Google is eliminating its traditional 30% Play Store fee and introducing lower commissions, while at the same time allowing alternative billing systems and making it easier for third-party app stores to operate on Android. The changes stem largely from Google's settlement with Epic Games. Engadget reports: The biggest change is to how Google will collect fees from developers publishing apps on Android. Rather than take its standard 30 percent cut of in-app purchases through the Play Store, Google is lowering its cut to 20 percent, and in some cases 15 percent for new installs of apps from developers participating in its new App Experience program or updated Google Play Games Level Up program. Those changes extend to subscriptions, too, where the company's cut is lowering to 10 percent. For Google's billing system, the company says developers in the UK, US, or European Economic Area (EEA) will now be charged a five percent fee and "a market-specific rate" in other regions. Of course, for anyone trying to avoid those fees, using alternatives to Google's billing system is getting easier.

Google says that developers will be able to offer alternative billing systems alongside its own or "guide users outside of their app to their own websites for purchases." [...] Epic is ultimately interested in getting people to use the mobile version of its Epic Games Store, and Google's announcement also includes details on how third-party app stores can come to Android. Third-party app stores will be able to apply to the company's new "Registered App Stores" program to see if they meet "certain quality and safety benchmarks." If they do, they'll be able to take advantage of a streamlined installation interface in Android. Participating in the program is optional, and users will still be able to sideload alternative app stores that aren't part of the program, but Google clearly has a preference. [...]

Google says that its updated fee structure will come to the EEA, the UK and the US by June 30, Australia by September 30, Korea and Japan by December 31 and the entire world by September 30, 2027. Meanwhile, the company's updated Google Play Games Level Up program and new App Experience program will launch in the EEA, the UK, the US and Australia on September 30, before hitting the remaining regions alongside the updated fee structure. For any developers interested in offering their own app store, Google says it'll launch its Registered App Stores program "with a version of a major Android release" before the end of the year. According to the company, the program will be available in other regions first before it comes to the US.

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Dustin Destree shares a report from Phys.org: Although plastic particles in the air are increasingly coming into focus, knowledge about their distribution and effects is still limited. Chemical analyses from Leipzig now provide details from Germany for the first time: Around 4% of the particulate matter consists of plastic. Around two-thirds of this comes from tire abrasion. Extrapolated, this means that people in a city like Leipzig inhale approximately 2.1 micrograms of plastic per day through the air, which increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 9% and from lung cancer by 13%. These findings underscore the need to take global action against plastic pollution and to examine air quality and health at the regional level, write researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) and Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. "With around two-thirds of microplastics coming from tire abrasion, this shows that action is needed and that the fine dust problem cannot be solved by switching to electric mobility alone. To protect health, it would be important to also take tire abrasion into account when regulating air quality and to set limits for microplastics in the air," demands Prof. Hartmut Herrmann from TROPOS, who led the study.

The study has been published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

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Sony is reportedly abandoning its recent push to bring major PlayStation games to PC and will instead keep most single-player titles exclusive to the PlayStation 5. According to Bloomberg, the shift back toward console exclusivity may be driven by weaker PC sales and concerns about diluting the PlayStation brand. From the report: Online games such as Marathon and Marvel Tokon will still be released across multiple platforms, but single-player titles such as last year's samurai hit Ghost of Yotei and the upcoming action game Saros will remain exclusive to PlayStation 5, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to talk publicly about the company's strategy.

The people cautioned that things could change in the future due to the unpredictable nature of the video-game industry and that Sony's plans are constantly shifting. But in recent weeks PlayStation scrapped plans to bring Ghost of Yotei and other internally developed games to PC. Two games made by external developers but published by PlayStation, Death Stranding 2 and the upcoming Kena: Scars of Kosmora, are still planned for release on PC this year.

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fjo3 shares a report from Reason Magazine: Effective January 1, 2027, providers of computer operating systems in California will be required to implement age verification. That's just part of a wave of state and national laws attempting to limit children's access to potentially risky content without considering the perils such laws themselves pose. Now, not a moment too soon, over 400 computer scientists have signed an open letter warning that the rush to protect children from online dangers threatens to introduce new risks including censorship, centralized power, and loss of privacy. They caution that age-verification requirements "might cause more harm than good." The group of computer scientists from around the world cautions that "those deciding which age-based controls need to exist, and those enforcing them gain a tremendous influence on what content is accessible to whom on the internet." They add that "this influence could be used to censor information and prevent users from accessing services."

"Regulating the use of VPNs, or subjecting their use to age assurance controls, will decrease the capability of users to defend their privacy online. This will not only force regular users to leave a larger footprint on the network, but will leave a number of at-risk populations unprotected, such as journalists, activists, or domestic abuse victims." It continues: "We note that we do not believe that trying to regulate VPN use for non-compliant users would be any more effective than trying to forbid the use of end-to-end encrypted communication for criminals. Secure cryptography is widely available and can no longer be put back into a box."

