Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Weird Wide Web: A 3D printed miracle, a robot bartender and exploring your own street in virtual reality

All of your essential tech and social media news for the week in one byte-sized portion.

WELCOME TO THE Weird Wide Web – where we take a look at the week’s best offerings in tech and social media news.

Tech stats of the week

It turns out one in six Irish people have NEVER used the internet. Ever.

Alan Alan

Virtual reality offer of the week

A new ‘easter egg’ in Google Maps will let users with Cardboard explore Street View in virtual reality, according to The Verge. So now you’ll be able to walk down your own street using virtual reality. Or you could just do it in real life. That’s up to you.

Google Google

Printed miracle of the week

Derby the dog was born with deformed front legs. Though he could walk with the help of a wheeled card, he has never been able to run freely, as dogs love to do. A set of wonderful 3D printed prosthetics have now given him the ability to run around after things like a normal dog. And he’s delighted:

3D Systems / YouTube

Robot bartender of the week

Here’s something some of you would find handy on Christmas Day. All you have to do is fill up all of the compartments with spirits and mixers and the machine gets the combination of your favourite cocktails just right.

Christmas wish of the week

A survey this week found wearable gadgets are on the Christmas wish lists of a third of the British public, with half believing smart watches and fitness trackers are the key to a longer life, International Business Times reports. Are you hoping Santa brings you some wearable tech?

Read the rest of this week’s tech news> 

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dobby Dooo Dooo
    Favourite Dobby Dooo Dooo
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:28 AM

    They’re very brave deleting accounts when Donald has days left in office. Where were they 4 yrs ago?

    459
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute PeteC
    Favourite PeteC
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:53 AM

    @Dobby Dooo Dooo: They probably needed something tangible, i.e the insurrection, to justify the removal. Or at least, thats what I would assume.

    140
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jim Buckley Barrett
    Favourite Jim Buckley Barrett
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:00 AM

    @Dobby Dooo Dooo: you’re right, Trump is a bully and would have used his office to punish Facebook, Twitter etc that’s why they couldn’t do much until now

    94
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Conrad Shields
    Favourite Conrad Shields
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 2:32 PM

    @Dobby Dooo Dooo: They couldn’t be seen to silencing a fairly elected leader. However, since he has now been voted out of office in the last fair election AND he ihas effectively instigated an attempted coup (without military support), they have a moral obligation to do so now.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Contrary Mary
    Favourite Contrary Mary
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 7:22 PM

    @Dobby Dooo Dooo: Busy watching Antifa grow.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Contrary Mary
    Favourite Contrary Mary
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 7:23 PM

    @Jim Buckley Barrett: He tried to hold them responsible for their bias, remember?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
    Favourite Dave O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:09 AM

    Very funny seeing all the conservatives complaining about losing twitter followers over the weekend.

    180
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Cavey
    Favourite Peter Cavey
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:45 AM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: I know. I can just imagine Ted Cruz saying, “What? You mean @PatriotBot748334556038 wasn’t a really person?”

    167
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
    Favourite Dave O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 10:47 AM

    @Peter Cavey: there are comments like this from real conservatives. I’m not joking, Matt Gaetz: “I wish I could lose weight like I’m losing followers during this twitter purge”. Twitter announces theyre taking down neo-nazi and violent insurrectionist accounts and all these clowns quickly start complaining about losing followers.

    51
    See 18 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hup Abù
    Favourite Hup Abù
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 11:17 AM

    I love how people think they are progressive, Liberal and forward thinking intellectuals by shutting down a whole significantly portioned section of societies thoughts and ideas that conflict with their own. . .
    What happens when Twitter, Facebook, The Journal etc suddenly aren’t on your side and want to silence you? A dangerous game.

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
    Favourite Dave O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 11:23 AM

    @Hup Abù: the ideas aren’t being shutdown they broke their contract with these companies and therefore it has been revoked. They can still share their ideas. No company has to deal with a customer they don’t want to. Conservatives made that case in the Supreme Court and won.

