Developer Shout-Outs

Telegram Unwrapped: Deku successfully deployed the Telegram Unwrapped project, allowing users to view their year-end Telegram usage statistics. The project is now live, though speed limitations due to Telegram’s rate limits were noted. 1, 2, Link.

Odit.et Financial Analysis Tool: Robi launched Odit.et, an enterprise-level, SMS-based financial analysis tool. It features token-based message analysis, complex dashboards, goal setting, and a yearly wrapped feature. This impressive app provides deep insights into personal financial data. 1, 2. Link

Stark Platform: Andy Marrow continues rapid development on Stark, a platform for developers and designers to share projects. Recent updates include dark/light themes, profile sharing, advanced filtering, and improved content management like drag-and-drop image reordering, demonstrating continuous effort. 1, 2, 3, 4. Link

AI-SDK for Rust: Ishak Sebsib introduced AI-SDK for Rust, an open-source, provider-agnostic AI toolkit built from scratch. It offers compile-time model safety, streaming, and tool support, ensuring compatibility with Vercel’s AI-SDK UI for seamless frontend integration. 1, 2. Link

DevMap Offline Career Architect: DevMap, the “Offline Career Architect,” officially launched on the Play Store. This Flutter app provides mastery roadmaps for AI, Python, and Flutter, 100% offline access, built-in Pomodoro timers, and simplified professional notes for deep learning. 1. Play Store Link.

Fastapi Auth Starter Template: John shared a new Fastapi authentication starter template. It features secure JWT implementation, Google OAuth2 for social login, password hashing using Bcrypt, and robust refresh token rotation and revocation managed via the database. 1. GitHub Link.

Unified Receipt Verifier Update: ABƦSH ♱ pushed a major performance update to the Unified Receipt Verifier. By implementing parallel verification and a high-performance HTTP client, the tool achieved a significant 57% speed improvement in batch processing. 1.

Events and Podcasts

Dagmawi Babi’s Meetup is the first of its kind, brought to you by Dagmawi Babi and his team as a massive thank you to all the incredible individuals, creators, event organizers, companies, and communities accelerating the tech and design ecosystem.

It’s our way of celebrating you for taking risks, pioneering new ventures, shouldering the blame, pouring your heart into projects that benefit everyone, grinding through months of building epic things, pulling all-nighters for unforgettable events, and envisioning (and building toward) a thriving community. Register Link, Add to your calendar

When: Saturday, January 24, 2026

PAST

GDG AAU Open Mic: Moán Bekele (Past): GDG AAU hosted an Open Mic Session on January 2nd featuring Moán Bekele, CTO of Zemenu Innovations. The discussion centered on translating AI/ML/NLP research into real products, building reliable data pipelines, and leading tech teams in a startup environment. 1. Listen

Shared Resources

DevMap Offline Career Architect: This Flutter-built mobile app is designed as an offline career architect, offering mastery roadmaps for fields like AI and Flutter. It includes deep work tools like a Pomodoro timer and simplified notes, allowing developers to study and focus anywhere without needing an internet connection. 1
Verifier SDK & Starter Project: Leul Zenebe shared the Verifier SDK (for CBE, Telebirr, etc.) and a Next.js starter project built on Stark. This SDK is crucial for developers needing reliable, local payment verification within their applications, demonstrating practical use cases for Ethiopian financial integrations. 1, 2 Verifier SDK NPM.
Scopeo: Scopeo is a tool designed to help freelancers and clients clarify project requirements by turning vague job posts into clear, realistic project scopes. It identifies MVP essentials, flags risks, and estimates effort, preventing scope creep before development begins. 1 Tool Link.
FastAPI Auth Starter Template: John shared an open-source authentication starter template for FastAPI. It includes secure JWT implementation, Google OAuth2 for social login, Bcrypt password hashing, and database-backed refresh token rotation and revocation for robust security. 1
Windows Battery Health Check Guide: A quick guide was shared on how to check a Windows laptop’s battery health using the built-in command in CMD. This is useful for comparing the original design capacity against the current full charge capacity, especially when buying used hardware. 1, 2.

* Run `powercfg /batteryreport `In CMD then Open the HTML file → compare Design Capacity vs Full Charge Capacity.

Ethiopian Job Market Statistics Report: Betselot published a PDF report analyzing over 2,000 job posts scraped from a local Telegram channel. The report provides data-driven insights into the current job market, highlighting which roles and skills are most in demand in Ethiopia right now. 1.

Tech Company Updates:

Fayda Digital ID API Launched: Ethiopia’s national digital ID platform, Fayda, has launched its developer API. It provides secure Single Sign-On (SSO) using OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect, along with eKYC capabilities. This allows developers to integrate trusted, scalable identity verification into their web and mobile applications easily. 1.
Ethio Telecom Data Package Changes: Ethio Telecom has reportedly adjusted its mobile data packages, the changes appear to involve the removal of previously available “unlimited” options and significant price increases for high-volume users, impacting developers reliant on consistent, affordable connectivity. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Top Discussions and Reactions

Unified Receipt Verifier Gets 57% Speed Boost: ABƦSH ♱ released a major performance update for his unified receipt verifier tool. The tool, which validates payments from CBE and Telebirr receipts for subscription services, now features faster batch processing and optimized HTTP clients, resulting in a 57% speed improvement. The community discussed the technical approach of scraping data without official APIs. 1, 2, 3, 4.
The 200K ETB Laptop Showdown: A request for a developer laptop recommendation under 200K ETB sparked a debate between the Rog Strix G16 and Macbooks. While the Rog Strix was noted for performance, the consensus leaned toward Macbooks for superior battery life and portability, even suggesting older M1 Max models remain competitive against newer Windows laptops. 1, 2, 3, 4.
The Right Way to Learn UI/UX: A developer asked for help improving her design skills, leading to a discussion emphasizing fundamentals over quick fixes. Members advised against relying on AI tools, suggesting instead that learning core principles, analyzing successful app flows (like Duolingo), and studying design patterns are the most effective ways to build genuine design intuition. 1, 2, 3, 4.