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Google is officially doing away with its 30 percent cut of Play Store transactions, and rolling out changes to how third-party app stores and alternate billing systems will be handled by Android. Some of these tweaks were proposed as part of the settlement the company reached with Epic in November 2025, but rather than wait for final judicial approval, Google is committing to revamping Android and the Play Store publicly.
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. Google will also now charge a five percent service fee for developers in the UK, US or European Economic Area (EEA) using its billing system, 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 also getting easier.
As part of these changes, 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." The setup, as described by Google, appears to be more permissive than what Apple settled on in 2025. For iOS apps on the App Store, develo
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Chris Titus Tech's Windows Utility (WinUtil) is a versatile PowerShell script that streamlines the management of your operating system. As a lightweight tool, it enables users to efficiently handle a variety of system settings and tweaks and to install multiple applications with a single click. [License: Open Source | Requires:
11|10 | Size: 683 KB ]
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted approval to TerraPower to begin construction of a reactor in Wyoming. The project is the first new US commercial nuclear reactor in about a decade, according to The New York Times. TerraPower was founded by Bill Gates, and it took years for the business to receive regulatory approval for this construction effort.
TerraPower is part of a push to create more efficient and less expensive nuclear facilities as an alternative power source, particularly as AI companies and data center construction places more demands on the US' current infrastructure. TerraPower's project involves tech it has dubbed Natrium in its planned reactor. Using this liquid sodium approach rather than a traditional light-water reactor i
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This year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona brought dazzling prototypes and big promises. These are CNET's top picks from the show.
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