Google offers tool to bridge Android and iOS app development

Recently, the Google released the tool with the aim to make it easier to port the software between two major smartphone platforms, by converting Java code for Android into Objective-C code that can be compiled to run on Apple iOS devices.

Google’s Tom Ball in a post announcing the tool declared that J2ObjC is not a Java emulator but instead converts a Java classes to Objective-C classes that directly use the iOS Foundation Framework.

The tool doesn’t claim to make writing mobile apps a completely cross-platform affair. Developers who use it to translate their apps will still need to write the UI code in Objective-C using Apple’s iOS SDK. However, the developers can code their core non-UI functionality in Java, then compile versions of those portions of their apps for both Android and iOS from the single code base, rather than maintaining a separate code tree for each platform.

In fact, Ball revealed that they can use the same Java code to develop the web-based versions of their apps using the Google Web Toolkit, which can translate Java Code into JavaScript to run in the browser. Code functionality would remain same for all versions because they would be based on the same source code. Google also revealed that j2objc works with the most build tools, including Xcode and the translation from Java to Objective-C, is totally automated. No additional editing of the tool is necessary.

J2ObjC supports the full Java 6 language and the key runtime features include exceptions, generic types, threads, reflection and their anonymous classes. It even does the perfect job of modeling Java-style memory management in Objective-C.

To build and use the system, developers will need a machine running Mac OS X 10.7 or higher with Xcode 4 or higher and JDK 1.6. As for now, the project is running between alpha and beta quality with the initial release given number 0.8 as an indication of its release status.

Microsoft launches a new cloud platform for connected cars

Microsoft is up to launch a new Azure-based cloud platform for the car manufacturers that wish to use the cloud to power their own connected car services. The new Microsoft Connected Vehicle is about to go live as a public preview in a near future.

Microsoft’s EVP for business development Peggy Johnson revealed in one of the announcement that it is not a car operating system, it’s an agile platform that starts with a cloud as the foundation and aims to address five core scenarios i.e. predictive maintenance, improved-in-car productivity, advanced navigation, customer insights and autonomous driving capabilities.

Microsoft also revealed that they are in the blink to partner with Renault- Nissan Alliance to bring new connected-car services to Renault-Nissan’s next-gen connected vehicles. The two companies were already working together on other projects so it may be no surprise, that Renault-Nissan is Microsoft’s partner.

Microsoft is also working with the BMW to develop that company’s new connected platform is on the top of Azure. BMW and Nissan also showed their interest in car integration so there are the chances that in future cars would potentially use Crotona to power its voice-enabled services. 

Before some years, Microsoft has often talked about its goals to bring “intelligence” to as many services as possible. It has also recently opened up Crotona to the third party developers, so it is a connected car platform which can be a logical step.

In an announcement, Johnson took a thinly veiled swipe at Google/Alphabet which spun out its self-driving car unit. They wished to help automakers to create a connected car solution that fit seamlessly with their brands, address their customer's unique needs, competitively differentiate their products and generate new sustainable revenue streams.

Three pieces of advice for software development company startups

When any entrepreneur launches, a software development company, one major goal is to design a software that initiates changes and creates a compelling user experience. For any start-up firm, challenges are always endless, from raising funds to developing the team. Everybody faces this struggle and to avoid this, check out some important pieces of advice which can give major impact, for any startups in the software development industry.

Focus on Quality

Quality is always the king and it supersedes the quantity. Many startups make the mistake of pushing too much product or too many services out too early, without worrying about the quality. Make out sometime in the beginning until it’s better than everything. For software development companies, deadlines make this tricky. Some clients will ask for some major turnaround time but would make sure the importance of quality first, even if it does take extra time. Provide a client with a high- quality product and you’ll have customers for life. Provide them with something, so if at all you ask for something quick-you can say goodbye to your business.

Seek only the top talent and spread their passion

One should always seek for the top talent and also you should deliver the top-quality products, even if it cost more. When you can serve the client with only the best, paying higher salary during the initial stages is worth. This helps the business sustainability and creating a steady revenue flow.

Resumes say a lot about experience and prior success, but make sure to conduct your own research on every prospective employee. There are many gems out there with minimal experience who have energy and passion for achieving much more.

Network Constantly

Networking is an important factor for success, especially for a startup. You can meet and befriend people who are successful within the industry. The best way to connect with other entrepreneurs is LinkedIn and Facebook.

HTML5 & CSS3 enables Web Development Company to enhance website visibility & profitability

HTML5 and CSS3 have swept the web by storm in very short time. Web development company should start suggesting it to their clients to help them boost experiences & attract more clientele 

HTML5 and CSS3 have swept the web by storm in just two years. A web development company should move on and start using it today to boost experiences & attract more clientele

In just a few months of launch, HTML5 and CSS3 have swept the web by storm. Before these two, there have been a lot of altered semantics in the way that web developers and designers are expected to build web pages, and with their arrival comes a myriad of awesome supports like XML-style tags, progressive input attributes, alternative media for web designers to gain dreamy features such as animation. While most developers seem to show potential but complex demos, HTML5/CSS3 are really not rocket science. 

