Xcode enables developers to create apps for Apple platforms such as iOS, macOS and watchOS. This update allows developers to create apps that are fully compatible with Apple’s latest operating systems.

Apple recently warned that as of April 25, 2023, developers will need to use Xcode 14.1 or later to create and submit their apps to the App Store. Apple also recommends that developers update their apps to take advantage of the latest features available in iOS 16 and iPadOS 16.

There are new features in iOS 16.4, including dozens of new emojis, web app notifications, voice isolation for cellular calls, improved VoiceOver support, optimizations for the “Crash Detection” feature to prevent fake calls to emergency services, and 5G Standalone support.

Previously released features as part of iOS 16 include Live Activities – allowing users to be informed of real-time updates in your app, directly from the lock screen or Dynamic Island – App Intents, as well as improvements to MapKit, ARKit, Core ML and more.

New productivity features have been introduced in iPadOS 16 that enable more immersive collaboration experiences and intuitive apps, as well as powerful professional workflows on iPad. Developers can incorporate desktop-level features into their iPad apps, including an editor-style navigation bar, enhanced text editing menus, and support for external displays. Metal 3 also delivers powerful capabilities that allow games and professional applications to fully leverage the potential of Apple’s silicon.

WatchOS 9 offers new communication capabilities for smartwatch apps, including the ability to deliver timely information through rich complications to more Apple Watch faces, app content sharing, the ability to make VoIP calls directly from Apple Watch, and more. Additionally, the simplified structure of watchOS apps makes project management easier than ever.

This release introduces a new plugin system for defining additional event sources and event extractors to Falco. The plugin system includes SDKs to simplify development and this release ships with a new AWS CloudTrail plugin, explains InfoQ.

The new plugin system aims to standardize how additional event sources, known as source plugins, can be added to the Falco engine. In fact, extractor plugins can be written that focus on field extraction from events generated either by the core libraries or other plugins. Plugins can be written in nearly any language as long as they export the required functions. The preferred language for plugin development is Go followed by C++ with SDKs released for both languages to simplify plugin development.

Falco’s rules engine is able to detect abnormal activity within applications, containers, hosts, and the container platform. It makes use of Linux kernel instrumentation to monitor system calls from the kernel.

Source plugins define a new event source and are able to extract information from events based on fields. After being extracted, the plugin returns a set of supported fields upon which filtering expressions or Falco rule conditions can be used in combination with relational or logical operators.

Source plugins must also provide a plugin ID, which is a globally unique value and must be registered within the Falco repository. A new plugin can be registered by opening a pull request with details on the plugin against the plugin registry file. If no set is provided, the plugin will be presented with all generated events. It is the plugin’s responsibility to detect values it does not support and react accordingly.

The AWS Cloudtrail plugin is able to catch log files containing Cloudtrail events, parse these files, and emit events for each log entry. Logs can be obtained from a S3 bucket, a SQS queue that emits SNS notifications, or a local filesystem path. Exported fields include the event time, AWS region, and resource instance name. In addition to the plugin, new rules have been added to monitor for suspicious activity within Cloudtrail logs. For example, this rule detects console access without multi-factor authentication:

The changelog contains more detail on these changes and additional improvements within the release. Falco is open-source and can be downloaded under the Apache 2.0 license.

The platform works with the Android Automotive operating system (AAOS) for a certain period of  time, and is delivered to manufacturers with access to the IndiGO source code, SDKs and APIs.

In fact, IndiGO works like the underlying software for the car, to which the manufacturer can offer its own design and applications. TomTom believes manufacturers can save money and time with IndiGO, because they no longer have to develop the car’s core software themselves.

External companies can also create applications for IndiGO. What is more, Alexa works with the car’s built-in microphones and the Music app works with steering wheel buttons and speakers. The platform recognizes the driver on the basis of his smartphone and can add a profile, including contacts and playlists. Moreover, the car can suggest more navigation routes based on the driver’s agenda.

The company adds that it has taken electric vehicles into consideration with IndiGO. In addition, the software can set up the battery to charge, which TomTom will likely indicate to ensure the correct battery temperature.

IndiGO is ready for customers. However, it is not clear if TomTom actually has customers for IndiGO and when the first cars will be delivered with the software.

The APIs are already accessible to side projects, new startups, and other earlier-stage ventures. The Maker Account has hard limits, so we will never hit overages. Stream’s API is based on Go, RocksDB & Raft and powers activity feeds and chats for over a billion end users.

It’s very easy to get started with Stream and build your chat or messaging experiences. UI components are currently supported for React, React Native, Flutter, Kotlin, and Swift.

The following tutorials can quickly teach you how to build chat or messaging for your app using the platforms listed below:

• React Tutorial
• React Native Tutorial
• Flutter Tutorial
• Swift Chat Tutorial
• Kotlin Chat Tutorial
• Chat API Tour
  

  Photo Credits: GetStream

All SDKs ship with both low-level API access and ready-made UI components. The UI components give you a flexible way to quickly build chat for your application. You can also leverage the low-level SDKs to build any type of chat or messaging experience.

View eligibility requirements for the Stream Maker Account here.

To ensure their ability to provide quality support, Stream initially limited the number of the issued Maker Accounts.

You can read more about the new Steam’s Maker Account from here.