Time does fly, and we’re alread on the last day of the Ubuntu Developer Summit. Lots of content covered and still lots of interesting discussions to be had. We’re thrilled to bring you the summary on what’s on today on the App Development track.

Here’s the list of app development sessions for today at UDS:

• At 14:00 UTC: App Development Roundtable
• At 14:00 UTC: SDK UI Toolkit Responsive Layouting
• At 15:05 UTC: Core Apps plans for 13.10
• At 15:05 UTC: Contact Service for Ubuntu Touch
• At 16:05 UTC: LoCo Team Coding Challenge
• At 16:05 UTC: Refocus the Ubuntu App Developer site to go mobile
• At 18:05 UTC: Building a set tutorials for App Developers
• At 19:00 UTC: Closing Plenary and Track Summaries

Hope to see you there!

After a very productive kick off, we’re back with the second day of the Ubuntu Developer Summit on the App Development track and the summary of sessions for today. Thank you everyone who participated in the sessions yesterday, either in hangouts or in IRC.

Here’s the list of app development sessions for today:

• At 14:00 UTC: App Development Roundtable
• At 15:05 UTC: SDK Tools and Qt Creator
• At 16:05 UTC: The Next Ubuntu App Showdown
• At 18:05 UTC: New API Documentation Website
• At 18:05 UTC: QML Friends API and UI Components
• At 19:05 UTC: Core Apps in Ubuntu Touch Preview Images
• At 19:05 UTC: Calendar Application and Backend for Ubuntu Touch

See you there!

UDS, the Ubuntu Developer Summit, is here again, starting in just a few hours. A week packed with content that will define the plans for the new Ubuntu development cycle, and as usual, a with a full track dedicated to application development.

So for all of you interested in helping and being part of the effort of making Ubuntu a platform of choice for application developers, here’s a quick list with an overview of the sessions we’ve got in store for today.

The links in the list below will take you to the each session, ready to participate on the live hangout or on IRC. You can also check out the full UDS schedule.

So, without further ado, here’s the list of app development sessions for today:

• At 15:05 UTC: App Development Roundtable
• At 16:05 UTC SDK UI Toolkit Theming
• At 16:05 UTC SDK Feedback from App Developers
• At 18:05 UTC SDK Roadmap
• At 19:05 UTC Growing the Ubuntu SDK Apps Collection

Looking forward to seeing you there!

That time has once again arrived…the Top 10 for April. Stormcloud continues to reign the top with Fluendo DVD moving into the second spot in paid applications. The Top 10 Free apps has not changed much from last month with Steam continuing to dominate the Free Top 10.

Want to develop for the new Phone and Tablet OS, Ubuntu Touch? Be sure to check out the “Go Mobile” site for details.

Top 10 paid apps

1. Stormcloud
2. Fluendo DVD Player
3. War in a Box – Paper Tanks
4. Splice [NEW]
5. Filebot
6. UberWriter [NEW]
7. Quick ‘n Easy Web Builder
8. Braid
9. Drawers
10. Bastion

Top 10 free apps

1. Steam
2. Master PDF Editor
3. Youtube to MP3
4. Nitro
5. Plex Media Server
6. CrossOver (Trial)
7. Motorbike
8. IntelliJ IDEA 12 Community Edition
9. flareGet
10. Splashtop Streamer

Would you like to see your app featured in this list and on millions of user’s computers? It’s a lot easier than you think:

• If you’re just getting your feet wet, check out how to get started with your first app in Ubuntu ›
• If you have an existing app you’d like to deliver to the world, submit it to the Ubuntu Software Center ›

Notes:

• The lists of top 10 app downloads includes only those applications submitted through My Apps on the Ubuntu App Developer Site. For more information about of usage of other applications in the Ubuntu archive, check out the Ubuntu Popularity Contest statistics.
• The top 10 free apps list contains gratis applications that are distributed under different types of licenses, some of which may not be open source. For detailed license information, please check each application’s description in the Ubuntu Software Center.

Follow Ubuntu App Development on:

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Hot on the heels of the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco we bring you the Top 10 Ubuntu App downloads for March 2013.
Stormcloud continues its rule at the top of the charts and the “far out” puzzle game, Machinarium is right behind it at #2. No surprise that Steam continues to dominate the top Free chart.
We saw some really cool technology at the Game Developer’s Conference, met some super nice people, and demonstrated the Ubuntu Phone and Tablet to a ton of people at the show.

Top 10 paid apps

1. Stormcloud
2. Machinarium
3. Fluendo DVD Player
4. War in a Box – Paper Tanks [NEW]
5. Filebot
6. Quick ‘n Easy Web Builder
7. Braid
8. Legend of Grimrock
9. Mini Minecraft Launcher
10. Linux Tycoon [NEW]

Top 10 free apps

1. Steam
2. Master PDF Editor
3. Youtube to MP3
4. Splashtop Streamer
5. Plex Media Server
6. Motorbike
7. CrossOver (Trial)
8. Nitro
9. flareGet
10. IntelliJ IDEA 12 Community Edition

Would you like to see your app featured in this list and on millions of user’s computers? It’s a lot easier than you think:

• If you’re just getting your feet wet, check out how to get started with your first app in Ubuntu ›
• If you have an existing app you’d like to deliver to the world, submit it to the Ubuntu Software Center ›

Notes:

• The lists of top 10 app downloads includes only those applications submitted through My Apps on the Ubuntu App Developer Site. For more information about of usage of other applications in the Ubuntu archive, check out the Ubuntu Popularity Contest statistics.
• The top 10 free apps list contains gratis applications that are distributed under different types of licenses, some of which may not be open source. For detailed license information, please check each application’s description in the Ubuntu Software Center.

