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Google's Android app-shrinking tool rolls out to all developers
Google introduced the Android App Bundle last year, a publishing format designed to shrink the size of app installs. It's now out of beta and available to all developers, which means all apps now have the potential to be kinder to your phone in terms of storage and memory.
Google Play is letting gamers earn in-app items if they watch ads
If you've played a mobile game, you've likely had the option to pay for access to a higher level or purchased some kind of in-game currency. Or, you might have watched an ad in exchange for those benefits at no cost. Today, Google Play launched Rewarded Products, an easier way for Android developers to offer gamers free perks (think: advanced levels or coins) in exchange for "monetizable action," like watching ads.
Google's new .dev domain opens to all
Google's .dev domain is open to anyone today, less than two weeks after Google announced the new domain ending. The company envisions .dev as a dedicated space for developers and technology -- a way to showcase tools, programming languages, blogs and more.
Facebook’s internal documents show its ruthlessness
As expected, the UK Parliament has released a set of internal Facebook emails that were seized as part of its investigation into the company's data-privacy practices. The 250-page document, which includes conversations between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other high-level executives, is a window into the social media giant's ruthless thinking from 2012 to 2015 -- a period of time when it was growing (and collecting user data) at an unstoppable rate. While Facebook was white-listing companies like Airbnb, Lyft and Netflix to get special access to people's information in 2013, it went out of its way to block competitors such as Vine from using its tools.
Microsoft open-sources 60,000 patents to help Linux avoid lawsuits
Microsoft announced that it's joining the Open Invention Network, an open-source patent group that's dedicated to protecting linux from lawsuits. And in the process, Microsoft has made 60,000 of its patents open source. This is a surprise to many in the developer community as Microsoft has been notoriously protective of its patents. Android and Samsung have even had to pay billions because of infringements, so Microsoft has a vested financial interest in keeping a tight grip. But Microsoft wants to change its reputation, and show how developer-friendly it can be. Developers "want to deploy technologies at the edge--on any device--that meet customer needs," said Eric Anderson, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel. "We also learned that collaborative development through the open source process can accelerate innovation." There are major benefits to being a part of OIN. Companies and developers get access to both OIN-owned patents and cross-licenses between other OIN licensees, sans royalty. Currently, OIN provides a license platform for "roughly 2,650 companies globally," including big names like Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Sony, and Toyota. For you and me, that means less legal headache for developers--especially those that don't have giant legal teams at their disposal--and potentially faster software releases for all of us. This isn't the first time Microsoft has loosened its hold on patents. The company made a major change two years ago with its Azure IP Advantage Plan, to protect users from patent trolls. And earlier this year, it implemented a new policy saying companies that work with Microsoft on technology solutions could hold on to any patent rights that come out of that partnership. The example used was that of a South Korean hospital and a motion-tracking AI created to collect data on surgeon movements during an operation. The tech was developed at Microsoft, but the hospital held on to the intellectual property. Either way, this move by Microsoft is a major step forward for developers everywhere.
Google lets developers sell in-app purchases through Assistant
Google has taken steps recently to make its voice-controlled Assistant easier to use, and now it's rolling out features to developers to help them integrate the same levels of intuition into their apps. Launching today is support for digital goods and subscriptions, plus Google Sign-In, which will give users a seamless path for voice-controlled purchases. In other words, you'll be able to buy app upgrades, expansion packs or new levels while in conversation with Assistant, without having to transition into touch.
Valve gives its Knuckles finger tracker better battery life
Valve has debuted the latest Knuckles EV3 VR finger tracking controller with subtle improvements that show it's nearly ready for a consumer release. The biggest update to the latest developer kit is in the area of battery life; improved sensor efficiency means it'll go for up to eight hours, up over two hours from the EV2 kit released earlier this year.
Twitter tries to reassure users amid backlash over third-party apps
In April, Twitter announced that it would replace developer access to User and Site streams with new API. Several third-party app developers warned that this would disrupt their ability to work with the service. Today is the day, then, that Twitter removes support for the older "outdated developer tools." The newer tools, called the Account Activity API, are now available for all app makers via the company's developer portal. Twitter argues that its apps and website are "the best Twitter experience," even as users take to the social network to complain that the company is #BreakingMyTwitter.
Google to let more app developers offer 'Instant' trials this year
Google's just released Android 9.0 -- aka Pie -- so it seems like as good a time as any for the company to reflect on some of the platforms achievements in recent times, and to consider what's on the horizon. In a blog post, director of Google Play, Apps & Games Purnima Kochikar has outlined some of the behind-the-scenes milestones Google Play has seen this year, and hints at a more "instant" experience for app developers in the future.
Here attacks Google Maps with new freemium website plan
When visiting the website for a local restaurant or other small business, you'll likely see Google Maps embedded to show the location. Developers of such sites were recently thrown for a loop, however, when Google announced new, more expensive pricing and demanded a credit card and Google Cloud account for all API access to Maps. To profit from this discord, Here has unveiled a new "freemium" plan that offers many more free "transactions" (page loads) than Google Maps, with no need to provide a credit card.
