Siri: Call Her Caitlyn Jenner

Apple has given Siri new instructions:

Siri is as witty as she is intelligent. The voice that lives inside your iPhone will now subtly correct your improper use of "Bruce" when you ask about Caitlyn Jenner. Apple's virtual assistant has been updated to make sure it won't misuse Jenner's correct name and gender when asked for more information on the athlete and reality star. Jenner, who unveiled her transition officially in Vanity Fair's July issue, no longer goes by the name "Bruce," and Siri is going to make sure you're well aware of that.

The update came via a company called Wolfram Alpha.

A Fitbit For Your Naughty Bits

Via the Business Times:

These days, everything we own is becoming "smart" - from the smart watch, smart TV, and smart fridge, to the smart fitness tracker and smart glasses - so it should come as no surprise that now smart wearable technology is coming to sex toys too. Meet Lovely, a penis ring now on Indiegogo that does way more than just vibrate – its built-in sensors send data to an accompanying smartphone app in order to track your sexual performance, give you tips on what you could do better next time, and count how many calories you've burned. Made from medical-grade silicone, Lovely's primary function is still, of course, to perform as a sex toy. The creators claim that it can enhance erections by preventing blood from leaving the organ, and the tulip-like design was chosen as it is able to transfer vibrations to the clitoris "in just the right spot" during intercourse.

Are you wearing your smart cock ring, darling? Over at the device's crowdfunding page, it's also being pitched the LGBT market.

(Tipped by JMG reader Daddy Ray)

Grindr Is For Sale

Via Bloomberg:

Grindr LLC is looking for more than just a hookup: The application for gay men is seeking a buyer. Grindr, based in Los Angeles, has hired Raine Group LLC to advise it on a possible sale, people familiar with the matter said. The sale process is early and no deal is assured, said the people, who asked not to be named because the process is still private. The people didn’t know what valuation Grindr might fetch in a sale. The service helps gay men connect online by using location-based software. Joel Simkhai founded Grindr in 2009 with $5,000. Four years later, the company is still self-funded with no outside investors, and charges about $12 a month, Simkhai said in a Bloomberg TV interview April 17.

(Tipped by JMG reader James)

Researchers Unveil Phone Dongle That Tests For HIV & Syphilis In 15 Minutes

Via Science Daily:

A team of researchers, led by Samuel K. Sia, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, has developed a low-cost smartphone accessory that can perform a point-of-care test that simultaneously detects three infectious disease markers from a finger prick of blood in just 15 minutes. The device replicates, for the first time, all mechanical, optical, and electronic functions of a lab-based blood test. Specifically, it performs an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) without requiring any stored energy: all necessary power is drawn from the smartphone. It performs a triplexed immunoassay not currently available in a single test format: HIV antibody, treponemal-specific antibody for syphilis, and non-treponemal antibody for active syphilis infection.

The device is estimated to have a production cost of $34, versus the $18K machine typically used to perform ELISA tests. Field testing was completed in Rwanda and funding was provided by the Gates Foundation, among others. (Tipped by JMG reader Alan)

This Is An Ad For Something

Via Engadget:

Someone, somewhere thought it was a good idea for HTC to make its own hip hop music video. Whoever approved the project might be regretting that decision right now, but never mind -- at least we get a hilariously cringeworthy tune to stick on repeat for the rest of the day. If you're curious, the man dissing the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5 in equal measure is Greg Carr (aka "Doc G") of the musical group P.M. Dawn. He's actually the cousin of Attrell Cordes, or Prince Be, who used to lead the hip hop act during their heyday in the '80s and '90s.

TIME Magazine calls it "the worst Apple attack ad ever." 

DELAWARE: Legislature Approves Study To Implement Digital Driver's Licenses

Several states are looking into digitizing driver's licenses for display on smartphones and Delaware wants to be the first to implement the system. Via the Washington Post:

The Delaware legislature passed a bill last week asking the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles to “study and consider issuing” digital driver’s licenses that could replace the traditional plastic ones. This bill notes that since people in the state are already using their phones for things such as working and banking, so giving them the option for a digital driver’s license could be a way of “increasing convenience” for drivers in the state. And it would just be an option, giving drivers the choice of loading it on their phone or sticking with the plastic card wedged into a wallet. The First State isn’t the first to suggest such an idea — Iowa said last month it planned to have a pilot program testing smartphone driver’s licenses — but Delaware wants to beat them out of the gate, if possible. “We’d like to go first,” said Jennifer Cohan, head of the state’s motor vehicle division, told DelawareOnline. “If it works for Delaware, then it will be a new option for Delaware citizens to show proof of driver’s license and identification.”

The above-linked story points out obvious issues with the plan, noting that a driver pulled over with a dead phone would be a driver without a license. Also of concern are privacy issues - some would be hesitant to hand over their "digital diary" to a police officer.

