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Showing posts from January, 2024

Windows Terminal Preview 1.20 introduces many visual updates for better ease-of-use

Microsoft has unveiled the new preview of Windows Terminal , version 1.20. With the next preview version now available, the company has also updated the stable version to 1.19 .  The new preview introduces many new features, one of which is that the Microsoft Store now won’t update Windows Terminal while it’s being used. This enables developers to keep long-running tasks going without worrying about the terminal being shut down for updates. A visual change in this release is the addition of more types of lines that can be displayed. Users will now be able to display colored, curly, dashed, dotted, or doubled underlines.  Microsoft has also made updates to how search results in Windows Terminal are displayed. When searching directly in the terminal for text, the search results are now highlighted.  Windows Terminal also got several usability updates, such as that the AtlasEngine rendering engine is now enabled by default, the “Canary” ZIP distribution defaults to portable mode, re

Codeium raises $65 million in Series B funding for AI tools for developers

Codeium , provider of an AI toolkit for developers, has announced that it recently completed a Series B funding round of $65 million.   The company plans to use this new influx of money to expand its platform to tackle more parts of the development life cycle, such as system design, code maintenance, and continuous scanning. It will also invest in growing its engineering and sales teams.  This funding round was led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from General Catalyst and Greenoaks, which had previously invested in the company.  Codeium offers developers a toolkit that is powered by AI to improve efficiency in the software development process. It includes capabilities like autocomplete, chat, and context awareness. Currently it supports over 70 languages and integrates with over 40 IDEs, and is already used by over 300,000 developers.  “Software engineering is the backbone of innovation yet the process is expensive and inefficient due to imperfect knowledge retrieval, boiler

Prompt engineering: What to expect in 2024

As soon as ChatGPT was released and exploded in popularity, people began talking about how to best phrase requests to get the answers they’re actually looking for. “Generate an itinerary for a trip to London” will yield different results than “Generate an itinerary for a 6-day trip to London, with a focus on museums and places of interest easily accessible from the Tube.”  People recognized that the quality of the output was tied to how clear and specific the input was. Thus, the field of prompt engineering was born. According to Kim Herrington, senior analyst at Forrester, in the simplest terms, prompt engineering is “about helping people learn to better articulate what it is that they want back from the computer.”  She likened it to teaching people how to use a search engine for the first time. “When you are interacting with a search engine, you are essentially taking your human questions and putting them into a computer with the intent of getting a result back of something that c

New Android feature prompts users to update outdated versions of apps

Android developers are getting a new feature to help get their users off of outdated versions of their apps.  A new feature in Play Console’s recovery tools will prompt users who are running an older version to update to the latest compatible version.  According to the Android developer team, Google Play already offers auto-updates and in-app updates to encourage users to always be up-to-date, yet sometimes users still end up stuck on outdated versions.  With this new feature, users running a specific version can be prompted to update each time they open the app. Developers can specify which app versions will trigger the prompt to be delivered, and can also narrow their targeting criteria even further by country or Android version.  According to the Android team’s initial experiments, over 50% of users who receive these prompts respond to them. The post New Android feature prompts users to update outdated versions of apps appeared first on SD Times . from SD Times https://if

Broadcom survey finds increase in VSM adoption

A new Broadcom report today around value stream management (VSM) shows an increase in adoption and found that – for the second year in a row – customer value is a top priority among reporting organizations. Of the 96% of responding companies that say they’ve undertaken a value stream management initiative, driving long-term customer value is their focus, according to the survey. Value stream management is a process that involves spotting and eliminating bottlenecks in the development and delivery cycles with the result of continuously improving performance, quality and customer satisfaction… Read the full article on VSM Times . The post Broadcom survey finds increase in VSM adoption appeared first on SD Times . from SD Times https://ift.tt/LsBO475

