Google’s developer conference is home to more than just developers, of course: press, analysts, students, and Google lovers from all angles are invited, but this year the company had a more focused approach in mind. While the conference retained its three-day allotment of breakout sessions and fireside chats with Google’s own for developers of all types, the company’s initial keynote was limited to one day instead of two.

This single keynote was also toned down – significantly – especially compared to last year’s explosion of content: new devices, a new version of Android, and a skydive drop live with what was then called Project Glass. Larry Page stepped on stage to make an address to the developers and the public, taking part in an extended question-and-answer session as well, showing some extreme boldness answering whatever random queries attendees might have.

Because of these elements in the keynote – the most public and direct bit of the convention from Google, to be sure, the entire set of events was given what we suggested to Hugo Barra had given it all a more “human” vibe to I/O. This, he said was “exactly what we were aiming for.”

Google’s top guns stepped into the fray as well, with Googlers like Barra and Sergey Brin appearing for drinks and a chat with the press late on Day 1. There it was abundantly clear that this event was not simply made for developer training, but for person-to-person connectivity: another pillar the event was originally built on.

Our own Chris Davies lent some insight on this subject, his column “Google I/O and the year of the Context Ecosystem” speaking volumes about Google’s aim here in 2013.

“All of Google’s services are gradually interweaving. Google I/O 2013 is an ecosystem play, and it’s one of the biggest – and arguably ambitious – we’ve ever seen. It’ll drag Google+ with it along the way, and it might even kickstart the “internet of things” when we start to see some legitimate advantages of having every device a web-connected node.

Google didn’t give us a new phone for our pocket or a new tablet for our coffee table; instead, it gave us so much more.” – Chris Davies

What did you think of Google I/O 2013 from a consumer perspective? If you don’t consider yourself a consumer in this case – how did you take it all from whatever position you’re in?

Alain Vongsouvanh is a Developer Programs Engineer on Google Glass and the Google Mirror API. Jenny Murphy is also a Developer Programs Engineer for Glass with Google and both of these folks help developers work with the code that brings Google Glass apps to life.

Timeline and Menu

“The Mirror API is one managed through requests made through connections. The main one is a Timeline text card.” This connection is separate from a Gmail connection and separate from a Map connection – it exists as its own element unique to Glass. The most basic setup here is with text and an image.

Customizing these cards are as simple as writing HTML code, but it’s not as all-inclusive as, say, a Chrome web browser-displayed webpage. Google provides a Playground where tests and development can be done, offering here basic templates for developers and allowing them to start from scratch.

This system offers a variety of basic menu items like back and send, and developers are able to create custom menu items like “Complete!” The theme here is simplicity – this development environment is as simple as writing a bit of Java – not something someone off the street will be able to pick up in no time without any knowledge of creating with code, but certainly something that’s simple for a web developer or creator of apps for smart devices.

Contacts

Contacts is a system that a user will share to – just like they are on an Android smartphone. Developers can create a Contact Resource where they’ll have to set an ID that corresponds to a user, users, or a third party app. By default, a shareable element will trigger a list of apps and elements that are compatible with sharing.

Subscriptions and Locations

With Subscriptions, developers will be bringing forward notifications about changes. Instead of you posting to the API, the API will post to the device – input rather than output, so to speak. The developer will specify elements like Collection, User Token, Token Verification, and a Callback URL where needed.

A developer working with Subscriptions in Glass will be working with Timeline as well as Locations – this means they’ve got to account for both how the element is posted and what’s being posted, where it came from and what it’s doing.

Cat Facts

With an extremely simple Glassware app by the name of Cat Facts, Vongsouvanh showed how each of the five different elements in the Mirror API. Below you’ll see his explanation of how it’s not always necessary to work with all five of these bits and pieces, but how even something so simple as this app will be working with more than one.

This device is, more or less, the equivalent of a hacked Samsung GALAXY S 4 for AT&T/T-Mobile. Inside you’ll find an unlocked system displaying Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean without any additions from any carrier or Samsung itself, coming only with the basics issued by Google.

In this device we’re seeing a unique new chapter in Google history. Where previous to this week, any release of a device with as stripped-down and pure as this one pushed by Google was labeled with a Nexus brand name. Here with the Samsung GALAXY S 4, the company has made clear their acceptance of the dominance of Samsung in the Android device-sphere, keeping the GALAXY branding (as they did with the Galaxy Nexus), this time kicking out the Nexus name altogether.

Barra had presented this device on-stage earlier in the day with the following words:

“We continue to be blown away by the hardware that’s coming out of our partners — the HTC One, and the Samsung Galaxy S4. Like this Galaxy S4. There’s something unique about this S4, that’s not available elsewhere. Take a look at my homescreen.

This version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available directly through Google Play, unlocked for both ATT and T-Mobile with LTE support, 16GB internal storage, bootloader unlocked, and it’ll receive prompt system updates with every new release.” – Hugo Barra

What we’ve seen up close is a pure Google experience that’s as swift or swifter than the original GALAXY S 4 with Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. Barra’s device is likely an early build, but we’re expecting the final product to be essentially the same: home button, 1080p display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor and all.

And for those of you wondering: no, he doesn’t use any magical super-secret Google-only apps that only the bosses get. Unless, of course, he was using super-secret Android powers to hide them.

You never know!

The device will be available on June 26th for $649 USD without a contract, compatible with T-Mobile USA and AT&T micro SIM cards, 4G LTE and all. Sound like a value proposition to you? This is one of those situations where we’re guessing developers will find the build to be best – it’s going to be difficult for this device, no matter how neat – to compete with the Nexus 4 already up for $299, also without a contract. That’s hard to argue with.

Pebble has issued an update to their PebbleKit SDK that will allow app developers to create and update their apps to support two-way communication with the Pebble watch over Bluetooth. Of course, this is huge for Pebble, as well as the app developers and the users who own a Pebble watch. Now they’ll be able to perform actions through the watch and have them sent to your smartphone.

Also being released today is the Pebble Sports API, which will allow third-party fitness apps to connect to Pebble smartwatches to offer certain data on the watch face, including time, pace, and miles. RunKeeper announced support last week, but Pebble is making the new API available for everyone, so we should be seeing a lot more fitness apps with Pebble support pop up in the near future.

In related Pebble news, the company is now beginning to ship their orange-colored watches to Kickstarter backers who have requested them. The company also completed development for grey and white models, but they have yet to make it into full production still, so it seems some Pebble backers will be waiting just a little while longer.

