\nIt’s been a long-time coming, but you can now sign up to our Blog mailing list. And doing so will not only keep you up to date on all the latest articles, but also allow you to receive\u00a0monthly round-ups\u00a0on everything we’ve\u00a0been up to at PassKit. Which includes: #PFR Fun Friday activities\u00a0<\/span>like this one<\/a>, new product launches like these, and more insider articles from PassKiteers like here.
\nNow that’s out of the way, here’s your regular Weekend In Tech\u00a0Trends article for Aug 15-16<\/p>\n
1) Tech Trends – FireChat Now Works Everywhere, Even On A Plane<\/h3>\n
FireChat might not be amongst the newest of tech trends, but it recently took off with the announcement that you can send messages while in the air. It\u2019s the app that everyone used during the Hong Kong protests in 2014, the Ecuadorian protests in 2015, and last year in Iraq while\u00a0the country faced restrictions on Internet use. But it’s not all bad news for FireChat. Because there’s one reason\u00a0to really love it,\u00a0outside the obvious anti-government, anti-phone network, anti-social network associations.\u00a0And it has everything to do with your summer holiday. Slack\u00a0is the hot new in-office instant messaging service that’s not just taken San Francisco, but the World by storm.\u00a0Even\u00a0all the way over here in Hong Kong it’s having a dramatic effect. Our office in particular uses it for everything, from scheduling business meetings and sharing interesting tech trends, to sending animated gifs, and even brainstorming big ideas.\u00a0And now it’s about to get even\u00a0better. Disney, you are our only hope. Considering you own all the rights to one of the century’s\u00a0best universes. Which you’ll of course already have guessed is\u00a0Star Wars, arguably the greatest space opera\u00a0ever told. And thanks to the Mickey Mouse making, property buying wonder company, you’ll soon have your very own Star Wars experience to explore in great, great detail. Just “Don’t get cocky, kid”<\/span><\/em>. And while there might be a million Star Wars quotes rushing through your head, looking at the images below we’re 99.9% sure \u201cLet’s blow this thing and go home”<\/span><\/em> isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n Even in today’s world, it can be hard to place a call. You can loose signal, battery, someone\u2019s number, and even the will to live, while waiting for someone to answer. Which is why it might\u00a0surprise you to hear\u00a0it’s apparently very easy\u00a0to call the International Space Station. Easy as pie,\u00a0ham\u00a0pie. Tech Trends – Aug 15-16 A new hope for Disney, how you can speak to spacemen, free messaging while on holiday and more in this week’s ‘Weekend in Tech Trends’. But first, you might have noticed a slight change on\u00a0blog.passkit.com. It’s been a long-time coming, but you can now sign up to our Blog mailing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7064","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\/7064","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=7064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFireChat lets you send messages without a connection. It bounces them between users\u2019 phones via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals, until it finds one with a capable network connection. Which means you can send a message while abroad without worrying about extortionate network fees. It doesn’t rely on any carrier and will work anywhere, even on a plane.\u00a0The only downside is it will take around 10-20mins to send.
\n![\"Tech](\"https:\/\/dxjl3qy52c1o9.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/17133607\/firechat3-100314589-large.png\" "\\"\\"")
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\nSOURCE:\u00a0<\/strong>Business Insider<\/a><\/p>\n2) Tech Trends – Slack Integrates With Email<\/h3>\n
\nSlack is one step closer to culling\u00a0email completely, hopefully, as Standard and Plus members can\u00a0soon have email directed to Slack. And while\u00a0this looks as though the two coms channels are acting all cosy, in reality Slack is moving in for the kill. Because allowing someone to access email\u00a0in Slack is equivalent to letting your dog eat dinner at the table. Once comfortable in that\u00a0situation, they’ll settle and never want to go back.
\n![\"Tech](\"https:\/\/dxjl3qy52c1o9.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/17140535\/tumblr_inline_nt1rlh0cE31tqy3dn_500.png\" "\\"\\"")
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\nSOURCE:\u00a0<\/strong>Slack<\/a><\/p>\n3) Tech Trends –\u00a0A Galaxy Not So Far Away<\/h3>\n
\nDisney recently announced they are building not one, but\u00a0two new immersive Star Wars experience parks – both 14 acres large. Each park\u00a0will let visitors walk through fully realized worlds, where they can interact with characters, fly the\u00a0<\/span>Millennium Falcon<\/a>, have a drink at\u00a0<\/span>the cantina<\/a>, and experience a major battle.\u00a0\u201cWe are creating a jaw-dropping new world that represents our largest single-themed land expansion ever,\u201d<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span>Bob Iger, Disney\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n![\"Tech](\"https:\/\/dxjl3qy52c1o9.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/17141445\/gettyimages-484141842.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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\n![\"Tech](\"https:\/\/dxjl3qy52c1o9.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/17141452\/gettyimages-484141848.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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\nSOURCE: <\/strong>Quartz<\/a><\/p>\n4) Tech Trends – Speak To The Astronauts<\/h3>\n
\nBecause the astronauts orbiting Earth at around 5 miles per second are carrying a HAM radio with them. So while\u00a0a seemingly quick\u00a0call to somewhere as close as next-door needs credit, battery, and to bounce off a\u00a0satellite,\u00a0reaching the International Space Station some 400km away with\u00a0a HAM is shockingly simpler. You just need to know when and how.
\nRead the full article on Quartz to find out exactly\u00a0what you need to\u00a0do it:\u00a0Speaking with Spacemen<\/a>
\n![\"Tech](\"https:\/\/dxjl3qy52c1o9.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/17142852\/kartandtinki1_spaceman-wallpaper_07.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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\nSOURCE:\u00a0<\/strong>Quartz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"