A look at CottonCandy
Charlie Fairchild
The cotton candy computer was announced around December 2011 and ever since I have been anxiously awaiting it’s release. For those of you who have not heard of it, the cotton candy stick is being marketed as a usb size computer that allows you to put Android or Ubuntu on any screen with an HDMI input or on anything that supports usb mass storage. I’ll let you look over most of the specs yourself but here are some of the specs and features that caught my eye
- It can be controlled from your phone or a bluetooth mouse/keyboard.
- It can play 1080p video
- According to the administrator on the forums, the operating system is installed on the sdcard and can be switched out easily. This sounds like it would allow for custom android builds.
While the device is sure to be more of a hobbyist’s toy at first, if the setup is easy enough and the hardware holds up then I could see this device becoming more mainstream. With the ability to make any TV “smart”, it makes one wonder if this could substitute for the advanced features that the state of the art TVs now ship with. Add in the fact that I can take it with me on vacation and it sounds even more tempting. Of course all this depends on the device actually shipping. While they haven’t shipped the first batch yet, pre-orders are supposed to ship this month and the company has said that it will become available for everyone by the end of the summer. While it may be difficult now to have your favorite apps and movies available on any screen, things might be a little different by the end of summer.
5 Factors in Mobile App Localization
ron.duplain
Nous avons créé cette appli. We built that app, in as many as 16 locales in a single app install. I’d like to share our experience, to help understand the costs and requirements in building a mobile application for internationalization (i18n) and localization (L10n).
First, some context. Our mobile applications start with a detailed UX/UI design. These designs include pixel-perfect layouts and assets, copy for articles and documents, and microcopy for the various dialogs and buttons throughout the application. A successful localization process must take the entire design into account — it’s not just a matter of translating text.
Ready for an international audience? Here are factors to consider:
1. You need translators. That’s a given, but a good workflow in managing content across your target locales is essential! You can save on costs by passing around Excel spreadsheets between content owners, but this kind of unstructured process will incur costs later on. Mistakes in the spreadsheet will slow down development, and copy/paste in Microsoft Office can sometimes lead to inconsistent or unusual character encodings, which cause infamous unicode errors.
A good workflow will support the quality control process, the next two factors:
2. Translations do not always fit within the initial design context. A button which says “OK” in English might prefer a different dialog workflow in another locale. Counting “2 out of 7 total” is reversed in some locales, translating roughly to “7 total, currently 2” where the numbers are reversed.
3. Translations do not always fit within the initial design layout. Translating copy could kill the pixel-perfect layouts in the design, where a one-liner in English could be four lines in German. This is especially challenging when image assets include words which must be changed in another locale, which can force the translated image to change dimensions.
4. Accept the OS’s localization setting. Do not circumvent it. You might be tempted to add a language/locale selector to your app, and you might find a developer willing to implement it. Don’t. Both iOS and Android are doing an impressive amount of work to choose the right text and assets when displaying your app. Any attempt to build this into the application itself will not only be a lot of work to build in the first place, it will work against the OS, break unexpectedly, and cause a headache for everyone involved (and the OS developers will not have sympathy).
This means you’ll need devices on hand which have the OS configured to allow selection of your target locales.
5. Note the increased app size of localization. If you deploy one application across all target locales, it will include the text and assets of each locale, no matter which one is used. This is by design; it lets the OS figure it out depending on the user’s system wide setting. If your user only uses one locale, they have all of the other supported locales sitting around taking up space, with a larger initial download. This is especially important if your application requires translation of its images. Note it’s much simpler to publish one app with all locales, than to try to distribute your application to each locale individually.
When you publish your application internationally, note export controls on encryption software, including HTTPS (which many apps have).
Best mobile app development company in the world!
Tobias Dengel
SourcingLine, and independent research company, just ranked WillowTree Apps as its number one mobile development company among its list of top app design and development companies in the world. SourcingLine gave us best rankings for our profile, portfolio and references across iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and other platforms. Check out the the SourcingLine top rankings of iPhone, Android and other mobile app development companies here: http://www.sourcingline.com/research/top-mobile-application-developers
Apps for Venues goes live with Sprint Center
Tobias Dengel
TV station covers new Valpak Apps
Tobias Dengel
WPIX did a great story on the new Valpak apps, and couponing in general. (WillowTree helped design and develop the Valpak iPhone, iPad and Android apps)…..
CNET covers the Likes! Directory App Debut
Tobias Dengel
CNET’s Rafe Needleman covers the launch of WillowTree’s Likes! app, and compares to other Facebook apps. Likes! is available on iPhone, Android and as a Facebook App.
Macworld Covers Likes! Directory App Debut
Tobias Dengel
Macworld’s Alexandra Chang did a complete review of WillowTree’s Likes! app, which is designed to turn your Facebook friends’ likes into a directory and recommendation engine. Click here to download the Likes! app for iPhone, Android or Facebook.
WillowTree Apps Launches Likes! Facebook App
Tobias Dengel
Check out the Likes! app for iPhone, Android and also available as a mobile and desktop Facebook app. Press release came out today. The app permits users to organize the billions of Facebook likes into a directory/recommendation engine based on what their friends (and friends of friends) like.
BabyCenter My Pregnancy Today App Receives Rave Review from BestAndroidAppsReview.com!
Roger Casey
And I quote: “The My Pregnancy Today Android app is an essential resource for the expectant mother (and probably clueless father) no matter if its your first or fifth child.”
Kudos to the BabyCenter Android team for producing first rate work!
Read the full review here.
Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleader App is Live
Tobias Dengel
The Eagles Cheerleaders’ 2012 Calendar Android app developed by WillowTree is live. More information here. iPhone and iPad coming soon….
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