Follow Ubuntu App Development on:

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Canonical is again attending the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco. This year we will be in the ever popular Unity Partner Pavilion located in the South Hall #1002. The show floor is open from Wednesday to Friday March 27 – 29.

Stop by our kiosk for a demonstration of the Unity3d export for Ubuntu and see how easy it is to submit games to the Ubuntu Software Center via our App Developer Program.  Let us show you the benefits of Ubuntu, the painless submission process, and how we can help you access millions of Ubuntu users. We will have Ubuntu running on phones and tablets so you can touch the future of Ubuntu on mobile.

You will not want to miss a talk about monetising games and how to go mobile on the Ubuntu platform to be presented Wednesday, 27 March at 1:55 p.m. in the Unity Booth Theater on the exhibit floor in the South Hall.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or on G+ for updates while we are there.

See you at the Game Developer’s Conference!

Hot on the heels of the announcements of the Ubuntu SDK and the Touch Developer Preview, we bring you the first ever Ubuntu SDK Days.

On Thursday, 14th March and Friday, 15th March a number of app developers and Ubuntu SDK creators will get you started writing apps for Ubuntu on multiple devices. It’s surprisingly simple, and since the announcement we’ve seen many early adopters try out the SDK and the first apps up and running. We will  answer your questions, talk about best practises and show you the power of the SDK.

Here a quick overview over the sessions we’ll run:

• Installing and Configuring the SDK
• Writing your first app with the SDK
• Writing games with QML and Javascript
• Live update from the development progress of the Touch Core Apps
• Several Q&A sessions
• Making the best of the Ubuntu App Design guidelines
• More about the SDK skunkworks projects
• Introducing Friends and Gwibber QML
• Writing a new generation of Scopes
• Lightning talks and Project demos

How to join

Participating is easy: just head to http://ubuntuonair.com to watch the sessions on the schedule. Videos will be available after the event, to ensure you can watch the content even if you couldn’t make it to the session you wanted.

You can ask your questions on the chat widget on http://ubuntuonair.com or join the #ubuntu-app-devel IRC channel on Freenode directly.

Check out https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuSDKDays/ to see the timetable of the event, be there for lots of fun and bring your friends – and your questions too!

Another month in the books and this time we’re on time giving you the top 10 for February 2013. Stormcloud still rules the top spot and Machinarium is back in the charts at #2 with its far out puzzle game. Steam steamed its way to the top in the free category after it’s debut in late February.
Come see us at GDC ’13 in the Unity Technologies pavilion and we’ll show you how to make money on your app in Ubuntu quick! Stop by, say hi and check out the latest Ubuntu Touch devices, too.

Top 10 paid apps

1. Stormcloud
2. Machinarium
3. Braid
4. Fluendo DVD Player
5. Quick ‘n Easy Web Builder
6. Legend of Grimrock
7. Bastion
8. RC Mini Racers
9. Drawers
10. Filebot [NEW]

Top 10 free apps

1. Steam [NEW]
2. Youtube to MP3 [NEW]
3. Motorbike [NEW]
4. Plex Media Server
5. Splashtop Streamer
6. Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances
7. Lord of Ultima
8. CrossOver (Trial)
9. Master PDF Editor
10. Nitro

Would you like to see your app featured in this list and on millions of user’s computers? It’s a lot easier than you think:

• If you’re just getting your feet wet, check out how to get started with your first app in Ubuntu ›
• If you have an existing app you’d like to deliver to the world, submit it to the Ubuntu Software Centre ›

Notes:

• The lists of top 10 app downloads includes only those applications submitted through My Apps on the Ubuntu App Developer Site. For more information about of usage of other applications in the Ubuntu archive, check out the Ubuntu Popularity Contest statistics.
• The top 10 free apps list contains gratis applications that are distributed under different types of licence, some of which may not be open source. For detailed licence information, please check each application’s description in the Ubuntu Software Centre.

Follow Ubuntu App Development on:

Social Media Icons by Paul Robert Lloyd

Yesterday we released Ubuntu Touch Preview images for four devices. This is a huge milestone for Ubuntu. We always wanted Ubuntu to be everywhere and the Preview shows quite nicely how well the vision of a design family across different form factors works.

There is quite a bit of work to be done, we all know that, but it’s a giant opportunity for us, the Ubuntu community. Everybody can contribute to the effort and we can show the world how we believe software should look like.

How you can help? Easy.

• You can install the Ubuntu Touch preview images on a device and test them.
• You can help out designing and shaping the Ubuntu Touch Core Apps.
• If you are a bit more experienced with bringing software up on new devices, you can help us porting Ubuntu Touch to new devices.

Did the last point find your interest? Excellent, because we just took the wraps of our Ubuntu Touch Porting guide. This also marks the start of our Ubuntu Touch Port-a-thon. We want to get Ubuntu Touch up and running on as many devices as possible.

If you don’t mind some tinkering, maybe some kernel building, some configuration meddling and flashing your device repeatedly, you might just the person we’re looking for.

The porting guide should help you understand

• how Ubuntu Touch works internally,
• which bits are generally involved and where to find them
• how to submit patches
• how images are put together
• how to test them and
• where to find help

To get you started and into the mood, you might want to join us today, at Friday 22nd February at 15:00 UTC on http://ubuntuonair.com when two super heroes of the Ubuntu Touch project, namely Ricardo Salveti and Sergio Schvezov, are going to talk to us about the technical aspects of the phone and the tablet.

Reliable sources tell us, there’s going to be a surprise announce during the hangout as well.

This is the opportunity we always wanted. Let’s make it happen. Bring Ubuntu to the world in all its beauty.

