Development tools - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Mozilla offers app to create Web pages on smartphones

  The Mozilla Foundation wants to make sure that the Web remains a platform where anyone can create content, rather than just a place to consume information and services created by others.

• GitHub launches desktop client to lure more developers

  Looking to expand its already considerable user base, GitHub has introduced a new desktop GUI client that streamlines many of the functions of the online code repository.

• Digium helps mobile apps communicate better with new SDKs

  Digium has launched open source SDKs that aim to make it easier for developers to add voice and video calling, instant messaging, and push notifications to their Android and iOS apps.

• Microsoft offers Windows developers a bridge to Apple iOS

  Having promised developers to be less Windows-centric and more cross platform friendly, Microsoft has released software that helps programmers more easily bridge the divide between Apple applications and Windows applications.

• How Facebook made mobile site faster for users with limited bandwidth

  By resorting to unconventional engineering, Facebook saves users in developing countries precious bandwidth while still offering them a close-to-optimal Facebook experience.

• Salesforce tools let customers snap together new mobile apps

  Mobile apps now figure almost as prominently in enterprises as they do in the consumer world, and on Tuesday Salesforce rolled out some new DIY tools that aim to help business users "roll their own" apps as needs arise.

• Microsoft Visual Studio understands a world beyond Windows

  Once devoted chiefly to developing desktop and server Windows applications, the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE) is increasingly resembling a Swiss Army Knife, able to support myriad computing platforms, languages and runtime environments.

• Oracle unwraps VM VirtualBox 5.0 with focus on security

  After entering beta roughly three months ago, Oracle's VM VirtualBox 5.0 virtualization software is now generally available, offering faster performance and better security.

• How Instagram spots a trend

  With a user base of over 200 million people, who collectively post 70 million new photographs and short videos a day, Instagram provides a timely view of events around the world that people are interested in. But how does the service spot emerging trends while they are still on the rise?

• Sencha's new framework helps enterprises build Web apps for all devices

  Sencha's Ext JS 6 Javascript framework is now generally available, and with it comes the ability to build Web apps for desktops, tablets and smartphones. But getting the user interface right isn't always easy.

• Latest Windows 10 SDK preview helps developers build cooler photo apps

  Microsoft has added a handful of image- and photography-related features in a new version of the Windows 10 SDK. It, along with the OS itself, will become generally available at the end of the month.

• Google Cloud Platform provides a home for cloud code

  Users of Google's Cloud Platform services now have a convenient place to stash all the source code powering their cloud-based applications

• GitHub updates text editing for the modern era

  Plotting to lure developers away from their much-loved but decades-old Emacs and Vi text editors, online code repository GitHub has officially launched Atom, touting it as the text editor for the modern era.

• Unity CEO has game development platform's bugs on his mind

  Gaming platform company Unity Technologies is doubling down on improving its software quality, and letting developers know what it has planned for the future with a new public roadmap.

• Some Google App Engine languages may not get updates

  Google App Engine users may have some migration work ahead of them, because Google is contemplating not upgrading some popular programming languages currently running on the service, notably Java and Python.