Mastering the quantum code: A primer on quantum software

In the world of quantum computing, the spotlight often lands on the hardware: qubits, superconducting circuits, and the like. But it’s time to shift our focus to the unsung hero of this tale – the quantum software, the silent maestro orchestrating the symphony of qubits. From turning abstract quantum algorithms into executable code to optimizing circuit designs, quantum software plays a pivotal role. Here, we’ll explore the foundations of quantum programming, draw comparisons to classical computing, delve into the role of quantum languages, and forecast the transformational impact of this nascent technology. Welcome to a beginner’s guide to quantum software – a journey to the heart of quantum computing. Quantum vs. Classical Programming: The Core Differences At its heart, the world of quantum computing contrasts starkly with that of classical computing. The differences extend beyond hardware to the very core of programming. Let’s illuminate some of the primary distinctions that deli

Apple makes changes to iOS, Safari, and App Store in response to EU’s Digital Markets Act

Apple has announced significant updates to iOS, Safari, and the App Store, specifically for the European Union, in response to the Digital Markets Act (DMA).  These updates encompass over 600 new APIs, enhanced app analytics, support for alternative browser engines, and more options for app payment processing and iOS app distribution. These changes aim to maintain the high quality and security standards that EU users expect from Apple, while adapting to the new regulatory environment, according to Apple in a blog post that includes more details about each of the changes and new features.  However, the introduction of new methods for app payments and downloads on iOS raises concerns about increased risks of malware, fraud, scams, and other security and privacy threats. To mitigate these risks, Apple is implementing new protective measures. These include Notarization for iOS apps, requiring authorization for marketplace developers, and disclosures about alternative payment methods. D

O’Reilly finds 3,600% increase in interest in generative AI in last year

It’s no surprise that people have grown more interested in AI over the last year. The technology insights company O’Reilly has just published its annual trends report , in which it revealed just how much more interest people have these days. According to the findings, interest in GPT and generative AI has grown 3,600% year over year. Interest in generative models grew 900%, transformers grew 325%, and natural language processing grew 195%. The company also found that there’s been a growing interest in prompt engineering, which is a topic that hadn’t been tracked in 2022. It’s now considered to also be “a significant area of interest, garnering nearly the same level of attention as transformers.” Moving beyond AI, security is another area that really increased in interest, particularly among developers. Network security, which is the most widely used of the topics studied, grew 5% in interest. Governance also saw a 22% increase in interest.  There was also a 42% increase in applica

SD Times Open-Source Project of the Week: Astro

Astro is a web framework designed for creating content-driven websites. It’s recognized for powering some of the fastest websites on the internet, including a range of applications from client-side web apps to dynamic API endpoints. The framework offers versatility and is capable of handling various types of web development needs. The framework boasts a next-generation frontend architecture, which greatly enhances the development process. It achieves this by automatically converting JavaScript to HTML, a process known as JS-to-HTML streaming using Astro’s Islands feature. This feature significantly boosts productivity and efficiency in web development, according to the Astro maintainers. Astro allows developers to fetch data from a CMS or to work locally using type-safe Markdown and MDX APIs. A key feature of Astro is its ability to automatically remove any unused JavaScript and render content to HTML. This contributes to improved core web vitals, better conversion rates, and enhance

OpenAI announces new models and API updates

OpenAI has made a number of announcements today, including the release of two new embedding models, new GPT-4 Turbo and moderation models, and new API usage management tools.  According to OpenAI, “an embeddings is a sequence of numbers that represents the concepts within content such as natural language or code.” They make it easier for machine learning models to understand the relationships between content.  The two new embedding models are the text-embedding-3-small model and the text-embedding-3-large model. Text-embedding-3-small is a highly efficient model that offers improved performance over the previous model (multi-language retrieval benchmark increased from 31.4% to 44% and the English test benchmark increased from 61% to 62.3%). Pricing is also five times lower on this newer model.  The text-embedding-3-large model can create embeddings that have up to 3072 dimensions, and also offers improved performance when compared to the text-embedding-ada-002 model.  In addition t

