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Oct

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) SDK and ADT 14 Released

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Developers, start your engines. Fresh Ice Cream Sandwich versions of the SDK and ADT have been released. There is a ton of new stuff to learn and play with. For starters, take a look at the 4.0 platform page here, download the 4.0 SDK here, and instructions for ADT 14 are over here.

I think I could write a book on all the new things in ICS, but here are the highlights for developers:

Unified UI framework for phones, tablets, and more - All the UI elements from Honeycomb, like the action bar and fragments.

Communication and sharing - "Applications can integrate contacts, profile data, and calendar events from any of the user’s activities or social networks." There are new APIs for Contacts, Calendar, and Visual Voicemail.

Oct

Google TV SDK Goes Final, Start Coding!

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Development, Google TV, News

Hey GTV fans: Fantastic news! The final version of the Google TV SDK went live today - Google TV is still alive! This is a follow up to the preview build released in August.

Apparently, the differences between this and the preview version are pretty minor: by popular demand, the Action Bar now renders horizontally (like tablets), and there are additional on-screen quick access keys, like picture-in-picture, fast forward, and channel buttons.

The finalization of the SDK means it's time for developers to really get cracking. So fire up your Linux box, grab the add-on from the SDK Manager, and get to work!

Sep

Aviary Announces New SDK Enabling Developers To Embed Advanced Photo Editing Into Their Apps

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Development, News

Aviary, developer of a bounty of online creative tools, has just announced its latest venture into the iOS and Android mobile platforms: a new SDK that allows developers to embed Aviary's advanced photo editing tools into their apps. The SDK allows the developer to choose which editing features to include, and takes "just minutes to implement."

Some of the editing features the SDK offers include:

Auto-Enhance
Crop, Flip, Rotate
Sharpen and Blur
Redeye Removal
Teeth Whitening and Blemish Removal
Adjust Colors and Saturation
Adjust Brightness and Contrast

Other options such as text, stickers, drawing, and a meme generator are also present.

Sep

[Updated: Here Are The Winners] Book Giveaway #9: Five Readers Will Learn To Create Apps With The Android SDK Using The Android Developer's Cookbook

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Contests / Giveaways, Development

Last Updated: September 25th, 2011

Once again, we're teaming up with informIT to give away yet another book. This time around, it's perhaps what you'd call a higher-level book that might be especially useful to those familiar with developing, though it's still accessible to those just starting out. The book: Android Developer's Cookbook: Building Applications with the Android SDK.

The Book

Written by James Steele and Nelson To and published in October, 2010, the book spans a whopping 400 pages. It's available in both eBook and print for $25.59 (or $24.34 on Amazon) and $31.99, respectively - or $43.19 for both.

Want to get started building applications for Android, the world’s hottest, fast-growing mobile platform?

Sep

Parrot's AR.Drone Controller App Finally Released To Market, Special SDK Available Too

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Remember back in May of last year when we reported on the AR.Drone at Google I/O? The Drone is no doubt an impressive gadget, and even more impressive is the fact that it can be controlled via an app for your Android handset.

The makers of the AR.Drone have finally released the Drone's controller app to the market (for free), simultaneously with a special SDK allowing users to "create new applications dedicated to the AR.Drone on the Android platform."

The app connects to the quadricopter via Wi-Fi and allows complete control of the peripheral right from the screen of your device.

Aug

HTC Officially Opens Doors At HTCDev.com With The OpenSense Framework - Stereoscopic 3D And Pen SDKs Now Serving

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, HTC, News

The HTC dev site, HTCDev.com, announced in early June, opened its doors a few minutes ago to welcome developers from all over the globe into the wonderful world of what HTC is calling OpenSense. OpenSense is a collection of APIs, which currently includes Stereoscopic 3D, Pen, and Common Controls. Developers can download the OpenSense SDK, and view sample code together with handy API docs.

In addition to the OpenSense framework, HTCDev.com is also a new home for all HTC kernel source and ROM update downloads, various FAQs, and, probably the most interesting bit - the Bootloader Unlock tool (coming soon).

Jul

Google Releases Android 3.2 SDK With Compatibility Zoom And Media Sync From SD Cards

Posted by John Thompson in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Following the Android 3.2 update that began rolling out to Wi-Fi Xoom models a few days ago, Google has now released the Android 3.2 SDK into the wild, adding a number of new features whilst bumping the API level from 12 to 13 following the introduction of some API changes.

The most noticeable changes to Honeycomb in this update include:

Optimizations for a wider range of tablets
Compatibility zoom for fixed size apps, which provides a pixel-scaled alternative to the standard UI stretching for apps that are not designed to run on larger screen sizes
Media sync from SD cards, allowing users to load media directly from an SD card to applications which use them

The new platform can be downloading using the Android SDK Manager, so if you're a developer then get going!

Jun

HTC Launches HTCDev.com, Announces OpenSense SDK With Scribe Tablet Pen And Stereoscopic 3D APIs

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, HTC, News

In another step toward becoming one of the most dev-friendly Android manufacturers, HTC today launched HTCdev.com, a website "dedicated to providing you with the tools, advice, and community you need to pursue the possibilities."

The vast majority of the site's content has to do with the OpenSense SDK, which should be launching... sometime in the future (though you can sign up for emails about it now). HTC doesn't go into details about what it does, stating only that it will allow developers to write applications better integrated into Sense UI. Specifically, HTC notes that devs will be able to access a "Tablet pen API" for the Flyer/View 4G as well as a "Stereoscopic 3D display API" for the EVO 3D.

May

Google Releases Android 3.1 SDK, Introduces API Level 12 And SDK Tools Revision 11

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Google didn't leave us waiting long for the Android 3.1 SDK; hot on the heels of this morning's unveiling, the software development kit for the latest version of Honeycomb has landed. With it comes a boatload of new APIs (no wonder the API level is now 12) - most notably resizable widgets, improved animation frameworks, and, last but certainly not least, a host of options for interacting with USB devices. In fact, the last item is perhaps the most important, as it will allow users to connect a wide variety of USB accessories to their tablet and interface with them easily.

Feb

Google Releases Final Honeycomb SDK, SDK Tools r10, And ADT Plugin 10.0.0

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

It's definitely an exciting day for Android developers - first, Motorola confirmed that their XOOM tablet will be open for development, and now the the final Android 3.0 SDK is available. Additionally, the SDK tools and ADT plugin have been updated to versions r10 and 10.0.0, respectively, with the following improvements and additions:

UI Builder improvements in the ADT Plugin:
New Palette with categories and rendering previews. (details)

More accurate rendering of layouts to more faithfully reflect how the layout will look on devices, including rendering status and title bars to more accurately reflect screen space actually available to applications.