 

There are numerous reasons for the use of HTML5. But mostly, because a developer would be working with the worldwide internet standards the same as every other designer. In this way, a designer or a developer could look for more support on the internet and the websites would get rendered properly in modern browsers which are updated and improved frequently. 

The following provides a basic overview of why HTML5 and CSS3 are very critical to modern web apps and websites and how using these two would be invaluable to any web designer. Both helps a web developer or a web development company boost the visibility of a website. HTML5 has had a comparatively turbulent history. It is well-known to all that HTML is the principal markup language that is used in describing content or data on the web. HTML5 is the current iteration of this markup language. It includes enhancements to existing features, new features, and scripting-based APIs as well. HTML5 is not a reformulation of the past versions, but includes all valid elements from HTML4 and XHTML 1.0. Moreover, it has been designed with a few primary principles in mind to ascertain that it works on just about any platforms, gracefully handles errors and is compatible with older browsers. 

HTML5 is a term that has been additionally used to refer to several other new technologies and APIs. For example, drawing with a canvas element, offline storage, new video and audio elements, drag-and-drop functionality, Microdata embedded fonts, and others. APIs stand for application programming interface. HTML5 offers a code with a set of ‘buttons’ that it could press to prompt the behavior desired from the system, browser or software library. 

Along the way, the web markup evolved. Eventually, HTML4 gave way to XHTML, which really is just HTML4 with a stringent XML-style syntax. At present, both HTML4 and XHTML are in general use, yet HTML5 is gaining headway. The changes and additions to the HMTL language have been introduced with the aim of web pages being easier to use, code and access. Together with other standards such as WAI-ARIA and Microdata, the new semantics helps in making documents more accessible to machines as well as humans, which result in benefits for SEO (search engine optimization) and accessibility. 

Another vital part of developing web pages is CSS (cascading Style Sheets). It is a style language which defines the way that HTML is styled or presented. CSS3 is the latest version. It is not merely a reference to new features in CSS but is a third level in the CSS specification progress. CSS3 has just about everything that is included in CSS2. Furthermore, it adds new features to help designers solve various problems with no need for non-semantic markup, extra images or complex scripting. New features include support for additional selectors, drop shadows, rounded corners, multiple backgrounds, animation, transparency, and lot more. 

To create gradients in the past, rounded corners, shadows, web designers have had to resort to some tricky techniques. At times, extra HTML elements were needed. In some cases in which HTML is kept fairly clean, scripting tweaks are needed. When it comes to the gradients using extra images was inevitable. CSS3 enables one to include these as well as other design elements in a forward-thinking way, which leads to a lot of benefits. The benefits are maintainable code, clean markup accessible to both humans and machines, lesser extraneous images and faster loading pages. 

Bloggers worldwide have been talking about the new HTML5 and CSS3 trends and sharing resources to the public. The time is evolving and the web community is evolving with them. A web development company should start using HTML5 and CSS3 today and suggest it to their clients so that they also can leveraging the benefits. The community would be a much more innovative and exciting playground, which in turn would boost experiences for as well as drawn in more users and thus attract more clientele.

WordPress or Drupal or Joomla? Which CMS is right for you?

Among all popular CMS (Content Management Systems), there is no such one-size-fits-all; so make sure you pick the right one. In this era, the most popular way for developing the website is to use open source CMS. WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are the top three CMS and together have the biggest market share. Hence, for the novice users choosing between three can be difficult. This article will decipher the technology that is helpful for you and your business.

1. WordPress is the easiest to use CMS: A platform that was originally started as the home for blogging with 76.5 million blogs created since 2004, WordPress went ahead a great deal over the last decade and now powers 25% of websites across the world. There are a lot of reasons why this platform is so popular. For people who has their own PC, it is easy to set up the WordPress. There is no need to have much knowledge about coding as one can develop the simple website from scratch using thousands of templates and plug-ins available at your fingertips. It is free to sign up and although some of the best templates and plug-ins come at a cost, if you want to create a website for free you can.

2. Drupal is the most powerful and useful for its scalability: Drupal is completely open source CMS program and hence developers love Drupal. This is highly customizable and is ideal for scalability. It is a powerful platform, for those with the knowledge of HTML, CSS, and PHP. And typically, Drupal pages will load quicker too. Drupal is the fantastic option if one wants to have an adaptable, personalized and powerful website designed by a professional. The scalability of this platform is valuable for those established businesses that anticipate large traffic numbers. The platform enables growth beyond a basic small business page or blog, however, if you have a very limited knowledge of the relevant languages might struggle, so it’s a platform that requires an expert.

3. Joomla - somewhere in the middle: Joomla is a middle ground between WordPress and Drupal as it is powerful but doesn’t need a huge amount of knowledge. Joomla is the best option, for those who want more website development options than WordPress without going straight to Drupal. One can set up their store easily compare to WordPress or Drupal. It is also a brilliant option for those who want to develop a social website.