Also, after raising over $10 million in the Kickstarter campaign alone, Pebble is getting another round of funding, this time for a cool $15 million from Charles River Ventures. This means that we’ll see the Pebble team expand, and this really only marks the beginning for the company, which we expect to hear from in the next few years about new products and updates.

VIA: Engadget

SOURCE: Pebble

Android OS Updates

As it was last year, so it was expected to be again here in 2013. Google didn’t make an update to Android itself in any grand way, instead issuing updates to services like Google Play for developers on its back end, and updates to Apps for Android, Chrome, and even iOS. While Android 4.3 may still be on the horizon, (coming up quick, you can bet), it’s not been mentioned here on the first day of I/O.

This speaks volumes about Google’s approach with the conference, letting the world know that they’re not about to be pigeon-holed as a company that relies on updates to its operating systems and devices as major announcement fodder while they’ve got perfectly good app releases and service updates to shout about. As Apple’s new operating system update is rumored to be right around the corner, it’s possible that Android is simply fulfilling the suggestions made by Larry Page at the end this one-off keynote:

“Every story I read about Google is about us vs some other company, or something else, and I really don’t find that interesting. We should be building great things that don’t exist. Being negative is not how we make progress.” – Larry Page

Smartphones and Tablets for Developers

In 2012, Google gave away a Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone, a Google Nexus 7 tablet, and a Chromebox. The year before, they gave away a mobile hotspot from Verizon as well as a Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet – and a voucher for one of the first model Chromebooks too. This year developers are being given a Chromebook Pixel, the highest-end device on the market running this operating system. Google was expected to give away an LG-made Nexus 4, a Nexus 10 tablet, and other goodies, but they’ve sent one, single, crystal clear message instead.

Google’s message is that the most important services they’ve got to offer are on Android devices so abundant in the market that they’re inevitably already in developers’ hands OR are on Chrome OS. With the finest delivery vehicle for this operating system in the world thus far, Google is encouraging developers – pushing them, basically – to get Chrome on their radar, and to keep it there.

Google Glass Development

There’ve been no shortages of appearances by Google Glass this week at the Moscone Center, each of these happening with devices made available to developers at Google I/O 2012, shipped in the weeks coming up to this 2013 edition of the event user by user. Though there is a massive showing for Glass on one of two levels of developer-aimed presentations here at I/O 2013, there was no mention of development for Glass in the keynote.

Glass was mentioned by Larry Page in his question and answer session at the end of the keynote, but it certainly wasn’t in any way that was planned beforehand. Glass is not, it seems, at a place where it makes sense for Google to make a big deal of it to developers the same way new services announcements are being pushed. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to continue to update the public on Glass at this moment either since final market-ready units are still a far way off.

Results

The re-adjustment of the aim of this developer conference is clear. It’s here that Google re-humanizes the way they approach public relations, at least through the developers that make this ecosystem so healthy. While in years past it may have seemed that Google was aiming over the heads of developers, exciting the public with massive consumer-based keynotes to encourage these creators of software and services by default, Google is returning to a more solid spot here in 2013.

What do you think? Did you expect to see anything that didn’t end up appearing in the first and only keynote session of the week? It’s without a doubt a turning point – however subtle – for the company, and it’s exciting – among other things – to see the company’s ability to keep their aims diverse.

The initial Google I/O 2013 keynote was split essentially down the middle for Chrome and Android news, with an announcement of a Samsung GALAXY S 4 coming with a Nexus-style build of Android coming aside this Chromebook’s re-introduction. The Pixel has not had a hardware update since its inception – this system will be the same as it was when it was first introduced.

This system was introduced alongside a program called Google Play for Education. This system allows classrooms to gain access to a series of apps that are curated by Google for use by an education-centric group. This system is child friendly and works for both Android and inside web browsers, and will be rolling out soon.

It was made clear that the Chromebook Pixel will be a major part of Google’s initiatives with Chrome, especially here now with the web browser and the operating system crossing-over more than ever. Google made it clear that the web browser would be getting the same abilities regardless of its mobile or desktop iteration, and the Chromebook Pixel will bring that to developers this week at Google I/O 2013.

With App Translation Services, developers will be able to purchase translation services straight through Google Play. A translation company will translate text through the developer’s own set of APK strings, paying through Google as with all other systems inside the Google Play store.

Referral Tracking was also added go Google Play’s back-end for developers. Google Play will be showing the user how and from where users are coming from, much like Google Analytics shows how, from where, and why visitors come to webpages. This system allows many of the systems – lots, if not all the metrics available in Analytics will be available in one single place – the developer console.

A system called Fortune Teller will also be part of this Referral Tracking environment, allowing the developer to gain a better understanding of where their cash comes from. Staged Roll-outs are also coming this week for developers – Beta Testing included.

This whole system will be rolling out to developers starting this week – stay tuned while we’re here all week at Google I/O 2013 through our own Google I/O tag portal!

The new IDE in Android Studio is based on the community edition of IntelliJ, which should make many developers happy, and Google gave a live demo of the new developer suite by showing off live code updates and live renderings of apps in real time, which allows you to see what your app will look like on different screen sizes as you type code and make changes to it.

The suite also lets you choose from a huge library of devices that you can virtually use to try out your app to see what it looks like on certain devices and different screen sizes. This may not mean much to the non-developer, so if there’s anything to get out of this, it’s that this could solve fragmentation, and apps could look a whole lot better in the future.

As for developing apps for an international audience, Android Studio also includes different language tools. You can get a real-time view of how your app works with different languages, which is great because you’ll be able to see how the text changes and affects other elements in the app as the language is changed.

Google plans to continue to add on to Android Studio in the future, and what they have shown today is really just the tip of the iceberg. The company wants to integrate more and more services into Android Studio in the future, which should make developing apps even easier as time goes on.

The first location API they discussed is what they’re called Fused Location Provider, which aims at providing faster and more accurate location data, as well as low-power mode where less than 1% of the battery is used per hour, according to the search giant. After all, if battery power is a huge concern for a lot of users, this should certainly smooth things over a bit.

The second API that Google announced is called Geofencing. This lets you define certain areas around different locations in order to trigger events, something that we’ve seen before in location-based reminder apps, such as Checkmark and Apple’s own Reminders app. Google says that many users have asked for this feature, and finally they’re delivering.

The third API is called Activity Recognition, which helps to track your physical activities such as running, walking, biking, etc. The API uses data from the phone’s accelerometer and can even work without the GPS if you don’t happen to get a signal. It will also learn learn different activities to figure out when you’re walking, running, biking, and driving.

No word yet on when we’ll see these new APIs become available, but they’ll most likely release the APIs this week for developers to get started on as soon as possible. Stay tuned for more coverage of Google I/O, as the keynote has begun!

