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Amazon wants to write the rules regulating facial recognition tech
Amazon is drafting laws to regulate facial recognition technology, Vox reports. Supposedly, the company hopes that federal lawmakers will adopt its proposal as legislation. "Our public policy team is actually working on facial recognition regulations; it makes a lot of sense to regulate that," CEO Jeff Bezos said in an appearance following Amazon's hardware event yesterday.
Lawmakers want to block tech giants from offering digital currency
It's been one month since Facebook (and its partners) announced plans to launch Libra cryptocurrency. Already, US lawmakers are calling for Facebook to pause those plans. Now, some legislators want the company to stop altogether. According to Reuters, the Democratic majority of the House Financial Services Committee drafted legislation that would prevent big tech companies from functioning as financial institutions or issuing digital currencies.
Emoji authorities get rid of the sad poop face
It's been a while since the Unicode Emoji Consortium released its sixth set of proposed emojis last June, with a follow up in August (which offered up a drunken face and unhappy poo, oddly enough). Now the consortium has given developers the first Emoji 11 beta, which contains 130 draft emojis, including a female superhero, a lobster and a party face. There's no trace of the sad poo and that makes us, well, sad.
Drug trafficker gets 20 years thanks to emails he never sent
A UK man has been convicted of 20 years for drug trafficking conspiracy thanks to Yahoo emails in draft he thought were deleted, according to Motherboard. While already in jail, Russell Knaggs devised a scheme to have an accomplice write a draft email and save, but not send it. Another partner located in Colombia would then read the draft, delete it, and write another in reply. The idea was to avoid sending emails that could be seen by cops, but the traffickers didn't realize that Yahoo keeps the deleted drafts for a long period of time.
SYNEK's countertop draft system will soon put growlers on tap
SYNEK's countertop draft beer system is one of many Kickstarter success stories. However, due to alcohol laws in states like North Carolina and Virginia, breweries and retailers couldn't fill the company's cartridges. In those two states (and others), containers must be rigid and hold 64 oz. max. SYNEK's first solution is a bag-like container that holds 128 oz. which meant eager drinkers in a few locales haven't been able to use the device. That's about to change, though, as the company is working on an adapter that will allow you to connect a glass growler to the compact draft system.
Computer glitch resurrects draft cards for 14,000 long-dead Pennsylvania men
Come a guy's 18th birthday in the US, he's afforded new privileges. Aside from being able to legally buy cigarettes, lottery tickets and porn, he also has a couple of shiny civic duties to follow: signing up for the Selective Service System and voting on a regular basis. In terms of the former, draft dodging is a pretty serious offense, as the families of very old (and most likely very deceased) men in Pennsylvania were recently reminded. According to Boston, a database operator's error caused some 14,250 notices to go out to men born between 1893 and 1897, stating that their failure to fill out draft cards could result in fines and imprisonment. How'd that happen? Well, if you're familiar with the Y2K Bug, the story makes a lot more sense.
SYNEK's countertop tap puts your kegerator out to pasture
There's no question that draft beer is the best beer, but the cost of getting fresh from the tap brews at home can be substantial. Purchasing a kegerator (along with all of its accessories), CO2 and the kegs of whatever varieties you prefer can add up quickly. But what if supplying a tap system was as easy as getting one of those reusable growlers filled? And what if the dispensing device took up minimal space on your kitchen counter? Well, that's what SYNEK is hoping to do. The draft system hinges on refillable bags that rest inside it's toaster oven-sized unit with adjustable temperature and pressure settings and easy-to-use hose connections. In the future, WiFi connectivity could be built in for monitoring supply levels and making the whole thing social amongst fellow imbibers. So what's the catch? Well, SYNEK offers a cost-effective solution for keeping a fresh beer supply around, but it'll need to convince breweries to allow bag fills before its project is ready for widespread adoption. For now though, this will resolve the headaches homebrewers face of individually topping off dozens of bottles when a five gallon batch is ready. And that's certainly worth the $349 ($299 for early adopters) retail price.
