Developers

Written by James Kendrick, Rest in Peace…

The first public beta of Android 13 is now available for anyone with a compatible Pixel device to download and try out, the search giant announced today. Its release comes ahead of Google’s annual developer conference next month when the company is expected to fully detail its plans for the update — due for release later this year. For end users, the most interesting features are those that have already appeared in Android 13’s initial two developer previews. There’s support for Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audio, a new…

Panic’s Playdate handheld is unlike any other video game system. It has ample storage and supports Bluetooth, but also has a 400 x 240, 1-bit monochrome display and a crank on the side of the system. New platforms are always a risk to invest in, especially when they are as weird and gimmicky as Playdate. Despite that, Panic attracted some top-tier indie talent to make games for the system’s launch. From the man who created the iconic interactive Mario face in Super Mario 64 to the studios behind great titles…

Apple is informing developers that it will start removing apps from its App Store that have not received updates for some time, as per reports. The Cupertino-based company mentions on the App Store Improvements page that it is removing apps that no longer function as intended, or are outdated. The iPhone-maker has given developers 30-days' time to submit an update for review, the report adds. The list of apps mostly includes games that have not been updated for years. The development comes a few days after Google…

Apple said on Tuesday it will host its annual developers' conference in an online format for the third year in a row, from June 6 to June 10.The iPhone maker is expected to provide updates on new software, including the iOS 16, at the conference.Prior to 2020, Apple hosted the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, with thousands of developers and Apple employees in attendance. The event was moved completely online for the first time in June 2020 due to the pandemic. It was held in an online-only format…

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, on Wednesday, announced its decision of pausing the F8 developer conference in 2022 as it gears up for new initiatives towards metaverse. Instead, Meta will organise its inaugural business messaging event called 'Conversations', which will be virtually held on May 19.Meta is pausing F8 this year "while we gear up on new initiatives that are all tailored towards the next chapter of the internet, and the next chapter of our company too: building the metaverse," Diego Duarte…

Minecraft, the massively popular sandbox-style game that was acquired by Microsoft in 2014, has received a Web3 update thanks to developers at crypto-gaming project NFT Worlds. It is a project built on third-party Minecraft servers with a Polygon-based overlay and it is on the Ethereum sidechain that offers low gas fees for the users. The layer aims to create a metaverse-like experience that's available to the 141 million users who log in monthly on average to play Minecraft.The NFT Worlds' blockchain layer on Minecraft…

Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, which was claimed to enhance user privacy by limiting data collection, has been found to have some weaknesses that could allow app developers to continue tracking users. An independent study has pointed out major loopholes in the framework, which Apple introduced late last year. The study also details how Privacy Nutrition Labels in the Apple App Store, which were introduced by the Cupertino company last year, might not be accurate for all apps and could be misleading in…