Steam lets game developers customize their homepages
Steam has put its new Creator Homepages into open beta, letting developers and publishers customize their homepages to better show off their game catalogs. There's a lot of flexibility -- publishers can divide their portfolios up however they wish, so they could split them by genre, or fan-favorites, for example. And for new creators, or those without an extensive catalog, the space can be also be used to announce new projects or showcase concept art. Fans can follow their favorite publishers directly from their homepage to get notifications when updates, announcements or new titles are released.
Google backtracks on Wear OS' battery-saving features
Smartwatches are struggling, and Google knows it needs to fix the things people dislike about Wear OS. At the top of the list is battery life, so during I/O, Google announced plans to boost that for Android P. While Qualcomm's new smartwatch-dedicated chip will help in that regard, on the software side, Google decided to cut back on what apps could do in the background. However, after previewing the changes in beta with developers, Google has decided to roll back the changes and restore things to how they were.
Apple bans cryptocurrency mining from its app stores
Cryptocurrency mining in apps has become such a big deal, Apple updated its app guidelines to make sure that developers don't sneak the function into any apps within the company's ecosystem. The update to the rules apparently occurred last week, possibly in response to popular Mac app Calendar 2 that bundled a Monero miner in with its premium upgrade.
The secret lives of Apple developers
Apple used its strongest Attenborough voice to poke a little fun at its 2018 WWDC attendees on Monday. The keynote's opening video called back to last year's mega-hit BBC documentary series Planet Earth II and provides the viewing public, for perhaps the first time, a look into the migratory and social habits of the elusive Developer tritorapsis. Nature is a cruel and unforgiving mistress, to be sure, but not nearly as cruel as Apple's PR department is in this promotional video.
Developers would rather ignore Cambridge Analytica at F8
Facebook is ready to turn the page on the Cambridge Analytica user-privacy scandal, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made that perfectly clear yesterday during his F8 opening keynote. "I'm going to go through all of that head on in just a minute, because I think it's important that everyone here knows exactly what we're doing to address [these issues]," he said -- "these issues" being the safety of your data, more-robust privacy controls and the spread of fake news (which was a major part of a campaign to interfere with the 2016 presidential election). "But we also have a responsibility to move forward." That he did, as he barely addressed the CA incident onstage and quickly moved on to making product announcements. And apparently all the developers in the room were eager to follow his lead.
Twitter changes may bring major issues for third-party apps (updated)
If you use a third-party Twitter app like Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Talon or Tweetings, you might lose a couple of key features when Twitter replaces developer access to User and Site streams with a new Account Activity API this coming June. The folks who created the apps mentioned above have created a new website to explain that, as a result, push notifications will no longer work and timelines won't refresh automatically.
Instagram limits access to user data for unofficial apps
If one of the unofficial, third-party Instagram apps you've been using suddenly stopped working properly, it might be because the platform has limited their access to user data in a surprise change to its API. The photo-sharing platform has apparently reduced the number of times developers can pull data from Instagram's API from 5,000 calls per hour to 200 calls per hour. It even cut off some apps' access to its API entirely. Based on discussions posted on Twitter and developer Q&A website Stack Overflow, the change rolled out on Friday last week -- TechCrunch has also confirmed the new limits from a couple of sources.
Magic Leap developer units must be kept in locked safes
Magic Leap is known for its secrecy. The company kept its One headset under wraps for years, teasing out details with ambiguous conference speeches and restrictive press opportunities. It should come as no surprise, then, to hear that developer units are being shipped out with an unusual caveat: while not in use, they have to be kept in locked safes. The detail comes from Bloomberg alongside confirmation of a "limited" developer roll out (a larger batch of units will be sent out later this year.) It's safe to assume that the company wants to avoid the fabled iPhone 4 incident.
We're live from GDC 2018!
Another day, another tech conference. Now that SXSW is behind us, it's time for GDC 2018. We've arrived in San Francisco to cover the latest edition of the Game Developers Conference, where you can expect to see plenty of new indie titles, AR and VR projects and even films about the gaming industry. Oh, and Fortnite -- you know, we're definitely going to hear from Epic Games about its smash hit. Amazon and Facebook, meanwhile, have already made announcements of their own, and this week we'll speak to execs from both companies about their overall gaming strategies. To make sure you don't miss any news that comes out of GDC, bookmark this page here.
Magic Leap releases its first set of AR developer tools
We've been anticipating Magic Leap's as-yet unreleased mixed reality gear for quite some time now. We know that the AR headset will be dubbed the Magic Leap One, will cost around $1,000 and will have applications for music as well as gaming. Still, the number of things we don't know about the gear is pretty significant. Now, however, the company appears to be lifting the veil a little bit with a new Creator Portal, which seems to contain more information for developers interested in the device as a platform, with a simulator, developer community, learning resources and an SDK to get started making apps for the unreleased device.
