1 844.742.7448

Email Us

Remote Support

Contact

Posts tagged "developer"

  1. Home
  2. Posts tagged developer

Apple bows to developer complaints, will allow web apps in EU … with a catch
  • No Comments

Apple is walking back some of its restrictive response to EU regulations that have forced it to make changes to the iPhone and iOS. When the EU said that Apple must allow third-party web browsers on the iPhone, the company responded by cutting off web apps for the EU. After developers and some users complained, the company has changed its policy and will again allow EU users to save a website as an app on their home screen. 

Web apps harken back to the original days of the iPhone, when there was no App Store. Instead, you could pin a web page to your home screen and it worked just like an app. The feature evolved to allow web apps to save data and send push notifications to the user. Macrumors has a good walkthrough of how web apps work and why they are a benefit. A web app is much smaller than an app that you download from the App Store, for instance. 

Notably, Xbox Cloud Gaming relies on a web app to function on the iPhone. You can play all of your Xbox games on your phone, using an Xbox controller, thanks to the Xbox website that acts as a web app. By adding this feature back into iOS 17.4, Apple has saved Xbox gamers who stream their game library through their iPhone. The software update will be available in early March, so we expect it any day now. 

Web apps are a security problem, according to Apple

The problem with web apps, described by Apple, is that iOS is only designed to be secure when a Webkit browser creates the web app. Webkit is Apple’s own browser engine, different from Chromium browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, and other browsing engines. If some third-party Chromium browser creates a web app on iOS, it might gain access to the camera, or install extra software without the user’s knowledge. To deal with that problem, Apple announced it was eliminating the ability to use web apps for EU users. 

Thankfully, Apple says in a recent update that it has changed course and will allow third-party browsers to create web apps. When those apps are created and saved to the home screen, it seems they will run in Apple’s own Webkit browser engine instead of using the third-party browser. It’s unclear how this might affect performance, but it seems like a reasonable compromise for now. 

“We have received requests to continue to offer support for Home Screen web apps in iOS, therefore we will continue to offer the existing Home Screen web apps capability in the EU. This support means Home Screen web apps continue to be built directly on WebKit and its security architecture, and align with the security and privacy model for native apps on iOS,” says Apple on its developer page. 

Apple in the past said that web apps are not very popular, citing “very low user adoption of Home Screen web apps” as a reason why the feature was not worth the extra effort to develop a proper, secure fix for this issue.

You might also like

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

DaVinci Resolve developer slashes network storage costs
  • No Comments

Blackmagic Design has announced a major price drop on its range of network storage solutions. 

Aimed at film and TV professionals such as video editors, colorists, audio engineers and VFX artists, Blackmagic Cloud Store devices lets multiple users quickly share media files – “Hollywood feature film size,” says the company – for editing, VFX work, and other post-production processes. 

The developer behind DaVinci Resolve, one of the best video editing software on the market, cited recovering supply chains and cheaper high-speed flash storage components as driving price reductions of up to $ 7,000 on the higher-end models.  

A creative cloud solution 

The Blackmagic Cloud Store line-up includes three models: the mainline Cloud Store alongside the Mini and the Pod – and it’s the former two that are seeing the big discounts. 

Blackmagic Cloud Store is pitched at production houses needing capacity for business and operational files, alongside media storage. The device comes in 20TB, 80TB, and 320TB models, each equipped with a M.2 NVMe SSD in a RAID 5 flash memory configuration. According to the company, “the internal memory core is so fast it can saturate the 10G Ethernet ports to their theoretical maximum speed.” 

Read more

> You can now get DaVinci Resolve from the App Store

> These are the best video editing computers around right nows

> Sony just dropped a free online video editor for content creators

The 20TB model sees a drop from $ 9,595 to $ 7,595 (approx. £6,335 / AU$ 11,250), with the 80TB Cloud Store moving to a price-point of $ 22,995 (approx. £19,195 / AU$ 34,065)..

The portable Cloud Store Mini, meanwhile, with its 8TB storage capacity and four internal M.2 flash cards in a RAID 0 memory configuration, is targeted at television production. Its price has been cut from $ 2,995 to $ 2,355 (approx. £1,965 / AU$ 3,490).

Running on macOS and Windows, the network storage syncs large files – and that includes 12K Blackmagic RAW digital cinema files – with two of the best cloud storage services out there: Google Drive and Dropbox. Although other providers are not supported. In a move to future-proof the devices, users are able to expand storage capabilities, upgrading as larger M.2 cards release. The set-up also boasts no subscriptions or licenses, with users purchasing the physical device outright. 

“The new prices will help to make high performance network storage more affordable for anyone who wants to distribute large media files globally in minutes,” said Blackmagic Design. 

Keen creatives can see the full Blackmagic Cloud Store specs by clicking here. 

  • Best VFX software: See our round-up of the top post-production tools for professional visual effects 

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Mozilla adds new paid tier for its developer network
  • No Comments

Mozilla has launched a new paid subscription service to further support the development of its Mozilla Developer Network (MDN).

While developers already rely on MDN to find documentation and code samples for CSS, HTML and JavaScript, MDN Plus will add three new features in the form of Notifications, Collections and MDN Offline.

As technology is every changing, staying on top of the latest developments can be difficult especially for busy programmers. With notifications in MDN Plus, subscribers get informed on all of the latest developments such as documentation changes, the launch of new CSS features and more after following a page. 

MDN Plus' collections feature meanwhile allows you to pick MDN articles you want to save as well as pages you frequently visit so that you have them stored in one convenient place when you need them most.

