Android App Bundle (AAB): Google Will Say Goodbye To The APK Format Of Android Apps In August

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June 30, 2021

Google will bid farewell to the APK format of applications this August in an attempt to reduce piracy.

Most Android users have downloaded an app in APK (Android Application Package) format on their phone at some point. This is possible when we go to stores other than the Google Play Store to download applications and games on the phone. It is a beneficial feature for developers but has also led to the piracy of apps and games for years.

Google seeks to reduce this piracy and that is why they are preparing to end the distribution of applications in APK, something that will happen in the month of August.

The Mountain View team will finally begin to force developers to adopt the Android App Bundle (AAB) standard that was introduced in 2018 and has been implemented in many apps so far. Soon, the AAB format will be mandatory.

The news has come through the Android developer blog and is signed by Dom Elliot, the product manager of Google Play.

The AAB format allows the size of apps to be reduced by an average of 15% compared to the APK. This is one of the reasons why the developer is looking to make use of it because it allows faster loading and unloading and lighter apps. The reason for the weight reduction is that the developer uploads all the content of his app on Google Play, but the user only downloads the necessary resources.

When downloading an application from the Play Store that uses this format, the optimized version of it for our phone and its specifications will be downloaded. That is, a version is downloaded that could be seen as personalized for us. Fewer resources will be used and the download will be faster.

Google has another reason to stop using the APK, which is the one we mentioned earlier. It seeks to reduce app piracy and this is possible using the AAB format since when we extract an AAB, unlike APK, we obtain a limited file, which will not work on all devices.

Application developers can use the APK to test their apps, but to upload it to Google Play, the AAB format will have to be used. The deadline for the adoption of the Android App Bundle format is set in August 2021. Recently, Google also announced that users have to provide more information when creating a developer account in Google Play in order to prevent spam and fraud apps in the Play Store.

The First Insider Build Of Windows 11 Is Now Available For Download

By

Sabarinath

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June 29, 2021

The long journey towards Windows 11 has begun. Microsoft already presented a first preview build of the new operating system.

This Monday, Microsoft has launched the first beta version of the new operating system, allowing all Windows Insiders to start working with the version that it will launch commercially in a few months and from 2022 as a free update on Windows 10 systems that meet the minimum requirements.

Version 10.0.22000.51 can be downloaded for all members of the dev channel. To download Windows 11, you will need to enrol in the Windows Insiders program. To do this, go to Settings> Updates and Security> Windows Insider Program. Once registered, you will be able to download Windows 11 as if it were one more update in the settings of your computer.

This first Insider Build of Windows 11 includes many of the changes announced by the company — the new start menu, multitasking options, the new Microsoft store, the new file explorer, etc. However, two significant features are not present during the presentation event — integration with Microsoft Teams and support for Android applications in Windows.

The first Insider Preview brings further interesting innovations. A dynamic refresh rate (DRR) is supported, at which the system can switch between 60 and 120 Hz. In dynamic mode, the OS should switch to 60 Hz when writing content, for example. When a web page is scrolled, the full 120 Hz is turned on.

It is becoming more and more clear how unfinished the previously leaked build of Windows 11 actually is — the new Insider Build shows a revised settings menu, which takes on an improved energy overview and the fluent design-inspired user interface and icons.

As always, it is not recommended to download Insider Build of Windows 11 and install it on a machine with which you work daily, since, being a development version, it is possible to encounter various errors or stability problems.

Google Will Ask For More Information When Creating A Developer Account In The Play Store

By

Bhasker Das

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June 29, 2021

So far, it was enough to enter an email address and a telephone number for a developer account in Google’s Play Store. Now it’s going to change.

In the future, Google will ask for more information when creating a developer account in the Play Store. As the company announces in its Android developer blog, the provision of additional information is intended to ensure that real people are actually signing up.

In addition to the email address and a telephone number, developers will now have to specify whether the account is personal or belongs to an organization. In addition, Google wants to know the name and postal address.

The email address and telephone number will also be verified in the future. The measures are supposed to help prevent spam and fraud apps in the Play Store. The basic idea should be that fraudsters do not want to divulge as much data about themselves or that incorrect data cannot withstand verification by Google.

In addition, Google will make two-factor authentication (2FA) mandatory for access to the developer account and the Play Console. This step is intended to protect against misuse for additional protection.