"If minors or adults are deplatformed via age-related bans, they are likely to migrate to find similar services," warn the scientists. "Since the main platforms would all be regulated, it is likely that they would migrate to fringe sites that escape regulation." With data on everyone collected in order to restrict the activites of minors, data abuses and privacy risks increase. "This in itself increases privacy risks, with data being potentially abused by the provider itself or its subcontractors, or third parties that get access to it, e.g., after a data breach, like the 70K users that had their government ID photos leaked after appealing age assessment errors on Discord."

Instead of mandated age restrictions, the letter urges lawmakers to consider the dangers and suggest regulating social media algorithms instead. They also recommend "support for parents to locally prevent access to non-age-appropriate content or apps, without age-based control needing to be implemented by service providers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader linuxwrangler writes: Dark Reading reports that a team of researchers has determined that signals from tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMSs), required in U.S. cars since 2007, can be used to track the presence, type, weight, and driving pattern of vehicles. The researchers report (PDF) that the TPMS data, which includes unique sensor IDs, is sent in clear text without authentication and can be intercepted 40-50 meters from a vehicle using devices costing $100. "Researchers have discovered that most TPMS sensors transmit a unique identifier in clear text that never changes during the lifetime of the tire," the researchers pointed out. "This unencrypted wireless communication makes the signals susceptible to eavesdropping and potential tracking by any third party in proximity to the car."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

CEO’s claims come amid increased scrutiny of US military’s use of the technology and ethics concerns from AI workers

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees on Tuesday that his company does not control how the Pentagon uses their artificial intelligence products in military operations. Altman’s claims on OpenAI’s lack of input come amid increased scrutiny of how the military uses AI in war and ethics concerns from AI workers over how their technology will be deployed.

“You do not get to make operational decisions,” Altman told employees, according to reports by Bloomberg and CNBC.

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Shabana Mahmood hopes to reduce number of claimants in hotels by enabling them to support themselves

Up to 21,000 asylum seekers who have waited for a year for their claims to be processed could be allowed to enter the jobs market so they can support themselves, the Home Office has said, as part of a package of measures to be announced on Thursday.

As the government seeks to empty asylum hotels, claimants who break the law, work illegally or are found to have enough assets to live without support will from June be ejected and lose their support payments.

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War powers vote broke along party lines with almost all Democrats in support and most Republicans opposed

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Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted down an attempt to require Donald Trump receive Congress’s permission before continuing the war with Iran, batting aside concerns from Democrats that the campaign is illegal and risks plunging the United States into a prolonged conflict.

The 47-53 vote on a war powers resolution introduced by Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine broke largely along party lines. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the sole Democrat to vote against the measure, while Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only member of the Republican majority to support the resolution.

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Hajra and Haleema Zahid may have slipped into pools near path and were unable to swim to safety, inquest hears

Two sisters accidentally drowned after they paddled fully clothed at a beauty spot in a national park in Wales, an inquest has heard.

Hajra Zahid, 29, and her sibling Haleema, 25, were pulled from pools on the Watkin Path, which leads to the summit of Snowdon.

They had visited the picturesque wild swimming site and its waterfall at Eryri (Snowdonia) national park, in the Nant Gwynant area of Gwynedd, on 11 June 2025 with three male friends.

The group of five, who were all students at the University of Chester, split up for privacy and religious reasons as the sisters, who could not swim, headed for a pool upstream on the Afon Cwm Llan river.

The men later called out for the sisters, from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, but received no reply. When they reached the pools they noticed the women’s shoes and personal belongings by the water’s edge.

They later discovered Hajra, a married mother of two, floating face down in her red dress.

Caernarfon coroner’s court heard that they managed to pull an unconscious Hajra on to the riverbank but were unable to find Haleema.

Emergency services were called and two members of Llanberis mountain rescue team later retrieved Haleema from deep water near the waterfall.

Both women were pronounced dead at the scene shortly afterwards.

The assistant coroner for north-west Wales, Sarah Riley, said she was satisfied the sisters had intended to paddle in the water.

She said: “Having considered the evidence that neither could swim and that they were fully clothed, I am satisfied that neither sister went to swim or enter parts of the pool that would put them out of their depths in the water.”

She said one possibility was that one or both had fallen from an “exceptionally slippy” slab of rock at the edge of the pools.

The inquest heard that mountain rescue team members who entered the water had also slipped on the same rock.

Concluding the deaths were accidental, Riley said the sisters had drowned after they were unable to swim to safety.

She said: “I extend my sincere condolences to their friends and family. This is an extremely tragic case and my thoughts remain with them.”

Riley also “urged caution” to the public about the dangers of entering such pools.

