Skip To Content
BuzzFeed News Home Reporting To You

Do You Know What Happened In Tech The Week Of May 23?

Trending

Do You Know What Happened In Tech The Week Of May 23?

New smartphones, Google wins a trial, and the tragic loss of our favorite Snapchat filters.

By Brendan Klinkenberg

Picture of Brendan Klinkenberg Brendan Klinkenberg BuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on May 27, 2016, at 3:01 p.m. ET

  1. 1. New smartphone

    Google

    Google just announced its newest smartphone, which will be available to developers later this year, and consumers next year. What is it called?
    Correct! 
    Wrong! 

    It's Project Ara.

    Ara is a phone that can be rebuilt in many different ways, and reassembled easily. It’s kind of like a smartphone made out of Legos. People are very excited it's on its way, a few years after it was first announced.

  2. 2. Trial

    Thinkstock

    This week, Google emerged victorious after a two-week trial to determine whether the search giant had infringed on another company's intellectual property by lifting code for its Android operating system. What legacy tech company took Google to court?
    Correct! 
    Wrong! 

    It's Oracle.

    The company founded by Larry Ellison accused Google of lifting 11,500 lines of code from its APIs and integrating them directly into its Android operating system. The jury ruled this week that Google's use of the code was fair use, and would not be held liable in the case.

  3. 3. Twitter

    Twitter

    Twitter made some changes to its 140-character limit this week. What WON'T count against the limit now?
    Correct! 
    Wrong! 

    It's all of the above.

    In a slightly confusing arrangement, Twitter allowed attachments, some @ mentions, and multimedia to not count against its normal 140 character limit.

  4. 4. Snapchat

    Ellen Cushing / BuzzFeed

    For one day this week, Snapchat disabled all of its filters, including the immensely popular face-swap, dog face, and flower crown. They were disabled for an advertising takeover, courtesy of a new blockbuster. What movie took our filters away?
    Correct! 
    Wrong! 

    It's X-Men: Apocalypse.

    On Monday, Disney paid for a full takeover of Snapchat's selfie lenses, replacing the immensely popular filters with characters from the X-Men franchise. The response from users was mixed.

    Via Jessica Misener / BuzzFeed

  5. 5. Pebble

    Pebble

    This week, smartwatch manufacturer Pebble announced two new smartwatches. With it came a different product — a small cube called the Pebble Core. What does it do?
    Correct! 
    Wrong! 

    It's for music.

    The Core is a cube-shaped accessory that comes with GPS, 3G and Wi-Fi capability, memory, and Bluetooth. Easily clipped onto a shirt collar or waistband, it’s meant for runners who want to leave their phones at home. They can download a Spotify playlist onto the Core, plug in their headphones, and listen to the songs — much like with an iPod Shuffle.

  6. 6. Ride-hailing

    Getty

    One of the many ride-hailing services announced the a new product this week: Scheduled rides. Instead of ordering the nearest car when you need a ride, this service will let you schedule a ride up to 24 hours in advance. Which company is the first to offer this?
    Correct! 
    Wrong! 

    It's Lyft.

    Scheduled rides will debut in San Francisco this summer as an experimental feature. Lyft is still figuring out how things like surge pricing will effect rides booked in advance.

Not Available For Your Device

ADVERTISEMENT