{"id":6099,"date":"2015-06-15T10:47:14","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T10:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/?p=6099"},"modified":"2015-06-15T10:47:14","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T10:47:14","slug":"the-weekend-in-tech-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/the-weekend-in-tech-4\/","title":{"rendered":"THE WEEKEND IN TECH"},"content":{"rendered":"

JUNE\u00a013-14:\u00a0<\/strong>
\nApple\u2019s WWDC, YouTube\u2019s Gaming Service, Alibaba attacking Netflix, and more in\u00a0today’s\u00a0Weekend In\u00a0Tech post.
\n1 \u2013\u00a0SQUARE JOINS APPLE<\/strong>
\nEven small businesses can soon accept Apple Pay and mobile wallet loyalty with Square\u2019s card reader<\/a>. What was initially only available to large corporations with outfitted POS systems, due to cost, Square wireless readers will soon help Apple Pay become accessible for any potential store front.
\nNot only will this make it easier for stores to accept Apple Pay in more places, but it should increase mobile payment behavior as a whole – because even the hot dog vendor down the road can install it, cheaply.
\n\"squarereader-642x4351\"<\/a>
\nSource –\u00a0AppAdvice\u00a0<\/a>
\n2 \u2013\u00a0iOS 9 and HomeKit<\/strong>
\nApple makes HomeKit smarter and more powerful with new pre-defined \u201cscene\u201d and \u201ctrigger\u201d templates that let or provoke certain actions. e.g. if I do this, it does this or if it\u2019s x o\u2019clock, it does y.<\/i>
\nThe major benefit of these new scene\/trigger templates is that a developer won\u2019t need to pre-define loads of rules. They can simply select a template and modify it to fit their desired action in HomeKit.
\nSpecifically, Apple\u2019s new scenes\/triggers include \u201cgetting up\u201d, \u201cleaving home\u201d, \u201creturning home\u201d, and \u201cgoing to bed\u201d. How does this help? Well a developer could now use the \u201cgoing to bed\u201d template with a connected IoT (Internet of Things) light-bulb and speaker system in HomeKit. What could they do? Program your lights to dim as Stevie Wonder\u2019s Superstition starts playing in the background, while you and your lover are \u201cgoing to bed\u201d.
\nBut rest assured developers who really want to get creative (as if the example we gave wasn\u2019t shocking enough) can still make custom scenes as well – which is great, as hopefully there are a lot more than 4 major \u201cscenes\u201d in your life.
\nFurthermore, watch OS2 for Apple Watch will also support HomeKit. Which means users can control the different scene\/triggers directly from their new Apple wearable. So if the previous example didn\u2019t cut it for you, imagine triggering\u00a0it all with your Apple Watch.
\nWhile there are still only a few HomeKit products on the market, we could be seeing new innovations very soon. Especially with CISCO predicting IoT to have 50 billion devices connected by 2020<\/a>.
\n\"AppleHomeKit\"<\/a>
\nSource –\u00a0Mashable<\/a>
\n3 \u2013\u00a0YouTube goes gaming<\/strong>
\nThe online media powerhouse has announced a new gaming service (YouTube Gaming) in order to compete with Twitch. YouTube Gaming will be set up much like Twitch<\/a>, but will focus on simplifying the broadcasting experience. How?
\nSimilar to Periscope<\/a>, streamers will no longer be required to schedule a live video ahead of time. They can simply start streaming. Plus, a single link will point to a user\u2019s live streams, so they don\u2019t have to share a new link across their social channels every time they post a live \u201clet\u2019s play\u201d.
\nYouTube Gaming<\/a> will be available in the U.S and U.K. sometime this summer.
\n\"Screen<\/a>
\nSource – TechCrunch<\/a>
\n4 \u2013 The Darpa Robot\u00a0<\/strong>Olympics<\/b>
\nWe might not know if androids dream of electric sheep, but we can say for certain that they like to compete. Because an impressive twenty-three teams gathered from around the world for the futuristic Darpa<\/a> robot competition in Pamona, California – and of course for the $3.5 million in prize money. Yes, million.
\nThis year, robots had one hour to complete a course with a total of eight tasks: driving a car down a dirt road, getting out of the car, opening a door and entering a building, turning a valve, cutting a hole in a wall with a drill, completing a surprise task (flipping a switch or unplugging a tube and plugging it into another hole), navigating a pile of rubble, and walking up a short flight of stairs.
\nWhile that might sound like more of a task for a toddler than a potential \u201cterminator\u201d, it\u2019s important to note just how much work goes into simple robotics. And we respect every team for taking part. Plus, with the release of Terminator Genisys<\/a> last week we\u2019re perfectly happy to see just how far off Skynet<\/a> is from fruition.
\nFollow the link to check out a recap of the competition and a look into our\u00a0not so post apocalyptic future.
\n\"darpa1.0\"<\/a>
\nSource – The Verge<\/a>
\n5 \u2013\u00a0Alibaba to launch Netflix style streaming service<\/strong>
\nThe e-commerce giant is planning on launching a movie streaming service hoping to mimic the success of Netflix<\/a> and HBO<\/a> within the next two months. But is this just another Chinese knock-off?
\nIt\u2019s too soon to tell. What we do know is that the service is being called Tmall Box Office (TBO – certainly sounds familiar) and will purchase content from production houses as well as create content in-house. This new announcement could also put a damper on Netflix\u2019s potential plan to launch in China, which means it\u2019s definitely something to stay focused on.
\n\"alibaba-sign\"<\/a>
\nSource – Re\/Code\u00a0<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

THIS WEEK\u2019S FUN FACT: <\/b>Apple have Sold 7 million Apple Watches<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JUNE\u00a013-14:\u00a0 Apple\u2019s WWDC, YouTube\u2019s Gaming Service, Alibaba attacking Netflix, and more in\u00a0today’s\u00a0Weekend In\u00a0Tech post. 1 \u2013\u00a0SQUARE JOINS APPLE Even small businesses can soon accept Apple Pay and mobile wallet loyalty with Square\u2019s card reader. What was initially only available to large corporations with outfitted POS systems, due to cost, Square wireless readers will soon help […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}