Posted 10/27/09 at 12:43:36 PM by Paul Lilly

Do you smell something cooking in the Android SDK? That's Android 2.0, otherwise known as Eclair, which is now supported in the software development kit. That's great news for Android developers, who now have new APIs to play with for sync, Bluetooth, a revamped graphics architecture with better hardware acceleration, and a few other goodies. 

The highly anticipated Android update also includes Exchange support, better contact management, search functionality for all saved SMS and MMS messages, a much improved camera with built-in flash support, digital zoom, white balance, color effect, scene mode, and macro focus, an improved virtual keyboard, multi-touch support, better browser controls, and a whole lot more.

An interesting side note to all of this is whether or not Android 2.0 will be made available on T-Mobile's G1 device. While we haven't heard anything official other than a sketchy statement by T-Mobile, there's been some rumblings that the G1's meager amount of internal memory may not be enough to accommodate an Android 2.0 installation. Cross your fingers, G1 owners, or take matters into your own hands and hack your handset.

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Posted 09/16/09 at 08:56:59 AM by Paul Lilly

G1 and other Android device owners have been devouring the open source OS's "Cupcake" update since May, but it will soon be time to sample Google's "Donut" release.

Otherwise known as Android 1.6, Google today launched its Donut update to developers sprinkled with a sweet sampling of new features, including CDMA support. While this doesn't directly affect T-Mobile G1 and myTouch 3G owners, CDMA support paves the way for Verizon, Sprint, and Virgin Mobile to release Android-based devices, which would increase the Android userbase and potentially lead to even more developer support. As it stands, the Android Market already boasts around 10,000 apps.

Android 1.6 also supports higher resolutions up to 800x480. Other changes include UI improvements, such as a "Quick Search" box now prominently displayed on home screen giving users the ability to scour the web, bookmarks, history, and contacts all in one shot; a new battery usage monitor, which also keeps track of which apps are hogging up CPU and RAM resources; and Android Market improvements complete with a minor face lift.

Less obvious enhancements include a new kernel, support for custom gestures within apps, and a bunch of APIs.

Right now only developers get to have all the fun, but look for the tasty update to start rolling out sometime in October.

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Posted 08/25/09 at 09:54:06 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Feature phones still lead smartphones by a country light-year in the global cell phone market. Their preponderance comes form their popularity in emerging markets. While a lot of the modern feature phones possess decent internet capabilities, they lack dedicated online application marketplaces.

Microsoft has launched OneApp, a cross platform app store, to deliver apps to the wide gamut of feature phones in emerging markets. Considering the limited hardware resources associated with most feature phones, the apps will be built using web development technologies like Javascript and XML, allowing them to be compatible with “70-80 percent” of all feature phones on the market.

The OneApp executable is very light (only 150 kilobytes) as it uses cloud-based resources.  It has already been rolled out to Blue Label Telecoms subscribers in South Africa. Microsoft plans to launch OneApp in other parts of the world next year, along with the official SDK.

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Posted 08/07/09 at 10:05:00 AM by Paul Lilly

GPGPU computing has been a frequent subject of tech chatter, the latest of which involves AMD's release of the first OpenCL SDK for x86 CPUs. What this does is enable developers to take OpenCL code that would normally be written for GPUs and target CPUs instead.

GPGPU computing, which offsets tasks from the CPU to the GPU, offers a range of benefits, including the potential for much faster video encoding and less time waiting for effects to be applied in supported applications like Photoshop CS4. But is there much use for AMD's "backwards" concept?

"The beta will help programmers more easily develop parallel software programs and take further advantage of multicore x86 CPUs to accelearate software and deliver a better computing experience," AMD states.

According to Arstechnica, until AMD's SDK is able to target GPUs, debugging will remain the primary use.

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Posted 06/23/09 at 06:30:55 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The Palm Pre App Catalog currently features only thirty apps and excepting one all others are in beta mode. A lot of people are eagerly waiting for a deluge of Pre apps to overwhelm them. But apps will only dribble in for a few more months as the official SDK (software development kit) isn’t available as yet. Palm has announced it intends to have the SDK fully ready by the end of the summer.

