App Launch

YouTube Shorts Beta, a short-form video experience and TikTok competitor, has launched in the US on Thursday. Shorts features "a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together, the ability to record with music, control speed settings, and more" and offers users a feed or short videos directly in the YouTube app instead of a separate app. YouTube announced it will add more features over the following weeks, including "the ability to use audio from videos across YouTube".

In a series of tweets, Basecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson details the App Store's rejection of a bug fix update of Basecamp's new email service "HEY". According to Heinemeier Hansson, after a bug fix update was rejected, Apple has demanded that the company adds an in-app subscription and that it shares up to 30% of its revenue with Apple to prevent the app from being removed from the App Store. "HEY" is selling its $99 annual subscription on its website and is refusing to comply with the demand, with Heinemeier Hansson writing: "There is no chance in bloody hell that we're going to pay Apple's ransom. I will burn this house down myself, before I let gangsters like that spin it for spoils. This is profoundly, perversely abusive and unfair."

The makers behind the project management software Basecamp have launched its new product: an email hosting service called "HEY" which the company describes as a "love letter to email" and "a redo, a rethink, a simplified, potent reintroduction of email". "HEY" is currently invite-only until July 2020.

Basecamp CEO Jason Fried announced the launch on Twitter, writing: "Two years of work comes alive today. Couldn’t be more proud of our team. It wasn’t easy, but it was incredibly fun. And today we get to show the world what we’ve been working on. Email’s new heyday is here."

Corona-Warn-App, the German Covid-19 contract tracing app by the Robert Koch-Institut, allegedly cost 20 million euros to develop, according to AP News. The presumed monthly costs are between 2.5 and 3.5 million euros, which includes manual tracing.

Dropbox has launched the beta version of Dropbox Passwords but hasn't made an official announcement yet. The app is currently in private beta, therefore only available via invite to some Dropbox users, but is already available in the Google Play Store. The app description reads: "Dropbox Passwords (beta) provides password security by storing all your passwords in one secure place, then fills in usernames and passwords so you can instantly sign in to websites and apps."