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T-Mobile G1, the first phone powered by Google's Android software
(Credit: T-Mobile)Attention coders: Google has released version 1.0 of the Android software developer kit.
The kit lets programmers create applications that will run on Android phones, even before T-Mobile starts selling the first Android-powered G1 on October 22. The biggest difference from the previous Android SDK 0.9: software built with version 1.0 will actually, not just probably, work on those real-world phones, according to the SDK release notes.
Google hopes its Android operating system project will help spur the mobile phone industry into a more enthusiastic embrace of Internet technology. Google of course profits from ads next to search results, and Google Maps opens up other advertising possibilities that are more closely tied to a phone user's physical location.
A major part of the Android effort is Google's attempt to woo outside programmers into writing their own applications for Android phones, because Google hopes to bring the easier innovation of the PC market to the relatively closed mobile phone industry. The SDK is a key part of that effort, as is a forthcoming application download site called the Android Market. That market won't necessarily let people sell Android applications at first, though.
Also in the SDK release notes, Google called out some specific changes, such as some new abilities to make use of Android phone sensors, handle audio files, and use Wi-Fi networks. Serious programmers can look at Google's catalog of API (application programming interface) differences.
Google couldn't help adding a little nerd humor to the release notes:
"We regret to inform developers that Android 1.0 will not include support for dot-matrix printers."
Google on Monday released the first beta version of its software developer kit (SDK) for Android phones, a significant step in the company's hope for "open" phone technology.
Google, which is leading the 34-company Open Handset Alliance to create the largely open-source Android software stack for mobile devices, already had released an "early look" SDK in November 2007. With the new beta SDK, though, the company is telling programmers they can get started in earnest creating software that will work on Android phones due to start shipping later this year, though stopping short of promising full compatibility.
"Since this is a beta release, applications developed with it may not quite be compatible with devices running the final Android 1.0," Google developer advocate Dan Morrill said in a blog post.
Google's promised advantages of Android.
(Credit: Google)Among changes in the new SDK are the addition of the phone's new home screen as well as some new applications for controlling the camera, playing music, setting alarms, viewing pictures, and dealing with SMS and MMS messages.
Android phones, notably HTC's Dream, are due to ship in the fourth quarter.
Google had hinted in May that the new Android SDK was imminent, but the company ended up sharing it only with finalists in an Android programming contest until Monday. The Android Developer Challenge is awarding $10 million to coders to try to jump-start development efforts; on Monday, Google said a second challenge will be announced later this year that "will give developers a chance to build polished applications once hardware is available."
Google hopes Android phones will be open to run innumerable applications, not just locked down to handle a relatively small number of authorized packages. To achieve this promise though, one key step is helping programmers to write that code. And SDK does just that, for example, by providing a software emulator that can run Android applications without an actual Android phone.
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Flickr has temporarily disabled PhotoShelter's Flickr import tool until it fully complies with its API usage guidelines.
(Credit: PhotoShelter)Earlier today I wrote about a new tool that PhotoShelter announced to let its customers migrate images from Flickr accounts to their PhotoShelter Personal Archives. Since then, Flickr has disabled the tool. A company spokesperson for Flickr said, "Photoshelter did not follow the guidelines outlined by Flickr around API usage. We are currently working with them to correct the issue."
My contact at PhotoShelter said that the company is working on the problem and a message on the new tool's page notes that, "Flickr has temporarily disabled this feature. We are working to address it and apologize for the outage." In my previous post I said that it was great to see two photo sharing services find a way to play nicely together. I guess we'll just have to be patient while they synchronize their playbooks.
What do you get when you mash up the latest, greatest Google feature with an unconference full of hackers?
I'm tempted to say pure magic, but instead I'll say you get Hacking Google Street View, the report from WhereCamp that I found on my favorite blog, Waxy.org, Monday.
Google's Street View feature lets people see street-level images from several U.S. cities
(Credit: Google)So what is it? It's hackers playing with the Street View APIs, figuring out ways to do things like mash up Grand Theft Auto with the hot new mapping phenomenon.
"Greg Sadetsky cracked Street View a couple hours after the announcement at Where 2.0," the Brain Off post reported. "It was pretty easy and comprehensible...almost as if the Google engineers wanted it hacked. I'm sure they did."
Nothing specific came out of the late-night geekery, but knowing what people with good ideas can come up with, especially when enabled as they usually are when it comes to Google Maps projects, I'm sure that within days, we'll be seeing some very cool things spreading across the Intertubes.
Garmin and MapQuest want others to share the geospatial wealth.
Garmin's GPSmap 60Cx
(Credit: Garmin)In conjunction with the Where 2.0 conference in San Jose, Calif., both companies on Tuesday announced moves to share application programming interfaces (APIs) that let programmers take advantage of their products. For years, products or service APIs were often kept secret, but nowadays it's vogue for companies to share them in an attempt to become a vital part of a larger ecosystem.
Garmin, which makes GPS (Global Positioning System) devices that tell people where they are, announced a number of free and licensed APIs that permit sophisticated interactions between Web sites and GPS devices. For example, a hiker can upload GPS data to a Web site to plot travels on a map, or a geocaching enthusiast can download locations to scout out. Those and other interfaces are at a new developer-oriented Garmin Web site.
Meanwhile, MapQuest released a beta version of an API to let programs written in Adobe ActionScript take advantage of MapQuest's online mapping. The widely used Flash technology, as well as its new Apollo technology, both use ActionScript, as does Adobe's Flex software for developing Flash software.
To show what the software can do, MapQuest posted some demonstrations on its Web site.
BlackBerry is branching out. Beginning Tuesday, Research In Motion will open the BlackBerry platform further by offering developers APIs (application programming interfaces) that allow them to make more interesting lifestyle-oriented applications.
(Credit:
Research In Motion)
Having customer relationship management software on your smart phone is cool and all, but soon BlackBerry addicts will have access to applications that are far more consumer oriented: apps with embedded audio and video, more location-based services, support for better 3D graphics, and more customizable wallpaper and ringtones.
The new collection of BlackBerry APIs are based on the industry standard Java Micro Edition.
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