The Moscone Center once again plays host to Google I/O with an experience on the first of three floors that’s quite similar to 2012. This year attendees are given their official badges and T-shirts in a center console where Google employees are charged with scanning QR-codes and making sure everyone is who they say they are.

A massive Google I/O sign rests against the main wall of the center with a color-changing I and O, cycling through blues and pinks in a comforting haze. We’re wondering where these massive 3D letters go once the week is over – perhaps a special giveaway on a letter-by-letter basis?

The ground level also holds a pop-up Google Store where attendees can purchase various Google-branded oddities. Bags, clothing, cases, and toys are in effect. This store encourages – as it did in 2012 – users to utilize their Google Wallet to purchase the goods.

On the second floor (or first floor, if you’re German), you’ll find a massive Google+ presence where users are encouraged to sign-in with the social network. A deck with Office Hours is set up for developers to learn how they might integrate Google+ into their own software. This area has a series of live hang-out portals which we’re sure will be popping up this week.

This level is dedicated to several Google services and Google partners, each of them set up to present to any developer – or press member, or anyone else in attendance – that wishes to learn more.

BONUS FIND: here you’ll see an unopened box of special-edition Android collectable figures from Dead Zebra. We promise we didn’t peek!

Google Glass has its own section on level 2, users able to have a peek at the current iteration of the device as well as participate in talks on the future of the device. We’re expecting more information on the future of the headset in the main keynote address in the morning as well as in more than one chat later in the week.

You’ll find Glass being set aside in a massive section all its own on this level, mind you, while items like Google Maps are part of a series of towers up the center of the room. The amount of space Glass gets here says a lot about how important the device is to the company.

Up on the top level of the center, Google has made a massive show of both Android and Chrome. To one side, attendees are greeted by flying Androids and their floor-bound kin in a display not unlike what we saw at Mobile World Congress 2012 and 2011. It seems that this location has become the heart of the Android press event presentation – and perhaps rightfully so.

Turn around 360 degrees and you’ll find a fabulous display – not yet turned on, as it were – of Chrome. One setup shows the highest-end Chrome OS hardware to date in an array that’ll certainly be a sight to behold once it’s turned on.

Three large semi-transparent displays show Chrome in an impressive display that’ll certainly play host to some shows of power for both the web browser and the operating system.

Androids large and small – but mostly large – litter the top level in both complete and nearly complete states. A massive pair of black-framed glasses remain wet with paint less than a day before the main event is set to begin. An eye-bursting array of pink and blue squares blasts in a checkerboard grid above the fray. It’s here that the fun will begin soon – and very soon.

Have a peek at SlashGear’s Google I/O tag portal for more information on this array of Google action taking place Wednesday the 15th of May, 2013, till Friday. If you’re pumped up about any specific session or event, send us a note – we’d be glad to have a peek at it and report back to you, our valued readers!

Pay close attention starting tomorrow morning at 8AM PST in-particular – the big keynote event will be covered piece-by-piece right here on SlashGear!

BONUS: We’re on-site with and through Glass as well. Have a peek at a couple videos filmed by Vincent Nguyen with Google’s headset here and let us know what you think of the method and the quality.

Above you’ll find a general layout look at the first level of Google I/O 2013 and below you’ll hear a bit of information from the BBC’s own Rory Cellan-Jones. He’ll let you know exactly what he thinks about the gadget world and how important Glass is to it – stay tuned – #throughglass!

Just this morning it was suggested by Sundar Pichai that Google’s Android and Chrome operating systems would not be converging – at least not any time soon. That said, it’s very possible that they will be overlapping on a larger level sooner than you might expect. Google TV, as well, has been rumored to be converging with Android on a greater level ever since Android 4.2 Jelly Bean was given Miracast wireless transmission abilities.

Wireless Projection with Miracast

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and higher has the ability to allow your phone to project its display’s contents to machines that work with Miracast. This Miracast term refers to a standardized system for displays – and boxes you hook up to displays – to accept wirelessly projected image information. Have a peek at our original guide for this system entitled How does Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Wireless Display Mirroring Work? and you’ll find the following passage:

“With Miracast being an “industry standard”, you can expect many brands to pick it up soon if they don’t already have it integrated now. Miracast is a technology that’s built in to devices – it’s not a device in and of itself. Miracast certification has begun for devices of many kinds, so you can expect not just displays to have it integrated, but receivers that will plug in through your HDMI port instead – this working for legacy displays.”

The video you’re seeing shows some Texas Instruments device action with Miracast back well before Android 4.2 came along. This very basic demo shows the same functionality built in to Jelly Bean here and now. Point to take home: Miracast has been around long enough, it’s high time for it to be adopted on a grand level.

There aren’t very many Jelly Bean-compatible wireless display devices out on the market right this second. Google will very likely lead the way with a Google TV device – maybe even a Nexus Google TV product. If Google shows faith in Google TV with a product they give to developers at the conference, it’s possible that confidence will grow in the market’s mind.

On the other hand, the Nexus Q never took off. One of its fatal flaws was the relative lack of opportunity developers had to work with it right out of the gate. A very different situation would unfold if Google gave away a Google TV product with Miracast technology built-in.

Nexus Device Refresh: Nexus 7, Nexus 10

The Nexus 10 is a 10-inch display-toting Android tablet that hasn’t seen one whole heck of a lot of press since it was first delivered several months ago. The Nexus 7 has, on the other hand, seen significant success in the market due to its low cost and relatively well-balanced specifications – one year after it was given away at Google I/O 2012, it remains a top search term in Google for those looking for news updates.

The Google Nexus 7 has been tipped on several occasions – several quite recently – to be getting a refresh in the form of an advanced display. It has also been suggested that the Nexus 7 would be getting a new processor in the form of a Qualcomm Snapdragon, though the exact power within has not been clarified.

The Nexus 10, on the other hand, has not seen one whole heck of a lot of action anywhere – not compared to the Nexus 7, anyway. If Google does refresh the Nexus 10, it will be as a bit more of an afterthought next to the Nexus 7, not as a major news item on its own. Expect both of these tables to be mentioned – at least in passing – during Google’s major initial keynote.

Google’s one major keynote will take place on Wednesday, May 15th at 9AM PST. SlashGear will be in attendance and will be delivering you up-to-the-minute details throughout the 2.5-hour session.

