Today at the Moscone Center in San Francisco atGoogle I/O, 5,000 plus people watched in the room and 110 cities tuned in from places like Cairo, Egypt, where it’s 2AM in the morning.
As an open platform, Android was always meant to go beyond the mobile phone. With over 300 Android devices on the market, hardware developers would like to work with any device from any manufacturer. Today, Google announced an “Android open accessory API”, essentially an Android platform support for hardware accessories.
As a part of the Android 3.1 platform (also backported to Android 2.3.4), the Android Open Accessory support will allow external USB hardware to interact with an Android-powered device in a special “accessory” mode.
These “compatible apps” will extend the use of your Android device to a number of future accessories that could tap into this new API. For example, plug in your phone to an accessory, such as an exercise bike and it automatically detects an app that would be able to interact with it.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
The Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK) provides an implementation of an Android USB accessory that is based on the popularArduinoopen source electronics prototyping platform. Find more details about tapping into this new ADKhere.
Story byCourtney Boyd Myers
Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder of audience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups gr(show all)Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder ofaudience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups grow internationally.
Previously, she was the Features Editor and East Coast Editor of TNW covering New York City startups and digital innovation. She loves magnets + reading on a Kindle.
You can follow her onFacebook,Twitter @CBMandGoogle +.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.
