New MIT Android App Inventor available to download

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Since Google took it's public services down in 2011 the original App Inventor program has been offline. Thanks to MIT, the new version of App Inventor is available to download again.

App Inventor was a service designed to help users create Android apps simply by using the web browser. Dragging and dropping blocks of code, loops, media etc. Users could create simple apps in a matter of minutes. It was the perfect educators tool and a great way for students to learn about programming for mobile devices.

The service originally offered by Google was a prototype that unfortunately was hit by the culling in 2011. The MIT Center for Mobile Learning is currently redeveloping the new public service and the good news is it's almost ready for public use. This public service will allow users to create new apps for the Android platform using the convenience of a web browser application and MIT's hosting service.

When will be public service be ready?

The MIT Center for Mobile Learning is aiming to have a release of the public App Inventor service ready by early April (Q1 of 2012). It'll provide everyone with the same functionality provided by Google's public service back in 2011. In the meantime, users can download an early Java version of the App Inventor program here. http://appinventoredu.mit.edu/developers-blogs/andrew/2011/nov/running-your-own-app-inventor-service. You will need to have your own servers and little bit of technical knowledge to set it up.

MIT warn that the Java version is an early testing prototype and may contain bugs. It's still fine for small scale App development. To set up your own App Inventor local service follow these instructions

Apply for Early Access

If you are an educator teaching App Inventor during the Spring of 2012 or beginning a course soon, then you might be eligible to apply for early access to the experimental version of App Inventor service from MIT. Complete the form here to apply: http://bit.ly/MitEarly

Lost your App Inventor project from Google?

Those of you who had App Inventor projects hosted with Google will be pleased to know that 95% of the projects lost during the cull in 2011 have been transferred back to users Google docs accounts.