We’re thrilled to announce yet another significant milestone in the history of the Ubuntu project. After having recently unveiled the Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview, today we’re publishing the full source code and images for supported devices.

For developers and enthusiasts only

While a huge amount of Engineering and Design work has been put into ensuring that the foundations for our user experience vision are in place, we want to stress that the Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview is currently work in progress. We are releasing the full code at this point to align to our philosophy of transparency and open source development.

We recommend to install the Touch Developer Preview only if you are a developer or enthusiast who wants to test or contribute to the platform. It is not intended to replace production devices or the tablet or handset you use every day.

Flash your device

All that said, let’s get on to how to install Touch Developer Preview from a public image on your device.

What to expect after flashing

Not all functionality from a production device is yet available on the Touch Preview. The list of functions you can expect after installing the preview on your handset or tablet are as follows. For detailed information check the release notes.

• Shell and core applications
• Connection to the GSM network (on Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4)
• Phone calls and SMS (on Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4)
• Networking via Wifi
• Functional camera (front and back)
• Device connectivity through the Android Developer Bridge tool (adb)

Supported devices

The images we are making available today support the following devices:

• Galaxy Nexus
• Nexus 4
• Nexus 7
• Nexus 10

I’m all set, show me how to flash!

You will find the detailed instructions to flash on the Ubuntu wiki.

Install the Touch Developer Preview >

Contributing and the road ahead

These are exciting times for Ubuntu. We’re building the technology of the future, this time aiming at a whole new level of massive adoption. The Touch Developer Preview means the first fully open source mobile OS developed also in the open. True to our principles this milestone also enables our community of developers to contribute and be a key part of this exciting journey.

In terms of the next steps, today we’re making the preview images available for the Ubuntu 12.10 stable release. In the next few days we’re going to switch to Raring Ringtail, our development release, which is where development will happen on the road to our convergence story.

You’ll find the full details of how the infrastructure and the code are being published and used on the Ubuntu wiki.

Contribute to the Touch Developer Preview >

Presenting the Ubuntu SDK Alpha

But there’s more! To further celebrate the Touch Preview, we’re very proud to bring some exciting news that app developers will surely enjoy: the Ubuntu SDK Alpha release.

In fact, development of the SDK still keeps happening in the open and on a rolling release basis. But coinciding with the Touch Developer Preview, we thought that the latest release came with so much goodness, that we decided to label it in celebration.

Feature highlight: remote app deployment

Perhaps the coolest feature ever since the SDK was released: you can now deploy and execute the apps you create straight from the IDE.

Applications developed with Qt Creator can now be seamlessly and securely transferred and executed to a device just moving two fingers. Remember this shortcut: Ctrl+F12.

Inline with how easy and lightweight the process of creating a phone app is, a lot of work has been put into ensuring all complexity is hidden from the developer, yet it works solidly. Behind the scenes, SSH key pairing with the remote device works on-the-fly.

Here’s the lowdown:

1. Plug in your mobile device running Ubuntu on the USB port of your computer
2. Make sure your device is also connected to a wireless network (SSH key pairing happens over the air)
3. Start Qt Creator from the Dash, and select the new Devices tab
4. Press the Enable button to activate Developer Mode
5. Once the device is connected, you can develop your QML projects as usual (check out the new project wizard as well) and press Ctrl+F12 to install and execute your app on the remote device

Tooling updates

With Qt Creator at its heart, the set of tools app developers use on an everyday basis to author their software, have seen major improvements:

• Qt Creator has been updated to the bleeding edge version: 2.7. We expect this version to continue maturing together with the platform and the SDK.
• Ubuntu application templates and wizard are now available to easily start creating apps that run on the phone and tablets.
• The visual user interface designer in Qt Creator now works with QtQuick 2, the framework upon the Ubuntu SDK is based.

User Interface Toolkit updates

The UI Toolkit is the part of the SDK that provides the graphical components (such as buttons, text entries, and others) as building blocks that enable the basic user interaction with the underlying system. A new component, polishing and bug fixing have set the theme for this release:

• The MainView component has been added, with closer integration to the HUD and the shell. Learn how to use MainView.
• PopOver component polishing, general bug fixes and improvements

Install the Ubuntu SDK Alpha

By now we’re pretty certain you’re looking forward to installing and putting all of that development goodness to the test.

That’s an easy one, if you haven’t yet install the Ubuntu SDK.

If you already installed the SDK, just run Update Manager from the Dash and update the Ubuntu SDK package as prompted. Or alternatively, if you prefer the command line, just fire up a terminal and run ‘sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ubuntu-sdk’.

And that’s pretty much it! Be sure to check out the release notes for any additional technical details too.

Let us know what you think

We’d be delighted to hear what you think and get your feedback on how you are using the SDK and ways in which it could be improved. So do get in touch with us or report a bug if you find any issues.

Time to start developing beautiful apps now!

We’re thrilled to announce one of the most expected resources for Ubuntu app developers: the App Design Guides.

The App Design Guides site is the first installment of a live resource that will organically grow to provide guidance and enable app developers to build stunning, consistent and usable applications on a diversity of Ubuntu devices.

Together with the Ubuntu SDK preview, the App Design Guides complete yet another chapter in the Ubuntu app developer story. Developers have now the tools to create beautiful software, along with all the information related to UX, behaviour, patterns and visual design to ensure their apps provide a solid, clean and enjoyable user experience.

And consistent with the Ubuntu philosophy and our beliefs, all of these tools and guides are available to everyone as open source and for free.

Show me the Ubuntu App Design Guides! ›

Updating the core app designs for Ubuntu App Guides compliance

We have recently kicked off a community-driven process to design and implement a set of 12 core apps for Ubuntu running on phones. The first stage of the project consisted in asking community members to participate in the submission of designs to be used as input and food for thought for the core app developers.