Featured Sessions

This convention is home to numerous break-out sessions and talks from those in-the-know across the developer universe. These sessions revolve around Android and Chrome, of course, but there are many mini-events that have to do with specific apps and services too. Some of the highlights that indicate Google and the greater industry’s aims here include:

• Android: Enchant, Simplify, Amaze: Android’s Design Principles
• Chrome: JAM with Chrome
• Google+: Google+ Platform Overview
• Search: From Structured Data to Knowledge Graph
• Maps: Google Maps: Into the Future: Wednesday, May 15, 12:00pm
• Cloud Platform: Ushering in the next generation of computing at Google I/O
• Women Techmakers Session with Susan Wojcicki (SVP, Ads), Anna Patterson (VP, Knowledge), Johanna Wright (VP, Search and Mobile), Jean Wang (Staff Hardware Engineer, Glass), and Diane Greene (Board of Directors, Google).

Oddities SlashGear will also certainly be checking out include a Google+ AirShow and a Data Sensing Lab. The Google+ AirShow will allow users to check live streaming cams attached to blimps flying above the Moscone Center. The Data Sensing Lab will be visualizing environmental data from the area, lying it over indoor maps in real-time: this includes motion, noise level, humidity, pressure, and temperature.

Glass

Though we’ve not heard anything specific about what advances will be spoken of surrounding Google Glass, this year will mark the one-year anniversary of the moment developers were offered the opportunity to purchase a pair of the futuristic face-based computers. We’re expecting that our journey to and through the San Francisco-based event collection will be clad with more than a few Glass-faced users, that’s for sure.

Join us starting tomorrow – SlashGear will be scoping out the event center early and making sure we’re on top of the situation from start to finish! Make sure you hit up the SlashGear Google I/O portal throughout the week!

Senior Producer Dominic Guay spoke at a preview of the game this week in San Francisco, letting it be known that the contents could be seen as a warning as much as a normal, every day third-person thriller. Here the player will be working as Pearce, a hacker living in a futuristic Chicago blanketed with a “Smart City” installation that can access essentially any information wirelessly.

What’s more, this new-age Chicago’s smart system doesn’t just work with and control public service systems, it helps police hunt down and capture bad guys. Using systems like the very real SpotShotter, as pointed out by Venture Beat (they also attending this San Francisco preview of the game), the in-game police can track gunshots by triangulating the sounds with city-wide sound recorders.

“The problem is, if you start spying on people in every aspect of their lives, it becomes addictive. hat if you see a woman being mugged in a back alley or a man being extorted? It becomes hard to do nothing.” – Dominic Guay

The game’s hero Pearce will be aiming at and avoiding not only the police, but corrupt 3rd party users and gangs, each of them also taking advantage of the connectedness of the city and its citizens.

Much in the same way Batman is able to hone in on sound signals throughout a city by tapping in to the cellphone signals of its citizens, here too anyone with access will be able to hear all. Batman’s ability to do this appears in the movie The Dark Knight as well as in the video game Batman: Arkham City. In Watch Dogs, this sound system is part of the larger ctOS (City Operating System).

Helping to advance the realism of the game to a point that’s essentially creepy, Kaspersy Lab has been confirmed to be working with the developers of this game in its last phases. Speaking at the game preview this week with Joystiq, Guay made their involvement clear:

“We’re working with Kaspersky Lab, a big security firm. They have really hardcore experts there on hacking. We send them some of our designs and we ask them feedback on it, and it’s interesting to see what gets back. Sometimes they say, ‘Yeah, that’s possible, but change that word,’ or, ‘That’s not the way it works.’” – Dominic Guay

It’s also become clear that this game will not be restricted to your gaming console – it’ll not just be a game you play on Xbox 360, PC, Xbox 720, PlayStation 4, and the rest. Instead you’ll have gameplay expansion available on smartphone systems and on tablets as well. This game will, like the hero of the game, be played on the move, as well.

Expect Watch Dogs to be solidified with detail galore by the time of its final release later this year. At the moment it would appear that Watch Dogs will be set for a November 22nd release date and will be appearing on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC at the start.

The news of a Dropbox-centric developer conference hints to the possibility that the company will be looking to revamp its cloud offerings over time with more features, thanks to its network of developers and partners. As for what we’ll see at the conference, that’s still up in the air, but Dropbox says that “people create more than a billion memories, thoughts, and moments in Dropbox every day,” and the company is looking to bring “together our community of developers and partners to build on these experiences and design the future.”

The conference looks to be invitation only, and tickets are $350 per person, but if you want to get in, you can request an invitation on their website by filling out some basic information, like your name, email address, and your occupation. However, you’ll most likely have to be involved with Dropbox in some capacity in order to attend.

Dropbox has been looking to integrate with more and more services over the past year or so, and a developer conference is a great place to make that kind of business happen. In the world of cloud storage, having your service integrated into as many products as possible is a fairly good way to get more people to use your service.

The next edition of Android – whichever candy-coated edition that may be – will come with a set of enhancements we can expect to be as fun-filled as Jelly Bean was as it was updated last year at Google I/O 2012. This year’s update may well continue with another “4.3″ with the same Jelly Bean code-name, but there’s also the chance that Google might make a boost up to the name Key Lime Pie – that’s next in the alphabet in the Android dessert code-name list, after all.

UPDATE: HTC’s Dario Laverde has sent this message about the posting:

“To clarify, we’ll have some surprises for the meeting but we’re not claiming unannounced new features here – we’ll be demoing features and APIs already available on HTC devices.” – Laverde

The trio of HTC developers headed to this Android SF group include Dario Laverde, Lance Nanek, and David Wu. According to the event posting at SFAndroid dot org, both Bluetooth Low Energy and Open GL ES 3.0 will be headed to Android soon – and very soon. It’s important to note that Bluetooth 4.0 supports Bluetooth Low Energy – “considerably” reduced power consumption with the same range as in past releases – but until now it’s not been part of Android at its base, so consumed the same amount of power (essentially) as past releases regardless of the Bluetooth edition on your device.

“For our May meetup, we are stoked that a trio of dev gurus from HTC made time in their busy (Google I/O) schedule to come and present at our group.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) on Android has arrived. Dario Laverde will provide an overview of the BLE specification and take us through the new APIs with some hands-on demos with various devices, heart rate monitors, key finders, and multi-sensor kits (temperature, pressure, humidity, accelerometer). You’ll walk away ready with the code to kick start your BLE ideas.

Next, Lance Nanek will tell us about Open GL ES 3.0, the new pipeline, updated shading language, enhanced texturing…. but more importantly, blow us away with some amazing demos!” – SFAndroid

If you’re a developer you’ll know what it means to be moving on to OpenGL ES version 3.0, but for you users: it’s all about graphic rendering excellence. Expect your device to once again look far more awesome once this version of Android rolls around, just so long as the developer of the apps you love know how to optimize.

