Firebase Google has acquired Firebase, a company that offers developers a mechanism to write mobile and Web-based apps that stay in sync with each other. The Firebase employees will become part of Google’s cloud-computing team, Google said Tuesday. Firebase offers a service that lets apps running in browsers or on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android …
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Adonit co-founder Kris Perpich would like to see an iPad Pro. Adonit Adonit, maker of the Jot Touch and other styluses for the touch-screen era, plans to expand from its current hardware business into software. The 180-person company got its start in 2011 with a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to build a stylus that acts like a fingertip and can be …
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Lightroom lets people edit and catalog photos. Apple has discontinued development of its rival, Aperture. Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET Adobe Systems released a tool on Thursday to help users of Apple’s all-but-dead Aperture software move their photos to its Lightroom. The tool, a plugin for Lightroom 5.6, ingests original Aperture photos along with metadata such as keywords and titles. It …
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W3C The familiar mechanisms for buying items on the Web — shopping carts, usernames, credit card numbers — has become familiar over the years. But a handful of companies and organizations have come together for a fresh look at the process. They include retail giant Target, Russian search and email provider Yandex, payment and authentication tech specialist Gemalto, Netherlands-based banking …
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Samsung’s test of its 5G networking technology enabled a download speed of 1.2Gbps for a vehicle moving at 60mph. Samsung Samsung’s next-generation mobile networks can transfer data at 7.5 gigabits per second for a stationary device and 1.2Gbps for a vehicle moving at about 60mph, the company said Wednesday. The milestones for the 5G (fifth-generation) network are important validations of …
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Skype Qik lets people send short videos to each other or to groups. Skype Skype on Tuesday launched a new app called Skype Qik that lets people send each other 42-second videos, a move the Microsoft division hopes will extend its communications clout from PCs to smartphones. “Skype Qik is a lightweight, spontaneous, mobile-first video messaging app,” said Piero Sierra, …
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Prominent developer Tim Bray, speaking at the Goto conference in Aarhus, Denmark. warns that mobile programming has better tools than Web programming. Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET Beware, browser fans: mobile apps could out-evolve the Web’s open computing foundation, letting companies like Apple and Google dominate our digital future. That’s the warning offered by Tim Bray, a programmer and technology expert …
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The Grid It’s time to reclaim your corner of the Internet. So believe those behind The Grid, a startup that launched Wednesday with a service designed to generate slick and easily updated sites out of the text and photos customers upload. Customers start by picking preferred layouts, along with priorities such as social engagement or e-commerce, then The Grid handles …
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A Microsoft Surface Pro 3 running a touch-enabled version of Adobe Illustrator looms above, from left to right, Adobe digital media leader David Wadhwani, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET Macs, iPhones and iPads are often the computers of choice for the creative sort that Adobe Systems caters to. But the company just …
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Adobe Systems Adobe Systems, slow to adapt its creative tools to mobile devices and online services, is starting show it’s no longer so anchored to personal computers. At its annual Max conference today through Wednesday in Los Angeles, the company plans to show it’s now fighting on all fronts with its tools for designers and other creative types. It will …
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