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Oxford makes big push into Bigfoot research, enlists Swiss zoologists for DNA study

Joseph Volpe — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:25:00 EST

The search for Bigfoot continues and, no, that's not a nod to a very special episode of Unsolved Mysteries. Though Harry and the Hendersons did its best to humanize that monster of myth, a group of well-heeled European scientists are seeking to go beyond the Hollyweird fantasy to actually prove the creature's existence using advanced genetic techniques on Yeti remains. Part of a collaborative effort between Oxford University and the Lausanne Museum of Zoology, the Collateral Hominid project aims to gather material from public and private cryptozoological collections for analysis to determine whether that elusive species branched off from bears or our neanderthal forebears. Project head Prof. Bryan Sykes hopes the research, the results of which will eventually make the rounds of peer-reviewed journals, will dispel skepticism that has surrounded this controversial creature by providing " a mechanism for... identification that is unbiased, unambiguous and impervious to falsification." Basically, these real-life Mulder & Scullys want incontrovertible DNA proof that these fantastic ape-like beings are simply the stuff of evolution. Whatever the case, the truth is most certainly out there, folks -- it's just likely encased in fossilized dung.

[Image courtesy Worch.com]

Continue reading Oxford makes big push into Bigfoot research, enlists Swiss zoologists for DNA study

Oxford makes big push into Bigfoot research, enlists Swiss zoologists for DNA study originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 May 2012 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM wins diet monitoring and reward patent, celebrates with sip of Spirulina

Sharif Sakr — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:36:00 EST

Does your employer offer a "wellness rebate program?" No? Then you can't be working for IBM, which has been bribing its staff to eat healthier since 2004. It's a Watson-worthy idea, because what the company pays out in incentives it recoups in lower healthcare costs. Now, after a decade of toing and froing with the USPTO, IBM has finally patented a web-based system that makes the whole process automatic. For it to work, a person must use a micro-payment network to buy food, which allows their purchases to be monitored and compared against their health records. If they've made the right choices, the system then communicates with their employer's payroll server to issue a reward. Completing the Orwellian circle, the proposed system also interacts with servers in the FDA and health insurance companies to gain information about specific food products or policy changes. You can duck the radar, of course, and buy a Double Whopper with cash, but it'll bring you no reward except swollen ankles. This is IBM we're talking about; they've thought of everything.

[Photo via Shutterstock]

IBM wins diet monitoring and reward patent, celebrates with sip of Spirulina originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Which companies are on the Carrier IQ bandwagon?

Brad Molen — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:13:00 EST

If you have the feeling somebody's watching you, it's not a bad idea to keep a close eye on your phone -- after all, it may be keeping one on you. The more we find out about Carrier IQ, the mysterious Mountain View company recently brought into the spotlight for its smartphone tracking software, the more curious we become about which carriers and manufacturers are playing along. Below the break you'll find a continuously updated list of the major players as they come clean about their involvement in the matter -- or lack thereof. We're working on collecting official statements from as many companies as we can, so stay tuned if you don't see the one you're looking for.

Continue reading Which companies are on the Carrier IQ bandwagon?

Which companies are on the Carrier IQ bandwagon? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft patent aims to curb your enthusiasm in the office

James Trew — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:48:00 EST

You might think working for tech royalty out west is all beanbags and 20 percent time. And it might well be. But if your paychecks say Microsoft, you might want to be careful how you spend that extra down-time. A patent with the snappy title Organizational Behavior Monitoring Analysis and Influence describes a system devised by the company to monitor employee interactions. Everything from cutting people off in conversation, to the verbal phrases and mannerisms used over "multi-modal communications" (e-mail, phone and so on) is covered. The aim of the Orwellian system is "defining desired and undesired behaviors for enhancing organizational trust levels" and it's not the first time Microsoft has made such sinister sounding patent applications. OK, so there is nothing saying exactly what this might be for, or if this would ever be used to monitor its own employees. That said, if your parking space isn't there on Monday, you might want to backtrack through the previous week's water-cooler diatribes.

Microsoft patent aims to curb your enthusiasm in the office originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Beijing's rolling out city wide 'free' public WiFi, just hand over your phone number

Daniel Cooper — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:42:00 EST

Heads-up, locals: China's Mobile, Unicom and Telecom carriers are building a city-wide public WiFi network across Beijing. Residents will enjoy free 2Mbps internet for up to three years, if they sign up to the "My Beijing" service. Like most things that are gratis, there's a catch: you have to submit your phone number in exchange for access. Privacy enthusiasts aren't thrilled at the idea, (you know, since it's backed by the Government), though a representative said that the numbers would only be used for "identity authentication" -- insinuating that they would only be tracing individuals whose online activity might "endanger social security." High-minded privacy concerns aside, there's the very real danger of phones being bombarded with spam, not to mention what happens when the three year trial period expires -- users of the service could get stung with exorbitant costs to feed a public WiFi addiction.

