It’s the last day of school at the Mapp Academy of higher learning. After 10, 12, 30 weeks of quarantine, shelter-in-place, and homeschooling; I can at least say, we’ve made it. It’s the unofficial start of the weekend, which means it’s Thursday. This week we cover changes in Google search, Android phones bricking because of a pic, and Apple phones that track themselves. Please tune in on Thursdays at 6:43am Eastern to hear Mark Starling share the week’s biggest stories in the world wild web of technology on First News 570. Please listen in LIVE, or you can use the iHeart Radio app.
EL GOOG SAYS SITES WITH MORE EXPERIENCE RULE
This week, Google of search engine dominance, announced that it will be giving websites that don’t suck higher priority in their search results. Honestly, there’s nothing worse than a website that doesn’t work, or is slow. Google will now take into account load times, scrolling convenience, and other measurable intangibles that make a website easier to use and navigate. Google was quick to add that they won’t juke the numbers, and that websites still need to produce great content to score high in Page Rank.
SPECTACULAR SUNSET CAUSES SOME ANDROID PHONES TO CRASH
In other El Goog news, a peculiar bug affecting multiple brands of Android phones running Android 10 has been making social media’s rounds. A spectacular sunset featuring a lake, a cloudy sunset, and a green shoreline are bricking some Android phones after the image has been set as wallpaper. The issue is known to cause phones to constantly reboot and require a factory reset to return them to service. Do not try this at home. Samsung is rolling out an update for its phones on June 11th, and Android 11’s launch event was supposed to be this week, but was postponed. Experts believe that the image uses a color space that is requesting more colors to be displayed than are available on certain phones and versions of Android. The image is known to affect Google’s Pixel 2 smartphone. Don’t try this at home.
APPLE LOOTERS FIND PHONES THAT WON’T BOOT
As much of the country is under protest, some opportunists thought it was a good idea to steal. Looters hitting up Apple stores will find out that their haul wasn’t very fruitful. Apple closed its stores shortly after the protests and when riots broke out in cities across the US. When the thieves got back home with the loot, they found that Apple had disabled the phones, and informed them that the phones were being tracked. Additionally, stolen phones displayed the Apple store and address it could be returned to.
Our country is beginning to open back up after suffering a devastating social toll. As you’re returning back to society, please stay safe and follow the best guidelines and advice to keep you and your loved ones healthy.