Google’s Project IDX now provides iOS and Android simulators directly in the browser

Google today announced several updates to Project IDX , which is a web-based workspace for building multi-platform applications.  Among the updates are the addition of iOS and Android simulators, which can be accessed directly in the browser; templates for frameworks and languages such as Astro, Go, Python, and others; and package manager updates.  “In addition to seeing how you’re using IDX, a key part of building Project IDX is your feedback, so we’ve continued to roll out features for you to test. We’re excited to share the latest updates we’ve implemented to expedite and streamline multiplatform app development, so you can deliver with speed, ease and quality,” Google wrote in a blog post.  The iOS Simulator and Android Emulator can now be accessed in the browser, which allows developers to preview their work without having to leave the Project IDX workspace. The platform also automatically loads up the proper preview environment based on the application developers are working

Data Privacy Week 2024 encourages taking control of your data

This week is Data Privacy Week , with this year’s event theme being “take control of your data.” Hosted by the National Cybersecurity Alliance, Data Privacy Week (and Day) is an annual outreach event that focuses on a different theme each year.  “With this year’s theme of ‘Take Control of Your Data,’ Data Privacy Week holds a mirror to how much information we share about ourselves online,” explained James Dyer, threat intelligence lead at Egress . “Cybercriminals use open-source intelligence (OSINT) to create plausible backstories in seconds, usually utilizing social media profiles to gather information about a victim’s career, hobbies, and habits. With valuable personal insights, threat actors will then ask chatbots to write the most persuasive messages, and even use AI software to help create payloads and speed up delivery. Dyer recommends a first step to taking control of your data is to hack yourself. Go to a search engine and search your name and your common usernames, to give

Melissa partners with Esri to improve customer insights from location data

The data quality company Melissa has announced it is teaming up with Esri, the location technology company behind ArcGIS.  Melissa’s business is largely based on doing address verification, and its Global Address Verification tool verifies addresses in real time, which helps retailers reduce costs associated with failed delivery. It also offers useful features like autocompletion, which suggests matching addresses when the user starts typing, helping to reduce keystrokes and errors.  RELATED CONTENT: Using GPS location to obtain or target physical locations Melissa customers can now utilize ArcGIS to gain customer insight and improve shopping experiences, optimize deliveries, and prevent fraud.  In addition, by pairing up with Esri, Melissa can offer its customers Esri’s large database of accurate address information.  “Melissa data accuracy solutions can have even greater impact on retail ecommerce operations when combined with the ArcGIS System,” said Bud Walker, chief inform

SnapLogic releases no-code tool for building generative AI apps, GenAI Builder

SnapLogic has introduced GenAI Builder, a no-code generative AI tool for developing applications for enterprises. It’s designed to work with a variety of data sources, including old mainframe data and modern databases/APIs, and uses conversational AI to enhance digital interactions for customers, employees, and partners. GenAI Builder is part of SnapLogic’s AI suite, helping businesses integrate AI with their data. This improves efficiency, accuracy, and personalization across various data types, both in the cloud and on-premises.  It’s useful for several functions, including customer support automation, data analysis, contract review, and personalized marketing. The platform empowers both IT and business teams to rapidly and securely develop and deliver digital experiences, according to SnapLogic. It addresses the burgeoning demand from various business units for new, AI-driven services.  GenAI Builder also simplifies the integration of conversational AI assistants into both new a

pgEdge Cloud Developer Edition open preview brings benefits of distributed PostgreSQL to developers

pgEdge, a provider of a distributed Postgres database system, announced the release of pgEdge Cloud Developer Edition in open preview. This edition for developers offers rapid setup and a generous free tier for evaluations and small projects.  pgEdge Cloud Developer Edition offers a fully managed, serverless distributed Postgres database that’s user-friendly for developers. It allows for quick setup, enabling users to deploy a distributed database across multiple regions like North America, Europe, and Singapore in about 90 seconds, according to Philip Merrick, CEO and co-founder of pgEdge. This ease of use, combined with the choice of configurations, aims to make distributed Postgres accessible and convenient, particularly for those with applications requiring low latency and high availability. Unlike most providers, pgEdge offers a fully distributed Postgres database that is both open and fully Postgres-based, according to Merrick. pgEdge Cloud Developer Edition is also fully base

