Tag Archives: technology

It’s called the Apple Watch – not the iWatch. Apple today also unveiled the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Pay.

Apple CEO Tim Cook today vowed to make it harder for hackers to access information stored on the company’s iCloud service. Cook said celebrities’ iCloud accounts were compromised when hackers correctly answered security questions to obtain their passwords, or when they were victimized by a phishing scam to obtain user IDs and passwords. He said none of the Apple IDs …

The White House yesterday appointed out Google executive Megan Smith as the Obama administration’s new Chief Technology Officer. Smith, the new U.S. CTO, is an MIT-trained mechanical engineer and entrepreneur with deep roots in the California tech world. She currently serves as a vice president at Google[x], the company’s lab for ambitious next-generation projects, like its delivery-by-drone Project Wing and …

Two weeks ago I reported that an unknown person had sent warnings to thousands of Grindr users in countries with anti-gay laws. The tipster warned that the user’s exact location or address can be triangulated via the distance function, putting them at risk of being found by authorities or gay-bashers. Grindr responded to media inquiries by declaring that its distance …

The iPhone 6 presumably doesn’t go on sale until September 19th, but a handful of folks have been in line outside the Manhattan flagship Apple store for several days. They’re being paid to be there. Joseph Cruz and Brian Ceballo arrived in front of Apple’s glass cube on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Sunday, August 31. They brought tarps, chairs, …

NDTV Gadgets reports that an unknown person has sent warnings to thousands of Grindr users in countries with anti-gay laws. The tipster warns that the user’s exact location or address can be triangulated, putting them at risk of being found by authorities or gay-bashers. The anonymous spammer, who is presumably acting altruistically, includes links to a Twitter account, YouTube video …

Hilton Hotels is spending $550M on a program that will allow guests to choose their rooms, check in, and open their rooms with their smartphones. The company plans to announce this week new technology intended for its 4,200 properties world-wide. Targeting younger travelers, Hilton is aiming to leapfrog competitors that already have rolled out new services like turning mobile phones …

He’ll order your Chinese takeout AND be your wingman. (Tipped by JMG reader Ray)

Forbes breaks it down: Google’s answer to VR? Cardboard. Or, rather, a DIY cardboard headset equipped with cheap lenses into which you slide your smartphone. Simply download the Cardboard app and you’re ready to roll, all for a few bucks in materials. Which is—let’s face it—about as weird an idea as anyone could dream up, but also sort of brilliant; …

Uncanny valley, anyone?

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos today unveiled his company’s first cell phone, the Fire Phone. First-look reviewers are (mostly) impressed. Via The Verve: The Fire Phone has a 4.7-inch HD display, aluminum buttons, a Qualcomm processor, Adreno 330 graphics, and 2GB of RAM. Bezos talked a lot about the phone’s build, from the injection-molded connectors to the chamfered edges. There’s a …

Tell us about the most useful apps on your phone.

Via Techcrunch: LG is showing off a new teaser video of its G Watch, the Android Wear device it’s launching later this year. Android Wear is the operating system that Google has created for smartwatch devices, which exists essentially as an extension of Android to deliver notifications and other information from smartphones running its mobile OS. The G Watch is …

Clip recap: Sampling isn’t about “hijacking nostalgia wholesale,” says Mark Ronson. It’s about inserting yourself into the narrative of a song while also pushing that story forward. Watch the DJ scramble 15 TED Talks into an audio-visual omelette, and trace the evolution of “La Di Da Di,” Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick’s 1984 hit that has been reimagined for …

Rush Limbaugh is off the air this week while he gets a second cochlear implant. He received surgery for the first implant for his left ear about 13 years ago, he said, and doctors at the time advised him against getting the second implant in case a cure was developed for his deteriorated hearing. On his show Limbaugh said he …

CNET says Google is working on it: Google has a patent pending for a contact lens with a micro camera and sensors embedded on the surface controlled by blinking, which would enable you to take hands-free pictures and could help the blind navigate the everyday obstacles of the world. Although still apparently hypothetical, the patent combines ideas from Google Glass …