Google is making good on its promise to deliver the first Android 13 beta in April. The company has released Android 13 beta 1 for Pixel devices ranging from the 4 to the 6 and 6 Pro. The inaugural beta only includes three new features (two of them for developers), but there are now more granular permission controls for shared media files.

Beta 1 also includes all the upgrades from Android 13 Developer Preview 2, including a requirement that apps ask for permission to send notifications. You'll also find a new photo picker, Bluetooth LE audio and support for MIDI 2.0 instruments over USB.

Anyone can install the beta. As before, though, you probably won't want to load this release on a primary phone. While betas are generally more reliable, Google doesn't expect to focus on platform stability until June and won't release the finished Android 13 until sometime after July. This is meant more for developers who want apps ready by the time the operating system is available to the public.

As it is, these early Android betas don't typically include every user-facing feature. Google didn't show Android 12's Material You redesign until I/O 2021, months after the first previews arrived. While the beta is still useful, it may be worth waiting for I/O 2022 in May if you're mainly interested in top-level changes.

Starting today, you'll start seeing a new section within Play Store listings that show information on how apps collect, store and share data. Google first announced the feature in May 2021 and gave us a glimpse of what it would look like in July. In the data safety section, you won't only see what kind of data the app will collect, but also if the app needs that data to function and if data collection is optional. It will also show why a specific piece of information is collected and whether the developer is sharing your data with third parties.

The developer can also add information on what security measures they practice, such as if they encrypt data in transit and whether you can ask them to delete your information. In addition, the section will show whether an app has validated their security practices against a global standard. And, for parents and guardians of young kids, it can also show whether an app is suitable for children. 

Google

Google says it's rolling out the feature gradually, and the section will start showing up for you in the coming weeks if you don't see it immediately. Take note that the tech giant is giving developers until July 20th to have a data section in place, so some apps might still not have one even if you're already seeing the feature on other listings. 

If Apple Music and the App Store aren't quite working as normal for you right now, you're not alone. Apple's status page notes that both services are dealing with issues that are impacting all users.

It states that Apple Music users may be experiencing some intermittent issues, which seemingly include song lyrics not being accessible. As for the App Store, Apple simply says users "may be experiencing a problem." The company hasn't provided more details, though Down Detector users started reporting App Store problems at around 9 AM ET.

The Apple Music and App Store problems follow an issue with Apple Pay on Sunday. For just over 40 minutes, Interac card holders were unable to make purchases with Apple Pay. Nor could they add, suspend or remove a card.

Apple may have begun more rigorously enforcing its policy against unused and dysfunctional apps. Back in 2016, the company vowed it would go out of its way to remove applications that had stopped working, not kept up with its latest guidelines or become outdated. After not drawing much attention over the last few years, that policy came back into the public consciousness this week. In a series of tweets spotted by The Verge, a handful of indie developers shared an email notice from Apple prompting them to update their games.

“This app has not been updated in a significant amount of time and is scheduled to be removed from sale in 30 days,” the company states in the email. “You can keep this app available for new users to discover and download from the App Store by submitting an update for review within 30 days.”

Apple notes developers can continue to earn revenue from microtransactions even if it removes their app or game from the store. Moreover, their programs will continue to work for those who have them downloaded to their devices. Some people who shared screenshots of the notice on Twitter expressed concern that the policy disproportionately affects smaller developers.

“This is an unfair barrier to indie devs,” Protopop Games developer Robert Kabwe said. “I’m sitting here on a Friday night, working myself to the bone after my day job, trying my best to scrape a living from my indie games, trying to keep up with Apple, Google, Unity, Xcode, macOS changes that happen so fast my head spins while performing worse on older devices.”

On a support page dedicated to its App Store Improvements initiative, the company states the policy is designed “to make it easier for customers to find great apps that fit their needs.” It also notes it wants to ensure all the software you found on the platform is “functional and up-to-date.”

Obviously, there isn’t an easy answer to the situation. From the perspective of an iOS user, it’s not great when you buy a new Apple device and find apps that aren’t optimized to take advantage of the hardware. I encountered that situation when I bought my 2020 iPad Air and downloaded Klei’s tactical espionage RPG Invisible, Inc. Playing the game for the first time, I was disappointed when I found out the studio had not updated the game to support the iPad Air’s 2,360 by 1,640 resolution. In fact, Klei hasn’t updated the iOS version of Invisible, Inc. since 2016. That hasn’t stopped me from enjoying the game, but I wish I could play it without black bars letterboxing the interface.

