25
May
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Google To Cease Payment To Argentine Developers, Pull Apps Due To Economic, Governmental Issues

Posted by in Applications, Development, Google

Google, citing "ongoing challenges," will be ending the distribution of paid apps from Argentina in the Play Store effective June 27th, "at which point the apps will be unpublished."

Google's official statement on the issue (published on its Developer Support site) doesn't go into too much detail regarding the "ongoing challenges" involved in distributing paid apps from Argentina, and an email sent to developers (reported by Celularis) doesn't offer any more information, though both suggest that Argentine developers who are legally able to do business in another country transfer their applications to a merchant account registered in that country.

24
May
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Google Creates Dedicated Developer Page For Glass System Images And Kernels - XE5 Image And Pre-Rooted Bootloader Already Posted

Posted by in Development, Glass, Google, News

Shhhh. Listen closely. Do you hear that? It's the sound of thousands of developers and modders salivating. Though the system images for Google Glass have been available for some time (thanks in no small part to this humble establishment), Google has decided to take the guesswork out of backups and modifications for their wearable tech. The Google Developers website has a brand new Downloads section for Glass, complete with the latest factory image (XE5) and a bootloader. The latter even comes pre-rooted - because Google knows its audience.

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Google has also posted the source code for the current Glass kernel to its corporate Git hub, GoogleSource.com.

20
May
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Samsung Launches Smart App Challenge 2013 For The Galaxy S4 And Chord SDK: $800,000 In Total Prizes, $200,000 For First Place

Posted by in Development, Galaxy S4, News, Samsung

Well hi-diddly ho there, aspiring app developer! Has the life of a recent CompSci grad got you down? Does the world of independent mobile app programming leave something to be desired in the area of, say, ostentatious sports cars and penthouse apartments? Samsung would like to help you out with their Smart App Challenge 2013. A cool $800,000 has been reserved for the makers of ten winning apps, with 200,000 American greenbacks going to the top entrant. But don't start up your IDE just yet.

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In order to qualify for any of the prizes, the apps will need to take advantage of the Chord SDK, Samsung's multi-device connection and syncing system built on the ZeroMQ library.

16
May
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[Google I/O] 53-Minute Android Developer Tools Session Video Shows Everything You Want To Know About Android Studio IDE

Posted by in Android OS, Development, News

Yesterday Google launched an early access preview of Android Studio, an integrated development environment (IDE) for Android based on IntelliJ IDEA. This one-stop shop for coding, compiling, and testing includes all the standard Android SDK tools, plus build support, quick fixes, tools to catch major coding flaws, and a preview window. The Android Developer Tools session at Google I/O went into massive detail on the new project. The 53-minute session is embedded below, in case you couldn't make it.

One of the cooler features of Android Studio is the multitalented preview window, which shows your code running on mock-ups of most of the standard Nexus devices in a real-time layout.

16
May
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Pebble SmartWatch SDK Updated With Two-Way Communication For Watch Apps

Posted by in Accessories, Development, News

In our review of the Pebble SmartWatch, we only had two complaints about the software: a lack of apps, and a lack of utility. The second point stems from the fact that the Pebble can only receive alerts from your phone, and it can't send information back. Both issues have now been addressed by the Pebble SDK. Developers have been cranking away on watch apps for some time, but the latest SDK update adds AppMessage, a method of implementing bi-directional communication for Pebble. Translation: your watch can now tell your phone to do stuff.

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Of course, support for this feature will require Android app developers to either bake it into their existing apps, or create a bridge application, plus the official Pebble app.

15
May
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[I/O 2013] Google Gives Developers A 'Better Distribution Experience' In Revised Play Store Console Coming 'This Summer'

Posted by in Applications, Development, News

Between Hangouts, the gorgeous new Maps, Play Music All Access, and everything else discussed in I/O's opening keynote this morning, several revisions to the Play Store developer's console were announced.

Perhaps the most interesting addition to the console will be an organized method for alpha and beta testing, and staged rollouts.  Basically, developers can select alpha and beta testers, receiving all feedback directly (instead of through reviews) and, when the time comes, roll out the app to certain percentages of the user base.

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The changes also include a major help in ensuring your apps make sense to international users – a full translation service by which developers can order specific translations, come back a week or so later, and download the translations directly from the console.

13
May
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All Developers Can Now Reply Directly To App Reviews In The Google Play Store

Posted by in Google, News

If you've spent as much time on the Google Play Store as I have, you begin to recognize a pattern: developers asking (and sometimes begging) users to email them directly with complaints or bugs, because they can't reply to that snarky review left in lieu of a bug report. After years and years of frustration for devs who just want to make their apps better, Google has finally rolled out a direct reply feature. Developers, you can now reply to user reviews using your developer console.

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This has been a long time coming. A number of developers had been included in the testing program for the better part of a year, and rumors of a wide rollout have been circulating for a while.

01
May
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Google Updates Platform Distribution Numbers – Gingerbread Down To 38.5%, Jelly Bean Up To 28.4%

Posted by in Android OS, Development, Google, News

As usual Google has updated monthly platform distribution numbers for Android in its developer dashboard. The numbers, based on devices accessing the Play Store over the last 14 days (ending May 1st), tell developers which versions of Android are most prevalent, and which are on the decline.

This month, as last month, we're seeing a decline in Gingerbread and a rise in Jelly Bean. Gingerbread has dropped from 39.8% to 38.5%, a 1.3% drop for those keeping tally at home. Jelly Bean, meanwhile, has seen a slightly more substantial shift, rising 3.4% from 25% to 28.4%.

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Elsewhere, the ebb and flow of version numbers is more or less expected.

30
Apr
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Full Google I/O 2013 Agenda Goes Live - 120+ Sessions And Labs, But Only A Single Keynote This Time Around

Posted by in Development, Google, News

Google just updated the sold out I/O 2013 conference website with the full schedule developers have been dying to see for months, ever since the initial announcement back in February. During the three days in mid-May (May 15-17), the company's engineers will host over 120 talks on such topics as:

  • Android
  • Chrome & Apps
  • Google+
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Maps
  • YouTube
  • Glass
  • Ads
  • Wallet
  • Knowledge & Structured Data
  • and other tech subjects

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On day 3, developers will also be able to participate in Code Labs on the topics of Android, Google+, Chrome & Apps, Google Cloud Platform, and YouTube.

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The full agenda of everything (not just code labs and tech talks) that's going to be happening is live as well.

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