If you’re already starting to feel that shiny ‘wow’ factor fade from BlackBerry 10, then you’ll be glad to know about some new features that are primed to appear with the next update. Reports are now flowing in from developers that suggest an HDR camera mode, PIN-to-PIN messaging within the BlackBerry Hub and an improved text selector are all likely candidates for inclusion in BlackBerry 10.1 OS. Other smaller tweaks include the ability to paste phone numbers into the dialer, the option to disable alerts for specific applications and the ability to check for app updates more easily. These reports are based on a pre-release version of BlackBerry 10.1 OS that the company recently shared with its developers, and while the list is by no means comprehensive, it sure beats unsubstantiated rumors.
Google’s Glass Explorer Edition headsets will come with a set of usage, tech, and app limitations at odds with the freedom Android developers are used to, including blanket permission to remotely strip out functionality from the wearable computer. Glass, which Google announced had begun shipping in partial numbers from Monday, comes with a new Terms of Sale agreement as part of the setup process, with strict limits on who you can allow to use your headset, and how Google can update it to remove features it may decide are dangerous or simply not in keeping with how it feels the wearable should evolve.
Would-be international developers have already voiced their frustration about Google’s decision to limit availability of the Glass Explorer Edition to those in the US only; even the Glass companion app, freshly released into the Play store, is geo-restricted to those in the US. However, the conditions of use for the developer headset are even stricter than normal:
“Unless otherwise authorized by Google, you may only purchase one Device, and you may not resell, loan, transfer, or give your Device to any other person. If you resell, loan, transfer, or give your device to any other person without Google’s authorization, Google reserves the right to deactivate the Device, and neither you nor the unauthorized person using the Device will be entitled to any refund, product support, or product warranty” Google
In short, if Google discovers you’ve tried to sell on your Glass unit, or even allow another developer to borrow it to cook up their own “Glassware” apps, the search giant is within its rights to remotely kill the wearable. It’s unclear how this might affect teams of developers looking to share a single headset while working together on services, though presumably Google will track possible signs of loaning behavior by which Google+ accounts Glass is logged into.
Remotely bricking a Glass unit might be somewhat draconian, but Google has other methods of remote control it can call upon. Glass will periodically check in with one or more update servers for the latest software, with the system automatically upgrading to the newest firmware. That sort of system is familiar from Android phones, of course, but the difference with Glass is that the user will have no control over whether it happens: running Google’s newest version is mandatory.
“From time to time, Glass may check with remote servers (hosted by Google or by third parties) for available updates to both the Glass software and any Glass services you have enabled, including but not limited to bug fixes or enhanced functionality. You agree that such updates will be automatically requested, downloaded, and installed without further notice to you” Google
In a similar way, Google reserves the right to remotely kill any service or feature on a Glass unit that it deems unsuitable, using a blacklist of banned services that the wearable will periodically check for.
“From time to time, Google may discover a Glass service that violates Google developer terms or other legal agreements, laws, regulations or policies. Glass will periodically download a list of such Glass services from Google’s servers. You agree that Google may remotely disable or remove any such Glass service from user systems in its sole discretion” Google
There’s no telling whether Google will be so strict with the commercial version of Glass, set to follow on after developers have got to grips with the Explorer Edition and begun cooking up software for it. However, the nature of the Glass system and the Mirror API that acts as a conduit for content means that users have little choice but to abide by Google’s rules.
That’s because everything passes through the Mirror API, with Google’s servers sitting in-between third-party services and the wearable itself. As SlashGear revealed back in February, Google can use that ‘conduit’ position to effectively place limits on what is displayed on Glass and what can be shared from the headset:
“For third-party developers, integrating with Glass is all about integrating with the Mirror API Google’s servers rely upon. So, if you’re Twitter, you’d use the API to push a card – say, to compose a new tweet, using voice recognition – to the Glass headset via the user’s Google+ account, coded in HTML, with a limited set of functions available on each card to keep things straightforward (say, dictate and tweet). Twitter pushes to Google’s servers, and Google pushes to Glass … As a system, it’s both highly flexible and strictly controlled”
It also means there’s no possibility of inserting adverts or charging for software, two other limits Google has revealed with this new blast of information. Again, the policies could well change by the time the commercial Glass is released, but for the moment any functionality served up for the developer models has to be free and barren of adverts. User data also cannot be sold or shared for advertising purposes.
