A study commissioned by Apple has highlighted the work of its small developers, amid ongoing questions about the future and fairness of the App Store. The research showed that small developers have seen strong growth in their revenues, and that they have outpaced larger developers in finding new customers. Smaller developers – those that earn up to $1 million per year and get fewer than a million annual downloads – saw their revenue increase 71 per cent between 2020 and 2022, according to the research, conducted by Analysis Group. In Europe, revenues among those developers were up 64 per cent. Announcing the results of the study, Apple pointed to the work it has done to support those smaller developers. It highlighted initiatives such as its “Small Business Programme”. That gives those smaller developers a larger proportion of their revenues, with Apple taking less of a cut, in an attempt to encourage independent businesses on the store. Many of Apple’s initiatives come amid an increased focused by regulators on its behaviour in relation to the App Store. Larger companies have accused it of using its control over the iPhone to benefit itself, while smaller ones have complained about the difficulties of finding new customers given the vast number of apps that are available on the store. The new report looked to address that latter belief by pointing to the small developers who were able to flourish on the App Store. As well as seeing an increase in revenues, those smaller developers were going on to become large ones quickly, the study noted – 40 per cent of those earning more than $1 million in 2022 earned less than $10,000 five years ago or were not on the App Store at all. It also looked to show how the global reach of the App Store meant that developers were able to show their app to users in a variety of countries. In 2022, almost 80 per cent of small developers were active on multiple storefronts, and about 40 per cent of total app downloads for those small developers came from users outside of their home country, the research showed. Apple has commissioned a range of studies from the Analysis Group that have examined the nature of the App Store amid that increasing regulatory scrutiny. The latest comes amid particular pressure over the position of the App Store on the iPhone and iPad as the only way to download apps, with some arguing that Apple should allow “sideloading” so that new software can be installed from other sources. Rumours have suggested that Apple could be preparing to allow at least some version of that sideloading in future versions of its iOS operating system, at least partly in response to regulatory pressure in the US and Europe. The company will host its Worldwide Developer Conference early in June, and is expected to make a range of new announcements about the App Store and its software more generally. Ahead of that conference, Apple’s head of developer relations Susan Prescott hailed the importance of having apps “built by everyone” in an interview with The Independent last month. Read More Apple finally launches two professional apps on the iPad Apple announces shock results Tim Cook reveals his thoughts on AI – and Apple’s plans to use it

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A new report claims that Strava could be used to track people down – despite the platform’s efforts to make their data anonymous. Strava is a fitness tracking platform that allows people to log their exercises as well as engage with other based on their workouts. But it also includes other tools, such as its heatmap feature, which is intended to anonymously gather together people’s journeys and show them on one map. The tool is intended to allow people to see which parts of the world are particularly active, which can be helpful for finding particularly good areas for workouts or trips. But it can also be used to find out people’s personal information, according to a new report. That heatmap data is anonymised, so that it shows more general trends and cannot be used to track specific people who might mark their routes private. But the new research suggests that it is possible to de-anonymise that data, at least in some cases, to work out who lives where. The paper, published by three computer science researchers at North Carolina State University, says that “the home address of highly active users in remote areas can be identified, violating Strava’s privacy claims and posing as a threat to user privacy”. They detailed a complicated process that they claimed was able to find addresses and then combine that with other data from Strava to find the home address of a certain individual. In short, they were able to use the heat map to identify locations where people lived, and then take other location data to work out who might live at that specific house. The attack will not work on everyone: they need to live in remote areas where people’s houses stand on their own, those users need to have the heat map setting switched on, and might run in patterns that do not identify their home addresses, for instance. But the researchers claimed that a significant number of users could be identified based on publicly available information on Strava. That is a “violation of user privacy”, the researchers said. And it could also pose a threat to those users, by allowing people’s addresses to be made public, and then matched to certain activities, such as when they work out or where they tend to travel. The researchers suggested two ways to avoid the attack. One would be to remove heat map data that is clearly near a home, and another would be to add Strava’s existing “privacy zones” tools that block out data from certain locations to its heat map, which is not currently the case. Strava said that it looks to ensure users’ data stays private, and suggested that people concerned about potential issues turn off the use of aggregated user data on their account. “The safety and privacy of our community is our highest priority. We’ve long had a suite of privacy controls (including Map Visibility Controls) that give users control over what they share and who it’s shared with,” the company said. “Strava does not track users or share data without their permission. When users share their aggregated, de-identified data with the Heatmap and Strava Metro, they contribute to a one-of-a-kind data set that helps urban planners as they develop better infrastructure for people on foot and bikes, and makes it easy to plan routes with the knowledge of the community. “The Global Heatmap displays aggregated data from a subset of Strava activities and will not show ‘heat’ unless multiple people have completed an activity in a given area. Any Strava user who does not wish to contribute to the Heatmap can toggle off the Aggregated Data Usage control to exclude all activities or default their Activity Visibility to be only to themselves (’Only You’) for any given activity. “We are consistently strengthening privacy tools and offering more feature education to give users control over their experience on Strava. This includes simplifying our Privacy Policy with our Privacy Label at the top.” Read More Breakthrough could soon allow us to actually use quantum computers, scientists say Three and Vodafone are merging. Here’s what that means for your phone McDonald’s, Delta among websites down after Amazon Web Services cloud crashes Breakthrough could soon allow us to actually use quantum computers, scientists say Three and Vodafone are merging. Here’s what that means for your phone McDonald’s, Delta among websites down after Amazon Web Services cloud crashes

KARIYA, Japan & KUWANA, Japan & HSINCHU, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2023--

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NASA is turning its attention from the stars to our screens, after it announced it will launch its own streaming service. The organisation announced that it is launching a beta for a streaming platform with the name NASA+ – and yes, the plus is shaped to look like a star. It looks like the streaming service will be ad-free and available to watch on the new beta site and the NASA app. Essentially, it’ll work a little like Netflix for space content, updating the current Nasa TV output which features livestreams of rocket launches and other events. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter There’s not much information out there about the new platform but it’ll come “later this year” and NASA has stated that it won’t require a paid subscription. NASA communications administrator Marc Etkind said in the press release that the organisation has designed the platform around “putting space on demand at your fingertips”. Introducing NASA's On-Demand Streaming Service, NASA+ (Official Trailer) www.youtube.com Judging by the look of the new promo clip, it’ll feature a lot of educational videos and public content as well as documentaries. “Modernizing our main websites from a technology standpoint and streamlining how the public engages with our content online are critical first steps in making our agency’s information more accessible, discoverable, and secure,” said NASA chief information officer Jeff Seaton. Meanwhile, it comes after Nasa celebrated the first birthday of the James Webb Space Telescope this summer by releasing extraordinary images of stars 'being born'. In the images, which almost look surreal, rainbow bursts with tiny twinkles can be seen. "The darkest areas are the densest, where thick dust cocoons still-forming protostars", the space giants say. These occur when a star first bursts through its natal envelope of cosmic dust, shooting out a pair of opposing jets into space like a newborn first stretching her arms out into the world." Nasa also recently stated that it discovered “diverse organic matter” on the surface of Mars, which could change our understanding of the red planet and the search for life in the universe. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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