Beijing's rolling out city wide 'free' public WiFi, just hand over your phone number originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NYPD creates social networking unit to pick perps, not poke them

Christopher Trout — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:02:00 EST

You've heard of the Special Victims Unit, but what about the Social Networking Unit? The time has come for criminals dumb enough to boast about their exploits on Facebook and Twitter to pay the proverbial piper. According to NY Daily News, the Big Apple's newly minted Assistant Commissioner, Kevin O'Connor, will enlist the department's juvenile justice unit to hunt down ne'er-do-wells on various social networking sites. So remember, even if your friends don't care about the Cookie Puss you just posted to your Facebook page, somewhere out there someone is watching.

NYPD creates social networking unit to pick perps, not poke them originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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500,000 surveillance cameras to oversee Chongqing, China

Darren Murph — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:53:00 EST

Whoa, Nelly -- this one's not going to sit well with a certain sect. While the Chinese city of Chongqing has been planning this initiative for some time, we're just now starting to understand the sheer magnitude of what'll be built over the next two to three years. Cisco and HP -- two names that are no doubt familiar to those reading this page -- are apparently in cahoots with the nation in a way that overshoots prior expectations by some amount. According to figures gathered by The Wall Street Journal, a whopping half-million surveillance cameras are being shipped over to keep watch across the city, with the awkwardly-named Peaceful Chongqing project giving the government unprecedented views of its citizens.

Critics are wondering why Cisco and HP aren't being held responsible for whatever China ends up doing with this equipment, but the loophole here is a fairly obvious one; while it's definitely not kosher for US firms to ship fingerprinting equipment to China, shipping everyday technology like cameras isn't taboo. Yet, anyway. As you'd expect, both Cisco and HP seem confident that it's not their responsibility to pay attention to what happens to the devices they ship, and if it's something you'd like to immerse yourself in, those links below are there to help.

500,000 surveillance cameras to oversee Chongqing, China originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Copenhagen airport tracks your every move using WiFi signals

Christopher Trout — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:17:00 EST

Hello, Big Brother! According to the New York Times, Copenhagen International Airport is currently testing a new program that monitors passengers based on WiFi data emitted from devices like laptops and smartphones. Airport officials observe travelers from a remote computer, and can tell, within 10 feet of accuracy, where they spend their time -- those arriving and departing are represented by different colored dots. The program, created by Geneva-based SITA, also gives visitors the option to download an iPhone app that provides location-based information, like promotions from nearby restaurants. SITA's VP said the software isn't intrusive, as it follows devices, not individuals, but we're not sure we want anyone to know how long our Android spends in the bathroom -- and you thought those naughty-bit scanners were creepy.

Copenhagen airport tracks your every move using WiFi signals originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Galaxy Indulge microSDHC card regularly reports back to MetroPCS (but hey, you get Iron Man 2 for free!)

Joseph L. Flatley — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:24:00 EST

If you're the kind of person who buys phones based on Hollywood tie-in deals (and for your sake, we hope you're not) you'll be pleased to know that the Samsung Galaxy Indulge comes pre-loaded with Iron Man 2. That's right, a sequel to a movie you only ever saw half of, once, while it was on the TV over the bar at Armand's on Liberty Ave. (assuming that you're a certain Engadget editor, and for your sake we hope you're not) is coming pre-loaded on the world's first Android-packing, LTE smartphone. And if that wasn't enough, the SanDisk microSDHC card that the movie is stored on regularly reports back to MetroPCS with usage statistics:

This intelligent SanDisk mobile memory card provides specific, real-time network data to MetroPCS to measure customer interest in digital content. Details of aggregated, anonymous consumer usage will allow MetroPCS to determine the impact of its movie offering, which in turn allows them to provide customers with more customized content and services in the future.

We're sure everything is on the up-and-up here, but for some reason we don't think most consumers will be comfortable with storage that reports regularly to a carrier -- for any reason. Still, things could be much worse: you could be stuck with the pre-loaded Iron Man app on an LG Ally.

Continue reading Galaxy Indulge microSDHC card regularly reports back to MetroPCS (but hey, you get Iron Man 2 for free!)

Galaxy Indulge microSDHC card regularly reports back to MetroPCS (but hey, you get Iron Man 2 for free!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SoCal mall installs 'Find Your Car' kiosks in parking garage to help you find your car -- and others find you?

Michael Gorman — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:28:00 EST

Big Brother's watching us on public streets and in our homes, and now he's fixed his gaze on shopping malls -- under the guise of helping us find our cars in a mall parking garage. Santa Monica Place has installed Park Assist's M3 Camera Vision system with "Find Your Car" kiosks that allow wayward shoppers to punch in their license plate number to receive a picture of their auto and its whereabouts. It utilizes a network of cameras to capture each car's location and read the plate, and has a central control system that can dole out firmware upgrades as more (nefarious?) needs arise. A similar system is used at Heathrow Airport, though the British version snaps a photo of your plates upon entry and tracks cars with infrared cameras -- as opposed to Park Assist's use of hi-res cameras to capture an image of your plate once you've parked. While helping people find their cars is an admirable goal, the system seems rife with opportunities for abuse because the footage is privately owned -- meaning the car location information could be sold to anyone, including that crazy ex-girlfriend of yours. As for us, we'd rather not exchange a walk-on part in the war to maintain our privacy for a lead role in another video cage. We're just fine remembering things the old-fashioned way, thanks.