Joystiq Weekly: Nintendo's future, Outlast DLC review, Mother's Day and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Most of us have joked that Nintendo revealing a Pokemon MMO would shut down the world due to how perfectly the series would fit in the genre. That's thankfully still a joke and the economy is safe for now, but Nintendo's talk of further exploring NFC toys presents an equally worrisome possibility: what if they make a Skylanders-style Pokemon game that's more successful than Pokemon Rumble? They'd have to start with a limited portion of the Pokedex at first, sure. But what if the series achieved enough financial success to support 719 different Pokemon-shaped hunks of plastic? It'd be like the trading card boom all over again, except accumulated masses of figurines wouldn't be something we could hide away in a binder. No, they'd claim boxes of space, slowly consuming our garages until we finally discarded the full box of Goldeens that we know we'll never be able to trick someone into trading for. And if those Goldeens aren't properly recycled, they'll just accumulate into an oceanic clump, a mass with lifeless eyes staring down at the sea floor, at a life it will never truly know. Pretty bleak future, huh? Don't worry, there's so much to help block out these worrisome thoughts after the break. We've got financial news from Nintendo, Activision and EA, reviews for Sportsfriends and Outlast's "Whistleblower" DLC, and a feature where the Joystiq Staff's mothers share their perspective on our childhood gaming habits and our current professions. Dive in after the break - just mind the floating graveyard of Goldeens.
Madden 25 vs. Reality: Predicting the 2014 NFL Draft
The NFL Draft is a special event in sports culture where college football players wear fancy suits, find out which team they get to start their professional careers with and (hopefully) have the chance to hug NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in front of an auditorium filled with people. The months between the final piece of confetti falling at the Super Bowl in February to the first overall selection being announced is riddled with speculation from draft analysts, mostly in the form of "mock drafts." EA's Madden NFL series has its own franchise-building career mode, which includes a pretty nifty drafting system. We decided to put it through its paces to create our own mock draft to predict the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft, which begins tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on the NFL Network. There are a few caveats to our experiment, which might be expected to those familiar with Electronic Arts' popular brand of football. Madden NFL 25 allows players to import a draft class from NCAA Football 14 for use in Connected Franchise mode, but given that NCAA 14 doesn't feature real-life athletes, we improvised by using custom Madden and NCAA rosters from the Operation Sports forums and Madden 25's in-game roster-sharing section. We ran this experiment four times using versions of the draft class mostly in line with what the experts are expecting to happen tomorrow, with players like Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel and South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney hovering near the top of the pecking order every time, then compiled the results to create Madden's own mock draft. With all of that out of the way, let the drafting begin. With the first pick in the Joystiq Madden NFL Mock Draft, the Houston Texans select...
Wikipedia adds Draft feature to ease pressure on article writers
Here's a Wikipedia stat you probably didn't know: around 80 percent of new contributions to the crowdsourced encyclopedia are abandoned before they're submitted. The organization thinks a lot of writers get cold feet because, since its creation, Wikipedia has deliberately prevented them from being able to save their articles without publishing them: you either went public or you went home. That's changing now, as the site has decided to implement a Draft mode that allows work to be saved while still remaining invisible to most search queries. The site's designers acknowledge that the feature is pretty basic right now, but they promise it'll be refined over time to allow for collaboration on articles that are still in the draft state. The addition of tools like these make sense given that Wikipedia's legion of volunteer contributors is reportedly shrinking, leaving its pages more vulnerable to the influence of iffy PR firms, but the organization says it has simply "matured" to the point where it can afford to be more flexible about how new content is created.
Blizzard drops details on Hearthstone beta wipe
Blizzard Entertainment's Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft collectible card game is currently in closed beta, and those folks fortunate enough to have a beta key are about to see big changes to their accounts. Today Blizzard outlined plans to completely wipe the progress of all beta participants -- gold, experience, class levels, unlocked cards, and arcane dust quantities will all be reset. This wipe isn't unexpected. Blizzard noted at the beginning of beta that data would be reset at some point during the testing phase. The wipe coincides with what Blizz is calling a "pretty major" beta patch, the details of which will be revealed in the near future. Once the wipe goes through, testers in Hearthstone will be effectively starting the game as new players. For those that spent real money on card packs, Blizzard is reimbursing the value via in-game gold. Those players will be able to purchase the same number of packs and arena tickets without paying a second time, though replacing the exact cards is not a guarantee due to the random nature of the packs. This is the last planned reset for Hearthstone; Blizzard is aiming for a full release before the end of the year so no further progress wipes are expected through beta and launch.
