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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).
Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy
Image: Unsplash
If you’re here reading this, stop what you’re doing right now and read this important story. It may change how you look at smartphones forever.
Every minute of every day, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized — are logging the movements of tens of millions of people with mobile phones and storing the information in gigantic data files. – NYT
Facebook is building an operating system so it can ditch Android
Image: Facebook
Facebook is trying to figure out another way to steal more of your data. At least that’s my takeaway.
Facebook doesn’t want its hardware like Oculus or its augmented reality glasses to be at the mercy of Google because they rely on its Android operating system. That’s why Facebook has tasked a co-author of Microsoft’s Windows NT named Mark Lucovsky with building the social network an operating system from scratch, according to The Information’s Alex Heath. To be clear, Facebook’s smartphone apps will remain available on Android.
How classroom technology is holding students back
Educators love digital devices, but there’s little evidence they help children—especially those who most need help. – MIT Technology Review
A Data Leak Exposed The Personal Information Of Over 3,000 Ring Users
Image: KnowTechie
Man, Ring is having a rough couple of weeks. There was this, then this, and boy let’s not forget about this. Yea, not good. Well, the hits keep on coming.
The log-in credentials for 3,672 Ring camera owners were compromised this week, exposing log-in emails, passwords, time zones, and the names people give to specific Ring cameras, which are often the same as camera locations, such as “bedroom” or “front door.” BuzzFeed News
Airports Are Normalizing Facial Recognition in the United States
Image: Unsplash
This is the new normal.
Instead of asking to see your boarding pass when stepping onto an international flight, airline attendants ask you to direct your face toward a camera. After a moment, your name appears on a screen with a little green check mark. Cameras scan your face when you approach the border agent when entering or leaving the country. At airports, more than any other public spaces today, facial recognition technology has become pervasive and inescapable. – OneZero
And in just case you missed some of our stuff earlier, here’s what you may have missed:
- The largest surveillance project in United States history is now public
- The worst passwords of 2019 include “password” and “123456”
- Review: Pani Smart Water Monitor – making my dumb home smarter
- Facebook struggles to convince lawmakers why it constantly needs to track your location
- Twitter’s revamped iPad app is basically the web version
- Epic Games is celebrating the holidays with 12 days of free games, discounts, and coupons
- Spotify is testing Tastebuds, a feature that helps you discover your friends’ favorite music
- Review: Nuphy NuType portable mechanical keyboard
- Photo Roulette is a game for teens that has disaster written all over it
- We really hope this clamshell thing isn’t Samsung’s next folding phone
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare gets cranked with new maps and game mode
- How to get tech for less this Christmas [Infographic]
Notable Mentions
Facebook is working on its owan OS that could reduce its reliance on Android
Zynga hack affected 170 million accounts
Previous Hangovers…
- Tech Hangover: Apple, Amazon, and Google are teaming up to make the smart home smarter
- 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
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