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NYC's security app is ready to protect your phone
You now have your chance to see just how well a New York City-backed mobile security app works in practice: the metropolis (and its tech partner Zimperium) has released NYC Secure for both Android and iOS. As promised, the free software can detect device, app and network threats and recommend actions if it finds something worrisome. It'll advise you to disconnect from a suspicious WiFi hotspot, or tell you to uninstall a malware-laden app. You don't need an internet connection, and it won't transmit sensitive information.
New York City's WiFi kiosks have over 5 million users
New York City's high-speed WiFi kiosks have been around for a while, but just how many people are using them? Quite a few, in fact. The LinkNYC team has revealed that there were over 5 million registered WiFi users as of September 2018, with over a billion sessions spread across the 1,700-plus units in the city. People make over 500,000 calls every month, too, although it's not clear how many of those were ice cream truck pranksters. You can safely presume that there's plenty of demand.
Uber and Lyft hoped 'rainy day' fund would relax NYC regulations
Ridesharing companies really, really don't like the thought of New York City capping their services and otherwise instituting new regulations. To that end, they recently tried a drastic measure: making a charity offer in return for concessions. Lyft's Joe Okpaku informed The Verge that his company, Uber and carpooling service Via unsuccessfully proposed a $100 million "hardship fund" that would have compensated individual taxi medallion owners to the tune of "tens of thousands of dollars." Some would get payments immediately, while further payments would take place over the course of five years. In exchange, however, NYC's City Council would have needed to drop its proposed cap and minimum wage requirements -- not surprisingly, the city turned it down as a result.
NYC may cap the number of Uber and Lyft vehicles on its streets
New York City's bid to regulate the ridesharing industry may include some hard limits on the size of those businesses -- at least, for now. The City Council is looking at proposed legislation that would largely freeze the issuance of ridesharing vehicle licenses while officials work on a year-long study of the cars' effects. The only exception would be for wheelchair-accessible vehicles, which have been in short supply.
NYC bill could force Airbnb to turn over its hosts' info
The New York City Council voted in support of regulation that would force Airbnb, HomeAway and other short-term rental services to hand over about hosts using their sites. State law already prohibits rentals of most apartments for less than 30 days unless the permanent tenant is there, but it enforcement has not been thorough. If this bill takes effect, that could change quickly. Earlier this year a similar law forcing renters to register took effect in San Francisco and half of Airbnb's listings disappeared. According to the city council, short-term rental listings reduce the amount of affordable housing available and drive up rents for residents. Airbnb could sue to try and stop the bill from being signed into law, opposing it on the grounds of privacy for hosts. The company also claims that despite what council members have said about landlords using the sites instead of taking on long-term tenants, it benefits regular people who use listings to help pay their bills.
Facebook improves AI by sending 'tourist bots' to a virtual NYC
As a general rule, AI isn't great at using new info to make better sense of existing info. Facebook thinks it has a clever (if unusual) way to explore solutions to this problem: send AI on a virtual vacation. It recently conducted an experiment that had a "tourist" bot with 360-degee photos try to find its way around New York City's Hell's Kitchen area with the help of a "guide" bot using 2D maps. The digital tourist had to describe where it was based on what it could see, giving the guide a point of reference it can use to offer directions.
Cruel pranksters made NYC internet kiosks play ice cream truck tunes
New York City is in the midst of a heatwave, and some pranksters are taking advantage of technology to twist the knife a little more. LinkNYC has confirmed to Motherboard that someone is making its internet kiosks play ice cream truck music, taunting hapless New Yorkers looking for a cold treat on a hot day. It's incredibly cruel (or wonderfuly clever, if you're the mischievous sort), but there's no hacking involved. The perpetrators phone a kiosk, play the mouthwatering tunes from their phone, and switch to the kiosk's home screen to hide that there's a call in progress.
NYC study backs pay raises for Uber and Lyft drivers
Ridesharing companies in New York City are facing more pressure than ever to increase pay for their drivers. The burg's Taxi and Limousine Commission has released a study recommending raises for drivers with companies like Uber and Lyft. Economists James Parrott and Michael Reich suggest workers should receive $17.22 an hour after expenses, a roughly 22.5 percent boost to the net pay. That would give them an effective $15 per hour with paid time off.
'Inventory' preserves street clutter with photogrammetry
Most of the time, we barely notice the lamp posts, bollards and road signs around us. They're street clutter that barely registers in our brain as we go about our busy lives. But Oddviz, an art and design collective from Istanbul, looks at them differently. The group sees this 'street furniture' as important culture capsules that evolve as they corrode or get covered in posters, stickers and graffiti. Society doesn't protect them, though, like an iconic landmark. So Oddviz has started documenting them -- a form of digital preservation -- using a 3D modeling technique called photogrammetry.
