Apple has made CloudKit much more appealing to developers by adding a server-side API to its framework. This will allow them to add much more functionality to apps that are powered by the service and to utilize it even when users have not interacted with iOS, Mac, or web apps.

Previously, CloudKit interaction was limited to the APIs that Apple provided in apps. It was useful for developers but did not give them the opportunity to implement more advanced features. Today’s modern apps make use of servers to perform tasks and collect information when a user is not using the app. With CloudKit’s new web API, developers can add these more advanced features into their apps using Apple’s tools instead of having to rely on third party services to do so.

Continue reading →

If you’ve watched original must-see box-set The Wire, you might recall Hamsterdam. For those who haven’t seen the series, Hamsterdam was an area of Baltimore which a senior police officer allocated as an unofficial decriminalized area for drug dealing and use.

Bemused beat officers, under instructions only to take action if violent crimes were being committed, were left watching activities that would ordinarily have put them on red alert. That is a bit what it’s like being a web host getting to grips with DevOps practice for the first time.

Continue reading →

Facebook is closing down Parse, its mobile development platform, just three years after acquiring it for $85 million. The shutdown comes as something of a surprise as it is not long since Facebook was talking about using Parse to make giant steps into the Internet of Things.

But it seems that Facebook's IoT future is going to be one that is Parse-free. The shutdown will take place over the course of the next year, but starts with immediate effect. As of right now Parse is in wind-down mode, and will be fully shuttered by January 28, 2017. Believed to power tens of thousands of mobile apps, the killing of Parse will see Facebook diverting funds to other ventures.

Continue reading →

One of the features that an app store must absolutely get right is search. Users have to be able to find what they are looking for and discover titles that meet their needs. At the same time, developers who spend time creating apps need to have their titles easily available to potential customers. If one, or both, of these requirements is not met, that creates a serious problem.

Windows Store is in this exact situation, according to multiple developer reports. Microsoft has been unable, or, worse, unwilling, to make the search functionality as useful as users and developers might like, at a time when Windows Store is already being penalized by its pitiful selection of top-tier and quality apps.

Continue reading →

All companies -- from retail, to media, to IoT -- are increasingly becoming software companies. Data loss, security threats, service downtime and performance issues can sink a business. As a result, DevOps has evolved from an island of marginalized system administrators to an organization-wide cultural shift.

Companies like Netflix, Ticketmaster and Etsy understand that DevOps entails established processes, interconnected systems for monitoring and diagnosing, and org-wide vigilance about incident response. As our businesses continue to become more software-driven, Heavybit’s community of developer-focused entrepreneurs, advisors and investors provide tips and tactics to scale your DevOps efforts:

Continue reading →

You are thinking about having an app built to help grow your business. After all, the biggest and the best all have apps, so should you, right? Ideally, you do need an app for your business.

In fact, a recent study published by the Gallup Poll reports that 52 percent of the population checks its smart phones several times per hour, and of the remaining 48 percent, 20 percent of the people claim to check their phones once per hour. These numbers are a marketing team’s dream! So many easy to reach people in one place! So yes, you need an app!

Continue reading →

Virtual reality is hardly new -- it has been around for many years. The sudden popularity, however, is due to lower prices and improved technology. Makeshift headsets like Google's Cardboard impressively leverage existing smartphones, but are limited by being nothing more than slabs strapped to the user's face.

Microsoft's HoloLens is far more advanced as it blends reality with fantasy, for augmented reality, or AR. Yes, it is certainly more expensive, but as wise people say, "you get what you pay for" -- AR arguably has more potential than VR. More importantly, not only is the Windows-maker's solution designed for consumers, but for business and scientific purposes too. For example, NASA is embracing HoloLens. With that said, hardware is only as good as its software, so today, Microsoft announces the opening of a developer-focused HoloLens experience at its NYC flagship store. Will this encourage development?

Continue reading →

The business communication tool Slack is trying to end the year on a high note, and looking at what the company announced yesterday, it seems to be on the right track.

The team-communication app, which now has two million daily users and 570,000 paying customers has announced three things -- an app store which will offer other productivity tools (like Trello, for example) to integrate with Slack, an $80 million fund to help developers create more apps for the store, and a new framework called Botkit which should simplify the process of creating apps.

Continue reading →

Organizations are struggling with the ability to deliver infrastructure to end users to enable the demands of a DevOps environment.

Those are the results of a new global survey conducted by Qualisystems, provider of private/hybrid cloud orchestration software for DevOps and cloud sandboxing.

Continue reading →

London has long been a global tech hub, but a new study indicates that salaries for software engineers in the UK capital are lagging behind those of major tech centers in the US.

The study of salary data from tech marketplace Hired shows that, compared to San Francisco and New York, UK companies actually offer the lowest average salaries for software engineers.

Continue reading →

At JSConf US Last Call in Florida, Microsoft today announced that ChakraCore will be open-sourced. This means that the core components of the Chakra JavaScript engine used in Microsoft Edge -- as well as Windows 10 -- will be made available for developers to tinker with as they see fit.

The ChakraCore repository is expected to hit GitHub in January, and Microsoft envisions it being used to power the Internet of Things as well as cloud services. The company says that it will be working with the likes of AMD, Intel and NodeSource to help develop a Chakra community as it aims to drive the progress of the 'modern web'.

Continue reading →

Facebook has done an excellent job of becoming the social network, connecting people all over the world. More recently, it has tapped into business markets by providing companies with a quick, easy, and -- importantly -- free way to create an online presence. Now, with an update to its Page plugin, Facebook is making it easier for businesses to connect and communicate with customers.

The update makes it possible to better integrate Facebook with an existing website. Companies can easily add the ability to send a message via their website, and the communication will appear on Facebook on the Messages tab. The update also makes it easier to share news about upcoming events, keeping all-important customer engagement going.

Continue reading →

It's now a few weeks since Google announced Accelerated Mobile Pages. When the project was unveiled, there were just 30 or so partners on board and no indication of when AMP would be made available to everyone. Today Google reveals that the acceleration program will start to roll out early next year.

There are now, according to Google, thousands of publishers who have expressed interest in AMP. With many of these representing a large number of newspapers, TV and radio stations, the range of content is looking promising. As this is Google, a focus on ads should be expected, and now Outbrain, AOL, OpenX, DoubleClick, and AdSense are adopting the AMP spec.

Continue reading →

Like apps hitting a store, browser add-ons have to go through validation to ensure that they work properly and are secure. This is the case with Firefox, and developers will be only too aware that the validation tool provided by Mozilla is unreliable and difficult to use.

Today the company announces that the old Python-based validator could soon be a thing of the past and unveiles a new version of the tool based on pure JavaScript. Although described as "not production-ready", Mozilla is looking for feedback, and is making the tool available for testing.

Continue reading →

A huge proportion of the web is powered by WordPress -- more than a quarter, in fact. As a CMS it's incredibly flexible, and today the company unveiled not only a new look for WordPress.com, but also a desktop app for easier site maintenance.

It has taken a long time for a desktop app to appear, and this is something that's all the more surprising when you consider that mobile apps are already available. To start with, it's Mac users who are treated to WordPress goodness, but Linux and Windows versions are on the way as well.

Continue reading →