Build it yourself
Google has launched an accessible software tool designed to let the general public develop its own applications for Android smart phones.
The ‘Google App Inventor for Android' lets the not-so-technically-minded produce apps by simply dragging and dropping ‘blocks' of code which are shown as unintimidating images that fit together like computer building blocks.
This simple approach is designed to make Android even more open and accessible by allowing users to create their open apps using GPS or communication tools without relying on complex programming knowledge. Users can even create ‘mash-up' apps that can talk to websites such as Twitter.
The app creator for the masses has been in the pipeline for a year and has been tested on guinea pig students across different age groups who are were studying computer science.
Students created an app that sends an automated message when driving, while a trainee nurse developed an app that sends an automatic emergency message when it senses someone has fallen using its accelerometer.
Harold Abelson, a computer scientist at MIT who led the project at Google, told The New York Times: "The goal is to enable people to become creators, not just consumers, in this mobile world. We could only have done this because Android's architecture is so open."
The release of the software is a further indication Google is sticking with its ‘open' strategy, making it easy for developers to create their own functionality using Google's Android platform and therefore gain an edge over Apple, which closely regulates which apps are allowed in its App Store.
Android is tipped to reach its 100,000th app this month, showing its remarkable growth and adoption of its open platform.
Anyone with an Android phone can give the software a go by signing up or logging in to Gmail then downloading software which syncs the programmes created on the PC with the application creator and the phone, which must be connected to the PC via a USB link when making the app.
