Renew, Recycle, Repurpose

A new initiative by English startup Renew, has one hundred recycling bins in The City of London set to receive an upgrade that will track and target ads to passing pedestrians.

Previously, bins all across the city were fitted with digital screens to celebrate last year’s Olympic games, and since then, the screens have been dedicated to displaying ads and public information to citizens.

More recently, though, the smart-bins outfitted by Renew have the ability to track smartphones, giving advertisers the ability to track their cookies into the real world. The bins work by logging your phone’s unique Mac address over its Wi-Fi connection, allowing it to keep track of an individual’s daily routine. The technology, developed by London’s Presence Aware, is supposed to help advertisers hone their marketing campaigns, however, privacy advocates might not be thrilled about the service.

Despite the privacy concern, the service doesn’t actually identify individuals, and Londoners shouldn’t have to fear about their information getting out. MAC addresses, while unique, don’t reveal the owner’s name or other identifying information.

Have Bitcoin? Check Your Wallet.

Bitcoin developers have reported some troubling news for the young currency, finding what they call a critical weakness on Android devices that could leave people’s wallets open to theft.

The vulnerability affects every Bitcoin wallet app on the Android OS, including popular options like Bitcoin Wallet, blockchain.info, and BitcoinSpinner.

The hole in security stems from Android’s random number generator, which creates a secret address to keep your Bitcoins safe. Unfortunately for Android, the number generator isn’t as random as they’d hoped, and now that the flaw has been discovered, Bitcoin developers are encouraging users to generate new addresses with a random number generator that’s been proven to be more reliable.

A thread on BitcoinTalk.org seems to indicate that updates for the affected apps are already in the works.

NBC Turning You Into a Journalist

Looking to go all-in on user-generated content, media giant NBC News has acquired media-startup Stringwire.

The company’s founder, Phil Groman, developed the real-time sharing software using the emerging WebRTC standard for transmitting real-time voice and video over the web, making Stringwire one of the tech’s earliest adopters. Commenting on the next generation of news, NBC’s digital content officer Vivian Schiller explained, “Wherever you see a swarm of eyewitnesses on Twitter, that’s the sweet spot for Stringwire.”

One way the software could work is by messaging people tweeting from a news event, giving them a link to click that launches the Stringwire web app and bypassing the need to install any apps or software.

Users could submit footage, and if it’s particularly compelling, NBC could air it live, effectively turning everyone into a street reporter. As user-generated content continues to grow as a share of total news footage, it’s likely that we’ll see more and more networks implementing this technology.

FANBOY ALERT!!!

Apple is expected to unveil its next iPhone at a special event scheduled for September Tenth.

The launch comes at an important time for Apple, which has seen its global market share dip thanks to a wave of lower-cost Android devices. One of the key questions for Apple is whether or not they can address the midrange smartphone market.

There has been a great deal of talk about whether or not the company will debut a new lower-cost iPhone alongside the expected iPhone 5 update. In addition to an upgrade to iOS 7, the new iPhones could sport a new fingerprint sensor, which has been expected ever since Apple acquired Authentec last year.

Logical Fallacy: Appeal to Celebrity

HTC has just confirmed that they’ve signed Robert Downey Jr. for a two-year deal, making him the official spokesman and creative mind behind the company’s new “Here’s To Change” global ad campaign.

The entire “Change” campaign should last anywhere from two to three years, and it will be split into three main phases. The first phase, which starts Thursday, will include whacky two-minute television ads featuring Downey and his fellow actors blurting out what “HTC” could stand for including things like “Humongous Tinfoil Catamaran,” “Hipster Troll Carwash,” or “Hold This Cat”.

The goal of the ads, according to HTC, is to invoke interest and talkability amongst consumers, but interestingly, you won’t find many mentions of phones in the first full ad.

Subsequent phases of the campaign will eventually focus on the mobile features, but for now, expect HTC to be playing up their brand with some entertaining ads from none-other than the Iron Man himself.

Cell Service for Service-Members

While the US military has nearly unlimited resources to put smartphones on the battlefield, those resources aren’t available for soldiers’ private devices.

A new carrier called Defense Mobile wants to fill the void left by the military, and give our soldiers the connections they deserve. Recently, Defense Mobile announced a deal to use Sprint’s CDMA and LTE networks, and with it, the company plans to provide cellular service strictly for active-duty forces, reserves and veterans.

The provider will offer affordable plans, ranging from twenty dollars for the basics all the way up to sixty dollars for a family plan.

Despite being the most inexpensive service available, the company also promises not to skimp on their handset selection. Customers will have access to top-of-the-line devices including the Galaxy S4, HTC One and iPhone 5. Defense Mobile hopes to go live by 2014, and the service will include apps and branding tailored to each branch of the military.

A Workout for Gamers?

The Virtuix Omni treadmill, which takes virtual reality into the fourth dimension, is scheduled for release in March of next year.

Gaming enthusiasts everywhere will be excited to know that the company is already accepting pre-orders. It’s priced at five hundred dollars for the single, and a thousand dollars for the dual.

The Virtuix Omni comes with a brace ring that holds your torso in place, and keeps you from flying off the treadmill. Unlike ordinary treadmills, the Omni’s multi-directional treadmill moves in every direction that you’d want to walk or run in, and it can even detect more game-specific movements like jumping and crouching.

To complement the treadmill, Omni suggests users also get the Oculus Rift headset, so you can see and hear the environment you’re running around in.

Though the Rift headset won’t come bundled as part of the Omni package, the five-hundred dollar single model will get you an Omni treadmill, a support harness (sized to your specifications), and, a single pair of shoes designed to work in compliance with the treadmill.

And that’s all the news we have for this morning. If you want to keep up with these stories and more in tech, be sure to join us every morning on NewsDesk with Kristin Feledy.

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