Apple Pay rival CurrentC is circling down the drain
Hey, everyone remember CurrentC? No, you probably don’t. Well, it’s a mobile payments platform that was designed by the Merchants Customer Exchange for use at MCX member stores, including Walmart, CVS, Best Buy, 7-11, Rite Aid, The Gap, Old Navy and Dunkin’ Donuts. CurrentC gained a brief couple of weeks of notoriety last fall when its members started turning off NFC payment sensors in their stores, which in turn blocked iPhone users from using Apple Pay to buy things. Six months later, however, the CurrentC coalition is in complete disarray.
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Video: British tourist has a thrilling first encounter with an advanced Korean super-toilet
Americans like to think we have the best of everything but in reality the Japanese and Koreans are light years ahead of us when it comes to toilet technology. A British YouTube user who goes by the name of Jonny Conquest recently posted a video that his uncle recorded of his first encounter with a magical Korean toilet… but don’t worry, the video only shows the toilet’s control panel and nothing else.
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Hulu is getting every episode of Seinfeld
“When will I be able to watch Seinfeld on one of my favorite streaming services?”
It’s a question that many of us have asked over the past several years, but this week, it appears we finally have an answer. During a Hulu press conference on Wednesday, Jerry Seinfeld himself took the stage to reveal that all nine seasons of the celebrated sitcom will debut on the streaming service in June.
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Meet Adaptalux, the amazing portable gadget that’ll take your photography to the next level
Fancy yourself an amateur photographer looking to further hone your skills? If so, Kickstarter has an accessory you absolutely have to check out, because it might solve one of your biggest problems: access to the right kind of light for specific shots. Dubbed Adaptalux, the device is actually “a portable macro photography and videography adaptable lighting studio,” and you have three days left to make sure it launches later this year.
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Now he tells us: Google designer says you don’t need a smartwatch
Google designer Matías Duarte has admitted what many of us have known for a while now: We really don’t need to own smartwatches, particularly of the first-generation variety. Bloomberg reports that Duarte said this week that smartwatches are good for people who are enthusiasts “for fitness or notifications,” but that most people will see them as electric can openers. Or put another way, they’re nice to have but they won’t be a staple of every household in America.
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A new hurdle for ‘Netflix for Pirates’ app Popcorn Time: U.K. moves to ban it
Popcorn Time, also informally known as “Netflix for pirates,” is a very popular video-streaming application for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS that offers users quick access to free movies and TV shows using a very sleek interface. However, the service isn’t legal, as it offers users access to pirated content that’s played on their computer almost instantly, as it downloads via torrents. And copyright holders don’t like that.
According to Variety, a U.K. chancery court already approved an order requiring Internet service providers in the country to block Popcorn Time.
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This map shows what Google users want to buy most in different countries – and it’s both funny and sad
If you’ve ever traveled abroad, you’ve probably searched the Internet for what certain items that you’ll want to pick up on your trip. Doing this likely involves a Google search for “How much does [Product X] cost in [Country X]?” or something similar. Per Business Insider, it seems that cost-comparison website Fixr.com used Google autocomplete to determine the product that people most often search for in different countries and it turned the results into a map that is by turns hilarious and sad.
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Here are all the PS4, PS3 and Vita games you can get for free in May
PlayStation Plus subscribers rejoice: the latest batch of free games for PS4, PS3 and PS Vita were just announced. May’s collection consists of some of the best indie games from the past few years, which means you won’t need to clear a bunch of gigabytes on your PS4’s hard drive in order to download them all.
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Revealed: The real reason the Apple Watch rollout has been an ungodly mess
Even though Apple regularly has issues with supplies when one of its products launches, we’ve rarely seen an epic debacle like the one currently going on with the Apple Watch, where many people who preordered the device on the first day still have no clue when they will get it. The Wall Street Journal has just published a new report that reveals Apple discovered some serious with the taptic engines in many Apple Watches and had to pull them before they could ship. The Journal says Apple found taptic engines supplied by Chinese manufacturer AAC Technologies Holdings Inc. broke down significantly over time, which forced Apple to destroy a huge batch of finished watches.
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Video flashback: 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg talks about ‘The Facebook’ on CNBC
I’m not sure if it should be a source of embarrassment or pride (or perhaps neither), but I was up and running on Facebook back in late 2004, back when Friendster was still the top dog of social networking. As a student at the time, I was able to witness first-hand how quickly Facebook was able to secure a foothold in the daily lives of college students. Writing on “the wall” on your friends’ pages, poking people, joining an endless string of groups — these were just a few of the many fun and quirky features why helped Facebook became an instant hit with students.
Still, at the time no one could have really predicted that Facebook would go on to become a household name, not just in tech, but across the globe. That said, it’s always interesting to take a stroll back in time and look at how Facebook was viewed well before it became the de facto social network it is today.
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