Developer Releases VLC for Android Pre-Alpha Build

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Late last year, we heard that the open-source media player VLC was destined for an Android port to arrive sometime in early 2011. Soon, we moved into what was clearly no longer "early" 2011, and VLC had yet to materialize. In March we got a small update on the project, learning it might be coming out in beta in a few months' time. Again, the window passed with no release. As of today, there's still no official release, but one Android developer has taken matters into his own hands, compiling what he's calling a pre-alpha version that you can check out now.

Why have we been patiently waiting for VLC for so long? After all, there are lots of other Android media players out there, right? Part of the appeal of VLC is its near-universal compatibility. Most of the time, it will play whatever file you throw at it without blinking. Add to that some powerful tools for viewing streaming video, and it's enough to keep our interest piqued.

Curious developers have been able to compile their own builds of VLC for Android for some time now, but CVPCS (whom you might remember from his CyanogenMod work) has made his publicly available. There are two different APKs: one for phones with processors supporting NEON floating-point operations, and one without. Download the proper one for your hardware, and you'll be able to check out this very early version of VLC for Android, as we all continue to wait for an official release.

Source: CVPCS
Via: Phandroid

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IOS saps Android developer momentum with iPad 2, Verizon iPhone

Apple’s hold on third-party mobile developers has gotten stronger with the apparent help of the iPad 2 and Verizon iPhone, cutting into big gains from Android, according to app analytics firm Flurry. The latest numbers, taken from new app project starts, suggest that even with the fast advance of Android, developers still like their prospects on iOS, which is an important indicator of the strength of the platform.

Flurry, which looked at 20,000 Flurry apps that were added from January to June, said iPhone and iPod Touch had 57 percent of new project starts in the second quarter, up from 54 percent in the first quarter, while iPad projects went from 10 to 15 percent quarter over quarter. Android, meanwhile, slipped from 36 percent in the first quarter to 28 percent in the second quarter. That’s two consecutive quarter declines for Android, which peaked in the fourth quarter last year with 39 percent of new project starts.

The rebound in popularity of iOS seems to coincide with the Verizon iPhone, which has apparently also slowed some of Android’s sales growth. And it also seems to factor in the growth of the iPad 2. Apple has said it now has 425,000 apps on iOS, including 100,000 iPad apps.

Flurry’s Charles Newark-French said in a blog post that the Verizon launch of the iPhone helped swing the pendulum back in the favor of iOS after developers started jumping on the opportunity afforded by Android. He said the popularity of the iPad has also driven developers to the iOS platform.

Newark-French said Android developers are increasingly concerned about the cost of deploying on Android because of fragmentation, both for the operating system and with competing storefronts.

“With developers pinched on both sides of the revenue and cost equation, Google must tack aggressively at this stage of the race to ensure that Apple doesn’t continue to take its developer-support wind,” he said.

Android is still the second option for most developers, though with sales of Android units skyrocketing, many had started to prepare for a shift in their development strategies. But Apple still has the best monetization prospects, and it has only gotten better with more distribution of the iPhone and the growing strength of the iPad. Remember, this isn’t just a battle of smartphones; this is about ecosystems, and Apple is no slouch there. In fact, it still has an overall edge. Android will still keep coming, and if it can get its tablets to sell, it can offer a bigger target audience. But developers still aren’t completely convinced it’s time to bet on Android over iOS. Why should they be?

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After developer outcry, Facebook softens app spam controls

jank0: Mhhh I like Plume for Honeycomb. Pretty slick.

Developers complained — and Facebook listened.

Late last month, Facebook enacted a new spam control system to cut down on the rampant spam on the company’s application platform. But the company quickly came under fire when the new controls apparently cut out a number of legitimate applications. Disgruntled developers quickly took to Facebook’s message boards and the press to complain about the company’s lack of communication prior to the shut-downs.

It looks like Facebook heard those complaints loud and clear. On Thursday the company announced several changes to its application developer tools and its app spam control policy to give developers more insight into how their apps are being received by the larger community — before those complaints prompt spam control action. Facebook is now rolling out a “news feed” tab in its developer dashboard that shows the positive and negative feedback apps have received in an easy-to-read graph form.

In addition, Facebook said it has softened the way it responds to app complaints. Now, when Facebook receives excessive negative feedback on an app, it will first disable only the aspect of the app that is receiving the majority of complaints, rather than deleting the app entirely. For instance, Facebook engineer Mike Vernal wrote in a blog post announcing the changes: “If an app is generating a lot of negative feedback via chat messages, we will take action only on that app’s ability to publish to chat but otherwise leave the app intact.”

Facebook also says it will now disable, rather than delete, apps that receive negative feedback across multiple channels. Users will not be able to access an app in disabled mode, but developers will still be able to access, test, and edit it. Developers will be able to appeal when their apps are disabled entirely or in a granular fashion.

All in all, these are very smart moves for Facebook to make. The swift response to last month’s criticism shows that it is taking its developers seriously; as does Facebook’s willingness to be more transparent about how they are regulating the apps. After all, developer trust is key to any API strategy.

Here is a look at the new dashboard “news feed” feature:

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