Hasta La Gadget!

After concentrating on gaming and visual improvements in previous releases of Chrome, the browser’s latest focus appears to be in video engagement. The latest beta includes a PeerConnection API that lets developers create real-time video chat applications without a plug-in. This builds upon existing WebRTC integration with a new getUserMedia API that should result in higher-quality video, audio, and data communications. The Beta also bundles in track support for HTML5 video, letting developers add in subtitles, captions, and other metadata — the above photo, for example, is a screencap of a bike ride video enhanced with Google Map and Street View data. Another nice addition is a MediaSource API which adjusts video quality based on computer and network environments, which should put an end to those agonizing waits while the dancing inmate version of Gangnam Style buffers. Those interested can get their mitts on the new Chrome Beta today.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Chrome Beta adds video engagement APIs, promises higher-quality video chats sans plugin originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 02:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Following up on a promise that the company made earlier this year at their annual I/O conference, Google is launching Google Play services v1.0. To put it in simple terms, it’s designed for developers who want to integrate Google services into their Android apps. With the new integration, apps can now include Google+ features, as well as OAuth 2.0 functionality.

The platform consists of two parts: a services component that runs on the device, and a client library that developers package with their apps. The services component communicates with the Google service that the developer wants to use and requests information from the client library. The service component is available as an APK through the Google Play store.

The client library includes Google+ sign-in capabilities and +1 APIs, as well as OAuth 2.0 functionality. OAuth 2.0 is particularly important in this case because it offers both scalability and better security. There’s no need to tack on more passwords than usual with the new OAuth, since it does a good job at offering improved security minus all the passwords.

Google Play services will cover devices running Android 2.2 Froyo and later, and they must have latest version of the Google Play store installed. The rollout of these services could take up to a week, and Google is advising app developers not to do anything until the rollout is complete, which is probably driving some devs crazy already. However, they can at least get started and download the required SDK and such in the mean time.

[via Google+]

Google launches Google Play services for app developers is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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MasterCard has been in the cashless payment game for quite a while, and now it’s hoping to get more developers on the PayPass bandwagon with its freshly unveiled user interface software development kit. By leveraging the SDK, programmers will be able to bake the firm’s NFC payment system, which is compatible with over 70 handsets, into their own Android or BlackBerry OS 7 apps. The kit is free to license and includes API code libraries, documentation, a developer guide, sample code, a white-label reference application and a testing suite. Once apps are created with the SDK, they’ll have to go through MasterCard’s approval process before they go live. Yearning to code PayPass-enabled smartphone software? Check out the press release below for more details.

Continue reading MasterCard announces PayPass User Interface SDK, lets devs roll their own NFC payment-enabled apps

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

MasterCard announces PayPass User Interface SDK, lets devs roll their own NFC payment-enabled apps originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 07:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been using the Tweetbot for Mac alpha for several weeks now. It’s about time that a more polished beta version arrive, we’d say — and the new 0.8 revision does its best to justify moving one letter up the alphabet. Most of the upgrade focuses on improved multi-column and keyboard support, along with a heap of bug fixes. The real story, though, may be what Tweetbot can’t do. Twitter’s tough new API limits put a sharp curb on the number of new users that a third-party developer like Tapbots can bring into the fold. To maximize the number of customers buying the finished version, the company is limiting beta access solely to those who’ve already linked their Twitter accounts to the alpha; if you aren’t already part of the secret club, you’re not getting in today. We’re still looking forward to the completed Tweetbot release, but the hoop-jumping required to keep the app commercially viable doesn’t bode well for any future competition with the official Twitter clients.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Tweetbot for Mac hits beta, runs headlong into new Twitter API limits originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Sep 2012 01:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a good time for confusingly-named App.net, hot on the heels of smashing its funding goal and cooking up its first terms of service, the paid-Twitter startup now has an Android mobile client. HooHa chief Deniz Veli told The Next Web that he cooked up the software after seeing a “thriving developer community” surrounding the new service — with many presumably encouraged by Twitter’s recent API changes. Like the service itself, the app is only an Alpha release, but you can download it for free at the Play Store, no need to causes a hoo-hah (geddit?).

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software

App.net causes a HooHa with its first Android app originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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