Believe it or not, we don’t cover every piece of tech news here at SnapMunk. In an effort to keep you apprised of all things relevant (and damn entertaining) in the world of technology and startups, here are some noteworthy tech news items that didn’t get a full column this week but certainly deserve a glance.
Microsoft Announces Minecraft: Education Edition. Minecraft is everywhere. My daughter can play it on our Playstation 4, our iPads, our computers, and just about every other digital platform out there. Now she’ll be able to play it in school. Microsoft announced it will be releasing an educational edition of the popular game for use in the classroom. While the changes to the game are relatively minor right now, it seems that the ultimate goal is to get teachers designing worlds and creating lesson plans around those worlds. I can’t wait for Rockstar to release Grand Theft Auto: Education Edition.
LinkNYC’s Free Gigabit Wifi Has Arrived. In New York City, pay phones have been replaced with free wifi. Really, really fast wifi. Testers are seeing download speeds of around 280 Mbps, and upload speeds of around 315 Mbps. That’s about TEN TIMES faster than the average Internet connection in the United States. If only I could find a way to install a pay phone in my house and be free from Comcast.
Trump Will Force Apple To Manufacture In U.S. In the most Trumpian move ever, the Donald informed Liberty University Students that, “…we’re gonna get Apple to start building their damn computers and things in this country, instead of in other countries.” How will he make this happen? We don’t know. Is Trump aware that he cursed while speaking at Christian university? We don’t know. What we do know is that Trump is 97.6% insane.
Apple Admits Its Battery Meter Is Incorrect. In a rare move, Apple actually admitted that they did something wrong. It turns out that the battery meter on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are broken. The issue is apparently caused when users switch time zones, either manually or to bypass time limits in freemium games. It seems to me that if you’re switching time zones to bypass time limits on games, you have a much bigger problem on your hands. Seriously. Get help.
Mozilla Cofounder Unveils Browser That Blocks Ads By Default. In yet another blow to online advertisers, Brendan Eich, co-founder of Mozilla, unveiled a new browser which blocks ads by default. The browser is called “Brave”. It blocks “programmatic advertising” – ads placed on websites by automated software. In theory, this should make the browser faster and safer. However (and this is the weird part), the blocked ads are replaced with ads supplied by Brave Software. The company will take 15% of all revenue from the ads. There’s a term for this…it’s on the tip of my tongue…oh yeah, “cash grab”.
Sheryl Sandberg Believes Positivity Can Beat Terrorists Online. Commenting to the World Economic Forum, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said that she believes “likes” and positive messages can beat terrorists online. Referencing a recent “like attack” on a Neo Nazi page, she said, “What was a page filled with hatred and intolerance was then tolerance and messages of hope.” Perhaps we should all “like attack” Donald Trump’s page. Who’s with me?
Amazon Offering Refunds On All Hoverboards. If you need yet more proof that hoverboards are the dumbest thing ever invented, look to Amazon. The company is offering full refunds to any customers who purchased hoverboards on their site. Why would Amazon do such a thing? Maybe it’s because THEY SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST!
Microsoft Announces “Mimicker” Alarm. In the category of “Stuff No One In Their Right Mind Would Ever Want”, Microsoft announced the release of their “Mimicker” alarm app. To shut the alarm off, you have to mimic a facial expression, repeat a tongue twisting phrase, or capture a particular color with your camera. Because at 6:00 AM what I want to do most is talk about Sally’s Sea Shells and do a Jim Carey impression. I suspect this app will result in many destroyed phones.
Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments!