New Pay-To-Pee App Launches

Via Entrepreneur:

Airpnp is banking on the idea that people are willing to pay to pee and rent their toilet out to desperate strangers. Described as the Airbnb for toilets, the app allows users to search for available toilets at homes and businesses in the area and find out the price to use these establishments. According to the company blog, Airpnp started as a "quasi-joke" in early 2014, built around the concept of how difficult it was to find a place to pee while celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Within the first three weeks, more 300 bathrooms were added to the map. Airpnp locations range from toilets owned by entrepreneurial masterminds to kindhearted people offering a free place to relieve yourself. Antwerp, Belgium is extremely popular, covered in pins marking what must be the vast majority of places in the city where once can pee for free.

The Village Voice points out that the concept first got attention in a 2009 Curb Your Enthusiasm story arc during which George Costantza made (and lost) millions with his iToilet app. At this writing Airpnp lists only 15 pee-partners in New York City, most of whom are in tourist-heavy midtown Manhattan.

SAUDI ARABIA: Gay Man Sentenced To Three Years For Hook-Up Profile

Via Gulf News:

A court in eastern Saudi Arabia has sentenced a homosexual man to three years in jail for engaging in “immoral acts”. The man, in his 30s, was also ordered to pay a SR100,000 fine by the court in the port city Dammam in the Eastern Province. According to a report in local news site Sabq, the man was apprehended by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice after he posted pictures of himself naked on social media and offered to have sex for free with other men. “Offensive” pictures and chats with other people were found on his confiscated mobile, Sabq said on Tuesday. Homosexuality and cross-dressing are social and legal offences in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE.

Some major US-based hook-up apps have warned their foreign users that it might be possible to pinpoint their location via the apps' geolocation function. The above-linked story does not say how the arrested man was identified.

iPhone 6 Shatters Sales Records

Via Forbes:

Apple didn’t need the world’s largest smartphone market to break records this year. The latest iPhone models broke opening weekend sales records with over 10 million new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sold since Friday. It was a blockbuster weekend for Apple, exceeding the 9 million iPhone 5 and 5S models sold in the same weekend last year. And Apple did it without China — where the phones likely won’t go on sale until early 2015. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the largest phones Apple has made to date, were only available in 10 regions: the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Apple says the iPhones will be available in 115 countries by the end of the year.

RELATED: Twitter is lighting up with the hashtag #bendgate.

Experts are divided over whether Apple should respond to claims that its new iPhone 6 handsets are prone to becoming bent when carried in trouser pockets. Several members of the public have posted photos to the Mac Rumors site that appear to show the problem. A reporter for the Geek.com news site also reported his phone had warped. And it is not yet clear if the new iPhones' aluminium shells make them particularly vulnerable. Even so, the claims have been reported across tech blogs as well as mainstream media including the Independent, the Washington Post, India Today and the Sydney Morning Herald. Twitter users have also posted thousands of comments about the claims. The BBC has contacted Apple but the firm has yet to provide any comment.

New Yorkers Line up For iPhone 6

ABC News reports on Twitter that iPhone 6 lines are blocks long at all five Manhattan Apple stores this morning.  Above is the four block-long line at Meatpacking District store, where fans have been camped out for days. Industry watchers estimate that as many as ten million phones will have been sold by Sunday. The first retail sale was made in Australia, but the eager customer's triumphant on-camera unboxing didn't turn out so great. 

New App: Ignore No More

A new smartphone app allows parents to remotely lock up their child's phone until the child calls them back.

“If your children ignore your repeated calls and text messages to reach them, you simply lock their phones until they call you back,” says the description of the app. “When you lock your child’s phone with Ignore No More your child has only two options – he or she can call you back, or call for an emergency responder. No calls to friends, no text, no games, notta’ until they call you back. When they do, you can unlock their phone if you choose to do so.” The Ignore No More app supports a single household account, meaning that one account controls multiple “child” devices from multiple “parent” devices. The app does not interfere with first responder calls and is virtually impossible to be removed by the kids. If an unauthorized person attempts to uninstall or kill the app, the phone locks up. The parent will also receive an e-mail notification about someone attempting to tamper with the app.

$1.99 on Google Play.

Hotel Chains Step Up Digital Services

Hilton Hotels is spending $550M on a program that will allow guests to choose their rooms, check in, and open their rooms with their smartphones.

The company plans to announce this week new technology intended for its 4,200 properties world-wide. Targeting younger travelers, Hilton is aiming to leapfrog competitors that already have rolled out new services like turning mobile phones into room keys. Guests already can check in and check out with a few punches on a smartphone or tablet-computer screen at all of Hilton's hotels in the U.S., the company said. By the end of summer, travelers will be able to see the location of and select their own rooms by mobile phone at six brands, from the midscale Hilton Garden Inn to the luxury Waldorf Astoria. Next year, Hilton says, arriving guests can begin using their smartphones to unlock the doors to their rooms, rather than waiting on any lines clogging the front desk to pick up a key. That feature will be available at most of the company's hotels world-wide by the end of 2016.

Starwood is also testing phone-based room keys and expects to launch their program at all W Hotels by next year. Other major chains have similar plans.

Headline Of The Day

Jezebel has the details.

Blackberry Launches iPhone Challenge

Long-foundering Research In Motion this week launches its first competitor to the iPhone and tech sites are rather excited. Note that commmenters at Gizmodo are quite suspicious of the above rendering of what the new Blackberry actually looks like.