You’ll be able to catch these bits and a whole lot more from SlashGear as we head to Google I/O 2013 starting next week – the event itself goes from the 15th to the 17th and we’ll be there from start to finish. Stick with SlashGear in our Google I/O tag portal starting last week and well through the future.

Thanks for the tip, Joshua L!

According to Microsoft, since the launch of Windows Phone 8, there has been twice as many app downloads from the Windows Phone store, and a 140% increase in paid app revenue for developers. It says that with around half of the world still using feature phones, Windows Phone is anticipating a huge growth in its market later on this year. However, Microsoft may have forgotten that many of those feature phone users may opt to purchase an iPhone or an Android phone instead.

There are also 6 new developer payout markets available, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Montenegro, Serbia, Timor-Leste, and Ukraine, allowing developers in those markets to submit apps to the Windows Phone Store. These new markets increase the number of Windows Phone markets to 191. Microsoft has also added 15 new mobile operator billing partners, bringing 25 supported partners to 19 markets. According to Microsoft, mobile operator billing allows developers to earn 3 times more per app compared to the standard credit card system.

Microsoft has also made submitting apps much easier. Developers can cancel their apps submissions, enable rotating screenshots, and automatically resize their screenshots. They are also allowed to review their app before submitting them. Microsoft also points out that there are several Windows Phone 8 devices on the market right now, and many more on their way, and because of their budget-friendly pricing, consumers may opt to purchase them over competing brands.

While Microsoft may have oversold its Windows Phone market share and attractability a bit, the new payout features may be enough to persuade developers to create apps for the Windows Store. Be sure to check out our review of some of the best Windows Phone 8 devices on the market right now, the Nokia Lumia 920 and the HTC 8X, to see what the Windows Phone platform has to offer.

[via Windows Phone Blog]

Twitter has been in the news a fair bit this last week. On Wednesday, it received praise from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, more commonly called the EFF, which said the company is the best at protecting user data by meeting all six criteria used to look at how well companies handle their users’ info (Verizon and Apple didn’t fair so well, fyi).

We also saw confirmation that a Twitter for Glass app is real from LeWeb founder Loic Le Meur, who sent out a tweet containing an image of himself behind the wheel with the hashtag #throughglass. When asked if he used a Twitter Glass app, he said he did. That followed a day of tweets spotted by various Twitter users containing images sent by an app called Twitter for Glass.

And on Tuesday, Twitter had announced that its advertising program was opening to everyone who wanted to advertise, rather than just the businesses authorized to use it. Now smaller businesses, those less well known, and even individual users can advertise on the microblogging website, with the ads being tailored to specific audiences or displayed to users in general.

[via Twitter]

This announcement sets users up for a two-step update, allowing them access first to a set of apps that have already been working with iOS fitness buffs for some time, then promises the same deal this first 10 app family has for developers galore. With RunKeeper and MapMyFitness, users will be working with maps, seeing distance, information on how daily activities affect a fitness regiment, and more.

Users will be able to use IFTTT, an app that texts one based on pre-set specifications and allows you to tie in with a partner for co-managing and co-motivation, so to speak. Wello is another app integrating with UP this week, bringing on a personal trainer to the wrist of the user – Withings app integration allows your UP band to tie in with your Withings scale. This UP family of apps will continue to expand, says Jawbone, especially once the open API is made real.

Above and below you’ll find the full UP Platform 10 app iOS push for the UP Platform. You’ll notice that this setup is ready for iOS at launch – Android has been promised by Jawbone to be launching really soon as well. Have a peek at our history with Jawbone for more information on this device and make sure you keep tuned to SlashGear for your expanding abilities with UP as well!

Parse developer user base sits at around 60,000 at the moment, and heads at both Facebook and Parse has been adamant thus far about making sure they know the full extent of Facebook’s influence in the near future. A statement has been released making it relatively clear that Facebook has no intent on changing the way that Parse-developed app data is used. Parse competitors are using this situation as an opportunity to drain the company of disloyal developers.

One example of a competing service looking to capitalize on the Facebook acquisition of Parse is StackMob. This company has created a set of import tools made to make the move between Parse and themselves as simple as possible, and Parse developers have suggested they’ve been contacted by other services since the announcement as well.

“Q: Will my Parse app be affected in any way? No.
Q: Will Parse apps have to use Facebook functionality? No.
Q: Will Parse honor my contract? Yes, of course.” – Ilya Sukhar, Parse CEO

In the acquisition of Parse, Facebook has claimed it will bring several next-generation tools to the fold, making Parse’s draw more powerful under the rule of the social network. Advertisement-selling features will be added for developers to make use of, and new Facebook login tools will be made much easier to work with, of course. Parse developers will also be able to work with Facebook’s Open Graph for mobile as well.

[via TechCrunch]

Hacker Liam McLoughlin and Cydia founder Jay Freeman have both rooted Google Glass, McLoughlin saying that it was “easy” to do, elaborating that the “reboot-bootloader gives you fastboot OEM unlock. There is fun to be had here.” Freeman, on the other hand, also rooted his pair, but left out any details on the process.

McLoughlin says that Google Glass has a “debug mode” option that appears to enable ADB access. This was able to give developers the chance to root the glasses, and it seems we’re now off to the races. It’s still early in the rooting process, so we’re not sure what all the fun things we’ll get to do with Google Glass with a full root, but we’re guessing there will be a lot of cool stuff to come out.

It was particularly interesting to see Freeman tinker around with a pair of Google Glasses, considering his main tasks are involved around iOS. Then again, we could see jailbreak apps make their way into Cydia that will add full compatibility to Google Glass, since the specs won’t come with it by default.

[via 9to5Google]

This program is entirely separate from BlackBerry’s own Android initiative – you’ll find that previous reports have put the number of “repackaged Android apps” in the BlackBerry 10 library at 40 percent. That’s no small number for a platform that’s competing with both Android and the iPhone for market share in the mobile industry. Be it BlackBerry’s own Android toolset or Unity’s new offering, it would appear that BlackBerry 10 is seeking developers from widely successful environments left and right.

The offering Unity has here is a toolset which allows an app developer to create apps for multiple platforms at once. Developers will be able to create with what would at first appear to be the same tools and workflow they normally employ for iOS or Android, but here the end result will be a BlackBerry 10 app. These apps will work on the BlackBerry Z10, the BlackBerry Q10, and eventually whatever other BlackBerry 10 devices arrive on the market.

At the moment this setup is being pushed to only the most advanced developers, while the final workflow will be released in a form that Unity Technologies will aim at a more broad developer user base. This release will be followed soon after by a set of tools for those developers hoping to create apps for Windows Phone 8, as well.

