If this week was a number, that number would be 4 – because this week we celebrated May the 4th, aka Star Wars day, we played the fourth and final instalment in the blockbuster gaming series Uncharted, and we got a good look at the still-unofficial Moto G4. May the fourth be with you – it's Week in Tech!
You've got (hacked) mail
If you've enabled two-factor authentication on your email account you can breathe a sigh of relief: you shouldn't be affected by what appears to be one of the biggest email hacks of all time. As David Nield reports, the data breach involves "hundreds of millions" of hacked usernames and passwords, affecting services such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail. "Apparently," he adds, "the stolen credentials are being traded around the Russian criminal underworld". We sincerely hope your email isn't in there, but as ever we'd recommend using strong passwords, not reusing passwords across sites and services, and using multi-factor authentication wherever possible. This isn't the first big email data breach, and it won't be the last.
Twitter Connect makes stalking simpler
Wouldn't it be great if Twitter could come up with sensible suggestions for who you should follow? It would, and Twitter reckons it's going to do just that with the new Connect tab. As Parker Wilhelm explains: "It's a new, curated suggestion list based on your past tweets, favorites, local area, and even your IRL friends. In addition to finding choice accounts to your liking, Twitter's new feature also syncs to your address book. Once a friend or family member signs up for the service, Twitter sends you a notification so that you can add them to your 'Following' list." The new tab is included in the latest Twitter apps for iOS and Android.
Uncharted territory: does Nathan Drake go out with a bang?
It's the end of the road for Nathan Drake: Uncharted 4 is the final game in the must-play series. Is it any good? Stephen Lambrechts reckons it is. "To this day, the Hollywood-level acting and writing found in developer Naughty Dog's adventure series has yet to be topped, and our affection for this trio has only grown stronger with each instalment. This, along with a greater sense of maturity, a bigger scope, and the most glorious visuals seen in a console game to date, makes Uncharted 4: A Thief's End the strongest entry in the series yet."
What makes Uncharted stand out from other games is the characterisation, and it's why Hugh Langley's favourite bit of Uncharted 4 is about emotion, not action (warning: slight spoiler ahead).
May the 4th be with you
To Star Wars fans and desperate marketers on Twitter, the 4th of May was Star Wars Day – and we've joined in the celebrations with our guide to the weirdest characters in the Star Wars universe and a look at the best Star Wars T-shirts in the galaxy, while for the people who don't understand why people love Star Wars so much, our very own Nick Pino tries to explain its enduring appeal – and apologise for its less appealing elements. And that's not all – if you fancy building your very own Death Star, Duncan Geere has asked the experts how to do it, and what it'd cost. Here's a hint: it would cost quite a lot.
We Vivomove it, move it, we Vivomove it, move it
"If you've always loved Garmin's smartwatch tech while feeling lukewarm about the company's design chops, take note," David Nield advises "The new Garmin Vívomove brings step and sleep tracking to a device that's very much a watch first and a tracker second." It's pretty, and pretty impressive. "The watch brings with it a year-long battery life, 5ATM (50-metre) waterproofing and a choice of interchangeable bands, and as you would expect it works with Garmin's competent Connect app to log all of your vital statistics."
Apple: Music to our ears
Hands up who loves Apple Music and its straightforward, intuitive interface? Stop snickering! We've got good news for anyone who finds the Music app hopelessly confusing, which we suspect is everybody: Apple's going to give it a major overhaul next month, bringing the streaming and download services closer together and hopefully removing the confusion between what's yours and what's Apple's. Who knows – maybe they'll sort out iTunes next.
Here's some photos of a Moto
Lenovo's CEO says an "exciting" new Motorola device will be launched on June 9, and the smart money says it's the Moto G4. The G4, and its sibling the G4 Plus, have been subject to more leaks than an emergency plumber, and as a result we know lots about their specs, design and features. The Moto G was – and is – an excellent budget smartphone, and if Lenovo gets the G4 right it could be "a near-perfect handset for the price", James Rogerson writes.
The little engine that could
Scientists have created a microscopic engine that could power the nanobots of the faintly frightening future. Duncan Geere explains: "The engine doesn't remotely resemble what you'd find under the hood of your car. It's made of tiny charged particles of gold, stuck together with a polymer gel that responds to temperature. When it's heated with a laser, it expels all water from the gel and collapses in a fraction of a second, binding the particles together into a tight cluster. Then, when it cools down again, the polymer expands and the gold nanoparticles quickly push each other apart."
It's like an explosion, made of gold and lasers. How exciting is that?
