Sobering revenue stats of 70K mobile apps show why devs beg for subscriptions

Sobering revenue stats of 70K mobile apps show why devs beg for subscriptions

RevenueCat also found that in most app categories, the revenue gap between the top 5 percent of apps by revenue and the other 95 percent is widening. In 2024, RevenueCat concluded that the top 5 percent of apps in most categories made 200 times more revenue than the rest. In this year’s, that stat jumped…

Windows 11 updates are accidentally getting rid of Copilot, at least for now

Windows 11 updates are accidentally getting rid of Copilot, at least for now

Microsoft’s Windows updates over the last couple of years have mostly been focused on adding generative AI features to the operating system, including multiple versions of the Copilot assistant. Copilot has made it into Windows 11 (and even, to a more limited extent, the aging Windows 10) as a native app, and then a wrapper…

Why wait? Google is already dismantling Assistant as it switches to Gemini.

Why wait? Google is already dismantling Assistant as it switches to Gemini.

Google Assistant is not long for this world. Google confirmed what many suspected last week, that it will transition everyone to Gemini in 2025. Assistant holdouts may find it hard to stay on Google’s old system until the end, though. Google has confirmed some popular Assistant features are being removed in the coming weeks. You…

Alphabet spins off laser-based Internet backbone provider Taara

Alphabet spins off laser-based Internet backbone provider Taara

Krishnaswamy, Taara’s general manager, says the next stage of development is a tiny silicon photonic chip that will obviate the need for many of the terminals’ mirrors and lenses and allow multiple connections from one transmitter. The light-based chip units could also potentially replace radio-based Wi-Fi networks in offices down the line, so-called Li-Fi. Taara…

Old Bolt, new tricks: Making an EV into a backup power station with an inverter

Old Bolt, new tricks: Making an EV into a backup power station with an inverter

That night, I plugged in the inverter, turned on the Bolt, flipped on the inverter, and plugged in a USB-C wall plug. I connected an iPad, it started charging, and I felt a weird sense of accomplishment at having found one of the most expensive and inefficient ways to watch YouTube. For a few hours,…

Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28

Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28

If that’s not enough to deter you from sharing voice recordings with Amazon, note that the company allowed employees to listen to Alexa voice recordings. In 2019, Bloomberg reported that Amazon employees listened to as many as 1,000 audio samples during their nine-hour shifts. Amazon says it allows employees to listen to Alexa voice recordings…

End of Life: Gemini will completely replace Google Assistant later this year

End of Life: Gemini will completely replace Google Assistant later this year

Not all devices can simply download an updated app—after almost a decade, Assistant is baked into many Google products. The company says Google-powered cars, watches, headphones, and other devices that use Assistant will receive updates that transition them to Gemini. It’s unclear if all Assistant-powered gadgets will be part of the migration. Most of these…

I threw away Audible’s app, and now I self-host my audiobooks

I threw away Audible’s app, and now I self-host my audiobooks

We’re an audiobook family at House Hutchinson, and at any given moment my wife or I are probably listening to one while puttering around. We’ve collected a bit over 300 of the things—mostly titles from web sources (including Amazon’s Audible) and from older physical “books on tape” (most of which are actually on CDs). I…

RCS texting updates will bring end-to-end encryption to green bubble chats

RCS texting updates will bring end-to-end encryption to green bubble chats

One of the best mostly invisible updates in iOS 18 was Apple’s decision to finally implement the Rich Communications Services (RCS) communication protocol, something that is slowly helping to fix the generally miserable experience of texting non-iPhone users with an iPhone. The initial iOS 18 update brought RCS support to most major carriers in the…