The PlanetRecruit Blog

Navigating the technology and applications market

Making sure that we meet the needs of our clients means that we are constantly keeping an eye on emerging technologies, staying on top of demand, so that when a new type of requirement materialises, we are in a position to respond and offer expert assistance. This does involve an element of guesswork and sometimes when you call heads it will come up tails from time to time.

We recently took such a plunge when we began providing specialist services to those looking to hire mobile application developers, specifically the development of new applications using the Android platform. Entering a new market takes time and money so it was with some satisfaction this week that I learnt that the number of Android mobiles has passed the number of iphones for the first time. Gartner research predicts that Android will account for almost 50 per cent of the smartphone market by the end of 2012, giving it an enormous lead on its competitors.

The market is ever more steadily moving towards applications and devices that can be used on the move. While we don’t yet have a credible rival to the iPad tablet, we are surely only a few upgrades away from having an iPad killer on the market, most likely running on Google's honeycomb platform.

Good news for football fans: World Cup can be shown on free TV

A few weeks ago it was reported that the Premier League lost the first round of a dispute over the rights to broadcast football matches.

The General Court was advised that the Premier league’s territorial exclusivity agreements to broadcast football matches are contrary to European Union law. The final outcome is still pending, but if the court follows the advice, UK football fans will be able to use a decoder from any European country to watch league games rather than having to use an expensive Sky decoder.

Now, in a separate ruling, the General Court held that it is justified by law for member states to stipulate that the World Cup and European Championships, among other popular matches, are to be accessible by free-to-air television broadcasts.

Cloud gaming: The next big thing?

Bored of Facebook? Looking for that next big thing to fill your online surfing hours?

I’m always checking news feeds and my favourite monthly magazines for the occasional scoop as I continue to hunt for the next big thing.

Recently, something that’s definitely caught my eye is cloud gaming: touted as free, next-generation gaming. Could this be the next big thing?

The concept of online gaming is nothing new; I remember playing Splatter Ball on the old AOL networks back in their heyday. Online gaming is merely a connection of machines together, sometimes with a host server managing the connections. Cloud gaming goes a step further: it takes away much of the hardware requirements by running the game from a remote computer. Yes, you still get to play, but you don’t need an expensive games console. In fact, the system is device agnostic and the entry requirements are low.

Pulsate from AM Laboratory

Click to create at least two circles.

Listen to the tunes they make.

Press Space to clear them all.


Pulsate was created by André Michelle from AM Laboratory. You can view Pulsate and many other music toys here.