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...

17 July 2023 | Android

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...

12 June 2023 | 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...

2 May 2023 | API

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...

6 March 2023 | Developer

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...

2 February 2023 | API

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...

24 January 2023 | Developer

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...

5 January 2023 | Developer

Forrester: Jobs market will continue to favour developers

Analysts from Forrester expect the jobs market will continue to favour developers in 2023 amid mass layoffs.

The global macroeconomic environment continues to be challenging. Major tech companies have begun laying off staff, or pausing hiring, which has left many IT professionals wondering how safe their jobs are.

Despite the headwinds, Forrester believes coders are in a better position than most.

Forrester recently held its APAC Predictions 2023 event in...

1 December 2022 | Developer

Game developer criticises NFTs at event sponsored by blockchain firms

A game developer surprised attendees of an event sponsored by blockchain firms by criticising NFTs.

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) have become one of the blockchain industry’s darling use cases. The technology is primarily associated with art projects; with purchasers able to prove their ownership thanks to immutable records on blockchains.

Arguably, the most infamous NFT project is Bored Ape Yacht Club—which even recently featured in a music video by Eminem and Snoop...

13 July 2022 | Blockchain

These programming languages were most in-demand in 2021

Coding Dojo has released its annual review of the programming language skills most sought after from employers.

For its research, Coding Dojo scours jobs listing site Indeed. The company looks at what languages appear most in job descriptions and compares their prevalence with previous years to identify trends that could give you an advantage.

Python retained its lead in 2021 as the language which cropped up in the most (~70,500) job descriptions. Rounding out the top...

8 March 2022 | Java