(Image Credit: ©iStock.com/hocus-focus)
In an article about MoonPig's API, which was inexcusably left unfixed for 17 months, we suggested some tools which can help ensure code is secure. After ensuring the data of your customers is safe, the next step is to make sure your app is performing as well as it...
(Image Credit: ©iStock.com/Tsekhmister)
Security breaches are frequent news, but fixes are often implemented with due haste to prevent data loss and protect customers. Paul Price, a security researcher, alerted MoonPig to a flaw in its API which allowed hackers to see payment information and view addresses. This fault was left unfixed for 17 months, and could be...
Android 5.0, or 'Lollipop' if you prefer, is Google's biggest update yet. The latest version of the world's most-popular mobile OS ships with a whole host of new features and a radical redesign from Matías Duarte which Google wants to be adopted across the web, mobile, and desktop.
Yesterday, the Mountain View-based giant released 20 new code samples which aim to show developers how the new additions can be implemented in their own apps...
The samples can be...
A study sponsored by enterprise mobility company Kony has highlighted the biggest pain points in the app development process. It reveals the friction between designers and developers often leads to a less-than-optimal UX, and has been found to be why 50% of respondents report their projects were failed to be approved.
Designers say that working with developers is a pain as it seems their guidance is often ignored
The survey takes into account more than 340 respondents across leading global...
Around a year and a half ago, popular game development tool Unity promised to change how user interfaces are created. With the release of 4.6, developers can now ease the painful task of creating UI with a powerful built-in solution which removes the need to use workarounds to achieve what you need.
Unity’s animation system provides support for aspects like bouncing buttons and things which fly into view.
Unity is a WYSIWYG-style creation engine which – up to most solutions – is simple in...
With all the hype about cloud-based data hosting and the variety of options available, some developers may find it surprising that we’ve never put a single data bit in a cloud server. These days our approach may seem a little anachronistic, after all, surely the cloud is essential to scaling a modern business?
There are several reasons why we've never taken the leap into the cloud:
Over the past decade, mobile devices have been getting smaller in every dimension (no #Bendgate jokes here...) Unfortunately, we also want to get more done on the move at the same time. As capabilities have increased, due to faster mobile networks and hardware innovations, the potential to do more is there - but it often requires a bigger screen.
The extra real estate allows for more immersive content, and more detailed information.
Even Apple, who was once adamant against larger screens, has seen the light...
Visual Studio is one of the most powerful IDEs available, and the 2013 edition alone has seen over seven million downloads in just the last year. It’s a beloved tool in a Windows developer’s arsenal, and now Microsoft is opening it up to support the targeting of any platform with the “Visual Studio Community 2013” edition.
To assist developers with this goal, the .NET core stack is also being made open-source so that it can be run on Linux and...
As the app market matures, developers need to begin thinking about porting their apps across multiple platforms to increase their audience size as much as possible. But, developing an app for each different mobile platform is insanely time consuming and requires knowledge of a wide variety of different programming languages. Luckily, cross-platform development tools have emerged to help developers carry some of the burden.
Check out six of the most popular cross-platform tools...
Parse, the Facebook-owned mobile app platform, has added a new feature to their roster today called 'Push Experiments' which allows developers to test different versions of their push campaigns and use analytics to monitor users' engagement with them.
You could send one message today - and the other tomorrow - to see which performs better, but the problem with this approach is...
According to Microsoft, their Windows Phone Store now features more than 300,000 apps and games as of late last week. Two months ago, that number stood at 255,000 apps. A month later, 270,000. The interesting aspect of this milestone, as Softpedia also notes, is not so much the number of apps, but the rate in which they were added:
Windows Phone apps generally received much higher ratings.
This milestone is much more important...
The recent European Day of Languages and International Day of Translation both celebrate the importance of language. These internationally observed days encourage a deeper appreciation for the increasingly interconnected global village we live in and offer greater insight into how we communicate within it.
This focus on localisation is increasingly important as we collaborate across borders on a daily basis. Organisations try to reach as many existing and prospective users as possible and must, therefore,...
AppCompat is an API library from Google which allows older versions of Android to be compatible with the latest "Material Design" elements of the world's most popular OS. The library has been updated to v21 in the Android 5.0 SDK, which was released last Friday, and means you can start designing alongside Google's new guidelines and bring it to your current users.
Theming
Google's new design takes away from distracting, non-essential elements. The "action bar" - which runs across the top of the...
A new build of the Windows 10 technical preview was pushed earlier today which contains fixes to issues in the previous version, and introduces new anticipated features such as an "unpolished" version of its notification center.
But it's perhaps what Microsoft hasn't announced as a feature yet which is most interesting. In a deep-dive of the API changes between this version (
Recently, a fresh round of exciting wearables has been announced or shipped by large device manufacturers such as Apple, Motorola, LG, and Samsung. These gadgets present brand-new opportunities for developers to expand beyond their existing apps, and create user experiences which can have a tremendous impact...
Previously, during evening walks with my wife, every single notification from my mobile device resulted in a reach into my pocket, a flip open of the folio,...
(Image Credit: Zach Inglis)
Android, as well all know, is a mobile OS which now powers the biggest percentage of smartphones in the world. Part of its rapid-growth is due to Google's embrace of open-source software and technologies, allowing the web giant to remain on the cutting-edge of the latest innovations.
Percolate is a software company...
If you're a developer of applications which use Twitter's API, you'll be aware of the ecosystem crackdown which Andreessen Horowitz partner Chris Dixon said at the time was like “a drunk guy with an Uzi.”
Twitter is like a drunk guy with an uzi killing partners left and right. Expect investment in ecosystem to drop significantly.
— Chris Dixon (@cdixon) May 24, 2010Dixon wasn't wrong, either. The "token limit" imposed...
There are some features which were available in previous builds – and even shown on-stage at the enterprise-focused event earlier this week – which didn't make the Technical Preview of Windows 10 this week. In this article, we will take a look at those missing features…
Before we begin, we must remind readers the aim of the preview is to allow users to shape the ongoing development before the final version launches next year. We speculate Microsoft will release each “big” feature at...
(Image Credit: Nils Geylen)
We don't even have its name yet, but we do have some idea of what to expect from the successor of the often-criticised Windows 8. Microsoft's new CEO, Satya Nadella, was quoted as saying the company needs to be "obsessive over customers" which is an ethos that appears to have hit its mark going by the rapid changes we are witnessing.
Had these users been able to help shape the OS before it launched; it wouldn't have had such a bad...
You can't be a web giant as big as Google and be responsible for so much user data without running into a legal issue here and there. The company has already come under-fire for how it has implemented the "right to be forgotten" ruling, and has been asked to stop describing apps with in-app purchases as being free.
Now the Mountain View-based giant is coming under fire from the EU for how user data is combined across services without an opt-out. For example, your data is used across Gmail, YouTube, and Google...