Technogaze

14 Jun 2014

Supercritical solar power, Firefox phones, iPhone phishing, Dronies and Google tells you where to get off

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In this episode Mark, Raena, Johnny and Michael looked at the death of the Nokia brand as Microsoft fulfils its acquisition obligations and progressively drops the name Nokia from mobile devices.

In more mobile news, we learnt that Apple is decreasing the likelihood of your device being tracked, with some interesting changes in iOS8 and how the software discovers wireless access points. Mozilla believes its $25 Firefox smartphones will be popular in Indonesia and India and Google Now tells you when to get off your train or bus – in some cities.

Green tech was making the news with CSIRO claiming a world first in the use of solar mirror farms to create supercritical steam to generate power that could compete with coal and gas powered plants. The tiny island of Annobon off the west coast of Africa is going 100% solar with panels on the island feeding battery cells to provide solar power around the clock.

The Electronics Entertainment Expo, E3, was on last week with new game announcements and the re-release of some old favorites. Halo 1-4 has been remastered with new graphics and a teaser for the upcoming Halo 5. Splattoon, Sunset Overdrive and Dragon Age Inquisition had Raena and Johnny thinking about their Christmas wish lists.

Two people thought responsible for the recent iPhone hijacking and subsequent ransom demands have been arrested. It is now thought that social engineering techniques were used to obtain iCloud usernames and passwords.

If you thought that selfies were the ultimate in capturing the real you, then you may have to have a rethink as dronies start to invade.