Weekly Recap: Details about Rogue One, Game Boy Nostalgia, Apple Doesn't Love Trump, etc.
****(Spoiler Alert)**** Juicy Details on Star Wars Rogue One ****(Spoiler Alert)****
Rumours are rife on Rogue One. Entertainment Weekly put the next instalment of Star Wars on the cover of its magazine, revealing many a detail about it in the process: Darth Vader (yes, you read that right) will play a central role, and Ben Mendehlson’s greatest wish is to learn from him. Mads Mikkelsen will play the father of Jyn Erso, a scientist working for both the Empire and the Alliance. The cover also reveals the new TIE Fighter, the TIE Striker. Finally, the article gives many details on the second shooting of the film, which was the source of much debate.
⇨ Gizmodo, “We've Finally Got Some Solid Details on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
⇨ Entertainment Weekly, “This Week's Cover”
Now your Android phone can be a Game Boy.
If you’ve ever wished that you could magically turn your phone into a Game Boy, or been disappointed with imitations currently on the market, rejoice! Hyperkin Lab has developed a concept that will give you the same satisfying feel of pressing those buttons (mechanical ones!) that you got from the Game Boy Color, for half the price of a second-hand Game Boy.
⇨ Digital Trends, “Smartboy Turns your Android Phone into a Gameboy.”
When Politics gets in bed with Technology: Apple doesn’t like Trump, but contributes to the campaigns of other Republicans
This week, Apple announced that it would not fund the Republican convention, probably because it doesn’t like the racist leanings of the Republican candidate. However, Tim Cook will hold a fund-raising event for Paul Ryan next week, hoping to help elect other Republicans. Though relations between Ryan and Trump are tense, Ryan has said that he would support the candidate elected by the party. This hard right-turn is probably not unrelated to Apple’s tussle with the government over encryption.
⇨ Recode, “Apple doesn’t love Trump, but Apple CEO Tim Cook is raising money for Paul Ryan and other Republicans”
Alternative Lending: Fading, not Gone
What a difference one year can make! In 2015, Lending Club was a leader in alternative lending, with a market capitalization of some 7 billion dollars. The media excitedly trumpeted an Uber/Airbnb-type revolution in lending, fuelled by new technologies.
Now, investors are much more critical of Lending Club and OnDeck Capital shares, and the media is predicting the demise of alternative lending. Is it really going the way of the dodo? Or is the excitement simply fading to a more realistic assessment of the true market value of such companies?
⇨ Tech Crunch, “Alternative Lenders Aren't Going Away, They're Just Misunderstood”
5G Soon to be the New Normal in the U.S.
The Federal Communications Commission has floated a proposal to identify and open up new frequencies capable of delivering data at much higher speeds than what’s currently used for 4G and LTE. This would make the U.S. the first country in the world to have 5G. Speeds on 5G should be 10 to 100 times faster than what is currently available on 4G. The only downside: 5G waves don’t travel very far and are not good at penetrating buildings. This means that cell phone companies will be forced to deploy expensive new infrastructures.
⇨ The Verge, “The FCC will start to make 5G a reality this week”