Sometimes developers need to access MDN when they don't have a strong internet connection or are completely offline. MDN offline leverages a Progressive Web Application (PWA) to gives users access to MDN Web Docs even when they lack internet access so that they can keep working uninterrupted.

MDN Plus

MDN Plus originally came about after Mozilla surveyed over 60k MDN users between 2020 and 2021 to learn that many of them wanted a customized MDN experience.

Now Mozilla's new subscription service for developers is available in the US and Canada though the company plans to expand it to other countries including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Ireland, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore in the coming months.

Read More

> Firefox Relay is now actually worth your attention

> These were the most popular browser extensions during the pandemic

> Mozilla wants to help internet users take control over their data

For developers interested in subscribing to MDN Plus, there are three plans to choose from including a supporter plan for those that want to spend a little extra to support the continued development of MDN.

The first plan is MDN core and it is intended for developers that want to test out a limited version of the service before purchasing a plan. Next up is MDN Plus 5 which offers unlimited access to notifications, collections, MDN offline and other upcoming features for $ 5 a month or $ 50 for the year. MDN Supporter 10 though is for MDN's loyal supporters that want everything under MDN Plus 5 along with early access to new features and a direct feedback channel to the MDN team. It's only slightly more expensive at $ 10 per month or $ 100 for the year. 

Mozilla is also offering a 20 percent discount for developers that subscribe to one of MDN Plus' annual subscription plans.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

1Password Developer Tools want to make it easier to set password guidance
  • No Comments

The business password management company 1Password has launched a new set of features called Developer Tools in order to help developers better secure and share their secrets.

With Developer Tools, developers can securely generate, manage and access secrets within their development workflows beginning with Git. 1Password's new offering also helps simplify complex processes and improves security practices to ensure data is protected without slowing down the development pipeline. At the same time, Developer Tools provides developers with secure access to the secrets they need wherever they are and on any device they happen to be using.

Chief product officer and GM of emerging solutions at 1Password, Akshay Bhargava explained in a press release how Developer Tools can make security more convenient for developers, saying:

“Developers encounter a lot of complexity when building and deploying secure software, and it can often seem like security and convenience are irreconcilable. 1Password Developer Tools aims to make their lives easier by making complex security processes more convenient, and making doing the secure thing, the easy thing.”

TechRadar needs you!

We’re looking at how our readers use VPNs with different devices so we can improve our content and offer better advice. This survey shouldn’t take more than 60 seconds of your time, and entrants from the UK and US will have the chance to enter a draw for a £100 Amazon gift card (or equivalent in USD). Thank you for taking part.

>> Click here to start the survey in a new window <<

Managing secrets

According to 1Password's recent Hiding in Plain Sight report, a quarter of employees at IT and DevOps companies have secrets in ten or more different locations and have shared them with colleagues using email, Slack and other insecure channels. Over half (61%) of projects are also delayed due to poor secret management and one in three (36%) developers have shared secrets over insecure channels to increase their productivity.

In addition to protecting personal passwords and information, Developer Tools can enhance productivity by enabling quick generation of SSH keys, seamless access to data via a command line interface (CLI) using biometric authentication and secure secrets management in one app.

Read More

> 1Password ups maximum bug bounty

> 1Password wants to help organizations protect their secrets

> 1Password expands protection to Linux devices

Once SSH keys have been generated with just a few clicks, 1Password for the browser will autofill public keys into popular sites including GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket and Digital Ocean. Then by using Developer Tools' built-in SSH agent, developers can push code to GitHub and authenticate other SSH workflows in a terminal by simply scanning their fingerprint.

Developers can also use the new set of features to store secrets in encrypted vaults as one of several default item types including API credential, AWS account, database, server or SSH key to help prevent breaches caused by leaked secrets.

Organizations and developers interested in storing their secrets using 1Password can check out the company's Developer Documentation portal for more information on Developer Tools.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

PS5 is already beating Xbox Series X when it comes to developer interest
  • No Comments

The next-gen console war hasn't officially started yet but, when it comes to developer interest it seems the PS5 is already beating Xbox Series X – and the Nintendo Switch.

That's according to GDC's State of the Game Industry 2020 survey, which surveyed 4,000 game developers on a variety of industry topics ahead of GDC 2020 in March. And, of course, the next-gen consoles were top of the agenda.

When asked which platform they planned to launch their next project on, 23% of those surveyed said the PlayStation 5, while 17% said the Xbox Series X and 19% said the Nintendo Switch – suggesting the Switch is also currently more appealing to devs than Microsoft's next-gen console.

However, not even the PS5 could hold a candle to PC, which remains the most popular platform among game developers, with 52% saying they were developing their next project for PC.

When it comes to the platform devs are most intrigued by, the PS5 once again leads the pack when it comes to consoles, with 38%, but the Switch only just behind on 37%. Again, the Xbox Series X is seriously lagging behind, piquing the interest of just 25% of devs. 

The survey also revealed that 10% of developers are currently working on a game for the next-gen consoles.

Other interesting trends

Xbox Series X

While the survey seems to suggest that game developers are favoring the PS5 over Xbox Series X, there were some other interesting trends that emerged from the data. 

It seems there's a rising interest in VR, and the Oculus Quest headset specifically, while interest in game streaming services like Google Stadia is also growing. However, the number of devs making mobile games is decreasing. 

It also seems like we won't be dealing in next-gen exclusives anytime soon, as only 5% of developers are creating next-gen exclusive titles – with a third expecting their games to be cross-generation.

While these kinds of surveys aren't always a precise indicator of industry trends, these are the people making games right now, and their views on the industry landscape give us a pretty good idea of the general direction of travel. 

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More