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 Google revealing the next major version of Android as Marshmallow, to 36 million Ashley Madison accounts being exposed and Spotify’s new privacy policy, it’s all here.
Earlier this week, Google launched a router with the help of its partner TP-LINK. The OnHub router promises to fix many of the issues you’ve experienced with your existing router including, Wi-Fi slowing to a crawl, videos buffering, and dropped connections. The OnHub looks smart and sophisticated, so you won’t mind leaving it out in the open. OnHub also connects with your laptop or tablet through 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, and includes Bluetooth Smart Ready, and Weave, Google’s new IoT platform.
On Wednesday, an organization known as Impact Team released the names of 36 million members of Ashley Madison, the website that puts cheating spouses in touch with one another. The hackers stole the personal details of the site’s members last month and finally dumped all the data online. The stolen data contains not only members’ login details, email addresses and credit card information, but also intimate details of their sexual preferences and fantasies.
At first, a bike that can be pedaled six different ways sounds kind of crazy, but when you think about it, the Caron bicycle is actually pretty brilliant. The different pedaling options can open up a range of new possibilities for training, rehabilitation, and recreational biking. With Caron’s variety, it’s easier to target different muscles for training or rehab. It also makes biking easier for people with disabilities who find traditional pedaling too hard.
Google officially revealed that the next major version of Android is named Marshmallow. The Android mascot at Google’s campus now holds a giant marshmallow. Google also released the official Android 6.0 SDK along with the final Developer Preview update. Owners of the Nexus 5, Nexus 6, and Nexus 9 can download and install the latest Developer Preview system image now, by following our guide.
Spotify introduced a new privacy policy that generated a lot of backlash and prompted an apology from the company’s CEO. Spotify wants access to users’ contacts, photos, GPS data, and sensor data. Perhaps most troubling, Spotify doesn’t just want this data for its own use — it’s also ready to share the information with advertising partners. The new privacy policy was pushed to users’ devices earlier this week with no way to opt out.
Lenny Robinson, 51, known as the Baltimore Batman, died late Sunday night when his “custom-made vehicle” stalled “partially in the fast lane,” due to engine failure. While Batman was checking on his vehicle, he was hit by a driver in a Toyota Camry and was pronounced dead on site. Robinson was the president of Superheroes for Kids Inc., a group of like-minded individuals who dressed up to visit sick children at hospitals and other fundraisers.
Google announced that its modular Project Ara smartphone will be pushed back to 2016. Through a set of tweets, Google said the delay was due to the company having more iterations of the smartphone than it had anticipated. Google explained that Project Ara won’t use elctropermanent magnets anymore. Apparently, the company found a better way to allow for easy removal of modules, though no details have been released.
Lucy is a solar mirror from Italian designers Solencia that can illuminate a room with 7,000 lumens of light, more than the 5,000 lumens needed for a 250-square foot room. Lucy can also be used outdoors, and it only weighs about five pounds, so you can easily move it back and forth between a couple of spots, depending on your needs. Of course, Lucy is also smart and self-reliant. It can turn itself on in the morning and shuts off at night when there’s no more sun to chase.
Exploride, a Maryland-based startup, has launched a new product that the company calls the world’s first all-in-one HUD. Using simple gesture and voice controls, drivers can take or decline phone calls, access Google Maps navigation, control music, hear texts, and monitor tire pressure, all from one place. There’s also an inbuilt 3 MP dash cam, cloud storage capability, and tons of apps available, including Spotify, Apple Music, Twitter, Facebook, and more. To finance the HUD’s manufacturing costs, Explored launched an Indiegogo campaign.
Apple scored some pretty big names for its inaugural Apple Music Festival, which will be held at London’s Roundhouse from September 19-28. Headliners include Pharrell Williams, One Direction, Florence + The Machine, and Disclosure. The festival will be streaming on Apple Music and iTunes for those who can’t attend. Meanwhile, a recent study says that 61 percent of Apple Music subscribers have changed their account settings to ensure their subscription won’t auto-renew once the trial expires. Apple disputes the claim, though.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.