ICYMI: the week’s 7 biggest tech new stories from Marshall’s great new speaker to Fitbit’s major outage
We’ve had quite the week this week, so to help you catch up on all the latest tech news, we have this handy one-stop guide to the seven biggest stories of the past seven days.
From Elmo getting hacked to ChatGPT Agent arriving on the scene, we have your firmware update for it all.
And once you’re up to speed, be sure to read our guide to the 7 new movies and TV shows to watch this weekend (July 18).
7. Marshall’s new Bluetooth speaker rocked our world
We’ve been testing the new Marshall Kilburn III, and our reviewer Harry Padoan had a lot of positive things to say.
“The Marshall Kilburn III plates up a delicious meal, composed of well-seasoned audio, meaty features and a beautiful presentation,” adding, “with a 50-hour battery life, you’ll barely ever need to charge it.”
Though he did also highlight some faults, which is why it was half a star off a perfect five-star score, namely that it’s pricier and maybe not as rugged as some might hope.
- Read more: Our Marshall Kilburn III review
6. We watched Stranger Things Season 5…’s trailer
The first trailer for Stranger Things season 5 is finally here.
And if you’ve been worried about spoilers, series co-creator Ross Duffer shared that this first trailer “pulls from every episode except 7, but it’s mostly Volume One and just barely scratches the surface.”
Season 5 is being split into three parts, and this trailer is mostly taking clips from the first drop coming on November 26, so it shouldn’t give too much of the game away.
5. Fitbit went down with sync and login issues
Fitbit users were left high and dry this week, as a huge spike in Downdetector reports heralded a big outage for Fitbit’s mobile app and web API, leaving Fitbit users unable to sync their devices. When the Fitbit Help Center steps were followed, users ended up locked out of their accounts.
Fortunately, Google soon resolved the issue and reached out to us to confirm that a fix was in progress. However, it’s not worked for everyone: there is still what seems to be a relatively small percentage of users who are left high and dry, unable to effectively use their devices. S
ome of them have reached out to us via email, while others have taken to Reddit to voice their displeasure and warn other users. One poor Reddit poster has even seemingly lost all their data since 2018!
4. Elmo got hacked and taught us a lesson
The Twitter account for the lovable fuzzy red Muppet was hacked this week and proceeded to spew several deeply offensive posts onto the platform.
Arguments aside that those kinds of posts are maybe more at home on Elon Musk’s rendition of the social media platform than Elmo’s usual messages of love and hugs, the hack reminded us why two-factor authentication is so important.
It’s not a completely foolproof solution, but it can make it significantly less likely your account will get taken over.
- Read more: Don’t be like Elmo, turn on 2FA
3. ChatGPT Agent entered the game
Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, has just announced the latest addition to ChatGPT. It’s called ChatGPT Agent, and it’s designed to perform tasks for you, no matter how complicated. If you can do it online, then ChatGPT Agent can get it done.
The entire concept is a unified agent that can handle the legwork, make informed decisions about which websites to use, and navigate the web independently. Think about things like planning a wedding, booking your car in for a service, making an app to solve a problem, or planning and booking a holiday. ChatGPT Agent can do it all, and you can even watch it work if you want to.
If you’re a Plus, Teams, or Pro user, then you can click ‘Agent’ right from the tools drop-down menu to use the new tool. The Agent uses its own virtual computer to perform its tasks, starting by setting up its desktop environment, and then proceeds to understand the prompt you’ve given it and gather the necessary information. It will sometimes ask for more information or a clarifying question.
2. We went bananas for Donkey Kong
While interest at its announcement was somewhat tepid, it turns out Donkey Kong Bananza is the greatest Nintendo Switch 2 title to date, according to Dashiell Wood, one of our expert game reviewers.
That’s because the title “harnesses the powerful Nintendo Switch 2 hardware to offer a gigantic, open-ended world with dazzling destruction that lets you bash, smash, and crash through practically anything.”
- Read More: Our full Donkey Kong Bananza review
1. Google set a date for its Pixel phone drop
The eagerly anticipated Mage by Google product launch event will happen on August 20 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST / 3am AEST, and it looks to be a product-packed event.
We’re expecting not only the Pixel 10 phone line (so the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Pixel 10 Pro XL), but a new Pixel 10 Pro Fold, which now has a tough act to follow given the 4.2mm-thick Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. At least they’ll both be running Android 16.
A new, possibly redesigned, Pixel Watch 4 is also expected, but we don’t have many details for no,w so we’ll have to wait a little longer to have an idea what Google has up its sleeve.
- Read more: We’re getting Made By Google in August
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