SoCal mall installs 'Find Your Car' kiosks in parking garage to help you find your car -- and others find you? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Blaze Blink Now saves you from Computer Vision Syndrome, is always watching

Tim Stevens — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 08:27:00 EST

Big Brother is watching you, and you'd better remember. Forget for just a moment and you could find yourself committing thoughtcrime doupleplusquick. Enter the £49.99 ($78) Blink Now. It's ostensibly a device designed to save you from Computer Vision Syndrome, a modern affliction that causes headaches and blurry vision among those who spend a little too much time basking in the glow of a CRT or LCD. But, we're thinking its purposes are rather more nefarious. It's basically just a little LCD that you hang in your monitor and connect via USB. It presents an eye, always looking at you, lazily and nonchalantly blinking. In theory, if you see an eye blinking you'll blink more often yourself and cut down on eye strain. In reality, the thinkpol is always watching and this is just another reminder.

The Blaze Blink Now saves you from Computer Vision Syndrome, is always watching originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Webcam-spying school district settles out of court, FBI declines to press charges

Joseph L. Flatley — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:53:00 EST

Looks like the Lower Merion School District will be paying off kids who got zinged by its laptop tracking program -- to the tune of some $610,000. As you might recall, there was quite a bit of hubbub earlier this year when students discovered that their school issued computers tended to activate their webcams and shoot the photos back to administrators. Apparently the FBI has decided not to bring any charges in the case after all, and the various families of the students settled with the school district out of court. And yes, the schools have discontinued the tracking program.

Webcam-spying school district settles out of court, FBI declines to press charges originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leon, Mexico to use biometric scanners in 'all aspects of life'

Joseph L. Flatley — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:37:00 EST

First it was CCTV surveillance, and now a Mexican security firm called Portoss is teaming up with biometrics manufacturer Global Rainmakers, Inc., to make the city of Leon in Guanajuato the most potentially oppressive in the world. The secure city initiative will provide "unparalleled iris identity fusion" by wrapping the city in miles of fiber optic cable, creating a central database that will contain of all convicted criminals (as well as any good citizens who wish to "opt in"), and a network of iris scanners. As you can imagine, the man in charge of selling this stuff -- Global Rainmakers CDO Jeff Carter -- is something of a "true believer." Fast Company attributes the following quote to him: "Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris system] within the next 10 years." Great! There's also this one: "If you've been convicted of a crime, in essence, this will act as a digital scarlet letter. If you're a known shoplifter, for example, you won't be able to go into a store without being flagged. For others, boarding a plane will be impossible." And how about embittered bloggers? Will we be prevented from accessing the Internet to point out how unbelievably frightening this is? PR after the break.

Continue reading Leon, Mexico to use biometric scanners in 'all aspects of life'

Leon, Mexico to use biometric scanners in 'all aspects of life' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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India's desire to snoop on BlackBerry users continues unabated, UAE wants in on the act

Joseph L. Flatley — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:47:00 EST

Governments have traditionally had a "love-hate" relationship with technology: they love using it to keep tabs on you and your cronies, but they hate the idea that you could be using it to protect your privacy. One clear example of this is the whole back'n'forth that's been playing out between RIM and the nation of India over the last couple years. Remember way back in '08 when the country demanded that the company give it access (one way or another) to encrypted BlackBerry Messenger traffic and email? Well, it looks like nothing's been resolved after all: just last week the Indian telecommunications ministry gave RIM until the end of the month to provide said access, otherwise it could ban BBM altogether -- much as it tried to do two years ago. Meanwhile, in the UAE, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has issued a statement claiming that "[c]ertain BlackBerry applications allow people to misuse the service, causing serious social, judicial and national security repercussions." We're not certain if things will go quite so far in Abu Dhabi as they seem to be in New Delhi, but the government assured everyone that it will find "a solution that safeguards our consumers and operates within the boundaries of UAE law."

India's desire to snoop on BlackBerry users continues unabated, UAE wants in on the act originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big Brother UK invaded by Titan the robot (video)

Thomas Ricker — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:57:00 EST

First off let's be clear: we're not talking about an invasion of the UK surveillance society (this time), instead, we're talking about the Big Brother TV show which, apparently, is still on the air. Enter our old friend Titan the Robot, the 7-foot 3-inch tall, human-operated "robot" from Cyberstein Robots. The flatmates found him hiding in the shower a few days ago before he set off ordering them about. We're sure everyone will be safe, at least until some skank "glamour model" decides to nickname it "chicken." Watch the rather mundane video of the robot-as-answering-machine after the break. Hey, its the best we've got until some desperate-for-stardom flatmate coaxes Titan into bumpin' servos, Bjork-style, on live TV.

[Thanks, Wayne Y.]