5 Simple Hacks to make your iPhone storage last longer

With its non-expandable memory, one of the major bugbears for iPhone owners is the storage capacity. Dreaded message “Storage Almost Full” will pop up at an exactly wrong moment when you have got 16GB or 64GB. It is always a great practice to try and tread lightly on your memory in the first place. There are few easy tricks to try and make your iPhone’s storage capacity last as long as possible.

Don’t shoot everyday video in high resolution

It may be essential to shoot video with their iPhones in the highest resolution possible, for most people’s everyday cute kitty clips a lower resolution will suffice. You can change, how the iPhone capture film footage by clicking to “Settings”, then “Photos & Camera”, then look for where your phone gives you the “Record Video” options. Click on this to select 720p at 30fps. Change it back simply when you want higher quality footage.

Don’t keep messages forever

By default, your iPhone saves all your text and multimedia messages forever. It’s unlikely you really want iMessage, SMS and MMS correspondence going back years, so there is a way to have messages automatically delete after a sensible time frame. In the menu of Settings, scroll down to see the “Messages” option. From here look for the “Message History” section, tap it and then you choose to delete messages after 30 days or a year.

Don’t keep all the photos when shooting HDR

The camera of the iPhone is in “high dynamic range” and a setting is a clever tool when used correctly, but can be a real memory hog if used it often. This is because it takes multiple exposures before combining those snaps into the HDR version. You can make your phone only save the final HDR pic rather than save down all the exposures. Find this option in “Settings”, then Photos & Camera,” then scroll down to see the option to “Keep Normal photo.” Toggle it to off to save some storage space.

Don’t automatically download purchases made on another device

There is a default setting that sees all purchases across all devices automatically downloaded to every device linked to that iTunes account, if you have multiple Apple devices. While there will be apps and content you want to double up on, this is almost certainly not the case for every single purchase. To stop your iDevice doing this, go to "Settings," then "iTunes & App Store." Here you can toggle off to stop the automatic download of music, apps, books and audiobooks and updates.

Don’t keep high-resolution photos on your iPhone

You can choose to enable a setting that saves you a ton of photo storage space if you've activated the iCloud Photo Library service. The option to "Optimize iPhone Storage" saves your pics and vids to your Camera Roll as per usual, but in a smaller format. The full-res originals are stored in iCloud, ready to access whenever you might need them. If you go to "Settings," then "iCloud," then "Photos" and select "Optimize iPhone Storage" you'll be all set up.

Top 5 bad coding practices that could wreck a software development project

For software developers today, it is always good to determine some bad coding practices so as not to make these mistakes repeatedly. In any coding job, the best practices are a set of informal rules that the software development community learned which could boost program quality. Many computer programs remain useful for longer than the original authors have imagined, some up to forty years even or more. Thus, any rule or rules should facilitate initial development and improvement as well as maintenance by people, aside from the original makers.

1. Typos in the code are common and quite frustrating because they have nothing to do with the programming skills of the developer. Regardless, a misspelled name or function can wreak havoc on cryptogram. Moreover, they may be hard to see. A solution would be to work in a good IDE or integrated development environment or a programmer-centered text editor that could considerably minimize errors. Another way is to choose a function and variable names intentionally that could be easily spelled and so easy to spot if misspelled.

2. Sensitive content should be encrypted as it travels over a network. This is because the data is vulnerable to interception when it does. This is not only a great idea, but a regulatory requirement as well. This means that sending data in the clear is a big no. Writing one's encryption system is hard, so it is important to utilize a proven industry standard encryption library and use it in the correct manner.

3. One bad coding practice is the failure to modularize cryptogram. It is a good practice to write functions that do one thing and only that alone. This helps to keep them short and thus, easy to understand and maintain. Long functions have many possible paths through them, making them more difficult to test. A good rule of thumb will be that a single functionality should occupy no more than one screen. Another is it has ten or more 'if' statements or loops, then it would be too complicated and should be written again.

4. Formatting and indenting code makes it easier to understand at a glance and to see errors. If a developer fails to do this, then the harder it will be. Furthermore, it also makes it so much easier for others to maintain code, as it is presented consistently. When using an IDE which does not automatically format, it would be a good idea to run it through a beautifier such as Uncrustify. It will consistently format based on the rules configured.

5. It is tempting to hardcore a secret password and account so one can get into the system later. However, this is considered a bad practice. While it is very convenient, it is also highly convenient for those who access the source cipher. The true issues is that eventually, a hardcore password will be more widely known than it was intended to in the first place. This could be a huge security risk, not to mention a very inconvenient option. 

It is bad for a developer not to think ahead when it comes to developing software solutions. One should think things ahead, including what the project is for, how much the scale is expected, the number of users it will have and how fast it runs. The answers may not be available, but if a developer is not able to do estimates, then it's impossible to choose a suitable framework for developing an application that will meet the requirements.