It seems like everyone today makes a branded phone accessory, and way too many of them generate that “This device is not supported” error when you plug them into your phone. Looking for some good accessories for the magic-computer-that-also-happens-to-make-phone-calls that’s always in your pocket? Here’s a list of some of my favorites that have all somehow […]
The post Our Favorite Smartphone Accessories appeared first on Parallels Blog.
If you haven’t yet experienced that BLOOP then splash noise and the sinking realization that it was your smartphone—the magic computer you keep in your pocket that has ALL of your contacts, apps, direct access to your work computer, and GAMES —that just went into the water, then you‘re one of the lucky few. Resist […]
The post How to Save a Wet Smartphone appeared first on Parallels Blog.
Raise your hand if you’ve drained your battery more than once in a day! I love my smartphone, but I clearly use it more than what this little battery can handle. (I’m looking at you, Fallout Shelter—that game sucks more battery and time out of my day than anything else.) There are lots of tips […]
The post How to Save Your Smartphone Battery (Interactive Infographic) appeared first on Parallels Blog.
The smartphone revolution has significantly affected IT networks and software market shares. While Windows applications lead the software market, Android is quickly taking over the mobile market. According to NetMarketShare, the Windows Desktop OS market share is more than 80% while Android market stands at 28% for all versions. Looking at these numbers, it is […]
The post Transform Your Android into a Workstation appeared first on Parallels Blog.
Google acquired mobile design and prototyping firm Pixate this week
Google quietly acquired Pixate for an undisclosed sum this week. The company, which offers a platform that helps developers and design and prototype mobile apps, may help Google bolster the UX of its own apps while helping it expand the range of services already offered to developers.
A post on the Pixate blog written by chief executive Paul Colton confirmed the acquisition.
“Our small team at Pixate has some really big ideas, and with the help of Google we’ll be able to bring those ideas to the design community at scale. We’ve become an essential part of the workflow for tens of thousands of designers, and are excited about expanding our mission at Google to reach millions of product teams worldwide,” Colton explained.
“Starting today we’re making Pixate Studio free and dramatically reducing the cost of the Pixate cloud service,” he added.
Google said “Pixate adds to our ongoing effort to develop new design and prototyping tools.”
Pixate said it counts companies like Apple, Disney and Amazon as past customers. The company’s services will no doubt complement the cloud-based testing service for Android apps unveiled earlier this year at the I/O conference. The service, based on Appurify’s technology – an acquisition it announced at the conference last year, allows developers to run their applications on simulated versions of thousands of different Android devices.
The scale of Android fragmentation in 2014 as visualised by OpenSignal
Google unveiled a cloud-based testing service for Android apps it hopes will help combat fragmentation in the growing Android ecosystem.
The service, unveiled at Google’s annual I/O conference this week and based on Appurify’s technology – an acquisition it announced at the conference last year, allows developers to run their applications on simulated versions of thousands of different Android devices.
The company said much like other app testing services the Cloud Test Lab can record what happens just before an app crashes, and provides a crash log to help users debug their apps after having tested them on tons of different devices with a wide range of specs and capabilities.
“From nearly every brand, model and version of physical devices your users might be using, to an unlimited supply of virtual devices in every language, orientation and network condition around the world. You can get rid of that device closet—ours is bigger,” the company said.
“Out of the box, without any user-written tests, robot app crawlers know just what to look out for and will find crashes in your app for you. Augment this with user-written instrumentation tests to make sure that your most important user flows work perfectly.”
There has always been fragmentation in the Android world, and while it’s considered by some users to be one of the benefits of playing in Google’s ecosystem it’s also a major headache for app developers because building crash-proof apps for a range of devices can be quite time-consuming; not getting that right can as a result cause users grief (just check out a few reviews on the Google Play store).
With a wide range of low-cost Android devices flowing in from China, coupled with other large incumbents like Samsung, LG and Sony contributing to the heterogeneity themselves, fragmentation only seems to be increasing (OpenSignal has put together an impressive report detailing the scale of Android fragmentation – and how it compares with the iOS ecosystem). These testing services will also be critical for Google developers as the company looks to target the Internet of Things with a new OS and doubles down on Chromebooks, which are both based on Android.
