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NYPD faces lawsuit for withholding info on facial recognition
A think tank is suing the NYPD over its failure to reveal details about its secret facial recognition program. Georgetown University's Center on Privacy and Technology (CPT) alleges that the department hasn't complied with New York state's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) by forking over information on the system, which the department started using to investigate crimes in 2011. When groups submitted FOIL requests for training manuals and documentation, the NYPD insisted they didn't have any, so CPT is taking the department to court.
Engadget giveaway: Win a Samsung Galaxy S8+ and Spigen cases!
Samsung's latest phones seems to be a hit, with pre-orders reaching record levels for the company. Both the S8 and the S8+ have a smooth elongated exterior for easier gripping, but that's not to say these handsets don't obey the laws of gravity. To help keep Samsung's latest safe from harm, case maker Spigen has provided a variety of protective shells for every eventuality, from light weight to heavy duty for both the S8 and S8+. This includes the company's popular Neo Hybrid with a subtle herringbone pattern on the back, as well as clear and even sparkly cases for those with a little flare. This week, Spigen has provided us with a powerful Samsung Galaxy S8+ (for AT&T), along with an assortment of cases and screen protectors for one lucky winner. All you need to do is head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning one of Samsung's latest smartphones and a Spigen safety package to keep it protected. Winner: Congratulations to Hugh D. of Dublin, CA!
Virgin Galactic tests Unity's re-entry system for the first time
Virgin Galactic has successfully tested its newest spacecraft's "feather" re-entry system for the first time. That's what it calls the mechanism wherein the vehicle folds up its twin tail booms so that it can behave more like a capsule and increase stability upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Virgin has conducted VSS Unity's flight test from the Mojave Air and Space Port after testing its feathering mechanism on the ground extensively. It's imperative for the company to make sure that its re-entry system works perfectly, seeing as it was created to replace a vehicle that broke apart after one of its pilots triggered the same mechanism below the ideal speed.
Tynker app teaches kids Apple Swift with coding games
Coding is as essential to our kids' education as math and history lessons, with tech leaders, presidents and coding organizations touting the importance of the skill. Learning how to create the stuff on which our modern society runs will ready future generations to make the things that the rest of us will use. Tynker, a company that creates self-paced and school-based coding lessons for kids, has partnered up with Apple's Everyone Can Code program to provide two new courses for students in Kindergarten to 5th grade. The free curriculum -- available via the free iTynker iPad app -- is also integrated across two new curriculum modules for teachers in iBooks.
The federal courts have already given up on net neutrality
The head of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, has not been quiet about his plans to gut net neutrality, and the US legal system is taking him seriously. A federal court on Monday denied a group of internet service providers the chance to re-argue their case against net neutrality rules implemented by former President Barack Obama's administration. The judges' reasoning? The FCC is about to get rid of those regulations anyway.
EPA pulls climate science web pages to reflect White House views
President Trump and Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt aren't exactly fans of climate science, and they're scaling back the EPA's website to reflect their views. The EPA has started implementing a site revision that will "reflect the approach of new leadership." As you might surmise, that means that mentions of climate change, regulation and Obama-era policies are on the chopping block -- the language endorsing the Clean Power Plan is "out of date," the EPA claims. And unfortunately, that means axing information that has been around for multiple administrations.
There's a slackbot for people who like to shit where they eat
Online dating and work chat apps have been separate entities for entirely logical, productive and HR-compliant reasons. But a dating app-maker has decided that the line dividing office life and love life should be blurred with the help of a chatbot for the reigning king of productivity services, Slack. If you think company-sanctioned flirting through work messaging is a good idea, you should probably talk to your human resources department. Because this is playing with fire in a way that gets people fired.
We destroyed a collectible Doritos bag to get at its hidden MP3 Player
Junk food and summer blockbusters go hand in hand -- from the nachos, popcorn and candy you buy at the cinema, to action-hero faces plastered on every brand of potato chips at the supermarket. This has been the way of the world as long as I can remember, but this summer, the pairing may have reached its apex. In a perfect storm of brand synergy, nostalgia and guilty pleasures, Marvel has decided to release the soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in the most unconventional format imaginable: a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos.
NSA will stop illegally collecting American emails
The National Security Agency has enjoyed relatively broad authority to monitor communications among suspected terrorists and their associates, even when those people happen to be American citizens and even without a warrant. However, The New York Times reports the NSA is stopping one of its most controversial practices: the collection of Americans' international emails and text messages that mention a foreigner under surveillance.