The response so far has been overwelming:  over 50 community designers signed up for this initiative, submitting nearly 90 mockups on the Ubuntu MyBalsamiq site we set up for this project.

Following the App Design Guides go-live, it is now a great opportunity to ensure those designs follow the guidelines for a consistent app experience on Ubuntu. Therefore, we’d like to ask everyone who submitted a design to review them and update them to make sure they are inline with the App Design Guides.

Reminder: if you want to collaborate in this design project, just drop an e-mail to David Planella <david(dot)planella(at)canonical(dot)com> and Michael Hall <michael(dot)hall(at)canonical(dot)com>.

Open design and collaboration

Continuing with the trend of open and collaborative design, we want to hear from you!

The Guides are a resource that will grow together with the needs of app developers, so we’ll greatly appreciate your feedback on the Ubuntu Phone mailing list (remember to prepend the subject with [Design]) and if you’ve got any questions about them, just ask on Ask Ubuntu.

Stay tuned for updates and for some visual designs for core apps from the Canonical Design team coming soon!

The new year is in full swing and we’re happy to give you the top 10 for January 2013. Stormcloud moved into the top spot while Legend of Grimrock jumped into the 3rd spot after it’s debut in the Humble Indie Bundle. Plex Media Server took over the top spot in the free category with the EA games not far behind.

Top 10 paid apps

1. Stormcloud
2. RC Mini Racers
3. Legend of Grimrock [NEW]
4. Braid
5. Bastion
6. Fluendo DVD Player
7. Torchlight
8. Quick ‘n Easy Web Builder
9. Drawers [NEW]
10. MC Launcher

Top 10 free apps

1. Plex Media Server
2. Lord of Ultima
3. Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances
4. Nitro
5. Master PDF Editor
6. CrossOver (Trial)
7. IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition
8. Ryzom
9. flareGet
10. Full Circle Magazine #68 [NEW]

Would you like to see your app featured in this list and on millions of user’s computers? It’s a lot easier than you think:

• If you’re just getting your feet wet, check out how to get started with your first app in Ubuntu ›
• If you have an existing app you’d like to deliver to the world, submit it to the Ubuntu Software Centre ›

Notes:

• The lists of top 10 app downloads includes only those applications submitted through My Apps on the Ubuntu App Developer Site. For more information about of usage of other applications in the Ubuntu archive, check out the Ubuntu Popularity Contest statistics.
• The top 10 free apps list contains gratis applications that are distributed under different types of licence, some of which may not be open source. For detailed licence information, please check each application’s description in the Ubuntu Software Centre.

Follow Ubuntu App Development on:

Social Media Icons by Paul Robert Lloyd

Another month and another fresh ranking for you. Into the new year and time for recap of the top 10 list of apps downloaded from the Ubuntu Software Centre last month!

Top 10 commercial apps

1 > TRAUMA

TRAUMA is a game that tells a story of a young woman who survives a car accident. Recovering at the hospital, she has dreams that shed light on different aspects of her identity – such as the way she deals with the loss of her parents. TRAUMA lets you experience those dreams in an interactive way, reminiscent of Point-and-Click Adventure Games.

2 > Fluendo DVD Player

Fluendo DVD Player is a software application specially designed to reproduce DVD on Linux/Unix platforms, which provides end users with high quality standards.

3 > Braid

Braid is a platform game in painterly style where you manipulate the flow of time to solve puzzles. Every puzzle in Braid is unique; there is no filler. Braid treats your time and attention as precious, and it does everything it can to give you a mind-expanding experience.

4 > Oil Rush (pre-order, beta access)

Oil Rush is a real-time naval strategy game based on group control. It combines the strategic challenge of a classical RTS with the sheer fun of Tower Defence. Fight the naval war between furious armies across the boundless waters of the post-apocalyptic world.

5 > Steel Storm: Burning Retribution

Steel Storm: Burning Retribution marks the return of top-down shooters with new twists. The game has score oriented competitive gameplay, and is designed for people who like fast paced action, hordes of smart enemies, destructible worlds and ground shaking explosions.

6 > World of Goo

Drag and drop living, squirming, talking globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins, and giant tongues. The millions of innocent goo balls that live in the beautiful World of Goo are curious to explore. But they don’t know that they are in a game, or that they are extremely delicious. The most addicting and awe-inspiring puzzle game will set you on an adventure that you’ll never forget!

7 > Monster RPG 2

Monster RPG 2 is a fantasy quest that spans continents and worlds and lets you take a simple villager and develop her into a hero with the power to save her world. The next instalment in the classic Monster RPG series, Monster RPG 2 is a turn-based role-playing game with great variety of plot twists, secrets, and scenery.

8 > The Clockwork Man: The Hidden World

Explore a Victorian era filled with wondrous contraptions and fascinating machinery. Embark on a steam-powered, rollercoaster journey through land, air, and water in this unique Hidden Object Adventure! Miranda and Sprocket are back! Join them in their new adventures and discover the Hidden World, a land lost in time and glimpsed through legends.

9 > Uplink

You play an Uplink Agent who makes a living by performing jobs for major corporations. Your tasks involve hacking into rival computer systems, stealing research data, sabotaging other companies, laundering money, erasing evidence, or framing innocent people. You use the money you earn to upgrade your computer systems, and to buy new software and tools. As your experience level increases you find more dangerous and profitable missions become available.

10 > Memory Owl

Memory Owl is a unique, dynamic game that uses physics engine and adds multiple hurdles and helpers to spice up the classic game of finding pairs of pictures. It’s suitable for all ages – even children as young as 4 years will find it amusing (especially on easy diffuculty setting). Find all pairs before they drawn in the rising water or are pushed out of screen by fish.

