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Trends with Benefits: The hoverboard is not a hoax, and VR gets its first world record

Trends with Benefits: Weekly tech news roundup for May 5, 2016

We are rarely, if ever, wrong about anything on Trends With Benefits, but it appears some of us may have been incorrect (gasp!) regarding a possible hoax.

A video of the the Flyboard Air Hoverboard from Zapata Racing being flown over water, took the internet by storm a few weeks ago. While the original video sparked a huge debate as to whether the product was a hoax, the newest one effectively put this to the rest. Franky Zapata used his incredible product to break the Guinness World Record by flying just over a mile, while 50 feet in the air! It’s well documented and the video is amazing, proving it is not a hoax. We all agree we want it immediately, and that we would also probably crash it just as fast.

Today is World Password Day (it’s a real thing) and it helps to remind everyone to consistently change your various login passwords. A Russian Hacker, known as “The Collector” has stolen 272 million Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail passwords, prompting some panic from providers. While most accounts are overseas, it’s probably time to beef up those passwords you’ve been using for everything.

Our 2nd Guinness Record topic of the day comes from Virtual Reality. Filmmaker Derek Westerman spent 25 hours wearing an HTC Vive. He was required to only play one game and he chose Tilt Brush. The entire account ends with Westerman vomiting and feeling sick, which is not surprising. However, would you be willing to go 26 hours, to break his record?

NextVR has teamed up with Live Nation, with a plan to bring live concerts to home users. The idea will be to eventually sell virtual tickets to the events. There are some aspects of this that could be pretty cool, if it’s done correctly. Will users be willing to sit still with a headset on for a 2-3 hour concert?

Following on the heels of Hulu, YouTube now has plans to jump into live-streaming television. The service will be called Unplugged and will sell for around $35 per month. It’s starting to feel like we’re reaching a plateau for live-streaming television. With so many services, cord-cutters could end up spending more than they did with actual cable.

Today’s episode features Drew Prindle, Matt Smith, Caleb Denison and Greg Nibler.

Please subscribe and share Trends with Benefits, and send in YOUR questions to podcast@digitaltrends.com. We also broadcast the show live on YouTube every Thursday at 2:30 pm PST.

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Greg Nibler
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Greg has worked as a Host, Producer, and Writer in radio and television since the early 2000s, working for such companies as…
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