Continue reading Big Brother UK invaded by Titan the robot (video)

Big Brother UK invaded by Titan the robot (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Perfect Citizen: secret NSA surveillance program revealed by WSJ

Thomas Ricker — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:28:00 EST

Do you trust your government? Do you just support it like an obedient Britney Spears, steadfast to your faith that it will do the right thing? Your answer to those questions will almost certainly predict your response to a Wall Street Journal exposé of a classified US government program provocatively dubbed, "Perfect Citizen." Why not just call it "Big Brother," for crissake! Oh wait, according to an internal Raytheon email seen by the WSJ, "Perfect Citizen is Big Brother," adding, "The overall purpose of the [program] is our Government...feel[s] that they need to insure the Public Sector is doing all they can to secure Infrastructure critical to our National Security."

Histrionics aside, according to the WSJ, the "expansive" program is meant to detect assaults on private companies and government agencies deemed critical to the national infrastructure. In other words, utilities like the electricity grid, air-traffic control networks, subway systems, nuclear power plants, and presumably MTV. A set of sensors deployed in computer networks will alert the NSA of a possible cyber attack, with Raytheon winning a classified, $100 million early stage contract for the surveillance effort. Now, before you start getting overly political, keep in mind that the program is being expanded under Obama with funding from the Bush-era Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. The WSJ also notes that companies won't be forced to install the sensors. Instead, companies might choose to opt-in because they find the additional monitoring helpful in the event of cyber attack -- think of Google's recent run-in with Chinese hackers as a potent example.

Like most citizens, we have mixed emotions about this. On one hand, we cherish our civil liberties and prefer to keep the government out of our personal affairs. On the other, we can barely function when Twitter goes down, let alone the national power grid.

Filed under: Internet

Perfect Citizen: secret NSA surveillance program revealed by WSJ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel Connected Cars will record your bad driving for posterity, take over if you're really screwing up

Vlad Savov — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:10:00 EST

Intel's latest Research Day has sprung up a new vision for "smart" vehicles; a vision that frankly chills us to our very geeky core. Cameras and sensors attached to an Intel Connected Car will record data about your speed, steering and braking, and upon the event of an accident, forward those bits and bytes along to the police and your insurance company. Just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it? Don't get us wrong, the tech foundation here is good -- having cars permanently hooked up to the ether can generally be considered a good thing -- but what's being envisioned is as obtrusive as it is irritating. Oh, didn't we mention that the cars can become self-aware and overrule you if you try to bend the rules of the road? Because they can.

Intel Connected Cars will record your bad driving for posterity, take over if you're really screwing up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New privacy laws needed that entail GPS technology, hot-headed rogue cops

Joseph L. Flatley — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 14:02:00 EST

An expert testifying at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said on Thursday that the government needs to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. Among the criticisms was the fact that it doesn't adequately address location-aware technologies. "With regard to this type of location data, ECPA's statutory framework is profoundly unsatisfying," said Marc Zwillinger of Zwillinger and Genetski, a Washington DC law firm that specializes in cybercrime. "[I]t fails to provide clear guidance for situations in which the government seeks to track an individual's precise movements, leaving the answer to the general application of Fourth Amendment principles and significant variation across jurisdictions." In other words, the wording of the law is extremely nebulous, a situation that can lead to confusion (and civil right violations).

And if it weren't enough that courts and law enforcement are applying decades-old law to cutting edge technology, "the current law is overly secretive because warrants for wiretaps and other communications intercepts are often sealed for years after they are issued," writes Gautham Nagesh in The Hill. He cites U.S. Magistrate Stephen Smith of the Southern District of Texas as charging that "the brunt of that secrecy is borne by people who are never charged with a crime but have the misfortune to contact someone whose communications are being monitored."

Well, we're glad that someone in Washington seems to think that the ECPA needs overhauled -- but we'll remain skeptical until we see something concrete. Regardless, we doubt that a simple change in law will keep McNulty from doing whatever he has to do to make his case. He's real police.

New privacy laws needed that entail GPS technology, hot-headed rogue cops originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Jun 2010 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google flexes biceps, flicks Android remote kill switch for the first time

Sean Hollister — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:29:00 EST

We knew Google had the power to remotely remove Android apps -- Microsoft and Apple have backdoors into their mobile operating systems, too -- but it's always a little disconcerting to see a kill switch used. Such is the case today, as we've just heard Google unleashed the hounds this week, siccing bits and bytes of remote deletion power on a pair of "practically useless" but still Terms of Service-infringing apps. Curiously enough, Google admits that most who'd downloaded these programs had deleted them already, and that this "exercise" of the remote application removal feature was merely a cleanup operation. Google says users will get a notification beamed to their phone if an app is removed, however -- so as Big Brother as that all sounds, at least the company's being nice and transparent about the whole matter, eh?

Update: To be clear, the developers of the offending apps had already removed them from the Android Market, so this was technically a cleanup. The only question is why Google would go out of its way to mop up an app that absolutely no one would miss.

