When Google releases a new beta, I rummage through the API differences report, the high-level overviews, and even the release blog post, to see if there are things that warrant more attention from developers. I try to emphasize mainstream features that any developer might reasonably use, along with things that may not get quite as much attention,...

When Google releases a new developer preview, I rummage through the API differences report (even when Google does not seem to link to them 🙃), the high-level overviews, and even the release blog post, to see if there are things that warrant more attention from developers. I try to emphasize mainstream features that any developer might reasonably...

Wow, it’s February again already? When Google releases a new developer preview, I rummage through the API differences report the high-level overviews, and even the release blog post, to see if there are things that warrant more attention from developers. I try to emphasize mainstream features that any developer might reasonably use, along...

A couple of weeks ago, news broke that governments might be spying on push messages delivered through Apple’s push notification system or Google’s Firebase Cloud Messaging. (hat tip to Prof. Matthew Green for raising awareness) IMHO, governments are only part of the problem. Apple and Google can read your push messages. While both firms claim...

News broke recently that Amazon might move Fire TV away from Android and to their own in-house fork of Linux. TV app development would be done in React Native. This really leaves TV Compose in the lurch. It will be used primarily for Android TV (a small fraction of the streaming device space) and for an ever-shrinking number of older Fire TV...

The latest Play Console restriction is a testing gate: developers with newly created personal Play Console accounts will soon be required to test their apps with at least 20 people for a minimum of two weeks before applying for access to production This seems trivial to bypass — 20 sockpuppet accounts and a test monkey might suffice....