We've been hinting at it for a while and the rumors are true: LEADTOOLS Version 18 (A.K.A LEADTOOLS Anywhere) will be released in January of 2013! I'd like to spend the next couple of weeks talking about what you'll see on the shelves come January.

This week I'm starting simple, and highlighting the changes to the product line. Overall, Version 18 is a slimmer offering in terms of actual products, but there are more features and development interfaces than ever before (which I'll cover next week)!

This week I'd like to highlight another example project one of our support agents developed in response to a customer request. Group annotations are a necessary feature in any application utilizing annotations and markup. In fact, the LEADTOOLS HTML5 SDK includes support for group annotations out of the box by simply clicking and dragging with the select tool. However, this customer had a requirement to create and edit group annotations programmatically.

Here is how you create the annotations and then place them in groups. After that you can use the mouse to select, move and resize each group as if they were a single entity.

After a successful and productive exhibit at AnDevCon, we have had a rewarding time talking to our many customers using the LEADTOOLS Android SDK. It is growing rapidly in popularity, and developers are putting it to use in many exciting ways. Fairly soon, LEADTOOLS should literally be in the palms of millions of hands around the world.

While the LEADTOOLS Android Java class library provides powerful imaging technology, some customers require native only apps or are simply more skilled and comfortable with C/C++ development. Recently, we have had several customers ask if it was possible to use LEADTOOLS C/C++ to create native Android apps (using the Android NDK) instead of using the Java class library. Never backing down from a challenge, our Developer Support agents created a sample project that shows off this functionality. Here’s a snippet of the C++ code that exposes L_IntensityDetectBitmap through JNI:

HIMSS 2013 is coming up in a few weeks and LEAD Technologies has some exciting plans for its exhibit this year. Stop by booth #2218 between March 4-6 to converse with our sales and technical support representatives about the recently released LEADTOOLS Version 18 and LEADTOOLS Anywhere™. In addition to our regular product information exhibits, we will be hosting four live Technology Showcase Presentations each day covering the following topics:

• Recognition Technologies
• PDF and Document Technologies
• DICOM Client Technologies
• PACS Server Framework with Zero Footprint HTML5 Medical Viewer

For more details on the times and covered topics for each presentation, please click here. You will also find a form to pre-register and let us know you're coming. Pre-registering is not required, but gives you an opportunity to ensure a meeting time and for us to answer any of your questions.

LEADTOOLS Anywhere™ is getting pretty popular and keeping our sales and support staff busy. LEAD Technologies is a common sight around the world at various tradeshows and conferences. With our new cross-platform libraries we can now be a part of even more, and next week will mark the first time ever that LEAD will be an exhibitor at an Android specific conference!

Win a $25 Google Play Gift Card

At the end of each exhibit day, LEAD Technologies will be giving away five $25 Google Play gift cards to use on new apps and games for your Android device! Stop by our booth, let us scan your badge, and come back at the end of the day to see if your name gets chosen!