Skip to main content

Weekly Rewind: Vertical forests, vaping safety, and vending machines for cars

top tech stories 02 10 2017 wr 09 feat
Image used with permission by copyright holder
A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top 10 tech stories, from the best ads from Super Bowl LI to breathing buildings — it’s all here.

How to root your Android phone or tablet in 2017 (and unroot it)

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Is the allure of being a superuser tempting you? Android rooting opens up a world of possibility, but it can also void your warranty, or even leave you with a bricked device. Yes, when it comes to rooting your Android, you’ll want to know the benefits as well as the risks. This guide will walk you through the necessary steps to root your phone. Some devices can be rooted in minutes, while others take a bit more time and research. One thing is clear: Rooting your phone can be one of the best ways to tap into the deep potential of your Android device.

Read the full story here.

Long-term study shows that vaping really is safer than regular smoking

Image used with permission by copyright holder
E-cigarettes are are gaining popularity and social acceptance, but is vaping provably any safer than smoking? According to a new in-depth study, which analyzed the quantity of cancer-causing chemicals in the bodies of smokers, the answer is a definite yes. “To date, most studies on e-cigs have either looked at the product itself, [by analyzing the vapor/aerosol] or e-liquid, or investigated its effects on animal and cell models,” Dr. Lion Shahab, one of the investigating scientists from University College London, told Digital Trends.

Read the full story here.

Watch the best Super Bowl commercials of 2017

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Great news! It’s time for the annual pants-wettingly exciting, must-watch TV segment where the latest and greatest commercials are aired over the space of several hours during the biggest televised sporting event of the year. The biggest attraction comes in the form of the advertisements, and we’ve compiled all our favorites here.

Read the full story here.

Finally, a public place to put your pee: Paris introduces ‘pavement urinal’

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Paris is a beautiful place full of great food, great people, and great scenery. However, anyone who has actually visited Paris knows that underneath all that glamor lies a problem. In any given day, Parisian sanitation workers wash the sidewalks of Paris in their attempt to fight the smell and damaging effects of public urination. To help combat this problem, Laurent Lebot of the French product studio Faltazi has designed a simple solution. The Uritrottoir, which roughly translates to “pavement urinal,” is essentially an eco-friendly place to pee.

Read the full story here.

Groundbreaking new prosthetic translates spinal cord signals into movement

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Scientists at Imperial College London have developed smart sensor technology that allows a robot arm to be controlled via signals from nerves in the spinal cord. In order to use the prosthesis, wearers think of actions, which are then interpreted as commands courtesy of electrical signals sent from the spinal motor neurons. The robotic arm potentially represents a significant step forward from existing robot prostheses, which often rely on users controlling them via commonly damaged remnant shoulder and arm muscles.

Read the full story here.

Recommended Videos

Hate car dealerships? Try Carvana’s 5-story tall car vending machine

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Two months after debuting a coin-operated car vending machine in Houston, Texas, Carvana has launched another site — this time in Austin. The all-glass structure stands five stories tall, contains three delivery bays, and stores up to 20 vehicles that are loaded in advance of a customer’s pickup. The point of the service is so customers won’t need the hassle of dealing with salespeople, but Carvana reps are available on-site to help with the process.

Read the full story here.

As Apple pursues perfection, new campus frustrates builders and officials

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apple has long been lauded for its attention to detail and emphasis on build quality, and it seems that ambition extends to the construction of its facilities. According to Reuters, the company made numerous demands as it prepares Apple Campus 2, more colloquially referred to as the “spaceship campus,” to ensure a level of craftsmanship more befitting of a phone or watch than a building meant to employ 14,000 workers.

Read the full story here.

Refugees need computers, and The Global Good Project ensures they get them

Image used with permission by copyright holder

if you have recently searched for a new coat or pack, you may have seen some very colorful ads from Cotopaxi pop-up in your social feeds. Those ads usually include some smiling adventurer wearing sunnies in some amazing landscape wearing a vibrant jacket with a llama logo. At first glance it may seem like a brand catering to nostalgic color-blocking of the 80s and 90s, but if you scratch through the surface, Cotopaxi is more than an apparel company. It wants to be a force of good.

Read the full story here.

Beleaguered BlackBerry rolls out its latest plan to make some money

Image used with permission by copyright holder

As it witnessed its share of the smartphone market slide unceremoniously into a dark hole, BlackBerry switched its focus several years ago in a bid to keep the company alive. Software and services would save the company, CEO John Chen told anyone who cared to listen, and more recently BlackBerry has once again been showing signs of life. One of its latest plans is to offer many of the design and security features of its enterprise-grade BBM technology to developers.

Read the full story here.

Buildings that breathe: Italian architect’s ‘Vertical Forest’ to sprout in China

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Italian architect Stefano Boeri has a penchant for designing living, breathing buildings. It began in Milan with the Bosco Verticale (Italian for “Vertical Forest”), two looming skyscrapers covered in thousands of trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. The environmental idea was simple: grow the number of plants on the building that would otherwise grow on the ground it will occupy.

Read the full story here.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
The hidden benefit of wearing smart rings
A person holding the RingConn Smart Ring and Oura Ring.

The temptation to upgrade any piece of mobile technology annually is always there, as new versions and updates are introduced regularly. It’s always great to have the latest model, but it's expensive, slightly wasteful, and becoming more unnecessary all the time to change regularly. You're a lot stronger than I am if you can resist the siren call.

What is there to do? If you want to get off the expensive tech upgrade train, you need to buy a product that will last and take years to be genuinely superseded. What you need is a smart ring, as I think it’s the most consumer-friendly piece of wearable tech we’ve seen yet. It's not an immediately obvious thing, but here's why I think it's absolutely true.
A consumer-friendly wearable
Oura Ring 4 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Read more
There’s new evidence that Samsung is making a Galaxy S25 Slim
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Could the next big smartphone war be about who can make the thinnest device? Increasingly, it's looking that way.

Industry reports suggest Samsung is working on an ultrathin version of its upcoming Galaxy S25 flagship that could launch in 2025. The rumored timing would put it just months ahead of Apple's long-rumored "iPhone 17 Slim,” expected later that same year.

Read more
A new Google Pixel feature could make managing phone calls a breeze
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 screens.

Contextual replies are one of the best parts of the Google Pixel experience. This feature allows you to respond to a call without actually answering it; the Google Assistant voice asks why they're calling and allows you to answer with generated responses for specific keywords. For example, if someone is calling to confirm an appointment, you can reply with "Confirm."

It's a great feature, especially if you aren't fond of talking on the phone. Now an update to contextual replies could take the feature to the next level with AI responses. The team at 9to5Google found snippets of code in the latest beta version of the Phone by Google app that suggest a wider range of capabilities is on the way.

Read more