The new requirements will not come into full force immediately. From August 2021, all new developer accounts must declare whether they are personal or business. In addition, the new contact details must be entered. The 2FA will then be mandatory.

At the end of 2021, Google wants to make the new requirements mandatory for existing accounts. Google will not publish the contact details but will also use them to communicate with the developers.

Windows 10 Users Have To Wait, Windows 11 Free Update Will Not Come Until 2022

By

Adwaith

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June 28, 2021

Microsoft has recently announced the next generation of Windows operating system, Windows 11 and The new operating system will be released in autumn 2021. Anyone who has licensed Windows 10 will receive Windows 11 for free, but not until 2022. Yes, they will not get the update at the market launch, but only in 2022.

Microsoft made this clear on Twitter. “Windows 11 is due out later in 2021 and will be delivered over several months. The rollout of the upgrade to Windows 10 devices already in use today will begin in 2022 through the first half of that year.”

This detail was left out in the presentation of Windows 11. Back then, it was only said that Windows 11 would be available later this year.

However, from autumn 2021, customers will still be able to officially get Windows 11. For one thing, most new computers will have Windows 11 pre-installed. Whoever buys a PC usually automatically purchases a Windows 11 license for it.

Snapdragon 888 Plus 5G: Qualcomm Announces A New Version Of Its More Powerful Processor

By

Vishak

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June 28, 2021

Qualcomm has just presented us the new Snapdragon 888 Plus 5G (or Snapdragon 888+ 5G) mobile processor, which, as its name suggests, comes as the direct and improved successor to the latest mobile platform, Snapdragon 888, announced last December.

The Snapdragon 888 Plus has the same specifications as its predecessor, the SoC is equipped with a Kryo 680 CPU, which now includes 8 cores with a maximum of 3GHz — 2.995 GHz, to be more exact —, compared to 2.84 GHz of the previous generation. It maintains the limit of RAM memory of 16 GB at 3200MHz.

The new processor also improves the AI engine. The same Hexagon chip from the Snapdragon 888 is included — a Hexagon 780. However, the performance of the SoC in artificial intelligence tasks is 20% better. According to Qualcomm, it is capable of up to 32 trillion operations per second (TOPS), compared to 26 TOPS for the previous model.

The rest of the specifications are very similar to the Snapdragon 888. Qualcomm has confirmed that this new processor will be present in some of the Xiaomi, Motorola, Honor, Asus or Vivo devices. These manufacturers will launch their first models with Snapdragon 888+ during the third quarter of 2021.

Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Data Annotation – what is the difference?

By

Jenna Jose

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June 28, 2021

Artificial Intelligence in Neuro Sciences

In the past couple of decades, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data have become the center of the technological world. From simple computer programs to live robots, applications of these phenomena are widespread. However, another thing about these terms that is widespread is the misinformation regarding their real meaning. People, tech-savvy or not, have been using these terms along with data annotation interchangeably. This creates an idea that these terms all mean the same thing when in reality, they are all as unique as can be.

Let’s take a look at how all these concepts differ from one another.

Contents

1 What is Artificial Intelligence?
2 What is Machine Learning?
3 What is Big Data?
4 What is Data Annotation?

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence refers to a machine’s ability to use logic, analyze its surroundings, interpret audio and visual inputs and finally make a decision based on these attributes. According to IBM, artificial intelligence (AI) “mimics the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind.”

AI is widely used in numerous applications around the world. The closest example is the Google Assistant or Apple’s Siri that are available on our phones.

What is Machine Learning?

Machine learning is often confused with AI but they are both very different. Machine learning is a part of artificial intelligence and it deals with a machine’s ability to “learn” things without being programmed to do them.

Machine learning is a method used to help computers identify different patterns in big data and apply them to make several decisions. One of the most common examples of machine learning is search engines that use your search history and other data to show you relevant ads across your web browser.

What is Big Data?

Big Data is exactly what it sounds like. It is a large amount of data that is used in machine learning to help computers and machines identify patterns and make suggestions based on them. Big Data is only useful when it has the three Vs: Volume, Velocity, and Variety.