Top 10 free apps

1 > Ryzom

Ryzom, one of the best role playing Massively Multiplayer Online Game of the moment (MMORPG), is set more than 2000 years in the future, on a living, evolving world: beautiful Atys!

2 > Crossover Games

Play Windows games like World of Warcraft on Ubuntu! CrossOver Games (Ubuntu Edition) makes it possible to play Windows games such as World of Warcraft and many others. CrossOver Games is built on the latest versions of Wine, based on contributions from both CodeWeavers and the open-source Wine community. CrossOver Games aims to bring you the latest, greatest, bleeding edge improvements in Wine technology.

3 > Vendetta Online

Vendetta Online is a 3D space combat MMORPG. This MMO permits thousands of players to interact as the pilots of spaceships in a vast universe. Users may build their characters in any direction they desire, becoming rich captains of industry, military heroes, or outlaws.

4 > CrossOver Pro (Trial)

CrossOver Linux allows you to install many popular Windows productivity applications, plugins and games in Linux. You can think of it as an emulator, but it’s different, because there’s no Windows OS license required. Your applications integrate seamlessly with your GNOME or KDE environment. It’s like running Windows on your Linux machine, but without Windows.

5 > Full Circle Magazine

Full Circle is a free, independent, monthly magazine dedicated to the Ubuntu family of Linux operating systems. Each month, it contains helpful how-to articles and reader submitted stories. Full Circle also features a companion podcast, the Full Circle Podcast, which covers the magazine along with other news of interest.

6 > CrossOver Standard (Trial)

CrossOver Linux allows you to install many popular Windows productivity applications, plugins and games in Linux. You can think of it as an emulator, but it’s different, because there’s no Windows OS license required. Your applications integrate seamlessly with your GNOME or KDE environment. It’s like running Windows on your Linux machine, but without Windows.

7 > Wunderlist

Free cloud-sync task manager, helps sharing your To-Do lists with friends and colleagues. Manage your to-dos and synchronize them with your free Wunderlist account. View and modify your tasks on Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch, Android and the Web. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide use Wunderlist everyday. Wunderlist – your tasks anywhere, anytime.

8 > Tribal Trouble 2

Tribal Trouble 2 is a browser-based RTS game that takes place in the zany age of the Vikings. You are the Chief of a Viking tribe and are responsible for making a name for yourself by conquest and skill.

9 > Magic 8 Ball

Ask the Magic Eight Ball and get an answer to your question. If you’re looking for advice or fancy some fortune-telling, the ball will always listen to you and deliver, though it might not be what you expect!

10 > Clipardo (demo)

This program enables you to find clipart pictures by a hand-drawn sketch. It can be of service when looking for clipart for your presentations, mind maps, posters, charts, web-design, even programs.

Notes:

• The lists of top 10 app downloads includes only those applications submitted through My Apps on the Ubuntu App Developer Site. For more information about of usage of other applications in the Ubuntu archive, check out the Ubuntu Popularity Contest statistics.
• The top 10 free apps list contains gratis applications that are distributed under different types of licence, some of which might not be open source. For detailed licence information, please check each application’s description in the Ubuntu Software Centre.

Follow Ubuntu App Development on:

Social Media Icons by Paul Robert Lloyd

Support for PayPal as an additional payment option has landed today in Ubuntu Pay, the service that handles electronic payment for commercial apps in the Ubuntu Software Centre.

This new feature will enable Ubuntu users to comfortably and safely buy commercial apps, ebooks and magazines from the Software Centre with their PayPal account. PayPal will be an additional payment option along with the already supported credit and debit card alternatives, “a frequently-requested option by users who don’t have credit/debit cards or who get charged conversion fees by their bank for non-local currency transactions“, adds Stuart Metcalfe, Canonical ISD manager.

All in all, a much welcomed feature that will contribute  reinforcing the virtuous circle of the Ubuntu apps ecosystem with an easier purchasing process, more profits for app authors and increased attractiveness of Ubuntu as a target platform for app developers.

Congratulations to the Canonical ISD team for this great addition to the Software Centre!

Follow Ubuntu App Development on:

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As you will probably have noticed every time you open the Ubuntu Software Centre and watch those beautiful banners, each month we pick some of the best apps available to Ubuntu users and highlight them for everyone to see whenever they search for apps. It is not only a nice way to celebrate and bring more visibility to cool new apps, but also to help app authors by promoting their work.

December brings 3 awesome featured applications. Read on to learn more about them and how to get them on your Ubuntu system.

Stellarium

Stellarium is a beautiful planetarium application, with which you can watch starry nights and identify celestial objects as if you were laying down on a nice field enjoying the clear sky. The first thing that catches the eye are the slick and captivating visuals, including the interface itself, which is very intuitive and blends in very well with the sky cruising experience. Quoting the Stellarium home page, it’s just a matter of setting your location and go.

You’ll enjoy watching and learning constellations, satellites, planets, nebulae… (you name it!) from the impressive catalogue of over 600 thousand stars, which can be extended to more than 210 million stars. You can even turn off the atmosphere and the Earth! Stellarium is open source software. Go and check it out for yourself downloading it from the Software Centre.

TRAUMA

TRAUMA is a game that develops around the story of a woman who survives a car accident and wakes up to confront her recovery. The player gets absorbed into a dream-like atmosphere and is challenged to solve puzzles or achieve a particular end goal, as if part of an interactive movie. This sensation of controlling the direction of the plot, along with the compelling visuals and gameplay make TRAUMA stand out as a fascinating game and story to dive into.

All in all, a unique and engaging experience, again, right at your fingertips from the Software Centre!