Google is introducing a new Play Store policy that will effectively block third-party call recording apps from the Play Store by May 11th, according to a Reddit post seen by 9to5Google. Such apps currently use the Accessibility API (designed for people with disabilities) to gain access to the audio functions on Android devices. 

"Apps with a core functionality intended to directly support people with disabilities are eligible to use the IsAccessibilityTool," the policy states. "Apps not eligible for IsAccessibilityTool may not use the flag and must meet prominent disclosure and consent requirements. The Accessibility API is not designed and cannot be requested for remote call audio recording. " 

Google has gradually been trying to eliminate call recording on Android, mainly due to privacy concerns. It was largely blocked on Android 6, and the use of the microphone for call recording was eliminated in Android 10. The last resort for call recording apps was to use the Accessibility API. 

Google addressed the issue in a webinar video, saying that "remote in this context refers to call audio recording where the person on the other end is unaware of the recording is taking place." It added that dialer apps like Google Phone and Mi Dialer with native call recording functionality will be unaffected by the change.

 "If the app is the default dialer on the phone and also pre-loaded, accessibility capability is not required to get access to the incoming audio stream," said Google content global operations lead Moun Choi. "Hence would not be in violation. Since this is a clarification to an existing policy, the new language will apply to all apps starting on May 11th." It's not clear if the new policy means existing call recorder apps will be pulled from the Play Store.

Twitter is turning to outside developers for help in preventing harassment on its platform. Under a new experiment, the company will recommend third-party moderation apps as an additional measure users can take on top of the app’s built-in tools,

With the update, which was first reported by TechCrunch, Twitter will surface recommendations for a series of third-party apps when a user blocks or mutes another person. For now, the apps include Block Party, a tool that allows people to automatically block accounts likely to be the source of harassment; Bodyguard, which can automatically moderate replies; and Moderate, which helps users manage their mentions.

These tools have already been available, but Twitter users previously had to seek out these services to get them set up. Now, the company will recommend them in its app and website alongside its own blocking and muting tools.

Twitter

As TechCrunch notes, the change is also the latest sign that Twitter is, once again, making inroads among third-party developers with whom it has sometimes had a tumultuous relationship. The moderation apps are just a handful of a broader set of third-party services Twitter is promoting as part of its revamped developer platform. Eventually, Twitter could recommend other specialized apps in various parts of its service, the company told TechCrunch, though it didn’t offer details.

Blackmagic Design has unveiled a raft of new products including the DaVinci Resolve 18 video editing/color correction app and Blackmagic Cloud, a cloud collaboration system designed for editors, VFX artists and others. It also launched the "Cloud Store" networked storage box, including a model that uses the same enclosure as it's eGPU. 

The key product is DaVinci Resolve 18 which now includes a feature called Blackmagic Cloud designed to help content creators work simultaneously on the same project. Multiple users around the world can instantly share projects, allowing editors, colorists, VFX artists and audio engineers to collaborate in real time on the same timeline. 

Blackmagic Design

A big part of that is the Blackmagic Proxy Generator App, which automatically generates smallish proxy video files (H.264, H.265 and Apple ProRes) that can be transferred quickly by internet. The idea is that remote editors can complete their work on proxies, then the colorist or VFX editor could automatically relink to the much larger original camera files. It also has new intelligent media location management, eliminating the need to manually relink or search for video, music and other assets.

Resolve 18 also introduces new creative features, with the biggest being a new object mask that can recognize and track thousands of types of objects. "The DaVinci Neural Engine intuitively isolates animals, vehicles, people and food, plus countless other elements for advanced secondary grading and effects application," Blackmagic wrote in a press release. 

It also lets you create a 3D depth matte of a scene to quickly color grade the foreground separately from the background. Another cool feature it demonstrated was a warp tracker that lets you create a mesh over complex objects like the logo on someone's T-shirt, then erase it or replace it with something else in a way that looks natural and realistic.

There are a host of other new features like "ultra beauty" for corrective beauty work, new transitions, improved subtitle support and more — check Blackmagic's press release for a detailed list. DaVinci Resolve 18 beta is now available for download for free, or $295 for the Studio version. 

Blackmagic also announced Cloud Store, a networked storage box that uses the same enclosure as its eGPU for Intel Macs. The idea is that you can load it up with 20TB, 80TB or 320TB of storage built from high speed M.2 SSDs. It uses a RAID 5 configuration for fault tolerance and has enough speed to completely saturate the four 10G Ethernet connections. "It’s so fast, multicam editing is incredibly smooth, even if it’s used with massive digital film camera files," the company said.

