Google Play introduces policies to boost app quality

Google Play has announced a series of initiatives aimed at bolstering the platform's overall experience and steer users away from low-quality applications.

Verification requirements update

Earlier this year, Google Play introduced an expanded set of verification requirements for all developers, a move to empower users to make informed choices, combat malware, and reduce fraud. The company has now provided details on how developers with existing accounts can comply with these...

Stack Overflow: 79% of developers considering new horizons

A survey conducted by Stack Overflow has revealed that 79 percent of developers are either actively seeking new job opportunities or are open to the idea. The findings mark a significant increase from previous years, indicating a growing trend among developers to explore new career paths and challenges.

The survey, which garnered responses from over 1,000 developers worldwide, also shed light on other intriguing patterns within the industry.

One striking revelation was...

Unity CEO John Riccitiello ‘retires’ following controversies

Unity CEO John Riccitiello has “retired” amid controversies that have plagued the company under his watch. 

“It’s been a privilege to lead Unity for nearly a decade and serve our employees, customers, developers and partners, all of whom have been instrumental to the company’s growth,” said Riccitiello.

“I look forward to supporting Unity through this transition and following the company’s future success.”

Unity recently created widespread...

Play Store loses over 260K apps following Google’s quality push

Android’s app ecosystem has experienced a significant decline in the number of available apps in recent years, according to data from Statista and AppBrain.

Three years ago, Android users had 295 million apps to choose from. However, by the end of 2021, that number had dropped drastically to 2.7 million, and the decline continued.

In January 2022, there were 2.64 million apps available—representing a staggering drop of 260,000 apps in just two years. Although the...

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...

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...

Developer shortage remains the top challenge two years in a row

A 'for hire' sign.

Even amidst recent layoffs in the tech industry, recruiting developers with the right skills remains the top challenge for 2023, according to the new Reveal survey of 2,228 software developers and IT professionals released by Infragistics.

More than a third of respondents (37.5%) indicated that they will continue to have trouble finding skilled developers in 2023 with DevOps Engineer, Data Analytics Developer, and IT Security Engineer identified as the hardest jobs to...

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...

GitHub is ending Sponsors payments via PayPal

GitHub has announced that it’s ending the ability for Sponsors to make payments via PayPal.

In a statement, GitHub wrote:

“Starting on February 23, 2023, GitHub Sponsors will no longer support PayPal as a payments processor. As such, it will no longer be possible to sponsor individuals or organizations using PayPal.

If you are sponsoring anyone on GitHub using PayPal, please update your GitHub payment method to pay by credit or debit...

The fastest-growing tech jobs in 2023 and how to land them

Whether you have established a career in tech or you are considering changing professions and starting a new tech career, there has never been a better time to look for your dream job. Thanks to a perfect storm of contributing factors, tech has never been hotter and even the most digital-resistant organizations are realizing that in order to move forward, they must invest in tech.  

While this is an advantage for seekers of tech jobs, the tech talent gap can have its limitations...