Openshot

Openshot is an easy-to-use yet very powerful video editor. From creating family videos to presentations, to professional video editing, Openshot will help you with all your video needs. Easily combine music and video using multiple tracks, cut, trim, resize, mix and match clips, add transitions… the list of features is pretty impressive.

Have you ever wanted to create a promotional video to showcase a project you are involved in? Or add captions and nice transitions to those holiday videos? Now is your chance to download Openshot from the Software Centre and supercharge your Ubuntu installation with some video editing power. Openshot is open source software.

We hope you enjoyed our picks for this month. Stay tuned for a new update on January’s featured apps, and remember to add comments if you want to suggest us an app to highlight. Looking forward to your own picks!

Follow Ubuntu App Development on:

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November is over and we’re moving fast into the Christmas season. Time for a quick recap of the top 10 list of apps downloaded from the Ubuntu Software Centre last month!

Top 10 commercial apps

Braid – Braid is a platform game in painterly style where you manipulate the flow of time to solve puzzles. Every puzzle in Braid is unique; there is no filler. Braid treats your time and attention as precious, and it does everything it can to give you a mind-expanding experience. Get Braid from the Software Centre ›

Oil Rush (pre-order, beta access) – Oil Rush is a real-time naval strategy game based on group control. It combines the strategic challenge of a classical RTS with the sheer fun of Tower Defence. Fight the naval war between furious armies across the boundless waters of the post-apocalyptic world. Get Oil Rush BETA from the Software Centre ›

TRAUMA – TRAUMA is a game that tells a story of a young woman who survives a car accident. Recovering at the hospital, she has dreams that shed light on different aspects of her identity – such as the way she deals with the loss of her parents. TRAUMA lets you experience those dreams in an interactive way, reminiscent of Point-and-Click Adventure Games. Get TRAUMA from the Software Centre ›

Fluendo DVD Player – Fluendo DVD Player is a software application specially designed to reproduce DVD on Linux/Unix platforms, which provides end users with high quality standards. Get Fluendo DVD Player from the Software Centre ›

Steel Storm: Burning Retribution – Steel Storm: Burning Retribution marks the return of top-down shooters with new twists. The game has score oriented competitive gameplay, and is designed for people who like fast paced action, hordes of smart enemies, destructible worlds and ground shaking explosions. Get Steel Storm from the Software Centre ›

Monster RPG 2 – Monster RPG 2 is a fantasy quest that spans continents and worlds and lets you take a simple villager and develop her into a hero with the power to save her world. The next instalment in the classic Monster RPG series, Monster RPG 2 is a turn-based role-playing game with great variety of plot twists, secrets, and scenery. Get Monster RPG 2 from the Software Centre ›

World of Goo – Drag and drop living, squirming, talking globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins, and giant tongues. The millions of innocent goo balls that live in the beautiful World of Goo are curious to explore. But they don’t know that they are in a game, or that they are extremely delicious. The most addicting and awe-inspiring puzzle game will set you on an adventure that you’ll never forget! Get World of Goo from the Software Centre ›

The Clockwork Man: The Hidden World – Explore a Victorian era filled with wondrous contraptions and fascinating machinery. Embark on a steam-powered, rollercoaster journey through land, air, and water in this unique Hidden Object Adventure! Miranda and Sprocket are back! Join them in their new adventures and discover the Hidden World, a land lost in time and glimpsed through legends. Get The Clockwork Man: The Hidden World from the Software Centre ›

Uplink – You play an Uplink Agent who makes a living by performing jobs for major corporations. Your tasks involve hacking into rival computer systems, stealing research data, sabotaging other companies, laundering money, erasing evidence, or framing innocent people. You use the money you earn to upgrade your computer systems, and to buy new software and tools. As your experience level increases you find more dangerous and profitable missions become available. Get Uplink from the Software Centre ›

Fluendo Complete Playback Pack – This product contains plug-ins which allow you to play certain proprietary audio and video formats. These plug-ins are not included in the default Ubuntu distribution because they are not free software. Ubuntu is driven by strong support for the principles of free and open source software, and these principles govern what we can and will include in Ubuntu. However, we recognise the common need for plug-ins such as these, and offer them here to provide a safe and legal way for our users to play back video and audio in the formats they wish. Get Fluendo Complete Playback Pack from the Software Centre ›

Top 10 free apps

Ryzom – Ryzom, one of the best role playing Massively Multiplayer Online Game of the moment (MMORPG), is set more than 2000 years in the future, on a living, evolving world: beautiful Atys! Get Ryzom from the Software Centre ›

Crossover Games – Play Windows games like World of Warcraft on Ubuntu! CrossOver Games (Ubuntu Edition) makes it possible to play Windows games such as World of Warcraft and many others. CrossOver Games is built on the latest versions of Wine, based on contributions from both CodeWeavers and the open-source Wine community. CrossOver Games aims to bring you the latest, greatest, bleeding edge improvements in Wine technology. Get Crossover Games from the Software Centre ›

Vendetta Online – Vendetta Online is a 3D space combat MMORPG. This MMO permits thousands of players to interact as the pilots of spaceships in a vast universe. Users may build their characters in any direction they desire, becoming rich captains of industry, military heroes, or outlaws. Get Vendetta Online from the Software Centre ›

CrossOver Pro (Trial) – CrossOver Linux allows you to install many popular Windows productivity applications, plugins and games in Linux. You can think of it as an emulator, but it’s different, because there’s no Windows OS license required. Your applications integrate seamlessly with your GNOME or KDE environment. It’s like running Windows on your Linux machine, but without Windows. Get Crossover Pro (Trial) from the Software Centre ›

