In the tech world, a lot happens in a week. So much news goes on, in fact, that it’s almost impossible 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 the second week of January. Everything from Valentine’s Day tech to tax return apps — it’s all here.
Valentine’s Day is today, and you could be in for a long night if you don’t have a date already. Did you ever consider a dog as your date? I know you’re thinking that you already had too many dates with dogs, but we’re talking about an actual dog. So where do you go to meet a nice dog to spend time with? You don’t want to meet one at a bar, that never works out. Fortunately, there is now a dog dating service called Bark ‘N’ Borrow.
It’s official — Instagram will now allow you to switch between accounts when on either Android or iOS. Social media managers, rejoice! Your day of deliverance has finally come. In a Monday blog post, Facebook-owned Instagram noted that the much-anticipated functionality would be available in version 7.15 of the app. Now, super-grammers can manage up to five accounts simultaneously.
While plenty of tech firms are trying their hardest to develop more powerful battery technology, UK-based Intelligent Energy claims it’s taken some big strides, creating a breakthrough fuel cell small enough to fit inside a smartphone yet powerful enough to keep it running for a full week. And it could be rolled out within two years.
No, seriously — there’s really another Harry Potter book coming out. Scholastic will publish the script book based on J.K. Rowling’s latest story about the beloved wizard, called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II. The book comes from a play Rowling worked on with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, set to be released at 12:01 a.m. on July 31, 2016 — just in time to kick off Harry’s “birthday.”
Twitter’s new home timeline has been the subject of fierce discussion, both on and off the network. Now that it’s officially arrived, we can all find out what the fuss is about. Twitter announced the new feature today, just in time for its latest earnings call. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, seeing as the platform is feeling the pressure to grow beyond its current user base, and it evidently believes that new features – such as an algorithmic timeline – will help it achieve that goal.
Next page: 5 more tech stories you might have missed this week
Back in 1988, when she was a rising star in the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, Rosemary Johnson was in a terrible car accident that left her in a coma for seven months, and a head injury caused brain damage that left her unable to speak or move. Her ability to make music was suddenly gone. After 27 years with the belief she would never be able to do so again, violinist Rosemary Johnson has made music, thanks to an incredible piece of technology called a brain computer music interface, or BCMI, developed by a team of doctors and researchers at Plymouth University in the U.K.
Ladies and gentlemen, we may have found the pregnancy test of the 21st century. Or at least it looks like Reddit user YoungPTone did, as he discovered his wife was pregnant through very unconventional means, reports BBC. YoungPTone, known in real life as David Trinidad, wanted a more active lifestyle, and got himself, and eventually his wife Ivonne, Fitbits. Ivonne was perplexed about what was happening to her Fitbit, and told David that it might be defective, since it consistently showed an elevated heart rate of 110 beats per minute.
Gwen Stefani fans must be going bananas (B-A-N-A-N-A-S), because the singer is getting ready to drop her first solo album in 10 years. Stefani recently revealed that her new album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like, is due out on March 18. To top it off, she’ll film a live music video during a Grammys commercial break for one of the tracks, Make Me Like You.
Over the past few years, Amazon has been acquiring a number of companies and technologies relating to video games. In 2014 the company acquired both Killer Instinct developer Helix Games and game live-streaming service Twitch. Now the reasoning behind that seems to make much more sense, as the company has revealed its own game engine designed to compete with Unreal Engine and Unity.
There are many reasons to buy a Tesla: classy styling, “Ludicrous” performance, and emissions-free commuting. However, one of the most notable cherries on top comes in the form of a $7,500 federal tax credit, which is awarded to all electric vehicle owners with batteries over a certain capacity. Tesla will begin taking preorders for the upcoming Model 3 next month, and with its base price of $35,000 coming before incentives are factored in, the hit to your wallet could be far, far less.
A virtual private network (VPN) encrypts your internet traffic and routes it through a server run by the VPN provider. Websites see the VPN server’s IP address instead of yours, and you can get around geo-blocks, censorship, and ISP throttling. The best VPN services are paid, but there are still a handful of free options that do the job well.
Most free VPNs come with a hidden cost, because running servers isn’t cheap and a company that doesn’t charge you has to make its money somewhere else. Many do so by logging your browsing activity and selling it to advertisers, while others flood you with ads and track you across apps.
There's nothing quite like curling up with a good book on a cold evening. As much as I love the feel of a physical book, books take up a lot of space, and carrying more than one on a trip quickly becomes a chore. That's where e-readers come in, and the Amazon Kindle remains one of the best options.
Amazon just refreshed its Kindle lineup with thinner, lighter designs, a new flush-front display, and colors that wrap from front to back. Add the Kindle Scribe and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft to the mix, and you have more choices than ever before.
A good Android app should earn its place on your phone. It might make an everyday task easier, handle something the built-in software can't, or let you change an experience that never quite worked for you.
These 20 apps cover everything from quick notes and password management to automation and local file sharing. Some are free, others charge for advanced features, and a few take some effort to figure out. The point isn't to install them all. It's to find the ones that make your phone work better for you.