PhonePe aims to be a top Google Play alternative in India — but it has a challenging road aheadWalmart-backed PhonePe is set to launch its Android app store this week with zero commission for in-app purchases for developers.
Later that month, a bunch of Indian startups banded together to form a coalition and explore an alternative app store.
Over the years, other startup executives have also complained about Play Store’s 30% fee and have pushed for a “Made in India” app store.
In 2021, Google dropped its commission from 30% to 15% for the first $1 million a developer earned from the Play Store each year.
If you are a developer publishing your app on alternative app stores, I’d love to hear from you on im@ivanmehta.com
Wizards of the Coast and Resolution Games have announced their collaboration to bring Dungeons & Dragons to virtual reality.
The franchise also made a splash this year with a Hollywood film and the hugely successful Baldur’s Gate III, a video game that licenses Dungeons & Dragons IP.
— but it continues Wizards’ trend of bringing Dungeons & Dragons away from the table and into digital media.
It’s also not clear whether this is a platform for players to connect with their friends to play D&D through VR, or if they’re telling a whole new story, like the “Honor Among Thieves” film.
It’s common for people to use platforms like Foundry and Roll20 to play D&D with non-local friends, and Baldur’s Gate was a hit, but… are we really trying to eldritch blast our enemies in VR?
Cleveland-based electric motorcycle startup Land Moto is looking to diversify by powering up the battery design side of its tech, and has raised $3 million (on top of $7 million raised last summer) to do so in 2024.
But like many electric vehicle manufacturers, Land is finding that there is a lot of potential in having a giant battery present at someone’s home beyond simply transportation.
Just as some carmakers have flirted with the idea of having your electric car act as a home battery, why shouldn’t your electric bike do the same, to a lesser extent?
“Being able to make electric batteries in-house is a pivotal moment for the team.
As with other electric ecosystems, the new battery is designed to slot into the bike’s slot with minimal modification.
Google announced today that the company plans to support more real-money games (RMG) on the Play Store this year by allowing more types of games in the category following local laws.
Google started working on including real money gaming apps on the Play Store in 2021.
Last year, it started a pilot in India to allow fantasy sports and Rummy apps on the local Play Store.
In 2020, Google pulled Paytm’s app from the Play Store because the app included newly introduced fantasy sports elements.
After that developers will be able to publish their real-money gaming apps on the Play Store beyond fantasy sports categories.
The race to perfect the humanoid form factor will be one of 2024’s defining tech stories.
1X is a name (well, a number and letter) that surprisingly doesn’t get as much column space as most of the above.
That underlying technology will almost certainly play an outsized role in shaping robotics’ future, and OpenAI has seemingly picked its horse.
The humanoid robot strikes a similar figure (so to speak) as some of the competition.
The logic (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) is that humanoids are the ideal form factor for navigating environments built by humanoids for humanoids.
Instagram has a feature where you can add music directly to your posts — a popular option among users who want to add life to their content and show off their musical taste.
Then, you click on the music note icon at the top of the editing screen, which brings you to Instagram’s music library of over 12,000 songs.
Previously only available on Stories and Reels, Instagram expanded its music feature in 2022 to bring the capability to image posts.
However, Instagram has yet to support music on carousels with videos.
The app is also reportedly experimenting with music on profiles — a nod to the MySpace era.
It’s round two of our Pub Quiz!
If you didn’t do too well on our first one, no worries — New Year’s Eve is around the corner, so we’ve created a second game to help you kick off the night.
Good luck, and Happy New Year!
(P.S: Remember to click the box and scroll.)
As 2023 draws to a close, we reflect on some of our favorite apps that made everyday life a little easier this year.
While flashy new AI apps and rival social networks were grabbing headlines, sometimes the most useful innovations fly under the radar.
The apps on our best-of list may not have arrived in 2023, but they became daily staples that streamlined our work or brought small moments of joy.
PSPlay makes it easy — it’s Remote Play on the go, as advertised.
Beyond that, it delivers features that Sony’s official Remote Play app doesn’t, like support for third-party controllers, picture-in-picture mode and screen capture — making it well worth the $5.99 price.
But that also means that you have options for grabbing a last-minute gift for that gamer in your life!
If they are over 35: Super Mario RPGIf your gamer is a nostalgic one (as those of us “of an age” often are), get them Nintendo’s latest nostalgia bait, the remake of Super Mario RPG.
Like Super Mario RPG, some people feel a little weird paying full price for an old game, but getting it as a gift lets them dive in without a care.
(PC, PlayStation, Xbox)If they have a friend they play with a lot: Remnant IIDoes your gamer have a buddy they reliably play with?
It’s a lot of trends at once, sure, but it all fits really well together and is delightful start to finish.
Google announced today that it will pay $700 million as a part of a settlement with the U.S. Attorney General for a lawsuit over Google Play Store.
Third-party app stores and side-loadingFor at least seven years, Google will support app installs on Android outside of Google Play through different ways including third-party app stores.
Google won’t force developers to launch their apps at the same time or earlier on the Google Play for at least four years.
Plus, Google can’t stop them from displaying fees linked with Google Play or Google Play’s billing system.
OEM clausesGoogle can’t enter a deal with phone makers to have Google Play as the exclusive app store on devices to place Google Play on the home screen for at least five years.
