IBM Launches Contest for Cognitive Mobile Apps using Watson

At the Mobile World Congress, IBM has announced a developer contest for developers to create mobile consumer and business apps powered by IBM Watson cognitive computing platform. The winners of the IBM Watson Mobile Developer Challenge will receive design consulting and support from IBM to gain access to the market.

Apple Offering Microsite about UI Design for iOS 7

Apple is offering registered iOS developers a new microsite collecting in a central location videos, documents, and whitepapers about User Interface design for iOS 7. The new site aims at providing developers with the necessary information “to build polished, engaging, and intuitive apps for iOS 7.”

Apple Improves iOS Devices Deployment and Management for Enterprise and Education

Apple has recently announced some changes to its Device Enrollment and Volume Purchase Programs aiming at improving large-scale deployment of iOS devices to enterprise and education customers interested in deploying company-owned iOS devices or instituting a “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy.

Mobile App Performance Report Benchmarks Crashes and Responsiveness on iOS and Android

Crittercism, maker of a mobile app performance management solution, has analysed one month of performance data and compiled it into a Mobile Experience Benchmark report focusing on two aspects of a mobile performance: app uptime and app responsiveness. Results highlight app categories with the highest crash and error rates and provide the basis for a comparison among iOS and Android versions.

Google publishes FarmHash, a new family of hash functions for strings

Google has just announced FarmHash, a new family of hash functions for strings. FarmHash is a successor to CityHash, from which it inherits many tricks and techniques. FarmHash has multiple goals and claims to improve CityHash on several accounts.