Daily Roundup: best wearables to buy, socially anxious gaming and more!
In today's Daily Roundup, you'll find out about the top 10 wearables you can buy right now, get the scoop on a video game for the socially anxious and read about one of the most influential samples in music. Find out about all this and more, just past the break.
The top 10 wearables you can buy right now
This year's CES was awash in wearables and while many of them took the form of wrist-worn fitness trackers and smartwatches, the genre has expanded beyond the basics. Which one is right for you? You can find our full list of picks in the buyer's guide.
A video game for the socially anxious
Sebastiano Morando and Francesco Lanciai didn't set out to make a game about social anxiety disorder when they created Sym. That idea spawned from the drawing of a character, a black figure with one eye disintegrating into a stark white background. Lanciai says that Sym is about the division between reality and our unique perceptions of that physical world: black and white, terrifying and safe.
The owner of music's most influential sample is finally getting paid
The "Amen break" is arguably the most important 6 seconds of music ever recorded. With the popularization of sampling, the 4-bar drum solo (originally from The Winstons' 1969 track "Amen, Brother") become a mainstay of early hip hop. Despite it featuring in many, many successful tracks, The Winstons never received any royalties for use of the sample.
SIM card maker Gemalto investigates spy agencies' hack attack
Starting in 2010, a group of agents from the NSA and Britain's Government Communications Headquarters kicked off a subtle cyberattack against Gemalto (and some of its biggest SIM-making rivals) in a bid to find the encryption keys that keep our mobile communications secure. Gemalto has publicly pledged to look into the allegations.
Samsung plays it straight in latest 'Next Galaxy' tease
Curved or straight? Samsung's Galaxy S6 or whatever-its-called could be both, as the latest teaser shows a straight edged phone, when another from last week flaunted some curves. It boasted about the model being "crafted from the beautiful things I see around me," possibly a reference to the use of metal in the body rather than plastic.
Geeksphone's wearable tracks sexual performance, other boring stuff
Geeksphone, the company behind a dual-OS handset and the ultra-secure Blackphone, is trying its hand at wearables. The upcoming Geeksme band appears to be rather smartwatch-esque with a circular OLED display framed by 12 bi-color LEDs, tracking steps, distance, calories burned and sleep. How does Geeksme hope to stand out from all the other wearables on the market? It will track sexual performance and monitor "progress" in the bedroom.
YouTube 'Kids' app makes it easier to pacify the little ones
YouTube is launching a new app (initially on Android phones and tablets) that will run only kid-friendly content. YouTube Kids will field age-appropriate videos of cats, Minecraft, Thomas the Tank Engine and other things wholesome/hilarious. Curated third-party content will be provided by partners that include Jim Henson TV, DreamWorks TV and Mother Goose Club.
