GoKawiil
Tech News
Pabst Blue Ribbon announced on Instagram that thieves stole roughly 40,000 pounds of its beer, turning the theft into a public marketing moment rather than a quiet internal matter. The move mirrors a growing trend of brands, like KitKat previously, openly acknowledging cargo thefts and using them to generate social media buzz.
Blue Voice, a Boston startup founded by Harvard Law dropout David Lawrence, has emerged from stealth with $6 million in funding led by SignalFire and Las Olas VC. The platform gives police officers instant, real-time access to department-specific policies, laws and protocols, and is already used by officers across 225 county agencies in 25 states.
Thieves used fraudulent subcontracting paperwork to arrange a fake pickup at a Pabst distribution center in Montclair, California, making off with roughly 40,000 pounds of beer worth about $25,000. Pabst responded with a tongue-in-cheek social media countdown demanding the return of its 'truck,' though police clarified no truck was actually stolen, just the cargo. A separate $45,000 shipment bound for Tucson vanished from the same facility the same day, and investigators are exploring a possible link.
Android phones running version 6.0 or later include a built-in feature called Absolute Bluetooth Volume, which links your phone's volume buttons directly to connected Bluetooth speakers or headphones. When the phone's volume scale doesn't match a Bluetooth device's internal amplification, the sync can glitch, causing unresponsive buttons followed by sudden full-volume blasts. Android includes a native toggle to turn this feature off without installing extra apps.
A how-to guide details a method for turning an iPhone into a substitute gaming controller for PCs using the Remote Gamepad app, which works with Mac, Windows and Linux systems. Rather than pairing via Bluetooth, the setup connects the iPhone to a computer over a shared Wi-Fi network to relay controller inputs into PC games.
Wireless congestion from accumulated smart devices is often blamed on Bluetooth interference with Wi-Fi networks. In reality, most modern routers and devices use frequency management techniques that keep Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals from significantly interfering with each other, except in specific overlapping scenarios.
A University of Georgia study tested 60 young adults on their ability to distinguish two close points of light under different colors, finding that blue light caused the greatest scattering and optical aberration in the eye, requiring points to be farther apart to be seen as separate. Green, yellow, red, and broadband light produced comparatively less scatter. The researchers also found iris pigmentation affected results, with lighter-colored eyes showing different sensitivity.
Google's latest Android 17 QPR2 Beta 4, released last Friday, makes it far easier to use a voice-broadcasting feature on Pixel phones that lets people speak or stream audio to nearby Bluetooth LE Audio devices, similar to a personal PA system. The capability, previously called Voicecast and buried in Developer Settings, can now be turned on instantly via a Quick Settings tile, provided Bluetooth is enabled, and supports password protection to block unwanted listeners.
Google has published troubleshooting guidance for Android Auto users experiencing connection issues, covering both wired and wireless setups. The advice includes checking cables and ports for damage, using data-capable cables under six feet, and toggling Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to force a manual reconnection.
Amazon has quietly equipped every Kindle released since 2016 with Bluetooth, even though the devices lack built-in speakers or headphone jacks. The wireless connection lets users pair headphones or speakers to listen to audiobooks or have text read aloud, rather than for downloading books, which still relies on Wi-Fi or USB.
A report explains that streaming platforms must compress 4K video heavily to send it over the internet without buffering, which strips out fine details like film grain, shadow gradients, textures and complex motion data. A 1080p Blu-ray, by contrast, uses a much higher bitrate and preserves that visual information more faithfully, so it can look sharper in demanding scenes despite having fewer pixels.
Wireless CarPlay initially relies on Bluetooth to pair the iPhone with the car, which then hands the phone Wi-Fi network credentials so CarPlay can run over that faster connection. Once Wi-Fi takes over, the car drops the Bluetooth link, though it keeps the paired connection on file to speed up future launches or reconnect a dropped session. Setup can happen either via a one-time USB connection or fully wirelessly through the iPhone's Bluetooth and Wi-Fi settings.