    38
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
    Favourite Dave O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 11:31 AM

    @Hup Abù: I also never claimed to be progressive, Liberal, forward thinking or indeed intellectual

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hup Abù
    Favourite Hup Abù
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 11:36 AM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: As I said in another post. Your view on these just being “private companies” so let them at it is a very simplistic one. They have an over arching power of influence and are a significant aspect of the gogs of our society. Of course at present you are happy with who they choose to not to allow on their platforms, but perhaps consider for a second if you weren’t….. a dangerous game

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hup Abù
    Favourite Hup Abù
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 11:37 AM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: No you didn’t, but I know you think it

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hup Abù
    Favourite Hup Abù
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 11:39 AM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: And your avatar is particularly ironic. Jesus

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
    Favourite Dave O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 12:01 PM

    @Hup Abù: are you of the opinion so that Al-Qaeda accounts shouldn’t have been banned? Dangerous ideologies will always be banned, especially when they lead to violence as is the case here.

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
    Favourite Dave O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 12:02 PM

    @Hup Abù: and no, I don’t think of myself as any of those things. I’m the average person.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hup Abù
    Favourite Hup Abù
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 12:14 PM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: “Al-Queda” hyperbole much, stretching much. It’s grand I see were you’re at. Just be careful what you wish and desire

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
    Favourite Dave O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 1:14 PM

    @Hup Abù: a dangerous ideology that leads to violence was the example. Funny you’ve never objected to them being banned before this. I didn’t make a comparison between the two by the way, I’m just questioning why you didn’t care when it was a different group inciting violence that was banned.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
    Favourite Dave O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 1:19 PM

    @Hup Abù: so, to wrap this up, you’re OK with some ideologies being removed. But when it happened to neo-nazis and violent insurrectionists that’s when you got concerned.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Francis Devenney
    Favourite Francis Devenney
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 1:20 PM

    @Hup Abù: What you seem to be saying is that Governments should have the power to force publishers to print whatever they tell them too. Is that right?

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Daniel Dunne
    Favourite Daniel Dunne
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 1:55 PM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: “No company has to deal with a customer they don’t want to.”

    Including or excluding baking a cake? Just askin’

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
    Favourite Dave O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 2:09 PM

    @Daniel Dunne: including, that’s what the Supreme Court said

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Bathe
    Favourite John Bathe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 2:13 PM

    @Hup Abù: banning ar£seh£les is fine by me.. left or right ar£seho£les.. I’m Centre myself.. sid them touting childish conspiracy twaddle..

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Edmund Spencer
    Favourite Edmund Spencer
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 4:10 PM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: Question: If you think dangerous idealogies that lead to violence should be removed from the platform, do you believe that Antifa/BLM accounts should be removed from the platform given the months of violence caused by them last year? Or is it just right wing ideologies that lead to violence that you’re against?

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Contrary Mary
    Favourite Contrary Mary
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 7:27 PM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: Where were they complaining?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Contrary Mary
    Favourite Contrary Mary
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 7:44 PM

    @Hup Abù: Well written. One step closer to North Korea. My best friend was in Cuba when a real dictator took over. The thought police took her father. He was never heard from again. The propaganda is very similar, she tells me.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seán Óg
    Favourite Seán Óg
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:27 AM

    Why has it taken so long? The damage has been done. Twitter and Facebook just trying to cover their @rse.

    152
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul
    Favourite Paul
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:40 AM

    @Seán Óg: because ironically Trump signed an executive order removing some protections social media companies had. He was making them accountable for the content of postings….

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Critical Thinker
    Favourite Critical Thinker
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 11:49 AM

    @Seán Óg: yeah, the enablers of Trump are not so supportive now that he’s leaving office. On another note, I often enjoyed reading tweets from qanon accounts though I could never quite work out if people actually believed what they posted

    6
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Contrary Mary
    Favourite Contrary Mary
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 7:52 PM

    @Seán Óg: But there’s nothing to cover, right? They are private companies (which trade on the stock exchange, so not sure how that works, but yeah. That’s the mantra here.) The bill President Trump was pushing would have held them responsible for QAnon, Antifa, and bias actions that have shaped elections. Shame he wasn’t able to do that. Like anyone with any knowledge of history will tell you, supression sends people underground where it’s harder to fight them. Congrats!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Contrary Mary
    Favourite Contrary Mary
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 7:55 PM

    @Critical Thinker: Then you were an enabler too. I’m sure 8 chan or reddit will help you keep in touch.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ianglen
    Favourite ianglen
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:25 AM

    Trump’s “Stand Back and Stand By” comment has really come back and bitten him in the proverbials.

    140
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barry Evans
    Favourite Barry Evans
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:34 AM

    @ianglen: I was shocked that neither the moderator nor Biden thought to call him out on that comment during the debate. Talk about a call to arms!

