DevNews

DevNews covers the tech news cycle from the developer's chair. Saron Yitbarek and Josh Puetz co-host, and the episodes follow a recognisable shape: the two trade a few headlines, then interview people who reported a story or study the field. The headlines lean toward platform power. One episode covers Apple's restrictions on web-based AR for the iPhone, a tracking blocker added to Apple Mail, and a plan from Apple, Google and Microsoft to bring passwordless sign-in to all major platforms. Industry moves get the same scrutiny, from Lego planning to triple its software engineering staff to Salesforce employees pressing the company to stop working with the National Rifle Association. The hosts leave room for fun. When the iPod Touch is discontinued, they pour one out for it, apple juice included. The interviews are where the show earns its time. A Washington Post technology reporter traces how the war in Ukraine turned Russia from an off-limits target into a free-for-all for criminal, government and activist hackers. The co-founder of Mozilla's Privacy Not Included Guide presents research finding that most mental health and prayer apps are badly lacking in privacy protections. That conversation also questions whether simply downloading and registering for an app should count as consent. An MIT Technology Review reporter explains why a homegrown GitHub alternative became popular in China, partly because GitHub can be hard to reach from inside the country. Diversity and inclusion get a frank hearing. Tara Robertson, a diversity and inclusion consultant, responds to a New York Times report on fake job interviews at Wells Fargo. Her question is why companies hand DEI to volunteers when they would never run finance that way. Accessibility appears in more than one title, covering Apple's new accessibility features and video games. One conversation uses a vocabulary built by AbleGamers, where a two-word phrase like 'second channel' names a complicated problem, illustrated with incoming fire in Fortnite. The format adjusts when the lineup changes. With Josh out, Saron held three separate guest conversations in one episode. While he was at RailsConf, the feed carried a DevDiscuss interview with two journalist engineers from The Pudding, who describe spending months building a handmade dataset of crossword clues. A sensible first stop is 'S8:E7 - Faking DEI Efforts, Ruby at Scale, and Diving Into PyScript', for Tara Robertson's pointed interview. For the usual two-host rhythm, try the episode that pairs hacks against Russia with mental health app privacy.