Huawei’s replacement for Google Mobile Services is coming along nicely

huawei android google alternative hms 5 huawei mobile services

Building a replacement to Google Mobile Services (GMS) is a gargantuan task, but Huawei is doing a rather good job.

US sanctions, as they stand, means that Huawei will no longer have access to American hardware and software going forward.

The hardware side presents challenges, but Huawei already makes important components like chipsets in-house (and they're impressive, too.)

Losing access to Google's services and having to build an ecosystem which competes with...

By | 29 July 2020 | API

Microsoft’s Brad Smith tells antitrust committee the App Store is anticompetitive

Microsoft President Brad Smith recently spoke to a US House antitrust committee where he called out Apple’s App Store.

During the hearing, Smith highlighted concerns about the App Store which aren’t entirely new or unfounded.

The first complaint Smith has is with Apple’s approval policy for App Store apps. Last month, Basecamp CEO Jason Fried penned a letter over Apple’s rejection of his company’s email app called Hey.

In his letter, Fried said he...

By | 21 July 2020 | App Stores

Congress wants Apple and Google to clamp down on foreign apps

Congress is calling on Apple and Google to clamp down on apps that weren’t born in the USA (cue Springsteen).

Trump’s administration is currently mulling a complete ban of any Chinese software but, while that debate is ongoing, Congress wants the two largest mobile platform holders to begin clamping down on foreign apps in less radical ways.

The Congressional Committee on Oversight and Reform has sent two letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google to request they probe...

By | 15 July 2020 | Android

Android 10 sets adoption record, updates to get even faster

Google’s attempts to fix Android OS version fragmentation appears to be working, with the latest flavour becoming the fastest adopted yet.

The wide variety of Android hardware and customised software available on the market is both its biggest perk and its most difficult problem.

Android users often boast of features being available on the platform years before iOS, but it can often take years to reach most people’s devices – if at all.

Apple’s limited...

By | 10 July 2020 | Android

Apple stops updating games without a government license in China

Apple has suspended game updates in China from developers without a license from the government.

The policy, draconian as it is, has been in place for some time – but rarely enforced.

Apple has faced increasing pressure from Beijing in recent weeks to start enforcing the rule that developers must show proof of a license issued by the government.

Google’s Play Store is not available (officially) in China, meaning Android users in the country typically use...

By | 2 July 2020 | App Stores

Letter criticises App Store policies as EU opens antitrust investigation

A developer has penned an open letter criticising the App Store’s policies just a week after the EU announced it’s launched an antitrust investigation.

In a letter, Basecamp CEO Jason Fried set out his issues with the App Store’s payment policies.

Fried admits that money, specifically the 30 percent cut which Apple takes, is “a large part of the story” – but it’s the “absence of choice and how Apple forcibly inserts themselves between [the] company and...

By | 22 June 2020 | App Stores

Ethereum officially kicks off its One Million Devs initiative

Blockchain giant Ethereum has ”officially” kicked off its One Million Devs initiative as the platform aims to build upon its already substantial developer base.

Despite many projects eying its throne, Ethereum remains the largest decentralised app (DApp) platform and the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap. The Ethereum Enterprise Alliance includes hundreds of giants like Intel, Microsoft, JP Morgan, and more.

The ambitious goal of Ethereum to...

By | 20 January 2020 | Blockchain

Huawei sets out its post-Google plans with release of HMS Core 4.0

Huawei has unveiled further details about its replacements to Google’s services as it prepares to lose access following US sanctions.

During an event in London, Huawei made its pitch as to why developers should port their apps to HMS (Huawei Mobile Services).

The first reason is a cash incentive. Huawei announced that it will use a pot of £20 million ($26 million) to help persuade developers to bring their apps to HMS.

Anson Zhang, MD of Huawei UK, said:...

By | 17 January 2020 | AI

Why privacy and integrity matters in a mainframe network

Mainframes are the foundation for many critical systems, from bank databases to municipal systems for local governments. It's estimated that 70% of Fortune 500 companies have mainframes in their infrastructure. This hardware holds a lot of sensitive data, which puts it in a vulnerable position. Privacy and data integrity must be maintained for the mainframe systems to ensure that this information isn't accessed without authorisation,...

By | 6 January 2020 | Ecosystem

Utopia looks to create a self-regulating society with P2P ecosystem and mineable cryptocurrency

The vitality of the Internet is such that any reference to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, first published in 1943, today usually comes with a half-joking reference to Wi-Fi. Indeed, you would not be reading this piece now without it. Yet one particularly promising area for distributed ledger technologies (DLT) is around user and data privacy for Internet usage.

Meet Utopia. The product, which launches today from anonymous group of networking enthusiasts who call themselves The...

By | 12 December 2019 | Development Tools