Project Catalyst: Apple explains how porting iPad apps to macOS works

Apple’s freshly minted Project Catalyst team has provided further details on how it’s managed to achieve iPad app porting to macOS.

The macOS store launched in 2011 but has failed to gain the traction of its iOS counterpart. To help fix this, Apple announced Project Catalyst at this year’s WWDC.

Project Catalyst aims to make it easy for developers to port their iPadOS apps to macOS Catalina. Apple claimed basic porting was as simple as opening their iPad...

By | 2 July 2019 | Apple

What developers need to know following Apple’s WWDC 17 keynote

Apple’s keynote at its annual WWDC event often leans towards consumer announcements, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for developers.

This year, the computing giant announced “the biggest software release ever” for iPad while also squeezing in a few iPhone features, improvements to macOS, a new product line in ‘HomePod’ which is somewhere between a Google Home competitor and Sonos rival, an interesting AR platform, and a machine learning...

By | 6 June 2017 | API

Opinion: For Nintendo, mobile is the path back to glory

(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/NoDerog)

Nintendo is known for family-friendly consoles and some beloved franchises, at least for those of us who grew up with the iconic brand. It has been through such franchises which Nintendo has offered unique experiences which were once guaranteed to ship consoles to gleeful fans.

But as Microsoft and Sony came to market with powerful new consoles - which pushed boundaries and wowed gamers of all ages - developers also...

By | 17 March 2015 | Gaming

Dear Apple, Open up or be left behind…

Four years ago, Steve Jobs announced iOS’ video-calling feature ‘FaceTime’ would become Open so applications can be built cross-platform for the benefit of everyone. iOS users can keep in touch with their contacts in the bigger market which is the Android ecosystem, and vice-versa.

iOS users are still limited to calling each other. Despite adding features like FaceTime Audio (shouldn’t that be VoiceTime?) we're without a way to get in touch with our...

By | 22 April 2014 | Apple

Apple’s developer outage (just as Play Store grows faster)

Apple’s developer website is experiencing an ongoing outage after a security breach which has caused a complete overhaul to be initiated, arriving just as Google announces hitting the same 50 billion app downloads milestone Apple recently celebrated – only a year quicker.

The outage occurred as of last Thursday according to the Cupertino giant’s maintenance page; although some sources appear to report a day earlier.

It appears – although unconfirmed...

By | 22 July 2013 | Android

Google graces Chrome 29 with WebRTC, releases Maps SDK 1.4 for iOS

Google, will you guys take a day off already?  The web services company has released updates to a couple of its products containing some fairly significant, potentially game-changing additions.

First up is the much-loved Chrome browser, now at version 29.

As of recently, the desktop release of the browser started sharing the same version as its “Chrome Beta” mobile counterpart found on Android.

Whilst still keeping some device-specific features, much...

By | 17 July 2013 | Android

How would iOS 7 beta 4 look with a different font?

Yesterday Apple unleashed iOS 7 Beta 3 - bringing with it a bolder Helvetica Neue font. Whilst still despised by many, it’s at least more readable than the previous iteration.

Someone suggested a change to a non print-orientated font such as ‘Myriad Pro’ which is exactly what I’ve mocked up...

The changes are subtle; this isn’t intended as an entirely new concept. In places you may have to squint to notice the differences, but in everyday use I...

By | 9 July 2013 | Apple

Digia releases Qt 5.1 of the (ex-Nokia) cross-platform framework

Last August, Finnish software and services firm Digia bought the cross-platform application framework “Qt” from Nokia.

Today version 5.1 is being released bringing many significant improvements, most notably preliminary support for Android and iOS.

Support for both of the world’s most popular mobile operating systems is considered a “technology preview” which can preliminarily port apps between OS’s using the same code base. Although the...

By | 5 July 2013 | Android

Got an awesome startup? Register for “Million Pound Startup”

The Million Pound Startup is an international competition for all the entrepreneurs out there (of any industry) who can register for free – instantly promoting your business or idea – and be in for the running of winning a million pounds.

Worth a go, surely?

 

Whilst usually these kinds of contests head straight to my delete folder, the backing of some high-profile names took my intrigue. Opening the website presented a very visual look at all the...

By | 4 July 2013 | Advertising

Special Effect interview: Apps and hardware changing lives

Yesterday I tested an innovative new Android application named “Twilight” which changes the brightness of your screen dependant on the time of day, slowly adding a soft red filter until night-time to remove the blue light which keeps you awake.

As someone who regularly struggles to sleep; this morning I wanted to write a piece on how it could potentially “change my life” before realising how in the scheme of things, it’s so very...

By | 12 June 2013 | Android