In the tech world, a lot happens in a week. Too much, in fact, for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of the top 10 tech stories from this week. From Grooveshark’s co-founder Josh Greenberg passing away at 28 to cheating site AshleyMadison.com being hacked, and Google announcing it’s shutting down Google+ Photos on August 1, it’s all here.
Josh Greenberg, co-founder of the music streaming service Grooveshark, was found dead in his Florida home on Sunday. He was 28 years old. According to the Gainesville, Florida police department, there was no evidence of foul play or suicide. Josh’s mother Lori Greenberg told The Gainesville Sun that her son was in good health and good spirits: “He was excited about potential new things that he was going to start.”
The popular dating site for cheaters AshleyMadison.com was hacked on Sunday by a group claiming to have access to user profiles, usernames, passwords, emails and more. Security expert Brian Krebs first reported that the hackers, who call themselves The Impact Team, published a range of user data they snatched from ALM — which is the parent company behind Ashley Madison, Cougar Life, and Established Me. While the hacker had a problem with AshleyMadison.com, the main issue was with a feature called Full Delete, which was supposed to remove a profile and personal details from the company’s site and servers – for a fee of $19.
Google announced it will shut down its Google+ Photos service, starting on August 1, the company said in a Google+ blog post on Thursday. While the Android version will be the first to be shut down, the iOS and web version will happen soon after. Google is encouraging its users to transition to its new Google Photos service, which allows users to upload unlimited photos for free. Here’s how you can manually upload Google+ Photos to Google Photos.
Like everything else that’s connected to the Internet, new cars are vulnerable to hacking. But when a car is hacked, things can get dangerous, fast. In an article posted on Wired earlier this week, a pair of software engineers demonstrated the ability to hack not only a Jeep’s entertainment system, but also cut the breaks and perform a number of horrible, life-endangering acts. On the same day the article premiered, July 21, Senators introduced The Security and Privacy in Your Car Act, a bill intended to set up benchmarks and security standards for connected vehicles. But the damage has already been done. FCA, the parent company of Jeep, has issued recalls for 1.4 million Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler vehicles deemed vulnerable to the hack.
Spotify introduced a ton of new features with its latest update, and now it’s looking to help discover new music. Among them is a new tool called Discover Weekly, which builds a playlist based on your listening history and the tastes of people who like the same genres and artists as you. The new feature appears at the top of Spotify’s playlist tab on both mobile apps and the Web. The feature highlights new releases, making sure you get access to albums and artists you haven’t listened to before.
Earlier this week, Facebook lost its appeal looking to block some New York search warrants. A ruling by five judges found that the social media giant “does not have the power to ask a judge to throw out search warrants before they have been executed.” Facebook says this decision may force the company to hand over data to the law enforcement officials, which will affect more than 381 users information.
Next page: 5 more tech stories you might have missed this week
Apple announced its third quarter earnings on Tuesday, and as a whole, the company generated $49.6 billion and net profit of $10.7 billion, all record figures for the third quarter of any given year. According to Apple, “the growth was fueled by record third quarter sales of iPhone and Mac, all-time record revenue from service and the successful launch of Apple Watch.”
GoPro president Tony Bates had plenty of good news to share in a meeting with investors on Tuesday. Bates discussed everything from GoPro working on a new mobile app to its cloud service, and the unveiling of a new content licensing portal for creative professionals. he also told investors that the firm has been working on a new mobile app that will allow users to edit and share videos from their mobile devices. While Bates didn’t give out too many details on its features, he said the app is in its final phase of testing and should launch by the end of the summer.
Her, the mobile dating service that caters to lesbian women, has announced that it’s available nationwide. The app promises there are “No men, no fakes. We provide a safe space for gay and bisexual women, so you know you’re talking to real people.” Previously, Her was only available in seven cities across the United States, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago, Phoenix, and Miami.
Microsoft launched a new standalone email app called Send, which is available only for iPhone users in the U.S. and Canada. Previously, the app was leaked as Flow by Outlook. Microsoft said in a blog post that it wanted to “make conversations fast and fluid while keeping the people who are important to you at its core.”
If you’re looking to discover some cool apps and games on sale, you’re in luck because Apple has launched one of its biggest iTunes App Store promotions, discounting more than 100 apps to $1. Many of the popular apps on sale include Pixelmator, Facetune, Retromatic, and GoodReader. Games on sale are titles like Badland, Shadowmatic, Goat Simulator, and more. We’re not sure how long this promotion will last, so you might want to head on over to the App Store.
San Francisco startup Dimensional advertised for people to walk robot dogs through city streets. The New York Times reported that the job could include carrying a roughly 33-pound robot back to the office if it overheated. A lift home is an awkward requirement for a labor-saving machine.
Keeping the hardware running is only one challenge. Anthropic's robotics tests found that language models mostly failed when controlling joints directly, but did better when directing trained controllers. Giving an AI agent a body doesn't teach it to handle ordinary household objects.
Soon, a mattress protector may be more than a bed cover. Australian medtech company Sleeptite and researchers at RMIT University have received a US patent for FlexiSense, a smart bedding technology that tracks body position and posture to help caregivers identify when older residents may be at risk of falling.
The technology is being developed for Sleeptite’s in-bed monitoring system, REMi, and was recently on display at The MedTech Conference in Boston. A peer-reviewed study in Flexible and Printed Electronics says the sensors can also be made at scale without sacrificing performance or durability.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.