Major subreddits go dark in protest of Reddit’s API pricing

In a show of solidarity against Reddit's upcoming API pricing changes, a large number of major subreddits have gone dark.

The moves by each subreddit’s admins effectively lock their users out for the next 48 hours, or possibly longer. Some of the major subreddits taking part in the protest include /r/videos, /r/mildlyinteresting, /r/apple, /r/DIY, and more.

Overall, more than 5,300 subreddits are taking...

Twitter won’t charge for API access for ‘critical purposes’ after all

Twitter has reversed course on its decision to shut off free access to its API, following widespread criticism from government and public service organisations.

The company has made numerous controversial decisions under Elon Musk’s leadership, but reducing users’ access to critical information was seen as dangerous and self-harming to the platform’s usefulness.

However, Twitter says it will now allow verified government and publicly-owned services to use the API...

OpenAI threatens GPT4Free project with lawsuit 

OpenAI has reportedly sent a letter to a European computer science student who runs the GPT4Free project on GitHub, demanding that he takes the project down within five days or face a lawsuit.

GPT4Free provides free access to the GPT4 and GPT3.5 models by funnelling the queries through sites like You.com, Quora, and CoCalc, and giving back the answers.

All of the sites GPT4Free uses pay OpenAI fees to use its large language models, and the scripts mean that those sites...

Reddit to charge for API access over AI training concerns

Social news aggregation and discussion website Reddit will begin charging companies for access to its API.

Reddit says it’s making the decision over concerns about companies using the API to train large language models (LLMs).

The company says that its pricing will be divided into tiers to support companies of different sizes, with different usage limits and broader usage rights offered at each tier. However, the exact pricing details have not yet been...

SwaggerHub Explore lets developers instantly analyse RESTful APIs and Apache Kafka services

SmartBear, a provider of software development and visibility tools, is giving developers instant access to RESTful and Apache Kafka endpoints with the new SwaggerHub Explore.

The free API exploration tool has an easy-to-use interface and accelerates the development lifecycle, allowing developers to easily visualise API data in a single place and quickly evaluate functionality before investing valuable time in API integration. This addresses a major developer challenge and speeds...

GSMA’s Open Gateway aims to give developers universal operator network access

The GSMA has announced the launch of GSMA Open Gateway, a framework of universal network APIs to provide universal access to operator networks for developers – with names including Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) on board.

The industry body has traditionally pursued the interests of telcos and mobile operators, and continues to do so here, with 21 mobile network operators on board for the initial push. Yet the GSMA is keen to stress that the ‘whole mobile ecosystem...

Microsoft inflates Bing Search API fees

Microsoft is introducing massive price hikes for developers using the Bing Search API.

“We periodically assess the value and pricing of our services to meet market demands and align the pricing of our products and services with customer consumption trends and preferences,” wrote Microsoft.

“The new pricing model reflects more accurately the technology investments Bing continues to make to improve Search.”

Dependent on your needs, some of the prices have...

iOS 16.4 supports web app notifications

Users will be able to receive push notifications from web apps they’ve added to their homescreens starting with iOS 16.4.

iOS users have been able to add shortcuts for their favourite web apps to their homescreens since 2008. Over the years, Apple has unlocked further capabilities for web apps on iOS—but push notification support has remained a major omission.

As of iOS 16.4, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) take a big step closer to being able to offer a native app...

Twitter pushes API changes back further as concerns mount

Twitter will now introduce its API changes over a week later than planned while concerns over the impact continue to grow.

Elon Musk’s social network first announced on 2 February 2023 that it was ending free access to its API (both v2 and v1.1) a week later on February 9th.

Twitter later pushed back the API changes to February 13th. Now, the company says it will take a bit longer again:

https://twitter.com/TwitterDev/status/1625234161010343941

Despite...

Twitter announces charges for third-party developers

Less than a month after unceremoniously blocking third-party apps, Twitter has announced new charges for developers using its API.

In a tweet, Twitter announced that it will end free access to its API (both v2 and v1.1) on 9 February 2023.

The company says a paid basic tier will be available to replace the free access. More specific details are due to be announced next week.

https://twitter.com/TwitterDev/status/1621026986784337922

It’s not the best time...