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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).
Wikipedia citations get way more legit with the addition of books
Image: NPR
Everyone knows that to legitimize anything you read on Wikipedia, the crowd-sourced online encyclopedia, you need to scroll to the bottom of the page and check out the references, notes, and citations (or click the little footnote link in the text). The Internet Archive, known for its Wayback Machine, will now be a resource for book-based citations if that text exists within its library. Previously, only citations linking back to an online source were viewable. Now, some book references will be available online as well. – Mashable
Teens Love TikTok. Silicon Valley Is Trying to Stage an Intervention
Image: AP
Sounds like someone is pissed they’re missing out on this massive cash pile.
TikTok, which is run by a seven-year-old company in Beijing called ByteDance, allows people to create short, snappy videos and share them around the world. That simple concept has fueled its rise to quickly become one of the world’s largest social networks and to mount the most direct incursion yet by a Chinese company into Silicon Valley’s turf. Now the American internet companies are pushing back. – New York Times
These Machines Can Put You in Jail. Don’t Trust Them
Wow, so OK, alcohol breathalyzers are a total sham. Awesome. The New York Times writes: “The Dräger Alcotest 9510 and similar devices from other manufacturers are found in police stations across the country. The test results produced by these machines are increasingly drawing skepticism from judges.”
A million Americans a year are arrested for drunken driving, and most stops begin the same way: flashing blue lights in the rearview mirror, then a battery of tests that might include standing on one foot or reciting the alphabet.
What matters most, though, happens next. By the side of the road or at the police station, the drivers blow into a miniature science lab that estimates the concentration of alcohol in their blood. If the level is 0.08 or higher, they are all but certain to be convicted of a crime. – New York Times
This new logo will surely solve all of Facebook’s problems
Facebook announced today that they are now FACEBOOK. Seriously, not even kidding. This is real and totally not made up. That’s the new logo above.
Facebook unveiled a new logo today that’s meant to represent the parent company that owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and more. The logo just says “Facebook,” but in a really bland and generic font that looks like it would fit well on a credit card. A GIF shows the word mark displaying in different colors to represent the different brands — blue for Facebook proper, green for WhatsApp, pinkish for Instagram, and so on. – The Verge
Android bug lets hackers plant malware via NFC beaming
I swear, there are stories like this every week about a new Android vulnerability. I think it’s safe to assume at this point that Android is malware.
Google patched last month an Android bug that can let hackers spread malware to a nearby phone via a little-known Android OS feature called NFC beaming. – ZDNet
8Chan Is Back and Calling Itself 8kun Now
Image: KnowTechie
A website I have never visited is back under a new name and that’s cool I guess?
The anonymous forum 8Chan—a haven for far-right extremists, conspiracy theorists, and internet filth—came back online today after going dark in August due to its association with several mass shootings. Rebranded as 8kun (“kun” and “chan” are both honorific titles in Japanese for you non-weebs out there), the forum now has an important caveat to the no-holds-barred approach to free speech it previously touted, and it’s outlined in plain language on the site’s front page: Anything considered illegal in the United States will be removed. – Gizmodo
And in just case you missed some of our stuff earlier, here’s what you may have missed:
- A teenager figured out a genius solution to every car’s blind spots
- This automatic self-sealing trash bin changes the trash bag for you and it’s only 5 right now
- Some camgirl sites you’ve never heard of but probably use exposed user data
- 10 crowdfunding campaigns you should probably be checking out in November
- WTF is up with the new Microsoft Edge logo?
- Airbnb puts end to “party houses” and increases safety precautions
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is now the best-selling fighting game ever
- The full-featured Adobe Photoshop app is now available on iPad
- Amazon has a bunch of Logitech PC gaming accessories generously discounted today
- As expected, Amazon’s user-submitted answers are kind of garbage
- Dive into this complete Microsoft Excel & VBA bundle for just
- 8 new games you need to play in November 2019
Notable Mentions
How Trump Reshaped the Presidency in Over 11,000 Tweets
Microsoft announces new Office Mobile app for Android and iOS
Google’s Play Points program rewards you for downloading apps
Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.
Previous hangovers:
- Tech Hangover: The internet is the cause of all our problems
- Tech Hangover: Schools are tracking when kids get up to go pee
- Tech Hangover: Gaming news gets some love today
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