Hearthstone begins closed beta testing
Shuffle the deck of your hopes and dreams because Hearthstone has just started its closed beta testing and sent out the first wave of invites from the applicant pool. To make matters more interesting, Blizzard is not holding an NDA for the duration of the beta process, so expect to hear a lot of feedback from people trying out this online card game as the beta progresses. To get into the beta, you'll need to have a Battle.net account and choose to opt in to the test from there or through the website. Blizzard will be notifying beta participants via email, but cautions players to watch out for scams. The studio said that it will invite more waves of players as needed and confirmed that it will be wiping all collections and progress partway through the beta period. Blizzard does not expect to do another wipe after this one, however.
Hearthstone preps for beta
While it's not quite beta time for Hearthstone, Blizzard's wild and crazy crew (above) announced that it has finished all of the major features that will be present for testing. However, there's still some more work to be done before the team opens the beta valve; bug fixes and infrastructure building are taking priority prior to any large-scale testing. "What that means is that we're not days away from launching the beta, but we're not months away either," the devs wrote. "At the Hearthstone announcement we committed to going into beta testing before the summer was over, and the team has been pulling out all the stops to make that happen." The upcoming beta will begin in North America, but the team assures residents of Europe, Korea, and Taiwan that their time will come shortly thereafter. While the initial influx of testers will be small, Blizzard will continually expand the testing pool until everyone can join in. The team revealed a special gold card that will be given to any testers who spend money in the beta and said that a recent test of cross-platform gaming between a PC and an iPad went smoothly.
Face the trials of the Arena in Hearthstone
If you've played a lot of the Hearthstone beta, odds are you think you're pretty good at the game. If you've read up on it, you might still think you have a solid grasp of the strategy. So maybe you'll want to test your skills in a format that requires a different sort of strategy, something that will put your ability to build a deck on the line. If that's like your sort of game, perhaps you'll look forward to paying the entry fee and stepping into the Arena, a draft-style format that forces players to construct decks on the fly and pit them against similar constructions. After paying the entry fee, either through in-game gold or real cash, players will be presented with three random heroes. Picking one will set you to work building a deck of 30 random cards out of several selections, with each choice being final. Once you start in the arena, you'll try to accumulate as many wins as possible before hitting three losses, earning a more powerful key for better rewards each time you win. The game isn't released yet, but this mode is all the more reason for beta players to keep practicing and aspirants to keep their eyes peeled once it's available for everyone.
Yahoo's fantasy football apps for iOS, Android finally add live draft access
We can't believe it took until 2013, but Yahoo has finally filled in a major missing feature on its fantasy sports platform: the ability to participate in a live draft from a mobile device. Many thousands of leagues (including our annual Engadget HD Podcast group) run on Yahoo, and until this year that has occasionally meant bringing laptops into awkward places or sitting chained to a desktop at the appointed time. The updated iOS and Android apps also include support for mock drafts, so you can prepare for any possible draft-day surprises while on the go. Hit the links below to install the free apps and remember, friends don't let friends autodraft.
