Zone’s Ross Basham handpicks and shares the five best new stories on digital trends, experiences and technologies…
1. Giant Apple takes a bite out of tiny pear
Apple has started a fruit war by taking legal action against a meal plan app that uses a pear as its logo. Prepear is a spin-off of small US business Super Healthy Kids, who described the lawsuit as “a big blow” that could cost tens of thousands of dollars to fight and has started a Change.org petition to call on Apple to knock it off.
Apple, which has bullied other small businesses trying to use fruit-based logos before, claims the Prepear logo will be associated by consumers with its own logo due to its “minimalistic fruit design” and “right-angled leaf”. Which seems ridiculous to me, given that it’s a different colour and, crucially, a completely different fruit.
2. Eurostar blames coronavirus for lack of wi-fi
The coronavirus pandemic has definitely been to blame for a lot of things over the past six months, but can it really be at fault for a lack of free wi-fi in standard class train carriages? Nice try, Eurostar! A customer had complained after finding that wi-fi was only available to premium class passengers “due to Covid”.
A spokesman said the move was temporary and wi-fi had been restored throughout trains, but failed to explain how Covid had affected providing wi-fi from a trackside network to standard seats. Mark Jackson, founder of internet service provider ISPreview, said the decision made “as much sense as dancing naked on lava”.
3. Android phones to be earthquake detectors
Android devices will soon be able to detect earthquakes as they’re happening, thanks to a partnership between Google, the US Geological Survey’s ShakeAlert and a range of academics. An estimated three billion people live with the threat of earthquakes, but only a few of the richer countries have an early warning system.
Google is sending out earthquake alerts powered by ShakeAlert, which draws on signals from 700 seismometers across California. And Google says it is committed to bringing alerts to more countries through the Android Earthquake Alerts System, which combines information from mobiles to determine if an earthquake is occurring.
4. Twitter rolls out reply control feature to all
Following a trial earlier this year, Twitter is rolling out new settings to all users that will allow them to control who can reply to their tweets. The default setting will remain ‘anyone can reply’ but users can also limit replies to people they follow or even restrict replies to users they specifically mention in their tweet.
Other people can still react to the tweets by starting their own conversations via retweets, so the angry hordes can still vent their spleens, but at least it means the original poster can start a conversation knowing they’re not about to be inundated with harassment, racism, misogyny or other hate speech. Twitter, lovely Twitter…
5. Have a Blockbuster sleepover! (in Oregon)
Ah, Blockbuster. Many a Saturday evening ruined because there were no copies of Jurassic Park or Terminator 2 left. Of course, the advent of streaming was the kiss of death for Blockbuster, and now only one remains, a labour of love in Oregon. But now, locals will have the chance for one last Blockbuster sleepover in the final store.
For three nights only, the store will be kitted out with (socially distanced) pull-out couches, bean-bags and pillows for visitors to settle in for ‘new releases’ from the 90s. The lucky few will also be able to play retro video games. And all for £3 — the same price as renting Jurassic Park (if there are any copies left, of course).
