I’m tired. I’m an Olympics junkie, and I’ve been staying up late every night yelling and cheering on Team USA. I haven’t gotten sleep for two straight weeks. I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s big news is little: SONY sells 10 million PlayStation 5s, I do a 3 meter dive into Olympics tech, and El Goog starts paying out Google+ damages. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.
SONY SELLS 10 MILLION PS5 CONSOLES, BUT TO WHOM
Last week, SONY announced they have sold more than 10 million PlayStation 5 consoles. That’s 2 million more sold since April. According to sales, the PS5 has reached more households than the PlayStation 5. But, but, but…who owns one?! I know of no gamers who own a PS5. Where are all of the unboxing videos of PS5s? SONY was reporting that supply shortages may limit PS5 sales, but now the company has reported they’ll be able to sell over 22 million PlayStations. By comparison, the XBOX S and X consoles have sold 6.5 million units leading up to July.
TOKYO 2020 MAY NOT HAVE MANY SPECTATORS, BUT LOTS OF TECH
Every four years, you can count on a huge boost in technology. Why? Because of the Olympics. From time measurement to sensor technologies we’re guaranteed to see new innovations used when getting it right counts most. Delayed a year, Tokyo 2020 has plenty of new tech to geek out about. This year’s tech included new sensor technologies used to measure heart rate, breathing rate, and other biometric analytics during the archery events. Archers may seem to stand completely still, but they’re slightly moving. These sensors give viewers an indication of how much concentration and control is involved in the event. Viewers watching the Olympic Broadcasting Service will see new 3D and AI powered overlays indicating when sprinters reach their top speed. There will be robots deployed in this year’s Olympics to pick up javelins, hammers, and shot puts for the throwing events. These robots mean there are fewer people needed to maintain the events this year. Ralph Lauren is the official outfitter for Team USA this year, and to combat the excruciating heat in Tokyo Team USA will be wearing air conditioned clothing. Ralph Lauren says their clothing will incorporate tech that similar to computer server cooling systems giving athletes a cool sensation when temperatures run high.
EL GOOG BEGINS PAYING OUT AFTER PRIVACY LEAK
Google+, yeah that right, Google+ was leaking private profile data like a sieve between 2015 and 2018. Google admitted that they new about the data leaks and did nothing about it. In the lawsuit, they agreed to pay $7.5 million. Only 1.7 million signed on for the lawsuit before the October 2020, and after administrative and legal fees were paid, the payout amounted to a grand total of $2.15 per member of the class. G+ was phased out in 2014 in a bid to break up the service into separate products, but it stuck around and leaked profile information until 2018. The service was eventually halted in April 2019.
