Galaxy Note 5 owners are stupid, Twitter protects politicians' tweets, Netflix streams YouTube movies, Furry Friend generates cat purrs, and elders react to 3D printers.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Stylus Debacle

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 has a design flaw which some users have discovered to their cost. The phablet, which was unveiled last week alongside the S6 Edge+, comes with a stylus known as the S Pen. The S Pen is used for writing and drawing on the screen, and slots securely into the phone when not in use.

As you might expect, the S Pen is only designed to fit inside the handset one way, and doing so means it sits flush, held in place by a spring-loaded mechanism. Unfortunately, people have been jamming the S Pen into the slot the wrong way, which means it gets stuck. Trying to force it back out can permanently damage the mechanism.

Users who have experienced this issue are aghast at such a simple design flaw making it into the final product. But Samsung is putting the blame squarely on the users, issuing a statement saying, "We highly recommend our Galaxy Note5 users follow the instructions in the user guide to ensure there are no issues".

Samsung is clearly at fault here, especially if, as appears to be the case, the company shipped the Galaxy Note 5 to customers despite knowing about the issue. However, users have to take their share of the blame for this one, as it's patently obvious which way around the stylus should be when inserted into the handset. Forget BendGate, as PenGate is now apparently a thing.

Twitter Cracks Down on Politwoops

Twitter has shut down a network of sites dedicated to archiving tweets sent, and then deleted, by politicians. Politwoops, as the network was called, would record all tweets sent by politicians, including those that got deleted. A sister site called Diplotwoops, which tracked tweets deleted by diplomats, has also been silenced.

Twitter shut the U.S. version of Politwoops down in June, but has now suspended the API access for all of the country-specific sites. Twitter claims to have made the decision after "thoughtful internal deliberation and close consideration of a number of factors".

Twitter reportedly told the Open State Foundation, which ran Politwoops, "Imagine how nerve-racking — terrifying, even — tweeting would be if it was immutable and irrevocable? No one user is more deserving of that ability than another. Indeed, deleting a tweet is an expression of the user’s voice." Do you agree? Or should politicians be held more accountable than the average person on the street?

Netflix Buys Up YouTube Movies

Netflix has acquired the rights to stream two movies made by popular YouTubers. According to The New York Times, both Smosh: The Movie and Bad Night will be available on Netflix soon, bringing more content aimed at the tween/teen demographic to the service.

Smosh: The Movie shows the Smosh comedy duo going on an adventure into YouTube in an effort to delete an embarrassing video. Bad Night features Jenn McAllister and Lauren Luthringshausen, who go on an adventure after being mistaken for art thieves. So it looks like we have some new best bad movies on Netflix with which to torture ourselves.

Furry Friend Lets You Generate Purrs

Cats are the lifeblood of the Internet. The average Internet user probably sees more cat-related content than anything else these days, because the felines are taking over the asylum. And yet it has taken this long for someone to create a sound generator dedicated to engineering the purrfect cat noise.

That's right, folks, Furry Friend is a cat purr noise generator available from myNoise. It lets those who are inclined to do so create the most comforting cat purr by adjusting a series of frequency sliders. So whether a deep, bassy purr or a high-pitched trill does it for you, Furry Friend is capable of filling that void in your life.

Elders React to 3D Printers

And finally, how would older people react to seeing a 3D printer print out an object before their very eyes? After all, 3D printing has the potential to change the world. Maybe not in this decade, but certainly in the decades to come.

This video shows elders reacting to 3D printers, and discussing the issues surrounding this particular technology. As with most of us, they see 3D printers as a double-edged sword, which will have both good and bad consequences on the world.

So, it turns out the big revelation from this video is that older people are really no different from everyone else. Shocker! [H/T Fine Brothers Entertainment]

Your Views on Today’s Tech News

Is Samsung or its users at fault for PenGate? Should Twitter have deleted the Politwoops accounts? Can you explain the appeal of YouTubers? Have you used a better sound generator than Furry Friend? Are 3D printers the future of everything, or an overrated innovation?

Let us know your thoughts on the Tech News of the day by posting to the comments section below. Because a healthy discussion is always welcome.

Image Credits: Tuomas Puikkonen via Flickr