Allstacks releases new tool for tracking R&D cost capitalization

The value stream management company Allstacks has announced the general release of its Software Capitalization feature. This new capability allows teams to track software development expenses related to R&D that could be subject to capitalization or tax credits. According to Allstacks, R&D cost capitalization is something that is mandated by accounting standards in the US GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). Allstacks explained that the process of tracking R&D software development costs can be manual and tedious, and it hopes this new offering will help streamline the process.  The Software Capitalization software also enables splitting up credit among multiple engineers when more than one person is working on a particular project.  “Teams can easily produce records of capitalizable software work, automating a traditionally time-consuming and manual process, and improving the accuracy of the data collected,” said Hersh Tapadia, co-founder and CEO of Allsta

Find Anything, Anywhere, Instantly: DtSearch Makes Information Retrieval a Breeze

Drowning in documents? Buried in emails? Forget endless scrolling and time-consuming searches. DtSearch is here to be your information hero, offering lightning-fast retrieval across mountains of data. Whether you’re a lone researcher or a large enterprise, DtSearch has a solution tailored to your needs. At its core, DtSearch is a powerful full-text search engine . It doesn’t just scan file names, it dives deep, indexing the actual content of your documents, emails, PDFs, and even databases. This means you can find that crucial contract clause, the perfect research paper quote, or that embarrassing old email, all with just a few keystrokes. But DtSearch is more than just speed. It’s smart. Its advanced relevancy ranking ensures the most relevant results rise to the top, saving you precious time. And its comprehensive filtering options let you zero in on exactly what you need, whether by date, author, file type, or even specific keywords within documents. Think you’re dealing with

The impact of AI use by developers on quality engineering

Generative AI is starting to help software engineers solve problems in their code. The impact of this on quality engineers is already being felt. According to data from Stack Overflow’s 2023 Developer Survey , 70% of all respondents are using or are planning to use AI tools in their development process. Further, the study of 90,000 developers found that 86% of professional developers want to use AI to help them write code. The next largest use for AI, at about 54% of professional developers, is debugging code. Next, 40% of that cohort said they’d use AI for documenting code. And fourth, 32% said they want to learn about code. Each of these use cases actually creates significant opportunities for speeding creation and delivery of code, but according to Gevorg Hovsepyan, head of product at low-code test automation platform mabl, each also creates significant risk in terms of quality. The impact of AI on software quality is only just being assessed, but consumer expectations continue

Decision Support Systems: Transforming Project Management Software in the New Era

In the evolving realm of project management, AI-driven Decision Support Systems (DSS) offer transformative benefits. These systems integrate diverse data sources, providing comprehensive dashboards that offer project managers a holistic view of performance metrics. Machine learning within DSS facilitates predictive analytics, giving insights into potential challenges and milestones tailored to each project’s nuances. Key advantages include enhanced decision-making agility through real-time analytics, proactive management through predictive insights, and operational efficiency via task automation. This automation allows managers to focus on strategic initiatives, while the data-driven transparency of DSS fosters stakeholder trust and collaboration. Overall, AI-driven DSS is reshaping project management, driving operational excellence, and ensuring success in today’s data-driven landscape. Fig 1: Convergence of Machine Learning Backend and Analytics Dashboard Frontend: A Synoptic Repre

