Deezer App Studio goes mobile, brings apps to Android and iOS listeners

Deezer App Studio goes mobile, brings apps to Android and iOS listeners

As much as we like extending our music universe through apps within the likes of Deezer and Spotify, that wider experience hasn’t usually carried over to mobile. Deezer, at least, thinks it can put those apps inside our pockets. App Studio now supports building add-ons for both Android and iOS devices, giving travelers music and social components beyond what Deezer can provide on its own. The company isn’t relying just on phones and tablets to pad its customer base, though. It’s also improving the behind-the-scenes framework to bolster gaming through its API, and an affiliate program will pay social app creators every time one of their users subscribes to Deezer. Us listeners will just have to wait for developers to implement App Studio and the API changes before we reap any potential rewards.

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Source: Deezer for Developers

Netflix changes its public API program by ending it, will no longer issue new dev keys

Once upon a time, Netflix was proud enough of its public API which enabled third-party services and apps to serve up its data and content in different ways that it opened a gallery to display them. Unfortunately, times have changed since 2009 — the old App Gallery is gone and now, so is public API access for new developers. A blog post indicates the API is now focused on supporting Netflix’s official clients on the many devices its customers use to stream movies, not hobbyist projects for managing ones queue or finding new movies to watch. While those already in place should still work since existing keys will remain active, the developer forums are being set to read-only, no new keys are being issued and new partners are no longer being accepted.

The move is reminiscent of recent changes by Twitter, where as each company has grown it’s decided having control over the user experience through its own official apps outweighs allowing the community to build and extend access as it sees fit. We’re sad to see the program go, as many of these tools assisted Netflix members in ways the official website and apps either never did, or no longer do after the features were removed. Even though Netflix relies on its own secret sauce for recommendations, we’ve always found it hard to beat InstantWatcher’s curated lists (by year, Rotten Tomatoes rating, critic’s picks, titles most recently added by other users and more) to find a video, and FeedFliks was indispensable for monitoring exactly how valuable the service is until its features were cut down by API changes. They provided an edge the competition like Amazon Prime and Redbox couldn’t match, but we’ll have to wait and see if this change is noticed by enough subscribers to matter — we’ve seen how that can go.

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Netflix Developer Blog

Falcon Pro reaches Twitter’s 100k token limit

Falcon Pro, arguably one of the best Twitter clients available for the Android operating system, has just reached its 100,000 token limit set by Twitter. The limit was set by Twitter back in August of last year, and it limits 3rd party apps, who utilize Twitter’s main features, to only 100,000 users. Falcon Pro has hit this limit only 3 months after it launched its app, catching them by surprise.

Falcon Pro reaches Twitter's 100k token limit

As of right now, Falcon Pro has created a petition. The creators hope that the petition will get enough signatures to convince Twitter to extend Falcon Pro’s amount of tokens. As of 8 hours ago, the petition has accumulated over 600+ signatures. Whether this helps or not is completely up to Twitter. Falcon Pro is also working on the issue of pirates. According to its stats, only 40,000 people have actually purchased its app, meaning there are 60,000 who either aren’t using the client anymore, or have pirated the app.

 

Falcon Pro is also asking users who don’t use its client anymore to revoke access to the app via their Twitter settings. This way there can be additional tokens freed up for other users. Falcon Pro has included a disclaimer in its app description warning users of the 100k limit. Hopefully it will stop users from giving the app a 1-star rating. However, it still has to deal with the refunds for people who bought the app, but can’t access it.

Falcon Pro is currently finding other ways to get an extension on its tokens, and it’s trying to avoid any methods that may breach Twitter’s terms of service. While it’s important to get more users access to its app, Falcon Pro doesn’t want to jeopardize anything for its current users. So as of right now, all its users can do is sign its petition and hope that Twitter’s lenient.

[via Falcon Pro]


Falcon Pro reaches Twitter’s 100k token limit is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Chrome browser gains Web Speech API support in latest stable build

Good news, everyone: a safer and more robust version of Google Chrome has just been tipped for the masses. Like we’ve previously seen in the beta release, the stable version of Chrome 25 brings support for the Web Speech API. With this update, you’ll find the ability to create dictations and issue voice commands within any web app that taps into the feature. Also of significance, silent extension installs are now a thing of the past for Windows users in Chrome 25. While you’ll now need to consent to each add-on before it’s installed, we’re sure you’ll agree that the added security is worth the extra trouble. As you’ve come to expect, the update to Google Chrome will be rolled out to users via the browser’s auto-update feature, which means it won’t be long before you have a shiny new version number.

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Source: Google Chrome Blog

Gracenote unleashes its vast musical know-how to developers

Gracenote unleashes its vast musical knowhow to developers

You’ve probably used Gracenote thousands of times and have been none the wiser, but for good reason: the musical metadata service lives in the background of several apps, appearing only momentarily to bring meaning to your favorite tunes. Now, Gracenote is looking to expand its reach by opening its APIs and SDKs to app developers — effectively putting its massive database in the hands of all who seek it. Of course, ripping CDs isn’t quite what it once was, and that’s why Gracenote has also opened its MusicID song recognition service to developers, allowing them to harness the same functionality of apps such as Shazam and SoundHound. The free service is available now, and for extra insight, you’ll find the full PR after the break.