The data has to have a large volume to enable computers to identify patterns easily. However, only the volume isn’t enough. The velocity of data is also very important. It simply means the rate at which data is being received. Greater velocity allows machines to learn faster. Without variety, even the largest volumes of data will be useless. Variety helps machines decipher a wide range of patterns.

What is Data Annotation?

Data annotation is simply the labeling of data to make it easier for machines to categorize and use them in different AI techniques. With accurate data annotation, AI performance can be improved greatly. AI data annotation is very important for supervised machine learning as it allows machines to interpret inputs faster.

While all four terms are related to one another, each of them represents a completely different idea. We can say that artificial intelligence is a superset that contains machine learning. Similarly, machine learning uses big data with the help of data annotation to improve AI techniques. Using these terms interchangeably creates confusion amongst people who might be interested in the technology.

Epic Games Offers Its Anti-Cheat System And Voice Chat Service For All Developers For Free

By

Avinash A

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June 27, 2021

Epic Games, the creators of ‘Fortnite’ released two new free tools for video game developers — Easy Anti-Cheat and Voice.

They were designed to detect cheaters and to integrate voice chats, respectively. Both are now part of Epic Online Services, and developers can freely apply them to their video games.

Easy Anti-Cheat, which Epic acquired in 2018 is already used by a number of major games, including Apex Legends, Dead by Daylight, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Rust, the just-released Chivalry 2, and, of course, Fortnite.

Epic notes that the use of anti-cheat software is becoming more important as more and more games allow crossplay between PC and other platforms, and PC is a cheater-prone platform.

The new voice chat service is cross-platform and supports both one-on-one and group conversations. When the service is integrated into a game, the voice data is processed on Epic’s backend servers. This has the advantage that the actual publisher has to provide less computing power.

The Epic Online Services Suite can be used in combination with any game engine. In addition to Windows, Mac, Linux, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch are also supported. There is also support for the two mobile operating systems, iOS and Android. The developers of the Unreal Engine show the advantages of the system in a trailer.

“Epic aims to empower more developers to build cross-platform games, connect their player communities, grow the games industry, and realize the vision of the Metaverse, together.” they posted.

That Easy Anti-Cheat and Voice are now freely available means a daring move by Epic Games. Having tested both in Fortnite seems to be sufficient endorsement to attract a greater number of developers to their backend services.

Windows 11 Will Be Able To Run Android Apps And Allows Developers To Keep 100% Of Their Revenues

By

Vishak

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June 26, 2021

Microsoft officially presented Windows 11. There have been many new features that have been announced, from design improvements to changes in the way the interface is used, but one of them has drawn our attention is the possibility of running Android applications on computers with Windows 11.

To achieve this, the company will integrate the Amazon application store into its Microsoft Store. The Microsoft Store will then allow you to download Android applications, which will be compatible with the operating system thanks to the Intel Bridge technology. This compiler is what enables Android apps to run on Windows 11 computers that use processors based on the x86 architecture.

Windows 11 will adapt the interface to the application format so that it can be used correctly. In this way, users will be able to use apps such as TikTok, YouTube and many others from the Windows desktop.

The novelty is that this function will not only be available on computers with Intel CPUs but will also work with both AMD and ARM processors.

Apart from that, Microsoft has announced that developers will be able to use their own payment gateways in those applications that they publish in the Windows 11 store. Therefore, developers can obtain 100% of their profits with the income they generate in their apps or services.

Those developers who prefer to use the Microsoft payment platform will lose a 12% commission for each sale. Google and Apple do not allow developers to use a separate payment method. Both companies also keep 30% of the profits, 15% in some cases.

Finally, it is confirmed that we can install Android APKs outside of Microsoft Store. According to The Verge, Windows 11 users will have the ability to sideload Android apps onto the operating system.

The Microsoft Store will also support Win32 applications, which will allow formats such as .exe or .msi. Developers will also be able to host their applications and updates on their own CDN platforms. Opening to new formats will considerably increase the catalogue of apps in the store itself. In fact, Microsoft has already confirmed some of the applications that will be available to download from the platform. One of them is Teams, its popular video calling app that will be integrated into Windows 11.

Microsoft’s revamped app store, which will include a Windows 11-like aesthetic, will be available in the next Windows Insider build. It will reach all users in the Fall, and it will also be integrated into Windows 10. Compatibility with Android apps will not be available until the end of the year, as confirmed by the company itself.