The Drum’s top ten tech disruptions of the week - Uber price anger, Microsoft mobile u-turn & Tinder celeb dating
It’s been a busy week in technology. Here The Drum has rounded up 10 of the top tech innovations that have been touted this week as capable of disrupting the world as we know it.
1. Parents are actually using TV as a means of punishing naughty children. The times are a'changing with almost half of parents admitting to removing mobiles and tablets and instead landing wayward youths in front of TVs which were found to provide more linear viewing experiences.
2. Transport disrupter Uber’s ‘dynamic pricing’ came under close scrutiny during the Tube Strikes after fares were found to increase as much as 300 per cent during windows of high demand. Traditional cabbies and Hailo were quick to point out that during the chaos their rates remained flat.
3. Tinder has looked to add a little celebrity excitement to the dating app by launching verified profiles. In a similar fashion to verified accounts on Facebook and Twitter, users should expect some prominent figures to crop up in the feed every now and then – an interesting first from the digital dating sector.
4. Many content creators have made a healthy living posting videos to YouTube. One such individual is Felix 'PewDiePie' Kjellberg who most recently defended his $7.4m YouTube ad revenue saying his nine billion views must translate to something.
5. Global desktop sales continue to plummet – further cementing the rise of mobile devices. Data from IDC states that only 66 million PC’s were shifted in the last three months. Apple was the only PC manufacturer to increase its share from 5.9 to 7.8 per cent in 2014.
6. Only 27 per cent of UK consumers would trust Apple Pay mobile wallet on launch, according to data from Forrester. The report shows that the Californian tech giant still has a long way to go to prove that mobile payments are indeed the way forward.
7. Logitech has rebranded as Logi – boasting a colourful new range of products. The long-lasting tech accessory firm has promised to put “design at the center of everything we do”. The brand also promised “some twists and a few surprises in new categories”.
8. Microsoft has issued a major turnaround in its phone division which will result in as much as 7,800 job cuts. After buying out Nokia’s devices department in 2014 for $7.2bn the tech giant has instead decided to focus on making its Windows 10 operating system the most widely used OS ever created.
9. Channel 4 on Friday night planned to give control of one of its evening ad breaks to Twitter. Using hashtags, Tweeters could in real time alter the lighting of a live performance from British electro-pop band Years & Years.
10. The former head of Sony Online Entertainment REALLY has a grudge against a Lizard Squad hacker who he alleges brought down a plane he was on with a fake bomb threat. John Smedley, who is now chief executive of Daybreak Game Company, went on a Twitter rant against seventeen year old hacker Julius “zeekill” Kivimaki who was been convicted of 50,700 charges related to computer crimes.
