AI is the next frontier in smartphones, and Google plans to lead the charge with a dedicated Neural Networks API in the latest Android developer preview.
The new API was first announced back in May and promises to enable developers to take advantage of a ‘lite’ version of TensorFlow — Google’s open source machine intelligence software library.
“TensorFlow Lite will leverage a...
A survey of more than 600 mobile developers recently conducted by Evans Data shows that augmented reality (AR) is currently being incorporated in some form into apps from 44% of mobile developers, whereas the other 30% are assessing or testing the technology in their piloting and prototyping projects.
The survey reveals 35.3% of the developers citing lack of awareness of the potential of AR among the general public as a major challenge, while 25% stating the same lack of awareness within their...
Xamarin, the Microsoft-owned cross-platform development software provider, has announced the launch of a new mobile certification program.
The Certified Mobile Professional qualification comes through the company’s Xamarin University, which offers tutorials and learning on a variety of operating systems and languages, including Android, iOS, and C#.
Naturally, these courses are not entirely altruistic. Xamarin’s platform – and indeed its mission – are based around C#, with the...
Google has introduced a new certification programme for mobile web developers which will allow them to demonstrate their skills to create responsive and flexible web applications.
The course, titled ‘Mobile Web Specialist Certification’ is part of the company’s existing certification programmes for Android developers, cloud architects and data engineers.
In order to earn the certification, developers have to take an open book examination that costs $99. They have to go through a number of...
Taking some of the limelight away from Google’s ARCore announcement, Apple has provided guidelines to developers building ARKit experiences.
ARKit is Apple’s new augmented reality framework introduced as part of iOS 11. It combines device motion tracking, camera scene capture, advanced scene processing, and display conveniences to simplify the task of building an AR experience.
The AR guidelines include five main sections:
Designing an Engaging Experience
Entering Augmented Reality
Placing...
Python has topped the charts as the top programming language of 2017, according to the latest ranking from IEEE Spectrum.
The language, which continues to grow in popularity having been one of the highest risers in the most recent Stack Overflow survey, got the benchmark score of 100, with C (99.7), Java (99.5) and C++ (97.1) trailing close behind. C#, R, JavaScript, PHP, Go, and Swift completed the top...
The breakthrough technologies consumers are most excited about have been revealed in new research – providing an indication of what is set to be the next big thing.
Online smartphone retailer, Mobiles.co.uk, charted the sharp increase in demand for VR, AR, and AI. The firm also studied how the latest technological advancements are shaping the capabilities of tomorrow’s smartphones.
In the past 12 months, the company noted an increase from UK customers in:
Virtual reality (up 300%)
Artificial intelligence (up 56%)
Augmented reality (up 25%)
Curved screens (up...
Embrace.io has announced it has raised $2.5 million in seed funding to help bolster its ‘first platform to provide performance feedback for mobile’ offering.
The round was led by a group of investors led by Eniac Ventures and comprises The Chernin Group, Techstars Ventures (TSV), BoxGroup, Walter Driver, co-founder and CEO of Scopely, Tikhon Bernstam, founder of Scribd and Parse, the founders of Burstly / Testflight, and executives from MoPub.
The company claims that for developers it is the only...
Google has announced the launch of a new certification programme for mobile site developers to prove their worth.
The new exam covers various aspects of mobile website development from the basics of why mobile-optimised sites matter, all the way to methods of improving mobile site speed, the importance of optimal UX design, and topics such as progressive web apps.
Passing the exam allows you to promote yourself with the honour of being a Google accredited mobile site developer who has “demonstrated...
O2 in the Czech Republic has launched the Liberty API project which aims to provide developers with access to some of the mobile operator’s data.
"At O2 we have a variety of unique systems built upon our data sources. Through open APIs to become a skilled partner for developers to create new products and solutions," describes Petr Holeček, manager of internal innovation center O2.
Two APIs will be offered as part of the pilot – the Mobility API, and the Socio-demo API. The former will...
(Image Credit: Radar)
New startup Radar has decided location is a long-overlooked problem and requires a solution to unlock its full potential.
There are tried-and-trusted solutions for most developer problems today. If you want communications in your app, Twilio can put you in touch. If you need to handle payments, Swipe can put that through for you. For location, Radar’s CEO argues, there’s not been such a solution.
“We’re ten years into the smartphone era, but building...
(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/AdrianHancu)
Microsoft has long envisioned a Windows for developers to focus on building great software and forget about the form on which they'll run. Each update for Windows 10 on desktop, mobile, and Xbox has brought this vision closer to reality, but the next step is a truly common shell.
This is all part of the "One Windows" concept. Windows 10 devices...
(Image Credit: Ford)
A consortium established by Ford and Toyota called SmartDeviceLink hopes to bring various automakers together with OEMs of third-party devices in order to standardise app development for vehicles.
SmartDeviceLink will enable consumers to access their smartphone apps – regardless of platform – and interact with them using voice and in-vehicle displays. The support of automakers enables SmartDeviceLink to be integrated with...
(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/AdrianHancu)
With market share now sitting below one percent, it's safe to say most people have discredited Windows Phone. During the 2016 WinHEC conference, however, Microsoft announced its work on a significant advancement which could revive the platform, or at least give a boost to other Windows 10-based mobile devices.
The biggest complaint users have with Windows Phone is...
(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/Nancy Nehring)
Google has warned developers the next Play Services update will increase the minimum supported API level to 14, which means Android versions 'Gingerbread' and 'Honeycomb' will no longer be supported.
Once an app is published to the Play Store, with this new minimum requirement, the minority of users still on legacy platforms will no longer see the app or its...
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Mobile game developer Unity Technologies and Chinese Android device manufacturer Xiaomi has signed a partnership agreement to serve consumers and developers globally. With this collaboration, Unity game developers will be able to publish their games to the Xiaomi app store and Xiaomi will provide support negotiating with local licensing terms.
China already accounts for more than a quarter of the new mobile devices activated on the Unity network every quarter and Xiaomi devices, the...
(Image Credit: Nintendo)
Mobile gaming leaves a lot to be desired in terms of performance and graphical fidelity when compared to more powerful consoles, but that gap is closing fast with today's mobile GPUs already offering more power than last-generation consoles.
The Nintendo Switch is set to arrive in the first half of 2017, and...
Picture credit: "HTML5 Logo On Screen", by "David Martyn Hunt", used under CC BY / Modified from original
Big Viking Games, a Canada-based independent mobile and self-published game studio and pioneer in HTML5 mobile games, has secured a total of $21.75 million (£17.4m) in funding from Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Export Development Canada (EDC) and BDC Capital.
The...
(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/a-wrangler)
It's been a long time coming, but Google has finally ended official support for Eclipse ADT (Android Developer Tools) in favour of their dedicated Android Studio IDE.
Google first announced it would end support for Eclipse ADT back in 2005 and warned developers to make the switch to Android Studio before the end of the year. Over a year later, Google kept up support for Eclipse ADT,...