The sisters, originally from Rawalpindi, northern Pakistan, came to the UK in January 2025 to study for master’s degrees in international business.

In a statement read out at the inquests, Hajra’s husband, Hessham Minhas, said she “always placed herself at the centre of family life”.

He said: “She was a determined, ambitious woman who believed in the power of education and personal growth, with a dream of building a better future for herself and her family.

“Her memory lives on in the lives she touched and the family she left behind.”

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Preliminary trials into Zorevunersen find drug to be safe and well tolerated by those with Dravet syndrome

Scientists have hailed a potentially life-changing drug for children with a hard to treat form of epilepsy, after promising early clinical trial results.

Dravet syndrome is a genetic disorder which causes treatment resistant epilepsy and is often accompanied by speech and developmental delays. About 3,000 people are thought to have the condition in the UK. Current treatments aim to control the number and severity of seizures, but often do not work.

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Republicans join Democrats to vote 24-19 to approve motion to compel US attorney general to testify

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Five Republicans on the House oversight committee joined with Democrats to subpoena the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, as part of the ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The House oversight committee voted 24-19 to approve a motion introduced by Republican representative Nancy Mace to compel Bondi to testify. In addition to Mace, Republican representatives Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Michael Cloud of Texas, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania voted for the motion.

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Arsenal did not come to see the seaside. They were not here to make friends – which was just as well. It was purely about the points. Mission: Eyes On The Prize. They accomplished it and then some.

There were 78 minutes on the clock here when the travelling support got wind of Nottingham Forest’s equaliser at Manchester City. How they belted out their anthems at that point – about previous title-winning glories. The wait is close to an end. Arsenal’s advantage at the top of the table is now seven points, albeit they have played an extra game.

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The musician reflected on the death of his former One Direction bandmate in an interview with Zane Lowe to promote his new album

Harry Styles has reflected on the death of his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne in a new interview with Zane Lowe.

“It’s so difficult to lose a friend,” Styles said. “It’s difficult to lose any friend, but it’s so difficult to lose a friend who is so like you in so many ways.”

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As these teams emerged for kick-off, the Holte End displayed a tifo proudly flaunting Aston Villa’s hand, chiefly an ace of clubs. By the end, however, they rued a damaging defeat after Chelsea roused from being behind to dismantle Unai Emery’s side and canter to victory, João Pedro scoring a hat-trick to make it 17 goals for the season in all competitions.

The Brazilian, a £55m buy from Brighton last summer, was in the mood for a fourth and tried his luck with an overhead-kick, while the Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez prevented Alejandro Garnacho from adding a fifth late on. For Villa and their grand aspirations, it was a sobering evening.

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World Thru Lenz has added a photo to the pool:

From late January, a 40-minute talk by Rick Steves on “how lessons learned on the road can help Americans better understand and meet the challenges facing Democracy in the USA.”

© Franco Fontana

Lost horizon, Franco Fontana

Americans are uniquely disconnected from our food. More than 10 percent of the working population is employed in agricultural sectors, but it’s rare for the average person to grapple with—let alone witness—the number of people involved in growing, harvesting, packaging, and ultimately getting dinner onto their plate. Given that many farms, restaurants, and other food-related businesses employ those who are undocumented, these sectors have also been targeted for deportation, further pushing the people who keep them running into the shadows.

For Narsiso Martinez, this essential labor has long been the central point of his practice. The Oaxaca-born artist is known for painting tender portraits on produce boxes, utilizing the discarded packaging as a metaphor for how we assign value. Often working from photos, Martinez depicts people he knows and even worked alongside in the fields when he first migrated to the U.S.

For a recent presentation with Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles, Martinez stacked a collection of strawberry boxes to create a towering, double-sided totem. One features a masked person clutching a fistful of asparagus, while the other portrays a mechanical picker. Both crops grow low to the ground and require a significant amount of labor to harvest. By including the wheeled device, Martinez draws attention once again to the ways farm labor is often disregarded and the additional depersonalization of the agricultural process when machines replace people.

Other works include an enormous wall-based installation featuring a single worker with a bandana covering his face, the stars and stripes of the American flag distorted as they wrap around his neck. The lenses of his sunglasses reflect a group of people gathered around a full spread, many holding their drinks as if to toast. “In a style informed by 1930s-era Social Realism and heightened through use of found materials, Martinez makes visible the difficult labor and onerous conditions of the ‘American farmworker,’ itself a compromised piece of language owing to the industry’s conspicuous use of undocumented workers,” says a statement from the gallery.

Martinez’s work is on view in Los Encuentros at Ballroom Marfa, which has been extended through March 29. Find more from him on Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article In Cardboard and Gold, Narsiso Martinez Highlights the Workers of American Agriculture appeared first on Colossal.