[Thanks, Matt]

Google flexes biceps, flicks Android remote kill switch for the first time originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I2T security camera generates searchable text transcript in real-time

Joseph L. Flatley — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:13:00 EST

Researchers in California have developed a prototype camera called I2T that can capture video, parse out the background, analyze the action, and then export the content to a text file "that can be searched using simple text search," according to Song-Chun Zhu, lead researcher and professor of statistics and computer science at UCLA. Using a database of over two million images, the system is pretty good at annotating surveillance footage, which generally relies on a static camera. Before the technology can be commercialized, however, they need to significantly expand the database. "If set loose on random images or videos found online," writes Technology Review, the camera would "struggle to perform." If Song-Chun Zhu is interested, we have a library of Greatest American Hero images we can donate to the cause (they're left over from our other blog, GreatestAmericanHeroFanfiction.blogspot.com). Check out the links below to see it in action. [Warning: PDF source link]

I2T security camera generates searchable text transcript in real-time originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UK police drone grounded for flying without a license

Joseph L. Flatley — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:26:00 EST

As you know, the Merseyside (UK) police department finally nabbed a suspect with its £40,000 (roughly $63,000) drone recently -- an announcement that was accompanied by backslapping and hearty cheers all around. But what happens when the police run afoul of the law? According to the BBC, the vehicle has been grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) under guidelines enacted in January stating that UAVs weighing over fifteen pounds need permission to fly within 164 feet of people and 492 feet of buildings. A spokesman for the coppers said "all Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) flights have been suspended and will remain so until the appropriate license has been granted," but don't worry Britons: you should still be able to rest easily at night knowing that you're still the most surveillance-happy nation in the history of the world. Cheerio!

[Thanks, Gringomoses and Ben]

UK police drone grounded for flying without a license originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TomTom data finds drivers aren't speeding much, are being watched

Donald Melanson — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:07:00 EST

Sure, you might be able to avoid speed cameras with an array of dash-mounted gadgets, but there's also another unseen eye that might be keeping an eye on your speeding habits: your GPS unit. Of course, GPS makers aren't too interested in collecting individual users' data (at least, we hope not), but they are collecting some general data, and TomTom has now released a few of its findings. Most notably, it found that drivers in just about every state stay within the speed limit on average, with only Mississippi edging 0.1 miles per hour over the top speed limit of 70 MPH. Things get a bit more interesting when you get down to specific routes in the United States, however, where the I-15 in Utah and Nevada comes out on top with an average speed of 77.67 miles per hour. On the other end of the spectrum, Washington D.C. proved to have the slowest drivers, where speeds averaged a mere 46 miles per hour -- although that likely has something to do with TomTom's earlier findings that Washington D.C. also has the most congested traffic in the U.S.

TomTom data finds drivers aren't speeding much, are being watched originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pikavu GPS tracker teaches kids to abandon privacy for safety

Joseph L. Flatley — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:41:00 EST

You can't put a price on your child's well-being -- but if you could, we're guessing that it'd fall a little short of the €990 (roughly $1,440) that's being charged for the Pikavu Express Locator. A child-friendly (read: gaudy) take on the Keruve GPS tracker being used to keep track of Alzheimer's patients, the package includes a water- and impact-resistant watch that locks to your kid's wrist and a 4.2-inch touchscreen base station. Four positioning systems (SBAS-GPS, indoorVision, VisionCellid and T-GSM) are employed to keep track of the little guy, and the watch itself has a battery life of up to 4.5 days. Expensive? Indeed. Worth the investment? Well, we don't know your kids -- but probably not. PR after the break.

Gallery: Pikavu GPS tracker

Continue reading Pikavu GPS tracker teaches kids to abandon privacy for safety

Pikavu GPS tracker teaches kids to abandon privacy for safety originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint handed customer GPS data to law enforcement over 8 million times last year

Joseph L. Flatley — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:51:00 EST

Privacy advocates and career criminals alike are in a lather over reports that between September 2008 and October 2009, Sprint Nextel ponied up customer location data to various law enforcement agencies more than 8 million times. Speaking at ISS World 2009 (a conference for law enforcement and telecom industry-types responsible for "lawful interception, electronic investigations and network Intelligence gathering"), Sprint Nextel's very own Paul Taylor, Manager of Electronic Surveillance, lamented on the sheer volume of requests the company's received in the past year for precise GPS data for Sprint customers. How did the company meet such high demand? Apparently, his team built a special "web interface" which "has just really caught on fire with law enforcement." We're glad that Sprint's plans to streamline the customer service experience don't stop short of those who serve and protect, but as the EFF points out, plenty of nagging questions remain, including: How many individual customers have been affected? Is Sprint demanding search warrants? How secure is this web interface? Check out an excerpt from Taylor's speech after the break.