Home Depot left customers' unprotected personal data online
It's been awhile since hackers broke into Home Depot's servers and stole 56 million customers' credit card information back in 2014. But recently, a tipster pointed business watchdog site Consumerist to a web address under the HomeDepot.com domain. The unprotected page stored photos of various home improvement projects...and 13 Excel spreadsheets filled with customer data. All told, it had names, phone numbers, and physical and email addresses for up to 8,000 people. And all those files sat there unprotected, unencrypted and discoverable by search engines for an unknown period of time.
Facebook report admits foreign governments are influencing discourse
On the same day Facebook released its report on global government requests for the second half of 2016, its Threat Intelligence team announced new steps the social giant is taking to combat so-called "Information Operations." The report is tacit acknowledgment that foreign governments are manipulating public opinion on the network to further their geopolitical agendas.
Uber self-driving lead steps aside due to Waymo's lawsuit
While Waymo -- the company formerly known as Google's self-driving car project -- continues to sue Uber over stolen trade secrets, the former employee at the center of its charges will "be recused from all LiDAR-related work and management." Levandowski left last year to found a self-driving truck company called Otto, which was then purchased by Uber in an arrangement that Waymo lawyers claim was planned as a way to steal thousands of pages of confidential materials. Now Business Insider has obtained an internal memo where he tells employees they'll be reporting to someone else for the duration of the lawsuit.
Mars-like soil makes super strong bricks when compressed
Elon Musk's vision of Mars colonization has us living under geodesic domes made of carbon fiber and glass. But, according to a study recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, those domes may end up being made of brick, pressed from the Martian soil itself.
It looks like Apple is resurrecting its Venmo competitor
Apple began considering its own peer-to-peer payment system back in 2015. Since then, however, nothing seems to have come of it. Today, however, Recode reports that Apple is again in negotiations to launch its own money-transfer system to rival competing services like PayPal's wildly popular Venmo. Apple's new service, likely a feature for Apple Pay, could enable you to send money to a friend's iPhone from your own.
Google's Classroom is open to anyone with an urge to teach
Forget those pesky teaching qualifications, because Google has now found a way to make educators out of us all. Starting today, any Google Classroom user will be able to create their own classes. Working as an app or via desktop, what started as merely a service to organize coursework now lets users share their own wisdom. Previously, in order to create and attend classes you'd need a G Suite for Education account, now anyone with a Google account can enjoy its benefits.
Cassini probe survives first dive between Saturn and its rings
NASA's Cassini probe has emerged unscathed after its first dive between Saturn and its rings. The spacecraft's ground team had to spend 20 hours wondering whether the probe was doing well or whether it plunged to its death a few months too early. Thankfully, it got back in contact with NASA at 2:56AM EDT today, April 27th. By 3:01 AM, it started beaming back precious data about the planet's atmosphere, including the unprocessed images of Saturn's features above.
Police will scan every fan's face at the Champions League final
If you're headed to the UEFA Champions League final in Cardiff on June 3rd, you might just be part of a massive experiment in security -- and a privacy uproar. South Wales Police are conducting a face recognition trial that could scan every one of the 170,000 visitors expected to show up in the city for the match, whether or not they're heading to the stadium. Cameras around both the stadium and Cardiff's main train station will compare faces against a police database of 500,000 people of interest. If there's a match, police will get a heads-up that could help them stop a terrorist or frequent hooligan.
The first 4K livestream from space starts at 1:30PM ET
Astronaut Peggy Whitson has already broken plenty of new ground in her current role as a commander aboard the International Space Station, but she's about to break some more. As promised, Whitson will star in the first-ever 4K livestream from space today (April 26th) at 1:30PM Eastern. Her part will mainly involve a chat with Amazon Web Services exec Sam Blackman (AWS is hosting the event), but the panel as a whole should be worth viewing: it's a chat with NASA and tech industry luminaries about the effects that imaging and cloud technology are having on both science and movie-making.
VR's latest victim: 'live' standup comedy
Comedy Living Room started in 2012 as a way for emerging stand-ups to try out gags in the safety of a friend's living room. Now, the event is embracing virtual reality, enabling everyone to watch a low-fi comedy gig in someone else's living room while you're sitting in your own... living room.
'White Collar' crime tracker mocks police profiling bias
As Police forces edge ever closer to realizing the plot of Minority Report, a new art-slash-research project aims to point out inequality in our society. With White Collar Crime Risk Zones, three artists come researchers are reworking predictive policing tech to highlight police bias. Instead of utilizing heat maps to predict where street crime could occur, this software flags potential financial crime hotspots. Using an algorithm based on historical white collar offences committed since 1964, it assesses the risk of financial crime in any given area, even predicting the most likely offense.