How GenAI and Low-Code are Turbo-Charging Software Development

When low-code platforms first burst onto the scene, many considered them game-changers. The ability to rely less on traditional programmers, despite limited coding knowledge, promised a democratizing revolution in software, even if questions of governance at scale, security, and long-term maintenance were not yet fully resolved. But as businesses grew and innovated, many companies still looked to highly skilled developers to meet their needs. Today, the demand for tech talent is far outpacing supply. And while growth in software development as a profession is expected to swell by more than 25% over the next 10 years, it’s just not enough. An expected 750 million cloud-native apps are forecast to be created globally by 2025. To accomplish that, low-code is again back in the spotlight; only this time backed by a technology that is truly game-changing. Enter generative AI.  When married with low-code platforms, generative AI can: Lower barriers of skill or technology for anyone to

SD Times Open-Source Project of the Week: Data Profiler

Data Profiler is an open-source Python library that originated at Capital One to analyze datasets and detect if any of the information contained within is sensitive data, such as bank account numbers, credit card information, or social security numbers.  According to the company, when data streams grow large enough, it can be quite difficult to monitor the data coming through, opening up the possibility for sensitive data to make its way past. The goal of the project is to be able to detect when that type of information is present in a dataset.  The company provided an example of how one might use Data Profiler by imagining a jeweler in the business of buying and selling diamonds. They have a large database with all of their customer and transaction details, in a structured format of rows and columns. Data Profiler can be used on the dataset to get statistics on each column.  “You’ll learn the exact distribution of the price of diamonds, that cut is a categorical column of several

Kyndryl releases new tool to help companies streamline and automate business processes

Kyndryl has launched its Kyndryl Workflow Orchestration services. This new generative AI-powered solution aims to transform the digital workplace by automating, accelerating, and streamlining vital business processes.  It offers a comprehensive package that enhances the digital workplace experience for both employees and customers. The service is particularly beneficial for those looking to leverage no-code/low-code solutions to improve business outcomes, according to the company. The Kyndryl Workflow Orchestration services utilize advanced workflow capabilities and AI automation to simplify business processes, reduce cycle times, and increase investment returns by cutting training and development costs.  This solution supports the use of platforms like Microsoft Power Platform and other no-code/low-code technologies, enabling customers to empower their ‘citizen developers.’ “The biggest impediment to improving the workplace experience for employees are legacy business processes th

Harness acquires assets from Armory for ‘next-generation’ continuous delivery

Software delivery platform provider Harness has acquired intellectual property and technology from Armory, a CD company, to expand its capabilities in that area for an enhanced developer experience and better productivity. Armory’s CD platform is built on top of the open-source Spinnaker project, a multicloud continuous delivery platform that can accommodate high-velocity deployments. Harness CEO Jyoti Bansai told SD Times in an interview that the companies have a lot of competitive overlap but he said there is a synergy in bringing the two teams together to innovate further, adding that “we are excited to bring those people into the Harness fold.” Secondly, he said, Harness wants to deliver to Armory’s customers a continuation of a world-class deployment and continuous delivery platform, as well as offering a path to migrate to a next-generation platform like Harness. Bansai noted that the Armory product line will stay “mostly independent,” but Harness will “selectively cherry-pi

Why Security Should Be a Top Priority in Mobile App Development? Neeraj Mishra The Crazy Programmer

Today, the use of smartphones has increased a lot. Therefore, the Internet has become very easily available to everyone. The scenario changed during the lockdown period when people had nothing much to do than focus on different types of apps. Therefore, cyber threats have also increased to some great extent. Now, business owners, whether small or big, want to release mobile apps to establish their digital footprints. So, hackers and other illegal workers have found this easy to breach data hack users’ devices, and create chaos. Therefore, Mariox Software is one of the top mobile app development companies in Noida  always prioritizes security while developing new apps. As app usage has increased on a huge scale, the users don’t understand the threats always behind it. The cyber attackers use such a lack of knowledge and spread their trap. So, today, we will know why security should always be the top priority for any mobile app development company. Read on to know more. What Is Mobile A