Software : Microsoft's new 'Project Siena' will let anyone create Windows apps |
- Microsoft's new 'Project Siena' will let anyone create Windows apps
- ZX Spectrum is coming back as a Bluetooth keyboard
- Bump bumped-off as Google quickly shuts down file-sharing acquisition
| Microsoft's new 'Project Siena' will let anyone create Windows apps Posted:  Microsoft has launched a beta preview of its 'Project Siena', a Windows 8.1 app that lets you easily create your own windows app. Its designed as a quick tool for building Windows 8-style apps without any programming skills necessary. The new release is also touch friendly, meaning it can be done just as easily from a tablet. Developers won't get the power of tools like Virtual Studio, but that isn't the point behind Siena. It's designed to create apps that are more document-like and highly visual in nature. There are a wide range of possible apps that can be created through Siena. These may include, but certainly aren't limited to product catalogs, logistics, customer service and auditing. Created apps can be made capable to utilize pen and voice notes, videos and photos. "Share with the world""Siena apps are as easy as editing a document," explains Microsoft on the app page. You place some visuals on a canvas. You hook them up to your data. You customize how your app looks and works. Then, if you need special logic and intelligence, you write some Excel-like expressions. You can use your app immediately, or share it with colleagues or the world." Siena looks to be very similar to Microsoft's Windows Phone App Studio that lets users create apps on the web. Siena can embed data sources from Excel, Axure, REST, RSS and SharePoint, so it's immediately an accessible way to create a personalised and custom RSS reader. The preview comes with a lot of control over visual elements, such as colour, font size, fill and other aspects. Anyone can create an app using it and then immediately publish and share it with others as an installer package. With developers becoming more and more numerous, Project Siena is likely an effort to attract them towards Microsfot products. Siena uses HTML5 and JavaScript, which should make it popular among business users. Easily adaptable for use with several apps, Microsoft is targeting this version for business analysts, experts, consultants and 'app engineers'. |
| ZX Spectrum is coming back as a Bluetooth keyboard Posted:  It's time to don your nostalgia hat as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the 8-bit personal home computer originally released in the UK in 1982, is being resurrected in the form a Bluetooth keyboard. Mobile games company Elite Systems has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to raise £60,000 ($98,800, AU$111,750) by January 31. The new Sinclair ZX Spectrum will consist of a Bluetooth keyboard housed in a reproduction ZX 48K case. Initially for use with iOS, support for Android and Windows phones and tablets is in the works. Owners will be able to play an array of ZX games that can be downloaded as apps from the iTunes App Store, Google Play, the Amazon App Store and the Windows Store. It will also be backwards compatible with existing ZX Spectrum apps. In productionElite first announced its intention to relaunch the ZX Spectrum for a generation of nostalgic gamers in 2011. It has since been granted a licence to use the ZX Spectrum registered trademark and to replicate the form-factor of the 48K Sinclair ZX Spectrum. The company has already developed a functional prototype, and is now preparing for the physical prototype, which will have authentic rubber-key play-control. If there is sufficient demand, the company will then launch an initial production run of 1,000 units. Elite Systems co-founder Steve Wilcox said: "It's anticipated that in the region of half of the £60,000 initial goal which we have set for this appeal will be expended upon the first 1,000 production units. "This represents the single biggest pre-release cost (and risk) associated with the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum. It is a cost (and risk) to which we will not commit until the demand for the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum is known." Elite hopes to bring the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum into production by the Spring of 2014. |
| Bump bumped-off as Google quickly shuts down file-sharing acquisition Posted:  Google is shutting down the Bump application, it purchased back in September, the company's co-founder announced on New Year's Day. The app, which allows users to exchange files by tapping their phones together, was a big hit on the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone, but Google now has the Bump team working on other projects. As a result, Bump and the Flock photo-aggregating app also developed by the company, will be been pulled from the Apple App Store and the Google Play store on January 31. After that date, the app will no longer work and all user data will be deleted. Users wishing to export their data have until the end of the month to do so. Textbook acqui-hireDavid Lieb, the app's co-founder, said the Bump team are also 'deeply involved' with other projects at Google, as if there were any doubt the purchase was a straight-up acqui-hire. He wrote in a statement: "Back in September, we announced that the Bump team was joining Google to continue our work of helping people share and interact with one another using mobile devices. "We are now deeply focused on our new projects within Google, and we've decided to discontinue Bump and Flock. On January 31, 2014, Bump and Flock will be removed from the App Store and Google Play. After this date, neither app will work, and all user data will be deleted." Bump users will be emailed with instructions for safeguarding their data before the shutdown happens. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from TechRadar: All latest Applications news feeds To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment