Tech Hangover: Apple, Amazon, and Google are teaming up to make the smart home smarter
Meanwhile, I’m just here getting dumber.
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We get it, you have a life. There’s no way you can read all of the day’s news in one single shot, let alone visit every web page, which is why we’re here to help. Well, sort of.
There’s a ton of tech news we weren’t able to cover throughout the day (hey, give us a break, we’re a small independent outfit), so to help you stay up to speed with everything we didn’t get to, we rounded up some of the biggest stories, which should help you keep up to date. Hence the tech hangover.
Here’s some tech news you probably missed out on today (and when we say you, we mean us, but also…you).
Apple, Amazon, and Google team up to make your smart home suck less
Image: Builder Magazine
It’s good to see these companies team up on something for the greater good.
Smart home products are often incompatible with one another, causing frustration to users. But Apple, Amazon, Google and the Zigbee Alliance (which consists of companies such as IKEA, Signify and Samsung SmartThings) are working to fix that. On Wednesday, the companies announced a working group which aims to develop a new, royalty-free connectivity standard for smart home products. – Mashable
Facebook fails to convince lawmakers it needs to track your location at all times
Image: CIO
Try again, Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook told two senators why it tracks users’ locations even when their tracking services are turned off. The lawmakers now say Facebook should give users more control over their data. – CNBC
Photo Roulette, the Hot App That Makes Teens Cringe and Parents Fret
A popular mobile game that randomly selects photos from players’ camera rolls is leading to some cringeworthy moments for teens and privacy panics for parents. Photo Roulette, a free app for iOS and Android devices, came out a few years ago but only recently caught fire: In October, for the first time, it was the most downloaded iPhone game in the U.S. – WSJ
Instagram bans influencers from getting paid to promote vaping and guns
Image: Unsplash
Good.
Instagram announced Wednesday it would no longer allow “branded content” that promotes those goods on either platform. In June, Instagram a change that would let advertisers promote posts from influencers, or users who work with brands to promote services or products. Users see a “paid partnership with” tag on a post when viewing that branded content on Instagram. – CNBC
And in just case you missed some of our stuff earlier, here’s what you may have missed:
- The last remaining official Nintendo PlayStation hybrid is heading to auction
- Pokémon Sword & Shield: Competitive Guide Vol.3 – Breeding
- A group of trolls targeted Twitter users with epilepsy with a barrage of strobing images
- Here’s why Google and Amazon are giving you Home Minis and Echo Dots for next to nothing
- You can now watch a bunch of PBS stations live on YouTube TV
- Ring security cams lack one major feature: security
- Redbox is liquidating all of its games and you can snag some for super cheap
- Razer’s DeathAdder Elite gaming mouse is down to just $25 right now
- This amplifier aims to bridge all of your entertainment devices together
- Amazon has a ton of gaming and streaming gear up for grabs in a huge one day sale
- Puma released some shoes intended for gamers because pandering
- Learn a new side hustle with this cloud security certification bundle
Notable Mentions
LifeLabs pays hackers to recover data of 15 million customers
Vladimir Putin ‘still uses obsolete Windows XP’ despite hacking risk
The 50 Worst Things On The Internet In 2019
Previous Hangovers…
- Tech Hangover: Google continues to be a horrible company to its employees
- Tech Hangover: PewDiePie is taking a “break” from YouTube and apparently this is news
- Tech Hangover: Google has mapped a whole bunch of the world
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