Full Circle Magazine Issue 52 – Full Circle is a free, independent, monthly magazine dedicated to the Ubuntu family of Linux operating systems. Each month, it contains helpful how-to articles and reader submitted stories. Full Circle also features a companion podcast, the Full Circle Podcast, which covers the magazine along with other news of interest. Get Full Circle Magazine #52 from the Software Centre ›

CrossOver Standard (Trial) – CrossOver Linux allows you to install many popular Windows productivity applications, plugins and games in Linux. You can think of it as an emulator, but it’s different, because there’s no Windows OS license required. Your applications integrate seamlessly with your GNOME or KDE environment. It’s like running Windows on your Linux machine, but without Windows. Get Crossover Standard (Trial) from the Software Centre ›

Full Circle Magazine Issue 53 – Full Circle is a free, independent, monthly magazine dedicated to the Ubuntu family of Linux operating systems. Each month, it contains helpful how-to articles and reader submitted stories. Full Circle also features a companion podcast, the Full Circle Podcast, which covers the magazine along with other news of interest. Get Full Circle Magazine #53 from the Software Centre ›

Full Circle Magazine Issue 50 – Full Circle is a free, independent, monthly magazine dedicated to the Ubuntu family of Linux operating systems. Each month, it contains helpful how-to articles and reader submitted stories. Full Circle also features a companion podcast, the Full Circle Podcast, which covers the magazine along with other news of interest. Get Full Circle Magazine #50 from the Software Centre ›

Wunderlist – Free cloud-sync task manager, helps sharing your To-Do lists with friends and colleagues. Manage your to-dos and synchronize them with your free Wunderlist account. View and modify your tasks on Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch, Android and the Web. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide use Wunderlist everyday. Wunderlist – your tasks anywhere, anytime. Get Wunderlist from the Software Centre ›

Full Circle Magazine Issue 51 – Full Circle is a free, independent, monthly magazine dedicated to the Ubuntu family of Linux operating systems. Each month, it contains helpful how-to articles and reader submitted stories. Full Circle also features a companion podcast, the Full Circle Podcast, which covers the magazine along with other news of interest. Get Full Circle Magazine #51 from the Software Centre ›

This month’s highlights

If you still haven’t seen them, open up the Ubuntu Software Centre and check out the beautiful banners for this month. Our carefully hand-picked app highlights this time round are:

Stellarium – Stellarium renders 3D photo-realistic skies in real-time. With Stellarium, you really see what you can see with your eyes, binoculars or a small telescope. Get Stellarium from the Software Centre ›

Openshot – OpenShot Video Editor is a free, open-source, non-linear video editor. It can create and edit videos and movies using many popular video, audio, and image formats. Create videos for YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo, Metacafe, iPod, Xbox, and many more common formats! Get Openshot from the Software Centre ›

TRAUMA – TRAUMA is a game that tells a story of a young woman who survives a car accident. Recovering at the hospital, she has dreams that shed light on different aspects of her identity – such as the way she deals with the loss of her parents. TRAUMA lets you experience those dreams in an interactive way, reminiscent of Point-and-Click Adventure Games. Get TRAUMA from the Software Centre ›

Notes:

• The lists of top 10 app downloads includes only those applications submitted through My Apps on the Ubuntu App Developer Site. For more information about of usage of other applications in the Ubuntu archive, check out the Ubuntu Popularity Contest statistics.
• The top 10 free apps list contains gratis applications that are distributed under different types of licence, some of which might not be open source. For detailed licence information, please check each application’s description in the Ubuntu Software Centre.

Follow Ubuntu App Development on:

Social Media Icons by Paul Robert Lloyd

One of the main objectives for the Ubuntu 12.04 cycle is to build upon the foundations set by the Ubuntu App Developer site, My Apps and the Ubuntu Software Centre and start building an Ubuntu App Developer community to realize the vision of a rich ecosystem of apps around Ubuntu. This is the first of a series of posts that will discuss several aspects of this goal, how to get involved, and the benefits of Ubuntu as a target platform for both developers and users.

An important aspect of each community is to ensure that there are easily accessible resources that can act as a venue for communication for anyone wanting to get involved. For the Ubuntu App Developer community, but also in general, the degree of involvement will then vary according to what the individuals connecting to our app developer story are looking for. Some will be seeking help, some will be able to provide help, some will want to contribute to build the developer story, some will want to stay up to date with the news, some will write applications… The first step is to ensure that we cover the main venues, or connecting points to our story for them.

We already started out creating some of these resources ready for the launch of the Ubuntu App Developer last cycle, but we’ve been adding some more recently and I thought at this point it would be a good opportunity to provide an overview of the variety of ways to get involved and stay up to date with App Development in Ubuntu. So without further ado…

Stay up to date

This is a set of channels to follow and share the news and announcements related to Ubuntu App Development.

The Ubuntu App Developer Blog – the official source for news, updates, new tutorials and other application development content in Ubuntu. You can read it and subscribe to it

Ubuntu App Developers on G+ – the Google+ page to for anyone interested in app development in Ubuntu to read and share updates. You can add it to your circles or +1 it

Ubuntu App Developers on Facebook – the Facebook page, also for enthusiasts of app development in Ubuntu to follow and comment on the latest news. You can like it.

Ubuntu App Developers on LinkedIn – the LinkedIn group for professionals wanting to know more about publishing their apps in the Software Centre. You can join it.

Ubuntu App Developers on Twitter – you prefer 140 character updates? @ubuntuappdev is also tweeting away in the microblogs world, spreading the news on Ubuntu App Development. You can follow it.

Ubuntu App Developers on Identi.ca – if your microblogging choice is the open source alternative to Twitter, Ubuntu app developers are also on identi.ca. You can follow it.

Get (or give) support

This is a set of channels to either get help, give help, or actively contribute to discussions related to Ubuntu App Development.