Five apps that'll help you follow the 2013 NFL Draft
It's a big day for football fans who are gearing up for the 2013 NFL draft. The first round picks start tonight, Thursday, April 25, at 8:00 PM ET, followed by the second and third round on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Use one or all of these iOS apps below to bone up on the draft picks as well as follow the NFL draft live for the next few days. Draftpedia [iPhone; Free] Draftpedia offers comprehensive draft information for the NFL and NBA that extends back to 1970 for the NFL and 1969 for the NBA. It's a wealth of sports draft information right at your fingertips. 2013 Draft HQ - Pro Football [iOS Universal; US$2.99] 2013 Draft HQ - Pro Football is your one-stop shop for information about the draft. Follow news on the top players and read their stats from when they were in college. There are also mock drafts and forums so you can participate in the draft instead of just reading about it. CBS Sports App [iPhone; Free] The CBS Sports app will offer streaming coverage of CBSSports.com's Draft Show Live on the iPhone. The CBS app will also feature mock drafts, player profiles and a live draft picker with round-by-round picks. NFL Mobile [iOS Universal; Free] The NFL Mobile app will provide live video coverage of the NFL draft as well as other draft features like draft alerts and draft trackers, which allow you to follow your favorite prospects and teams. Note: Some features may require a subscription and may be limited to Verizon or Verizon Wireless customers. NFL 2013 [iOS Universal; Free] The NFL 2013 app also offers live coverage of the draft and includes Draft Xtra, a second-screen experience that you can monitor while you watch the draft on TV or over the internet at NFL.com/LIVE. There's also news, analysis and mock drafts. Note: Some features may require a COX, Cablevision or FiOS NFL Network subscription.
Draft cloud editor saves writing in stages, imports from just about anywhere
Although web-based editors like Google Docs are wonderful for writers who don't have a save shortcut hardwired in their muscle memory, they're lousy for anyone who's interested in seeing major revisions on the road to a final copy. Nathan Kontny's new Draft web app might be far more helpful for those creators who work step by step. It lets writers declare given document versions as mid-progress drafts, and offers editing side-by-side with older versions to see just what's new in the current session. The app also avoids some of the lock-in that comes with cloud services by allowing imports and syncing with Box, Dropbox, Evernote and Google Drive. There's no easy way to directly publish online as this stage, but if you're only concerned with producing a masterwork in the cloud from start to draft to finish, Kontny's web tool is waiting at the source link.
MPEG drafts twice-as-efficient H.265 video standard, sees use in phones as soon as 2013
All of that squabbling over H.264 may be rendered moot in the near future. The Motion Picture Experts Group (better known as MPEG) has just let us know that it was quietly drafting a new video standard while everyone was on summer vacation last month: H.265, also called High Efficiency Video Coding, promises to squeeze video sizes with double the efficiency of H.264. As you might imagine, this could lead either to a much smaller video footprint for bandwidth-starved mobile users or a hike to image quality with the same size as before. Imagine fast-loading HD streaming on 4G, or cable TV without all the excess compression, and you've got the idea. Ericsson Research visual technology lead Per Fröjdh anticipates H.265 coming as soon as 2013, when our smartphones and tablets are most likely to play it first. TV and other areas might have to wait, although Fröjdh is offering a consolation prize -- he's teasing a separate MPEG project that could give us glasses-free, compressed 3D video as a standard by 2014.
In Iceland, constitutions are written on Facebook
Ah, Iceland -- home to the Blue Lagoon, Sigur Rós and, most recently, crowdsourced constitutionalism. With its economy still reeling from the 2009 financial crisis, the country has begun hammering away at a brand new constitution, and is asking its online citizenry for help. The draft is being prepared by a democratically elected, 25-member council, but any Icelanders with an internet connection can add their own suggestions, engage in online debates, or follow the proceedings in real-time on Facebook. All suggestions are moderated to weed out the really dumb ones ("FEWER VOLCANOES"), and those approved by the board will be directly added to the draft, due to be completed at the end of this month. It's a fascinating social experiment, but one that could probably only happen in a place where nearly 90 percent of all households have a broadband connection, two-thirds of the entire population is on Facebook -- meaning their politicians are always within poke's reach.
Screen Grabs: Newly minted Bengals wide receiver AJ Green rocks Dell Streak during NFL draft (video)
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. A tipster sent us video from ESPN's NFL draft coverage, asking us to identify the giant phone in University of Georgia wide receiver AJ Green's hand. Turns out it's a white Dell Streak, perhaps the only phone on the market capable of dwarfing the Cincinnati Bengals' fourth overall pick by comparison. Keep in mind, Green is a big guy -- he's 6 feet, 4 inches. He also catches footballs for a living, so we figure that, at the very least, he's got to have average hands for a man of his size. We're happy to report he didn't spike the phone after hearing the news. Videographic evidence after the break. [Thanks, Ramon]
