[ Developer] Last year, Amazon introduced AppStream a good way to help developers deliver applications to consumers in the course of the cloud. The proposed benefit was that developers could deliver applications to consumers no matter their hardware due to the appliance running on cloud servers. It’s been in beta because it was announced, but now it’s finally ready. Amazon announced this morning that AppStream is finally out of beta and available to all developers. Going forward, developers would be ready to utilize Amazon Web Services to host applications at the cloud which are then streamed to consumer devices. AppStream can be utilized for nearly anything as Amazon can stream applications off of a desktop PC or a mobile device running FireOS, Android or iOS. With the general public release, Amazon has also added some new features to AppStream: Automated Version Resolution – AppStream now detects the SDK version that was used to create a shopper and launches compatible backend services automatically. This permits AppStream... Read More »

[ Developer] According to Google, you’ll be able to rarely ever have to run microbenchmarks. Still, some developers will find it useful once they see if a bit of code they’re engaged on is actually worth it. While there are tools available to run microbenchmarks, Google thought it’d be a good suggestion to make its own. Google announced today that it has created a brand new microbenchmarking tool called benchmark. The tool is built on a C++ library and was inspired by googletest. The tool “supports value- and sort-parameterized benchmarks, various options for running the benchmarks including multithreading, and custom report generation.” While benchmark is predicated on googletest, Google notes that there’s a major difference between both. In benchmark, benchmarks aren’t automatically discovered like they’re in googletest. This isn’t a foul thing though as Google notes the dearth of automatic discovery “allows greater flexibility in relation to how benchmarks are run, and the parameters which can be utilized by the benchmark.” Here’s what benchmark seems... Read More »

[ Developer] Since its inception, the Chrome Web Store have been a good spot for developers to market and sell Chrome apps. The choices available to developers were always just a little slim though. Starting today, Google is fixing that. Google announced today that Chrome Web Store is getting new monetization options, including in-app payment support. These new options are along with new publishing options rolling out today that Google says should help developers focus more on making great content and fewer on overhead. Starting with monetization, Google says that extensions can now be monetized either through up-front sales or subscription fees. Developers may also earn a living through in-app payments. Speaking of which, in-app payments were added as another monetization option for packaged apps. Themes have also been added to the list of Chrome Web Store items that may be monetized, but you could only offer them as paid up-front items. Needless to say, this only is smart as you can’t really offer a... Read More »

[ Developer] New Android versions are always a cause for celebration as Google works some interesting new features into its mobile OS. Similarly, updates to Google Play Service must be met with an analogous sort of enthusiasm as Android app developers get more features to mess around with. Google announced this week that Google Play Services 4.1 is now rolling out to users. It includes a necessary update to Android games while also adding in support for some oft-requested features. First up, Google Play Games now supports turn-based multiplayer. While real-time multiplayer is usually better fitted to shooters and racing games, turn-based multiplayer is a must for RPGs and other games that require asynchronous multiplayer. With this latest update, Google Play Games will support turn-based multiplayer for as much as eight players. Additionally, each player’s turn data can be automatically uploaded to Google Play servers and distributed a number of the other players automatically. If you are making non-game apps for Android, you’ll be pleased... Read More »

[ Developer] If that you have to be secure on the net, it’s best that you simply keep your entire extensions upgraded. Flash Player is not any exception as its does occasionally fall to zero day attacks and other exploits. While continuously upgrading to the newest version is the perfect plan of action, that’s not exactly feasible in an enterprise environment. That’s where Flash Player extend support is available in. Adobe announced on Wednesday that Flash Player extended support shall be upgrading from version 11.7 to version 13 on May 13. On that day, enterprise and IT customers who use extended support releases will find version 13 on Adobe’s distribution channel. So, what’s the advantage of using the extended support release? Rather than having to evolve to new features with every generation, extended support versions of Flash Player don’t include any new features of bug fixes. These releases focus exclusively on security fixes so enterprise customers can ensure each of the computers on their network... Read More »