Weekly Refresh: CurrentC Woes, Xbox One Bundle Deals, Tim Cook Comes Out, and more – Oct 21-Nov 1

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From CurrentC news and woes to Xbox One holiday bundles and Tim Cook’s coming out, we’ve covered a lot over the past week here at Techaeris. Here’s a quick recap of some of the stories we covered in our Weekly Refresh.

 

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HOW TO: Change system date in OS X from Terminal

Tech

tsu-security-issues
Fledgling social media network tsū launched without SSL enabled.

Another day, another new social media network. This time tsū, as it’s called, offers to pay users for their social media posts. What’s troubling though is they launched the service without SSL enabled – and no one seemed to really care. Read what happened when we called them out on it.

Could Samsung be slipping at home? News coming out of South Korea this week suggested that the Apple iPhone 6 and 6 plus pre-orders have overtaken those of the Galaxy Note 4.

We’ve checked out TYLT products before, and this week TYLT has unveiled two new wireless charging accessories for your mobile devices – the VU Wireless Charging Car Mount, and the VU SOLO wireless charging pad. Can’t wait to see how they stack up!

Just as CurrentC was announced, Internet denizons gathered up their pitchforks against them. The consortium known as MCX (Merchant Customer Exchange) confirmed that CurrentC pilot users email addresses were breached by an unauthorized third party.

Thought Tor was safe? Think again – researcher Josh Pitts has found a rogue exit node for the Tor network changing download files and wrapping them in malware. This may be only the start.

drupal-7-compromised
Running a Drupal site? Better check the back end as you could be compromised as we speak!

Oh boy, this one’s huge. Websites running Drupal 7 may be compromised if they were not patched prior to their announcement of the vulnerability. Given that most websites don’t update quickly, this could affect a large number of websites worldwide.

Why this is even news is beyond me, but earlier this week Tim Cook published an open letter announcing that he is, in fact, gay. Cook sums it up I guess with this quote: “So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy.”

About time! A collective cheer can be heard this week from gamers worldwide as YouTube finally rolled out support for video playback at 60 fps (frames-per-second).

Google-Copresence
Could Google be working on a cross-platform communication took with Copresence?

This one could be big – we got a hot tip this week that Google may be about to announce a new service called “Copresence.” The data points to a cross-communication service that will join Android and iOS devices.

Could a new, thinner, iPad be coming? New leaks from Mac Otakara suggest that the long-rumoured iPad Pro could be coming next year and be even thinner than we initially expected – hopefully it’s not so thin that it bends!

Mobile

Android Lollipop is just around the corner and we have a list of what Nexus, Samsung, Sony, LG, HTC, & Motorola smartphones will be getting updated. Check it out to see if your mobile device will be taking the leap up.

Google-Fit
Google Fit has launched for mobile devices (courtesy Google Developers)

Now it’s Google’s turn to take on the challenge of a good health app and ecosystem and they kicked it off this week with their new fitness app, Google Fit, for mobile phones and Android Wear devices.

Another “leak” as a retailer catalog details the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A5 handset set for the low-mid range market with great build quality. The A5 is set to join the already leaked Galaxy A7.

Project ARA seems like a dream come true. A great concept which puts the consumer in control of what components they want in their mobile device, Project ARA is very real, and the team has shown off a working prototype to prove it.

Gaming

Xbox-One-Holiday-Bundles
Xbox has announced various bundles for the holiday season – saving consumers $50-$150 per bundle. (courtesy Xbox)

Just in time for the holidays, Xbox announced that starting November 2, the Xbox One will be available in the US for a “special, limited-time promotional offer of $349.” There’s some great savings to be had on Xbox One bundles, that’s for sure. Could this be the boost Xbox needs in the next-gen console “war”?

Editorials

With the recent introduction of Apple Pay, mobile payments are again at the forefront of discussion. Not everyone is on board with Apple or Google’s Wallet as big box retailers have been dreaming up their own mobile payment system called CurrentC in order to get out from under the credit card industries 2% fee.

Google_Has_A_Waze_To_Go_1
Is Google missing a golden opportunity with their Waze acquisition?

Google gobbled up Waze some time ago. Corey Leighton asks if Google is missing a golden opportunity by not fully integrating the popular navigation app Waze into their suite of services?

Are we too married to tech? Greg Morris has some thoughts on how all the technology you know and love is slowly but surely killing you – and it’s nothing to do with radio waves or magnetic fields for once.

Science

Google’s at it again. The latest Google X “Moonshot” project is a pill that tests for cancer. Google says they are working on a pill that contains microscopic particles that travel through the bloodstream searching out malignant cells in the body.

Business

YouTube-Logo
Could YouTube be eyeing a tiered subscription service?

News has surfaced that popular video streaming service YouTube could be eyeing a subscription service for users who wish to have a different kind of experience. Would you pay for a tiered YouTube service?

Interesting news out of Google as Andy Rubin is leaving the company after 9 years taking Android from start up to market leader. Playing with robots is just not enough!

Ah Dubai, the land of excess. Sony’s Middle East and Africa division are going to add to the city by building an underwater retail location.

That about wraps up our Weekly Refresh – look for our recap every Sunday for a quick glance at what you may have missed over the past week. As always, the staff here at Techaeris thanks you – our readers – for checking us out throughout the week and thank you for your continued support. After all, we write because we love to share what interests us and keep you informed on tech happenings around the world!

Last Updated on November 27, 2018.

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