Continue reading Sprint handed customer GPS data to law enforcement over 8 million times last year

Sprint handed customer GPS data to law enforcement over 8 million times last year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerrys for coppers: UK law enforcement to smarten up in 2010

Vlad Savov — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:01:00 EST

Police men and women of Blighty are about to step into the 21st century, albeit a decade late, with a new weapon in the fight against boredom on the beat. The BBC reports that smartphones will become standard issue throughout the Queen's realm by March 2010, as a result of successful trials carried out in 30 constabularies through this year. Improved "operational efficiency" and reduced bureaucracy are argued as the key benefits, with a solid 30 minutes less time being spent in police stations each day. And we're absolutely positive that extra half hour will go toward increased "visibility in the community" and not checking out friends' Facebook status updates. No, really!

Read -- BBC report
Read -- Bedfordshire case study

Filed under: Handsets, RIM

BlackBerrys for coppers: UK law enforcement to smarten up in 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerrys for coppers: UK law enforcement to smarten up in 2010

Vlad Savov — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:01:00 EST

Filed under: Cellphones

BlackBerrys for coppers: UK law enforcement to smarten up in 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon clarifies Kindle book-deletion policy, can still delete books

Nilay Patel — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:27:00 EST

Amazon might have been extremely contrite about remotely deleting 1984 from Kindles, but a Jeff Bezos apology and an offer to restore the book doesn't necessarily add up to a meaningful change in policy. As part of the settlement with that student who sued over the 1984 situation, Amazon's had to clarify its remote-deletion guidelines, and they're pretty much the same as ever: they'll hit the kill switch if you ask for a refund or if your credit card is declined, if a judge orders them to, or if they need to protect the Kindle or the network from malware. Sounds simple, right?

Well, sort of -- saying they'll delete content at the behest of judicial or regulatory decree pretty much leaves the door open to exactly the same situation as the 1984 debacle, just a couple procedural steps down the line and with less blame placed on Amazon. If you'll recall, 1984 was deleted after the publisher was sued for not having the proper rights, and Amazon took the proactive step of deleting the content -- and although Amazon won't do that on its own anymore, all it takes now is one strongly-worded motion before a sympathetic judge and we're back at square one. That's pretty troubling -- no judge can order a physical bookseller to come into your house and retrieve a book they've sold you, and saying things are different for the Kindle raises some interesting questions about what Amazon thinks "ownership" means. We'll see how this one plays out in practice, though -- we're hoping Amazon never has to pull that switch again.

Filed under: Handhelds

Amazon clarifies Kindle book-deletion policy, can still delete books originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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England puts CCTVs in the homes of lousy parents

Joseph L. Flatley — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:52:00 EST

We love England, especially the way they use all these adorable names for things: "lorry," for truck, or "loo" for bathroom, or "sin bin" for an Orwellian program whereby "problem families" (currently numbering 2,000, but someday as many as 20,000) are placed under 24/7 CCTV surveillance in their own homes. Chris Grayling, something called the "Shadow Home Secretary," puts it thusly: "This Government has been in power for more than a decade during which time anti-social behavior, family breakdown and problems like alcohol abuse and truancy have just got worse and worse." Meaning, of course, that cameras must be moved from the streets of England into people's homes, where they'll be used to make sure that kids go to school, go to bed at a decent hour, and eat proper meals. If only they'd had programs like this when we were kids -- maybe things would have turned out differently.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

England puts CCTVs in the homes of lousy parents originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Shack: You have questions, we have propaganda

Ross Miller — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:27:00 EST

Here are some of the memorable catchphrases you can expect from the retailer formerly known as Radio Shack's rebranding, as caught on camera from an anonymous tipster: "The Shack is fluent in mobile. The Shack is a big hug for your mobile life. The Shack is music to your ears. The Shack is your path to wireless wisdom. The Shack helps you get it right. The Shack is like a GPS to your GPS. The Shack knows what you want to hear. The Shack is not camera-shy." The Shack is not at war with Eastasia. The Shack has never been at war with Eastasia.

Gallery: The Shack: You have questions, we have propaganda

The Shack: You have questions, we have propaganda originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon remotely deletes Orwell e-books from Kindles, unpersons reportedly unhappy (update)

Laura June — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:20:00 EST

If you're into keeping tabs on irony, check this out. Amazon apparently sent out its robotic droogs last night, deleting copies of the George Orwell novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four from Kindles without explanation, then refunding the purchase price. As you can imagine, a lot of people caught in the thick of Winston and Julia's love story aren't very happy -- and rightfully so -- the idea that we "own" the things we buy is pretty fundamental to... ownership. We're not sure exactly what happened, but it seems that the publisher of said novels, MobileReference, has changed its mind about selling content on the Kindle, and poof! Amazon remotely deleted all previously purchased copies. It's all a bit Orwellian, is it not? Good thing we "permanently borrowed" hard copies of both from our middle school library, huh? Let Hate Week commence.

Update: According to commenters on Amazon, this message was sent out from the company's customer service department:

The Kindle edition books Animal Farm by George Orwell. Published by MobileReference (mobi) & Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) by George Orwell. Published by MobileReference (mobi) were removed from the Kindle store and are no longer available for purchase. When this occurred, your purchases were automatically refunded. You can still locate the books in the Kindle store, but each has a status of not yet available. Although a rarity, publishers can decide to pull their content from the Kindle store.