In this trailer you’ll see what’s essentially a terror only seen previously in films such as Hellraiser. Bloody monstrosities emerging from the muck-like blood of the innocent. Spiked wires wrapped around the wrists of the decrepit death-spawn of the most evil pits of darkness our eyes are allowed to see. Stuff like that – you know?

If you’re the type to freak out at the sight of quick flickering images of massacred flesh, we don’t recommend you see the video above. If you’re all about a gaming experience that’ll take you to a new universe of pain, please feel free to join in on the fun! You’ll be glad to know that you’ll experience such eye-pain as you’ve ever before seen!

This game is directed by no less than Shinji Mikami, the man behind the Resident Evil series – imagine that! You’ll find that this game will be bringing on a whole new era of exhilaration and flip-outs on your part, and we’re expecting to see some real gameplay sooner than later. Unless, of course, what we’re seeing here comes straight from the game. You never know!

[via IGN]

These rumors are stacking up around what everyone would like ideally: a new smartphone. The device would, of course, be called the Nexus 5 and a brand new manufacturer would be behind the wheel. Past Google I/O events dictate a different situation, on the other hand.

Instead of releasing a brand new smartphone at the developer event next month, Google will much more likely be presenting the attendees with a newly enhanced version of the still hotly-selling Nexus 4. This new version will quite likely be able to work with new radio bands for networks that previous to the event weren’t compatible with the handset.

The current Google Nexus 4 works with AT&T and T-Mobile here in the United States but only supports speeds up to HSPA+. With the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor under the hood of the Nexus 4, the device already has the compatibility it needs on the SoC side of things – it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to see LG and Google update the innards of this device to support 4G LTE for T-Mobile as it begins to launch across the USA, and both AT&T and Verizon could be onboard as well.

We’ll be at Google I/O 2013 next month and will be reporting straight through SlashGear’s Google I/O tag portal to you the whole event long! Join us from May 15th through the 17th as we head to the Moscone Center in San Francisco! You can also tap our Google I/O 2013 event in Facebook to remind yourself of the fun coming up!

[via Android Community]

OUYA’s head of developer relations, Kellee Santiago, revealed the new statistic today, and says that it’s quite an accomplishment for the company, especially considering that the console is still in its early stages. She also notes that the number of developers signing on “continues to grow at such a rapid pace.”

Santiago notes that partnerships with larger developers and publishers will be coming up in the next few months, which means we could be seeing some triple-A titles make their way to the OUYA console at some point. However, Santiago says that the competition between triple-A games and indie games is dying, and gamers will simply play games that have quality, whether it’s a triple-A title or an indie title.

The OUYA has been hit with some criticism as of late, when review of the portable gaming console began pouring out, most of which rated the new console bad or mediocre. However, OUYA has reiterated that the console is still in its early stages and isn’t ready for prime time quite yet, but Santiago assures us that the team is working on improving the console.

[via Gamesindustry.biz]

Developers have been able to use Facebook’s Open Graph for mobile app development in the past, but the creation of an Object API simplifies the process of taking advantage of Open Graph, and it removes the tedious need to host a website with specific Open Graph tagging. This should certainly take some weight off the shoulders of app developers.

If you’re not familiar with Facebook’s new Open Graph, it essentially lets developers integrate their own applications deeply into the Facebook experience. This in turn, is said to increase engagement with various things that users post on their walls and such. Basically, it makes it easy for third-party apps to integrate with Facebook.

As for other features with this new SDK, a new and improved login system has also been revealed. Essentially, the improved login options for logging into third-party apps using your Facebook credentials is much more streamlined, and the social network says it’s about 20% faster than before. As for when we’ll see these kinds of improvements come to Android, Facebook says it’s working on it “very quickly.”

The teams that will be selected will come from the 2013 Evernote Devcup, in which winning teams will be flown out to California in an all-expenses-paid trip to work closely with Evernote staff on their products and apps. Some of the cost of the Accelerator program will come from Honda and Japanese telecommunications company Docomo.

At the end of the month-long course, the teams will then present their finished products in front of an audience of investors, journalists, and various leaders and executives, with the possibility that these apps could be picked up by investors or other companies, so there’s definitely a huge benefit in the program.

The Evernote Devcup was announced at SXSW, and app submissions opened up yesterday. Any app that integrates with Evernote’s API is eligible to compete in the Devcup. It’s a four-month long competition that challenges teams to come up with the best apps that work with Evernote, and a select number of teams that win will be sent to participate in the Accelerator program.

Another new change to Chooser is the change to its user interface. It now features an improved design that shows off stylish new threads, making the user interface much more friendly. The best part is that developers aren’t required to adjust their codes to implement the new design, or any future designs, because new designs will be updated automatically in their web apps.

Dropbox Chooser allows developers to integrate Dropbox directly into their web apps, and with ease. All the developer needs to do is add a few lines of HTML. Previously, Chooser didn’t have many options to choose. It was limited to basic Dropbox features including searching through files, browsing through photo galleries, and sharing files. These new features are a welcomed addition, and Dropbox says that there will be “a lot more coming soon!”

Dropbox has been on a roll with adding new features to its service. It had recently rebranded its Dropbox for Teams service to Dropbox for Businesses, and had implemented a single sign-on feature that syncs with a business’s central identity provider, making it easier for businesses to consolidate their logins. Dropbox and Yahoo Mail have also collaborated, bringing Dropbox’s cloud storage features to the email provider. Dropbox is stepping up its game in order to improve its user experience, and attain its goal of having a user base of at least 150 million active users.

The source code for the new phone is based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and all the files come in at 100MB in size after it’s all said and done. Of course, releasing source code for its phones is typical fashion for HTC, and the HTC One is simply added to a list of HTC devices with source code out in the wild.

While we would eventually see custom ROMs even if HTC didn’t release the source code for the One, the official source code makes sure that custom ROMs work seamlessly with the phones that they’re put on. Many custom ROMs come with caveats and may not be fully-functional. With the source code, developers are able to make flawless ROMs.

If you’re in the mood to grab an HTC One, you can do it right now because it’s available for pre-order on AT&T, with a release date of April 19 on both AT&T and T-Mobile. You can pick up the 32GB model for $199.99 and the 64GB model for $299.99. If you already happen to have HTC’s Droid DNA, the company also announced that the source code for the phone is available now as well.

[via Android Community]

When we switch from phone to phone here on SlashGear (and over on Android Community where the video you’re about to see comes from), it’s rare that we’ll find an app that absolutely must pop up on all review units. HD Widgets is certainly one of them. With the Colourform theme pack, things have suddenly gotten a whole lot more appealing to the modernists in us.

