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Weekly Rewind: Self-tying shoes, March Madness apps, a cloak to keep you off radar

top tech stories 3 20 2016 iowa st cloak
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In the tech world, a lot happens in a week. So much news goes on, in fact, 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 the second week of March. Everything from the the best way to follow March Madness to a real life invisibility cloak — it’s all here.

Stories: 1-5

Apple picks apart FBI’s ‘reckless’ and ‘uninformed’ argument in scathing new brief

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Apple’s kerfuffle with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department appears far from over. In the company’s final brief filed on Tuesday ahead of its March 22 court appearance, lawyers for Apple argued that the government’s demands regarding the San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s encrypted iPhone would “appall” the Founders of our nation. Apple’s lawyers deconstructed the FBI’s and DOJ’s arguments from start to finish.

Read the full story here.

Google reflects on ‘man vs. machine’ Go series

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In the wake of AlphaGo’s 4-1 victory over internationally renowned Go player Lee Sedol, Google has published a blog post ruminating on the win and what it means for the company going forward. The post was written by Demis Habassis, the CEO and co-founder of DeepMind, which Google acquired back in 2014.


Read the full story here.

See how fast these criminals install a machine ready to steal your credit card details

Raw Video: Men Place Card Skimmer on ATM Store Machine!

The threat of using an ATM with a so-called card skimmer attached is very real, and if it happens to you, it’s possible your card details could be used fraudulently, imprinted on a blank card to run up a huge bill, or worse, empty your bank account. Certainly not a situation any of us would want to encounter, but these skimmers must be difficult to install and setup right? Wrong, as shown by this shocking video.

Read the full story here.

Celebgate: Pennsylvania man to plead guilty for hacking stars’ nude photos

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GilC/Shutterstock

You all remember it. The people who had nude images of themselves posted online certainly do. We’re talking about the so-called “Celebgate” hack of 2014 where naked pictures and videos of Hollywood stars were stolen from their Apple and Google accounts and posted online. A Pennsylvania man plead guilty to the crime.

Read the full story here.

Siri will say that she doesn’t know what you mean by ‘raped’

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Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

If you tell Siri, “I was raped,” she’ll say “I don’t know what you mean by ‘I was raped.’ How about a Web search for it?” And the digital voice assistant’s competitors aren’t any better. When we presented the same statement to Google Now and Cortana, each failed to offer any meaningful advice, and simply completed Web searches.

Read the full story here.

Recommended Videos

Stories: 6-10

Great Scott! Nike debuts the world’s first pair of self-tying shoes

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Shoelaces are a pain. Their tendency to become impossibly tangled has led many a kid (and adult) to lust longingly after Marty McFly’s labor-saving MAG sneakers in Back to the Future Part II, but a real-world equivalent has so far proven elusive … until now. At a press event in New York yesterday, sportswear behemoth Nike announced it’ll bring the world’s first self-tying shoe to market.

Read the full story here.

Scientists have developed a flexible, stretchable ‘invisibility cloak’ that hides objects from radar

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You might not be able to attend Hogwarts, but technology is bringing us closer to magic every day. Thanks to new research from Iowa State University, we may soon be able to take the notion of invisibility cloaks out of the realm of fiction and into our reality. Engineers from the midwest university have developed an innovative “flexible, stretchable, and tunable ‘meta-skin’ that uses rows of small, liquid-metal devices to cloak an object from the sharp eyes of radar.”

Read the full story here.

11 March Madness apps to bring the game with you everywhere

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All season leads up to this: The NCAA Tournament, better known as March Madness. Sixty eight teams have been playing for the past five months to get to this tournament – to have a chance at glory. It’s the same opportunity you have thanks to office pools, and you don’t even have to play the games.

Read the full story here.

First drive: Toyota i-Road

Toyota i-Road
Albert Khoury/Digital Trends

The major cities of the world are invariably the center of their regions’ commerce and industry. They offer the best in food, culture, and art, which is great for business. However, this leads to crowding and congestion. Traffic comes to a dead stop during rush hour and parking is a nightmare.

Read the full story here.

The Roccbox portable oven can cook a pizza in 90 seconds

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If you’ve been on the hunt for the perfect oven, Roccbox may be just the appliance you need for your home. Not only does it cook with wood or gas, but it’s completely portable, which makes it versatile enough to go beyond what it was designed to do: make pizza.

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…
Google Pixel Prime Big Deal Days deals: Phones, watches, earbuds
Comparison of Google Pixel 8 and 8a.

Update 10/07/24: With just one day away from the official start of the Prime Big Deal days, we're already seeing some great deals on various pixel devices rolling out. We've included a few of the best deals we could find below, but be sure to check back as we update with newer and better deals.

It's probably no surprise that Prime Day is the best time to snag yourself some excellent Google Pixel deals, and Prime Big Deal Days on October 8 and 9 are no different. Pretty much all Google Pixel products are going on sale, which is why we've gone out and scoured the internet for the best Google Pixel Prime Day deals on everything from Pixel phones to Pixel watches. That said, you may also want to check out our general roundup of Prime Day deals, and if you're not necessarily tied to Google, it's worth taking a look at these Prime Day smartwatch deals, Prime Day tablet deals, and Prime Day smartphone deals for some more options.
Best Prime Day Pixel Deals

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Waiting for an Apple smart ring? We have bad news
A person wearing the Samsung Galaxy Ring and the Oura Ring.

Smart rings might be all the rage right now with the Oura Ring 4 and the Samsung Galaxy Ring leading the way, but Apple currently has no plans to join the zeitgeist. In the premium version of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says Apple isn't planning to make a smart ring of its own because it would pull attention away from the Apple Watch. This comes amid all the rumors that have persisted about the so-called Apple Ring.

According to TechRadar, Gurman says that an Apple Ring would "detract from the Apple Watch" and could "cannibalize" sales, especially when the Watch is basically dominating the market and still has room to grow.

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iPhone SE 4: everything we know so far
The Apple iPhone SE (2022) and Apple iPhone SE (2020) together.

While the spotlight always seems to be on Apple’s mainline iPhones, the iPhone SE is a great pick for those who are on a budget. If you want an iPhone that doesn't break the bank, the SE is the way to go.

The original iPhone SE came out in 2016, and then Apple revamped it in 2020 and 2022 by giving it some more modern hardware. The iPhone SE tends to get updated every two or so years rather than annually like the traditional iPhone. This means that we should see a new iPhone SE 4 in 2025.

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