TWTW: April 29th – May 5th, 2018

The week that was (TWTW) takes a look back at the week’s most prominent tech stories from around the world.

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Lastly you can find a full transcript of this week’s episode below.

In the week that was April 29th toMay 5th, 2018:


Intro

Hey everyone, my name’s Raj Deut and it’s time to take a look back at the tech news in the week that was:

April 29th to May 5th, 2018.

Stories

Twitter did Facebook a favour in taking some heat this week revealing on Thursday that all 336 million users have had their passwords logged in plain text to an internal log file due to a software bug.

The company released a statement saying that while they have no reason to believe the log was leaked they insist that all users change their password as a matter of precaution.


Not to be left out completely, Facebook held it’s F8 developers conference in San Francisco this week. In a slightly unusual format the conference addressed the company’s recent user data scandal outlining their approach moving forward as well as new tools being implement to allow users to clear their Facebook history. Other announcements for the platform include the support of 3D photos and functionality to block “Happy Birthday” spam in what Facebook still like to call a “feed”.

The biggest, and most unexpected announcement was the company’s plans to add a new dating layer directly onto its mobile app. The new functionality is designed to find “real” relationships according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and will only be visible to people beyond your existing friend circle.


In addition to changes platform features Facebook subsidiary Oculus showed off the final version of its new US$199 “Go” headset. The new Oculus Go is a step up from the Samsung affiliated Gear VR and includes an integrated display. As a standalone VR unit the Go is by no means going to replace your Rift but has over 1,000 titles available for it drawing from Oculus’ extensive library.


Atari released some more details on their upcoming Ataribox console that they’re now calling the Atari VCS. The new console will be available to order through an IndieGoGo campaign starting May 30th with final delivery expected in 2019.

The VCS will be powered by an AMD core supporting 4K at 60fps and run a Linux OS variant that the company hopes will bring a full range of applications to the system for social media, streaming, music and more beyond the console’s gaming core.

Said to include a range of classic Atari gaming there is little more known about what you can expect to play on the device when it eventually does arrive.


And finally the Australian made podcast app that could, Pocket Casts, has been sold to a US conglomerate group made up of radio and podcast production specialists such as NPR and This American Life.

Details of the sale are all but unknown however it was revealed that all employees of the app’s original development studio Shifty Jelly will remain under the deal and will continue working on the app.

Outro

And that’s it for another week! As always be sure to subscribe and like the show on your listening-slash-viewing platform of choice.

Be sure to follow our Instagram at @ReckonerAU for news stories & updates as they happen and be on the look out for some exciting new reviews about to hit the website.

Have a great week and bye for now.