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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.
Alexa's DVR controls will finally let you record a show
For all the recent talk of using Alexa to control DVRs, there's been a conspicuous inability to record to a DVR using the voice assistant. That won't be a problem for much longer: Amazon has bolstered Alexa's Voice Skill programming kit with recording features. Tell the AI helper to record a favorite show or sports extravaganza and you'll capture the show without having to touch a remote or your smartphone. You'll have to wait for TV and set-top providers to take advantage of this, but DirecTV, Dish, TiVo and Verizon are already lining up to provide support "soon."
Google makes Pixel 2's driving awareness available to Android apps
If you have a Pixel 2, you might have appreciated its Driving Do-Not-Disturb feature -- it can automatically minimize distractions while telling the difference between a stop at the intersection and the end of your ride. That intelligence hasn't really been available beyond Google's walls, however, and the company is fixing that problem. It's releasing a Transition programming kit that makes this contextual awareness available to all Android apps. The framework combines location, motion detection and other sensor data to gauge what you're doing without killing your phone's battery.
NVIDIA announces exclusive features for GPUs that don't exist
It's been exactly five years since NVIDIA announced Volta, its next-generation GPU architecture. The closest thing to a Volta consumer graphics card we've seen since is the Titan V, a $3,000 offering targeted at scientists that was announced three months ago. Well, today at GDC, NVIDIA is... still not announcing a new GeForce card based on Volta. What it's doing instead is teasing that Volta cards will have some exclusive GameWorks features. The new features are part of "RTX," a "highly scalable" solution that, according to the company, will "usher in a new era" of real-time ray tracing. Keeping with the acronyms, RTX is compatible with DXR, Microsoft's new ray tracing API for DirectX. To be clear, DXR will support older graphics cards; it's only the NVIDIA features that will be locked to "Volta and future generation GPU architectures."
Games will soon livestream directly to Facebook
Facebook is determined to challenge Twitch, Mixer and YouTube for the livestreaming throne, and it might have claimed an important edge: built-in broadcasting. The social site has unveiled a programming kit that lets developers build Facebook livestreaming directly into its games, with no go-between client or capture hardware required. True, it's not hard to get basic broadcasting elsewhere (such as the Xbox app on PCs), but the Facebook tool eliminates even that minor hurdle.
Twitter relaxes the rules for customer service DMs
Twitter's bot crackdown is great for improving the quality of the service, but might make it harder for businesses to use it effectively. That's why the company is tweaking its system to enable companies to better deal with bulk communications. In the future, you shouldn't be waiting as long for a response from your favorite airline / cable provider, unless of course they're just ignoring you.
Tinder security flaw granted account access with just a phone number
Security researchers at Appsecure found a way to access anyone's Tinder account via their phone number. The exploit took advantage of a software flaw in both the dating app's login process as well as the Facebook API that it's based on. The issues have been fixed since, but represent a pretty big security lapse.
Tweak Spotify's recommendation tech to create custom playlists
If you're looking for a way to fine-tune your Spotify experience, you might want to check out Nelson, a web-based playback jukebox of sorts on app-maker website Glitch. You choose as many genres as you like before tweaking some of the Spotify API's various parameters, and Nelson will compile a custom set of songs. You can even have it create a playlist right on Spotify for you.
Coord feeds real-time transportation info into navigation apps
Google Maps might plot the fastest route to your destination, but it doesn't tell you the smartest (or cheapest) place to park. Coord wants to fix that by supplying parking, toll and parking information for companies to plug into their other apps and services using an API.
Open Banking is here to change how you manage your money
After completing a review of the retail banking sector back in the summer of 2016, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded that stagnation had set in. It found that hardly anyone switches banks each year, and the huge financial institutions don't put a lot of effort into retaining or competing for business. Among a number of reforms the CMA put into motion was "Open Banking," which requires all the big banks to make your financial data accessible in a standard format. The deadline to comply with the open banking initiative passed over the weekend, and several key names have missed the launch. It's now officially up and running, however, and it promises to completely change how you choose and use all kinds of financial services.