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Dropbox introduces Sync API for iOS and Android

The cloud is a wonderful place, and it makes sense that developers are wanting to get in on the action, especially with Dropbox, which boasts over 100 million users so far. Finally, though, the company has announced the Sync API, which will allow developers to easily integrate their products with Dropbox without the developers having to do a lot of the work.

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In the past, developers could integrate their services with Dropbox, but many of the abilities, such as syncing, would be the responsibility of the developer, meaning that Dropbox only supplied the storage at the time. However, Dropbox is bringing some of that to an end and will be transitioning some of the developers responsibilities onto itself.

Essentially, the Sync API allows other apps to just work with Dropbox, and it can even act as if Dropbox were a local filesystem on the device itself. The API takes care of syncing and caching, as well as retrying uploads and downloads, which gets rid of all the grunt work that developers had to go through in the past to achieve similar results.

The Sync API is available now from Dropbox’s Developer webpage, and all the information you need to get started is right there. A few developers have actually already been using the new API in their apps, including Chris Cox, who is the developer of Squarespace Note. Cox notes that the new API cut his Dropbox code in half, which can also cut down loading times for the app.


Dropbox introduces Sync API for iOS and Android is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Dropbox announces Sync API for Android and iOS

Dropbox announces Sync API for Android and iOS

The lives of devs eager to take advantage of storage in the cloud are about to get a whole lot easier thanks to Dropbox’s new Sync API. The tool streamlines the process of integrating with the service, offloading most of the heavy lifting onto Dropbox itself. Now, that’s not entirely new, since Dropbox has been open to other app makers for sometime. The big sell here are the actual syncing capabilities. Until now, apps have been able to tap into your online well of files, but syncing has always been a dev-implemented process built on top of the existing APIs. The downloading, storing, change tracking and uploading were all the responsibility of the developer. The Sync API does away with the much of the set up work and allows the creation of apps that simply sync across platforms without any hacking or jury-rigging. Apps can simply ask if you want to sync with Dropbox now and the act of creating and maintaining a folder won’t necessitate any further user input (though, it still can if the dev so chooses). The API is available today, and the first program to take advantage of the private in-app Dropbox client, Squarespace Note is awaiting approval before landing in the App Store. For more, check out the blog post at the source.

Update: As some of you may have noticed the source link was missing. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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Source: Dropbox

App.net gives users 10GB of cloud storage, its File API to set social data free

Appnet gives users 10GB of cloud storage, its File API to set social data free

We thought App.net had eyes only for Twitter when the project was funded and garnered its first 20,000 customers. Today, a post on the company blog reveals that its sights are set much higher than mere messaging. Rather than provide just an ad-free alternative to Twitter, it turns out App.net plans to become a social app platform through its new File API and cloud storage services. The API gives devs the tools needed to build any and all social applications they can dream up — from photo sharing apps to collaboration tools.

Additionally, App.net is giving annual and dev accounts a 10GB cloud locker. That storage can, in turn, be leveraged for simple file sharing by users and as a repository for social data that can be accessed by apps built with the API. So, photos, messages and other info from an App.net account can be fully controlled by users and can be accessed by any social app they choose. This is a stark contrast to Facebook or Google+, where access to such data is controlled by those companies. Of course, the new platform’s only as good as its apps, so interested devs should head on down to the source, grab the API, and get started building the next-gen social network.

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Via: The Verge

Source: App.net API Documentation, App.net Blog, Github

Is Facebook Locking Down Its Social Graph Data?

For all the reasons that Facebook is a massive success, it has one card that trumps the likes of Twitter, Google and LinkedIn: it knows who your real-life friends are. Kindly, Facebook shares that data with third parties apps using its Social Graph API—but it seems that privilege might not be a given for much longer. More »

Nike+ opens up its APIs, lets developers see what NikeFuel really is

It looks like Nike+ is making moves to get more people playing with its gear. The Next Web reports that Nike has opened up its APIs on the company developer site today, which means devs now have a way to hook into the data all those FuelBands and SportWatches generate. Among these streams of info is access to a chronological list of user activities, GPS data, and the amount of NikeFuel earned both in total and on an individual activity basis. If that’s got you dreaming up fitness apps and games, head on over to the source armed with your Nike+ login info, and that treasure trove of data can be yours to play with, too.

TNW goes on to point out that the APIs were freed in conjunction with Nike’s Accelerator startup program, just in case any of those apps are part of a worthy business plan. In case you weren’t aware, the Accelerator startup incubator’s run by TechStars, the same folks who also provide seed money and business guidance to aspiring Kinect devs. So, idea-men and women should feel free to embrace the Xbox collaboration possibilities knowing their angel funding’s coming from folks who’ll understand such ideas. Sound like something you’re into? The deadline to apply is February 3rd, so those applying best be ready to hit the ground running when the Accelerator starts a month later.

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Nike Developer Site, Nike+ Accelerator