Version of Google Buzz "Second, we’ve created an API to return the people associated with a particular activity query," he adds. "That is, you can now search for people who have recently created a public post that includes an arbitrary string or related geo-location. For example, if you wanted to see the people associated with Red Sox near Fenway Park, you could use this URL for the JSON response."

    Google has also enabled users to discover content related to particular posts. Developers can access and deliver search results related to the post’s topic.

    More information on utilizing these features of the Google Buzz API can be found in the documentation.

  • Bing Sets Retirement Date for Old Search API Version

    Microsoft announced that that it is phasing out version 1.1 of the Bing Search API. This comes as no surprise, as version 2.0 was launched over a year ago.

    Version 1.1 will no longer be supported as of November 1, 2010. Webmasters and developers still using the version 1.1 API will need to migrate over to version 2.0 by then. "In addition to the improved features, a single Bing Search API means streamlined maintenance, updates and support," a representative for Bing tells WebProNews.

    Version 2.0 comes with support for new source types like translation, answers, video, and related search. It also supports protocols like JSON, XML, and SOAP. Version 2.0 users can also send an unlimited number of query requests (for legitimate uses described in the terms of use).

    Bing - Switch to newer version of API "There are other benefits of this transition as well," says Bing Developer Platform Senior Product Manager Reed Shaffner. "The new Bing Search API introduced considerable improvements for maintenance and updates so that going forward, we can introduce feature improvements and other changes without switching API versions.  Furthermore, we will better able to aid you in your requests for assistance as there will now be a single version to monitor and support."  

    Version 2.0 is also accompanied by a new developer center and Project Silk Road, which is a set of tools from Microsoft for online publishers and developers aimed at generating traffic and increasing engagement on their sites.

  • Apple Letting App Store Users Test Drive Apps

    Apple has added a new section to its App Store aimed at letting users try out apps before paying for them. The section is appropriate called "Try Before You Buy".

    As Jolie O’Dell at Mashable notes, not all paid apps are available for a free trial period, and it is unclear whether or not this will be the case going forward. Still, it can’t hurt for developers looking to gain more exposure for their paid apps. Many people are leery of paying for apps when there are so many free ones available.

    Try Before You BuyIn other iPhone app-related news, an Apple patent filing has raised something of a stir, though it may be for no real good reason. Om Malik points to a patent for "Systems and Methods for Accessing Travel Services Using a Portable Electronic Device".

    The filing includes drawings that are identical to existing third-party apps, which has put some developers on edge – as if Apple is trying to patent their apps. However, as a commenter on Malik’s story points out, "After reading the claims, it’s clear that the spinning wheel image stolen from the 3rd party app was not part of the claimed invention at all and was just an illustration. You see this a lot in patents, where a an exemplar device such as a Dell laptop is used in a drawing but is not part of the claims."

    The concern might be overblown. Still, as Alexia Tsotsis at TechCrunch points out, developers may be getting the wrong message from such diagram inclusions in patent filings.

  • Google Turns Nexus One Into Developer Phone

    Google announced today that it has unlocked the Nexus One as its new Developer Phone. This comes at a price of $529.

    "The Nexus One combines an up-to-the-minute platform (Android 2.2), modern hardware, and the pure Android software suite," says Android’s Tim Bray. "It’s a good choice both for people who want to build Android applications using either the SDK or the NDK, and those who want to experiment with modified versions of the Android platform. Note that the Nexus One still ships with Android 2.1 but will download 2.2 soon after you turn it on; make sure you’re near a fast network."

    Android Developers get Nexus One for Developer Phone"As well as being an outstanding developer platform, it’s a really nice everyday phone; we’re really happy to have connected the right dots to make this happen," he adds.

    Google recently announced that it was discontinuing the Nexus One, after the failure of its web store, but the phone as a device has generally been held in pretty high regard.

    Developers will have to sign in to their Android developer accounts to get more details about getting their phones. Bray does note that accessories for it are available in HTC’s European online store.