After going through the process of fine tuning and improving thanks to twelve months of preview builds, Microsoft has officially launched the latest version of its Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE) about a week before Windows 10 is released to public. After taking onboard comments from users over the last year, a time period that also included a release candidate, Microsoft feels it has sufficiently improved the Visual Studio IDE enough to release to the public alongside an update to its .NET framework.

Yes, you read that right. Apple now allow iOS users to sideload apps outside App Store on iPhone and iPad for free without needing any developer account. Here’s how it works.

Having kept them apart for years, Apple has amalgamated the iOS and Mac developer programs, bringing the Apple Watch’s watchOS under the same umbrella too, with all three now part of the simplified Apple Developer Program.

It’s been on the cards for a while if you believe the rumors, but Microsoft has now confirmed that it will be offering a way for developers of Android and iOS apps to port them across to the new Windows 10.

Microsoft Visual Studio Code download for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux now available. Details on the new release and where to download it from can be found here.

It’s all too obvious that Apple is a big believer in plunging itself into the world of health and fitness tracking with its new iPhones and the just-launched Apple Watch. Having unveiled the ResearchKit framework at its Spring Forward media event, Apple has gone on to release the open-source tools for everyone, starting today.

Apple has officially announced WWDC 2015 event dates, ticket registration details and how-to sign-up details. More details can be found here regarding the news.

The way that apps and games are distributed and consumed has shifted greatly in the past decade, with the likes of the App Store and Google Play permitting anybody with a little knowledge to create, share, and potentially forge a living from making apps. Those looking to create apps, games and experiences on Microsoft’s Xbox One will be pleased to learn that the software giant has finally launched an SDK to select testers, with view to a broader roll-out for interested devs in the coming months.

In order to develop and release applications through the App Store or Mac App Store, devs must be subscribed to Apple’s Developer program, which costs $99 per year in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the price has long been set at £60 per annum, which, at current exchange, is slightly cheaper than Stateside developers. However, Apple has hiked the price for some nations within the European Union, and while Brits looking to join the party will now have to pony up £79, the yearly premium has risen in Germany from €80 to €99.

You only have to look at the number and sheer diversity of the Google Play Store’s app hub to gauge how many developers are currently working on creating, updating and improving upon the vast array of mobile apps that have manifested over the past few years. The Big G announced all the way back in 2013 that it was working on an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), an infrastructure designed to enhance and improve the process of developing apps, and now, Android Studio 1.0 is ready for prime time for those running Windows, OS X and Linux. Full details, as well as info on how you can get started with Android Studio, can be seen below.

The smartwatch industry has continued to evolve and expand over the past couple of years, and with the Pebble start-up campaign having been credited with forging this new-found product group for wrist-worn tech, many of the biggest names in the mobile arena have since joined the party. From Samsung to LG, Motorola to Sony, a host of powerful companies have already rolled out wearables, and most of them run Google’s Android Wear. But as is the case in the smartphone and tablet industries, Apple will soon offer a fierce rival to the Google-made platform, and if you’re looking to build apps for Apple Watch, the video tutorial embedded below will help you get off the ground.

Microsoft is behaving rather generously these days, making moves that are honestly shocking to say the least. In its latest outburst, the software giant has made Microsoft .NET open-source, made a version of Visual Studio available for free to allow for cross-platform Linux, Mac, Android and iOS development.