Ubuntu App Development on Askubuntu – the central place to get and provide support for all your app development questions. You can ask questions, answer questions, read the FAQ and subscribe to the questions feed.

Ubuntu App Development Mailing list – the list is also the place for support, but also for discussion of new topics, coordination of work and announcements related to building the Ubuntu App Developer story. You can subscribe to it or send e-mail.

Ubuntu App Development on IRC – for those seeking real-time support on text or simply a friendly chat amongst app developers. You can enter the IRC channel.

Contribute

This is an overview of some of the ways in which to contribute to the Ubuntu App Developer story.

Create an app – the most obvious way to make an impact is to actually create an app to be distributed to millions in the Software Centre. You can learn how to get started, how to publish, and actually publish your application. Also check out the video tutorial in how to get started in app development on Ubuntu in a matter of minutes.

Submit a tutorial – knowledge sharing is a key contribution to app development in Ubuntu. If you know about an app development topic you’d like to see featured and shared in the Ubuntu App developer site, you can submit a tutorial.

Join the ARB – our vision is that both open source and commercial applications are the key to a successful app ecosystem in Ubuntu. The Application Review Board are a group of individuals committed to reviewing and helping open source apps thrive in this environment. If you have technical skills and want to contribute to this goal, they need your help.

All in all, this now gives no excuse not to know what’s going on in the app development world and to get involved. Now let’s get to work to have a stunning App Developer story!

Social Media Icons by Paul Robert Lloyd

We’re doing some work to automatically package the things that application developers submit to the Ubuntu App Developer site, and we thought you might be interested in following along.

In a nutshell, we’re going to put a service behind MyApps that harnesses pkgme to automatically generate packaging for binary applications. We hope to extend it to automatically package other types of applications (e.g. ./configure; make; make install) some day soon.

If you want to know more, you can read the spec, look at the system diagram, read our implementation plan or watch the demo of pkgme doing a binary application.

At the moment, it’s James Westby and I working on this as our day jobs at Canonical. However, we’re both pretty keen to do everything in the open, and would gladly welcome contributions.

Oh, speaking of openness. We’re trying to gather up all of the work that Ubuntu is doing to make life for application developers easier and stick it on one wiki page so that everyone can figure out what everyone else is doing. That page is:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AppDevelopers

It’s so important I couldn’t possibly leave it as a mere hyperlink. It also has links to the various Launchpad projects that we’re using for the automated packaging service.

MumboJumbo, a leading developer and publisher of casual games,  has added four titlesto the Ubuntu Software Center. Chainz Galaxy, 7 Wonders: Magical Mystery Tour, Unlikely Suspects, and Midnight Mysteries3 Devil on the Mississippi are now available for Ubuntu 10.10 and Ubuntu 11.04. The same titles will be available for Ubuntu 11.10 very soon.

Chainz Galaxy

Chainz Galaxy is a puzzle game where the user twists links to create link-matches of three or more to clear the board. You earn bonuses by getting power-ups and gathering charms.

7 Wonders: Magical Mystery Tour

7 Wonders: Magical Mystery Tour is an all new release in the 7 Wonders series. In this game you’ll take a fantastic journey to some of the most enchanting sites in mythology and folklore.  With a team of master builders, you’ll match colorful runes to collect the building blocks needed for Camelot, El Dorado, Atlantis, Shangri-La, and many others.  Build all 7 Wonders and then unlock a magical 8th location, Nazca Valley!

Unlikely Suspects

Unlikely Suspects is a hidden object whodunit where you track 16 criminals across the globe! The Superintendent of Interpol needs your help to sort through evidence and decipher clues. With over 4,000 different outcomes, there’s always a new case to crack!

Midnight Mysteries 3 Devil on the Mississippi

In Midnight Mysteries 3 Devil on the Mississippi Mark Twain’s fleeing ghost begs you to free his soul from demons, both literal and emotional. Find objects and solve puzzles to unravel the mystery behind Shakspeare’s identity, squash the awakened evil spirit, and set history straight!

Check out these new titles in the Ubuntu Software Center today! If you have an application you wish to include in the Software Center submit it today in the MyApps portal on the Ubuntu App Developers site.

UDS is here again. Tomorrow another week packed with content that will define the plans for a new Ubuntu LTS release will start, and this time around application development will be a prominent topic.

So for all of you interested in helping and being part of the effort of making Ubuntu a platform of choice for application developers, here’s a quick list with an overview of the sessions we’ve got in store this week.

Remember you can register your interest in sessions you want to attend or keep up to date with by using the Subscribe link on each session’s blueprint. The links in the list below will take you to the blueprints used to define the specifications for each feature or goal. You can also check out the full UDS schedule.

So, without further ado, here’s the list of app development sessions:

• Software Center roadmap – the feature planning for Software Center in the upcoming release
• App developer community growth – laying out the foundations to build and grow the Ubuntu app developer community
• App developer resources section update – the plans to update the Information Architecture on the resources section of the app developer site
• App developer support community growth – defining the roadmap for a community to share knowledge and provide support between app developers
• App developer tutorial growth – an initiative to create a rich set of development tutorials on the app developer site
• App Review Board update and planning – the App Review Board roadmap for 12.04
• Quickly 12.04 Enhancements – the plans to make Quickly better and keep pace with the platform
• Qt panel – a Q+A and all-round discussion session about the Qt roadmap and other topics
• Qt integration – a session on how to integrate Qt to Ubuntu development tools and APIs
• QtQuick workshop for designers – a showcase of the tools QtQuick makes available to designers to integrate their output in the development workflow

Oh, and don’t miss the Application development and the Qt keynotes on Tuesday

See you all there!