Plastic iPhones, Twitter’s IPO and Miley again: #StuffToKnow this week

So the latest golden Apple iPhone has graced us with its official launch… unfortunately, it dragged its trashy plastic sister with. Nissan (yes, the car manufacturer) released a smartwatch. Yes, really. Twitter is going public with its IPO, hopefully with more success than Facebook did. In other news of things going public that probably shouldn’t, Miley is at it again…

TECH

Apple’s iPhone 5s, 5c event in a nutshell
Well, the iPhone 5S is here. Its camera is nicely jacked up and there is this cool fingerprint scanner for those who have security concerns, but the big news in my opinion is that it is the smartphone to usher in the next level of processors. The iPhone 5S comes with a 64-bit operating system, a bit before it’s fully able to be utilised as the RAM is still around 2GB, but still cool.

The iPhone 5c isn’t a cheap iPhone, it’s just a colorful one
Apple used to be known for purely elite products. There was no compromise in quality, they only released the best. So what the hell is this “unapologetically plastic” iPhone 5Cheap? Oh yeah, and it’s not even actually cheap it just looks cheap.

Apple’s fingerprint ID may mean you can’t ‘take the Fifth’
This point of view I took notice of as it’s an angle that is reasonably serious that no one else seems to have picked up on. Due to the protection of the Fifth Amendment (at least in America), which says that “no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself,” this is the law in the movies where the bad guy always uses not to get himself in even more trouble. Now the thing is, that law may not apply when it comes to biometric-based fingerprints (things that reflect who we are) as opposed to more traditional memory-based passwords and PINs (things we need to know and remember).

Nissan unveils the Nismo smartwatch, a wearable device to connect drivers to their cars
On the heels of the Samsung Galaxy Gear, Nissan relea… wait what, the car brand? Okay? Yep, I checked definitely not a typo, car brands are coming out with smartwatches now. Seriously Apple, if the guys from Volkswagen beat you to your iWatch release I will still buy it but very begrudgingly.

Google Coder lets you build Raspberry Pi web apps in your browser (video)
Okay this one is just for the true nerds, those who are building their own cyclones of tomorrow. For those of you who know of the Raspberry Pi project you can now build Skynet as well. Have fun, and remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

INTERNET

Twitter tweets that it’s going public
Well this is not exactly a shocker, actually overdue if anything. The 140 character based social network finally decided to enter the big leagues financially speaking. Hopefully the delay is due to them researching properly how to avoid the mistakes of the last big blue social network (Facebook) that went public which is only now seeing its stock going up again since early 2012.

New Incredible Connection online store launched
Now the famously over priced but very well stocked store known as “Incredible Corruption” is online. The best feature seems to be the ability for customers to order or reserve goods online, and then collect their order at their nearest Incredible Connection store.

Google+ follows Facebook, Twitter’s lead, introduces embedded posts
Google+ continues to integrate with the web, and soon many will have the social network of the internet behemoth Google plastered across their favourite sites. Just like a Twitter or Facebook post, it’s now possible to embed public Google+ posts on your own website and it’s quite easy.

This is also a cool way of subtly advertising Google+ as it will now be embedded in articles across the web. Even though Google+ has surpassed Twitter in active users many people in the mainstream still think of it as something of an internet “ghost town.” Hopefully this new feature will amend that.

ENTERTAINMENT

Miley Cyrus cries and goes nude in ‘Wrecking Ball’ video
Sigh… well, here she goes again. And of course here goes the media again which is why she will do it again… the wonderful cycle of pop culture.

‘Harry Potter’ spin-off movie series announced, written by J.K. Rowling
In the original series, Harry was required to buy a textbook called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Now the textbook’s title is serving as the name for the spin-off movie as well. It will apparently be the first in a whole new series, and some familiar characters and creatures could (had better) turn up once again.

NICE FIND

The first-ever naturally occurring gears are found on an insect’s legs
If you had to pick something that we humans have that makes us stand out against the natural world, gears is a good choice. However as it turns out, insects discovered them first. Yeah seriously, there is a pic and everything in the link.