NEWS
Bloomberg’s insider gossip as to what caused Samsung’s Note 7 batteries to explode Bloomberg has a good story on what they think is the cause of Samsung's battery woes. From the unconfirmed details from Samsung insiders, it appears that Samsung thought Apple's iPhone 7 would be weak and this was their chance to get a one up on their arch rival. The plan was to work hard to bring forward the release of fancy sensors, cutting edge tech and a huge battery to try win over Apple's prized high end customers. This rush, the article reckons, is what caused Samsung to cut corners on testing the battery and what lead to the shit they're in now. Discuss
ACCC introduces industry code for button battery safety And on the topic of batteries - the ACCC has created a new "Industry Code for Consumer Goods that Contain Button Batteries", designed to prevent the amount of kiddies swallowing tiny and toxic lithium batteries. The Code is designed to encourage retailers and importers to only sell products that have tricky battery compartments that kids can't open easily, or open when dropped. The code even suggests retailers to consider not selling products with button batteries at all. Discuss
Media outlets sue the FBI to get more info on the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone The Associated Press, Vice and USA Today have launched legal proceedings against the FBI to find out what they did exactly to break in to the infamous iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. After the FBI's campaign of bullshit, saying that only Apple are the ones who can help us here, they managed to find someone who could and quietly went away. Those media outlets want to know who it was that helped, how much it cost, and what they did. It's unlikely that info will be revealed, but at least they're trying. Discuss
Malware posing a Pokemon Go Guide manages to get 500,000 downloads on Google Play store Kaspersky has detected a shifty piece of malware that managed to evade the Google Play store and land on 500,000 devices. A trojan posing as a Pokemon Go Guide app was pushed on to the store that was able to use various Android exploits to root the devices and virtually do whatever it likes, such as re-directing users to phishing websites, installing random apps and whatever nasty shit hackers wanna profit from these days. The app is no longer on the store, but everyone who's installed it, but hasn't removed it, is still as the app's mercy. I think Google Play has the ability to shitcan apps from people's phones, I hope? Discuss
The iPhone 7 teardowns are here Over the weekend some people disassembled their iPhones so we don't have to. iFixIt finished theirs, showing the large "taptic engine" where the headphone socket was and the dual camera assembly in the iPhone 7 Plus. They even put some parts through an x-ray machine to see what's going on. Chipworks busted out the microscopes too to see who won what parts contract to fill the world's most advanced piece of consumer technology. The much rumoured move to Intel for the LTE radio has happened in select devices, with Intel winning the GSM only models and Qualcomm providing the radio for GSM/CDMA models. Now we wait for the Anandtech review. Discuss
COOL SHIT
Brolly is an app that'll tell you when it's gonna rain Mr. Christopher Menz was inspired by some rainy weather last week to see if the popular Dark Sky weather app was out in Australia. It is not. But he found the next best thing: Brolly. It send a push notification direct to your GSM enabled pocket computer to let you know that it's gonna rain soon. Check it out if you think you'll find it handy. Or don't. I couldn't care less. Whatever apps you use or don't use are of no consequence to me. Discuss
KiMovil is a Chinaphone price & feature search engine If you're in the market for a Chinaphone, KiMovil is fucking awesome. KiMovil scrapes all those weird Chinese electronics stores like GeekBuying, Banggood, EveryBuying and dozens more to see who has the best price on the phone you're after. It'll even search for specific models by the amount of RAM, CPU they use, screen size and more. Pretty classy! Discuss
eBay's having another sale and here's some good tech buys for ya eBay is having another 15% off sale and a few deals have popped up on OzBargain. The excellent Dell U2715H monitor (2560x1440), is just $510 delivered. A 64GB Nexus 6P, AU stock with AU warranty for $616, Moto G4 Plus 16GB/32GB for $310/$379. The very good and popular Bose QC35 Bluetooth noise canceling headphones are $403 delivered. Happy consuming! Discuss
Here endeth the sizzle (until tomorrow!) --Anthony
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