Back when HTC first revealed their monstrously lovely candy-coated weather widgets with Sense a few years ago, we came to realize what was possible aesthetically in the Android universe. Here with HD Widgets, we’ve got a 3rd-party developer (cloud.tv) that’s essentially perfected the art. You’ll not only be working with these widgets on your home screens in your standard Android experience, you’ll be able to place them on your lock screens with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, too!

As far as Colourform goes – you’ve got a brand new set of over 50 new Ice Cream Sandwich / Jelly Bean-style widgets that’ll look just as nice on your smartphone as they will on your tablet. You can choose custom colors for backgrounds, text, separators, and each little bit of the clock, too! You’ve got flat panels, textures, 3D effects, and flatness galore!

Above: HD Widgets 3.0 (currently on version 3.9.3, with even more greatness!)

Just so you’re aware, you WILL NEED HD WIDGETS for this new expansion pack to function. You can download HD Widgets from the Google Play app store today and make it roll with or without Colourform – your choice! Your Colourform (HDW theme pack) download will be just the ticket you need to go fully Bauhaus on your smartphone or tablet of tomorrow – make it work!

The new Card types are App, Product, and Gallery, each of which is mostly self-explanatory. The App Card type provides app information, such as its name and icon, description, and some other relevant data, including its price. The information is provided via the App Store or Play Store, and all that is required of developers is their ID. Similar to this is the Product Card type, which shows a product’s image, description, and a maximum of two fields that can be customized with other details, such as pricing.

Finally, there’s the Gallery Card type, which is used when there’s more than one image available, making that obvious by including more than one image in the card and providing a notification that there’s a gallery to be seen, rather than just one or a couple images. These expand on the photo, summary, and video Cards, and are said to provide a foundation for future cards.

According to the announcement, there is already a substantial lineup of partners that will take advantage of the cards, including Etsy, Jawbone, Angry Birds, SoundCloud, Vine, Foursquare, and more. In addition to the cards, Twitter has also unveiled deep-linking for mobile apps, which you can see in the image above. Enabling this can help drive app downloads.

[via Twitter]

Per the announcement, the new dashboards presented are based on the number of active users rather than the number of pings that Google’s servers receive, causing a relevant – if not significant – shift in the distribution. This is determined by basing the dashboards on the users that hit up the Google Play Store, giving a more accurate profile of the active users who are using the mobile OS and engaging with its content.

This change not only provides a more accurate look at what versions of Android are most actively being used by the consumer public, but also provides developers with a better idea of who is visiting the Play Store and potentially buying their apps. This is in addition to the more detailed information provided by the developers’ own Developer Console.

The screen size distribution charts have been updated as well as the operating system version. You can check out the distribution for yourself, along with the green-shaded pie chart, over at Android’s official website, and while you’re at it, there’s a lively discussion about screen size happening on the Android Developer’s Google+ announcement, which you can hit up via the link below.

[via Google+]

This conference is one made by Microsoft for developers to gain knowledge and make connections – more connections than they’ve ever made before! Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and everything in-between are about to be up for chats, keynotes, and discussion all week long in the San Francisco corner of this grand tour. Today’s registration is also for that particular stop, with the SoCal event taking place at The Moscone Center from June 26th through June 28th – you’ll want to be there the whole time, without a doubt!

If you are amongst the first 500 ticket buyers, you’ll be tossing down $1,595 USD, while the rest of the developer world will be paying $2,095 USD. Either way it’s an investment – and if you’ve been to this event before, you know it’s well worth the cash.

This year’s BUILD events will also be visiting Oregon and Washington in Portland and Redmond – if you’re not at one, sign up for the other! If you’re all about Windows, Windows Phone, Windows Azure, Internet Explorer, Office, Office 365, Xbox, or Visual Studio, you’ll find yourself well at home!

Have a peek at our timeline of BUILD-specific titles from the past few years and make sure you hit up our Microsoft tag portal for more – we’ll be bringing you the heat even if you’re not in attendance. Prepare yourself!

It feels like yesterday when we were hearing about the prototype of the VR headset, and after an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign back in August, the Oculus Rift has made headlines all other the internet. The company even made an appearance at CES, where it showed off the VR technology to attendees.

The company says they shipped over 10,000 developer kits, so we should be seeing quite a surge in support for the VR headset before it officially ships out to Kickstarter backers and the general public. The first game, however, to receive official support for the VR headset is Valve’s Team Fortress 2.

Furthermore, with dev units shipping out, Oculus has opened up its developer portal on its website. There you’ll find everything you need to get started creating content for the VR headset. In the meantime, if you’re not a developer, you get the honor of waiting it out before the public will have the chance to receive their own units.

YouTube has released a set of APIs that game developers can grab that will allow them to easily include such features into their games. The APIs will allow developers to live stream a video coming from a game, while YouTube takes that video feed and transcodes the video in real time so that viewers can watch the live stream on YouTube.

YouTube has partnered with Call of Duty: Black Ops II in the past to offer similar capabilities, but the service is making it available to all game developers who want to include live streaming in their games. YouTube says that this will not only be great for promoting games, but also for offering a neat way for gamers to share their gaming experiences with others.

Sony announced similar functionality last month during the company’s announcement of the PlayStation 4. In this case, gamers press a “Share” button on the controller to quickly share game footage with friends who weren’t there to see it for themselves. Popular PC gaming chat client Xfire has also had this capability for years, allowing PC gamers to live stream their gameplay to other Xfire users.

[via CNET]

We attended Microsoft’s BUILD 2012 conference and the company announced a lot of great stuff, including the official launch of Windows Phone 8. Microsoft also took that time to announce a handful of big new apps that came to Windows 8. Of course, tons of new apps have released since then, but this was back when Windows 8 came right off the assembly line.

Registration for BUILD 2013 will open on April 2, so be sure to mark your calendars for that day as well, since tickets will go quickly. Specifically, last year’s conference sold out in about an hour, so be sure to get your clicking reflexes up to shape before signing up — Microsoft’s expecting a large crowd for this one.

As for what we’ll see from Microsoft during the conference, they say that they’ll be showing off some new things that they’ve been working on for Windows, as well as Azure, Visual Studio, and lots more. We may even hear more about Windows Blue that we’ve been hearing so much about as of late.

