RoboVM 1.0 Touts JVM-based Languages for iOS Development

RoboVM, aimed at bringing JVM-based languages to iOS development, has reached its first stable version, Trillian Mobile announced, bringing new features and new commercial licenses in addition to its OSS core.

Bazel: Google Build Tool is now Open Source

Bazel, the tool that Google uses to build the majority of its software has been partially open sourced. According to Google, Bazel is aimed to build “code quickly and reliably” and is “critical to Google’s ability to continue to scale its software development practices as the company grows.”

Sensible Cocoa STV 4.0 Further Advances Visual UI Programming on iOS

Sensible Cocoa STV 4.0 is a framework that allows you to create native data-driven apps for iOS by defining your data model and then visually binding it to your UI in Xcode. Sensible Cocoa claims that “developers save on average about 70% of their development time when they start using STV in their applications.” InfoQ has talked to Sensible Cocoa founder Tarek Sakr about their product.

Microsoft Announces Azure Active Directory Plugin for Cordova

MS Open Tech has announced a Cordova plugin which allows developers to use Active Directory Authentication in their apps for Android, iOS, Windows Store, and Windows Phone platforms to access the APIs that it protects, such as Office 365, Azure, Graph API, etc.

Sirius: an Open Source Competitor to Siri, Cortana, Google Now

Sirius is an open source, customizable system that can be commanded through vocal input. It has been built by University of Michigan researchers and is similar to Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana, and Google Now. According to University of Michigan, Sirius “is designed to spark a new generation of intelligent personal assistants” for wearables and other devices.”