It turns out cute toys might not be the only things spying on you. You better think twice before you hang your coat on these unassuming wall hooks, thinking you’re alone in your hotel room. Someone might very well be watching and recording your every single move.
While the plain-looking hooks might not be the first thing you spot in a room, they will certainly spot you. Equipped with a microphone and an HD cam, these coat hangers are actually full-fledged covert recording devices.
You can watch a demo of the spying wall hooks in action here:
In addition to shooting video in 1280×960 resolution at up to 30 frames per second, the gadget also comes with a microSD card slot for up to 16GB of storage.
But the worst part is how widely available the spying wall hooks are. The Daily Dot was able to find units selling for as low as a measly $13 on Amazon .
The good thing, however, is that an overwhelming number of Amazon customers claim they were never able to get the cameras to record anything – so things might not be as bad as they sound after all.
Still, you better keep an eye out if you come across one of these – I know I would.
Dear Samsung, warning us in the manual doesn’t excuse the Note 5’s design flaw
If you haven’t heard by now, the Galaxy Note 5 has one pretty significant design flaw: if you slide in the S Pen backwards, you’ll break the phone’s ability to detect when the stylus is inserted.
That’s a bummer, because one of the phone’s best features is letting you take notes on the screen without having to unlock the device. If the phone can’t detect when the pen’s been removed, the feature doesn’t work. It also means you have to manually activate the S-Pen’s actions when the device is already unlocked.
Samsung’s response? Read the manual. Here’s the canned statement it’s provided to numerous outlets:
In other words: it’s not Samsung’s fault.
Look, it’s obvious that you shouldn’t slide in the pen backwards if you take approximately 1.37 seconds to think about it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen anyway. As Android Police points out in its explainer video , there’s no resistance whatsover to entering the pen in backwards, which leads to a myriad of scenarios where someone could accidentally insert it incorrectly.
Maybe it’s a parent who lent the phone to a child. Maybe you’re in a rush. Maybe it’s dark and you can’t really see. Heck, maybe you’re just absentmindedly curious and wanted to see what would happen. You probably know it’s not the right way to insert the pen, but you also probably don’t think any damage will happen because of it.
For argument’s sake, let’s see what the manual actually says:
Sure, if every person who will ever so much as touch a Note 5 has read the instructions thoroughly, then they might take some extra care to actively avoid inserting the S Pen the wrong way.
But all this really tells me is that Samsung already knew the Note 5 had a significant design flaw, yet decided to ignore it. For comparison, though you can also insert the Note 4’s Pen backwards, the warning doesn’t appear in that device’s manual, so the issue may be related to the Note 5’s new clicking mechanism.
My colleague Natt braved it out on her own Note 4 and came back safe:
One the Note 4, the Pen only goes in a certain amount and doesn’t get stuck, unlike on the Note 5.
For an expensive device you’re theoretically supposed to use every day for the next two years, that’s too simple an issue to let out of the design lab. Just make it so the pen only goes in one way; it would take the slightest amount of tapering.
Hardware flaws happen to every manufacturer. Perhaps most famously, the iPhone 4 suffered from reception issues when held a certain way. Steve Jobs’ response to that problem was “ Just avoid holding it that way. ” until it was eventually addressed in later models.
The Note 5 looks to be great phone , but if Samsung’s proud of the device it’s made, it should take steps to ensure every user has the best possible experience with it. For users with broken S Pen slots, that could be offering repairs for damaged devices, announcing a design tweak or even just acknowledging that it’s a problem.
But it shouldn’t blame its users for an issue so easy to replicate and so easy for it to fix – especially when it knew about it in the first place.
Android Wear is now compatible with the iPhone
The rumors have finally come to fruition: Android Wear is now compatible with iOS .
Most of the features you’d expect from Android Wear appear to be available on the iOS iteration: Simply install the Wear app and pair your phone with the watch to be able access notifications for things like calls and texts. You can also keep track of your fitness goals and heart rate, or use voice commands to create appointments and set reminders with Google Now.
There are some limitations, however. A report from The Verge indicates you won’t have the same selection of third party apps available to Android users, and interactive notifications will only work with a few Google apps like Gmail. That’s to be expected though – Apple has a strict set of rules for the App Store – but nevertheless slightly disappointing.
Voice search also works, although it won’t have the same flexibility to search within apps as it does with Android smartphones (or as the Apple Watch can on the iPhone).
The move isn’t entirely unexpected – rumors have floated around for a while, and just last week, an Amazon listing for the Huawei Watch leaked the compatibility.
It’s an important move for Google too. Dubious though the future of smartwatches may be, Apple Watch sales greatly outnumber Android Wear ones, so adding support for iOS is a logical move for Google to expand its user base – especially as it’s unlikely Apple will return the favor on Android with the Apple Watch.
Google says the Android Wear app for iOS is rolling out today (although there’s no App Store link yet), and will be compatible for any iPhone 5 or 6 running iOS 8.2 or higher.
Currently, iOS compatibility has only been announced for the LG Watch Urbane , and Huawei Watch and Asus Zenwatch 2 , but Google says iOS support will roll out to every future Android Wear device.
➤ Android Wear now works with iPhones [Google Blog]