Google’s latest APIs focus on fighting climate change and its effects

In a bid to further its commitment to environmental sustainability, Google has announced the launch of a suite of new sustainability APIs at the Google Cloud Next event.

The new APIs provide developers with real-time insights into solar potential, air quality, and pollen levels, aiming to collectively reduce carbon emissions by 1 gigaton annually by 2030.

One of the highlights is the Solar API, an evolution of Google's 2015 Project Sunroof. This initiative harnessed...

29 August 2023 | API

Salt launches STEP program to enhance API security for enterprises

Salt Security has launched an initiative to help enterprises significantly reduce risk across their API ecosystem.

The STEP (Salt Technical Ecosystem Partner) program encompasses the integration of AI-driven API security insights into existing workflows and tools within organisations. This integration empowers joint customers to bolster their security posture using the Salt Security API Protection Platform.

Salt has introduced STEP’s inaugural partners, focusing on API...

23 August 2023 | API

OpenAI removes the GPT-4 API waitlist

OpenAI has announced that its GPT-4 API is now available to all paying customers.

The API has been under closed testing since its launch in March. Developers can integrate OpenAI's large language model (LLM) into their own products for uses such as summarisation, coding assistance, analysis, and composition.

OpenAI has also introduced updates to chat-based models, announced a shift from the Completions API to the Chat Completions API, and outlined plans for the...

11 July 2023 | API

Reddit hacker’s demands include reversing API changes

Reddit recently fell victim to a phishing attack and the group responsible has now publicised their ransom demands.

The attack resulted in the exposure of internal documents, dashboards, code, and contracts. 

While the data has not been made public so far, the situation could change as ransomware gang BlackCat – also known as ALPHV – has claimed responsibility for the hack and threatened to release the data.

Unsurprisingly, BlackCat is demanding a...

19 June 2023 | API

Reddit CEO refuses to change API policy despite protests

The Reddit community has been rocked by a recent decision to implement API changes that have led several third-party developers to shut down their apps.

Reddit’s decision sparked widespread protest, with thousands of communities going dark in response. Despite the backlash, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman remains steadfast in his support of the changes.

In an interview with The Verge, Huffman argued that many third-party apps do not add significant value to the platform....

16 June 2023 | API

Major subreddits go dark in protest of Reddit’s API pricing

In a show of solidarity against Reddit's upcoming API pricing changes, a large number of major subreddits have gone dark.

The moves by each subreddit’s admins effectively lock their users out for the next 48 hours, or possibly longer. Some of the major subreddits taking part in the protest include /r/videos, /r/mildlyinteresting, /r/apple, /r/DIY, and more.

Overall, more than 5,300 subreddits are taking...

12 June 2023 | API

Twitter won’t charge for API access for ‘critical purposes’ after all

Twitter has reversed course on its decision to shut off free access to its API, following widespread criticism from government and public service organisations.

The company has made numerous controversial decisions under Elon Musk’s leadership, but reducing users’ access to critical information was seen as dangerous and self-harming to the platform’s usefulness.

However, Twitter says it will now allow verified government and publicly-owned services to use the API...

3 May 2023 | API

OpenAI threatens GPT4Free project with lawsuit 

OpenAI has reportedly sent a letter to a European computer science student who runs the GPT4Free project on GitHub, demanding that he takes the project down within five days or face a lawsuit.

GPT4Free provides free access to the GPT4 and GPT3.5 models by funnelling the queries through sites like You.com, Quora, and CoCalc, and giving back the answers.

All of the sites GPT4Free uses pay OpenAI fees to use its large language models, and the scripts mean that those sites...

2 May 2023 | API

Reddit to charge for API access over AI training concerns

Social news aggregation and discussion website Reddit will begin charging companies for access to its API.

Reddit says it’s making the decision over concerns about companies using the API to train large language models (LLMs).

The company says that its pricing will be divided into tiers to support companies of different sizes, with different usage limits and broader usage rights offered at each tier. However, the exact pricing details have not yet been...

19 April 2023 | API

SwaggerHub Explore lets developers instantly analyse RESTful APIs and Apache Kafka services

SmartBear, a provider of software development and visibility tools, is giving developers instant access to RESTful and Apache Kafka endpoints with the new SwaggerHub Explore.

The free API exploration tool has an easy-to-use interface and accelerates the development lifecycle, allowing developers to easily visualise API data in a single place and quickly evaluate functionality before investing valuable time in API integration. This addresses a major developer challenge and speeds...

8 March 2023 | API