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New in tech this week
[March 16, 2014]

New in tech this week


(Guardian (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) * Remember hi-fi audio? Ageing rocker Neil Young does - and he wants it back. Last week he took to the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter promoting the PonoPlayer, a $300 (pounds 215) prism-shaped digital music player, which he promised would give super-high audio quality playback. Within one day the $1m funding target had been beaten; by last Friday it had gone through $3m.



* Apple has updated its iPhone software, adding support for its car integration system CarPlay, which lets you plug your phone into your car and control apps, as long as your car is a Ferrari, or some models of Mercedes or Volvo due out later this year.

* Google set tongues wagging by buying Green Throttle Games, the unsuccessful manufacturer of a gaming controller for Android apps. The speculation is that Google is working on its own Android-based games console to rival Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One, or perhaps its own TV.


* Google faces a class-action lawsuit over children making in-app purchases, like those Apple suffered two years ago. A New York mother is suing the company over $66 of unauthorised purchases by her child of virtual currency in an Android game. Apple settled its suit for $100m and was fined another $32.5m by the US federal trade commission.

* Amazon's gaming controller appeared on the internet courtesy of a Brazilian regulatory agency, showing that the retailer is working on an Xbox-like controller for a possible Android-based gaming console, just like Google. Samuel Gibbs Captions: The PonoPlayer promises high fidelity playback of digital music (c) 2014 Guardian Newspapers Limited.

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