Metropolitan
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UK police's facial recognition system has an 81 percent error rate
Facial recognition technology is mistakenly targeting four out of five innocent people as wanted suspects, according to findings from the University of Essex. The report -- which was commissioned by Scotland Yard -- found that the technology used by the UK's Metropolitan Police is 81 percent inaccurate and concludes that it is "highly possible" the system would be found unlawful if challenged in court.
Timex's upcoming fitness watch goes back to analog
Looks like someone's taking a page out of Withings' book. At the Qualcomm 3G/LTE Summit today, Timex CTO Thomas Essery took the opportunity to tease an upcoming analog fitness watch, the Metropolitan+. For a company that's only made digital versions of sports watches in the past, this is quite a bold change; nor is it a bad attempt, either. Alas, little is said about this connected device, but we do know that it has an activity tracking dial plus up to one year of battery life. We'll keep y'all informed when we hear more.
Met Player offering free HD opera streaming for the weekend
Know an opera fan that hasn't been willing to drop the cash on a subscription or per episode fee for the Met Player streaming experience? All this weekend until midnight Sunday they're offering free and unlimited access to 200 full length operas, including 20 from the first three seasons of the Live in HD series. English subtitles are available for all of them, plus recently added French, German and Spanish subtitles. From "available only in select markets" to free streaming in HD to your computer in just a couple of years, wonder what they'll think of next?
Opera fans demand HD
In the same way that HD has spoiled sports and nature fans with its eye-popping visuals, it has expanded its domain to the opera world. According to the NY Times, the Met's eight broadcasts last season pulled in 908,000 viewers. Further, the number of people who took in these broadcast performances outnumbered the Metropolitan Opera House attendees by 58,000 over the same time period. These are great numbers for the highbrow fare, but what's really telling is the comparative turnout netted by the lower quality broadcast used by the San Francisco Opera. The author of the linked article reports the San Francisco Opera's efforts have enjoyed much less success, and points to a turnout of four at the local screening of "Madama Butterfly" as evidence. Broadcast opera seems like it's here to stay, and HD looks to be a component crucial to success. Bravo!
