Cider brings iOS apps to Android devices! (Research Project)
Have you ever been wondering how it will be when your iOS app works on your friends Android mobile phone. Weird, right?? But, Now you can! Yes, Six PhD students from Columbia University‘s Department of Computer Science have developed an app called Cider, an OS compatibility architecture capable of running iOS apps on Android.
A video of the Cider proof-of-concept shows off their work – a Nexus 7 (2012) with Cider can run iOS apps such as Yelp and Apple iBooks!
The good news is that the six students plan to continue their research and will keep developing Cider.
The team says, “It did not encounter any fundamental limitations regarding its approach that would result in compatibility problems between the two operating systems.”
You can read the full research project for yourself here: Cider: Native Execution of iOS Apps on Android (PDF). It is authored by Jeremy Andrus, Alexander Van’t Hof, Naser AlDuaij, Christoffer Dall, Nicolas Viennot, and Jason Nieh.
—
Yahoo Acquires Self-Destructing Messaging App Blink to Shutdown.
It’s just a blink that Yahoo did. A mobile messaging application that lets users share self-destructing messages like Telegram, Snapchat etc., called Blink has been acquired by Yahoo.
It was launched just over a year ago on iOS, and today users are able to text and share photos, videos, voice and more, with individuals or groups. These message’s visibility could be controlled with a timer, so users can set how long they could be read or viewed after tapping. The app has been downloaded over 100,000 times.
Blink announced the news on their website. “We’re excited to announce that as of May 13, 2014, Blink is joining Yahoo! We built Blink because we believe everyone should be free to show the same honesty and spontaneity in their online conversations as they can in person. We look forward to the possibilities that will come from bringing the Blink vision to Yahoo.”
All seven Blink team members, including the founders, will now be joining Yahoo. This deal terms were not disclosed. It’s been an acquisition month for the tech giants.