Weekly Tech Recap - № 223 - Sony Walkman, 5 stars for the Model 3, Android Q, User Inyerface, Alexa
Walkman turns 40
Walkman. © Sony.
Sony is celebrating the 40th birthday of one of its most iconic products, the Walkman: the first portable music player ever. Released on July 1st, 1979, it revolutionized the way we listen to music, even though we don’t use cassettes or CDs anymore. Nearly every mobile device we carry now can play music, storing thousands of songs and streaming tens of thousands more from the internet anywhere in the world. But the whole idea of taking music with you — that you could listen to your favorite songs on the go, without subjecting everyone nearby to your music — started with the Walkman. The device was an instant hit. Sony thought it would sell 5,000 units per month, but in fact it shipped 50,000 units in the first two months at a time when USD150 was good coin (USD500 in today’s dollars). Over 400 million Walkman portable music players have been sold, 200 million of them cassette players. Sony retired the classic cassette tape line in 2010. The Walkman is one of those iconic 80s objects, right up there with the Rubik’s Cube, Air Jordan sneakers, the Atari 2600 console, Swatch watches, the first Macintoshes, etc. So much so that it must be featured in any period piece worth its salt, like the Stranger Things television series.
⇨ Circuit Breaker, “40 years ago, the Sony Walkman changed how we listen to music.”
The Model 3, a model car
Crash test. © Euro NCAP.
Euro NCAP is the organization that tests the safety of new vehicles sold in Europe. Based on crash tests, it rates vehicles on a scale of zero to five stars. The Tesla Model 3 got a perfect score of 5 stars. The video below shows the crash tests on the Model 3, as well as tests of its active safety features, such as the automatic emergency braking system (AEB) that prevents drivers from hitting pedestrians or cyclists. Euro NCAP says it was impressed by the effectiveness of these features, especially the one that prevents drivers from unintentionally drifting into another lane.
⇨ TechCrunch, “Watch how Tesla Model 3 earned its 5-star safety rating from Euro NCAP.”
Android Q&A
Android Q. © Google.
The 10th version of the Android OS, dubbed “Q”, is expected to release in its definitive form in Q3 of this year. Reporters from Ars Technica sat down at length with Dave Burke, VP of engineering for Android, Iliyan Malchev, principal engineer at Android, and Anwar Ghuloum, senior director of engineering, and head of Project Mainline. This project allows Google to directly push updates of core system components of the OS without requiring an entire system update. The interview makes for interesting reading for Android developers; you’ll learn, among other things, that APEX, the name of the new system library update files, stands for Android Pony EXpress.
⇨ Ars Technica, “Android Q(&A): Android Engineers take us on a deep dive of Android Q.”
The worst user experience ever
User Inyerface. © Bagaar.
A quasi-daily occurrence for web surfers is stumbling on irritants, be they poorly-designed interfaces, intrusive pop-ups that interfere with your reading, idiotic forms or impossible CAPTCHAs. Now, a Belgian design studio has collected and featured all of these irritants on a single web site; the result is as hilarious as it is frustrating. Go to User Inyerface and see for yourself! Though we doubt you’ll even make it past the first pages. It is possible to reach the last page of the site — which will reward you with a message of congratulations — but it will require steely determination.
⇨ Ars Technica, “Behold, the most (intentionally) poorly designed website ever created.”
Alexa stores it all
Echo Spot. © Amazon.
Chris Coons, a Democratic senator from Delaware, addressed some good questions to Jeff Bezos, and Amazon provided answers you didn’t want to hear. In short, Amazon’s Alexa keeps all data with no expiration date, and shares it too! Be worried: this data includes recordings and transcripts of every voice interaction with your assistant. And the concern with privacy protection doesn’t affect just voice assistants: connected object technologies are present in an ever-growing number of devices, like doorbells and door locks. Worse yet, technology companies are far from transparent on the type of data they collect or the level of control you have over it. “The American people deserve to understand how their personal data is being used by tech companies, and I will continue to work with both consumers and companies to identify how to best protect Americans’ personal information,” Coons said in a statement.
⇨ Cnet, “Amazon Alexa keeps your data with no expiration date, and shares it too.”