Watch a mesmerizing New York flyover shot with a 12K camera
Some folks believe that 8K TV is overkill, but cinematographer Phil Holland just flaunted video of New York City captured in sweeping 12K. He used three RED Weapon Monstro 8K VistaVision cameras (turned sideways) mounted on a special rig called the Shotover K1 Hammerhead. The videos were then stitched together to create a 12K, 48fps film with each frame equivalent to 100 megapixels, using a sensor area roughly equivalent to 645 medium format film.
New York City's WiFi kiosks now offer real-time bus arrivals
Numerous cities display real-time bus arrivals on public screens, but New York City? Not so much -- you'll probably have to pull out your phone to know if you have a chance of making your ride. That shouldn't be a problem before long, as the city has launched a pilot program that puts real-time bus info on LinkNYC's gigabit WiFi kiosks. Visit one of 29 kiosks in Brooklyn's City Council District 39 and you can see arrival times for nearby stops at a glance, letting you know when you need to hustle.
NYC’s mayor has a plan to get e-bikes on city roads
San Francisco and other cities around the US have been rolling out pedal-assisted e-bike sharing programs to help decrease street traffic and air pollution. Now New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio has directed his city's Department of Transportation to start making rules that allow pedal-assist bicycles on the streets. Throttle e-bikes that can travel faster than 20 MPH, will not be included in the legalization effort, however. Pedal-assist bikes have been illegal to operate under the current administration due to safety concerns.
NYC will launch its own security-conscious app this summer
New Yorkers will have another security app to consider installing on their devices this summer -- a city-sponsored one. The office of Mayor de Blasio has announced that it's releasing its own free smartphone protection app to residents as part of NYC Secure, the city's first cybersecurity initiative. "New Yorkers manage so much of their lives online, from paying bills to applying for jobs to engaging with government," the mayor said in a statement. "NYC Secure will ensure that we're applying the best and most effective protection efforts to help New Yorkers defend themselves online."
New Yorker applied machine learning to blocked bike lane problem
Alex Bell likes to bike around New York City, but he got fed up with how often bike lanes were blocked by delivery trucks and idling cars. So he decided to do something about it, the New York Times reports. Bell is a computer scientist and he developed a machine learning algorithm that can study traffic camera footage and calculate how often bike and bus lanes are blocked by other vehicles. He trained the algorithm with around 2,000 images of different types of vehicles and for bus lanes, he set the system to be able to tell the difference between buses that are allowed to idle at bus stops and other vehicles that aren't. Then, he applied his algorithm to 10 days of publicly available video from a traffic camera in Harlem.
Art and tech studio Eyebeam opens calls for one-year residencies
The NYC-based nonprofit tech and art center Eyebeam has opened a call for residencies. If you're a budding artist or technologist who wants to create works like the anonymous thumbdrives that cropped up around the city almost a decade ago, you can apply on Eyebeam's website.
Apple Watch GymKit syncing arrives in exactly one US gym
GymKit syncing on the Apple Watch technically arrived with watchOS 4.1, but there's been one main obstacle to using it: actually finding a gym that supports it. Only one fitness center each in Australia and the UK have enabled it so far, while Americans have had to go without. At last, though, it's available stateside... sort of. One solitary gym in New York City, Life Time Athletic at Sky, now has 13 GymKit-capable machines (including treadmills, bikes, ellipticals and stair steppers) that will pair with your smartwatch.
Pornhub's first store has a livestreaming bed camera, of course
Pop-up stores are all the rage, but Pornhub's shop in New York City is offering something... unique. If you visit its just-opened location on 70 Wooster Street, you'll see a bed with a camera that livestreams directly to the porn giant's website. No, you can't get away with what normally happens on a bed at Pornhub, but you are encouraged to "interact" with the camera. And let's be honest: this is probably your best shot at appearing live on a porn site without having to explain a surprise career move.
NYC subways get tap-to-ride turnstiles starting late 2018
New York City's plan to modernize its mass transit payments is getting underway... although you definitely won't want to chuck your MetroCard any time soon. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is greenlighting a hefty $573 million contract that will install NFC-equipped fare systems across NYC. The plan should start installing readers in 600 buses and 500 subway turnstiles starting in late 2018, so you may tap your phone or card sooner than you might have thought (there was talk of a rollout in 2021). The rollout won't reach every corner of the city (plus Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North trains) until late 2020, though, so it won't be consistently convenient for a while.
New York City ordered to share code for DNA evidence software
Many attempts to open up access to software in the justice system have fallen flat. Advocates in New York, however, have just scored a significant victory. A federal judge has publicly unsealed the source code for DNA analysis software previously used in New York City's crime lab, Forensic Statistical Tool, after ProPublica motioned for its disclosure. There are concerns that the software may have sent innocent people to prison by incorrectly determining that a suspect's DNA was likely to be part of a mix of genetic material (such as the handle of a gun). Public access to the code could theoretically catch flaws in the methodology and clear someone's name.
GM aims to be the first to test self-driving cars in New York City
It looks like New York City will be hosting its first test of fully autonomous vehicles very soon and surprisingly, they're not from Waymo or Uber. Instead, General Motors and Cruise Automation have submitted the first application for sustained testing and are aiming to do so in Manhattan.
