IT news March 25: GitHub will finance developers, details about Java 15 have appeared, a drop in salaries in IT has been recorded in Belarus for the first time in 5 months
GitHub launches developer funding program for opensource projects
Collaborative development service GitHub has announced that it is leaving the beta version of the GitHub Sponsors external funding program. It is intended to support developers of non-commercial opensource projects. Both individuals and teams can apply for financial assistance. The program is valid for developers from 30 countries. The maximum amount of cash support is $6,000 per month. When submitting an application, the programmer can indicate the amount he requires, starting from $5 per month. The application procedure and requirements for applicants are described in detail in a special GitHub section. Applications will be reviewed and decisions made on them within a few days. Funds are transferred to the bank account of the program participant. Source: GitHub
Upcoming changes in Java 15 announced
It has become known about the most significant changes that may be included in the upcoming release of Java 15, scheduled for September 2020. According to information from the official OpenJDK page for Java Development Kit 15, the new version of the language will receive two important updates:
Text blocks will appear - a string literal that eliminates the need for entering escape sequences, automatically formats the string, and gives the developer full control over the text format.
The Nashorn API and the jjs command line tool used to call Nashorn will be removed.
An early build of JDK 15 is now available for review on Java.net. The next major update to Java is scheduled for September 2021, when JDK 17 will replace the current version of JDK 11. Source: Infoworld
30% of Android apps are a privacy risk
A team of experts from universities in Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands found that 30.29% of mobile apps published on the Google Play Store make IAM (Installed Application Methods) calls in their code. This set of Android API calls allows app developers to get a list of other apps installed on the device. The study found that nearly half of all IAMs made a packageName IAM call, which retrieves a list of locally installed applications. The remaining IAM calls had negligible utilization rates. Most of these are calls to obtain technical information about the application, such as signatures, application versions, last update time, or SDK version numbers. Data on the presence of IAM calls was obtained based on an analysis of 14,342 Android applications published in the Google Play Store, and a set of 7,886 applications whose source code was published on other Internet resources. Source: ZDNet
An American court has banned the release of the Telegram cryptocurrency
The District Court of New York upheld the US Securities and Exchange Commission's claim against Telegram. According to the court decision, the Gram digital token is recognized as a security. Pavel Durov's company received a court injunction against the release of Gram. The judge explained his decision by saying that Telegram investors were subsequently going to sell the cryptocurrency purchased from Durov and make a profit. This indicates that the Gram token has the characteristics of a security. Telegram was required to register the placement of securities in accordance with US law, but did not do so. In accordance with the court decision, which can be appealed, the Telegram company, which previously received about $1.77 billion from investors in exchange for the future issue of Gram tokens, will not be able to issue them and transfer them to buyers. Source: Court Listener
Apple has updated software for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Mac
Apple has released updates to software used in iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Mac devices. The biggest changes affected the iPad. Users can now connect a mouse or trackpad to their iPad and use input devices to move the cursor on the screen. Owners of Apple gadgets also have access to an option that allows them to use the purchased application on all platforms: iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS and macOS. iOS and iPadOS 13.4 received several new features. Added the ability to share an iCloud Drive folder with other iCloud users - it now works like a shared Dropbox folder. macOS 10.15.4 adds a screen time limit, a feature that already exists in iOS. It allows you to restrict FaceTime messages and calls. Source: TechCrunch
In Belarus, for the first time in 5 months, a fall in salaries in IT was recorded
According to the Belarusian State Statistics Service, the local IT industry has recorded a drop in wages for the first time in the last 5 months. At the end of February, the average salary of local IT specialists was 4697.4 Belarusian rubles ($1797 at the current exchange rate). Compared to January, the drop was only 1.5% in national currency, or approximately $100. The reason for the drop in income was the weakening of the Belarusian ruble. If in January the dollar exchange rate was 2.11 rubles, then in February it was already 2.19, or 3.4% more. In March, the dynamics of the ruble's fall intensified. During this month, the Belarusian currency has already fallen in price by 16.1%. However, if we compare the average salary level of IT specialists with February 2019, then the income of IT specialists over the past year has increased both in rubles and in dollars - by 15.3% and 13.4%, respectively (625 rubles or $252.6) . Source: Dev.by
Google has released a machine learning process automation product
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) announced the beta release of Cloud AI Platform Pipelines, a new product for automating and managing machine learning (ML) workflows. It uses open source technologies TensorFlow Extended (TFX) and Kubeflow Pipelines (KFP). Cloud AI Platform Pipelines solves the problem of managing end-to-end ML workflows that span the entire cycle from raw data ingestion to model training and testing, and model release to production. The new product includes tools for creating workflows, tracking artifacts, and a production-ready workflow execution infrastructure that can integrate with other GCP services such as BigQuery and Dataflow. Source: Infoq
The program is valid for developers from 30 countries. The maximum amount of cash support is $6,000 per month. When submitting an application, the programmer can indicate the amount he requires, starting from $5 per month. The application procedure and requirements for applicants are described in detail in a special GitHub section. Applications will be reviewed and decisions made on them within a few days. Funds are transferred to the bank account of the program participant. Source: GitHub
The study found that nearly half of all IAMs made a packageName IAM call, which retrieves a list of locally installed applications. The remaining IAM calls had negligible utilization rates. Most of these are calls to obtain technical information about the application, such as signatures, application versions, last update time, or SDK version numbers. Data on the presence of IAM calls was obtained based on an analysis of 14,342 Android applications published in the Google Play Store, and a set of 7,886 applications whose source code was published on other Internet resources. Source: ZDNet
Owners of Apple gadgets also have access to an option that allows them to use the purchased application on all platforms: iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS and macOS. iOS and iPadOS 13.4 received several new features. Added the ability to share an iCloud Drive folder with other iCloud users - it now works like a shared Dropbox folder. macOS 10.15.4 adds a screen time limit, a feature that already exists in iOS. It allows you to restrict FaceTime messages and calls. Source: TechCrunch
Cloud AI Platform Pipelines solves the problem of managing end-to-end ML workflows that span the entire cycle from raw data ingestion to model training and testing, and model release to production. The new product includes tools for creating workflows, tracking artifacts, and a production-ready workflow execution infrastructure that can integrate with other GCP services such as BigQuery and Dataflow. Source: Infoq