Google pauses crackdown on apps that use accessibility features
Almost a month ago, Google cracked down on developers that used Android's accessibility features for apps that weren't expressly created for people with disabilities. The company told developers that they had to show how their code actually helped those with a disability or face removal from the Play Store within 30 days. Now, however, Google is pausing that final solution for another month to consider "responsible and innovative uses of accessibility services."
Facebook's new community tools help you become a mentor
Facebook is once again hosting a Social Good Forum, and that means a new suite of tools and updates to help communities. To start, there's a Mentorship and Support feature that helps mentors and would-be learners connect with each other to step through guided nonprofit programs. Also, the social network is eliminating fees for donations to nonprofits -- you can be sure that every bit of money you contribute will go to those that need it.
Twitter's 'premium' tools let more apps use your data
Twitter hasn't exactly been known for a developer-friendly attitude, but it's tackling that issue today. The social site has unveiled a "premium" programming framework that bridges the gap between its free-but-limited standard tools and the costly tools limited to big businesses. The initial beta version lets apps and websites not only request more tweets and make more complex requests, but lets them dig through the last 30 days' worth of Twitter data. Eventually, there will be an option to comb through Twitter's data history.
Google cracks down on apps that misuse accessibility features
Android's accessibility services are supposed help disabled folks by letting app-makers integrate spoken feedback, voice commands and more. However, developers like LastPass have been using the functions for other purposes like autofilling passwords and overlaying content. That gives them an easy way to read data from other apps like YouTube, but it also creates a potential security risk. Now, Google is telling app makers that they must show how accessibility code is helping disabled users or their apps will be removed from the Play Store within 30 days.
Google is changing how other sites use its flight data
Google is getting serious about its role as a travel service. Come April 10, 2018 the search giant will shut down access to its QPX Express API that's used by the likes of Kayak and Orbitz for airfare data, as spotted by Hacker News. This could seriously affect those sites' customers. Travel listings are one thing, but if you've stored a ton of reward points with one and it isn't able to fetch flight times and prices for your a trip next summer, that could cause some headaches.
Google's sentiment analysis API is just as biased as humans
Google developed its Cloud Natural Language API to give customers a language analyzer that could, the internet giant claimed, "reveal the structure and meaning of your text." Part of this gauges sentiment, deeming some words positive and others negative. When Motherboard took a closer look, they found that Google's analyzer interpreted some words like "homosexual" to be negative. Which is evidence enough that the API, which judges based on the information fed to it, now spits out biased analysis.
Hackers tried selling celebrity info stolen from Instagram
News that someone exploited an Instagram security hole to steal info from some of its most popular accounts got worse when they began selling it. The Verge reports this dark web service is no longer available, but The Daily Beast chatted with operators of the "Doxagram" database who provided a sample of the info that included addresses and numbers for about 1,000 accounts. The info did not appear to be from previous leaks, and some owners confirmed their entries were valid. In another statement, Instagram again confirmed the bug, saying that while no passwords were revealed, the bug did allow access to phone numbers and email addresses even if they weren't public. The hackers were selling access to the database at a price of $10 for each query, and told Ars Technica today that they had made at least $500 already. According to them, an automated process could steal info from up to one million accounts per hour, and Instagram didn't close the hole until 12 hours after their attack started and he had accessed 6 million accounts. Initially, Instagram's alert said that "high-profile" users may have had information revealed, but even with 700 million or so active users, there may be more people who need to know their information is out there.
Instagram says hackers swiped contact info for verified users
Instagram just suffered a potentially serious (and this time, very real) data breach. The social photo service is sending out alerts that intruders got access to the phone numbers and email addresses for a number of "high-profile" users by exploiting a bug in Instagram's programming interface. The attackers didn't obtain passwords, and Instagram says it has already fixed the bug, but it's warning all verified users out of an "abundance of caution."
Android apps can find nearby devices even when they're offline
If you've ever wished that your smartphone's apps would automatically do your bidding the moment you neared a device, you're in luck. After previewing it at I/O in May, Google has made the second generation of its Nearby Connections toolkit available to Android developers. The updated framework uses Bluetooth and WiFi to find nearby devices, connect to them and perform tasks without requiring an internet connection. Your hotel room could auto-adjust the temperature the moment you walk in, Google suggests, while your phone could merge contacts whenever you're close to your spouse.
