First week of the last month, we see BMW locking bad people up, Apple Watch sales fall dead, Amazon legalizes shoplifting, Bluetooth gets faster, Canada gets a data center, Java 9 may slip, clues to how Samsung built a fire starter and a true legion is no longer in this world.
- BMW remotely locked a thief in the car until the fuzz came
Finally a great story about why connected cars matters to everyone. Seattle Police were helped by BMW when it was reported that someone had taken the opportunity of the owners carelessness with their key vob to drive off with the car.
Unlucky for him though, it was a high-end BMW that could remotely be controlled and the car was locked from the outside, trapping the light finger bugger inside until PSA (Police Side Assistance) came!
- Sales of Apple watches plunge; down 71% from last year
While we have the likes of FitBit buying up Pebble for $40M last week, we see that Apple is not having a great time of it with its range of wearables. Sales are down a whopping 71% compared to the same quarter last year.
You would think maybe the market for wearables is showing signs of weakness, but you would be wrong, everyone else’s shipping is up. Guess Apple just can’t compete with the competition/value.
- Amazon Go, launches the mother of all big brother shops
Picture a futuristic shop, where you walk in, browse around looking at merchandise and then if you want it, you simply take it and as soon as you walk out the door, you are billed for.
No waiting in line, no handling of cash, no annoying bagger asking if you want your bags carried (well that bit may still be there). This is Amazon Go, a new grocery shop opening in Seattle next year. Register on your phone, then boom as soon as you walk out you are billed. It is like legal shoplifting!
- It’s a go, Bluetooth 5 finally launches and it’s even more powerful
Bluetooth, the favourite short range network that connects your headphones and car to your phone (and also a great way to spam out obscene messages to anyone that tries to search for open networks).Bluetooth 5 has 4 times the range and more bandwidth, meaning you can walk further away from your phone and stream more data!
New phones will start supporting this very soon. I just want it to work from my jean pocket to my headphone, not a huge ask.
- Amazon Web Services opens its first Canadian region
The world’s largest cloud provider has opened its first region north of the border, namely in Canada – you know the unofficial 51st state. The Canadian region supports all the big services of AWS and will be a boom for any company operating up there, as well as being able to keep the data out of the hands of the American government.
AWS has a huge footprint, with pretty much every major region in the world covered with a data center – Canada is a little late to the party considering how close it is.
- Java 9 looks to slip release date of the July 2017
One of Java’s biggest releases to date, may be at risk of slipping a few months from its target release date of July 2017. Java 9 has many big features coming in, with one of the biggest ones Jigsaw. Jigsaw is the modular run time to make it easier to ship Java into smaller and more manageable pieces.
This one shouldn’t concern the masses at all. Java is such a key component of our eco-system it is vital they get it right, not get it on time.
- Clues are emerging on why the Samsung kept catching fire
A manufacturing company has made a claim that the Note 7’s internal layout and design maybe fundamentally flawed as it has attempted to cram too much into a small space and not left the usual 10% gap between battery. Thus when compressed, for example, by heat expansion or someone’s fat arse sitting on the phone, two points touch that shouldn’t be touched, and boom!
It is yet to be seen whether Samsung will ever officially release a reason as to why its flagship phone burst into flames. But until then, this is the most credible scientific one to date.
- A true space hero dies, John Glenn departs this world for the last time
John Glenn, a pioneer of the space race, has sadly died this week at the ripe old age of 95 years. Glenn was the first American to fully orbit the earth, and also, the oldest many to travel to space at 77 years.
But his notable records aside, Glenn was part of that era that took humans off this planet and gave us the inspiration and stepping stone to explore further. This generation of people, hold a very dear place in my heart.
… and this week’s soundtrack is dedicated to the excellent HBO’s Westworld that officially ended its first season run this week. Every so often a TV show comes along that is so well written, produced and acted that each episode is simply a piece of art to be enjoyed. If you haven’t watched it yet, then please treat yourself. Now for the bad news- season 2 won’t be here until 2018.
alan williamson 