Some of Google’s examples share some overlap, at least at first glance, with other services, like Google Docs, though with the benefits of a huge chunk of online space and Drive’s other advantages. Neutron Drive now supports a collective editor feature for any document or source code file you have in your Drive account, with room for multiple people to work on the same file simultaneously:

Elsewhere, there’s collaboration support for project scheduling, with Gantter using the new API to bake in IM-style chat, project editing, and Gantt diagram manipulation. Obviously there are controls around who can access documents and who can edit them, as well as color-coding so that each person’s changes are trackable:

Finally, from Google’s showcase, there’s draw.io, which as the name suggests is a diagramming app. Just as with the multi-author Gantt diagrams in Gantter, draw.io allows a remote team to work together on flowcharts, electronic circuits, and other diagrams:

Those developers keen to get onboard with the Drive Realtime API can find documentation and examples here, plus there’s a step-by-step guide to implementing it. There’s also a realtime collaborative Rubik’s Cube style puzzle you can play with.

The developer unit itself is slightly larger than what the normal units will be, mostly because the dev units have a Type A USB slot for keyboard and mouse input that will be necessary for developers. The developer units will also include a few different components from the normal units that will be meant for de-bugging and loading apps.

As for the controller, PlayJam says that it’s “nearing readiness for production now.” The company says that “making this controller almost gave the lead mechanical engineer a heart attack,” noting that the controller has a very intricate design, and PlayJam says that the engineer “has worked wonders to fit everything in to such a small space.”

Furthermore, the company has announced that over 500 developers have signed up for, or are in the process of signing up to make GameStick games, and they also said that they have some partnerships in the pipeline with “major corporations,” hinting that ARM may be one of them. As for the SDK, it will be released to game developers later this week. PlayJam will be at GDC 2013 next week to announce even more news, so be sure to stay tuned!

With the API in place, developers will be able to integrate Google Drive into their apps that way users can edit Google Drive text, spreadsheet, and presentation documents, and have the changes show up in realtime for collaborators. This new API also “handles network communication, storage, presence, conflict resolution, and other collaborative details.”

A few apps are already using the new API, including Neutron Drive, Gantter, and draw.io. As an example, Gantter (which is a free online project scheduling tool) allows users to now work on project schedules in realtime, and the app features an embedded chat program that uses the Google Drive Realtime API.

Of course, we’ll have to wait a little bit for more app developers to integrate the new API into their apps, but it should only be a matter of time. Developers can go to the Realtime API landing page to learn more about the API and to get started integrating the new API into apps. We’re pretty excited to see what developers come up with.

It was just this past week that the lawyers working with the Swartz estate requested that the documents at hand be released in full. Though both MIT and the lawyer group agreed that some details would certainly be redacted for the safety of those involved, it would appear that more than just phone and social security numbers will be cut from this release.

The letter released today to the MIT community from MIT president Rafael Reif noted that they remain dedicated to as open a system as possible, but that they’d still have to cut out names and details that would lead back to those involved. The full text of the letter can be found in a PasteBin page – PasteBin being a repository for documents that can be submitted entirely anonymously, if you did not know.

“At MIT, we believe in openness, and we are not afraid to reexamine our own actions; indeed, it was with those values in mind that I asked Professor Hal Abelson to undertake his analysis following Aaron Swartz’s tragic suicide. But I believe that openness must be balanced with reasonable concern for privacy and safety. That is especially true in this situation. In the time since Aaron Swartz’s suicide, we have seen a pattern of harassment and personal threats. In this volatile atmosphere, I have the responsibility to protect the privacy and safety of those members of our community who have become involved in this matter in the course of doing their jobs for MIT, and to ensure a safe environment for all of us who call MIT home.” – Reif

So it’s passwords to systems and the names and phone numbers – and social security numbers, all that sort of stuff – that’s being kept blank. Make sense to you? The exact wording from Reif is as follows:

“Therefore – in the spirit of openness, balanced with responsibility – we will release the requested MIT documents, redacting employee names and identifying information as appropriate to protect their privacy, as well as redacting information about network vulnerabilities.” – Reif

Have a peek at the timeline below to see more information leading up to this moment and be sure to stick with SlashGear for more updates as this case continues. Let us know what you think of the progress that’s being made, and be sure to speak up if you’ve got any details you’d like us to know that we don’t already!

Thanks for the tip, Jack!

[via GigaOM]

The dev team mostly blames the different variants of the new device, one being the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 version in the US, and the international version which will rock out an 8-core Exynos 5 chip. They also note that many of the bugs present on the Galaxy S III will most likely be there on the GALAXY S 4 as well, most notably issues with camera support.

UPDATE: Steve “Cyanogen” Kondik himself has debunked this claim himself.

There’s also the issue with Samsung locking down their platform tightly. Samsung wants to protect their IP, which obviously makes for very developer-unfriendly devices. Of course, the company works around carriers and such, but they haven’t been too friendly toward independent developers as of late.

Of course, there will mostly likely be other ROMs available for the GALAXY S 4, and while other developers are following in the footsteps of the CyanogenMod dev team’s decision to pass on the new device, there will still be some developers who want a stock version bad enough that they’ll be willing to jump through the necessary hoops to make it happen.

The shift Lerer mentions for the company he works with is, as he says, occurring in “real time.” This company stared with a small email newsletter – being email-centric at the start, obviously, and has now quite recently announced that it generates over $40 million USD in revenue a year. Editorial content is now offered by the company through two brands: JackThreads and Thrillist Rewards.

According to Lerer, the JackThreads iPhone app is now king – a surprise hit, as it were. Before very recently, the company leaned more toward “web-first” or “email-first” strategies, but seeing the power of mobile in the JackThreads iPhone app, the company made a push for “mobile-first”, and it’s payed off in a big way.

“Our mobile-first strategy is a reaction to success we were seeing — we didn’t lean into a hot buzzword. We were web-first or email-first or not-mobile-first for a very long time, and over the past several months — and it has been this recent — we’ve seen such a shift in audience behaviors that instead of playing catchup, we decided we should be first movers in mobile.” – Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer

Lerer also mentioned that the Android app version of JackThreads was not quite doing the same business as the iOS iteration, noting that though the Android experience is “not as robust” as the experience they’ve got on iPhone, they’ve never seen the same sort of conversions. The two were not (and still aren’t) comparable to one another, noted Lerer. He did mention, on the other hand, that they’d be delivering an iPad-specific version of JackThreads soon.

So though it’s not universal, working with iOS primarily in this case, the way Thrillist does business has been pushed directly toward the mobile environment primarily – and they’re seeing things take off in a big way.

Let us know if you’ve seen any companies doing heavy business in the mobile environment where they’d previously had good – but not monumental – success elsewhere before. We’ll be watching!

[via VentureBeat]