Skip to main content

Weekly Rewind: A weight loss vest, manmade meteors, and a physical Amazon store

top tech stories 05 22 2016 tokyo meteor shower
Image used with permission by copyright holder
In the tech world, a lot happens in a week. So much news goes on that it’s almost impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of the top 10 tech stories from this week. Everything from what happened at Google I/O to a lung cancer detecting breathalyzer, it’s all here.

Stories: 1-5

Google I/O 2016 recap: Android Wear 2.0, Allo and Duo, Google Home, Daydream, and more

Google’s I/O developer conference keynote has come and gone, revealing the internet titan has more than just a few slick tricks up its sleeve. Highlights from the massively well-attended event include the announcement of a VR program Google has developed called Daydream.

Read the full story here.

A closer look at Thin Ice: the magical weight loss vest that siphons heat off your body to burn calories

Thin-Ice-vest-plate-1
Image used with permission by copyright holder

It seems like something out of science fiction or a bad infomercial. A wearable that lowers the temperature when pressed on the skin to help the body burn more calories and, in the process, cut more fat out of those problem areas? That explains Thin Ice in a nutshell, a vest that uses patent-pending cooling technology to help trigger weight loss.

Read the full story here.

Bye-bye Marvel? Hulu’s new live TV service has Disney CEO rethinking Netflix deals

Walt-Disney-CEO-Bob-Iger
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Earlier this month, both Hulu and YouTube announced plans within days of each other to launch live-streaming internet TV services in 2017. While this might have seemed an odd move for YouTube, it almost seemed a given for Hulu, given that three of the companies expected to be licensing content to the new service are also co-owners of the streamer.

Read the full story here.

The Zuck met with conservatives over news bias claims, and here’s what happened

Facebook-Mark-Zuckerberg
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Working tirelessly to limit the damage caused by recent accusations that Facebook has been suppressing stories from conservative news outlets for its Trending Topics feature, Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday met with more than a dozen leading conservatives to discuss how to ensure the social networking service can “continue to be a platform for all ideas across the political spectrum.”

Read the full story here.

Knocki surpasses its Kickstarter goal in a little more than an hour

Knocki-in-Hand
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Secret knocks have long been used to gain entrance to treehouses, clubs, and forts, and now you can actually use one to unlock your front door. Swan Solutions decided to take the idea of specialized knocks and apply it to everything in your house. The Knocki is a silver-and-white hockey puck-shaped device that lets you turn on your lights, change the song you’re listening to, or switch off the TV.

Read the full story here.

Stories: 6-10

We break down Google’s 6 different personal chatting apps

google-hq-sign-headquarters-logo-name
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Google announced two new messaging platforms at Google I/O: Allo, an upcoming application heavily integrated with Google Assistant, and Duo, a video app that showcases live footage from incoming calls before users even pick up. These apps also come a mere two days after Google announced Spaces, a group chat application and social network that’s heavily integrated with Google’s own search engine.

Read the full story here.

Want an impressive opening ceremony? 2020 Olympics may include a man-made meteor shower

SkyCanvas Promotion Movie (Dubai, Singapore, Japan)

Call it the world’s best idea or worst idea, but it’s sure to be something special. The Olympics may be all about athletic prowess, but its opening ceremonies have always been about showmanship. And what could be more spectacular than a man-made meteor shower? Star-ALE is bidding for the right to create a meteor shower over Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics.

Read the full story here.

A group of Harvard and MIT students have created a lung cancer breathalyzer system

MIT-100K-Award-0001
Image used with permission by copyright holder

A team of entrepreneurs from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a breathalyzer capable of detecting early stages of lung cancer. At MIT’s 27th annual Entrepreneurship Competition, Astraeus Technologies won a $100,000 grand prize for its L CARD (Chemically Actuated Resonate Device).

Read the full story here.

FindFace is a new facial recognition app that could end public privacy

FindFace: an app that allows you to find any person in your Network for photography

Facial recognition can be a wonderful feature to have implemented into platforms and devices. You can unlock your computer with it, automatically have your photos sorted by who’s in them, and even swap your face with your dog in Snapchat. But what happens when facial recognition is so good that it almost completely eliminates the potential of anonymity in public?

Read the full story here.

A brick-and-mortar Amazon store may be coming to a city near you

Amazon-Brick-And-Mortar
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Don’t be fooled by the brick-and-mortar stores it’s got, this is still Amazon from the block. Or rather, the web. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has promised to bring more of Amazon offline and into the physical sphere, though it’s unclear yet as to how many “more” really is. But don’t worry — Amazon isn’t leaving the internet behind.

Read the full story here.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
AT&T just made it a lot easier to upgrade your phone
AT&T Storefront with logo.

Do you want to upgrade your phone more than once a year? What about three times a year? Are you on AT&T? If you answered yes to those questions, then AT&T’s new “Next Up Anytime” early upgrade program is made for you. With this add-on, you’ll be able to upgrade your phone three times a year for just $10 extra every month. It will be available starting July 16.

Currently, AT&T has its “Next Up” add-on, which has been available for the past several years. This program costs $6 extra per month and lets you upgrade by trading in your existing phone after at least half of it is paid off. But the new Next Up Anytime option gives you some more flexibility.

Read more
Motorola is selling unlocked smartphones for just $150 today
Someone holding the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024).

Have you been looking for phone deals but don’t want to spend a ton of money on flagship devices from Apple and Samsung? Have you ever considered investing in an unlocked Motorola? For a limited time, the company is offering a $100 markdown on the Motorola Moto G 5G. It can be yours for just $150, and your days and nights of phone-shopping will finally be over!

Why you should buy the Motorola Moto G 5G
Powered by the Snapdragon 480+ 5G CPU and 4GB of RAM, the Moto G delivers exceptional performance across the board. From UI navigation to apps, games, and camera functions, you can expect fast load times, next to no buffering, and smooth animations. You’ll also get up to 128GB of internal storage that you’ll be able to use for photos, videos, music, and any other mobile content you can store locally. 

Read more
The Nokia 3210 is the worst phone I’ve used in 2024
A person holding the Nokia 3210, showing the screen.

Where do I even start with the Nokia 3210? Not the original, which was one of the coolest phones to own back in a time when Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace wasn’t even a thing, but the latest 2024 reissue that has come along to save us all from digital overload, the horror of social media, and the endless distraction that is the modern smartphone.

Except behind this facade of marketing-friendly do-goodery hides a weapon of torture, a device so foul that I’d rather sit through multiple showings of Jar Jar Binks and the gang hopelessly trying to bring back the magic of A New Hope than use it.
The Nokia 3210 really is that bad

Read more