While that publisher's version of the book may have been removed, it appears other versions of the novels are still available.

Update 2: Drew Herdener, Amazon.com's Director of Communications, pinged us directly with the following comment, and now things are starting to make a lot more sense. Seems as if the books were added initially by an outfit that didn't have the rights to the material.

These books were added to our catalog using our self-service platform by a third-party who did not have the rights to the books. When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers' devices, and refunded customers. We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers' devices in these circumstances.

Still, what's upsetting is the idea that something you've purchased can be quietly taken back by Amazon with no explanation and no advance notice. It's a rotten policy, regardless of the motivations behind this particular move.

Filed under: Handhelds

Amazon remotely deletes Orwell e-books from Kindles, unpersons reportedly unhappy (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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India issuing biometric IDs to all 1.2 billion citizens

Joseph L. Flatley — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:23:00 EST

While not busy being the destination of Westerners seeking spiritual growth and the birthplace of the beloved Bollywood song and dance flick, apparently India is home to some 1.2 billion people -- many of whom possess no proof of identification whatsoever. According to The Times (UK), less than seven per cent of the population are registered for income tax, and the voting lists are terribly inaccurate. Hoping to bring the nation's census data into the 21st century, India has created the Unique Identification Authority. Under the direction of Nandan Nilekani, one of the founders of Infosys, the plan is to outfit every one of the nation's citizens with a biometric ID card that contains personal data, fingerprint or iris scans, and possibly even criminal records and credit histories. Gathering the data is projected to cost at least $4.9 billion, a figure that's likely to soar once the ball gets rolling. While the Government expects that the first cards will be issued within 18 months, analysts say that project won't likely reach "critical mass" for at least four years.

[Via Switched]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

India issuing biometric IDs to all 1.2 billion citizens originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DSS surveillance tech from Japan makes George Orwell upset

Vlad Savov — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:31:00 EST

We take a break from reporting on the impending doom of the human race to bring you news of the latest innovation designed specifically for making our pre-apocalypse lives miserable. Japanese firm DSS is now offering to snap video cameras and ankle sensors -- yes, the same kind that convicts under home arrest have to wear -- onto your employees for the ultimate in workplace surveillance. Sure, you might find out Bob in accounting takes a really long lunch, but do you really need to spend $20,000 and piss off your entire workforce to prove that? Just stalk his Tweets and Facebook status updates like a good old-fashioned employer would do.

Filed under: Wearables

DSS surveillance tech from Japan makes George Orwell upset originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Researchers use Bluetooth to track festival goers, make fun of their 'hippie dancing'

Joseph L. Flatley — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:04:00 EST

A team from the University of Ghent in Belgium is lacing the site of this year's Rock Werchter festival -- Brussel's equivalent of Woodstock '97 -- with Bluetooth scanners (36 total, they cover a range of 30 meters each). While you're rocking out to the likes of Bloc Party and Mastodon, the researchers will be tracking your every movement, whether it be to the mosh pit, the beer tent, or the Job Johnny. As you've probably assumed, the researchers are primarily looking for ways that retailers can monitor customer flow (read: sell you more crap) although there are certainly going to be results applicable to the world of law enforcement. Of course, this is Bluetooth: you always have the option of disabling it on your phone, and if you don't they'll only be able to discern your MAC address. Besides, if you're not doing anything illegal, you have nothing to fear from the surveillance state -- right? And if you are up to no good, well, that's why they invented the Dazer Lazer.

Filed under: Cellphones

Researchers use Bluetooth to track festival goers, make fun of their 'hippie dancing' originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Space Observer to innocently watch you at San Jose's airport

Darren Murph — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:08:00 EST

It's every child's dream to one day walk through a trio of space robot legs as entering Silicon Valley, and if a proposed art project goes through, said dream will become a reality for budding tech superstars who land in Mineta San Jose International Airport. The $300,000 initiative would see a so-called Space Observer built and showcased prominently in the venue, allowing patrons to walk underneath its two-story-tall body and emit all sorts of "oohs" and "ahhs." The monolithic space robot would sport three legs and propeller-tipped kinetic camera arms, the latter of which would collect live video to be displayed on embedded monitors within its body. San Jose Public Art Director Barbara Goldstein has already stated that "it won't follow you anywhere," but it's not like she really has the power to control what this obviously sentient creature does / doesn't do.