"We've been working very hard on the SDK and are eager to open access on a wider scale, but the software and the developer services to support it just aren't ready yet,” Palm wrote rather apologetically on its developer blog. It is believed that since the Palm Pre doesn’t still have a huge installed base a la the iPhone, many app developers may stick to developing apps for more popular platforms like the iPhone. But who knows the number of Pres sold during the months leading up to the release of the SDK might allow Palm to woo some of the dithering developers.

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Posted 04/22/09 at 02:00:00 PM by Paul Lilly

Earlier this year, Maximum PC Editor-in-Chief Will Smith challenged Nvidia "to stop trying to convince us that closed APIs are good, and instead embrace OpenCL." Fast forward to today and the graphics chip maker still isn't ready to kill CUDA, but it did become the first to release an OpenCL driver and Software Development Kit (SDK) in pre-beta form. Nvidia says its goal is to solicit early feedback in anticipation of a beta release to be made available in coming months.

"The OpenCL standard was developed on Nvidia GPUs and Nvidia was the first company to demonstrate OpenCL code running on a GPU," said Tony Tamasi, senior VP of technology and content at Nvidia. "Being the first to release an OpenCL driver to developers cements Nvidia's leadership in GPU Computing and is another key milestone in our ongoing strategy to make the GPU the soul of the modern PC."

If you haven't been following along at home, OpenCL is short for Open Computing Language and is an open programming framework paving the way for developers to tap into the power of GPUs for general-purpose computing, otherwise known as GPGPU (General Purpose GPU). The open standard has the potential to work on most modern GPUs, and not just Nvidia hardware like the company's CUDA platform. But don't read this as Nvidia giving up on CUDA. On the contrary, Nvidia feels OpenCL reinforces the ideas behind CUDA, and has bumped up the CUDA release schedule to include three releases planned for 2009.

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Posted 12/29/08 at 11:20:49 PM by Nathan Grayson

What’s better than seeing the world? Seeing the world during its post-life crisis – at least, according to Valve. And so, during a recent pow-wow with Kotaku, Valve writer Chet Faliszek confirmed that a smattering of new L4D scenarios are currently making sure their crumbling shacks and snaking paths are undead-accessible, as is the long-awaited L4D SDK.
 
However, as of now, details are sadly few in number. Apparently, Valve wants to “deliver more content you can play at this point,” meaning that the SDK probably won’t arrive with the initial batch of DLC.

On the bright side, the zombpocalypse preparation tool’s first tune-up will add versus mode support to the Dead Air and Death Toll campaigns, allowing you to feast upon your friends’ flesh at all of the game’s fine locales.
 
The Kotaku-Valve chat was recorded on December 15, so Faliszek’s claim that "We should be announcing that before Christmas, what the DLC is,” was obviously derailed.

"The holidays aren't actually so much delaying it as the press guys--[marketing VP] Doug [Lombardi]'s been taking some time. We'll have an announcement shortly, I don't know exactly when,” he continued. We’re guessing that bit’s still valid.
 
As is Valve’s wont, the DLC probably won’t cost any money – though arms and legs haven’t been ruled out just yet.

We’ll make sure to let you know when Lombardi and co. finally raise the curtain on Left 4.1 Dead. Pencil us in for “soonish.”

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Posted 10/22/08 at 07:35:35 PM by Alex Castle

Today seems to be a pretty big day in the (previously small) world of touch-screen devices that you don’t actually touch. Microsoft has released a demo showcasing a technology called Touchless which allows an everyday webcam to emulate the functionality of an expensive multi-touch screen. They’ve also released an SDK for Touchless, allowing developers to start creating their own sorta-multi-touch apps.

Mike Wasserman, the creator of the Touchless, has released a video demonstrating the technology in action. The technique involves using the webcam to track the position of “markers” manipulated in the air or on the surface. In the video, Mike uses all sorts of things as markers, including stuffed toys and a lollipop, which makes it seem like anything sufficiently colorful can be used. The video shows off how Touchless can be used to manipulate photos, draw, and play some rudimentary multi-touch games like Pong.

So far, Touchless is just a neat demonstration of an idea. With the SDK released, though, we might see some very cool things built on the technology in the future.

Check out the video or try the demo for yourself and let us know what you think.

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