Tech Week That Was: Apple's Gaffes, Shellshock And Hello Ello - NPR (blog)

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Apple CEO Tim Cook walks off stage after speaking during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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It's time for your weekly look back at the tech headlines from NPR and beyond. Let's get to it ...

ICYMI

Bendgate, Bendghazi, iBend: Call it what you want, but that the iPhone 6 Plus bends when in people's pockets was the talk of the globe and not great for Apple, which is still recovering from the PR disaster that was the trove of celebrity photos stolen from its cloud servers. But that wasn't all: As NPR's Laura Sydell reported, Apple's iOS 8 software update actually killed users' cell phone service, which led the company to pull back the update so it could update-the-update.

#Gamergate Not Going Away: We dove into the ongoing #Gamergate controversy with an All Things Considered story by Nate Rott. To learn more, Forbes detailed the various flashpoints in the spiraling situation, saying it's all about gamers "believing that they're being poorly represented by an industry and press that grow more and more cliquish and remote every year."

The Big Conversation

Hello Ello: The hot new social network of the moment is Ello, and if your friends weren't talking about it this week, your kids probably were. Ello debuted with a manifesto promising no ads and no data tracking, which was welcome to a lot of folks who'd grown Facebook-weary. Gawker's Nitasha Tiku explains the hype, and reminds us of the much-touted Facebook-replacements that came before it.

Shellshocked: Shellshock is also known as the Bash bug because it was found in the Unix command shell, called Bash. Security firms say the vulnerability is bigger than Heartbleed, the OpenSSL hole that left millions of websites exposed earlier this year. Engadget has a nice overview for us laymen. Shellshock affects systems at the server level, which means it's up to software companies to patch the bug. Already several patches have been released. But the extent to which this could be exploited is big; it's just unclear where or whether it's been exploited, yet.

Curiosities

The Verge: Samsung Is Making A Musical Sitcom About How Cool It Is To Work There

Samsung is planning an hourlong YouTube sitcom centered around a fictional Samsung employee. It's supposed to be like Friends, but set at the Samsung office. Yep.

The New York Times: DHL to Begin Deliveries by Drone in Germany

The company plans to use a small drone to ferry medicine to an island off the German coast. DHL says it would be the first time an unpiloted drone has been authorized for regular use in Europe.

Reuters: Driving while texting with Google Glass as distracting as phone

When it comes to texting behind the wheel, Google's computerized eyewear is no safer to use than a smartphone, according to a new study. Several states are considering laws to ban drivers from using Google Glass.

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