The modern software development warzone is clearly the mobile device. Microsoft’s acquisition of Xamarin, is a clear sign that that company intends to continue apace with its cross-platform mobile strategy, and also signals that other mobile platforms are just as important to Microsoft as its own largely failed mobile OS. Xamarin’s sweet spot has been … continue reading
Amazon has announced that Amazon Lumberyard, a free, cross-platform 3D game engine for developers, is available to download in beta for PC and console developers. (Mobile and VR versions are coming soon.) Non-technical game developers can add cloud-connected features to a game through a drag-and-drop GUI, and other game developers can connect their games to … continue reading
Super Bowl 50 has come to a close, so it’s time for a recap of the big game from a website performance perspective. Did Super Bowl 50 websites and advertisers stand up to the test this year, or were there some major fumbles? Dynatrace, an application management software company, was monitoring advertisers’ websites leading up … continue reading
Facebook announced yesterday that it is closing the Parse service, and it will be fully retired on Jan. 28, 2017. Parse is Facebook’s mobile development platform, but the company will be focusing its resources elsewhere, according to the Parse blog. To help with this transition, Parse is releasing a database migration tool that lets developers … continue reading
Over the past couple of years, mobile has become a big part of companies’ business strategies, and according to a recent report, it’s starting to pay off. Red Hat has released its mobile maturity survey, which revealed that 74% of IT decision-makers who are using key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure their mobile app success … continue reading
The smartphone reached eight years old in 2015, and looking at the app stores on iOS and Android, it’s becoming clear that these devices are replacing desktops. From Microsoft Office reaching both platforms, to Apple’s introduction of the professional-grade iPad, smart devices became first-class work citizens. And that’s not surprising, considering the trajectory of these … continue reading
With mobile, agile, Continuous Delivery and DevOps becoming more popular, testing needed to catch up in 2015. Testers evolved this past year from working solo in silos, to joining developers to deliver code faster. Testers have become key components in the world of agile over the year, and they have been trying to maintain the … continue reading
The way that large enterprises extend existing functionality into mobile apps must change the way they think about and manage the development process. Consider for a minute Yelp’s mobile app and the one your bank has offered you. On the surface, both apps seem to obsess over ease of use and having visually appealing interfaces. … continue reading
A majority of developers are reporting that accessing data is becoming their No. 1 problem for building mobile apps. In Appcelerator’s annual Mobile Trends Report (conducted by IDC), 72.4% of respondents reported that data is becoming a huge bottleneck for mobile development. About 40% of respondents reported spending a quarter to a half of their … continue reading
An early preview of Google’s new Android Emulator is available for developers to try out. The emulator will be a part of Android Studio 2.0, and it aims to help developers test out their apps. The emulator allows users to test their apps with the latest Android versions on different screen sizes and configurations beyond … continue reading
A new project on OpenJDK was released today, and its focus will be on porting the JDK to mobile platforms like Android, iOS and Windows 10. (Related: What’s new in JDK 9) The Mobile Project team wants to support enhancements and integrate them into a future release of JDK 9. Those enhancements are: JDK 9-based … continue reading
2016 is a stake-in-the-ground year in the age of the customer, a 20-year business cycle in which the most successful enterprises will reinvent themselves to systematically understand and serve increasingly powerful customers. Customer-obsessed leaders will see tangible business growth from their strategy shift, while laggards will spiral down the slow path of mediocrity. Firms’ insatiable … continue reading