At Google I/O (developer conference) this week, many big developments were announced, some relating to the cloud and some not. One of the most intriguing developments relating to cloud technology had to do with their new messaging system. The cloud messaging technology is already being used by apps to use push notifications to Google users’ Android devices and Chrome browsers, and it is also now compatible with iOS devices. This basically means you will be able to see the notifications on any devices that are connected.
This service also has allowed developers to set up specific topics to either receive or not receive notifications about. Along with this, Chrome has a new system where websites can send push notifications to logged-in Google users.
Another cloud related development is the Cloud Test Lab in which developers can send in their app and Google will test it on the top 20 Android devices around the world. This will allow the developers to look for any defects or crashes that need to be fixed. Google says the service will help catch layout issues and allow developers to spot bugs with low-RAM devices.
Android phones already come with a photo tool installed, but Google Photos is a new way of editing, sharing and storing your photos on your mobile device. The app allows unlimited online storage of photos and videos, organization based on themes, dates or locations and people. There is also a new interface for sharing photos, making them into a video and editing them.
The post Google I/O Cloud News appeared first on Cloud News Daily.
While the madness of March came to an exciting close, the ongoing battle between Apple® and Android™ has yet to officially declare an official winner. For many, Apple is the way to go, with no questions asked, but we non-conformists stand strong on the dark side. So come join us—we have KitKat, Jelly Bean, Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, and many […]
The post All About Android for the Uninitiated appeared first on Parallels Blog.
Recently, Adobe announced an overhaul of some of its subscription based productivity business with the launch of their Document Cloud, a place where professionals can handle their documents in one convenient place, and Acrobat DC, a newer version of its PDF viewing and editing program. These tools are expected to launch within the next month and start at around $15 per month.
The Document Cloud is Adobe’s third major move towards the cloud, following the Creative Cloud, a design app suite, and the Marketing Cloud, a bundle of marketing services. This cloud service is limited to documents and presentations for now, and can be integrated to work with Acrobat DC. This service was designed to deal with the waste an inefficiency that comes with document processes.
This product is targeted towards business and enterprises, not so much for consumers as many of its features help with efficiency within an organization. One technology that has been integrated into this service is EchoSign, an electronic signature service that Adobe acquired in 2005. Anyone using the Document Cloud can send another user documents to sign, all for only $2 per month.
Along with the Document Cloud, Adobe has launched (or will launch soon) some apps for use with the cloud for iOS and Android mobile devices. This includes a touchscreen based user interface for use on tablets. Another unique feature is an app called Fill and Sign that allows users to take a photo and get the text translated into a document that can be filled with text and signatures before being sent off.
Acrobat also now has a mobile app that brings most of the desktop abilities to a tablet. The app is free, but users can pay for more advanced features up to a full Document Cloud subscription.
The post Adobe Announces New Productivity Applications: Document Cloud and Acrobat DC appeared first on Cloud News Daily.
AnyPresence today announced the general availability of its fourth generation enterprise backend-as-a-service (BaaS) platform solution. AnyPresence targets enterprises looking to solve the challenge of leveraging cloud backend services for mobile application development, by establishing scalable infrastructure that makes it easier to cost-effectively mobile-enable their business processes.
“AnyPresence continues to raise the bar for what to expect from an enterprise-class backend service platform”, said Anirban Chakrabarti, AnyPresence CEO and Co-founder. “Unlike other MBaaS solutions like Kinvey, StackMob, and Parse, AnyPresence was optimized for enterprise use cases, such as hybrid deployments and IT data source integration, from day one. Furthermore, because of our unique no lock-in architecture, CIOs can rest assured that AnyPresence can adapt to their existing development processes, resources, and IT infrastructure going forward.”
This latest release adds significant development accelerators and integration with best-of-breed technology partners, to further reduce enterprise app development costs and time-to-market. Among the list of enhancements delivered and already being used by customers are:
