From Google’s seeming inability to Google the word “alphabet” to our shared appreciation for Dyson products, Drex and I talked about a lot last night. Including Apple’s annual back to school promotion (free headphones) and how e-sports have hit the mainstream, with 17,000 fans watching Evil Geniuses win over $6 million playing video games.

This week in technology, Google decides to radically restructure as a company. Also, there’s a sale on Dyson fans, Apple’s giving away headphones to those buying new computers, and video games become part of the main event.

Google isn’t Google anymore

The easy joke making the rounds this week is whether Google’s promise to not be evil was being rescinded because of a massive restructuring of the company.

Larry Page didn’t comment on that in his letter published on Monday, in which he lays out the new company, Alphabet that he and cofounder Sergey Brin will run.

The idea, writes Page, is that Google has become a bit too big to manage, and with a bunch of projects that kind of go in different directions. So each of those projects is becoming a company unto itself, and Alphabet is going to be the one ring to rule them all.

Sundar Pichai will become the new CEO of a “slimmed down” Google, which will still include the Google Play Store, YouTube, and Android.

Ventures getting their own CEO and leadership include:

• Calico: a biotech company researching aging and extending life
• Google Ventures: venture capital investment for seed and growth stage projects
• Google Capital: late-stage growth funding
• Google X: the innovation lab, where work on the autonomous car, a drone delivery service (Wing), and Glass are being developed
• Next Labs: home automation, including the connected thermostats and smoke detectors

Investors seem to be happy about the move. But there is a danger. The creative energy that came out of the skunkworks and research projects within Google likely helped spur the more present day (mundane?) business initiatives like search, ads, and maps. Separating the various business units means there will be less cross-pollination.

As much as Google is different, there may be some business challenges that just require traditional solutions.

And if there’s a potential hitch here, it’s that Alphabet happens to be the name of a BMW subsidiary which owns the domain alphabet.com. A BMW spokesperson said the company is “not planning to sell the domain.” Whether Brin and Page’s new company infringes on any BMW trademark will likely be up to a court to decide.

Save $100 on a Dyson fan

Until September 3, you can get a slick Dyson fan for $100 off the normal price.

I’ve been using a Dyson Cool 12-inch desk fan for a while and it’s awesome. It moves air without sounding like an airplane because there are no blades. The Dyson fans use the inventer’s “Air Multiplier”: technology, which uses an airfoil to flow air at me.

A press of the remote and the fan will rotate on its pedestal, and this latest iteration of the fans is quieter and uses 40 percent less electricity than the first one. It’s just as easy to clean as ever.

At the sale price, the desk fan I’ve been using is only Cdn$250. It’s a bit more expensive than you’ll pay for a fan from a warehouse store, but the design and functionality are worth the premium, I think.

Apple’s giving away headphones

Every year, Apple encourages students — and parents of students — to get Mac computers for the return to class with a promotion of some type. The past few years it’s been an iTunes or App Store gift card.

This year it’s a pair of Beats Solo2 On-Ear headphones, a Cdn$ 220 value. If you want the wireless version of the Solo2s, you just pay the difference, which is $110.

That’s in addition to saving up to $250 with education pricing that Apple offers to all students and teachers.

Evil Geniuses win The International video game tournament

For those of you who don’t think competitive video gaming is worthy of your attention, last weekend a team of five players took home US$6,634,661 by winning The International.

The Evil Geniuses, an American team, captured the purse by playing Dota 2, a multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA) developed and published by Valve. More than 11 million people play Dota 2 every month.

The final tournament included 16 teams from around the world and was held in Seattle at KeyArena, which seats more than 17,000 people. And it was sold out. For comparison, a sold out Canucks game is 18,900.

Vancouver’s Kurtis Ling, known by his gaming handle Aui_2000, is a member of that winning team. He’s been gaming full time for about three years, and making a living off it. Last weekend he earned a million plus dollars.

This highlight video shows the path the Evil Geniuses took through the bracket to the final.

Last night, Drex and I talked about how computer viruses are becoming something Mac users need to be aware of, Newegg’s plan to expand its operation in Canada, the death of HitchBOT, and the importance of getting the family together around the supper table.

This week, with online spending in Canada is on the rise online retailer Newegg is getting in on the action. Plus, viruses are being found on Mac computers, hitchBOT’s adventures come to a grisly end, and a clever way to get the family together for dinner.

Canadian online retail market “growing rapidly”

Newegg is expanding its lineup of products available in Canada through a new program, the Canada Global Seller program. It gives international vendors access to the Canadian market, where eMarketer projects online sales to reach Cdn$44 billion by 2018.

Newegg is an online tech retailer based in Los Angeles. A Canada Post report referenced by Newegg claims that 42 percent of Canadians seek “international sellers offering more aggressive pricing than domestic sellers.”

The report uses Statistics Canada information from 2011 and also suggests that:

• 66 percent of Canadians had items shipped from outside Canada in a three-month period
• 37 percent of Canadians purchase items from outside Canada that are not available here

No information yet on how Newegg will handle the customs, duty, and shipping costs that are associated with buying outside our borders. But for consumers, more choice often leads to better options.

New viruses prove that Macs can be vulnerable

Black Hat, the annual hacker convention where programmers and software engineers gather to talk about code, started today in Las Vegas. Earlier this week, two of the people presenting revealed to Wired that they had created a viral worm that can be passed from one Mac computer to another through peripherals that get connected to the computer.

The two programmers exploit the firmware of the computer, which runs before the operating system of the computer, when security and antivirus programs kick into gear.

It’s not likely you have to worry about this anytime soon, but it is worth noting that the era of Apple Computers being effectively immune from such attacks, in part because they had fewer users but also because the operating system was more robust, has come to an end.

hitchBOT is dead. Long live hitchBOT

The social experiment has ended, and the result is, well, not very surprising.

hitchBOT was designed as a collaborative art project. It could Tweet and post photos to Instagram, and its creators wanted to know whether the goodwill of humans could get the robot across Canada. The robot completed the trip in 21 days in the summer of 2014.

In February 2015, hitchBOT travelled through Germany and then “vacationed” in the Netherlands.

The next trip began in Salem, Massachusetts, on July 17. On Saturday, August 1, hitchBOT Tweeted, “Oh dear, my body was damaged, but I live on with all my friends. Sometimes bad things happen to good robots!”

When hitchBOT first took to the road, co-creator Frauke Zeller, a professor at Ryerson in Toronto, said, “Usually, we are concerned whether we can trust robots … but this project takes it the other way around and asks: can robots trust human beings?”

hitchBOT did okay in Canada. And Germany. And the Netherlands.

It was in the United States that hitchBOT was killed. Two weeks into its trip. Like I said: not very surprising.

Pepper mill aims to bring families together at mealtime

The “PepperHacker” was announced in April, but I just learned about it’s existence last weekend.

With a twist, the grinder shuts down televisions and Wi-Fi routers, and mobile devices, rendering them dormant for 30 minutes.

The device was commissioned by Australian food manufacturer Dolmio as part of a campaign around getting families to sit down at the dinner table together. To eat pasta made with Dolmio products, if you’re of a mind.

The pepper mill doesn’t seem to work like TV-B-Gone, which sends an infrared signal out to televisions to shut them off. The Telegraph reports that the hack affects devices that are plugged into a power hub. Which limits its functionality.

And it’s not actually available for sale, but was created to make a point. Just look at how happy families become when they share a meal together without any distractions.

This week, Windows 10 has arrived, a look at changes YouTube has made to its mobile app, and what computer hackers made Fiat Chrysler do.

Microsoft celebrates the release of Windows 10

The latest version of Microsoft’s operating system officially released today, and to celebrate, the company is giving away $10 million in “cash and technology”. And Canadian initiatives are part of the campaign. By using the hashtag #UpgradeYourWorld, Canadians can suggest and nominate people, groups, and organizations who are “empowering others to do great things,” Microsoft Canada said in a statement.

Windows 10 is easily the best operating system Microsoft has ever released, and it includes the following slick features:

• The Start menu has been brought back to the interface to make it easier to navigate your computer.
• The new web browser is called Microsoft Edge. It lets you annotate web pages, sync between your various devices, and tracks your reading list.
• Cortana, the digital assistant, will be available in English Canada later this summer.
• Improved Mail and Calendar apps.
• With supporting devices, you can use your face, iris, or fingerprint to unlock your devices.

Windows 10 is a free upgrade for users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. If you’ve already reserved your upgrade, Microsoft will be rolling out the upgrade in cycles. And retail stores will be carrying free upgrade programs.

Virtually all computers manufacturers today released new systems with Windows 10 preloaded.

YouTube makes it easier to use mobile

Just in case you wondered how important mobile devices are today, YouTube has made it easier for people to watch — and shoot — videos with their smartphones. That’s because, according to a blog post, more than half of the videos watched on YouTube were watched on mobile devices.

The redesigned YouTube mobile app is available now on Android and is coming soon to iOS. The new app has three tabs across the top of the screen.

• Home tab is for discovery, where you’ll get recommendations based on what you’ve watched.
• Subscriptions gives you a quick look at the latest videos from the channels you’ve subscribed to.
• Account is where you can see your personal playlists as well as the videos you’ve uploaded.

Speaking of uploading videos, the new YouTube app makes it better for you to do that with your smartphone, too, You can now edit footage, add filters and music, and upload video all from within the YouTube app.

Chrysler recalls 1.4 million vehicles for a software update

I’m a big fan of technology in vehicles, and the automakers appear to be, too. But they’d better start taking security seriously or they’ll have bigger problems than just a recall.

Last week, Fiat Chrysler started a voluntary safety recall to patch the software in 1.4 million vehicles, including a couple of models of Jeep and Dodge Ram trucks.

This after a Wired article documented how two hackers from St. Louis were able to remotely comandeer a Cherokee being driven by the journalist who wrote the story.

The hackers were able to control the air conditioning, radio, and windshield wipers, as well as the transmission, cutting the engine while the vehicle was in the middle of the interstate. They can also cut the brakes.

The hack exploits a flaw in Fiat Chrysler’s Uconnect system, and in particular its connection to Sprint’s cellular network. Which is why Canadian drivers need not be concerned, because the company does not have cellular connectivity in vehicles being sold in Canada.

If you bought your Jeep in the U.S.? Get yourself a USB stick and download the update.