Each port can be plugged into a separate computer or used together for 40G Ethernet. It has a USB-C to Ethernet adapter built in so it can be plugged directly into the USB-C port on a laptop for location work, for example. It can sync footage with multiple editors using Dropbox files, which can automatically be moved to the Blackmagic Cloud for collaboration.

The Cloud Store boxes are designed for professional installations, so they're priced at $10,000 for the 20TB model and $30,000 for the 80TB model (that storage includes the extra RAID 5 parity drives required). There's no pricing for the 320GB box, but it might be nearly $100K. If all that's too much, Blackmagic Design also unveiled the Cloud Store Mini priced at $3,000 for 10TB with fewer ports and RAID 0 (no redundancy), along with the Cloud Pod, a "bring your own disk" setup with 10G connectivity for $395. 

Blackmagic Design

Finally, Blackmagic launched the HyperDeck Shuttle HD, a recorder/player designed to be used on the desktop with products like the Atem Mini switcher. You can playback media from USB-C disks or SD cards, or record an HDMI signal from a camera or other source. From there, you can scroll through footage using the jog dial and even use it as a teleprompter. The HyperDeck Shuttle HD is now available for $495.

This week, WhatsApp began rolling out emoji reactions. And it looks like the company could soon implement another overdue feature. With the latest beta release of its iOS app, WhatsApp has added an option that allows users to limit specific individuals from seeing their “Last Scene” status, according to WABetaInfo.

If you’re not familiar with that part of WhatsApp, it’s the feature that indicates when someone last checked the app, and it’s a way to find out if a contact may have potentially seen your message even if they have read receipts turned off. For a while now, WhatsApp has allowed you to limit who sees your status to only your contacts. You can also disable the feature altogether, but you haven’t had the ability to prevent specific individuals from seeing that information.

However, WhatsApp iOS beta version 22.9.0.70 adds a new “My Contacts Except…” option under the Last Seen section of the app’s privacy settings. According to WABetaInfo, adding an individual to that list also prevents you from seeing their status. The outlet says WhatsApp is also implementing more granular privacy controls for both profile photos and about sections. With the feature now in beta testing on both Android and iOS, it likely won’t be long until it’s officially available in WhatsApp.

Back in 2021, The Washington Postreported that around two percent of the 1,000 highest-grossing apps in the Apple App Store were some form of scam. Turns out the Mac App Store also isn't immune to shady developers. As The Verge reports, a developer named Kosta Eleftheriou has shed light on questionable apps listed on the Mac App Store, which use pop-ups that make it difficult to exit unless you pay their subscription fees. Eleftheriou had also previously identified a number of scam apps for iOS that made it through Apple's review process.

The developer started looking into the situation after a Twitter user named Edoardo Vacchi posted about an app called My Metronome that disables the Quit option until you pay for a subscription. (Apple made it easier to report scam apps on iOS 15, but Vacchi said there was no way to report My Metronome on Mac.) Eleftheriou confirmed Vacchi's claim and pointed The Verge to other applications exhibiting the same behavior. Mac and iOS developer Jeff Johnson did some digging of his own and found that the developer behind My Metronome, Music Paradise LLC, is registered at the same address in Russia as another developer named Groove Vibes. 

The Verge downloaded apps by both Music Paradise and Groove Vibes and found that while some of them had appropriate ways to quit, others disabled the quit option and Mac's force quit keys. It's still possible to exit the applications without paying, but the links to close their pop-ups look like they were deliberately designed to be hard to find. 

Apple prides itself in having a rigorous review process for the App Store — Tim Cook even said during an Epic trial last year that the store would be a "toxic mess" without it. Shady and fraudulent apps are still slipping through despite the measures taken by the tech giant, though, and it may even be earning from them. According to that 2021 report from The Post, the scam apps it found may have defrauded users out of an estimated $48 million, including Apple's commission. The My Metronome app is no longer available for us when we checked, but it's unclear if it was Apple itself that removed it. We asked the tech giant for a comment and will update this post if we hear back. 

A few months after AMC Theatres started accepting crypto payments, you can use its app to buy movie tickets using Dogecoin, Shiba Inu tokens and other virtual currencies. CEO Adam Aron said the app is using Bitpay to process cryptocurrency payments, which are only accepted in the US for now. You can also buy tickets with Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and an old-fashioned thing called a credit card.

It seems customers have embraced AMC's adoption of cryptocurrency. Very soon after AMC enabled crypto payments on the web, they accounted for 14 percent of online transactions. So, if you happen to have some Dogecoin that's been languishing in your wallet since someone gave it to you as a joke in 2014, you can grab your phone and put your coins to use by booking a ticket for a movie over this long weekend.