On the one hand, Google’s stricter controls around Glass make perfect sense with its more tentative approach to wearable functionality. The company has a set of four new “User Interface Guidelines” for instance, which it expects developers to follow when they design for Glass. That includes considerations about not distracting or overloading users with data.
On the flip side, however, there’s a strong contrast between the relative free-for-all of the Android developer scene and the environment – at least initially – for Glass developers. Arguably that’s down to the greater potential for damage in user-experience should Glass apps go rogue: something that might be mildly frustrating on a smartphone could well be considered a deal-breaker on a device intended to be worn throughout the day.
It remains to be seen as to how strict in following its regulations Google will be, and the fact that the company has given itself permission to remotely deactivate Glass units doesn’t necessarily mean it will take advantage of that. Nonetheless, developers will have to be ready to toe the line if they don’t want to run the risk of having an expensive – but non-functional – geek tiara instead of a high-tech wearable computer.
Google painted the broad strokes of its Mirror API for Glass at SXSW in March, and now it’s released comprehensive documentation, replete with example code. Despite the fact that the application programming interface is still in a limited developer preview, you can dig in and read up on everything from location features to timeline cards. The cheeky devs in Mountain View also announced that they’ve named services for the spectacles “Glassware.” In case you missed the presentation in Austin, you can catch a handful of videos with Glass developer evangelist Timothy Jordan condensing the API basics. Hit the source link below to dive into the docs, and to download client libraries for the eyewear written in Dart, Go, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby and .NET.
The HTC One Developer Edition was announced last month, but there was no mention back then as to when this particular variant of the Taiwanese company’s flagship smartphone would be launched. Well, here is some good news for those who have been keeping a keen eye out for it – it seems that the HTC One Developer Edition would be shipping from April 19th, which happens to be the same day that both AT&T as well as Sprint will roll out the HTC One to the masses.
This bit of information was gleaned from an HTC spokesperson who was discussing the HTC One Developer Edition at this morning’s Facebook’s HTC First announcement event. Just how much will the HTC One Developer Edition cost? Well, we are looking at a $649 price tag, where it will be SIM and bootloader unlocked, and will feature open APIs to get you started right out of the box alongside 64GB of internal memory. No idea on the kind of color that the HTC One Developer Edition will arrive in, but I guess all will be revealed when April 19th rolls around.
Microsoft knows that many Mac-based developers still have to test in a Windows environment, whether it’s to check web rendering in Internet Explorer 10 or to port an iOS or Mac app to competing environments. The firm doesn’t want anyone hemming and hawing over how they cross that digital divide, so it’s launching a Windows QuickStart Kit in late April to make Windows testing a trivial affair. The USB drive bundle includes a full copy of Windows 8 Pro, virtual machine support through Parallels Desktop 8 and a set of porting labs to help with any app conversions. The lure may may as much about the cost as the convenience: outside of shipping, Microsoft is only asking for a $25 donation to Code.org, the Kahn Academy or Watsi.org. While code builders have to verify their credentials and race to buy from limited stock, the kit could still be one of the easiest (and most charitable) ways to go cross-platform.
What’s YouTube doing at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco? Talking about integration with video games, obviously. More specifically, the company is hoping to expand an idea we first noticed in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, whereby users could easily stream in-game content to YouTube. Clearly, the company worked in concert with Activision to make that possible, but forthcoming APIs will enable game developers far and wide to add the same functionality to other titles. Unfortunately, details remain murky regarding availability, but we are told that these new tools won’t be limited to just consoles — it sounds as if PC and mobile games will too be able to take advantage.