Filed under: Robots

Space Observer to innocently watch you at San Jose's airport originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gaze tracking system keeps an eye on CCTV operators as they keep an eye on you

Joseph L. Flatley — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:53:00 EST

In his analysis of control systems, William S. Burroughs once noted that as they become larger, so do the opportunities for evasion increase. Sure, you can have CCTV cameras at (nearly) every intersection in your sleepy village, but someone has to watch all those things. What do you do when the sheer number of displays becomes too much for our poor Big Brother? Researchers at the Gebze Institute of Technology in Turkey have developed a gaze tracking system that trains cameras on the irises of the CCTV operator -- noting which video sequences he or she views on the shift, and producing a summary of video sequences they've overlooked. If that weren't enough, the system uses an algorithm that discards frames with no people or moving vehicles in them, leaving only a few key frames for each scene of interest. According to New Scientist, this all runs on a standard PC and processes and catalogs images in real time. Now, if only there were a system that let us watch Two And A Half Men and Becker at the same time -- that would be sweet.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Gaze tracking system keeps an eye on CCTV operators as they keep an eye on you originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UK college begins testing facial recognition attendance system

Darren Murph — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:41:00 EST

It's something we never really appreciated when waltzing into class way back when, but the ability to show up at your leisure without having to "clock in" and "clock out" was awesome. If you agree, you'll probably want to shred that application for City of Ely Community College in the UK, which has become one of the first UK schools to trial a new facial recognition technology from Aurora. Officials suggest that knowing who is on campus at any given time helps them in case of emergency, as they can easily see if they've collected everyone into a safe area; being the Big Brother haters that we are, we tend to see things a bit differently. And besides, who really wants to show up two minutes early to class to have some machine look at your groggy, tattered up face? Have a look in the read link for a quick video of what you are (or are not, we suppose) missing.

[Via Slashdot]

Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

UK college begins testing facial recognition attendance system originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Darpa develops a 1.8 gigapixel digicam and no, you can't 'check it out'

Joseph L. Flatley — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:48:00 EST

Yeah, I know you thought your Hello Kitty digicam was some hot stuff, but believe it or not the kids at Darpa have even got that one beat. Called ARGUS-IS (both named after the mythological eye guy and an acronym for Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance - Imaging System) this guy straps a 1.8 gigapixel camera to the bottom of an A-160T Hummingbird robot helicopter. The device is able to hover at high altitude (over 15,000 feet) for up to 20 hours -- keeping tabs of an area of over a hundred square miles. The frame rate is 15 fps and the "ground sample distance" is 15 centimeters -- each pixel represents about six inches. The sheer amount of data taken in by a camera like this is too large to be completely relayed to the ground, but users are able to define upwards of sixty-five independent video windows within the image and zoom in or out. Additionally, windows can be set to automatically track items such as moving vehicles, individuals, the books you get out of the library, and the items you pick up at 7-11 after a night out with the gang.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Darpa develops a 1.8 gigapixel digicam and no, you can't 'check it out' originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Laptops can be confiscated and searched at US border without cause says report

Joshua Topolsky — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:01:00 EST

In further evidence of our rapidly eroding civil liberties, the Department of Homeland Security disclosed today that US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement have the right to confiscate and search a traveler's laptop or other electronic device without any suspicion of wrongdoing. The rules -- which we reported on in February -- allow for searches of hard drives, flash drives, cellphones, iPods, pagers, and video or audio tapes, and specify that the agencies can "detain" belongings for a "reasonable period of time," (i.e., as long as they please). Additionally, the DHS can share the data found with other government agencies or private entities for translation, decryption, or (astoundingly vague) "other reasons." The DHS says the policies apply to anyone entering the country -- including US citizens -- and claim the measures are necessary to prevent terrorism. In other news, Big Brother issued a statement today guaranteeing a bonus for turning over family members suspected of crimethink to the Thought Police.

[Via Switched]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Laptops, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Storage

Laptops can be confiscated and searched at US border without cause says report originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Russia wants all WiFi devices to be registered

Darren Murph — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:20:00 EST

Sure, we've seen the occasional loony look down upon open WiFi access, but Russia is apparently out to really slow down wireless adoption with its latest directive. Reportedly, the Russian Mass Media, Communications and Cultural Protection Service (or Rossvyazokhrankultura for short -- no seriously, we swear) is looking to have every user of a WiFi-enabled device obtain permission and register said device before hopping on the world wide web. Even worse, it seems as if every single wireless transmitter and device must be registered, meaning that technophiles will be filling out heaps of paperwork in order to get their handset, laptop, DS Lite, PC and hacked-up Foleo online (legally) via their home-based access point. We're hearing that registering a single PDA or phone would take around ten days, while signing up a new home network would be even more painstaking. We'll spare you the snide In Soviet Russia... remarks, but feel free to concoct your own below.

[Via Wi-Fi Net News]

Filed under: Wireless

Russia wants all WiFi devices to be registered originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UK exam rooms could be equipped with CCTV cameras

Darren Murph — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:01:00 EST

Quite honestly, we can't imagine anyone finding this the least bit surprising -- after all, aren't CCTV cameras and the UK an inseparable pair by now? Nevertheless, the Examination Officers' Association across the pond is currently mulling the idea of installing surveillance equipment in exam halls in order to keep an eye on test-taking cheaters. Apparently students are turning to their mobiles more and more (no way!) to plug any holes in their memory, and while the project hasn't been set in stone just yet, it seems to be headed in that direction. Ah, whatever happened to those old fashioned cram sessions?

[Thanks, Tomek]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

UK exam rooms could be equipped with CCTV cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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