June 7 - 2:30pm EDT   VolnoTech has released the newest update to its NimbleKit SDK software. The program is used to create iPhone applications without the need to learn programing languages. Instead, the SDK provides HTML and JavaScript templates to create the apps. Notable new features include orientation support, page scaling functions and GPS services. [full story]

April 8 - 8:45pm EDT   RemObjects has launched a new tool for Mac OS and iPhone developers, RemObjects SDK for OS X. The fully native OS X framework is compatible with Xcode, Cocoa and Objective-C. It focuses on cross-platform remote-access capable client/server software, allowing designers to include network communication capabilities within their apps. The new RemObjects framework is compatible with its sister products on the Linux/Windows side, allowing for easy communication between all three platforms. [full story]

April 1 - 9:30am EDT   A second developer beta of the iPhone 3.0 firmware should see testing open up for some of its most critical features, reports note. The beta, labeled build 7A259, is now being seeded to developers with the comment that they can immediately begin implementing applications with push notification. The technology exists as a substitute for background processes, and should allow apps such as instant messaging clients to signal users while otherwise inactive. [full story]

March 17 - 1:45pm EDT   (Update with release info) Apple on Tuesday unveiled iPhone 3.0, described as a "major update" to the iPhone operating system. Prominent among the new features is the overdue addition of push notification, which Apple says required a rearchitecting of its servers to accommodate. Companies can use the technology to deliver signals such as sounds and text alerts, which are pushed from third-party sources to Apple, and then to iPhones. [full story]

January 27 - 3:10pm EST   Recently-introduced "alternative" browsers for the iPhone are mostly weak, and not truly separate from Safari, reports allege. Though Incognito
 is said to be useful for its ability to privatize browsing information, it along with browsers like Squeaky, WebMate
 and Shaking Web
 are said to be simple extensions of Safari, with one or two unique features sometimes coming at the expense of core aspects like bookmarks. The only major free title, Edge Browser, is in fact said to lack forward and back buttons. [full story]

November 21 - 4:20pm EST   Apple has released its latest iPhone software developers' kit, build 9M2621. The development tools have been updated for the new iPhone 2.2 firmware, as well as the matching iPod touch 2.2 software. The download is larger than the last release, jumping to 1.56GB. [full story]

November 18 - 9:45am EST   The iPhone is unlikely to carry Flash even if its hardware technically supports it, a report claims. Although Flash is in widespread use on the Internet, running everything from animation to full applications, Wired notes that section 3.3.2 of the iPhone SDK specifically prohibits the downloading and use of interpreted code in apps, unless the APIs and interpreters are already preloaded. This by definition bars third-party plug-ins, whether from Adobe or any other developer. [full story]

October 24 - 12:00pm EDT   At next week's Professional Developer Conference, Microsoft will offer a developer version of its Surface computer to developers for $13,500, including a 10 percent discount, according to a Friday report. Interested developers are paying more for the Surface than commercial customers, whose version costs $12,500, because it includes the Software Development Kit (SDK) promised earlier this month. Either price is significantly higher than the $5,000 to $10,000 range Microsoft said the Surfaces would cost back in May of 2007. [full story]

October 24 - 1:05am EDT   Apple is loosening restraints on the iPhone Software Development Kit, according to a refined licensing agreement discovered by AppleInsider. Developers are now able to discuss techniques with each other, when troubleshooting problems with applications; another developer may have insight on how they got around the same issue. Apple also liberated other aspects of the non-disclosure agreement, allowing more learned iPhone developers to comprise a variety of training methods for others. [full story]

October 7 - 10:40am EDT   Microsoft will release the long-promised Software Development Kit (SDK) for its Surface tabletop computer at its Professional Developer Conference set to begin on October 27. according to a Tuesday report. Apart from distributing the SDK to developers other than current partners AT&T and Starwood hotels, both of whom have been using Surface computers in their retail and hotel locations, the software giant will hold a tutorial on how to take advantage of the new platform when writing Surface applications. [full story]

October 1 - 12:10pm EDT   Apple has officially dropped a non-disclosure clause from its iPhone SDK, according to an announcement. A new agreement is expected to be sent to developers "within a week or so," the company says, one which will allow people to discuss the code of published iPhone applications. Unreleased software and/or features are still expected to remain outside of public exchanges. [full story]

September 23 - 5:00pm EDT   Apple is looking to keep developers quiet on the subject of App Store rejections, according to claims. Reports say that Apple is now adding more labeling to rejection letters, appending them with the clause that "the information contained in this message is under non-disclosure." While discussion of details in iPhone development is generally restricted, numerous developers have complained publicly about rejections without repercussion. [full story]

August 27 - 1:30pm EDT   Developers are finding ways to cope with the harsh restrictions of Apple's iPhone SDK, writes the LA Times. The terms of the SDK include a strict non-disclosure agreement, which has generally been interpreted to mean that developers cannot discuss the SDK tools with people outside of an app's creative team, whether through e-mail, blogs, discussion boards or conferences. "We can't talk about our problems," says Jeffrey Long, a developer working on a satellite radio app. "At the same time, we can't talk about the problems we've fixed." [full story]

August 26 - 3:40pm EDT   Apple has banned the comic book iPhone app Murderdrome, its creators claim. This adds to a growing list of titles that have been banned from the App Store for one reason or another, including Tetris clone Tris, lightsaber emulator PhoneSaber, and the "bling" app I Am Rich. Apple has used a variety of reasons for each pull, this time the iPhone SDK's assertion that content cannot offend Apple's "reasonable" sensibilities. [full story]

July 23 - 11:35am EDT   Developer kannuu has released an early version of a new SDK, intended for iPhone developers. Rather than assisting in general programming, the SDK aids in implementing kannuu's indexing and search technology. Also available for inserting is kannuu's user interface, which centers around an on-screen, four-way direction pad, pointing to the most likely characters in a search query. This is said to dodge the problems of A-Z searches and normal auto-complete forms. [full story]