Many game developers will tell you that the PlayStation 3’s Cell processor was a real bear to support. What they can’t tell you: the PlayStation 4’s lead architect, Mark Cerny, was already thinking of a solution as far back as 2007. He just revealed to Gamasutra that he’d been researching x86-based processors for the PS4 merely a year after the PS3 launch, knowing that there were “some issues” with realizing the Cell’s potential. The new console’s unified memory and eight-core CPU were the ultimate results of Cerny’s talks with game creators shortly after he took the reins in 2008. We’ve already seen the shift in attitudes through a very developer-centric PlayStation Meeting, but Cerny wants to underscore just how different the PS4’s holiday launch should be versus what we remember from 2006 — even the first wave of PS4 games should benefit from a healthy toolset, he says. We’ll know his long-term planning paid off if the initial PS4 library shows the level of refinement that took years to manifest on the PS3.
Sure Barnes & Noble’s already promising you the ability to download the “most popular and bestselling top 100 app titles for tablets available anywhere,” but what happens when you want to buy something in those apps? Fear not, the bookstore-turned-hardware-maker will be bringing in-app purchases to its line of slates “soon,” thanks to a partnership with Nook developer Fortumo. That company’s bring single click payment to the Nook ecosystem and offering dashboards and analytics on consumer buying habits for developers. Thanks to the offering, B&N feels certain that, “thousands of the most-requested games and apps featuring in-app purchasing will be available for customers to experience on NOOK’s award-winning line of tablets” in the months to come.
One tweet can lead to a disastrous onslaught of consequences, as Adria Richards has recently found out. While attending the PyCon Technology Conference last week, she overheard two male developers behind her talking about “big dongles” and “forking someone’s repo”. She was offended by the jokes and she stated, “I was telling myself if they made one more sexual joke, I’d say something.”
However, Richards didn’t say “something” to the developers, but instead stated her opinions in the public land of Twitter. She decided that public shame would be the best route for the two developers behind her, so she snapped their pictures and tweeted, “Not cool. Jokes about forking repo’s in a sexual way and “big” dongles. Right behind me #pycon”. The two developers were escorted out of the conference, and one of the developers (the one on the left side of the picture) was fired from his position at PlayHaven.
While the two men may have been acting immaturely, Richards did no better by publicly shaming them. She should have confronted these men directly in order to achieve a more peaceful resolution, or she should have reported the incident directly to the staff (whom she said she was contacting through text messages). As many people and sites have said, public shaming should always be a last resort.
Richard’s tweets led to an online debate over sexism as well as privacy concerns. Many people have condemned her actions, while others stated that she did the right thing. The developer, who was fired, apologized for his comments, but also stated that a person like Richards, and her social following, should have been more responsible. He said, “As a result of the picture she took I was let go from my job today. Which sucks because I have 3 kids and I really liked that job.”
A group on Reddit has started a fund called the “Feminist Victims Fund” to help raise money for the fired developer. Anonymous threatened SendGrid and asked the startup to fire Richards for engaging in “malicious conduct to destroy another individual’s professional career”. To ensure the validity of the message, Anonymous launched a DDOS attack against SendGrid.
Shortly following the attack, SendGrid terminated Richard’s position, stating that her actions and the consequences that ensued caused her to “no longer be effective in her role at SendGrid”. This whole situation could have been handled more efficiently and peacefully, but instead it spiraled out of control and ended up backfiring for Richards.
Google has been eager to have programmers weave Google Drive sharing and syncing into their apps, but the coveted live collaboration has remained solely in Google’s domain. Until today, that is. The company has posted a Google Drive Realtime API that lets third-party apps integrate the same simultaneous collaboration as Google Drive, including important nuances like conflict resolution and presence. More enterprising coders can create custom objects beyond what Google offers on its own. A handful of companies are already using the Realtime API for apps that everyday users can try right away, such as Draw.io, Gantter and Neutron Drive; other developers just need to visit the source link to get started.
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The HTC One Developer Edition was 