    84
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ianglen
    Favourite ianglen
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:43 AM

    @Barry Evans: At least Biden got him to say it, still remember it and being shocked that Trump came out with that comment.

    54
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave Thomas
    Favourite Dave Thomas
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:49 AM

    @ianglen: Putin got him to say he doesn’t trust his own security agencies.

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ianglen
    Favourite ianglen
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 10:28 AM

    @Dave Thomas: very true

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Padraig Corcoran
    Favourite Padraig Corcoran
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 12:36 PM

    @ianglen: Do you remember the question he was asked when he said that?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ianglen
    Favourite ianglen
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 12:40 PM

    @Padraig Corcoran: Biden asked Trump to denounce the Proud Boys and true to form Trump couldn’t help himself..

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Contrary Mary
    Favourite Contrary Mary
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 7:58 PM

    @ianglen: And a whole bunch of people have run to their fav social media to get info that no investigation has established. Congrats to our resident curtain twitchers on both sides of center.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SC
    Favourite SC
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:01 AM

    First they came for Q Anon…

    92
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Derek
    Favourite Derek
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:07 AM

    @SC:… No

    57
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SC
    Favourite SC
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 12:32 PM

    @Derek: why? The original poem is by a priest who was delighted when the Nazis took out the pro-Soviet communists and later realised the same measures would be used against more moderate dissenters.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barney r
    Favourite Barney r
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:13 AM

    This will only convince deranged Qanon supporters that they are correct.Using censorship as proof of conspiracy beliefs and driving their conviction in following orders from the devine Trump. God help USA

    66
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dylan Byrne
    Favourite Dylan Byrne
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 10:41 AM

    @Barney r: Was just thinking that, these guys are just gonna find each other other places online and radicalise eachother through the hype of being, censored’.. Scary

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute PΛÐÐY ЯOOПΣY
    Favourite PΛÐÐY ЯOOПΣY
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 11:42 AM

    Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in favor of free speech.

    Noam Chomsky

    46
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Graham Manning
    Favourite Graham Manning
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:09 AM

    This is gonna make a really dumb film one of these days.

    104
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
    Favourite Dave O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:11 AM

    @Graham Manning: ‘The Battle of Sweatysburg’

    102
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hughie Lynch
    Favourite Hughie Lynch
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:16 AM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: “Hamburger and Fries Hill”

    65
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciarán Ó Dubhda
    Favourite Ciarán Ó Dubhda
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:18 AM

    @Hughie Lynch: one flew into Capital hill

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fergal O'Hagan
    Favourite Fergal O'Hagan
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:55 AM

    @Ciarán Ó Dubhda: White House Down…… the crapper

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alex Marquis
    Favourite Alex Marquis
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:32 AM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: all this bigly great tremendous number of years ago, our forefathers…

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michelle_Herbert
    Favourite Michelle_Herbert
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:06 AM

    And que the complaints from the “free speech” keyboard warriors….

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gina Carroll
    Favourite Gina Carroll
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:23 AM

    Bit late now!

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seán O'Loughlin
    Favourite Seán O'Loughlin
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:27 AM

    @Gina Carroll: Better late than never.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gina Carroll
    Favourite Gina Carroll
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 11:21 AM

    @Seán O’Loughlin: why the damage has been done.

    3
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Stephenson
    Favourite Ian Stephenson
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 5:36 PM

    @Gina Carroll: that was my immediate thought … too little to late from Twitter and VERY disingenuous doing it two weeks before Trump goes after giving him free reign for years

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute neuromancer
    Favourite neuromancer
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 8:55 AM

    4 years too late.

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jonathan Nolan
    Favourite Jonathan Nolan
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:13 AM

    Bet the flat earth society are shayting themselves

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hatchjaw
    Favourite Hatchjaw
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 10:05 AM

    I’ve been taking a nosey around Gab. Man there’s some really deranged people out there, real scary.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute barreeeeeeeee
    Favourite barreeeeeeeee
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:18 AM

    Why dose QAnon start with 2 Capital letters

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Micheal S. O' Ceilleachair
    Favourite Micheal S. O' Ceilleachair
    Report
    Jan 12th 2021, 9:59 AM

    @barreeeeeeeee: (Q) question and (A) answer. (non) nonentity.

    11
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds