Off-grid solutions take the stage in this week's Worldwide Wrap, as we find out why the US Navy plans to re-institute celestial navigation, while a new product allows cellphone users to call and text from off-grid locations.
US Navy to resume navigating by the stars
The US Navy is turning back to the centuries-old practice of celestial navigation to aid service members when their electronic navigation systems fail, or are hacked.
The navy is starting to view its overreliance on GPS as a vulnerability.
Via: Treehugger
Device enables off-grid cellphone use
Beartooth promises to help users make calls and communicate via text in remote or overcrowded locations when cellular signal is scarce or jammed.
The company's pocket-sized transceiver pairs with the user's smartphone via Bluetooth to allow them to talk to other Bluetooth-carrying friends via a walkie talkie-like functionality.
Via: Wired
Fake romantic partner industry booms online
A new report from BBC journalist Dave Lee reveals a burgeoning online industry for fake romantic partners. Users pay a subscription fee to receive regular texts and voice messages from, and even be "in a relationship" on Facebook with, a fake romantic partner, in order to get their family or friends to stop badgering them to find a partner.
"I thought this would essentially be a sex line... yet the service seems to strive to be somewhat unsexy, almost mundane - like real life," says Lee.
Via: BBC News
Artists create selfie sticks for MacBooks
A Web site advertising selfie sticks for MacBook laptops has emerged.
The MacBook Selfie Sticks are not for sale, but instead form an art piece commenting on selfie and selfie stick culture.
Via: Mashable
Hoverboard graveyard lays dreams to rest
Photographs have emerged of a "hoverboard graveyard" in the UK, after Surrey County Council tested hoverboards imported from Hong Kong via Heathrow Airport and found them to be unsafe, subsequently destroying them.
Some of the boards - which are notorious for spontaneously combusting, causing numeous house fires - even caught alight while they were being destroyed. The devices' materials were reportedly sent for recycling after destruction.
Via: Mashable
Xiaomi unveils ceramic-backed smartphone
Chinese smartphone-maker Xiaomi showed off a ceramic-backed smartphone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.
While most of Xiaomi's rivals uses glass, metal, or plastic cases for their devices, the ceramic body is said to be more durable.
Via: BBC News
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